additions to our numbers we regard as manifestations of the divine presence and blessing. Thus our hearts have been refreshed, our spirits invigorated, and our hands upheld in the work of the Lord. Besides, I may here state that our prayer meetings are well attended, at which we have the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord. Also our people are becoming deeply interested in the society's operations; hence every month the most part of them give promptly and joyfully their money to support and extend the gospel, aceording as the Lord prospers them in worldly affairs. The Portuguese Refugees. Latterly, however, the greater part of them was formed into a church by the late beloved Mr. Hewetson, of the Free Church; hence, on coming here, the majority of them attended the Presbyterian church. A number of them, however, regularly attended our meetings, and, although they did not understand our language, they felt that God was among us, so that they entered into the spirit of our worship, and felt that it was good to be there. When we attended to the memorial of our Saviour's death, they expressed a desire to celebrate with us his dying love. They were at once referred to the New Testament law of baptism. Their baptism. You ask, "What has become of the Portuguese refugees?" A large number of them On this subject they commenced to have gone to America, but there is a good search the scriptures for themselves. They many of them still in Trinidad. Every sab- soon saw that infant baptism was not in the bath forenoon, immediately after the English bible, and that it was, in fact, a piece of service, I preach a sermon in Portuguese, popery. Taught by the word and Spirit of when about fifty or sixty are generally pre- God, they soon saw and felt it to be their sent. I have also a Portuguese meeting on duty and privilege to be buried with Christ the Wednesday evening. These services are by baptism. Hence, on sabbath morning, very pleasing and refreshing. I have all along at nine o'clock, on the 8th of November, felt a deep interest in these people. Their 1846, Maria Rosa, Roza Correi, Maria de sufferings for Christ in Madeira endear them Freitas, Maria Julia, Francisca dos Santos, to my heart. Their persecutions were cruel Francisco de Freitas, and José dos Santos, in the extreme; being constrained, however, seven in all, were baptized into the name of by the love of Christ, and upheld by the the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. power of God, they rejoiced that they were Being satisfied as to the personal religion of counted worthy to suffer for the name of these individuals, and that they understood Jesus. They gloried in the cross of Christ, the spiritual nature of the ordinance of bapand rejoiced in carrying theirs after Christ, tism, I had no hesitancy in acting as I did. which they regarded as their joy and their I have just spoken to some of them of that crown. The accounts they give of the abo- memorable morning; their faces beam with minations and lying wonders of Romanism joy when they think of it. One says, "That are enough to fill every Christian, as well as was a happy day." Another says, "I stole every lover of human freedom, with deep and my clothes that day; O how happy I feel eternal hatred towards the "mystery of in- when I think of my baptism into the name iquity." Some of them who suffered impri- of Jesus." From this time one and another sonment for Christ, have a distinct and lively came to me with their Testaments in their remembrance of being visited by a Jamaica hands, with all the passages thereof well missionary, who must have been the late marked that had any relation to the mode, William Knibb, from the description they the subject, and nature of Christian baptism. give of him. They could not understand his language, but his looks and tears of love and sympathy with them in their sufferings they well understood, and still remember with lively interest. Their history in Trinidad. I could not but say, with Peter, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" Hence, they were baptized in the name of the Lord. Another convert. These dear people were driven from their A Portuguese Christian woman, who has homes and their country because they loved been attending our meetings for about two the bible-because they preferred the word years, and whose heart the Lord has opened of God to the Roman priesthood. Their to receive the truth, was baptized on the first persecutors were determined to destroy them, of the month. For conscience' sake she has or hunt them out of the country. They did suffered much persecution, with the threat the latter. When they took refuge in Trini- of being abandoned of man, or of having her dad, about five years ago, as there was no head cut off, if she dared to be baptized; she Portuguese minister here, they identified delayed not, however, to yield obedience to themselves with English Christian people in the law of her