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COLONIZATION OF AMERICA. EMIGRATION to America is talked of all over the nation, and thousands, annually, are seeking their fortunes in that amazing country. We conceive that a short notice of its first colonization will be acceptable to our Readers, as we are aware that many are extremely ignorant of its history. We shall give it in the language of an interesting new publication, "Church History through all Ages," by T. Timpson.

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America, in every point of view, cannot fail to be most interesting to the Christian. Though a new world,' the church of God has flourished in it in a degree far greater than in any country upon earth.

"The southern continent of America was colonized by Spain and Portugal during the sixteenth century: but the original population was mostly destroyed by the brutal oppressions of the colonists, aided by the terrible operations of the popish Inquisition. The forms of religion were retained by the Spanish and Portuguese settlers; but learning and scriptural knowledge had scarcely any existence; and the fine countries of that extensive region are still overspread with ignorance, superstition, and misery, under a jealons popish priesthood. Popery, in all its characteristic forms, holds the wretched inhabitants in mental and moral darkness; though various efforts have been made to promote education among the people, and to circulate the word of God.

"The northern continent was discovered in the commencement of the seventeenth century, and called North Virginia: but no European settled there till 1608. At this period, the persecutions which the Puritans endured, drove multitudes of them to the Continent, particularly to Holland. Among these were the celebrated Henry Ainsworth, famous for his Hebrew learning, John Canne, author of the marginal references to the Bible, and John Robinson. They were Independents in their views of church order; and a considerable church of that form existed and flourished among the English exiles. In a foreign country they were perplexed with many inconveniences, among a people of different language and manners. It was re

solved, therefore, after prayer-meetings for Divine direction, that the younger part of Mr. Robinson's congregation should remove to America, under the crown of England; that so they might enjoy the liberty and purity of religion, and be capable of encouraging their persecuted friends and countrymen.

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They obtained from the government of England a patent for a settlement, and observed a day of fasting and prayer; when the venerable Mr. Robinson addressed to them an affectionate exhortation. He, with his elders, accompanied them to the port, where they spent the night in prayer, and, to the number of one hundred and twenty, with their minister Mr. Brewster, they embarked for America, July 2, 1620. They landed at Cape Cod, and called their settlement New Plymouth. Hardships of the most distressing kind they were necessitated to suffer during the first winter, by which their number was reduced to about sixty sickly persons but as the spring returned, they recovered; and receiving supplies from their friends in England, they thus laid the foundation of New England,' the noblest settlement of America, a secure asylum for the oppressed servants of Christ.

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Feeble as was this colony at first, it rapidly increased, by the successive emigrations of the oppressed Puritans. For Charles I, pursuing the same course of policy as his bigoted father had done, employed some of the most worthless of men as his ministers; at the head of whom was the unprincipled Villiers, duke of Buckingham, with Archbishop Laud. Lord Clarendon

declares, that the Attorney General Noy, and all the judges, were a scandal to their profession. The king's proclamations were established for laws, and the Council Table, the Star Chamber, and the High Commission Court, carried on the chief business of the nation, instead of the legal courts. By such means, some of the Puritan ministers were silenced and deprived every week, and their families reduced to distress; and as there appeared no prospect of relief, but rather the approach of a violent storm, they projected a further settlement in New England. Several of the Puritan nobles, disgusted with the unlawful and oppressive proceedings of the court, engaged in this design, and obtained a charter, May 4, 1628-9, constituting a body corporate and politic, by the name of Massachusett's Bay.

"The new planters being all Puritans, engaged Mr. Higgison and Mr. Skelton, two silenced ministers, to be their chaplains, who, with several of their friends, united to strengthen the colony. The little fleet that went upon this expedition consisted of six sail of transports, of from four to twenty guns, with about three hundred and fifty passengers, men, women, and children. They carried with them one hundred and fifteen head of cattle, as horses, mares, cows, &c., and fortyone goats; six pieces of cannon for a fort, with muskets, pikes, drums, colours, and a large quantity of ammunition and provision. They arrived in New England, June 24, 1629, and called their new settlement Salem, the Hebrew word signifying Peace.

"As the chief motive for their retreating to those foreign wilds, was to enjoy the privileges of pure religion, their earliest attentions were paid to its sacred ordinances accordingly, the 6th of August was appointed as a day of fasting and prayer, and a church was formed under Mr. Higgison, each one making a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and declaring their determination to walk through life according to his gospel, agreeably to a covenant drawn up by their pastor.

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The persecutions under Laud continuing in England, the colony was recruited next year, by the arrival of two hundred persons, ministers, gentlemen, and others, thus driven out from their native homes. On leaving their country, they published an address, requesting the prayers of their brethren and friends, and promising, so far as God shall enable us, to give him no rest on your behalf, wishing our heads and hearts may be fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we shall be in our poor cottages in the wilderness.'

