Rev. SAMUEL RIPLEY, Cor. and Rec. Sec'y. Rev. FRANCIS PARKMAN, V. Treas. ICHABOD TUCKER, Esq. Assis. Treas. for Essex. Rev. Dr. Bancroft, Rev. Charles Lowell, Trustees. Hon. Joseph Allen, Stephen Higginson, Jun. Esq. Standing Committee for receiving and appropriating monies, donations, &c. for foreign missions. Rev. Dr. Foster, Rev. Mr. Lowell, Rev. Mr. Pierce, Rev. Dr. Bancroft, Prof. Sidney Willard, Samuel Parkman, Esq. Rev. Mr. Channing. Preachers for the next annual meeting. Rev. Samuel Ripley, 1st. Rev. Abiel Abbot, 2d. Massachusetts Peace Society.-The third anniversary of this society, in which the Christian Disciple must always take a strong interest, was celebrated on the 25th of December last. An excellent address was delivered in the evening by the Hon. Andrew Ritchie, to a large and attentive audience. The annual report was likewise read in public. The following extracts from it exhibit the flourishing state of the society, and the encouraging progress of pacific principles. Since the 10th of December 1817, eight thousand two hundred and ninety-eight Tracts have been distributed in behalf of the society; of which 4785 were copies of the various numbers of the Friend of Peace. The remaining 3513 were copies of the smaller Tracts-the Solemn Review, 'the Sermon on War, the last Annual Address and Reports, and copies of several Tracts from a Peace Society in London. Besides the distributions which have been made in the United States, a considerable number of Tracts have been sent to four of the British Provinces in America-to London, Liverpool, and Manchester in England-to Glasglow and Dundee in Scotland, and to St. Petersburgh, in Russia. In addition to the distributions which have been made at the expense of the Society, many thousands of Peace Tracts have been sold or gratuitously distributed in different sections of the United States; and much evidence has occurred that these Tracts have been favourably received, and have produced considerable effects. They have not only excited attention to the objects of the Society, but have increased the number of its friends and its members. At the last anniversary this Society consisted of 304 members. It has since been increased to upwards of 550, including six auxiliary or branch societies, which have been formed in the course of the year. The Society now extends by its members to nine of the United States, and two of the British provinces. Several new Peace Societies have been recently organized in different states. From information received, it appears that there are now in this country at least seventeen organized Peace Societies, including Auxiliaries; and that several others are about forming, if not already formed. To these may be added a conference of the Methodist Reformed Church in the state of New York, which has assumed the character of a Peace Society, and a Society of Young Friends in Bucks county, in Pennsylvania, which has been formed for the purpose of distributing Peace Tracts. Respectful notice should also be taken of an individual mechanic in the state of New York, who has published, at his own expense, fourteen thousand copies of the Friend of Peace, and two thousand five hundred copies of the Solemn Review of the Custom of War. A man of such energy and benevolence may justly have his name enrolled with Peace Societies. What may not be done in this good cause when men of wealth and enterprize shall truly feel its importance! This In London there are two independent Peace Societies. The Society for Promoting Permanent and Universal Peace, has a considerable number of Auxiliaries in different parts of the kingdom; it has published many thousands of Tracts-some of which have been translated into the German language. will doubtless be followed by an extensive circulation on the continent of Europe. Several of the English periodical works favour the cause of peace--the Philanthropist, the Eclectic Review, the Edinburgh Review, the Evangelical Magazine, and the Christian Observer. In each of these, articles have appeared which must have excited much reflection, and multiplied the advocates for peace. The Report then goes on to take a view of the obstacles to be encountered.. Among these are the following;-the extensive influence of a mis-directed education,-the accumulated prejudices of seve *The Society has been enlarged since the Report was communicated. ral thousand years, -the enormous expenditures which in every country are devoted to military objects,-the vast numbers of men who imagine that their interest or their fame must rise or fall with the popularity of war,-the many also, who suppose that they understand the subject sufficiently to decide, without the labour of investigation,--and the whole mass of human depravity. These all stand arrayed to obstruct the object of Peace Societies. An answer is given to the objection, that war is necessary from the very nature of man, by an appeal to history, which shows us that many customs, once esteemed quite as necessary, have yet passed away. "Public opinion, custom, and habit, always create a kind of necessity in their own favour." At one period in the history of our ancestors, they were of the opinion that human sacrifices were acceptable to God, and the most efficacious means of appeasing his anger, and procuring his aid. While such was the prevailing sentiment, human sacrifices were as necessary "from the very nature of man," as wars have been in this age. But as soon as public opinion was changed, the necessity of such sacrifices ceased to exist, and the custom was of course abolished. The same things may be affirmed of other barbarous customs, the histories of which are now read with astonishment mingled with horror. Within less than 150 years, the learned Christians of Massachusetts regarded "liberty of conscience," or "toleration," as the first-born of all abominations; and were of the opinion that "to destroy the bodies of those wolves," who propagate erroneous opinions, is not "frustrating the end of Christ's coming, which was to save souls, but a direct