Newspaper Page Text
JOSEPH S. BAKER— Editor.
VOL. XII.
TERMS PER ANNUM.
The Christian Index, published
on Friday in each week, (except two in the
year), will be furnished to each subscriber
at $2 50 cents, in advance; or $3 if not
paid within the year.
fCP Post-Masters, where the Index is
taken, are requested to forward remittances
for subscribers at their respective offices,
according to a decision of the Post-Master
General as to their right to do so. All pa
trons and,agents are requested to notice this.
Every Agent (and all Baptist Ministers
are particularly solicited to become agents)
who procure and pay for five copies of the
Index, shall be entitled to a sixth, as q com,
pensation for his trouble.
letters on business, or communjjjations
must be addressed to tlte Editor, post paid.
Advertisements may be inserted on usual
terms, at the discretion of the Editor.
For the Christian Index.
Bro. Buhtr —Having heard what I have,
concerning the clouds that Godsends forth,
bearing rain to the just and unjust; I feel
it to be a duty, for someone earnestly to
contend for the truth. As 1 have seen no
letter, as yet, on the subject, 1 will indulge
my present feelings, and embark into the
subject, hoping someone will steer and di
rect to the port of immortal joy. Isa. sth
and Cth vs. reads thus—"And I will lay it
waste, it shall not be pruned nor digged :
but there shall come up briars and thorns,
1 will also command the clouds that they
rain no rain upon it.” Having refeiencc
to Israel, who were compared to a vineyard,
which should have brought forth good
grapes ; but to their disgrace they brought
wild grapes : wherefore by their fruits ye
shall know them ; they now shall no long
er have the place of a vineyard, the form
and shape of a church, and commonwealth;
but shall be levelled and laid waste. This
was fulfilled when Jerusalem (for their
sakes) was ploughed as a field, Mic. 3 p.
Therefore, shall Zion, for your sakes, be
ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps, and the Mountain ol the
house, as the high places of the forest.—
Then shall they cry unto the Lord, hut he
will not hear them, he will ever hide his
face front them as they have behaved them
selves ill in their doings. God in a way
of righteous judgment denies his grace to
those that have long received it in vain.—
In the first place, the clouds signify the
heavens.” “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in
the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth
unto the clouds. Ascribe ye strength unto
God ; his excellency is over Israel, and his
strength is in the clouds. 2d. Great num
ber, wherefore seeing we also are compass
ed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
<fcc. 3rd. Afllictions. How hath the Lord
covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud
in his anger and, 4th. Hypocrites; these
are wells without water, clouds that are car
ried with a tempest. sth. God often ap
peared in a cloud, to make his Majesty,
works, and glory unsearchable. As Aaron
spake unto the whole congregation of the
children of Israel, that they looked toward
the wilderness, and behold the glory of the
Lord appeared in the cloud: who layeth
the beams of his chambers in the waters,
who makeih the clouds his chariot, who
walketh upon the wings of the wind ; be
hold a bright cloud overshadowed them ;
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which
said, tliis is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased, hear ye him—He rides on
swift clouds when he appears coming to
extricate his people, and to put an end to
his enemies. Behold the Lord rideth upon
a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt;
and the Idols of Egypt shall be moved, &c.
Is. 10: 1. And he rode upon a cheiub,
and did fly ; and he was seen upon the
wings of the wind, and he made darkness
pavilians round about him, dark waters and
thick clouds of the sky, 2 Sam. 22: 11, 12.
Christ was received up into heaven in a
cloud, and at the last day will come, in the
clouds, making them his throne, while he
judges the world. It is a point given up,
that God made all things; but now has no
thing to do, (so argues the unbeliever.) —
He finished his work in six days, setting
and arranging all things, to move in their
several avocations ; man to working in the
garden, vegetation to growing, water run
ning, animals grazing, birds singing, the
wind blowing, clouds flying, thunder roar
ing, lightning flashing, the sun moon and
stars to move on in their tegular order.—
Then He returned home far into eternity,
having no more work to do, until His son
is to be given a ransom tor sinners ; after
this great work was accomplished, He rides
home to heaven, far back into Eternity’s
vail, to remain as dead, until the sounding
of Gabriel’s trumpet, then He comes forth,
as having been asleep for ages upon ages,
century upon century, to judge the world.
