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portant, as they show that the great cause of the evangelization of the world, has a growing interest in the hearts of Christians; and that energies, more combined and glowing than formerly, are now put into activity for the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ. May the blessing of God be upon the labours and efforts of the ensuing year, that every succeeding anniversary of the Wesleyan, and other Societies, may present new causes of congratulation, praise, and triumph, till, "the wickedness of the wicked shall come to an end, and righteousness shall be established throughout the earth."

AFRICA.

Extract of a Letter from Mr. SHAW to Mr. TATTERSHALL, dated Little Namacqualand, Leclie Fontaine, January 11, 1819.

It is now some months since I received your kind letter, and according to your request I now take up my pen to write. Our station, as you supposed, now begins to wear a somewhat better appearance than formerly, though it is far inferior to the small fruitful villages in England. The Namacquas have already cut our corn, which we hope will be sufficient for our own consumption. They are now busy with their own wheat, &c. which will in a short time be gathered in. The gardens, which some of our people have made look well, and in ours, we have potatoes, peas, beans, &c. &c. Our dwelling-house is very comfortable, but the worms are quickly destroying the beams, spars, &c. so that the next summer (whoever of us is spared to see it), a new roof will be necessary. Our chapel looks very well, being now finished and white washed within and without. With this building I have had a great deal of labour; but the seeing it full of heathens, anxious to know something of Jesus, is a sufficient reward. You request some account of the nature of the land, cultivation, animals, &c. &c. but in the short compass of a letter, I can say little indeed. The English Barrow, and the French Vaillant, both of whom travelled much in Southern Africa, will give abundant information on these subjects.

In the districts near Cape Town, the farmers have at length begun to exert themselves a little in agriculture, which was formerly much neglected; (the increased price of grain has doubtless been a great stimulus to their exertions ;) so that some of the corn farms now begin to look exceedingly well. In this remote part of the colony, many of the graziers never trouble themselves to sow any kind of grain whatever. They yearly exchange their cattle for a few sacks of corn, if they can obtain it; if not, they rest very well satisfied with milk and animal food, swimming in the grease of the African sheep's tail, which is enor

mously large, and the fat of which is preferred by many to the butter which is made here.

The wild animals which formerly roamed near Cape Town, have been de stroyed or banished therefrom by the colonists. In this part, however, we have still many tigers, leopards, jackals, &c. Not far from hence, at certain seasons of the year, the ferocious lion also makes his appearance: he generally pursues a species of deer, called spring-bok, which run together by thousands, as large flocks of sheep. When he cannot ob tain these beautiful creatures, he makes bold to secure a horse, beast, or bush man, for his subsistence. There is a species of wild beast called eland, of great account with the farmers, on account of the excellency of its flesh, and the toughness of its hide, which is used for harness, traces, &c. The buffalo, hippo potamus, and elephant, are not often seen far on this side of the great Orange River, which is five or six days journey, with an ox waggon, north of the Khaimes mountains. That pretty beast, the zebra, is often found not far from hence; a few weeks ago, a male of that species came within a hundred or a hundred and fifty paces. While pursuing his path, he unexpectedly beheld the habitations of men, and instantly halted: his ears were pricked, his neck stretched, and he stood looking on us, and we on him. This was the most beautiful animal I ever beheld; but the fear of human beings coming upon him, he made haste to escape for his life. I expect in a short time the hide of one of those creatures, which, when opportunity offers, will be sent to the Committee. Here are serpents of various species, all of which are sup posed to be injurious, excepting the one called boomslang (or tree serpent) so called from its being often found coiled round the boughs of trees. The puff-adder of this land is said to be exceedingly dangerous. Some time ago, I and my wife

Went to the sea for a few days for the benefit of our health; while there, our matrass was laid under a bush where we slept, being the best lodgings we could obtain in that place. Towards the evening of one of those days, I rose up from my matrass, and said, "We will remove our bed to another place," where the bushes seemed better calculated to screen us from the night air. I immediately began to take away something from the place where we had lodged, when to my great surprise, a large puffadder was curled up under the end of our bolster. I had been sitting within a few inches of this venomous creature more than an hour, this being the place where we had always slept; nor had we any intention of removing till the instant I rose up and made the proposal: the proposal was agreed to, or doubtless one, or both of us, would, during the night, have felt the sharpness of the serpent's teeth, of which there were two, formed after the manner of those hooks by which fishes are caught. We could not but acknowledge the providential care of Him, who said, "Even the hairs of your heads are numbered." In many parts of the colony, there are ostriches in great plenty, which we sometimes see when travelling through the sands, but with us there are none. The eggs of this bird are considered by some as a great delicacy, but I cannot eat them myself. There are many locusts here of the large kind; on some occasions they have destroyed whole fields of corn; when their number was so great, that on rising from the field to take their flight, they appeared as a large cloud. "Locusts and wild honey," were the food of the Baptist, they are also the food of the wild Bushmen in Africa. They sometimes roast the locusts upon the fire, at other times they eat them raw, but more generally they are ground to powder between two stones, and then mingled as meal with their water or milk. Honey may be found in such plenty in a favourable year in this land, that the farmers fill their sacks (made of skin) therewith, which is taken to Cape Town for sale. But the Bushmen eat what they find; or make a sort of beer therefrom, which is highly intoxicating.

