That the opinions which have been expressed, both as to the impracticability of attaining this object, and the danger of civil commotion in attempting it, are regarded by your petitioners as founded either in prejudice or misapprehension, and are demonstrated to be erroneous by the evidence of facts.

That the Missionary Society through the kindness of the executive Government, which they have on all occasions experienced, and most gratefully acknowledge, have for several years past had Missionary stations in the Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Demarara, Trinidad, Tobago, and also on the Continent of India, and they are willing to appeal to the governors presiding over them, as to the character and proceedings of those Missionaries, and as to the conduct of those who attend on their instructions.

That the Missionaries sent out by your petitioners,-desirous only of protection and not seeking to be invested with civil authority, will not have the power any more than the inclination to promote Christianity by means of coercion-it would moreover be inconsistent with their principles, as also with their success, which requires a peaceful, and not a disturbed state of society.

That in the propagation of Christianity in India, their Missionaries are instructed not to excite the prejudices of the natives, by declamations against their superstitions -but to rely for their success upon the divine blessing attending a candid statement of the evidences which sustain the Christian religion, of the sacred doctrines, promises, and precepts of which it principally consists and on their exemplary and blameless lives, attended by deeds of kindness, and good will to the natives.

(That your petitioners are not merely willing, but very desirous that the Govern ment both at home and in India, should be fully acquainted both with their principles and their measures, by which it will appear that their Missionaries receive full instructions on the great Christian principles, which form good and peaceable subjects and useful members of civil society.)

That your petitioners being most firmly attached to the constitution of the country, and ardently desirous of its true prosperity, dignity, and perpetuity, and being convinced that the stability and glory of Christian nations, depend on the practice of Christian duties, are conscious that in endeavoring to diffuse the principles of Christianity to the utmost extent of the British dominions and influence-they are acting on the purest principles of patriotism, and rendering the most important services to their country.

That in conformity with these views,

your Petitioners receive the highest satis faction from the resolution of your Honorable House, passed in the year 1793, viz.

That it is the peculiar and bounden duty of the British Legislature, to promote by all just and prudent means, the interests and happiness of the inhabitants of the British dominions in India, and that for these ends such measures ought to be adopted, as may gradually tend to their advancement in useful knowledge, and to their religious and moral improvement."

And your Petitioners therefore humbly hope, and earnestly intreat your Honorable House, that in the Charter intended to be granted to the East India Company, such provisions may be made, as may secure the admission of Christian Ministers and Missionaries into India, and their protection there so long as they shall act agreeably to the laws, and to the duties of good and peaceable subjects.

And your Petitioners shall ever pray, &c.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS TO THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY, MAY 13, 1813.

(Continued from p. 139.)

The state of religion at Cape Town appears to be encouraging, especially among the soldiers. Mr. Thom preaches to them with great acceptance and usefulness; and they have addressed a letter to the Directors, earnestly requesting that he may continue at the Cape as their stated minister. No sooner had he landed, than a quantity of books, to the value of nearly 2001 which he took out for India, were purchased by the soldiers, many of whom are of the 95d regiment (Scot's Highlanders.)

Mr. Milne, the intended assistant of Mr. Morrison, with Mrs. M. who had arrived safely at the Cape, sailed from thence for the Isle of France on the 26th of Jantary.

On the whole, we have every reason to hope that the Missions in Africa, especially when they shall have been regulated by the judicious arrangements of Mr. Campbeil, will, with the divine blessing, be productive of the most beneficial effects.

INDIA.

THE Directors now beg leave to lead your attention to that part of the habitable globe which has lately, more than ever, interested the feelings of the religious world-British India-a country said to contain sixty millions of the human race, most of whom are in a deplorable state of moral degradation, in consequence of that system of gross error and horrible superstition which prevails among them, and

from which it has been the highest ambition of this Society, in common with similar associations of their fellow Christians, to labor to deliver them.