Unbeliever, awake and tremble, your cas
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
tie is falling, the crumbling sands beneath
your feet are giving way ; awake- thou that
sleepest, and call aloud for thy God, lest
you die in your sins. The Devil will per
suade you to believe a lie that your soul
may be damned. Agreeable to the argu
ment of the skeptic, God did nothing from
the creation until the gift of his son, from
the offering of his son nothing to do, until
the morning of the resurrection- If this be
Truth , who walked in the garden in the
cool of the day ? With whom did Enoch
walk ? Who said that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only euil continually ? Who said 1 will
destrpy'man whom I have created ? Who
said to'Noah, build thee an ark, for the end
of all flesh is come before me ? When the
ark was completed, who shut Noah and his
family in the ark ? Answer, thou unbe
liever. Who appeared to Abraham ? Who
fought the battles of Joshua, Gideon, Da
vid, &c. ? Who was ip the fiery furnace
with the Hebrew children ? and who sent
an Angel to shut the Lions’ mouths, but
the Lord ? Who was it appeared to Moses
in the burning bush, parted the red sea,
gave water which flowed out of a rock ?
Who gave manna bountifully forty years?
Skeptic, is not God at work ? A cloud in
the form of a pillar, hovered over the camp
ol the Hebrews in the wilderness. In the
day it appeared as mist protecting them
from the scorching sun. In the night it
seemed to be a pillar of fire, and gave them
light. When they encamped, it hovered
above them on the Tabernacle. AVhen
they marched, it went before them. When
they went through the red sea, it followed
them. Foity years it attended the He
brews, till it had led them to the promised
land. Unbeliever, let not your mind run
to human inventions any longer, nor hu
man conclusions; but awake up, and look
to the word of divine truth.
I know that the Lord is great and that
our God is above all Gods, Whatsoever
the Lord pleaseth, that did he in heaven,
and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places, he causeth the vapors to ascend
from the ends of the earth, he maketh light
nings for the ram ; He bringetli the wind
out ol his treasures, Ps. 155, sing praises
to God, who eoverelh the heaven with
clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth,
who maketh grass to grow upon the Moun
tains. He giveth snow like wool; Ilescat
tereth the hoar frost like ashes ; He tasteth
forth his ice like morsels ; He causeth his
wind to blow, and waters to How ; and
sendeth rain on the just and unjust, and his
sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
Matt. Nevertheless lie left not himself
without a witness, in that he did good, and
gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful sea
sons, filling our hearts with food and glad
ness. Acts 14: 17. Saying occupy till I
come. To the unbeliever a few more scrip
tures, and 1 am done. Hew out no more
broken cisterns which hold no water ; but
turn at the warnings of heaven, and obey.
The Saviour, of mankind says, except ye
be converted and become as little children,
ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God,
Matt. 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in
Christ, he is a now creature; old things
are passed away; behold, all things are be
come new, Col. 3: 9, 10. Ye have put oil’
the old man with his deeds, and have put
on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that cre
ated him, John 3: 3, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God, Ileb. 12:
14. Without holiness none shall see God;
Rom. 8: 9. “So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Now if any man
have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of
his, Gal. G: 15; For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncir
cumcision but anew creature, 1 Pet. 2: 1,
2, “ Wherefore layingaside all malice, and
all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and
evil speaking, as new bom babes desire the
sincere milk of the word that ye may grow
thereby,” Ps. 9: 17. “The wicked shall
be turned into hell, and all the nations that
forget God, Ps. 11: 4, “And the Lord lov
elh the righteous, but the wicked his soul
hateth
No stage of mortal existence is so un
guarded or so liable to instil dangerous
views, ungrounded sentiments, as that of
youth. Infancy is guarded from vice and
immorality by kind Parents, but those pa
rents may have imbibed principles not
founded on truth. Those children are led
to a refuge, which, when in time of danger,
will not be to them a shield, a covert and
a great rock in weary land. These parents in
the day of accounts, will see, their children
whom they have led by the}hand and influ
ences, around them, and they themselves
crying for Mountains and rocks (as though
they could hear and sympathize over their
FOR THE BAPTIST CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
PENFIELD, GA„ JUNE 14, 1844.
doleful and lost condition) to fall on us and
hide us from the face of him that sitteth on
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
The great day, that I have been warned of
so much is now come, and I am not able to
stand. Many parents and children make
their way down to dispair, while the church,
brethren, lathers, and mothers are all enga
ged. May every soul be up and doing
while it is day ; and may the Lord sancti
fy those few remarks to the salvation! of
some poor deluded soul.
