GUERNSEY.-On Easter Tuesday, a social tea party was held at the Baptist Chapel, Wesley road, Guernsey, when Mr. Spurgeon reviewed the progress which had been made during the time (nearly four years) he has been the pastor of this church. In the course of the evening one of the deacons, in the name of the church and congregation, presented him with "Stackhouse's History of the Bible," in two volumes, bearing the following inscription : Presented to the REV. SAMUEL SPURGEON, by the friends of his Church, As a token of their esteem and gratitude, for the constant and affectionate interest he has taken in their RICKMANSWORTH.-The annual meeting of the Herts and South Beds Baptist Association, will be held at Rickmansworth, on Wednesday, May 13th, when the Rev. B. P. Pratten will preach in the morning; the usual business will be transacted in the afternoon; and the Lord's supper administered in the evening to the members of the associated and other Christian churches. HOUGHTON REGIS.-Mr. George Hull has resigned his connexion with the Baptist church at Houghton Regis, Beds. BUCKINGHAM.-Mr. Carryer has relinquished the pastorate of the Baptist church in Buckingham. MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH OF ROME.-From the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" (Lyons), for 1845, it appears that the receipts of the association for the year amounted to £137,047, expended on missions in China, Cochin China, Ava, the East Indies, Thibet, Persia, Georgia, Syria, Algiers, West India Isles, Canada, the United States, Cape of Good Hope, Australasia, South Sea Islands, &c. &c. Every number of the Annals announces the departure of missionaries for almost every part of the world. Rome is engaging in thorough earnest in the great conflict. Let the friends of the Bible be up and doing, and by their missionaries, and the word of God, confront the Man of Sin in every corner of the globe to which he penetrates; yea, anticipate him, by visiting with the Gospel message the millions of our fellow-creatures who are perishing for lack of knowledge. THE REFORMED CATHOLICS OF GERMANY.-There has just issued from the Berlin press the New Testament, translated from the original Greek into German, by Maritius Müller. This translation has been made at the request of the Supreme Council of the German Catholics, and under the superintendence of Ronge, Czerski, &c. It is stated on the authority of a very competent judge that this is a sound and unexceptionable translation. However unsound the opinions of Ronge and his followers may at present be, we augur much good to themselves and their country from their anxiety to put the word of God into the hands of the people. CHINA. It having been represented to the Imperial Commissioner, Keying, by Sir J. F. Davis, that some doubt existed as to whether Chinese professing Protestant Christianity would be protected by the law as well as those becoming Roman Catholics, Keying replied, that "Virtuous Chinese shall by no means be punished on account of the religion they hold. No matter whether they worship images, or do not worship images, there are no prohibitions against them, if, when practising their creed, they act well." This concession is one of true liberality, and will, when stamped with the force of law, be the charter of religious freedom in China. Keying might well send a missionary to this country to teach our high churchmen religious toleration. John Hasler, Printer, 4, Crane court, Fleet street. ABSTRACT FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT. In closing the duties of a year of unusual anxiety, by furnishing to the friends and supporters of the Baptist Missionary Society a brief account of its labours and position, the Committee record their devout thankfulness to the Giver of all grace for having sustained and cheered them in their course, and for giving his own cause, both favour in the eyes of his people and a very encouraging measure of success among the heathen. Ceylon: of Rev. J. and Mrs. Kingdon at Since the formation of the Society there have been sent out and accepted 198 missionaries, nearly one half of whom are permitted still to aid the cause of missions in foreign lands. INDIA. Translators... Rev. John Wenger, Rev. James Tho- In referring to the important work of biblical translation, the Committee are again constrained to speak of the great loss sustained in the death of the Rev. Dr. Yates. An intimate acquaintance with the bible in its original languages, and with the works of the best commentators; an equally intimate acquaintance with the Sanscrit, Bengali, Hindi, as well as the Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani languages; combined with deep piety, a sound judgment, and long experience, constituted him a translator of distinguished eminence. It is but seldom that a year passes by without their having to mourn over the loss of some faithful honoured labourers, who have left the scene of their toil for the world of their reward; their patience under the one, and their honours in the other, being alike gifts of grace. The year that is now closing, however, has been in this respect peculiarly In surveying the various fields of the Socalamitous. There has been stroke upon ciety's labours, India, where its work of stroke; each stroke smiting down a leader of mercy commenced, claims first attention. a host. William Yates and William Knibb The Committee begin as usual with TRANSLAhave both fallen, and though not before their TIONS. work was done, yet at a time when to all appearance they could be ill-spared, and while we were hoping for labours and success not unworthy of their past