will considerably exceed those of last year: the noble example of the parent Society, in the parent country, will be imitated by her offspring in the colonies; and already the same spirit of Christian zeal and Missionary enterprise, which is so mightily at work in her, begins to operate in them. O may the time soon come when all the various sections of the Christian church shall unite together, and put forth their combined energies in the great work of evangelizing the world! It was not a little gratifying to behold on our platform members of the Legislature, and others of respectability and influence in the community, publicly bearing their testimony to the good effects produced by the labours of the Wesleyan Missionaries in Dominica, and pledging themselves to stand by this blessed cause, and to do all in their power to further its glorious objects. Direct reference was made to the arrangements of the parent Society for the extension of school-operations in the British West Indies; and the obligation to co-operate in a work so intimately connected with the welfare and prosperity of these colonies seemed to be felt and admitted by all present. While speaking on the subject of schools, I may observe, that we are not altogether without hope that something will be done by the local Legislature towards the religious instruction of the labouring population. A Bill has passed the House of Assembly, and is now before the Board of Council, which proposes that two-thirds of the expense incurred by the different religious bodies in the island, in the work of education, shall be paid out of the public treasury, to the extent of £200 currency per annum to each Society. Should this Bill become law, it will enable us to extend instruction in the country parts much farther than we can do at present; and for this there is an ample field which hitherto we have not been able to occupy, from want of funds. It must, however, be added, that the passing of the Bill by the Board of Council is far from certain, as they have shown themselves less favourable than the Assembly to such a measure, by rejecting a similar Bill which was sent up to them some time ago. We are doing all we can, with our present means, to diffuse instruction; and I am thankful to state that we find friends, who are both able and willing to assist us in this important part of our work. One gentleman in particular, whose liberal sentiments and proposals I named in my last, is having schoolhouses erected on his larger estates; and has requested us to select suitable Teachers, and to take the schools under our pastoral care, the expense of which he generously engages to meet himself. We have already engaged three pious persons to go as Teachers to distant parts of the island, and shall employ more as soon as we can meet with individuals possessing the requisite qualifications. This we find most difficult here; but our trust is in God, that he will raise up suitable agents to carry on his work. We might perhaps readily obtain Teachers; but we want religious Teachers; and we do not consider any one suitable to be employed in our schools who does not possess genuine piety. I send, together with this sheet, a copy of the "Dominica Colonist," containing an Act to give validity to marriages henceforth to be celebrated by Wesleyan Missionaries in this island, and to require them to keep a registry of the same." This Act in its original form contained a clause to give validity to past marriages celebrated by us; but that clause was rejected. We are thankful that every impediment is now removed to our marrying the people in future, as this will doubtless have an extensive beneficial influence on the morals of a considerable portion of the community. POSTSCRIPT. December 21st, 1837. THE LATE JOSEPH POOLE, ESQ. THE late Joseph Poole, Esq., of Weston-supra-Mare, (formerly of Bristol,) left certain charitable bequests in his will; and subsequently signified to Miss Lewis his wish that he had also bequeathed pecuniary aids to other charities, among which was £100 for the Wesleyan Missionary Society. That lady, we are happy to state, has with great promptitude and kindness given full effect, though under no legal obligation to do so, to the wish expressed by Mr. Poole, deducting only from the sum of £100 the amount which must have been paid, in the ordinary way, for legacy duty. The Committee respectfully tender to her their grateful acknowledgments. TO CORRESPONDENTS OF THE WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. ALL letters and communications on the business of the Society, whether from home correspondents, or from Missionaries and others on foreign stations, are to be addressed, not to any individual Secretary, from which practice much inconvenience and delay in the transaction of business have in some cases arisen by the absence from town of the Secretary particularly addressed, but to THE GENERAL SECRETARIES, 77, Hatton-Garden. Remittances and contributions to the funds of the Society are to be addressed to THE GENERAL TREASURERS, 77, Hatton-Garden. Attention is requested to these directions; as thereby additional facility will be given to the transaction of the increasingly onerous and extensive business of the Society. CONTRIBUTIONS. Tas amount of Contributions received by the General Treasurers of the Wesleyan-Methodist Missionary Society, since the 16th of November last, is £5,615. 