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By such various accessions, the New England colonies were greatly augmented, both in numbers and wealth, as well as piety: for when it appeared that the planters could subsist in their new settlements, great numbers of their friends, with their families, flocked after them every summer.

Remarkably singular was the circumstance mentioned, of Oliver Cromwell being prevented by Charles I from retiring to America. In 1638, there were eight sail of ships at one time in the river Thames, bound for New England, and filled with Puritan families, among whom were Oliver Cromwell, afterwards the lord protector of the Commonwealth of England, the famous John Hampden, and Arthur Haselrigge; who, seeing no termination to the oppressions of their native country, determined to spend their days in America but the council being informed of their design, issued an order, dated May 1, 1638, to detain those ships, and to bring their provisions on shore. And to prevent the like for the future, his majesty prohibited all masters and owners of ships to set forth any vessels for New England with passengers, without

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special license from the privy council: this remarkable reason is assigned for the order, Because the people of New England are factious and unworthy of any support from hence, in regard of the great disorders and want of government among them, whereby many that have been well affected to the church of England have been prejudiced in their estates by them.' The truth of the case was, crowds were hastening their escape from prelatical tyranny, to the manifest loss of the country, and New England was too far from the reach of the Star Chamber.

During the twelve years of Laud's administration, there went over from England about four thousand Dissenters, to settle as planters, and laid the foundation of several towns and villages, having carried with them, in materials, money, and cattle, an amount of property equal to about £200,000, besides the merchandize intended for traffic with the Indians. It has been computed, that from the commencement of the colony in 1620, to the year 1640, no less than twenty-one thousand two hundred British subjects settled in the four provinces of New England, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusett's Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and Connecticut, and they had drained England of four or five hundred thousand pounds, which was a vast sum in those days."

ON THE INSECTS WHICH ARE HURTFUL TO MANKIND.

AN insect is generally regarded as the most insignificant of created beings, and the word is often used to express our sense of the worthlessness of the object to which it is applied. The Scriptures, however, give us a juster notion of the importance of these minute creatures by calling them God's " great armies," and by the terrible display of his wrath in using them as the ministers of his vengeance against the proud king of Egypt. The following particulars of some of the many species of insects which are hurtful to mankind (from Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology) will we doubt not be acceptable to our Readers.

Many insects seem to attack the human body solely for the purpose of feeding on the blood. Some of these produce exquisite pain when they strike their tremendous apparatus of knives and lancets into our skin. The horse fly will take away as much as eight drops of blood, when it attacks the human subject. The sand fly of America, called the burning fly from the intense burning pain which its bite occasions, will make the blood run down the face in streams, although it is so small as to be hardly perceptible. The bite of the stomoxys calcitrans, a fly not unlike the common house fly, produces almost as much pain as the sand fly; and an anecdote is related of a gentleman being dreadfully teased by an insect for several nights, so that he could not sleep; when it was found that swallow fly had strayed from its natural habitation, the nest and skin of the swallow, and made a lodgment between the sheets of his bed. None of these torments however are more terrible than the many species of gnats or musquitoes. The rostra or beaks of these insatiable blood-suckers consist of five lancets besides the sheath; some of the lancets being barbed for the purpose of fastening the instrument in the skin, so that it may act as a syphon, and draw away the luckless sufferer's blood. In hot climates these insects form so great a pest, that the hum of a musquito becomes more terrible than the roar of a lion. Dr. Clarke relates, that in the Crimea, the Russian soldiers are obliged to sleep in sacks, and still some of these occasionally die

in consequence of mortification produced by the bites of musquitoes. In America, soldiers have been obliged to dig holes in the earth with their bayonets, and sleep with their heads inserted in those holes, and their hammocks tied round their necks.

Some insects sting only out of revenge. In these the piercing instrument, which is essentially of the same kind, is fixed in the animal's tail, and generally their stings are venomous. The Linnæan order Hymenoptera comprises the majority of these insects. Ichneumon flies will occasionally attack the human subject, and the powers of the bee, the wasp, and the hornet are well understood. Ants also sting in the same way, and some of them give exquisite pain. A black ant at Ceylon, called coddia, produces as much pain as a coal of fire; but it is said to be of a noble nature and never to sting unless irritated. Scorpions come next under consideration. Some of them are a foot long. Their sting consists of a simple incurved mucro, terminating in an ampullaceous joint. animals are exceedingly cruel and ferocious. insects produce injury simply by biting. The scolopendra or centipedes are of this class. Dr. Lister mentions one scolopendra which is eighteen inches long. The bite of some of these large ones is said to be mortal. Spiders also use their very strong jaws for the same purpose. The tarantula, which is a spider, is famed throughout the civilized world. The bite of the tarantula however is not dangerous; but that of another Mediterranean spider is said to be mortal to man as well as to animals. This insect is as large as a hornet, and its web is so fine as to be almost invisible.