It is unnecessary for me to say much respecting our manner of teaching the heathens, our prospects, &c. as you have almost every thing that relates thereto, in the Magazines and Notices. I would, however, just remark, that a person who has not been engaged in instructing the heathen of South Africa, ean form no sort of idea of the ignorance, the amazing ignorance of the natives, VOL. XLII, JULY, 1819.

and the simplicity, perseverance, and patience, necessary in instructing them. I speak particularly with respect to those advanced in life; they have never been accustomed to think, and now forget almost all they hear. When I have been speaking on some leading truth of the gospel, and would, before the conclusion, impress it on their minds; as, for instance, when having spoken on repentance, I would add," Repentance implies godly sorrow for sin, and conversion or turning from it. Who can tell me tomorrow evening what repentance is ?" Having repeated several times what repentance is, you would suppose, that every one would on the ensuing evening be able to answer, but I assure you, I never found one old Namacqua to this day, who could bring what was required. The young can remember, but the old cannot. I find by experience, that to teach by way of similitude, is preferable (for those pupils) to any other. This method I have often adopted when in the field ploughing, &c. which has a good effect. In the chapel also, near which is a fine fountain, I have tried the same method. "Behold that fountain! see how the people daily come to quench their thirst by its flowing stream: there is plenty for us all, it is free for us all; none of us can do without it. Hear then what Jesus says, "Ho, every one that thirsteth come," &c. Behold that shepherd, he daily takes his sheep to the field, and watches over them with diligence: hear what Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd." He gathers the lambs with his arm, he seeks the lost, he strengthens the weak; therefore call upon him, believe him, and you shall not want. Yet, notwithstanding their general dulness, I cannot doubt, but some of those old Namacquas experience the comforts of religion. About a week ago, I inquired in the chapel of an old Namacqua woman thus: Q. Tell me, Troy, if you can, what faith is?

A. Sis, when I found my sins to be very heavy, I then came to Jesus, and believed on him, by which I found comfort to my soul.

Q. Have you also a good hope, Troy?
A. Yes,
possess that too, thank the
Lord.

Q. What is that hope, think you?
A. I think it is the sweetness that I
sometimes find in my heart, when I
think, one day the Lord shall bring me
to heaven.

Another poor old woman said, "The Lord has brought me into the sweet road to heaven. I am heavily afflicted, and have been led to think, that this land is [* 3R*]

not ours, but only lent us by the Lord for a short time, and I think he will soon bring my soul to another and a better land than this." Another said, "I also have been afflicted, and when sick, I found myself only a poor trifler. I had

often neglected prayer; I came to the Lord again, and called upon his name, and now I feel if I live longer, I can say, That is good," or if the Lord should take me by death, I can say also, That is good.'

Extract of a Letter from Mr. BAKER to the COMMITTEE, dated Sierra Leone, Feb. 19th, 1819.

It is with feelings of gratitude and pleasure I sit down to address you. We arrived at this place on Sunday the 14th, and came to an anchor about seven o'clock in the morning; at nine Mr. Brown, accompanied by Captain Rowe, came on board to see us, and after breakfast we went on shore, and proceeded to the chapel together. Mr. Brown pressed me much to preach, which I felt unwilling to do, as I was so unfit, from having been deprived of regular sleep, through the intense heat, for two or three nights before we landed. But, notwithstanding, breaking through, I found my soul much blessed, and I do believe the people were blessed also. On Monday, we waited on his Excellency the Governor, who received us very politely, welcomed us to the colony, and wished us success in our mission, and a continuance of health.