achievements. The former died at sea on July the 3rd, 1845, and the latter at Kettering, Jamaica, on November the 15th. The Committee have also to deplore the loss of Mrs. Kilner Pearson, of Nassau, and Mrs. Evans, of Calcutta. They were taken away amid the tears of many hundreds in Nassau and Calcutta, and have been highly honoured and eminently useful in the foreign field. When to this list is added the name of the Rev. W. W. Evans, who has been compelled by ill-health to relinquish his post in Calcutta, and return for a season to this country, and the name of the Rev. M. W. Flanders, who under the influence of protracted fever has given up mission labour in Hayti; and of the Rev. Thomas Burchell, who, though no longer agent of the Society, is yet the pastor of a large church in Jamaica, formed under the Society's fostering care, and dear to all for his works' sake,-it will be admitted that the year has been in this respect one of peculiar trial. The age and health of several of our brethren in India are also such as lead us to fear that these trials are but too likely to return. It is clear that we must be prepared by self-sacrifice and faith to send to the high places of the field more soldiers of the cross, who shall occupy the posts of those who have fallen, and be ready to carry on our Master's cause against the mighty. On the other hand, the Committee have to report that their missionary brethren have been strengthened by the arrival of Rev. D. and Mrs. Marsh at Quebec; Rev. C. B. and Mrs. Lewis, and Rev. J. and Mrs. Allen in In Sanscrit, the prophecies of Isaiah have been printed. The last pages were read in proof once by Dr. Yates, two or three days before he left India, and were on subsequent examination found to be sufficiently correct to allow of their being printed off. The book of Proverbs has also been put to press again. At the time of Dr. Yates's departure it was found that besides Genesis, the Psalms, the Proverbs, and Isaiah, all of which were printed, the following parts of the Old Testament had been prepared in manuscript: the remainder of the Pentateuch, Job, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, and Daniel. The missionaries then agreed that the pandit who had long been engaged in preparing the rough draft of the version, should proceed in his work, and that Mr. Wenger should, by studying the language, prepare himself for revising and publishing the whole. This plan is being pursued. Meanwhile, should it be found necessary to reprint the New Testament, or those portions of the Old already published, such reprints will be made under Mr. Wenger's superintendence. In Bengali the whole bible has at length issued from the press. When Dr. Yates left, the revision of the New Testament had advanced as far as the fourth chapter of Galatians. His illness, however, prevented him from going very carefully through the last ten chapters which he revised. The remaining portion was revised by Mr. Wenger. Of the entire bible there have been printed, in quarto 500, and in octavo, 2500 copies, and of the New Testament, unform with it, 1500 copies. Another edition of the New Testament, containing only the revised text, and consisting of 2000 copies of the Gospels and Acts, and 3000 of the entire Testament, has just been completed. A third edition, similar to the last, but in a smaller type, has advanced to the end of 1st Corinthians. Of this also 3000 copies of the Gospels and Acts have been struck off. In Hindustani there have been printed in the Arabic character: there is a most remarkable spirit of inquiry, while in all the power of the heathen priesthood is on the wane. The proposed alteration of the Hindoo laws of inheritance, which is to have the effect of protecting all the natives of India in the profession of any religious opinions; the diffusion of general education, and the increased facilities of intercourse between distant parties of that vast continent, cannot but be favourable to the interests of religious truth. All these signs of progress are compatible no doubt with gross infidelity. Education and social improvement, and the neglect of old customs are not conversion. But it is difficult not to regard them as preparatory to it. If the valleys are exalted, and the mountains made low, and the rough places made plain, is it not that the glory of the Lord may be revealed, and that all flesh may see it together? At the same time, the actual results of our efforts are unusually encouraging. In the neighbourhood of Agra, and in the districts of Barisal and Jessore, about one hundred and thirty natives have been baptized. Including Ceylon, the total number of additions to the churches in India from the native and the European population, is 231; a larger number than the annals of our Indian churches have ever yet recorded. To Him whose grace has called them from darkness unto light, be all the praise. The total number of members (including the church at Serampore, which is now supplied by Mr. Denham) is 1648; being an increase of 234. The number of schools is 101, being an increase (including ten schools connected with Serampore) of twenty-three, containing in all 3979 children. Another evidence of the progress of our Indian churches, and of the hold which Christian truth is obtaining over the community at large, is the amount contributed to meet the expenses of Auxiliary Missionary societies connected with the different stations. Mr. Thomas estimates that all the native members of our Indian churches do not possess together five hundred pounds. The operation of the Hindoo laws of inheritance is one cause of this poverty; the explanation suggested by the apostle, “not