Newspaper Page Text
No. 27 Vol. IV.
From the (London) Christian Observer.
REMARKS DURING A JOURNEY THROUGH
NORTH AMERICA.
While visiting a friend in New York, I
was informed that it was in the adjoining
room that the agents of the African Colo
nization Society, and their supporters, as
sembled for prayer the night previous to
the sailing of the first expedition, of whose
melancholy fate we had just received the
intelligence.
In Philadelphia, the Sunday after my ar
rival, I heard our excellent Liturgy for the
firsttitae on these western shores; and the
implosion it was calculated to make on my
mind was deepened by the circumstance of
its being sacrament Sunday, and by the still
ness and decorum whioh pervaded this
beautiful city, in a degree which I never
had witnessed even in England. Here I
was also much gratified by meeting with
the aged Bishop White, one of the bishops
who went over to England after the Revo
lution, to be consecrated, in order that epis
copal authority might be transmitted to the
latest generations of America, through the
legitimate channel in which it had flowed
since the laying on of Apostolick hands.
Our excellent Granville Sharp, and his
metfßorious efforts in his cause, came forci
bly to my recollection.
While drinking tea with a friend in Balti
more, one of the females of the family
came in, who 1 learnt had been attending
an adult school in which there were 180
Blacks. She told me there were 600
Blacks in the Sunday-schools in the city;
and that they had lately formed themselves
into a Bible Association, and been received
into connexion with the Baltimore Bible
Society. At the same place, a letter was
shown to me just received from the Black
person on whom the management of the
expedition of the Colonization Society de
volved, on the White agents falling a sacri
fice to the dreadful mortality with which
the settlera were visited. On a desert
shore, deprived by death of the White con
ductors, to whom he and his companions
looked for protection—depressed by the
successive deaths of bis Black friends, and
harassed by the delays, irregularities, and
suspicious conduct of the native chiefs—he
writes in a strain of fortitude and piety, de
serving of imitation. But, thank God,”
he says, “ though cut off from my iriends,
aad relations, and family, and the comforts
of civilized life, our people dropping off
daily, myself ; ‘.touring under groat hn/lily
weakness, and an important charge lying
upon me, I can truly say that I rejoice that
1 came to Africa. O that what few days I
am spared in this world, it may be to do
good 1” *And yet this person, l was told,
was once an American Slave.
At Washington, I attended Divine service
in the house of Representatives; a magni
ficent hall in the capitoi, which is always
appropriated to this purpose on Sundays.
The sermon was an impressive one, from
the words, “ The glorious Gospel of
Christand you will readily believe, that
the promulgation of this Gospel in the Capi
tol of this vast continent, in the new cham
ber of its Legislature, under the fostering
Citft of its popular Government, was well
calculated to excite the most interesting
reflections. The scene reminded me of
‘'the period when “ they shall come from
the east, and from the west, and from the
north, and from the south, and shall sit
flown in the kingdom of God;” and when l
recollected how long the Star, had appear
ed in (he Fast, before it shed its radiance
on the darkness of these Western shores, —
whose very existence a few centuries since
was unsuspected, and which had long been
abandoned to Indian superstitions, which
had only just ceased to linger in hie prime
val forests which surrounded us, and on the
banks of rivers which yet bear their Indian
pames,—l seemed admitted to a closer
view of that mysterious progression by
which “ the kingdoms of this world shall
became the kiugdoms of our Lord and ol his
Christ, and He shall reign forever and ev
er.” This train of thought, the place, the
congregation, the surrounding scene, con
spired to give a peculiar interest to the
verges with which the service was con
cluded.
“ How happy are our ears,” &o.