, > “W. R. STEELE
9 H
For the Christian Index.
Church Secrets.
Bear brother Baker —l have been a read
er of the Index ever since its origin, or near
ly so. Through all its changes of forms
and editors, I have found it to be a tried and
sure friend. It has been, and still contin
ues to be, a welcome guest to my humble
fireside. It has been and still is a terror to
evil doers, and a praise to them that do well.
I have not only been a reader of its pages,
but have been one of its patrons in a pecu
niary way ; but have never written a line
for its columns, except an obituary notice
or two. Its able contributors have always
afforded a supply of wholesome instruction,
and I have, heretofore, been content to feast
upon the fruit of other men’s labor, but now
feel a desire to lay before your readers some
scattering remarks in behalf of our alllicled
Zion in these bounds. I feel resolved for
the future, if it is your pleasute, occasion
ally to place an article before your readers,
And depend upon it, Brother Baker, I be
lieve you to be my rightful guardian in this
matter It is your prerogative and your
duty to reject or publish : this is a matter
discretionary with yourself. If you reject
1 shall believe you think it most conducive
to the advancement of the great cause of
which the Index and other religious period
isals are amongst the greatest organs.
If I do not come up to the fight with the
right kind ol harness and properly equipped,
it will not be necessary to sound a retreat
to me by a blast from your editorial trump :
just throw me aside with the rubbish and I
think 1 will have prudence enough to with
draw. This tacit rebuke will make me
hold my peace. Although you know it
goes Tnuch against the grain when we are
not counted smart, but I will try and bear
it; indeed I will have to bear if.
It is my purpose, in the present commu
nication, to speak something of church se
crets. There is a kind of secret keeping
in the church, which is doing great injury
to the cause of religion, both in point of fel
lowship and also in reference to its relation
with the irreligious part of the community j
for there is a relation, in a certain sense,
between the church and the world, as it is
the duty of the church to operate with and
among sinners for their salvation.
A. will come to me and say, have you
heard that B did thus and so? I am sorry
that it has come to pass; it will ruin his
Christian character if it is known abroad,
whether he be guilty or not, I hope it is
not so ; it cannot be possible ; but I am
bound to believe the statements made to
me ; but it will not do to make this matter
public, unless we are certain it is so. An
other thing, it is of a delicate character. I
got my information from a member of my
family, who does not wish her name used
in the matter. A tells this as a seeret to
me, and again I tell it to G, and so the
whole church know it, only as a secret.—
The minds of the church members become,
in no small degree, prejudiced and poison
ed by suspicion. Although C comes and
says, (secretly) from what I have heard be
fore, and what a servant of mine has told
me, IJ must be guilty. D comes and says,
I discovered something not long since which
confirms my suspicions that B is guilty.—
At the same time confesses that if he had
never heard any thing he would not even
have suspected it. The probability is D
may have seen twenty other men in the
same condition and the least suspicion would
not have been on his mind. All the while
this is told as a secret, and poor B knows
nothing of it; no one tells the secret to him.
Facts of this sort have come under my ob
servation ; efforts have been made to bring
the matter in a tangible form, and in the in
vestigation of reports of this kind I have
known them traced till there was not even
grounds for suspicion, much less resort to
church discipline. Now is it not a sin to
have such secrets in the church ? Was not
A wrong to tell it unless he was willing to
face B with his author, in the church, and
establish the facts? Would he not have
given stronger evidence that he possessed
that chat ity which thinketh no evil, if he
had gone to B and conferred with him on
the subject ? My heart almost bleeds when
I reflect upon the amount of mischief that
has been done, and is still doing in the
church. I think that church members have
great reason to be careful lest by this course
they not only neglect to clothe and feed the
servants of Christ, according to the latter
part of 25th chapter of Matthew, but actual
endeavor to tear from them the panoply of
mercy and grace bestowed upon them by
the king of heaven and leave them to writhe
under the pitiless powers of the world.
A Columbian.
May 29, 1844.
