ject was committed to them and Rev. Eli Smith, by whom a resolution was reported in the following form, and adopted by the Board.

Resolved, That when any missionary or assistant missionary of the Board shall desire, on account of ill health or any other cause, to return to the United States, he be required to obtain permission from the Prudential Committee so to do, when it is practicable, (always sending with his request the opinion of his mission,) and when impracticable to obtain such permission, that he be required to obtain the consent of his mission, which consent shall always be subject to the revision of the Prudential Committee.

A memorial having been read from the Association of Congregational Ministers in Berkshire, Massachusetts, relating to the Rev. Josiah Brewer, a former missionary of the Board, it was

Resolved, That said memorial be referred to a committee of seven, who shall consider whether it is expedient for the Board to give a re-hearing to the case of the Rev. Josiah Brewer; and provided that they consider a re-hearing of his case expedient, that they report the manner of doing this, which they shall deem most proper.

Rev. Drs. Edwards, Hawes, Beman, and Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen, Hon. Charles Marsh, Rev. E. W. Hooker, Rev. Tertius S. Clarke, were appointed a committee on the subject.

The committee afterwards reported that it is expedient for the Board to give a re-hearing to the case of the Rev. Josiah Brewer; and that, for this purpose a committee of seven be appointed, who shall meet in Boston at such time as shall be agreed upon by themselves, and report at the next meeting of the Board; the committee to have power to fill their own vacancies. This report was accepted and approved; and the Rev. Drs. Edwards and Bates, Hon. Charles Marsh, Rev. Drs. Hawes and Snell, Hon. Joseph Russell, and Hon. Lewis Strong were appointed a committee to hear the case.

A committee on vacancies in the officers of the Board, consisting of Rev. Drs. McAuley and Tappan, Rev. W. J. Armstrong, Hon. Charles Marsh and Jonathan Edwards Esq., reported, that they recommend that the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen be elected Vice President of the Board in place of Hon. S. Van Rensselaer, deceased, Rev. Silas Aiken, of Boston, a member of the Prudential Committee in place of Dr. Fay resigned, and Rev. B. B. Edwards, of Andover, Assistant Recording Secretary, in place of Charles Stoddard, Esq. resigned. This report was accepted.

A committee on the next annual meeting of the Board and on the preacher, consisting of Rev. Drs. Codman, N. Porter, Tucker, Yates and Orrin Day, Esq., recommended Providence, R. I. as the place of the next meeting of the Board, and that the Rev. Dr. Beman be the preacher and the Rev. Dr. Edwards his substitute in case of failure; and that the congregational clergymen of Providence, together with Dea. Josiah Chapin, T. R. Arnold, Esq. and Dea. E. Gladding be a committee of arrangements. This report was accepted.

The committee on the election of new members, consisting of Hon. S. Hubbard, Rev. Drs. Woods, Codman, Yale, and Baldwin, made a report in which they recommend that the Rev. Silas Aiken, of Boston, and the Rev. Bela B. Edwards of Andover, Massachusetts; William B. Sprague, D. D., of Albany, and Eliphalet Wickes, Esq., of Troy, N. Y.;

and Reuben Post, D. D., of Charleston, S. C., be elected corporate members of the Board; and that Sir Culling Eardley Smith, of Hatfield, England, and Sir William Norris of Penang, be elected corresponding members. These persons were subsequently elected, agreeably to the recommendation of the Committee.

MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED.

Resolved, That the Board have heard with much interest and pleasure of a second donation of £200 from the government of Ceylon to the mission in that island for the support of the seminary and schools connected with the mission; and that the missionaries be instructed to communicate to the government an assurance of the gratitude of the Board in view of this liberality.

The freedom of the Rooms of the Young Men's Association of Troy having been tendered to the members of the Board during the sessions,

Voted, That the thanks of the Board be presented to the association.

One of the Bye Laws of the Board, in relation to missionaries was amended so as to read as follows: "No missionary or assistant missionary of the Board shall engage in any business or transaction yielding pecuniary profit, without first obtaining the consent of his brethren in the mission."

The following resolutions of a general character were read by Dr. Anderson, and after remarks by various gentlemen, were adopted.

Resolved, That the evident movements of the Spirit of God of late among oriental Christians of the Armenian church at the seat of Turkish power, and among the Druzes in the mountains of Lebanon, and the remarkable disposition of the Syrian Nestorian Christians to welcome the instructions of their more favored brethren of the west in those gospel principles which they have lost in their long night of oppression and ignorance,are full of promises for the future, provided the work of spiritual illumination be only followed up with increasing zeal by means of the preached gospel and its great auxiliary, the press.

Resolved, That the intelligence received from the Sandwich Islands, announcing that five thousand souls at these islands were received into the christian church during the year ending June 1, 1838, and, more recently, that this number has been increased to nearly ten thousand souls; and that they were received on what the pastors of the several churches regarded as a credible profession of piety; by which means the whole number of professed christian converts connected with our missions has been rendered fourfold greater than it was known to be at our last anniversary-while there is enough in some of its aspects to awaken our prayerful solicitude, does nevertheless call for fervent thanksgivings to God from the Board and the whole church, and furnishes the most animating inducements for a great increase of zeal and energy, and for the exercise of a far more lively and joyful faith, in our work among the heathen.

Resolved, That the Board is more and more convinced of the propriety and importance of sending our choicest men and women on the foreign service of the church, and of the most prayerful and cautious circumspection in the appointment of persons to this service; and it would recommend to the Prudential Committee to have, as far as possible, a personal acquaintance with the candidates, in addition to the usual means of information concerning them, before appointing them missionaries of the Board.