To enter fully into my feeliDg, you must
Recollect my distance from the scene where
we have usually sung these words; and
•that when 1 hear of the East, I do not here
think of India and China only, but include
Europe and Africa, and with them dear
•Eugiand, in the idea which is present to
my imagination. On my return to my inn,
I dined in coinpanv with my friends the In
dian Deputation of the Creeks and Chero
kees, to whom 1 have already introduced
you. In the afternoon, I sat id the seat
next to the President’s in the Episcopal
Church, where we had an excellent sequel
to our morning’s sermon, from the words,
u How shall we escape if we neglect so
great salvation ?”
When visiting General Washington’s
tomb, in his favourite retreat at Mount Ver
non, on the banks of the Potowmac, my
Black attendant informed me, that the do
mesticks, —about thirty I believe in number,
And principally slaves, —assembled morning
and evening for family worship, at which
the lion. Bushrod Washington, the present
the MISSIONARY.
occupier of Mount Vernon, and a Judge of
the Supreme Court, presides. When 1 was
shown into the Judge’s study, Scott’s Bible
and Dr. D wight’s Theology were before
him, as if just laid aside, and gave rise to a
little conversation. In speaking of the
African Colonization Society, of which he
is the President, he remarked, that the
most interesting light in which he regarded
it, was as an instrument for the conversion
of the Africans to Christianity; that he
conceived this would ultimately be accom
plished by native teachers; and that the
Colonization Society, by the introduction
into Africa of social arrangements and reli
gious institutions, was calculated to raise up
a supply of native iostructers, and thus to
form an important. Jink in that cW of se
condary causes which are to establish the
kiudotn o< the Messiah in every quarter of
the globe.
At Charleston, in South Carolina, at the
Episcopal Church, at the door of which i
counted seventeen carriages, J had the
gratification of seeing some slaves receive
the sacrament at the same table as their
masters, some of whom were of the very
first rank of Carolinian planters.
At Augusta, in Georgia, 1 thought with
much interest on the late excellent Miss
Smelt, whose Memoirs 1 had read in Eng
land: and although I could not find her
grave in the churchyard, it was with great
pleasureJhat I passed a solitary Sabbath in
this foreign land amid the scenes where her
early piety was cherished and matured.
The following Sunday, in a remoter part
of Georgia, near the borders of Ihe Indian
Nation, my feelings Were still more strong
ly excited. I attended a Negro congrega
tion assembled in the woods, to hear a fun
eral sermon from one of their own number,
himself a slave. It consisted of 200 slaves
sitting on little planks under a large elm
tree; and I found I was the only White per
son, and the only freeman, in the assembly.
The preacher first gave a sort of general
address, explaining ihe occasion of the
meeting. We then had prayer ; then sung
the hymn,
“ Why do we mourn departed friends?”
and then had a sermon from the text, “ The
Lord is a sun and shield;” a text which the
preacher assured them was somewhere in
the Bible, although “ he could not under
take to tell them where.” It was with
miagled emotions that I beheld these de
graded fellow creatures, after drawing near
verse, the Mercy Seat of our common Fa
ther, disperse to their several plantations,
to resume on the morrow their extorted
labours, and to smart under the lash of a
fellow mortal.
Even in that land of darkness, the shores
of the Gulf of Mexico, in Mobile, until lately
a nest of pirates, and still without a Protes
tant place of worship, I found, to my sur
prise, “ The Dairyman’s Daughter,” and
“ Little Jane,” in a bookseller’s shop. In
the seclusion of the forests of the Mississip
pi, I have seen a solitary planter take down
a number of Dr. Clarke’s Bible, and inquire
with great interest, if I could tell him any
particulars of so good a man : his wife lis
tening attentively, and pronouncing an eu
iogium which would have made the Doctor
.blush.