We have been with Mr. Brown to Portuguese and Soldier's Town, where he had to preach. Never did I see more simple sincerity than in many of these dear people. It appears that the Lord has very lately been reviving his work among them, and many have found peace with God; and, simple as they are in the manner of expressing their feelings, yet it is very evident they enjoy the peace of God. On Tuesday evening we went to Portuguese Town; and just as we arrived, the Dooty (head man) had just sent his boy round with a small bell to summon the people to meet, the term they use in calling them together. We met one of the members who had lately found peace with God; and, questioning him on the subject, he said, "O yes, Massa, me feel good in my heart; me look up, me see Christ; me look down, me see Christ; me look in a bush, me see Christ; me see him all every where." The wattled meeting-house, (of which Mr. Brown will give you a description when he arrives,) was filled with the Divine presence; the prayers of the people evidently proceeded from their hearts. We have also been at Soldier's Town, where we have a new wattled meeting-house just finished. Here good is doing among the coloured soldiers and their wives; several are converted to God. I never felt happier in my life; I would not exchange my present station for a

crown. It is my determination, and that I believe of my colleague also, that, through Divine assistance, we will lay ourselves out in every possible way to advance the cause of Christ in this Mission. At present I find it difficult either to understand, or be understood by them; but this I hope soon to get over. I always thought, from the first, that my appointment was of God, and I am now more than ever persuaded of it. I am fully aware that we shall have to go through violent temptations; and surely we need, and shall have an interest in, your prayers. When I look at the great importance of the work in which I am engaged, and my own unfitness for it, it makes me tremble; but, thank God, I feel it a consideration of no small importance, that he hath promised to help our weakness and infirmities. I really think the present state of the Mission very promising. We intend, as soon as possible, to set as many schools on foot, both adult and children's, as we can. There are great numbers both of children and adults, who would be glad to learn to read. We intend to form the children of Congo Town, who have been taught once a week by Mr. Brown, into a regular school; here we have a stone chapel building, the particulars of which you will have from him; and there is a lad with Mr. Brown now who is able to read; him we mean to place over the children as teacher, and superintend them ourselves. It is my intention, if I can get five or six proper persons, to spend a considerable portion of time with them, and fit them to teach others, that the schools may not hang entirely upon us; in which case, should we be taken sick, they must surely fall to the ground. We intend having an adult school in various places on the same plan on which such a school is established at Bristol, and a Sunday School at Free Town chapel, which, for want of help, has been some time given up. Our dear friends at home will, I hope, supply us with books for this purpose. I wish the kind supporters of such institutions in England could but see the prospect of good by the same means here, and then I am sure they would willingly and cheerfully send us the help we require

In Congo Town (or village) we are building a stone chapel, outside 30 by 20. The inhabitants, who are all recaptured negroes, do some work, and have subscribed about £20. In this place we intend to keep service, and teach their children to read. I have heard the children lessons every Friday afternoon for some time back. I suppose I rather under than over rate the adults at 350, and the children at 50 or 60, who reside within a mile of the chapel. I am persuaded that this is a field which promises much good, nor does it interfere with the labours of any other Missionary.

Extract of a Letter from Mr. S. BROWN, dated Sierra Leone, Feb. 21, 1819. have experimental believers in Christ; the good work proceeds, and believers are added; it would do your heart good to see and hear what God has done for them. A few weeks ago, at Soldier's Town, while their meeting house was rebuilding, we preached in a hut; I wished to excite them to get on with the meeting house, and observed, that a man or a woman who plastered a meeting house, or carried stones to build it, did as honourable a work for God, as an officer did for his king when he sat upon a horse, and gave the word of command to the soldiers. They smiled, and said "true." In three or four days after, they had thatched, plastered, and white-washed it, put the legs in the forms, the door on its hinges, and the desk in its proper place.

The wattled meeting houses, formerly built at Soldier's and Portuguese Towns, had fallen into ruins, and are now rebuilt. Thank God, at each of these places we

Extract of another Letter from Mr. S. BROWN, dated Sierra Leone, Feb. 27, 1819.

On Sunday the 14th instant, at 8 A. M. the ship Dowson arrived in the har bour of Sierra Leone. 1, in company with our dear friend, Capt. Rowe, went on board, and were highly gratified by meeting with Messrs. Baker and Gillison in health and safety. From the ship we went to the chapel, when, after I had read prayers, Mr. Baker preached for us, and in the evening Mr. Gillison. It is truly pleasing to myself and our members, to receive an increase of Missionary labour to this part of the world; and what is infinitely more, I am certain it is pleasing to God, and well timed. Oh! that their health and life may be spared; that they, from an enriched and overflowing heart, may ever bless their hearers out of Zion in the name of the Lord.