Lord and Redeemer; rejoicthis town. In Madeira, Dr. Kalley had heening in being counted worthy to suffer for the the chief instrument in the hand of God in name of Jesus. leading them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. These people's identifying themselves with the baptists in Trinidad has caused much un-rials, as well as about one pound per month easiness among their Christian brethren of the to keep the press in operation. Free Church; still we strive to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. When Mr. Hewetson visited this island as the pastor of these Christians, although he found that a number of them had become baptists, he loved them none the less for it, believing that what they had done was the result of faith in what they believed to be the will of God and of love to Jesus. As a further proof of the Christian feeling on the part of the baptized Portuguese towards their pædobaptist brethren, they have lately contributed about ten pounds to assist them to build a place of worship. May brotherly love continue and abound among them more and more. May their whole energies be consecrated to the honour and glory of God! I should like to see one or more of them fitted by nature and grace to go back to Madeira or Portugal, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to their brethren who still sit in the region and shadow of death. The Press. The press, which the friends at Haverford West gave us, is still employed in sending forth little messengers of mercy among the inhabitants of this dark land. Thousands of A holy alliance. You will be glad to hear that all the truly evangelical ministers and others in the island have formed themselves into a kind of "holy alliance" against the common enemy, and for the glory and honour of their common Lord and Saviour. To support "The Guardian," is one object of this union of brethren. "The Guardian" is intended to refute papist errors, and preach Christ and Him crucified. Thus the Christian people in Trinidad are striving together" for the faith once delivered to the saints." May the Lord bless our individual and united efforts for his cause and glory! From a letter received from Mr. COWEN, dated October 24, we learn that he has recently baptized two persons, one an aged female, the other an individual connected with the Sherringville station. It appears that the authorities still persist in introducing Coolies into tracts are thus sent forth to denounce the the island, who not only by their cheaper errors of popery, and to make known the labour diminish the just remuneration love of God in Christ Jesus. The seeds of of the native population, but bring with eternal truth are thus sown, and God will, in his own time, cause the fruit to appear. We them the heathen superstitions and need money to purchase more printing mate- observances of India. JAMAICA SPECIAL FUND. It seems desirable to record in the mercial distress has fallen upon the pages of the Herald the resolutions of planters, and consequently on the lathe Committee in reference to the for-bourers who make up the congregations mation of a Special Fund for the assist-of our brethren, so as painfully to reduce ance of Jamaica brethren. They have the rate of wages, and at the same time already been forwarded to the churches throughout the country, accompanied by an explanatory statement of the condition of the churches in Jamaica formerly connected with the Society, and in some instances a kind and ready response has been made. their ability to maintain the cause of Christ. These difficulties have been aggravated by the recent visitation of cholera, which appears indeed not yet to have ceased its ravages. Much declension has also manifested itself from the profession of the gospel, Since the reception of the grant of so as still further to diminish the £6000, in 1845, many difficulties, that numbers of those able to sustain it. could neither be foreseen nor avoided, Many brethren have either died, or have risen up to hinder the develop- have been constrained by health, or ment of that independence the Jamaica other causes, to leave the island. churches then attained. Great com- The earnest and reiterated appeals of the brethren for aid have led to the by the members of the Association of the adoption of the course laid down in the resolutions below. Donations and subscriptions to the Special Fund will be devoted in moderate amounts to the aid of those brethren whose churches are unable to support them without extraneous assistance, and likewise to give the brethren, whose health after years of relaxing toil in a torrid clime may require a restorative change, the means of obtaining it where their churches may be unable to afford it. In carrying out these objects, every requisite care will be taken not to trench on the independent and scriptural rights of the churches, and to maintain inviolate the principles laid down in the resolutions of the General Meeting of 