We.shall ever be glad to receive commu
nications from the writer of the above.—
•Should it so happen that any of his com
munications should be omitted, he should
not be discouraged. We may
know of reasons which would render the
publication of a communication improper
of which the writer might be entirely igno
rant.
The practice condemned in the proceed
ingl article, we fear, prevails to a greater or
less extent in all churches. It is exceed
ingly baneful and much to be depriealed.
Th<| proper course for one brother to pur
sue, as we have stated on other occasions,
when he hears an evil report of another, is
to endeavour to trace it to its origin and ob
tain the means either of exculpating or con
victing the accused. If the report is of a se
rious character and he has it not in his pow
er to trace it, he should apprize the accused
(but not even the wife of his bosom) of the
import, and urge him to the adoption of the
means necessary for the vindication of his
character, if innocent.
For the Christian Index.
i'ir. Baker —l have remarked, with much
isure, anew outlet for benevolence, in
mother State, i. e. of giving the Index
to |indigent and worthy ministers ; and I
ha|re been made to wish those kind breth
ren knew Rev. A. Shattuck, Pastor of the
Baptist church at Carrolton, and that they
would notice him in that way. The claims
exhibited are as follows : Ist. His merits.
2nd. His many straits. 3rd. Ilis lack of
substance. A few of his straits in lile 1
will mention, viz. Soon after arriving at
manhood he was driven to the- horrid ne
cessity of amputating his own foot at the
ankle joint, with his own dull kuife. The
circumstances were these : he was at hon
est labor, one mile from any person, while
cutting a horsing split tree it turned, col
lapsing the split and caught his foot therein
in a position where he could not touch
ground. While there for hree dolorous
hours, he promised God, if lie would devise
some way for escape, so that life could be
spared, he would devotedly serve him the
balance of his days.
Well, he did escape in the way promis
ed and finally got well!
But in a few years he found that the in
cessant, insidious enemy of man out wind
ed him. He then felt compelled to throw
down pretentions ; he did so, and by de
grees became a very wicked man again—
even a persecuter. At length he was unex
pectedly arrested by the Spirit, while a poor
unpolished preacher was singing a spiritual
song after his attempt at preaching. He
was convicted of sins ; the most prominent
was his broken promise at the tree, “his
perfidious broken promise to God” and his
subsequent spirit of persecution : at the ex
tremity, under the power of his conviction,
(as I have heard him tell with tears in his
eyes,) his difficulty seemed as gieatas when
he had to cut oil’ his own foot, i. e. while
he stood as it were at the bar of God, a just
ly condemned sinnei, and there as the last
resort, threw himself into the hands of the
Ssaviour for Life or Death ! 1 But he found
Beauty instead of burning; and was made
to rejoice in hope of the Glory of Gad.—
Dear Brother, I know you will not be sur
prised athearing that such an one is a preach
er of free, unmeritled and sovereign Grace.
Yes, brother Shattuck is a sensible pieach
er. He is a good and a sweet preacher.
Added to his personal disability, the death
ofhis much lamented and dear companion,
a lew weeks past, renders him now pecul
iarly a good subject for comfort.
Yours in Gospel bonds.
OBADIAH ECHOLS.
Brother Echols havingsent us the names
and address of ten new subscribers has the
right to order the paper to whom he will.
We have therefore very cheerfully directed
the publisher to send our paper to Rev. A.
Shattuck, Carrolton, Mi., if it has not here
tofore been sent. Is the P. O. right ?
For the Christian Index.
The following ministers and deacons,
(viz.) Benjamin Thornton and P. F. Bur
gess, ministers, and W. M. Almond, 11. J.
Goss, R. Crump, 11. F. Chandler,R. Black,
L. Aderhold, and W. Hunt, deacons, met
at the Line meeting house according to re
quest, Saturday the 18th of May last, for
the purpose of constituting a church, and
after an appropriate Sermon by P. F. Bur
gess, formed a presbytery, and proceeded
to business as follows :
Ist. A letter of dismission was present
ed from Sardis Church, containing the
names of seventy-four members, and after
reading the letter, they entered into covenant
union as a church, to live to the glory of
God and to discharge their duty as mem
bers of a church.
2nd. Their declaration of faith was pre
sented, which llnyiresbylery considered or
thodox, and according to the bible,.aid they
were then denominated the Baptist Church
of Christ at the Line Meeting House.
