state of affairs, the Society was compelled, in 1783, to suspend the expenses of the College, and to let the estates for a time, until they had retrieved themselves so as to enable the society to pursue the benevolent intentions of General Codrington. The business of the College, however, after all these misfortunes, was again resumed, and its appoint ments have been most respectably filled. But it has since assumed the character rather of a school, than of a College answerable to the design of the founder. Among the latest appointments, we find the name of the Rev. Mark Nicholson, M. A. Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, who held the Presidentship for many years; on whose vacating the situation about four years ago, the Rev. Samuel Hinds, M. A. of Queen's College, Oxford, and a native of the Island, succeeded to it. The Society was most happy in the selection of Mr. Hinds for the situation; a gentleman, eminently qualified for it by his talents and classical attainments; but, unfortunately, ill health has obliged him to resign the appointment, after having held it for a very short time. At present, we believe, no one is appointed to the Presidentship, though the duties of the office are performed by the Rev. Mr. Parkinson. The office of Chaplain and Missionary to the Negroes on the estate is held by the Rev. J. H. Pinder, by whom it is most conscientiously and effectively discharged. Whether the Institution, in a strict accordance with the words of the testator, will be simply a clerical establishment, or assume, as it may justly, and, we should think, most beneficially, a more academic character for the general education of young men throughout the West Indies, may be safely left to the resources and judgment of a Society "composed," in General Codrington's words, "of good and wise men." We have been informed that the gentleman of the island who rented the estates of the Society, Mr. Brathwaite, after clearing himself, paid over all the profits to the Society. So benevolent and honourable an act ought not to be unknown. VOL. VIII. NO. IV. That some Institution of a higher description for the education of the West Indian youth is required, must be deeply felt at this moment, when many have been suddenly recalled from this country through the failure of their pecuniary means, before they had completed their education; and still more are altogether prevented from coming hither; and must go forth into life without education, or with an education too imperfect for the effective discharge of their subsequent duties. We should be unwilling to advocate any measure that might tend to weaken the tie between the mother-country and her colonies.We should be rejoiced to learn, that the state of West India property was such, as to enable every parent to give to his child a liberal education at the English Universities. But this is too much to expect. The Ecclesiastical Establishment in the Diocese of Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands alone will require a supply of Clergy, beyond what can be looked for from this country. The main dependence must be on the native youth; but, in the present circumstances of the West Indies, where are they to obtain that proficiency in theological and general science, without which they can be little qualified for the various offices of the Christian ministry? The Society have, from the earliest period, as a provisional measure, maintained a school for the classical education of twelve boys; but the time is now in their judgment arrived, when, under the eye of aBishop, the Institution may be placed on a footing more conformable to the enlarged intentions of the pious founder, and more adapted to the increasing wants of the community.We heartily wish success to a measure that promises so much benefit to our West India colonies. "On Sunday, the 11th September, the Lord Bishop of Calcutta preached a sermon at St. Peter's Church, Co- . lombo, in behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and with especial reference to the establishment of Bishop's College, near Calcutta. His Lordship chose for his text, Acts ii. 36; I I and, in a powerful and impressive discourse, uniting, in a remarkable degree, strength of argument with beauty of illustration and energy of Christian feeling, after remarking the universal and diffusive character of Christianity, proceeded to demonstrate the obligation of all to whom the light of revelation Las been given, to communicate to others what they have themselves so freely received. He answered, largely and satisfactorily, most of the prevailing objections against missions, and concluded with a forcible appeal to his audience for the support of the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in immediate connexion with the Established Church."-Mad. Govt. Gazt, Sept. 27. "We have frequently occasion to notice the very liberal donations which are made under this Presidency to various charitable and religious purposes; and we have now much gratification in stating, that among the additional subscriptions lately made to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Rev. Henry Jeffreys has remitted 400 rupees from Surat. The Rev. Morgan Davies has remitted from Mhow a list of contributions to the amount of 1,581 rupees, and the Rev. Ambrose Goode has forwarded a similar list from Kaira and Ahmedabad to the amount of 2,126 rupees. The total amount of the benefactions and subscriptions is very near sixteen thousand rupees; a sum which will sufficiently evince the good and liberal feelings of the British inhabitants under this Presidency, and will testify also their confidence in the design and principles of the Missionary College, instituted by the late Bishop Middleton. In coming thus publicly forward in support of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Bombay is the first among the East India Presidencies; and we trust her zeal and munificence will operate as an example, which will be readily followed by the others." Bombay Courier, 15th Oct. 1825. OXFORD DIOCESAN COMMITTEE. President.