1845. At the Quarterly Meeting of the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society, held at 33, Moorgate Street, October 15th, 1851, W. B. GURNEY, Esq., in the Chair,-Resolved: "1. That the ministers and churches in Jamaica, in connexion with the Baptist Missionary Society at the date of 1842 and 1845, were declared able to sustain their own the 1st of August, no further drafts should be Jamaica Churches, who resolved that, after I made on the Parent Society, except under very peculiar circumstances. In 1845, on resolved by the Society at home, and the the acceptance of the grant of £6000, it was brethren in Jamaica, That the acceptance of this grant be regarded as a full and final of the brethren in Jamaica, on the Baptist discharge of all claims whatever, on the part Missionary Society;-special exceptions being made in the case of the Calabar Institusionary sent out by the Society. The Comtion, and the return or decease of any mismittee therefore earnestly resolves that this declaration of independence, both as to the pecuniary support of the pastors in Jamaica, and as to all the operations and proceedings of the churches, should be strictly and permanently maintained. in the commercial condition of Jamaica, and "2nd. That, inasmuch as recent depression the fearful ravages of cholera in that island, within the last few months, have greatly and placed many of our esteemed brethren, lessened the pecuniary means of the churches, their pastors, in great exigency, it seems essential to the continued existence of some he aided by pecuniary exhibitions, to a of those churches, that their pastors should moderate amount, and for a limited time. constituency of the Society to create a Special "3rd. That an appeal be made to the Fund, which, in contradistinction from the General Funds of the Society, shall alone be available to meet cases referred to in the foregoing resolutions." We have now only to commend this object to the kind and generous con operations independently of the Funds of this THE KAREN MISSION ON THE TENASSERIM COAST. The following account of this very interesting mission of our American Baptist brethren, from the pen of one of the missionaries, will be perused by our readers with very great pleasure. Few modern missions present features of greater interest, arising from the peculiar character of the people, and from the great success that has attended the labours of Christ's servants. "Who would not be a Christian? His triumph is begun. 'Tis his to hail A new creation rising. 'Mid the gloom Twenty-three years ago Maulmain was but a wilderness. The ancient city of the Talaing king had passed away, and naught remained but the moss-grown walls to mark heeded and unsung, revelled alone in her the once proud seat. Beautiful nature, unown wild magnificence. The sun poured his resplendent rays over the time-worn pagodas that ranged the peaks of the bordering mountain; the broad Salwen swept silently past, spotted with junks and war-boats; the eastern Sylvia, with orioles, blue-winged rollers, and pretty little sun birds made the green pipul bowers vocal with their liquid notes; while beneath, the sweet wild flowers opened their dewy petals, and the flowering trees, the plumiria, the mechelia, and acacia, spread all round the wildest fragrance. Such were the rural charms of this lovely site; yet amidst them all were heard the blowing of the wild elephant, the growl of the bear, the hiss of the spectacled cobra, and the powing of the royal tiger; while within the villages of the district were fighting, shooting, racing, and dancing, mingled with savage yells, and the nerve-killing sounds of the musical bands through the day, and the slow death requiem with the sepulchral notes of the great horned howl, or the sharp, quick shot of mountain robbers often broke on the stillness of night. "Cannot tell; I shall go to one of the four great states of punishment, and after having suffered there, I may be born again in this world." "If born here again, what do you expect to be?" "If born here, I may be a beggar, or an ugly female, or a beast, or reptile." "What kind of reward do you look for on account of your deeds of merit?" "Nigban is the great reward I desire; but I may go first to Natpie," (the Nat country.) "What is the happiness there enjoyed?" "There, everything grateful to the eye, the ear, the taste, the smell, the touch, springs up spontaneously as soon as desired. There they have thousands of attendants, and hundreds of heavenly wives." The country in every direction was inter- "And if you are so fortunate as to meet sected with wide rolling rivers, and long wind-the god, and enter Nigban what will be your ing nullahs, reaching far off into the dense happiness there?" dark jungles, up and down which the wild Karens, from their airy basins and deep ravines, were often seen gliding silently and fearfully along in their numerous little fishing boats. "In Nigban there is no materiality, no