themselves for the supply of their spiritual almost every town would be able to give a wants." faithful minister of the Gospel a competent In a communication of September 18, support. In their present condition the Mr. Mills also takes notice of the desirable | encouragement to ministers is exceedingly condition of this settlement. "At Cayuga small; and I know not how they will ever Creek, within a few days, I hear there is a be formed into permanent, efficient congrerevival, which is the fruit of the labours of your missionaries. Mr. Halsey came there a short time ago, and found things in a very favourable state; and since he has been there, there seems to be every reason to hope for a great and glorious work of the Lord. I hope to visit them in the course of this week." gations, unless their present efforts are strengthened by aid from Missionary Socie ties. Perhaps no part of our country affords a fairer prospect of success to missionary labour than this western region. I have made several excursions to different towns, and it seems as if God had inclined their minds to attend to the word, and opened their hearts to receive the truth. The Spirit effects are seen and felt in the souls of many who have been dead in trespasses and sins. Your Society may number many new-born souls in this desolate region, who have already become the trophies of victorious Beside these appointments, the Board also engaged, in July last, the Rev. Sylves-is now breathing on this wilderness, and the ter Eaton, and the Rev. Norris Bull, the one for Centreville, near Buffalo, and the other for Warsaw, about twenty miles south of Batavia. From Mr. Eaton they have received no communications whatever. They learn from Mr. Bull, that his minis-grace, as the fruit of your benevolent ex'trations in Warsaw have not been in vain.ertion." his exertion to be selected at his own discretion, in consultation with the brethren already on the spot-making the greatest necessities of the people, and the fairest prospect of usefulness, the criterion of their judgment. No intelligence has been received from Mr. Taylor since his appointment. When Mr. Bull first arrived at Warsaw he In addition to these appointments, Mr. found the people in a most unhappy state; Hutchins Taylor, of whose labours we have divided into parties, and alienated by jea-already given some account in another part lousies, they presented very little hope to of the vineyard, visited this region sometime the exertions of a faithful Missionary. But in September last, and has accepted a comGod has blessed his own institutions. "It mission from the Board for six months. became," says Mr. Bull, "a matter of the The board did not direct him to any partifirst moment to heal the breach, and, fpos-cular place, but left the immediate scene of sible, to effect a union. This, by the Divine blessing, I was enabled to do; and the Society, at present, appears to have forgotten all pre-existing difficulties, and to be perfectly harmonious. They have exhibited a good degree of satisfaction with my labour, and are anxious to settle me permanently among them. They discover an unusual attention to the preaching of the word; and there is evidently considerable excitement in the minds of the people, together with some instances of genuine conviction, and hopeful conversion. The prospect is fair and promising for a revival of religion in this place. It is, however, a matter of deep regret, that the people of the Western Country are so much divided in their religious sentiments: were they all united, Just previous to the last annual meeting, the Board appointed Mr. Randolph Stone to spend six months in the destitute parts of Georgia, under the advice and direction of the Female Missionary Society at Savannah. This Mission expired at the close of six months from its commencement. The intelligence Mr. Stone has, from time to time, communicated to the Board, contains much valuable information on the state of religion in Georgia. "Often," he remarks, | West-Chester, in our own state. They are “have strangers come to me, after public worship, and expressed in prayers and tears the gratitude they felt to the Society for sending them a Missionary." happy to inform the Society, that they have been enabled to procure a Missionary well adapted to the wants of this section of the country; and that the Rev. Truman Osborn has accepted a commission to labour in the county of West Chester for three months. The Auxiliary Society in this city is formed of youths whose age is not wont to inspire them with so deep an interest in so laudable an enterprise, and deserves, therefore, the distinguished tokens of approba There is still another destitute region the Board have begun to occupy, in the course of the past year. Ever since the mission- The resources of the past year, though ary tour of the Rev. Messrs. Mills and far from being adequate to our disburse Smith, in 1814 and 1815, the district of ments have been considerably increased. country embraced by the Missouri, Illinois, The Board have received intelligence of the and Indiana Territories, has been con- formation of four Auxiliary Societies; viz. sidered among the most important fields of The Youth's Missionary Society of Newmissionary labour. In their early inquiries York; The Female Missionary Society of för Missionaries, the Directors ascertained Cayuga Creek; The Young Men's Misthat two gentleman, well qualified for the sionary Society of Bridgehampton, (L. I.) ; duty, would engage in the service of the and the Society already named in the comSociety, if they might be stationed some-munication of Mr. Colton, formed at Lewhere on the Missouri River, on the Wa- Roy. To all these institutions the Board bash, or in the vicinity of Kaskaskias would present this public testimonial of These gentlemen are the Rev. David Tenny their thanks. and the Rev. Charles S. Robinson. The hearts of these young men were set on that desolate region; and the Board rejoiced in the opportunity to employ them. They have received commissions for one year, and ere this are probably on missionary ground. Souls are not the less valuable because they are separated from us by tracts of country, over which we have never travelled, or which we may never see. The Board fervently hope these Missiona. ries are destined to commence a course of exertion which shall make that remote wilderness blossom as the rose. Surveying, as they have, so many destitute thousands in one of the most fertile parts of our country, the Directors encourage themselves with the inquiry, Who can tell how much good may be done from these small beginnings? Who shall limit the numbers hereafter to rise up and call your Missionaries blessed? The Board fervently commend this newly selected field to the affection and prayers of the Society. Besides these appointments, the Directors have recently received an application for Missionary services from two Committees residing in different parts of the county of tion. While adverting to the augmentation of their resources, the Board acknowledge the receipt of the following sums, exclusively of the annual dues : Avails of Collection in City Hotel, ... for life,. . $191 50 238 30 50 00 6 25 17 50 67 92 502 25 It is with no common pleasure the Direc-self relative to the facts which gave birth to fors, also, make their acknowledgments to this Institution :-" At the first view of your an unknown friend for the donation of one Society, permit me to say, I felt uneasiness. dollar, under circumstances which evince Separations sound ill, and are frequently ardent attachment to the cause of Missions. the effects of ill tempers: but on reading The Board cannot deny themselves the sa- your report, it appeared that even if evil tisfaction of inserting the following note, had existed in one or both parties, the wise directed to their Treasurer: and gracious Saviour, whom we all adore "March 3, 1818.-The enclosed dollar and serve, had educed good out of that is the amount of the savings of a small evil; and thus, as, of old, the confusion of family in an article of domestic consump-tongues tended to the population of the tion for one week. You will please accept world, so your disagreement and separation of this mite, as a donation to the New-York has produced the means of making far Evangelical Missionary Society of Young Men, &c. &c. more extensive efforts for the spread of the Gospel, than before. You have indeed a vast field of operation, and it is natural for you first to seek the salvation of your neighbours; but whether that object might not with advantage be pursued, together with a more distant object, the conversion of the heathen, is best known to yourselves. This, A FRIEND TO THE INSTITUTION." Did such a spirit prevail, how soon would the deep disgrace of the Christian world be wiped away! How soon would such a spirit enlighten the darkness, purify the pollution, and alleviate the sorrows of apostate man! Should all the families of this however, I can affirm, that since the London country, or all the families of this city, or Missionary Society have been active in coneven all the families of this Missionary Soci-verting the distant heathen, the good people ety, follow this blessed example, how long in England have multiplied their efforts, before men who have sown in tears would and redoubled their exertions at home." reap in joy! how long before the knowledge of the Lord would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea! The Society will recollect, that at their last annual meeting they desired the Board to open a correspondence with the London Missionary Society. The Board have not been unmindful of this request. They early transmitted the resolution of the Society to that Institution, together with the Brief View of Facts resulting in the formation of this Society, and their last annual report. The Directors of the London Missionary Society are pleased to say, "They think themselves obliged, by our communications, both written and printed; and hail the formation and progress of The New-York Evangelical Missionary Society of Young Men, as an additional instrument, which they trust the Great Lord of All will employ for the glory of his holy name." The Board have not been displeased with the frankness with which their Secretary expresses him With this communication, the Board also received several copies of the last Annual Report of the London Missionary Society, together with a valuable collection of other documents, highly interesting to the Missionary cause. From this statement, the Society will per ceive what the Board have been enabled to effect during the past year. The number of Missionaries which they have appointed, and who have been in actual employment in the course of the year, including the last appointment, is twelve. The amount of good which has been accomplished, can be unfolded only at that day when Missionary Societies, and their Missionaries, and the destitute, who, through their instrumentality, have been supplied with the Word of Life, shall stand before the Son of Man. We would record it as a token for good that your Missionaries have been enabled to collect, organize, and build up so many Churches in the faith and order of the Gos pel. But, to the honour of illimitable grace, ful, unspeakably grateful, for what has been we would especially record it as our done, yet tremblingly alive, and solicitous sweetest encouragement, and our heaviest for the future. Wanting those barriers impulse, to zealous and unyielding perseverance, that the Holy Spirit has descended in so many instances, to cheer the hearts, and strengthen the hands, of your Missionaries, by the special and liberal effusions of his sacred influence. In our review of the year we discover little else but the monuments of saving mercy; and our report consists of little else than the narration of revivals of religion. Not merely have thousands been furnished with the external privileges of the Gospel through your instrumentality, Brethren; but