3s. 8d. CHRISTIAN RETROSPECT. ac WITHIN the last few months the public attention has been somewhat strongly excited on the subject of national education. It is felt to be an evil, that no effectual provision is made for giving to the entire population an quaintance with letters, and with the elements of useful science. In reference to this subject both Popery and Infide lity have been on the alert; and in some places public Meetings have been held, for the purpose of persuading the good peo ple of England, that any general system of education which the Legislature may adopt should be altogether unconnected with religion. As Infidels and Roman Catholics dislike the Bible, it is contended that the Legislature ought not to sanction any general plan of education in which the Scriptures are required to be read. These demonstrations of antichristian feeling have induced the friends of the Bible to meet and pass counter Resolutions, declarative of their determination to resist every attempt to form a system of national education from which the holy Scriptures, either in whole or in part, are excluded. They contend that morality is indispensably necessary in order to national welfare, and indeed to the very existence of society; that religion is the only true foundation and safeguard of sound morality; that the Bible is a revelation from God, and, as such, is the supreme rule and sanction of both; and that, therefore, every plan of education, by whomsoever devised and carried on, which is not based upon the Bible, is essentially defective, and in many instances directly pernicious. It habituates the youthful mind to disregard the great and only standard of truth, and that which God himself has supplied for the guidance of mankind. These principles, so just and important, have been asserted by public Meetings at several of the large and provincial towns; and they appear to have exerted a powerful influence upon several mem. bers of the Legislature. The House of Commons has appointed a Committee to inquire into the subject of popular education, and prepare a Report concerning it. Lord Brougham has already introduced a Bill into the House of Peers, proposing the compulsory establishment of schools throughout the kingdom, to be supported by local taxation, and placed under the direction and control of a permanent Board. It is not likely that this Bill, at least in its present form, will ever pass into a law; nor is it probable that Parliament, during the present session, will adopt any specific measure on this great national subject. To legislate upon it is acknowledged to be a matter of extreme difficulty, in consequence of the divided state of religious opinion, and especially the spirit of party which so unhappily prevails. It is satisfactory to observe, that no serious attempt is likely to be made in Parliament to exclude the holy Scriptures from any schools which may be established under its sanction in England yet no plan of education which it may devise for the benefit of the entire community, can adequately meet the spiritual and moral wants of our children and youth; who ought to be trained up in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and of the great and leading truths which they contain. The different bodies of Christians, therefore, as such, are bound, to the utmost limit of their power, to supply that full and sound religious training which is required by the letter and spirit of the New Testament. Much has, by the blessing of God, been done, especially in the manufacturing districts, by Sunday-schools; but it is not possible that these institutions, excellent as they are, should meet the necessities of the case. There are still wanting, at least in connexion with all places of religious worship, well-conducted day-schools, in which the Scriptures are read and explained, the children are regularly catechised in the principles of Christian truth, the elements of useful learning are efficiently taught; and where the duties of every day are begun and ended with prayer to Almighty God for his blessing. Many such schools already exist; but they ought to be multiplied in every district throughout the country. In this manner only can the different bodies of professed Christians fulfil their high and holy calling in reference to the rising generation. Many of our readers are aware, that a Parliamentary inquiry was some time ago instituted into the practical working of the Irish system of education; the result of which is, that the Government have announced their intention to modify the plan, so as to render it less offensive to the Protestant part of the community. The circumstances of the times call especially for renewed attention to the holy Scriptures. The two great evils with which the nation is at present threatened are Popery and Infidelity; and the most effectual antidote to both is that which God himself has provided in his own inspired word. Popery can never make converts, nor even maintain its hold, among a Bible-reading people. That system of spiritual wickedness and error withers and dies when brought into direct contact with the Scriptures of truth. Many able works have been written in vindication of that holy volume, and in refutation of the ungodly reasonings of Deism; and most of these have been extensively useful; but, after all, the best defence of the Bible is the Bible itself. It presents on its very face such a character of holiness, truth, and love, that no one can read it with due attention without being convinced of its divine authority. To bring all people under the influence of its sacred truths, and to train up children and youth in the habit of diligently studying it, are objects which all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity are especially bound to promote. The distressing intelligence has just been received, that the French Papists of Lower Canada have erected the standard of rebellion against the Queen's Government, for the purpose apparently of wresting that important colony from the British Crown. Unhappily, several months will unavoidably elapse before the loyal part of the community can receive any help from this country. May Almighty God extend to them his favour and protection! Civil war, aggravated by the rigours of a Canadian winter, is no ordinary calamity. Dec. 23d, 1837. 