I have attended Divine service at the
confluence of two beautiful rive*-? j n East
Tennessee, where the congregation was so
numerous that we were compelled to ad
journ from the meeting-house into the ad
joining woods, where tables were laid under
the trees for communicants, who were
flocking from miles in every direction, as in
Scotland, and to whom the sacred ordinance
was administered by four clergymen, of se
rious deportment, and apparently of respec
table acquirements and fervent zeal. At
the foot of the Alleghany mountains, where
I slept i a little log-hut, kept by a poor old
woman and her only son, our hostess glad
ly availed herself of the accidental pre
sence of a young minister, in bis way to
Braiuerd, to have family prayer and read
ing: and, in a large popular inn in Virginia,
I was asked whether I would like to retire
to the private apartments of the family,
who assembled morning and evening at the
domestick altar.
But it was at the missionary settlements
at Brainerd and YaloO Busha, that my feel
ings were most strongly excited. Never
shall I forget my sensations the two nights
I passed in Mr. Kingsbury’s little room,
which was kindly and courteously assigned
to me during my stay. A log-cabin, de
tached from the other wooden buildings, in
the middle of a boundless forest, in an Indi
an country,consecrated, if I may be allowed
the expression, by standing on missionary
ground, and by forming at once the dormi
tory and the sanctuary of a “ man of God;”
it seemed to be. indeed the prophet’s cham
ber, with “ the bed and the table, and the
stool and the candlestick.” It contained,
also, a little hook-case, with a valuable se
lection of pious books, periodical, biograph
ical, and devotional; among which I found
many an old acquaintance in this foreign
land, and which enable Mr. Kingsbury, in
his few moments ofleisur 3 , to converse
with many who have long since joioed the
spirits of just men made perfect, or to sym
pathize with his fellow labourers in Ota
heite, Africa, or Hindoostan.
MOUNT ZtON, (HANCOCK COUNTY. GEORGIA,) MONDAY, DECEMBER & 1822.
GO VE INTO ALL THE WORLD ANIJ PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERJ CREATURE.
Mr. Kingsbury spent a great part of the
second night in my room, inquiriog, with
great interest, about England, and other
parts of Europe, with respect to which his
intelligence had been very scanty since his
seclusion among the Indians. About mid
night, we became thirsty with talking so
much; and Mr. Kingsbury proposed that
we should walk to the spring at a little dis
tance. The night was beautifully serene
after the heavy showers of the preceding
evening, and the coolness of the air, the
fresh fragrance of the trees, the deep still
ness of the midnight hoar, and the soft light
which an unclouded moon shed on the log
cabins of the missionaries, contrasted with
the dark shadows of the surrounding forest,
impressed mr with feelings which 1 never
can torget. We looked cautiously around
us, lest we should he surprised by wild /
beasts; aDd Mr. Kiogsbury stopped to point
out to me a plant, which, if swallowed im
mediately after the attack of a rattlesnake,
proves an effectual antidote to the poison.
He said that he never stirred from homtf
without some of it in his waistcoat pocket!
and that, in the State of Mississippi, it waj
commonly carried by all persons who travj
ersed the forest. I could not help regard
iug this as a fresh illustration of that provi
dential kindness which so frequently ordains
the proximity of the bane and antidote.
The preceding particulars will convince
you that some indications of genuine, influ
ential, religious principle, occur, even to
the rapid traveller, in almost every part of
the Uoited States. During my residence
in Boston, New-York, Philadelphia, Balti
more, and Charleston, 1 have seen that
there isfijn each of them an extensive socie
ty of exemplary Christians; and I have had
the pleasure of forming an acquaintance
with many whose virtues 1 would gladly
emulate, and whose characters are au or
nament to their profession.
But you will wish to know io what degree
vital piety prevails in the community; and
I regret that 1 cannot tell you more expli
citly; the subject does not admit of precis
ion. The extent in which religion prevails
here is known only to the Searcher of
hearts; but there is ihe strongest reason
to believe that it is very considerable. In
deed, I am disposed to think, that a cursory
traveller visiting- England and America,
without prejudice, and with equal opportu
nities of observation, would draw a more fa
vourable inference with resner.t to the
stare or ntTlgion in the Atlantick cities of the
latter than in the towns or cities of the
former. Whether a long residence in the
respective places would not lead to some
change in his opinions, or at least hold thet*
in suspense, lam at a loss to decide; but |
believe it would.