3rd. After the Church was constituted,
they presented two brethren before the pres
bytery to be ordained to the deacon’s office.
They being examined as usual, were or
dained to the office.
This flourishing and interesting church
is situated near the line between Elbert and
Franklin counties, a place which, but a few
years since, was almost given up to vice
and ignorance. The writer was informed
by the minister who first began to preach
in that vicinity, (who was then a domestic
missionary) that there were men and wo
men, and some of them with families, who
would stand, and seem to be amazed, at
hearing a mail tell about Jesus. But the
minister continued to visit and pieach to
them, until the work of grace began among
them, which at first seemed to be but a par
tial showei, but the word increased until
there was quite an outpouring of the Spirit
of God upon the people, and many sinners
found the Saviour precious to their souls.
The work is still going on ; saints are re
joicing, and sinners are enquiring, what they
must do to be saved. The writer is of the
opinion that scarcely any neighborhood has
undergone a greater reformation than the
above, in the last six or eight years. This
circumstance, with many others, should
stimulate us to send out domestic missiona
ries, and support them too, in order that all
the destitute places may be blessed as the
above. And may the God of all grace,
bless and sanctify tfie efforts of our domes
tic missionaries, until there shall bd a flour
ishing church in every destitute neighbor
hood throughout our land, that shall keep
up a godly discipline, is the prayer of one
who is a friend to the cause of Christ.
P. F. BURGESS.
From the Christian Watchman,
Lomluii Anniversaries.
By the kind attention of a highly esteem
ed friend, we have received a copy of “the
(London) “Nonconformist” of April 29th,
containing very full accounts of the anni
versaries of the National Baptist Societies
in England, which occurred about the same
time with our late anniveisaries in Phila
delphia. They appear to have been nu
merously attended, spirited and harmoni
ous. Several of the speeches reported, are
highly eloquent. We will present briefly
the most important results of the past year
as presented at the meetings in the older in
which we find them.
BAPTIST HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
The forty-seventh anniversary of this so
ciety was held at Finsbury chapel, on Mon
day evening, April 22, when there was a
more numerous attendance than on any pre
vious occasion. C. B. Robinson, Esq.,
took the chair.
The Chairman in addressing the Society
said :
“ You have seventy-two agents in differ
ent parts of the kingdom, who, with the as
sistance of their brethren, are in the habit
of preaching in 500 villages and towns, —
There have been added to the churches un
der their care no less than 800 persons du
ring the year that has terminated. You
have, in connexion with these various
places, 86 Sunday schools, employing 1000
teachers, and containing nearly 6000 schol
ars. Your agents are accustomed to preach
on an average to 20,000, with your breth
ren every week.”
Ho then called on the Secretary, Mr. S.
J. Davis, to read such extracts from the
report as would be inteiesting to the meet
ing. The summary of results is as follows:
“ In Sussex, Hampshire, Dorsetshire,
Somersetshire, and Wiltshire, constituting
the first section, there were twelve princi
pal, and thirty-two subordinate stations.—
There were several interesting communica
tions from Devonshire. The stations in
Wiltshire were in a healthy state. In the
Quarter!)/ Register of January last a letter
was inserted from Mr. Alcock, of Berwick,
near Shaftesbury, containing an affecting
appeal on behalf of the poor, to which sev
eral fr ends had benevolently responded.—
In the second section, comprising the coun
ties of Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Bucking
hamshire, Kent, East, Essex, Cambridge
shire, Suffolk, and Norwich, the principal
stations weie 30, the subordinate 66. The
communications from the agents were, upon
the whole, encouraging. In the midland
and adjacent counties there were 22 princi
pal and 39 subordinate stations. In the
mining and manufacturing districts there
were 15 principal and 81 subordinate sta-
Publisher— BENJ. BRANTLY
tions. During the pastyear, Mr. Pulsford,
the evangelist, had been incessantly engag
ed in his exhausting labors. At Broms
grove, Worcestershire, he had been favored
with the largest amount of blessing. Up
wards of twenty missionary churches have
adopted the class system, but so recently
as not to be able to pronounce an opinion
respecting its practicability and worth. For
several years past, legacies had been re
ceived, amounting to £4OO per annum; but
this year, only £IOO had been derived by
that source; £250, therefore, had been
borrowed to make up the deficiencies,
which, added to the balance of last year,,
left a. debt of £B3l 6s. 3d.”