How far it may please the great Ruler of the world to influence the Legislature of this country in removing the present abstructions to the labors of Missionaries, and to facilitate their future operations, we cannot at present determine; but the Directors have never, for a single moment, lost sight of this great object, which was so strongly recommended to their vigilant attention at our last Annual Meeting; but have faithfully represented to his Majesty's ministers the wishes of this Society that, in case of the renewal of the Charter of the East India Company, some provision to the following effect may be introduced, viz. "It shall be lawful for Missionaries and Ministers of the church of England, of the church of Scotland, and of the several denominations of Protestant Dissenters, duly recommended by the respective bodies to which they belong, to proceed to India, and reside there, under the protection of Government, while they Conduct themselves in a peaceable and prudent manner, for the purpose of diffusing among the inhabitants of that country, the knowledge of Christianity, as well as for the religious advantage of British subjects of all denominations resident in India." And although the Directors were empowered; by your resolution of last year, to present petitions in the name of the Society at large, to both houses of Parliament on this important subject, they thought it preferable to convene a General Special meeting of the members of the Society resident in and about London, which took place on the 5th day of April last, and was numerously attended. Resolutions formed on that occasion, and the Petitions then adopted, have already bees generally circulated, and will also appear in the Appendix to this Report, as 2 memorial of that Christian philanthropy which warms the heart of every member of this Institution. It is proper also to mention that not in London only, but in a great number of places throughout the country, the members and friends of this Society, as well as their fellow Christians of various penominations, have manifested the same pious zeal by their petitions to Parlament for the same purpose.

The

Leaving to the disposal and control of the Great Head of the church those legislative proceeding which may affect the future progress of India Missions, the Directors, will give a general statement of what has been attempted by their Missionaries in that country during the past year, lamenting however, that some expected despatches not having yet arrived,

they cannot present intelligence of so late a date as might be wished.

TRAVANCORE.

FROM Mr. Ringletaube they have heard but little; but it appears that he continues to labor in six or seven different places in the district of Travancore, in churches which he has erected, and where he stat edly preaches the Gospel and administers Christian ordinances; he also employs five or six native schoolmasters for the instruction of youth; he has likewise several boys in training, who assist him in reading, writing, and singing, one of whom always accompanies him on his preaching excur sions; they are also occasionally sent into the villages, among the scattered proselytes, to teach them the catechism. He speaks particularly of a Mr. Fleury, who has proved the most useful of all his assistants. The labors of these schoolmasters are, Mr. Ringletaube states, of great advantage to the rising generation, not only as to their respectability and temporal prosperity, but as conducive to their spiritual good; "for," he observes, "it is in vain to print and distribute bibles, if there are none who can read them." The expense, however, of these operations has been heavier than before, on account of a great scarcity of grain occasioned by a long drought telt all over the south of the peninsula.

VIZAGAPATAM.

THE affairs of this important station are, we trust, in a prosperous state. Mr. Pritchett, who, after the death of Mr. Brain, found it necessary to leave the Burroan country, has joined his brethren in India. After being long detained at Calcutta, and under circumstances at times difficult and distressing, he was at length enabled to reach Vizagapatam, and unite with the Brethren Gordon and Lee, who greatly needed his assistance, in conse quence of the loss they had sustained by the death of the excellent Des Granges.

These missionaries into:m us that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, translated at Vizagapatam, are printed, and a quantity of them for distribution was expected by the return of the Bramin Anunderayer from Calcutta; this, they say, "they hope will be rendered an im portant benefit to the surrounding multitude, many of whom will eagerly peruse it." They are still proceeding with the work of translation; Mr. Gordon has commenced the Gospel of St. John, and Mr. Lee the book of Genesis; and they flatter themselves that from their residence and conversation among the people who speak

From the Vermont Adviser.

THE LIFE OF MR. EDWARD

HERRICK.

