men is in active operation. We have an excellent house, in which they are met, by myself and colleague, three times a week, for instruction in reading, writing, and Christian theology. These young men, numbering between ten and twenty, are pious and devoted, ardent in their desire to be instructed and become useful, the hope of our churches in Feejee. FEEJEE.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. John Malvern, dated Lakemba, March 23d, 1850. THROUGH the Divine blessing, I am thankful to tell you, that myself and family are still in the enjoyment of tolerable health, a great blessing in any part of the world, but especially so in Feejee. As long as health continues, things go on pretty smoothly; but sickness makes the path rough and trying. During the past few months we have had much to try us in our work; but, on the other hand, a great deal to cheer and encourage us,-abundant evidence that we do not labour in vain. The Romish Priests busy, indefatigable, and bitter enemies of the true Gospel-have caused us much anxiety and trouble; but the Lord has confounded them, and brought them lower in the estimation of the people than ever. War, also, has threatened to destroy our comforts, if not our lives, and to blast the cause of God: this, however, has been overruled for good, and for the real advancement of the kingdom of Christ. Distressing as were our apprehensions of the war, an account of which has been given you by Mr. Lyth, our hearts were gladdened, in the midst of our fears, by its being made the immediate cause of Tuinayau's (the King of this and many adjacent islands) embracing the profession of Christianity,—an event which our brethren before us, as well as ourselves, had long desired to see; but had thought it almost useless to entertain any hope of him. What may we not expect at the hand of the Lord ? But the other day, this man was so confirmed in his Heathenism, that it seemed next to an impossibility to move him; and we had frequently said, that we thought Tuinayau, after all the trouble and prayers bestowed upon him, would die in his sins. Now he delights to hear the word of God read to him, attends the chapel every Sabbath morning, and pays great attention to the preaching he has family worship regularly conducted in his house, morning and evening. He has lately said, that the words of the Bible have got hold of his mind; and we have good ground to believe that we shall yet see him more than nominally and in public profession converted. His heathen Priest and several of his courtiers have followed his example, one of whom is now under deep convictions of sin. Many of his subjects in this and in the outer islands, in honour of His Majesty, have also outwardly bowed down to Jehovah; and, however questionable their motive, are now brought within hearing of the Gospel. Our children's school, which before averaged about twenty in number, has increased to upwards of a hundred. Several of these, who are under the care of our wives, have lately been deeply concerned about their souls; and some of them say they are made very happy, and that "Jesus is very precious to them." Be The Papists tried every manœuvre to gain the King; but in vain. They are now using every means in their power to win him over to them, or turn him back to Heathenism. The Lord rebuke them! Glory be to His name, He has done so ! Every attempt they make to propagate their system turns against them. cause they cannot succeed, they have tried what effect intimidation would have; but it is all fruitless. They have told the people, that a French man-ofwar will soon be here, and then they shall be punished for rejecting the Romish religion; and that the whole of their books, including the Bible, (their great enemy,) shall be collected together and burned. They, however, generally find us at hand, to correct any unfavourable impression they may make; and, by the blessing of God, everything they say and do is rendered futile. The Gospel of Christ, in defiance of every obstacle, continues to triumph gloriously in these dark places of the earth. The Redeemer seems to have claimed Feejee for His own. The Heathen are continually throwing away their idolatry, renouncing the superstition of their fathers, and embracing the religion of the Saviour. Heathen temples are every where to be seen tumbling into ruins; and their votaries, instead of being deluded and tormented by their deceptive oracles, are found worshipping in the temple of Jehovah, and consulting "the oracles Divine," which are able to make, and have made, many of them "wise unto salvation." Great numbers, at pre sent, are mere professors of Christianity. We do not pretend to say that they possess vital religion; yet even they are very much better than they were in their heathen state. But there are manyand their number is constantly increasing-who have truly repented, and have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and are saved. They well know what it is to have their sins, which were many, all forgiven them, and from day to day are happy in the love of God. The work of this extensive Circuit has become far too much for two Missionaries to attend to. We are often greatly perplexed to know what to do, in order to meet the pressing demands of the people, who on all hands are begging for teachers to instruct them. The Lord has raised up considerable native help; but there are several places that we cannot possibly supply. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Joseph Waterhouse, (a Son of the lamented Rev. John Waterhouse,) dated Hobart-Town, Van-Diemen's Land, February 26th, 1850. ON December 14th, when in South Australia, I received a letter from the Rev. Walter Lawry, urging me to proceed as soon as convenient to New-Zealand, via Hobart-Town, in order that I might take the first opportunity that might present itself of embarking from Auckland for Feejee. From the bereaved state of that Mission, I felt it my duty to comply with Mr. Lawry's request; and in six days I was on board the vessel which conveyed me hither. On the morning of the day of my departure from Adelaide, I attended a breakfast, to which the officers of the church had invited me and some of my personal friends. I seized the opportunity of pleading for poor Feejee; and suggested that the company present should engage to subscribe, at least, £50 sterling per annum for five years. To my great joy £86 were raised in this manner. Since my arrival in this island, I have, at the pressing request of the friends, attended the Missionary Meetings in Lauceston, Longford, Evandale, Westbury, Campbell-Town, Ross, and Oat lands; and have been much encouraged by the interest which has been re-awakened in the Feejee Mission. In the course of my journeys, I have often been deeply affected at the remembrance that I was visiting the very spots in which my late father engaged in his last public acts. I felt deeply as I entered the chapel in which he made his last Missionary speech; and I was thankful to hear many a deep sigh ascend from amidst the congregation as I advocated the cause which lay so near his heart, and which he has bequeathed to me,that of cannibal Feejee. My departed parent went home from that place of worship to die. By the grace and providence of God, I go to Feejee to devote myself, unreservedly, to the responsible, but sublime and heavenly, work of preaching Christ crucified to the Anthropophagi of Polynesia. May the God of my father bless my labours abundantly! I hope to sail for Auckland early in April. I trust my honoured fathers will not forget to pray for their unworthy son in the Gospel. SOUTHERN AFRICA. THE NATAL DISTRICT. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. William C. Holden, dated Port-Natal, ANOTHER quarter has passed away, and to us it has been one of exciting interest. The large influx of emigrants puts every thing and person in motion. No sooner has one vessel discharged her cargo of human beings, than another arrives. Amongst the many who are thus pressing to our shores, are a number of English Wesleyans. About twenty-five or thirty church-members have already arrived, chiefly under Mr. Irons. These are a very important and valuable addition to this colony. The settlement of "Verulam" is situated on the Umthloti River, about twenty miles distant, along the coast, to the north-east of D'Urban. It is a beautiful and romantic neighbourhood, diversified by hills and valleys of every size and form, is richly wooded, and has the river running through the whole of the settlement. The site of a town is already selected, and is being surveyed. A few families are already upon it, and others are daily expecting to follow. In a short time, both the town Ewen and the outside allotments will be ready for their respective occupants; and, with the blessing of God, after a year or two of effort and privation, I doubt not but they will be in circumstances of comfort. The settlement is situated on the direct line of road to Zulu-land; and it is a matter of great importance to have a number of pious people along this line of country, on account of the many natives residing upon it, and of others who will be continually coming into the colony; for I hope the object of our friends will be rather to improve the natives than drive them away. Three Local Preachers are amongst the parties who have already gone out; and most of the members appear to be devoted Christians, enjoying the power of religion, and anxious to diffuse its influence around them. Notwithstanding my very great efforts to meet the wants of this rising Circuit, our friends at Verulam would have to be without the means of grace, were it not for the assistance of Local Preachers; for at the most I can, as yet, only devote one Sunday in the quarter, and one week-evening in the month, to them. We have another English congregation formed about ten miles on this side of Verulam, which can only be supplied in the same manner. There are also two Kaffir congregations and societies; one connected with each place: so that there is already full employment for an additional Missionary beyond the Umgeni River alone; and I hope the time is very near when one will be sent. Affording direction aud advice to our people about their temporal as well as their spiritual concerns, has greatly added to my previously pressing engagements; but I am trying so to lay the foundation of a civil community and a spiritual house, that each succeeding year, as it rolls away, may give increased vigour Extract of a Letter from the Same, I TAKE an early opportunity of gratefully acknowledging the receipt of the two cases of prints, garments, &c., which you kindly sent, and which came safely to hand a few days ago. The aid was very much needed, and the articles will be carefully appropriated to the objects for which they were sent. It may not be improper to state the manner in which the distribution is made: 1. They are VOL. VI.