has been made on their minds. Several Heathens have learned to read the Scriptures, and some have been brought to the knowledge of the truth; yet the great body of the coloured population are still in darkness. We have had religious services in private houses, where our hearers have been attentive; but we long for the time when it shall be said, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?" June 1st.-Mrs. Shaw appearing much better, I ventured to leave her yesterday, and preached at Simon's-Town, morning and evening. The congregations were good, and the hearers attentive, both at the Dutch and English services. I saw two young sailors from Hull; they have been to the east, and look poorly, having been long sick. May their afflictions lead them to consider their latter end! 14th. I called on Messrs. Underwood and Deck at Wynberg. They have been actively engaged in endeavouring to do good in the village. They have visited from house to house. They have distributed tracts; they have established meetings for prayer; they have raised a Temperance Society, and our chapel is crowded with attentive hearers. These useful men from India have set a fine example to our Cape professors of religion. May they be "steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." 21st. I rose about three o'clock, A. M., and rode to Somerset before breakfast, about thirty miles. I purchased a house and premises in the midst of the village; by which a foundation is laid for a regu lar Mission establishment amongst a heathen population. O for more labourers! September 3d.-At an early hour this morning, one of our members departed this life with a hope blooming with immortality. Mrs. Lucas was from the city of Canterbury, and had been in this colony about fourteen years. May my last end be like hers! 7th. The anniversary sermons for our Missions were preached at CapeTown, Simon's-Town, and Wynberg. On the 8th, 9th, and 10th, our Meetings were held, and well attended. Several Ministers and gentlemen rendered us important assistance. A good feeling was prevalent in our assemblies, and it appeared to be the prayer of all present,-"Thy glory let all flesh beho'd, And then fill up thy heavenly fold." Brother Edwards has arrived in town, and brings the news of brother Cook's arrival in Great-Namacqualand. May God prosper the Mission now commenced! 28th. Our new chapel at Somerset, Hottentot-Holland, was opened this day for public worship. Soon after eight o'clock in the morning the slaves began to assemble. Many of them had come from afar, and the chapel was well filled. The Rev. J. Edgar, the Minister of the parish, Mr. Roos, one of the Elders, and the Field-Cornet, Mr. De Vos, were present on the occasion. In the afternoon, the place was crowded to excess, and many were unable to procure admittance. Brother Edwards and myself preached the sermons. "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Extract of a Letter from Mr. Cook, dated Lily-Fountain, Khamies-Berg, June 14th, 1834. BEFORE this arrives you will doubtless have received my last, giving an account of our having left Cape-Town, and safely reached this station. Since then, brother Edwards and I have visited Great-Namacqualand, for the purpose of learning the disposition of the people, and seeking a suitable situation for our object. la reference to the former, through various reports which we had heard previous ly to our setting out, we were in some doubt; but our apprehensions were soon happily removed. We had not gone more than one stage in the part of the country belonging to the Bundle Zwarts, the tribe to which we intended first to direct our attention, before we met Abram the Chief, and a number of men, all mounted on ox-back. Our meeting was providential, and highly interesting. We were quite in doubt as to which way we should proceed; and Abram, from his own account, was on a journey to Khamies-Berg to try to get a Missionary, whom, he said, he was so impatient to obtain that he could wait no longer. Had we missed of each other at this place, it would have involved great inconvenience and labour to both parties. The scene of our meeting made a deep impression upon my mind, and, I may venture to say, upon the minds of all present. The spot on which we met was near to a fountain of water, and was shaded by a camel thorn-tree; two of the most important things which this barren country produces. While we made known to them our purpose in visiting them, the Chief, who is of a fine manly figure, and the principal persons who accompanied him, all stood ranged in a line, listening with the most profound attention; and Abram, from his lowering and softening countenance, was evidently much affected. From this, our meetingplace, the Chief conducted us to the Warm-Bath, a place so called from its having a warm spring of water in its vicinity. At this place, in the year 1806, a person of the name of Albrecht, under the direction of the London Missionary Society, commenced a station, and his abundant and faithful labours seemed, for a time, to promise much success. However, he and his wife and brother, all being