the wafer.) She replied, I would be glad to know on what condition I am to take him?" He said, 'If you take him free from sin, he will be eternal nourishment to you; and if otherwise, eternal damnation to you! She said, 'Then I will never take him on those conditions, for I know that I am a sinner; and in the very act a sinful thought might pass through my mind.' Oh,' said he, 'I forgive your sins.' 'You cannot forgive your own sins,' said she, there is none who can forgive my sins but Jesus, who suffered for my sins.' 'I see,' said he, 'that you are a preacher.'* 'I am not,' she replied, 'I never saw a preacher.' 'Then how is it you come by the preacher's words?' "They are the words of the Testament.' to that book you are certainly damned!' when this is the only book which tells me how I may escape damnation !' 'If you do not promise neither to keep, nor hear that book, I will have nothing to do with you! Well,' said she, She said, Said he,' If you adhere This is strange,' said she, 6 that promise I will never make; so farewell!' She now puts the question to her neighbours, Dare any of you say, that you are free from sin?' which none of them will affirm. She then tells them plainly, that by their own confession they acknowledge their own condemnation; and many of them are under strong convic tions of sin. "W. M." XI. Report of the Church Missionary Society continued. In our last number we made a few observations on the nature of what may be termed, the Missionary spirit. Not indeed that this is strictly speaking, its exclusive term, for a time will come when it will be no longer applicable, while the spirit of Christian philanthropy which it denominates, will, we doubt not, reign in greater power than ever. When a desire to promote the highest interests of men shall exist in every country in sufficient strength and extent, aid sent from other countries will be no longer neces * A term applied by the priests to all who read the scriptures. sary; and it is with unspeakable pleasure that we contemplate the increase of this spirit in India. We now however turn to this spirit in the Mother country, as exerting itself in various ways to promote the highest happiness of those countries which are connected with Britain ; a temper more laudable and more truly glorious to any country than a spirit of conquest or self-aggrandizement, however splendid in its results. At this distance of time we contemplate the extension of even the Roman empire in its heighth of power, with far more pleasure in the roads and aqueducts' it formed in the conquered countries, in the civilization it introduced, and even in the slight taste for literature which it diffused among the various nations, than in all the triumphs it brought to Rome, or the treasure it enabled her to collect by way of tribute from all these provinces. Nor can we view Britain with her immense power of imparting good, animated as it now is with the increasing desire, as occupying a place among the nations less influential, than that which Rome formerly enjoyed. The superiority of Rome was chiefly that of power, exercised over countries, many of them in a state of semi-barbarism, and directed by a despotic head often . devoted to every sensual gratification. The superiority of Britain is that of intellectual exertion, affecting countries the most enlightened, as well as illuminating those in a state of ignorance; while it is directed by a degree' of wisdom and benevolence hitherto seldom combined. Its effects therefore are different; while Rome was an object of terror, and, through her often lawless and unprincip'ed servants, wielded the rod of despotic oppression over the fairest countries on earth, the influence of Britain is a blessing to the earth, a terror only to the evil-minded and the oppressor, while it is cheering to all who love mankind. What a loss to the earth, were Britain with all her sons, by any means suddenly annihilated! What a chasm would be left in the moral and intellectual world! Yet who suffered when Rome sink, or rather expired of old age so long previously enervated by her own vices? B b While this then is the station assigned to Britain By the God of the whole earth, let us rejoice that she has in some measure been counted worthy of it, and seek to nourish and increase that spirit which "HE who is good, and doeth good," most approves in an individual or a nation. Viewing things in this light however, we cannot coutemplate Societies actuated by the spirit of Christian philanthropy as dishonorable or unimportant to their country; nor can we contemplate that which is the subject of the present article as the least important among these Societies. In examining its Report, the mind is unavoidably struck with the amount of the sum which has been subscribed to its fi nances in a year of almost unexampled suffering and distress. This is no less than Twenty Thousand Pounds sterling; a sum small compared with many others subscribed for public purposes, and small indeed compared with the receipts during the year at the theatres of the metropolis; but great and important, when the object is considered for which it has been subscribed, and still more when we consider in what way it has been raised. It recals to our minds ideas totally different from such as would arise from contemplating