-FOURTH SERIES. and stability to the edifice, and that along this fine line of coast there may indeed be a peaceful and prosperous people, bringing glory to God, and making the land as the garden of Eden. new In the Bay, our old English chapel is much too small for our English congregation. The completion of our chapel has been delayed by circumstances over which we had no control; but I think there is a prospect of being able to open it in a few weeks, when our comfort and usefulness will doubtless be greatly increased. Some of our people sustain spiritual loss on their voyage out, which is not to be greatly wondered at; but their case is made very much worse, if on their arrival they do not immediately unite themselves with the church of Christ, and place themselves under the pastoral care of their Minister. It should be a source of great gratification to them to know that they are not coming to a place where they will have to be set down in the solitary wilderness, without the means of grace, or any one to care for their souls; but that already provision is made for their spiritual wants, the same, in kind, as in their fatherland. Our work among the natives continues much the same as before, only that in the summer our congregations are not usually so large, or our success so great, as in the winter. Many causes combine to draw aside the attention, and entice the people from the house of God. Five Kaffir adults have been baptized during the quarter, who all professed to be changed characters. Three of these had been the wives of polygamists, and had been obliged to forsake their husbands, in addition to other trials, in order to embrace the Gospel. We have many cases of difficulty and sacrifice here which are unknown in England. There are now upwards of a hundred full church-members, and fifty on trial, in this Circuit. We greatly need your sympathy and prayers. dated Port-Natal, May 24th, 1850. given only to persons who are either meeting in class or attending school. 2. No garment is given to any one who is able to work, so as to be able to procure that which he or she needs, by means of industrious habits. 3. They are given to old and young persons who are unable to procure them at all, or only in such a manner as nearly to exclude them from the means of obtaining 4 Q them in any other way. Take the following illustration: A short time before I obtained any assistance, two females, one from fifty to sixty years old, and the other from sixty to seventy, came and sat down before me: I inquired what was the object for which they came: the answer was, they were naked. I inquired how it was they had lived so many years in the world without ever having a garment on, and now in their old age only they had learned that they were in a state of nudity. The reply was, that God's word had now come amongst them, and that by it they saw that they were sinful and naked, and that they were now ashamed before Him. After a little more conversation, I sent them away, without any reason to expect that I should be able to meet their wishes in providing a garment for them; but, in a short time afterwards, my Derby friends sent a case of prints, calicoes, &c., which had scarcely arrived, when the same two old women came again, and with cheerful countenances renewed their application, with the assurance of success; and were very thankful when they obtained the means of laying aside the filthy pieces of skin which Heathenism had supplied, and put on the garment which Christianity had furnished; but as this one frock could only be for the Sabbath, and that part of the holy day only on which they would be in attendance on Divine worship, they had to get pieces of calico to put round them while at work, or going about their ordinary engagements. They came to one of my country stations, about nine miles distant; and when I went again to preach and meet the class a short time after, there they were, with their clean skin and new frocks; and so great a change in the outward appearance of human beings, in so short a time, I never saw : so poor and wretched had the oldest of them before appeared, that her friends gave her out to be dead; and, when giving the number of living human beings in the house, excluded her from the list; but there is now every probability that she will be not only among the living on earth, but also among the living in the spiritual