hundreds, we trust, have actually been born of God, who will not cease to praise the Father of mercies for the existence of this Society. Bless the Lord, O our souls! which fortify the stronger holds of religion, she feels her weakness and dependence; looking away in the attitude of desire, and with the feelings of hope, to a kindred spirit, where ability rests, and whence the first assistance has been rendered, her language is, though silent, yet easy to be read, Will that charity dry up, till we also are made strong?" Tell us, Brethren, can our ears be deaf to such a cry as this? Shall not the apprehensions of trembling piety be" relieved, and all her tears wiped away? Yes, fellow-labourers, were we to utter the sentiments which pervade this Society, we are persuaded we should publish to the wilderness, that so long as the cause this infant Institution has espoused is capable of It has been the purpose of the Directors Progression, so long the Society will proto make a gradual advance; but they are gress with it, and never cease from the pained to say, they have been still much work, till it is become the fountain of blessrestricted for want of means. They have ing to millions yet unborn. We shall still been willing to feel the pressure of embar-cherish the hope that God has in reserve for us larger measures both of exertion and success. Obstacles may still be in our path, but Christian wisdom and perseverance cannot fail in the end to surmount them all. The painful distance at which we have stod from many of those, with whom it was our pleasure once to co-operate, we would fondly hope is diminishing every day. The time must come, when the differences which have so unhappily divided the Christian interest in our favoured city, will die away, and the spirit of rivalship and jealousy find its grave in the common cause of evangelizing the globe. Who does not wish it? With such a moral wilderness under his eye as you have had occasion to rassment, that they might be more urgent in their solicitations for relief. But notwithstanding all their solicitations, they have been obliged to turn a deaf ear to upwards of twenty applications, and those too of the most pressing character, for Missionary aid. Beloved Brethren, is it not time to think more seriously, to feel more strongly, and to act more industriously and strenuously for this exalted cause? Who can put his hand to the plough and look back? Let our Missionaries themselves plead with you :—“The spiritual necessities of infant settlements, and heathen lands, have made an appeal to favoured piety, that sits unmolested within the precincts of the sanctuary, and not with an empty reply. Streams of survey, who will not pray for it? What love have richly and largely flown to create, might not the single city of New-York acor be the means of creating, the same holy complish, if her heart were as the heart of affection, where abominations, fit to make one man in this glorious enterprize? an angel weep, have made the land groan, and heavens afraid, Think of the situations of piety in such regions, and in such circumstances; you have thought of it-grate ANECDOTE. Ar the first anniversary of the Cumberland and Carlisle Sunday Union, Mr. Wawn, in acknowledging the thanks of the the unchanging mercy and love of God for meeting, voted to him, delivered a speech all future ones. By this time they reached highly honourable to his understanding and the door of her humble dwelling. Mary piety. Among many other pertinent allu- | begged the lady to walk in, and taking her sions, the worthy gentleman begged leave to to a closet, said, "Pray, Ma'am, do you see digress for a moment, to relate an anecdote any thing?" The lady replied "No." She of an aged female. took her to another closet, and repeated her question, "Pray, Ma'am, do you see any thing?" The reply again was "No." She took her to a third closet, and once more repeated her question, “Pray, Ma'am, de you see any thing?" the lady replying, with a look of surprise bordering on displeasure, "Poor Mary," said he, "I shall never forget poor Mary! She was returning home, the picture of penury and want, thoughtful yet serene and placid, when she was joined by a lady of affluence and piety, but who was the subject of some afflictive visitations, and was threatened with more."No." "Then, Madam," said poor Ma She immediately began to relate her sorrows ry, "you see all I have in the world. But and apprehensions to poor Mary, who heard her with much attention, and then with all the tenderness of Christian sympathy be sought her to be comforted, reminded her of the goodness and fidelity of that God who had promised never to forsake his people, exhorted her to be grateful for the many mercies she now enjoyed, and to confide in Redeemer." why should I be unhappy? I have Christ in my heart and heaven in my eye. I have the unfailing word of promise, that bread shall be given me, and water shall be sure,' whilst I stay a little longer in this vale of tears; and when I die, a bright crown of glory awaits me through the merits of my NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. IT is not yet determined whether this work shall be continued another year. The present publishers decline carrying it on, because of the irregularity and delinquency of many of the subscribers in making remittances of dues;-and one, at least, of the present editors will, with this Number, cease to act in that capacity; though, if the work is continued, he will not withhold contributions of aid in another way. Other arrangements must therefore be made: either another publisher must be obtained, who will carry on the work at his own expense-he looking for remuneration from the proceeds of subscriptions-or the present publishers will continue, provided the risk is with the editors.-If no other number of the Evangelical Guardian and Review appear, the subscribers will ascribe its discontinuance to the impracticability of making satisfactory arrangements on these points. |