many wise, not many noble are called," is another. And yet the contributions received for schools, translations, and general missionary operations in India, have amounted to upwards of £1200. This sum does not include the contributions of churches, as such, towards the support of their pastors, and the incidental expenses connected with their worship, and which have amounted to about £1200 more. The contributions towards the auxiliary societies are of course included in the receipts of the parent society, though the amount is rather the representative of missionary labour than any aid to our funds. The contributions of churches are not included; particulars being sent home for information only. This distinction the Com mittee have kept up from the first, and it may serve to explain the comparatively small amount received from foreign stations. The aim of the Committee has been to induce the churches, as their first duty, to support their pastors; and as their second, to contribute to the funds of the mission. Large and populous districts in its immediate vicinity are visited by the missionaries, and all the expenses, beyond Mr. Denham's salary, are met by an auxiliary society and the liberality of friends at the station itself. Endeared as it is to our body by many and rich historical associations, the Committee have much satisfaction in including it once more in their annual report. Station 1801. 1838. 1820. CALCUTTA-James Thomas, C. C. Aratoon, Female Missionaries-Mrs. Yates, Mrs. Tho- INTALLY.-George Pearce, Ram Krishna. Native Preachers-Three Students of the HAURAH and SALKIYA.—Thomas Morgan and Mrs. Morgan. It is an affecting proof of the weakness of our Indian mission, and of the success with which God has favoured us, that in continental India there are but eleven missionaries I. CALCUTTA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. who were sent out by the Society; while there are nineteen European and East Indian formed. missionaries and pastors, who were accepted in India, two ordained native pastors, and about fifty native preachers, supported by auxiliary societies and the parent society. But eleven whom we sent survive; and yet for these God has given us more than seventy. In strengthening the stations in India, the Committee regret that but little has been done during the year. Two brethren have been sent to Ceylon; but in Continental India there are still vast and populous districts unoccupied, or occupied only by a single missionary. In an affecting communication recently received from the brethren in India, it is said that the population of Calcutta and its vicinity is as large as that of Jamaica; that the only missionaries in three districts, containing each a million of people, are those of our Society. Each of these brethren is alone, one man to a million, and after thirty years of labour, and anxiety, not without many seals of their ministry, is forbidden to see a fellow-labourer or successor, to enter upon his work, and under the great Shepherd, guard the fold he has been the means of gathering from among the heathen. May not the Committee hope that another year will wipe away this grievous. reproach? The question of a Tutor for Serampore has received the repeated consideration of the Committee during the year. The lamented death of the Rev. J. Mack, who died suddenly of cholera, on the thirtieth of April, 1845, has made a material change in the position of the church, and of missionary labour at that station. Mr. Marshman wrote on behalf of the church to Calcutta, asking our brethren to occupy the station permanently, and offering to settle on terms as satisfactory to the Committee as they were honourable to Mr. Marshman, the only question connected with Serampore which remained unsettled. He offered to purchase the premises which he had occupied so long, and to place the chapel in trust for the use of the church. The Committee acceded with much pleasure to his proposal, and Mr. Denham is stationed for the present at Serampore, as tutor, and as co-minister with the Rev. John Robinson, who, though not officially connected with the Society, is enabled to give very valuable aid in this important sphere. Serampore is in itself a station of great promise. 1824. 1830. Native Preacher-Ganga Narayan. LAKHYANTIPUR, and five neighbouring villages. 1830. KHARI.-Jacob. Two Native Preachers. Preacher. Native Nine Stations--Eleven Sub-stations-Eleven Missionaries-Seven Female Missionaries-Seventeen Native Preachers. PREACHING TO THE HEATHEN AND MUHAM MADANS. In Calcutta the gospel of Christ has been preached to the heathen by Messrs. Leslie, Page, and Wenger, and also by Messrs. W. Thomas and De Monte. Six Native brethren have been engaged in the same work. It may be asserted with safety, that except during the rainy season, there have been very few week-days on which the gospel has not been preached in one, if not in several of the markets and public streets. At Haurah, the Rev. T. Morgan has continued, as in former years, to preach the word of life, both at the station and in the villages of the neighbourhood. In the vicinity of Lakhyantipur and Narsingdachoke, and partially also in that of Khari, the gospel has likewise been proclaimed week after week in the markets. Besides these regular and stationary labours several excursions have been made during the year, with a view to spread the gospel, partly by Mr. Page, partly by some of our native brethren. On one of these occasions, Mr. Page traversed the district of Baraset, and went as far as Jessore, preaching the gospel daily in the villages on his way. Mr. Aratoon also, being compelled by ill-health to go on |