taken away by death, if the station was not immediately abandoned after that, little seems to have been done. Another tribe of Heathen, called Oerlams, being at war with them, and having invaded their country, set fire to the Mission premises, and destroyed every remaining appearance of cultivation, excepting a few mouldering pieces of wall. This place, the Chief recommends to us; and, on account of the plentiful supply of water for cattle, which is almost the only recommendation to it as a station, it seems advisable to commence here at least. However, there is another place where the Chief and a part of the people are at present lying, and which Mr. Edwards and I visited, which seems much more promising for cultivation, &c. Itis a distance (being not more than about forty miles) that I can ride either to visit people living there, or to try experiments in the way of cultivation : but more particulars at a future opportunity. It appeared necessary, on account of Mrs. Cook's present circumstances, to delay our going to commence the Mission for some months; but such a delay would throw us back to a time of year when the overflowing of the Orange river, the extreme heat of the weather, and other circumstances, may, perhaps, necessarily involve a further delay of six months; making altogether a year before we should reach them. Hence, we have determined to commit ourselves to Him in whose service we go, and proceed. This decision will cause a further expense in oxen; for although we have at present a sufficient number, yet, many of them, from the successive journeys they have had, and the unfavourableness of the season, are so weak, that we shall be under the necessity of leaving them to recruit, and of taking others. WEST INDIAN MISSIONS. OUR intelligence from the West Indies is, on the whole, very favourable. From the general tenour, indeed, of the communications received by our Committee we are strongly inclined to believe, that in certain gloomy accounts, inserted in the public Papers, the statements of the writers have either been greatly exaggerated, for purposes which it is not our province to develope, or describe a state of things which has only a very partial and local existence. It is true, (and we frankly, though with deep regret, admit the fact,) that, in a very few instances, our Missionaries have reported the detection, even in some of the negroes who were under their pastoral charge, of a spirit of insubordination, which exposed them both to legal and to ccclesiastical censure. At this no candid or thoughtful man will be in the least degree surprised. The evils entailed upon all parties in West Indian society, by centuries of slavery, are too deeply rooted, and have produced prejudices and habits of feeling too natural and influential, to admit of immediate or even speedy removal. No legislative enactment, however just and salutary, can undo at once the moral and social injury inflicted alike on the dominant and on the servile classes, by ages of oppression and wrong. The influence of vital religion has operated, as yet, only on a comparatively small portion of the negro population; and we must be content, notwithstanding our recent repentance, and renunciation of former sin, to pay, for years to come, the righteous penalty of previous negligence or opposition, in reference to the mental improvement and spiritual welfare of our fellow-subjects who were in bondage. The persons who espoused the sacred cause of eman cipation merely for political purposes, or only from the ordinary feeling of humanity, may imagine that, when that great measure was carried, their work was done, and their duty finally discharged. The Christian Emancipationist, on the contrary, who better understands the extent of the injury to be repaired, will feel that the day of slave liberation was eminently the period on which a more vigorous, and systematic, and universal prosecution of the means of religious education and evangelization became the primary duty of British philanthropists. When the Legislator had finished his task, that of the School-Master and Missionary was to be begun afresh, and, indeed, in respect to large masses of yet wholly uninstructed negroes, absolutely commenced. Enough has been accomplished, by the limited efforts already made, and made too often in the face of an infatuated and most unfortunate resistance, to encourage the best hopes of general success, when the only means which can effectually improve the human character, and ameliorate the condition of man, shall have been fairly and fully tried. As it is, where Christian instruction has been patiently afforded, the evils to which we allude have been greatly diminished; and, if they occasionally arise, will be, in our opinion, quite as powerfully repressed and subdued by the godly discipline of the Missionary Pastor, as by the interference, however in some cases unavoidable and salutary, of magisterial or military authority. We again, however, repeat the expression of our joyous and grateful persuasion, that our negro societies, very generally, have hitherto done honour to their religious