a sum to this amount voted to this ob ject by an act of the legislature. This might have been done while comparatively a small number of minds had felt the importauce of the object, and concurred in the grant. But when we consider the number of small sums which have gone to form this aggregate, and reflect that in each instance there must have been an understanding exercised to discern and a will to approve the nature and excellence of this object, the raising of no sums can excite more pleasing ideas in the minds of those who are aware that "Righteousness exalteth a nation," than of sums thus willingly given to promote what is esteemed the cause of truth and righteousness, often by those whose circumstances more strongly resem ble those of the poor widow, than those of the rich man, in the gospel. Perhaps the least number of minds thus concurring to raise this sum alone, may be estimated at Fifty Thousand; they may possibly amount to a Hundred Thousand. When this idea is extended to the whole Two Hundred Thousand Pounds supposed to be raised annually in Britain for the purposes of Christian philanthropy, and when it is considered that those minds thus engaged in contributing, do not withdraw from the object the moment the mite is contributed, but rather follow it with their good wishes, if not with their ardent supplications, what view of things can be more exhilarating to those who with the heart believe the Scriptures, and love their country? We now come to the application of this vast sum. And here the humane will rejoice at the thought that more than one-third of it has been devoted to Africa, and designed to heal the bleeding wounds of that afflicted country, so much visited by Europeans, not for its gold nor its rich commodities, but to trade in the persons of men. That when humanity, invigorated by a far mightier impulse than her own, had burst asunder the chains of the unhappy native, and abolished that infamous traffic, Christianity should follow pouring balm into the wounds of this afflicted country, was worthy of that enlightened mind, who, as he has been ever the first among those who espoused the cause of the unhappy African, is also among the steadiest supporters of that Society which has thus directed its most strenuous efforts towards the very scenes of former oppression and plunder. This step indeed was as wise, as it was Christian-like. It was scarcely to be expected that avarice would be restrained from its prey by mere laws; that rapine and plunder should bow in cordial submission even to the acts of a British Parliament. To witness the real state of things therefore, was both necessary and right; and if the eye of the Christian Missionary has brought down upon him the hatred of those who wished to continue this horrid traffic, this will be ascribed to no fault in him, when it is considered that this hatred is grounded on the same principle with that borne to the all-seeing eye of Omniscience itself: "He that doeth evil hateth the light." It is however to be regretted that this spirit of hatred has been so successful, as almost to drive the missionaries from the imme diate scene of former enormities. The following is the statement given of this fact in the Report: "Your Committee grieve to state, that so great is the demoralizing effect of the Slave Trade, and so inveterate the evil habits which it has generated, that it is not improbable but it may be necessary to withdraw wholly, for the present, from the Rio Pongas. "The Committee cannot but put on record an affecting instance of the mischiefs arising from the Slave Trade. "A Chief on the Rio Nunis had, for several years, placed his sons in the Bashia School. He was long a determined friend of the Abolition of the Slave Trade; and would admit no Slave Vessels into the Rio Nunis: but he has been overcome. He has withdrawn his four sons from the Society's Schools; and the elder of them is compelled to employ the acquisitions which he has made under the Society, in assisting his father to carry on this degrading traffic. No doubt,' says Mr. Renner, much against his tender feelings.' A Boy who could pour out his heart, as this poor Youth did in a letter to the Secretary, could never be brought, without violence to his conscience, to engage in this flagitious employment. "Sir, "I thank the Society for sending Mr. Bickersteth out to see us. Oh, how kind is our Society to us poor Africans! May God enable us that we may know the ways of Jesus Christ our Lord; and not only know them, but walk in them, all the days of our lives! “Oh, may God bless the Society, and the Missionaries which they have sent out to teach us! O Lord, bless us also, poor Africans and teach us to know thy ways; that, in due time, we may spread abroad, and preach thy Gospel from shore to shore! "It is obvious that an entire and final Abolition of the Slave Trade is indispensable to the effectual melioration of Africa-an Abolition enforced by the most rigorous punishment of all surreptitious and piratica traffic; and which must be accompanied by benevolent and persevering exertions to stimulate the Natives to habits of industry, by exchanging with them for the products of their soil, those things on which they have been accustomed to set a value. So long as a clandestine Slave Trade shall afford to |