intellect, no sensation, no perception, no will, consequently no desire for anything-no care for anything; all is rest and peace." It was but a short period after Sir ArchiThe Karens were a people then unknown bald arrived in Maulmain that the devoted to the white foreigner; probably not one of Boardman was walking one morning on the all that numerous race on the Tenasserim green flowery slope fronting his cottage, in coast had seen one gleam of gospel light, or converse with a tall dark peon of the Burman heard one lisping of the glad tidings. The soldiery of Martaban. Between him and whole of Amherst, Tavoy, and Mergui pro- this man the above dialogue may be supvinces, covering an area of thirty thousand posed to have just taken place, when the square miles, with a population of more than teacher's attention was arrested by the apa hundred thousand, besides multitudes sit-proach of a man leading towards him three ting in the purple glens of the far off Yoma little boys. They were Karen boys, and were mountains, were all wrapt in the labyrinthine orphans. These lads were taken under the folds of night's thickest curtain. Idolatry, superstition, and ignorance held stern their iron sway. From the fine shaded waters of the Thoung-yeen on the north, to the sands of the Paekchan on the south, and from the blue ocean that washes its granite-bound shore, to the Siamese mountains, that sweep its eastern horizon, all was heathen darkness. Except the light but just sprung at Amherst, not one glimmering ray had broken the centurial gloom of this night-land. missionary's charge, and this was the commencement of the Kareen schools in Burmah, and aside from "Ko-tha-byu" was the beginning of the Karen mission in the Tenas. serim provinces. Nearly one generation has passed away, and that loved missionary, with his noble companion, and other congenial spirits, have ascended the mount, and are folded in the arms of their adorable Saviour. But mark the change that has come over this pagan land! Such was Maulmain and its environs, when a British man-of-war was seen mooring off It is the "crimson fall of evening." Enter shore, and Sir Archibald Campbell, fresh that little boat, and scud along the Gyne's from his victories, appeared, bearing the silver-coloured waters. But listen! what British standard, and planted it on the sum-melodious strains break over the sleeping mit of pagoda hill. wave! It is a Karen prayer-meeting held in the far-off future." For I do see a change all rainbowed in a little green expanse on the reed-bound shore! The tawny natives are tuning their "Where will your spirit dwell after death?" untaught notes to the Christian's God-their "Don't know; either in a state of punish-great Creator. Louder and richer the song ment or reward." swells up amidst the palm groves-then wildly dies upon the wave, sweetly, tremulously! "Do you expect to pass through both states?" "Yes: when I die I shall be punished for all my bad deeds and rewarded for all my good." "What kind of punishment do you pect?" Pass on up the Hundaraw, the Dahgyne; enter that shady ville at the mountain's base. A house of God appears, bosomed in the tall ex-bamboo. And what? Are these all Christ's disciples? Yes, a multitude are pouring forth, crowding every path and lane! Quietness and order mark them, cheerful content beams from every countenance, and love fills every breast. Pass up the Atteran-the Salwen; cross over that arid plain to the dark base of that towering mountain. It is sabbath, and evening, Worship is ended, and all have retired to their rural homes. Note the stillness of the day-no sound of the axe or rice-pounder-no trampling of buffaloes, or boisterous glee of children. Wind round FOREIGN LETTERS RECEIVED. ASIA............... CALCUTTA.................. Pearce, G..........October 7. COLOMBO DINAGEPORE Thomas, J. ......October 7. .......................Allen, J............. October 15. .Smylie, H.......... September 27. SERAMPORE ...............Marshman, J. C..October 20. SEWRY............. Williamson, J...... October 1. ......June 20. .........October 14. ..Jenkins, J.......... Nov. 20, Dec. 4. ...Henderson, G. R..October 23. .........Gould, T. .........October 22. .Hewett, E. .October 23. Hume, J.............October 23. STEWART TOWN............Dexter, B. B......October 20. ..Law, J. ............October 28. ....Cowen, G. .........October 24, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The thanks of the Committee are presented to the following Friends at John Street Chapel, for a case of clothing, &c., for Africa; Mrs. Joseph Sarl, for a parcel of magazines; Juvenile Missionary Society, Union Chapel, Manchester, for a box of clothing, &c., for Africa. The Rev. John Clark, of Brown's Town, Jamaica, desires to acknowledge the gift of a bell for Refuge Chapel, Jamaica, kindly presented by John Purser, Esq., of Dublin, CONTRIBUTIONS, Received on account of the Baptist Missionary Society, during the month |