It affords me very great pleasure to state, that for the last three or four months we have had a gradual and continued revival of the good work of the Lord: during which, from twenty to thirty have been clearly converted; they are chiefly recaptured negroes in the Soldier's and Portuguese Towns, and the suburbs of Free Town. Their experience is very clear; they have been awakened, struggled into liberty by the exercise of faith and prayer, & rejoice in the full assurance of being the sons of God. They literally flock to the meetings, like doves to their windows; the females with their children on their backs in their clean and best attire. Often do they bless God for have ing been sold by their countrymen, and been brought to this part of the world, to hearGod's word, and find the forgiveness of their sins by the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. One man, a private in the African Company, used to be much

addicted to gambling, drinking, and fighting; when at first I visited their town, I often had to disperse different companies employed in this diabolical exercise; whom I found sat on a mat which was spread on the ground, with their money staked down. On one occasion he had three dollars taken away by his companions in the hurry of moving. After his conversion, which was very striking, he invariably, by the light of his lamp, after preaching, conducted me about a quarter of a mile on my way home. His reason for so doing came to my knowledge about three months after; and was as follows. When he lost his money, he was violently tempted to waylay and knock me in the head with a stone; but was checked with the thought that if he did, that God whom I preached to them would destroy him. "If (said he) when I lived in devil's hand he told me to do that; this time plenty of people live in devil's hand, and he can tell them do all same: this make me want to take care of you."

I am persuaded that it was nothing but the special influence of God's Holy Spirit that prevented him, as you will perceive somewhat of his hardness of heart and abandoned character from the following facts, which I had from himselfand others.

When Major Peddie was selecting some soldiers to accompany him on the expedition, he and another were chosen, and were unwilling to go: with insolence and anger they left the parade. The one went, and immediately drowned himself; and this man, when he got into his house, loaded his musket with six balls, and declared that he would discharge them at the first man that durst attempt [* 3 R 2 *]

to take him he sent his wife for a bottle of rum, which he drank up, and sent her for more; when she left the house, he got a rope, and hung himself on a cross post; his wife coming home, found him in this state, and gave an alarm; he was cut down just before life had wholly left him, and carried to the hospital, when on the third day he came to himself.

This man was amongst the first fruits of my labour in Soldiers' Town; and now for more than twelve months he has given the most incontestable evidence of a thorough change both in principle and life. The spare time which he formerly employed in gambling and drinking has since been appropriated to the clearing, fencing, and planting, of about two acres of land; in the middle of which he has built a very decent wattled house. The money which was formerly lost by gambling, and spent in drunkenness, is now applied for clothes to cover his wife and children, to provide his house with furniture, and his land with stock. The zeal, activity, fervour, and constancy of this man's piety have provoked many others, so that now he has about six or seven brethren who have experienced the same change, and pursee the same manner of life. In addition to whom there are about twenty women, whose piety and stability are not far behind that of ordinary Christians in England. Does not the above strikingly verify that gracious promise in Isasah xi. 6-9, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain."

I have sown in tears, but now we reap

in joy. Thank God, this is an ample recompence for every sigh, every tear, every shaking ague, every burning fever, every bereavement, every restless and sleepless night, I have had to endure since I came to Africa. This makes me very reluctant to leave. I feel I love their precious souls; the affections of my heart are interwoven with theirs; and I know they love me. This, in union with a joyous sense of my acceptance with God, makes me willing to spend and be spent for the welfare of the church, and the honour of my adorable Redeemer; to count nothing dear to me, so that I may finish my course with joy, and be received to that eternal rest which remains for the people of God.

My European brethren are extremely kind; many respectable gentlemen usually attend chapel on Sunday evenings. Had we a good chapel, our Mission in Free Town would prosper more; but till that is the case, the narrow limits of our con❤ gregration are fixed by those of the present meeting-house: which is exactly represented by one of your boarded barns in England.

I am greatly obliged by the grant of fifty pounds per annum for the instruction of recaptured children. We have nearly finished the wall of a stone chapel, 30 by 20, in Congo Town, in which we shall be able to teach the children to read, and the adults to pray. There is no other place of worship near, and I calculate that there are about 50 or 60 children, and 3 or 400 adults within a mile of the place. We have sent in a petition to his Excellency and the council, to grant us the ground on which it stands, and an allotment sufficient for a hut, in which the school-master, Moses Brown (my boy) whom I have taught to read and write, may live. He is an ap prentice, and recaptured negroe, and truly fears God.

ST. DOMINGO,

Extract of a Letter from Mr. JOHN BROWN, late Missionary at Port au Prince, to the COMMITTEE, dated London, May 14, 1819.

As several of the friends of Missions have expressed a wish to become acquainted with the circumstances which have led to the departure of myself and colleague from Port au Prince, I send you the following brief sketch, which, if you think proper, you can publish in your Missionary Notices.

At one period of our mission, our prospects were flattering, as may be seen by the intelligence already given to theworld; and though from the time that individuals

became attached to us,and were considered as of our congregation, persecution occasionally shewed itself, yet we had no apprehensions that it would so soon break out with so much violence. I do not mean to enter into details, but it appears to me that a party was formed, who were determined to drive us from the island,and to accomplish their design,availed themselves of some unhappy circumstances which then occurred to excite the fury of the populace against us. Our house was repeatedly assailed

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