profession, and will continue to exhibit an example of orderly and peaceable conduct to all around them. A larger number of Missionaries is still urgently requested; and the most affecting representations are made of the great want of chapel-accommodation in various places. The desire of the negroes to hear the word of God, and to be taught to read the holy Scriptures, is truly delightful. To the Bishop of Jamaica, the best thanks of the Society are respectfully tendered, for his kindness and liberality in allowing to our Mis sionary the use of the vacant Episcopal chapel or school-house at the Pedro-Plains. CHRISTIAN RETROSPECT. To many persons it would have been highly satisfactory, if the Wesleya body could direct its exclusive attention to the spread of true religion, both at home and abroad, leaving to others all public questions of secular polity; but, considering the character and circumstances of the present times, this is impossible. The late measure of Parliamentary Reform has conferred the elective franchise upon Methodists, as well as other people; and the upright and conscientious exercise of that trust is at once a religious and a moral duty for the cause of our common Christianity, and the national welfare, are both concerned in the proceedings of the British :: Legislature. At the same time, a passion for what is called Reform is exten. sively prevalent; and many persons call for sweeping and extensive changes in our existing institutions. To the nature of these changes no Christian patriot can be indifferent. Should they be conducted upon infidel principles, or be carried to an undue extent, they will inflict a permanent injury upon a country towards which Almighty God has long manifested a peculiar regard, and which appears designed by Him to be a general blessing to the world. Under these circumstances the Wesleyan Methodists, in common with other classes of serious Christians, have patriotic duties to discharge; and have therefore long felt the need of some publication which should regularly bring before them the most important passing events, with such suggestions as would lead to a just conception of their character and practical bearing. To supply this desideratum a weekly Newspaper has been commenced during the present month, under the appropriate title of "The Watchman," of which three numbers lie before us. These we have carefully read; and if they may be regarded as a fair specimen of the work, of which we have no doubt, the paper will unquestionably prove of lasting advantage to the people for whose use it is designed. It is calm, temperate, dignified, and extensive in its range of topics; free from party-violence, and from all those low and disgusting personalities which render a considerable portion of the public press one of the greatest nuisances of the present age; yet on all questions which involve Christian principle "The Watchman" is firm and uncompromising, and knows neither men nor party. It is just such a paper as Christian parents may place before their children, without fear that their minds will be contaminated by the perusal. There is one feature of this publication which appears to us to be of special interest and importance, and to which we trust its conductors will continue to pay due attention. We mean the early Missionary intelligence which it contains. We have long regarded it as a serious defect, that there was no organ through which an account of the principal Missionary Meetings held throughout the country could be laid before the Connexion; marked as many of those meetings often are by instances of liberality, and a glow of generous and pious feeling, which were not surpassed even in the best and purest times of the Christian church. In no respect does "The Watchman" appear to interfere with this Magazine, but in its notices of the opening of Methodist chapels, and short characteristic sketches of deceased members of the society. As these publications may be expected to circulate mainly in the same quarters, it is not desirable, generally, that such accounts should be transferred from one to the other, so as to appear in both. The friends and correspondents of each may therefore be left at liberty to choose which they would prefer. "The Watchman," appearing weekly, will give the advantage of an earlier publication; the Magazine may be regarded as the more permanent record. As a Newspaper adapted to the use of Methodist and other religious families, we hail the appearance of "The Watchman "with sincere pleasure. There are parents professing godliness, who have dedicated their children to the Lord in baptism, and daily pray for their conversion, who nevertheless every week place before their unsuspecting offspring a publication, the distinguishing feature of which is that of speaking "all manner of evil falsely" against a body of exemplary Ministers of Christ, and that upon the authority of anonymous slanderers. Suppose these parents can themselves read such a work without spiritual loss, which is extremely doubtful; we would put the question to their consciences, how they can answer it to God, to