Jerusalem. If our Christian friends in England could see many of the sights which I see, they would think themselves amply repaid for the money they contribute, and the articles they send, and would say, "The money, the time, the labour, &c., which I devoted to that object, was the very best applied of any part of my The Christian Kaffir can have only one wife, instead of five or ten which the Heathen has; so that all the odds are against their acceptance of Christianity and civilisation. The Heathen says to the Christian, "You are a fool for embracing Christianity; for you have to work hard with your one wife, whilst I have plenty of wives to work for me, and I can live in abundance without doing anything at all." And the Heathen woman says to the Christian, "Ah, you see what you get by your religion: I have three, five, or ten women to share the labour with me, whilst you are obliged to drag on alone as you best can, and your husband is a slave at the same time," &c. These are amongst the many other opposing influences which are brought to bear against Christianity, so that no one, not even the Englishman living next door, knows all that a Missionary has to do, and to try and discourage him. THE BECHUANA DISTRICT. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. James Cameron, dated Thaba-Unchu, I was cheered at the last renewal of the quarterly tickets, to find most of the members of our church here holding fast the profession of their faith without wavering, expressing the liveliest gratitude for their deliverance from the ignorance, degradation, and misery of Heathenism, and for their introduction to the blessings and privileges of Christianity. Five catechumens, three of whom professed to have obtained the forgiveness of their sins through faith in Christ, were, after a lengthened probation, admitted to the sacrament of baptism. Amongst these was the eldest son of the Chief Moroko, with He he has been on trial for church-membership; and as his Class-Leader spoke well of him, and his moral conduct was irreproachable, I thought the prolongation of his novitiate might be productive of discouragement, if not of worse consequences, so I consented to baptize him. I do hope he will, conformably to his baptismal pledges, renounce the vanities of the world, the lusts of the flesh, and the works of the devil. Our sacramental and lovefeast occa sions, on the 7th and 14th instant, were indeed times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. In no Christian church, even of favoured England, could the memorials of the Saviour's passion have been received with greater propriety each one, kneeling erect, reverently took from the hands of his Pastor the symbols of Christ's body and blood, as the outward seal of the Gospel covenant, with all the rich blessings it insures to penitent believers. At the lovefeast many testified to their having experienced the power, as well as adopted the form, of godliness. A few spoke with so much feeling as to move the whole assembly, who seemed as with one heart to follow hard after God. On Tuesday, the 9th instant, the foundation-stone of our new chapel was laid, with the usual formalities. From various causes, and especially the want of funds, this building has been delayed much longer than was at one time anticipated; but we have now made a commencement in good earnest, and hope, with the Divine blessing, to have it ple contributed money to pay for the THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE DISTRICT. NEWMANVILLE. -Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Richard Ridgill, SINCE I last wrote to you, I have twice visited Newmanville, the residence of Mr. John D. Lindsay. It is situated in the district of Worcester, distant from this place (according to our Cape mode of computing distances) nine hours on horseback. Mr. Lindsay has been connected for several years with our Society as a member. He first went into the country as a Teacher in a private family. His heart glowing with the love of God, he let his light shine among men by establishing a Sabbath and evening school for the neglected adults and children of colour in the neighbourhood. For a length of time he met with much opposition: for his motives were misunderstood, and his proceedings misrepresented. Nevertheless, through good report and evil report, he continued to exhort and teach, until the prejudices of the unfriendly gave way. Having embraced, about two years ago, an opportunity of commencing business in the same place on an extensive scale, he found his means of doing good likewise increased. He fitted up a suitable building for a chapel or school-room, in which he collects, on the Sabbath, and at other times, as many of his poorer neighbours as he can, to whom he expounds the Scriptures, and whom he endeavours to guide in the way of peace. He has also succeeded to such an extent in gaining the confidence and esteem of the respectable Dutch farmers around him, that, in consequence of their application, the Governor, Sir Harry Smith, honoured him, a few months ago, with a Commission of the Peace for that district. |