I confine my supposition (o the Atlantick
cities, because the benighted shores of tIW
Gult of Mexico, and many portions of
western wilds, possess few features in com
mon with our favoured country, and should
rather be compared with our colonial posp
sessions in the East or West Indiesin r
deed I might include extensive districts in
the back parts of many of the Atlantick
States, where a population is thinly scatter
ed, and opportunities of pnblick worship
occur only once or twice a month. In
some of these, 1 thought 1 observed great
coldness in religious concerns ; the unfre
quency of publick ordinances rendering the
inhabitants rather less willing than more so
to avail themselves of them when offered.
I felt more disappointed in such districts
than in the frontier settlements. In the
latter, some spiritual as well as temporal
privations are to be expected; though I
thought their inhabitants exhibited much
greater solicitude for schools and churches
than those of the former. In fact, the new
settlers from the Atlantick States have, in
many cases, participated in the advantages
of that general revival of religion which
promises to be the characteristick of mod
ern times; and, before their zeal has had
time to cool in solitude and separation, it
has often secured a provssion for those re
ligions ordinances by which it may be cher
ished and sustained. But the back parts
of Pennsylvania and Virginia were settled
in less auspicious days; and we must not
be surprised if the flame of piety, burning
less brightly at that time even on the coast,
should grow pale and sickly when removed
into an atmosphere which ministered little
to its support.
Whatever may be the actual state of re
ligion in this country, I am quite satisfied
that it is on the advance. There may be
local exceptions; but my inquiries and ob
servations in every part of my route have
led me to a confident conclusion as to the
general fact. Many of the societies for the
promotion of religion are of recent origin ;
but they are gradually diffusing themselves
over the Union, and the sympathy which
was first kindled by commiseration for the
Otaheitan or Hindoo, instead of being ex
hausted on distant objects, seems to derive
fervour from its very expansion, and is now
visiting the hut of the Aborigines, the log
cabin of the Back-woodman, and (be habi
tation of the careless or uninstructed
“ neighbour.” In New Orleans, in March,
1815, there was not a Bible to be found, ei
ther for sale or to be given away ; and (he
only Protestant place of worship was in an
upper room b.elonging’ to an individual
Now, a Louisianian Bible Society is in reg
ular operition, and the inhabitants have a
handsome Episcopalian and Presbyterian
Church. The Sabbaih is still dreadfully
and generally profaned there; but it is re
ligiously observed by many, the influence of
whose example is daily extending. At the
boarding house where 1 lodged, were sev
eral naval and military, as well as mercan
trie, genlictnet; and I remember an officer
who had been drilling his rifle corps one
Sunday, remarking on the strong represen
tations which the Presbyterians had been
making to him on the subject. He defend
ed the practice by those arguments of ex
pediency which have been, worn thread
hare by the commanders of our volunteer
Corps. A lowyeorsiwn™, no j ciuuliatTciox-c
[would have been hazarded; or, if hazard
ed, the summary argument of a pistol would
probably have sileuced the interference.
Unhappily, however, while religion is
extending its boundaries in the United
States, Unitarianism is hut too successfully
urging what we consider its conflicting
claims; but this, and the state of morals,
must form the subject of another letter.
This letter is already sadly too long.
Late Missionary Intelligence.
EAST INDIA MISSIONS.—MR. WARD.
FROM THE NEW YORK SPECTATOR.
We have great pleasure iu laying before
our readers the following extract from an
interesting letter from the Rev. Mr. Ward,
of Serampore, to his friend in this city.
Perhaps no man ever visited this country
far so short a period, who acquired so ma
ny sincere and warm-hearted friends as Mr.
Ward; and any thing coming from him, we
know will be sought after with eagerness.