BAPTIST-IRISH SOCIETY.
The thirtieth anniversary of this institu
tion was held at the Hall of Commerce,
Thread-needle street, on Tuesday evening,
and was so numerously attended, that it
was necessary to adjourn to a larger room
than the one in which the meeting was in
tended to be held.
By an abstract of the annual report, read
by Mr. S. Green, it appeared that the so
ciety was steadily pursuing its important
objects, and with great success. The re
ceipts during the past year had somewhat
exceeded the expenditure : the legacies re
ceived had been larget than usual. From
the commencement of the year it had been
felt that the increasing duties of the secre
taryship were becoming too onerous for
any London pastor, and Mr. S. Green had
been invited by the committee to relinquish
his pastoral engagements, and give himself
exclusively to the business of this society.
That invitation* however, he had declined,
and Mr. Trestrail, late of Cork, had been
appointed to the office.
Several very animated addresses were
delivered which we find it impracticable ei
ther to copy or to condense. The speech ,
of Mr. Trestrail a genuine son of Cork,,
was full of characteristic point and humor.•
BIBLE TRANSLATION SOCIETY.
The fourth annual meeting was held at
New Bark Street Chapel, on Wednesday
evening, and was very numerously attend
ed.
The chairman, J. L. Phillips, Esq., on
opening the meeting, made a series of re
marks on the importance of the object of
the Society, and the unreasonableness of
the opposition of the established church,
inasmuch as an appeal might be made to
their own prayer hook for the correctness
of the translation of the word baplizo. It
was no; for Baptists, lie said, to inquire in
to the motives of the advocates of the otli.
er system, but they might illustrate their
views and position by seeing what was done
on. the other side. He related the follow
ing ;
•‘A school fellow of his had been colo
nel in a West India regiment, with 800
men under his command. There was great
danger ol’ the men being converted to the
Roman Catholic faith : the chaplain who
was anxious to prevent that sad occurrence,
consulted with the colonel as to what meas
ures had best be taken. The latter remark
ed, -I will make short of it; 1 will order
out my regiment, and you may go down
the ranks and baptize them all.’ He did
so, and the colonel stood god-father to the
regiment. The colonel related that fact to
a clergyman in his (Mr. P.’s) neighbor
hood, who said, “I do not know how you
brought yonr chaplain to submit: I should
have rebelled against your authority.” The
Colonel replied. ‘When 1 was in the West
Indies, I should have liked to have seen
any chaplain that would dare to differ from
what 1 commanded. Blit, after all, I mere
ly did what you do at home—l baptized
them liist, and taught them afterwards.’—
The clergyman was puzzled to answer the
Colonel, and at last he rather thought that
he had done right. But this was aserious
and solemn subject, lie hoped, however,
that he should lie excused for stating that
fact, which he had from the Colonel’s own
lips. Whatever Christ commanded it was
their duty to perform. They needed no
other law—they wanted no other induce
ment—and, if the}’ believed that Christ had
commanded immersion, it was their duly to
follow it, and, in so doing, they would en
joy his blessing.
Dr. Steane then read the report, which
stated that the American and Foreign Bible
Society had favored the institution, as in
former years, with gratifying proofs of cor
dial and zealous co-operation* When made
acquainted with the desire of the Baptist
missionaries in Calcutta to prepare a ver
sion of the entire Scriptures in Sanscrit,
they granted a sum of £SOO towards that
object. They had also remitted 3000 dol
lars, in furtherance of the principal existing
translations. Encouraged by pecuniary
assistance, Dr. Yates had undertaken the
new work. The results of the controver
sy which had taken place in the Patriot
had placed the importance of a Sanscrit
version beyond question, The report then
detailed the various editions printed during
the past year, which amounted to a total of
45,000. ’ The distribution had kept pace
with the preparation of the sacred books,
and equaled, or rather exceeded, the distri
bution of any previous year. Grants had
been made, to some extent, to esteemed
missionaries and others belonging toother
sections of the Christian church. To
wards the diffusion of the word of life
throughout India, the committee had had
the satisfaction of making grants to the a
mount of £ISOO. The reeepts of the
year, in annual subscriptions, donations,
and collections, had amounted to £1622
INO. 24.