-The Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Oxford. Secretaries.-The Rev. W. Dalby, M. A. Fellow of Exeter College, and the Rev. C. A. Ogilvie, M. A. Fellow of Balliol College. Treasurers.-Messrs. Fletcher, Parsons, and Co., Bankers, High Street; by whom Subscriptions and Donations to this Association will be received. REPORT. Ar the close of the third year of their Association, the members of the Oxford Diocesan Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel will hear with lively satisfaction that sixteen new subscribers have been added to the list, since the publication of the last Report. The subscriptions, paid through the means of this Committee, amount to 871. 3s. The donations to 15l. 3s. The sum total, 1021. 6s. has been transmitted by the Treasurers to the Rev. Dr. Wilson, Assistant Secretary to the Parent Society, who has acknowledged the receipt of the same on behalf of the Society. No one can read the last Annual Report of the Parent Society without receiving additional conviction, that "patient continuance in well doing" is, indeed, the character of the missionaries, who have been sent forth. Recommended to their several stations by Prelates of a judicious and paternal spirit, who in person or by their commissaries have examined and compared the respective exigencies of the districts thus newly evangelized, they are seen to perform their holy labour in the face of difficulties and amid privations, which, however modestly detailed by them, must be acknowledged to be such as no zeal but that of genuine piety, no firmness but that which comes of Christian faith, could enable them to sustain. We do not meet in their narratives with any precipitate exultation in an apparent increase of converts, nor, on the other hand, do we observe any unjustifiable abandonment of posts, at which, for the present, little or no progress seems to have been made. The value of the religion professed by those, who give ear to their instructions, is estimated by its effects on their lives. Delusion is thus excluded, so far as it can be; and wherever improvement is reported, it may be safely credited; wherever the gospel is asserted to have been preached, we have the strongest reason to hope that it has been received influentially. That the good work thus carried on is progressive, is sufficiently evidenced by the gradual increase, not only of places of worship built by and for newly formed congregations of Christians, but also of communicants in those congregations; and of schools and scholars, under the direction of teachers imbued with the pure doctrines of the Church of England. It is hardly necessary to make selections from the Report of the Society on the present occasion. Let it be enough to refer to the Bishop of Calcutta's communication to the Society of the advance of Bishops' College towards its completion, and of the exertions which the superintendents of the native schools in that neighourhood are making, for a gratifying specimen of the variety of ways, in which the Divine Providence directs and prospers the views of the Society. Time has not yet permitted the publication of intelligence of the same encouraging character, and sauctioned by like authority, from the West Indies; but general report already justifies confident anticipations of good tidings from that region. Amid all this matter of congratulation, it becomes our duty to remember, that the supplies, which the Society receives from its contributors, are still lamentably inadequate to the discharge of obligations, which a regard for the glory of God and good will toward our fellow men would otherwise impel it to contract. Surely this is a state of things, which impressively calls for liberality on the part of the members and friends of the Society, and for a wide diffusion, by their endeavours, of the requisite information concerning the nature, object, and means of the Society among all other well-disposed per sons. SOCIETY FOR THE ENLARGEMENT AND BUILDING OF CHURCHES AND CHAPELS. It is with much pleasure that we present to our readers the subjoined list of the Diocesan and District Committees of the Church Building Society, formed to the present time, with the effect of their exertions to the 20th of January, 1826. West Canterbury Cornwall Totnes District Com...... District Com. Bp.of Exeter W. M.Tweedy, esq. Rev. J. Coleridge and 3 Jan. Bp.of Exeter Messrs. Wise, Far-Rev. J. D. Parham 6 Oct. 83 254 0 69 6 0 31 Dec. 137 134 11212 16 6 1826. 