advancing it." While such was the popular sentiment, there was a necessity of hanging or burning men for their conscientious opinions,--and the best of men were as liable to suffer as the worst. But in our times, that liberty of conscience which our ancestors regarded with so much horror, is acknowledged in our civil constitutions, as one of the essential and unalienable rights of man. Of course, there is now no necessity of destroying "the bodies" of men on account of their religious opinions. Such scenes as were formerly witnessed in New-England, if now repeated, would fill the whole country with indignation and horror. A similar change in public sentiment, and in the constitutions and laws of the country, will render war, with all its bewildering splendour, an object of general abhorrence. The 15th No. of The Friend of Peace is published, and contains the following additional facts relative to peace societies. The New-York Peace Society has been lately re-organized and its concerns placed under the direction of a large Committee. The Annual meeting of the Society was held on the 25th of December; a valuable Report has been published, and the prospects of the society are flattering. The Ohio Peace Society is also in a flourishing state; its numbers increasing and its exertions very considerable. This Society has republished eight numbers of the Friend of Peace, and has proposed to republish the remainder of the first volume. Four respectable Auxiliaries have been added to the M.P.S. Two new Peace Societies in the state of New-York have also been recently formed. A proposed Constitution for a Vermont Peace Society has been published in the newspapers of that state. The Friend of Peace has obtained a very extensive circulation. Nos. 1, 2, and 3, have already passed through seven editions, and the 7th edition of No. 4, is now in press. Several other numbers have passed through 5 or 6 editions, and the whole of the first volume has been reprinted. Society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North America.-The anniversary of this Society was holden in November last, when the discourse was preached by Rev. President Kirkland. The annual report has but just been published. It presents a detail of the operations of the Society in the District of Maine, and among some of the Indian tribes. In the District of Maine it supported, during the last year, eleven missionaries in various places, from two to four months each, and granted to some places pecuniary assistance for schools and religious instruction. By the accounts received from their missionaries, there appears to be in various parts of that country, a deplorable want both of common and of religious instruction. Many instances like the following are given:-"Last fall," says Mr. Sawyer, who has been occupied at Williamsburg and the vicinity, "I visited a neighbourhood, where I found their sons and daughters, of the age of eighteen or twenty years, who could not read a word. I engaged a young woman, of good qualifications, to teach them three months. The first week she had twenty-one scholars; and only three of them could read the alphabet. A few miles distant, I visited a family of thirteen, parents and children; and neither parent nor child could read a sentence in the word of God; in the nearest house was a family of seven in the same lamentable ignorance." Mr. Douglas says, "he finds great reason to lament the neglect of early religious instruction. New Series-vol. I. 11 Here are parents, surrounded with children, to whom even the first principles of religion have never been taught. He frequently examined the children before them, and, to their extreme mortification, found the children destitute of a knowledge of the existence of God." One girl of seventeen years old, could not even read. Mr. Parker informs us, "that at Pittston, East Parish, where there are about fifteen or twenty families, only one sermon has been preached since the settlement, fifteen years; that no missionary had ever before visited them, and that they were so poor as to be even neglected by the Methodists." From such specimens it is evident there is a great deal to be done in that part of our land; and the report of the society contains much gratifying information of what has been done successfully. Schools have been opened and maintained, and meetings for worship and preaching holden, which have undoubtedly been the means of great good. With respect to the Indians, to whom a portion of the attention of this society is directed, their report gives some interesting intelligence. A school was opened for three months, among the Narragansetts, at Charlestown, Rhode Island, at which "the children, from twelve to twenty-four, appear to have made considerable improvement. A girl of about twelve years of age, says the Instructor, began in words of two syllables, and in the course of a week was in four syllables. She became well acquainted with the spelling book, and I advanced her to the Testament, and, at the close of the school, she could read in any part of the Testament with fluency and exactness. Numbers, who began in words of two syllables, read at the close with tolerable exactness." The Rev. T. Alden has performed a second mission of six weeks among the Seneca and Munsee tribes. He has given a particular account of some of his interviews with the natives, and of the topics on which he addressed them. They listened attentively, and answered him kindly. Their replies, in two instances, are given as follows:We thank "Brother, we thank you for coming to see us. the Great Spirit, that he has given you health and strength to come and talk to us about the works of God. We will thank the Great Spirit to preserve your health and to prosper you in going to the other villages of your red brethren. "Brother, we have been told nearly the same things, which you have now told us, by men of different societies. We have considered them much. We fully understand every thing you have told us, and we shall take it into deeper consideration than we have ever done before. |