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A third class of insects produces great annoyance in other ways. A very minute creature, the thrips physapus excites an intolerable sensation in sultry weather by merely creeping upon the skin. Several foreign insects produce still greater evils. The common house fly acquires this power of annoyance when it walks upon the skin at the close of the summer; but Mr. Arthur Young relates, that an annoying fly is so numerous in certain parts of France, that he could manure four or five acres every year with dead flies. The eye fly of the East Indies is a very minute insect, which torinents persons by flying into their eyes. It is well known that the hairs of the cowhage produce very great irritation on the skin: in the same way, the stiff hairs of certain caterpillars are very tormenting. Ladies standing near the nests of these insects have had numerous tumours produced on their necks, occasioned by short hairs, brought by the wind. Probably these hairs are barbed, and thus make their way into the skin; as is the case with certain seed vessels, those of the travelling oat for instance, which thus creep along the ground, or with the fur used by hatters, which is consolidated, so as to form felt, by favouring the operation of this barbed nature of the fur.

The juices of spiders are often very irritating to the skin; whilst in South America, if a fiery red acarus called coya or coyba be crushed on the skin, its fluids produce large tumours, which are often followed by death.

It is still necessary to mention that some insects actually live in the human stomach. The meal worn, a species of beetle, has been voided both by male and female patients. Maggots have often been discharged from the nostrils in certain patients; and a case occurred at Ashbornby in Lincolnshire, where a pauper was found in the middle of June, literally devoured by maggots before his death. He had concealed meat about his person, which became putrid and full of maggots; and these maggots by proceeding to attack the living substance caused the man's death.

AN INSCRIPTION FOR MY DAUGHTERS' HOUR
GLASS.

Mark the golden grains that pass
Brightly through this channelled glass,
Measuring by their ceaseless fall
Heaven's most precious gift to all!
Busy, till its sand be done,
See the shining current run;
But, th' allotted numbers shed,
Another hour of life hath fled!
Its task performed, its travail past,
Like mortal man it rests at last!
Yet let some hand invert its frame,
And all its powers return the same;
Whilst any golden grains remain,
"Twill work its little hour again.
But who shall turn the glass for man,
When all his golden grains have ran?
Who shall collect his scatter'd sand,
Dispers'd by Time's unsparing hand?
Never can one grain be found,
Howe'er we anxious search around!
Then, daughters, since this truth is plain,
That time once GONE nc'er comes again,
Improv'd bid ev'ry moment pass-
See how the sand rolls down your glass!
M'CREERY.

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TRACT OF COUNTRY COVERED WITH LAVA. THIS tract is situated in Mexico, and the singular scene is thus described by Mr. Bullock. "The whole country for leagues was an entire mass of cinder, scoria, lava, and pumice, piled up in every form that can be conceived, and still remaining in the same state as when first left by some dreadful explosion of an unknown volcano: in some places huge pinnacles threatening to fall and crush the passing traveller; in others, the liquid lava seems to have burst like an immense bubble, leaving arches of solid crust, from sixty to eighty feet high, and three or four thick, all hollow underneath, and spread at the bottom with loose cinders. This valley is bounded on the left by a ridge or wall of immense height, as if the great flood of melted matter had been chilled and stopped in its course. some parts, it seemed as if the lava and scoria had been in part decomposed, and in these, several species of aloes, yucca, dracinæ, and other strange and picturesque plants, were thriving luxuriantly. places thousands of trunks of huge trees, dead and crumbling into dust, added wildness to the scene of desolation. Still further on the left, the mountain of pines, of extraordinary size, and others covered with stunted oaks, served by contrast to exhibit the picture of this tremendous-looking and savage region with greater force. After travelling about four miles over this bed of eruptive matter, which was constantly varying in its features, we came suddenly upon a clayey and sandy soil, and soon after, to the Indian village of Los Vegos, built with planks and logs of wood, and covered with shingles, in the same manner as the mountain villages of Norway and the Alps."

In other

DREADFUL ACCIDENT Accompanied with curious phenomena at the Thorncliffe Iron-works near Barnsley, Yorkshire.