This letter, however, gives, in a small com
pass, a great deal of information, which will
be highly welcome to the friends of the
Missionary and Bible cause. Nor is M*
Ward left alone to testify of his own labours,
and those of his colleagues. In one of the
late letters of the Rev. Mr. Fisk, the Amer
ican Missionary to Palestine, we find the
following passage Maj. General Sir
John Malcolm, who was going from
to England, was with us two Sabbaths.
With him I had some interesting conversa
tion respecting India and Persia, in which
countries be has spent about thirty years of
hi* life. aj's ihe firogroes of knowl
edge and civilization in India is astonishing.
Though he has some fears that young inis
snnaries who go to India, will be too zeal
ots, and endeavour to “ go too fast” at first,
yet he entertains no doubt of their ultimate
success. He speaks in the highest terms
of the learning, piety and prudence of the
Missionaries at Serampore, says they are
“ “en of primitive piety, and real Christian
simplicity.” Dr. Marsbman is one of his
correspondents. “ Dr. Carey,” he says,
“ > s greatest Sanscrit scholar in India,
and a most wonderful man.”
Extract of a letter from the Rev Mr. Ward,
D. D. to a friend in this city , dated
Serameore, Feb. 5, 1822.
You will at this time excuse receiving a
few lines from me in this form. Having to
write to so many friends, by my respected
colleague, Mr. John Marshman, and (bis du
ty falling upon me in the midst of heavy en
gagements, made more pressing by the loss
of his labours and the preparations for his
departure, I know not bow to meet your ex
pectations by such a circular as this.
On my return to Serampore, after an ab
sence of nearly three years, it was to be
expected that a considerable advance in the
objects embraced by the union there would
be observable. I found that advance much
greater than I had anticipated.
The College premises had made a prog
ress, considering the largeness of the pile,
which could not have been expected. The
principal building forms one of the finest
modern pieces of architecture in India. As
the college is built from the proceeds of
our own labours, we have been obliged to
encroach on our funds beyond nur caJcula I
tions. A second examination of the college
has been held, equally satisfactory with the
first: several of the head pupils having, in
a third of the time occupied by students in
the Hindoo colleges, conquered the San
scrit Grammar, will soon commence the
study of a regular series of Sanscrit litera
ture. We have at present no students for
the ministry, as we have not a divinity tu
tor ; and Mr. Mack has not sufficiently mas
tered the language to devote any of his'time
to these native heralds of salvation. I have
much comfort in meeting the students, and
the boys of the Preparatory School, morn
ing and evening for reading, sioging and
prayer. Oh! it is truly cheering to hear
these youths and these children singing in
the Bengalee, p
“ O, thou, my soul, forget no more
“ The Friend, who all thy misery bore.”
Two students are already members of
the chnrch, and are youths of great prom
ise ; and four more students, apparently un
der serious impressions, have solicited bap
tism. Between thirty and forty youths and
children, bom of converted heathens, are
thus brought under daily, close, serious
Christian instruction. One morning, the
College native phyician said, as we sat
Price $ s 3 ’ so P r - ann * or i l
’ < $3,00 in advance. >
down to worship, “ Sir, the boys have mad e
a hymn, and wish to sing it.” I sat and iis”
tened to this hymn in honour of the Saviour
of the world, made and sung by this inter
esting group, with sensations of delight,
which no person, except he had been in the
same circumstances, could realize. The
sounds were carried on the bosom of the
Ganges to a sufficient distance to be heard
by the Brahmins, at their ablutions. “ In
stead of the brier shall come op the myrtle
tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a
name,” &,c. On the Lord’s day, *ll these
youths anJ children are engaged in cate
chetical, Christian exercises, or in publick
worship.