1. DIED, at Cheetham-hill, in the First Manchester Circuit, June 25th, 1836, William Williams, aged twenty. five years. This excellent young man was born in the year 1810. His father was a pious soldier, and, with his devout mother, was a native of Ireland; and both were members of the Methodist society. The regiment returned to Ireland when William was between four and five years old. Favoured with the advantages of a religious education, he became in early life a subject of divine impressions. The study of the holy Scriptures became his chief delight. When about the age of fourteen, so richly was his memory stored with the sacred truths of the Gospel, that he could repeat the whole of St. Paul's Epistles. When sixteen years of age, he joined the Methodist society in the town of Carrickfergus, and shortly afterwards he was removed to England; but though a member of society, and unblamable in his outward deportment, he was as yet without a consciousness of his adoption into the family of God. This, for a consider able time, was to him a source of great disquietude; but, in 1831, hearing the Rev. James Bromley preach a very impressive sermon on the "witness of the Spirit," he was stirred up to seek with all his heart this inestimable blessing for himself. Nor did he seek in vain: in two or three weeks he was enabled, through faith in Christ, to rejoice in a sin-pardoning God. Soon after the love of God had been shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him, he evinced an ardent desire to improve his talents for the best interests of his fellow-creatures. This led him to engage as a Sunday-school Teacher; then as an Exhorter, to the profit of many who heard him; and afterwards he was received as an accredited Local Preacher, in which office, to the end of his days, he laboured with great zeal, acceptance, and usefulness. In December, 1835, the symptoms of disease, which terminated in his dissolution, became manifest. But reluctant to relinquish the work in which his soul delighted, he continued, notwithstanding his great bodily weakness, until Whitsun-week, when he was under the necessity of retiring from labour of every kind. Being called upon by a friend, who inquired kindly into the state of his wind, he replied with great joy, "Not a cloud doth arise to darken the skies, Or hide for a moment my Lord from my eyes." At the commencement of his affliction he felt the ties of nature binding him to his beloved wife and children, so that for their sakes he desired, if it might be, to live a little longer; but grace enabled him to resign them into the hands of his covenant God, assured that he would be, according to his promise," a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow." During the period of his affliction his mind in general was kept in peace. His constant reply to his friends, on the subject of his state before God as a dying man, was, "All is well; all is right; I know whom I have believed." In this state he continued until the Tuesday before his death, when the adversary of his soul was permitted to try him for a season. For a moment his fears were alarmed, and he exclaimed, "He will rob me of my comfort! He will rob me!" But while fervent prayer was offered on his behalf, it pleased God to answer, and to bruise Satan under his feet. From that hour his soul was filled with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." On the morning previous to his death, he expressed himself to one of his friends as "having had such a view of the heavenly world as he had never before been favoured with." To another, who had been wavering during the late unhappy divisions in the Circuit, he spake with great fidelity, and exhorted him "to avoid all disputes in the Connexion;" adding, that "the Preachers were right on the great question; and that he was fully satisfied with the part he had chosen." His last words, which were uttered about two hours before his death, were, "It is finished! It is finished! I long to be gone! Come, Lord Jesus!" After which his redeemed spirit took its flight to be for ever with the Lord. ALEXANDER BELL. 2. Died, August 1st, at Philipsburg, in the island of St. Martin, Mrs. Elizabeth Richardson, aged seventy years. She attributed her first religious impressions to the instructions and example of her father, who used to read to her the Scriptures, converse with her on religion, and teach her to pray. By these means, under God's blessing, her mind was probably prepared for the ministry of God's word, which was introduced he intimated to the black and coloured A short time before she died, I called and found her at private prayer; when she observed, that God had graciously blessed her in devotion that day, and that a clear and sweet assurance of the divine mercy had been vouchsafed to her. She added, that she felt an impression that her soul would soon and suddenly depart to her God and Saviour, an impression which was singularly realized. This was the last interview; for, at the time of her death, my duties were interrupted by illness in my family. There is good hope, however, that she was found ready, and that an abundant entrance was given her into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. She bequeathed a small legacy to the Sunday-school at Philipsburg. was JONATHAN CADMAN. 3. Died, August 4th, at Amesbury, in the Salisbury Circuit, in the twentythird year of her age, Eliza, eldest daughter of Mr. Alexander Gane, a respectable Local Preacher. Under the watchful care of her pious parents, she "trained up in the way she should go," and regularly attended the ordinances of God's house, where her mind was brought under the gracious teaching of the Holy Spirit. When about seventeen years of age she attended a lovefeast at Netton, and on that occasion received such affectionate and timely advice from the Minister, as produced a melting of heart; and in the meeting her convictions were deepened, and her purpose fixed to seek the Lord, and give herself to him. She, with five others, immediately joined the society; and on the following Sabbath, while in the house of prayer, she obtained the forgiveness of sins through our Lord Jesus Christ. This "knowledge of salvation she retained to the end of her life. Eliza was remarkable for diligence in the means of grace, and was particularly attached to her class-meeting, from which she was never absent, except on account of personal or family affliction. She felt an earnest desire for the salvation of others; and this induced her to be active as a Collector for our Missions, to visit the aged and afflicted, and to persuade, by letters or otherwise, the young and the penitent to seek and expect a present salvation. affliction and happy death of a relative It appears that the long had a very hallowing influence on her mind; and although she appeared likely to live many years, yet she seems herself to have had an impression that her end |