whom their children belong, thus wantonly to use means which are directly calculated to inspire them with a thorough disgust for all religion, and to make them infidels, scoffers, and blasphemers? The parents who pursue this desperate and perilous course are now left without excuse. They may obtain the information which they want without hazarding the Christianity of their families. The agitation which of late prevailed in some parts of the Methodist Connexion, and for which the establishment of the "Wesleyan Theological Institution was the pretext, has in a great measure subsided. Its character and object are now generally understood, and strongly condemned, both by the societies and the Preachers. Ample proof of this is contained in the admirable "Declarations " which have been put forth in all parts of the kingdom; and which avow an unflinching determination to maintain the Wesleyan discipline inviolate. The men at Manchester who formed the conspiracy for its subversion may now be considered as fairly defeated; and bitterly have some of them already repented of their sin and folly. A feeble attempt has just been made in London to keep up the agitation, by some persons calling themselves Trustees, who have published a document, to which they have affixed their names, recommending a new system of Wesleyan polity. It is a mere repetition of the project which some of the parties put forth a few years ago, and which the late lamented Mr. Watson so ably exposed in his "Affectionate Address." It simply amounts to this,— That if the Local Preachers of any Circuit cannot agree, suppose upon a question of doctrine; or, a Leaders' Meeting cannot agree upon a question of discipline and morality; they shall both have the right of appeal to a Quarterly Meeting, the decision of which shall be final. For on no account whatever shall an appeal to the Conference be allowed, whoever may feel themselves aggrieved. So that whatever a Quarterly Meeting, under any circumstances, can be brought to sanction, though it be as remote from Wesleyan Methodism as the most destructive heresies, or the utmost laxity of moral conduct, no power upon earth shall either control or correct it! It is easy to perceive that the design of all this is, to divest the Wesleyan ministry entirely of its pastoral character; a proposal which is equally at variance with the constitution of Methodism, and the doctrine of the New Testament. The originators of the document, recommending this scheme, are perhaps some of the most restless men that any section of the Methodist Connexion ever tolerated; and have for years disturbed the societies to which they respectively belong. Some of the persons who have affixed their names to this document have no connexion with the Wesleyan body; and all their yearnings of concern for its peace and prosperity are merely assumed for the sake of effect. Others of the signaturists are well-meaning men, estimable in private life, whose providential calling is certainly not that of forming plans of government, either for the church or the world. They have been induced to give their sanction to principles the bearing of which they did not perceive; but which, when explained, the goodness of their own hearts would lead them loudly to condemn. Their fault is, that, before they put themselves into the hands of artful men, they did not take advice of persons more experienced than themselves. The document in question will make no impression upon the societies in London, where its authors are known; and we make these statements, that its true character may be estimated by our friends in the country. No Trustees of leading influence, and established Methodistical reputation, have either given their names or their countenance to this unworthy attempt to subvert the Wesleyan discipline, and unsettle the minds of the unwary. About forty years ago the Wesleyan body was greatly agitated by the operation of democratic principles called forth by the French Revolution; and an attempt has been recently made to produce similar effects, by a revival of the same principles; but the plan has entirely failed; and there is reason to believe that the whole will be overruled to the lasting benefit of the Connexion. The Preachers and the societies will more correctly understand the principles of their union; they will more strongly feel that their mutual interests are essentially one; and maintain each other's rights with increasing firmness and tenacity. Already has a blessed reaction taken place. funds of the Theological Institution and of the Missionary Society are both liberally supported. In many places the work of God is rapidly improving; the people have exchanged the habit of disputation for the spirit of prayer; and the probability is, that, after all, the present year will be a time of considerable prosperity to the Connexion. Never did its character stand so high as at present, among all serious, moderate, and thoughtful men, for Christian loyalty, and steadiness of purpose. May its influence still he used for the maintenance of holiness, truth, and peace! London, Jan. 24th. The |