The. translation* nr., thus fae advanced :
—lfie whole Bible is finished at press rn the
Sanscrit, in 6 volumes 8vo.; the Bengalee
in do.; the Orison in do.; the Mahratta in
do.; the Chinese ;* the Pentateuch, io the
Sikh ; the Historical books in six volumes;
the Poetical Books in do.; the New Testa
ment in do.; the Pentateuch in the Kuu
kuon, and the New Testament in do.; the
Pentateuch in the Telings, and the New
Testament in do.; the Pentateuch in the
Pushtoo or Affgan, and the New Testament
in do.; the New Testament in the Guzze
rattee, the Assam, the Mooitanee, the Bi
kanere, the Kashmur, the Harutee, the
Bhngelcund, the Marwar, the Kunnoje,
and the Nepaul. In the press, the New
Testament in the Kurnata, the Oojeiu, the
Khasa, the Juroboo, the Mopipore, the
Mugud, the Palpa, the Shru Nagur, the
Kamaoon, and the Bhatnere. There are
also in the press, new editions of the Holy
Scriptures in several languages.
At Serampore, beside the English breth
ren, there are as itinerants, labouring eith
er regularly or occasionally, brothers Doug
lass, Solomon, a converted Jew, Canto,
Hurndass &c.
At Serampore, at the Mission chapel,
and also at the Danish church, at Crisham’s
chapel, and across the Ganges, at the Bar
raepore chapel, during the Sabbath, there
are seven services; and parlies of native
converts visit and preach in the streets of
the neighbouring villages. At Serampore,
there have lately been frequent baptizings;
the native sisters have begun to hold prayer
meetings, from house to house, and a hap
py revival is visible among the native mem
bers, who amouut to about sixty persons.
Since my absence in Europe and America,
several Dative brethren and sisters have
died, full of Christian hope and joy.
The.baptisms at Calcutta have also oc
curred frequently, duriog the last two or
three months. Here the preaching is kept
up in Bengalee and English four times on
the Sabbath, and ambulatory services iq
Bengalee are attended to every day in the
week.
We have a station at Midnapore, where
Brother D. Cary and Brother Muddon
preach and itinerate regularly. Another
at Harbong, in the District of Chilagong,
among the Aracanese subjects of the com
pany, where Brother Fink and several itin
erants labour. The coverted Aracanese
amount to about one hundred and fifty
members. In Jessore, we support another
station, and here Brother Thomas and sev
eral intinerants labour occupying differf nt
subordinate stations, and filling up a pretty
wide circle. The four branches of the
church make up about one hundred mem
bers.
In Burlhoon, vve have several native
preachers, and many members; but they
are at present destitute of a country-born
missionary We hope that this interesting
native church will not long want such an
overseer. At Dum Dum we have a place
of worship, and a native preacher is about
to be placed there. At Dhacca we have a
station connected with schools, and Benga
lee preaching. Brother Kreshna is at pre
sent there, assisting Brother Leonard.
Two other stations in Bengal are connected
with Serampore, though the brethren pre
siding over them are persons of property,
i. e. Dinagepore and Parboterpore. At the
former place, Brother Fernandez has a
large church, and Brother Hampton, at the
latter, has a small, but a very interesting
one. In Hindoosthan, we have four sta
tions, viz. Delhi, Futtygur, Allahabad, and
Benares, at which are placed Brothers
Thompson, Richards, Mclntosh, and Smith.
These are devoted servants of Christ, and
labour diligently in the vineyard. All
these are supported by funds raised at Se
rampore. The schools are superintended
by Mr. J. Fountain, my eon in law, and
Brother Douglas; ami I hope they are
producing a slow but certain change in the
minds of a large body of native youths.
* T|iis is mentioned as ftliistied, as tlie sheets
still unfinished at press will be completed in sixtv
days from this J
JUGGERNAUT IN DANGER.
Where civilization and Christianity are
united in their agency to enlighten the
heathen world, there we have in a degree
seen, and there we may expect yet more
clearly to see a diffusion of all the blessings
of rehgion of liberty, and of good govern
ment. When men are brought fully to ap
prehend the nature of their religious rights
nnd that for all their principles in relafiod
to God, to thsejr neighbour, ami to thetf*