38 155 3 41 13 6 SOCIETY FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE NEGROES. AT a Meeting, held at its house in Parliament-street, on Wednesday, March 8th, the Society decided on applying its funds, as the salaries of the present chaplains fall in, or their accepting preferment, exclusively to the maintenance of Catechists throughout the West Indies, nominated by, and acting under, the Rectors of the several parishes, after being examined and licensed by the Bishop. As the funds of the Society increase, they will be able to place ampler means at the disposal of the Bishop, for placing the catechetical system on an effective footing. In the several islands, Branch Associations are forming, and the funds collected by them will be expended on the island in which it is raised. Proprietors then, whether resident in the West Indies or in the country, may, by subscription and donation to the Parent Society or the Branch Association, secure catechetical instruction (under regular authority) for their estates. Five hundred pounds a year sterling has been already placed at the dis posal of the Bishop of Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands. Thus a fund will be formed of the money granted by Act of Parliament, of the funds of the Society, and the funds collected by the Branch Association in the several Islands, which will be applied towards the religious instructionof the slave population, &c. In connexion with the intelligence given above, we submit the following extract from a letter from the Rev. Hugh Beams, dated Jamaica, 29th Nov. 1825. "It will afford you pleasure to be informed, that the negroes on Seven Rivers Estate are thinking seriously of building a chapel for themselves. We have hitherto met in the Boilinghouse, and I have no doubt but that on the return of Mr. Williams from the House of Assembly, they will begin immediately. When the proposition has met his approbation, I will inform you fully as to the particulars." DIOCESE OF CALCUTTA. PROGRESS OF THE BISHOP'S VISITATION. "THE Lord Bishop of Calcutta and his family, embarked on the H. C. S. Discovery, on Monday, in prosecution of his Episcopal Visitation at Ceylon, taking with him the Rev. Thomas Robinson, of Poona, as his Chaplain. His Lordship was accompanied into town from Parell by the Honourable the Governor, and was received at the Government House by the general Staff, many of the Civil Servants, and the Archdeacon and several of the Clergy, by whom also he was attended to the pier head; and there, in taking leave of the gentlemen, the Bishop made his grateful acknowledgments for the great attentions which had been paid to him, and with wishes for the prosperity and happiness of those he left, expressed the pleasure he had derived during his residence from the excellent and valuable society of this Presidency. The high talents of Bishop Heber, united with his very kind and amiable feelings, engage the regard and friendliness of all who know him, and his frequent discourses from the pulpit, exhibiting with unusual force the leading features of the Christian faith and character, leave an impression on his hearers which will long remain to their delight and improvement. He carries with him, we are sure, the prayers of every good man for his health and success in the arduous and "We, the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Bombay, being desirous of expressing to the Venerable Archdeacon Barnes, on his departure from India, our admiration of his public character,—of the judgment, moderation, and impartiality of his official conduct, and his zeal for the welfare of the Church ;-and recording, at the same time, our affectionate esteem for him as a brother Clergyman, agree to present him with a piece of plate of the value of one hundred guineas, with an inscription engraven on it expressive of these sentiments. "Signed-Henry Davies, Thomas Carr, Thomas Robinson, Henry (Three absent.)" To this address, the Archdeacon made the following reply::"To the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Bombay. "My dear and Reverend Brethren, "THE very unexpected and flattering mark of your esteem is accepted by me with the sincerest thanks; and be assured, I shall ever cherish an affectionate remembrance of your kindness and good opinion. In the discharge of the functions to which I have been called, involving peculiar Mr. Glenie, and Mr. Robinson, left Colombo at day-break this morning for Kandy. "We understand they purpose sleeping at Ootuan Kandy to-night, and reaching Kandy to breakfast tomorrow morning."-Mad. Gov. Gaz. Sept. 27. THE ARCHDEACON OF BOMBAY. and sometimes embarrassing circumstances, my wish and my intention have been to acquit myself, by Divine favour, a faithful member of the Church of England. Attached to her by duty and by conscience, I have zealously strived, with whatever means and ability, towards her permanent extension in this remote portion of the British Empire. In promoting the welfare and comfort of the Clergy, in the establishment of religious institutions, and in every object connected with the advancement of Christian faith and holiness, both among our countrymen and the millions around us who are without, I early enjoyed the counsel and direction of one, whose name will ever be dear to the cause of Christianity in India; and to your unabated kindness and cordial co-operation do I owe whatever success has attended us. I am conscious how great my own deficiencies have been; I feel your goodness in passing them over; and, while I wouldwith you look to a far higher reward, yet may I receive, now on the eve of my departure to my native country, this testimony of your approval_as most gratifying and satisfactory. The intimate connexion 'I have had with this portion of the diocese ever since its establishment, and the solemn duties in which we have all mutually engaged for many years, attach me to its members with deep interest and sincere regard. Separated from you in person, not in affection, wherever Providence shall appoint our respective tasks, my prayers shall be offered up for your happiness, and my anxious wishes will ever be engaged for the temporal and eternal prosperity of the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Bombay. "I remain, my dear Brethren, "Your faithful and affectionate Friend, "GEORGE BARNES," "Bombay, 19th Oct. 1825." |