Resolved, That the state of the religious community imposes the solemn duty on the different protestant missionary societies assiduously to cultivate a mutual respect and courtesy; to avoid all unpleasant interference with each others plans and proceedings; and to cultivate good feeling and co-operation among all the missionaries in the foreign field; and that, in the present measure of good understanding and fellowship and in the prospect

that these will, through the divine blessing, continue, the Board sees occasion for unfeigned joy regarding them as tokens of peace, extension, vigor, and a speedier triumph in our efforts to destroy the far-extending and powerful organizations of ignorance and sin in the pagan and Mohammedan nations.

Resolved, That there are encouraging signs in divine providence of the approach of that period, fixed in the counsels of Infinite Wisdom, and rapturously contemplated by prophets of old, when the knowledge and blessings of the gospel shall extend over the earth. Especially are these signs to be seen in the employment of so large a portion of the capital and enterprise of christian nations in multiplying facilities for travelling by land and water; in the successful application of steam to ocean navigation, and in the prospect of its finding its way into every sea and all the great rivers of the world; and in the ascendancy, in countries that would otherwise scarcely be accessible to the christian missionary, of a great protestant power, which is restrained neither by indifference, or fear, or policy, from giving its protection and countenance to the labors of the missionary.

Resolved, That the chief bond of union and pledge of perseverance in the missionary enterprise, is a spirit of dependence among all the disciples of Christ on their common Lord, leading to fervent and united prayer; and that, in this view especially, the Monthly Concert for Prayer is an institution of obvious expediency and great value to the cause; while the observance of the FIRST MONDAY IN THE YEAR as a season of fasting, as well as prayer, for the conversion of the world, is earnestly commended to the attention of all Christians.

The thanks of the Board were presented to the Presbyterian churches in First and Second Streets for the accommodations they furnished the Board during its anniversary, to the choir of singers connected with the church in First Street, and also to families and individuals for their kindness and hospitality to members of the Board.

LETTERS FROM ABSENT MEMBERS.

Letters were read from the Hon. Peter D. Vroom of New Jersey, and the Rev. James G. Hamner of Baltimore, Md., expressing their unabated interest in the Board, and their regret in not being able to attend the present meeting.

A letter was read from the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller of Princeton, N. J., resigning his membership in the Board.

DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES.

The session of the Board on the first day was opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Bates; and on the second and third days by the Rev. Dr. Nott, and the Rev. Mr. Magie, and the meeting was closed with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Hillyer.

On the evening of Wednesday, the 11th, the annual sermon was delivered by the Rev. Dr. McAuley. For this sermon the thanks of the

Board were expressed, and a copy was requested for the press. On the afternoon of Tuesday the members of the Board, together with a large number of other Christians, united in celebrating the death of Christ, in the Presbyterian church in Second Street. Rev. Drs. Woods, Yates, Merrill, Hillyer, and the Rev. Mr. Boies took part in the services of this occasion.

The

A public meeting was held on the evening of Thursday, in the Presbyterian church in First Street. The devotional exercises were performed by the Rev. John Maltby and Dr. Beman, extracts from the annual Report of the Prudential Committee were read, and addresses

were delivered by the Rev. Drs. Beman and Patton, Rev. Eli Smith, and the Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen.

OFFICERS ELECTED.

The following persons were elected officers of the Board for the year ensuing.

JOHN COTTON SMITH, LL. D., President;

THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN, LL. D., Vice President;
CALVIN CHAPIN, D. D., Recording Secretary;

Rev. BELA B. EDWARDS, Assistant Recording Secretary;

SAMUEL HUBBARD, LL. D.

Hon. SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG,

CHARLES STODDARD, Esq.
JOHN TAPPAN, Esq.
DANIEL NOYES, Esq.

Rev. NEHEMIAH ADAMS,

Rev. SILAS AIKEN.

Rev. RUFUS ANDERSON,
Rev. DAVID GREENE,

Rev. WILLIAM J. ARMSTRONG, S

HENRY HILL, Esq., Treasurer;

WILLIAM J. HUBBARD, Esq.
CHARLES SCUDDER, Esq.

Prudential Committee;

Secretaries for Correspondence;

Auditors;

The Board adjourned to meet in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, on the second Wednesday of September, 1840, at 10 o'clock, A. M.

Omission. Under NEW HAMPSHIRE, near the bottom of page 5, should be inserted the following names of deceased corporate members of the Board, which have been omitted by mistake, since the Report for 1834.

THIRTIETH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE.

MR. PRESIDENT:

In the review of the year that has just closed, as of those that preceded it, we meet the sad, but instructive memorials of beloved associates in our work, who have ceased from earthly labors for Christ and the perishing heathen. The Rev. Gideon Blackburn, D. D., of Carlinville, Illinois, deceased a few days before the last meeting of the Board; and in January of the present year, the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany, New York, one of the early members of the Board, and for the last thirteen years its Vice President. In different spheres of action, and in parts of our widely extended country remote from each other, they served their generation by the will of God, with eminent fidelity and usefulness, and full of years, they have fallen asleep in Jesus.

Of the ordained missionaries of the Board not one has been removed by death since the date of the last report, and among the three hundred and fifty-eight missionaries and assistant missionaries from this country, then connected with the missions, we have heard of but three deaths. Mrs. Johnson, the wife of Rev. Stephen Johnson, of the mission to Siam; Mrs. Grant, the wife of Asahel Grant, M. D., of the mission to the Nestorians, and Mrs. Wood, wife of the Rev. G. W. Wood, of the mission at Singapore.