In the history of one, whose days were finished just as he had completed his academical studies, we are not to expect incidents of a much diversified, or a splendid character. The life of the subject of the following memoir was too short to excite the admiration of mankind, and too circumscribed in its sphere to claim their gratitude. But it was long enough to procure the love and esteem of all who knew him; to illustrate the divinely amiable character of the religion of the Gospel; and to secure an interest, as is firmly believed, in the resurrection of the just. True piety is ever lovely; for it controls the passions, enlightens the understanding, purifies and strengthens the humane affections, and brings the heart in to subjection to the government of God. But in youth it possesses peculiar loveliness and furnishes the brightest evidences of its reality. In this land of darkness, emphatically styled 'a vale of tears,'experience must sooner or later convince us of the fallacy of all human prospects; the heart often sickens at the follies and int vices of mankind; and a conni VOL. IX.

ise

viction of the vanity and treachery of the world may direct our views beyond its vain expectations to the pursuit of unsullied and substantial bliss. Or the world-worn sinner, frustrated in his hopes and exertions, and awlect of the virtuous, may assume, ed by the disapprobation and negfrom unhallowed motives, character not his own, and profess a veneration for religion, while in his heart he quarrels with its doctrines and hates its Author.

a

In the season of youth, such considerations can have little influence. Experience has not yet taught the fraudful character of the world. Ardent and unsuspecting, full of hope and buoyed by expectation, we engage in our pursuits with an avidity which

calculates with certainty upon a fears no abatement, and which successful issue. Every prospect is gilded with charms never to be realized; and our own sad disappointment, or the Almighty Spirit of God, has yet to learn us, of suffering, and that religion onthat life is little else than a scene ly yields enduring enjoyment.

When, therefore, we see a the vanities and expectations of youth abstracting himself from the world, rejecting its pleasures, and disregarding its flatteries and frowns, we are presented with an

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exhibition of piety in its most amiable and lovely form, and with the most indubitable proof of its reality and influence. In the character of such an one, the Scriptures warrant us in believ ing that God himself takes peculiar pleasure. To the sincere believer, who delights in the contemplation of such a subject, the following memoir will afford some entertainment; and it is presumed that the reader, who is yet a stranger to the vital influence of religion, will be constrained to assent to the truth of it, and to acknowledge its impor

tance.

Edward Herrick was born of pious and respectable parents in South Hampton, on Long Island. By them he was dedicated to God in infancy. As soon as he was capable of instruction, no pains were spared to impress his mind with the great truths of Christianity; and evidence was soon furnished them that their exertions were not in vain. He was early thoughtful upon the concerns of religion, far beyond his years: And indeed it may almost be said of him, as of Jeremiah and John the Baptist, that he was sanctified from the womb.

He had scarcely learnt to read, when his Bible and other religious books, instead of the amusements common to childhood, became his chief sources of entertainment. For the institutions of the Gospel he early manifested a profound reverence. Such were his views and opinions of the Sabbath, that, before his mind was capable of discrimination, he was with difficulty persuaded to attend, on this day, to the works of necessity: And in

deed he seldom engaged in them but with manifest reluctance. To the brethren of the presbyterian church in his native town he highly endeared himself. He adorned his profession, even in childhood, with a sobriety and uniformity of deportment, that are rarely surpassed by Christians of maturity in years. all his undertakings he was faithful and indefatigable almost to a proverb. He seemed, as if constantly impressed with the solemn injunction, 'Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' Even while engaged in the elementary branches of education, he discovered marks of a mind of no ordinary character. His uncommon industry and proficiency in his studies, his amiable disposition and unquestionable piety, appeared soon to indicate that he was destined by God for extensive usefulness in the church. On this sphere of action his own feelings and reflections soon fixed his attention. He felt an ardent desire to spend his days in the manner that would be most serviceable to his generation; and he resolved, with the approbation of his friends, to seek an education, and should his life be spared, to consecrate his talents to his Maker in the ministry of the Gospel. Being the oldest child of the family, the death of his father, at this period, greatly retarded him in his object. But at length, however, in the fall of 1793, and in the twenty-first year of his age, he was admitted to the standing of a sophomore in Yale College. From this time till his death, the writer, who was both his class-mate and roommate, is minutely acquainted