On the 19th of July, 1820, during a tremendous thunder-storm, a number of workmen and boys belonging to the works, together with the acting partners and managers, altogether more than one hundred persons, were assembled at the casting house, as was customary

when any thing particular was about to be cast, for the purpose of witnessing the casting of a tilt shaft, above five tons weight, in a perpendicular mould. When the casting was nearly complete, the liquid mass suddenly shot up like a cataract of molten lava from the orifice of a volcano, and, mingled with clouds of heated sand, fell in red-hot flakes on every side. Of the persons present twenty-two were burnt more or less severely, three perished on the spot, and six others died in a few days. The immediate cause of the catastrophe could not be satisfactorily ascertained: it did not arise from any failure in the cast-iron moulds, for these were found perfect after the accident; from moisture within the pit it seemed impossible, the mould having been comparatively filled with metal before the eruption took place. It was the opinion of the proprietors, that some communication took place between the electric fluid, with which the atmosphere was highly charged at the time, and the dense sulphureous vapour produced by the upright column of molten mineral in its matrix, whereby this explosion, resembling an earthquake in violence, noise, and fatality was occasioned. Happily occurrences of this sort are exceedingly rare ; that at the place in question, formed the only instance of an accident having taken place, during twenty-five years. — Lardner's Cyclopædia.

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THE BAPTIST ANNIVERSARIES.

WE have great pleasure in complying with the wishes of several of our friends, to mention the Anniversaries of the Baptist Missionary Society," the " Baptist Home Missionary Society," the "Baptist Irish Society," and the “ Baptist Continental Society," held in London this month. We most cordially rejoice in their successes, and delight to acknowledge the obligations under which the world has been laid by their devoted missionaries, Ward, Marshman, and Carey: the latter of whom has justly been pronounced "the most learned oriental scholar in the world."

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The CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE may be delivered weekly in the Towns of the United Kingdom, by those Booksellers and Newsmen to whom Subscribers address their orders. Being unstamped, it cannot be transmitted by post as a newspaper. But for the convenience of our country friends and others, who cannot obtain the publication weekly, it will be published every four weeks in parts, each including four numbers; excepting in June and December, in each of which a part will be published containing six numbers. No extra charge will be made for the wrapper: so that the whole annual expense of the twelve parts will be 4s. 4d.

London Printed and Published by C. WOOD AND SON, Poppin's Court, Fleet Street, and may be had of all Booksellers and Newsmen.

Communications (post paid) to be addressed to the Editor, at

the Publishers'.

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CESSION OF THE DISTRICT OF MATAVAI, IN THE ISLAND OF OTAHEITE, TO CAPTAIN WILSON, FOR THE USE OF THE

MISSIONARIES OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

On the right, seated on the ground, is Pytcea, the principal Chief of the district of Matavai; behind him stand Mr. and Mrs. Henry, and the Missionaries are behind them; Mr. Jefferson, the Secretary, stands behind Captain James Wilson, the principal person: between him and his Nephew, Capt. W. Wilson, stands a Child of Mr. Hassel, and Mrs. Hassel with an infant is before them. Peter the Swede acts as interpreter; by him stands Ideea the wife of Pomarre. Their son Otoo, who is carried on men's shoulders, with his Queen in a like situation, are the King and Queen of the country. Next Otoo stands Pomarre, uncovered before his own son, but still retaining the chief authority: behind him is the grandfather Happai. The High-priest Mannee Mannee, old and nearly blind, is crouching in the attitude of address to Capt. Wilson, making a formal surrender of the district. On his right hand is the young wife of Pomarre. A rope was drawn round the place of audience to keep off the people. The Bread Fruit plant and Cocoa Nut trees mark the most useful productions of the island.

THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. CHRISTIANITY is essentially missionary in its spirit, embracing in its benevolence the utmost longitude and latitude of the habitable earth. Sincere and intelligent Christians, in every age, influenced by their sacred principles, have regarded the Saviour's last command as obligatory upon them: but it was not till the latter end of the last century, that evangelical Missions to the Heathen were determined upon, as they have since been carried on, upon a broad and extensive system.

This god-like spirit received a new impulse in 1795, when the "London Missionary Society" was formed: consisting of several liberal-minded clergymen, and the principal ministers of the Independent denomination, with several of the Scotch secession, and of the CalvinVOL. I.

istic Methodists. At their first annual meeting in May, 1796, it was resolved, that, "to prevent, if possible, any cause of future dissension, it is declared to be a fundamental principle of the Missionary Society, that its design is not Presbyterianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of church order; but the glorious gospel of the blessed God to the heathen; leaving the converts to the Scriptures for church government." This Society originated in a great measure with Dr. E. Williams, an Independent minister of Birmingham, publishing an address to his brethren in the ministry, in the Evangelical Magazine, in 1794, which was established in that year. By this address, the servants of God were led to take measures for this institution. The Rev. Dr. Williams, Dr. Haweis, Dr. Bogue, Mr. Eyre, Mr. Rowland Hill, Mr. MatF

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thew Wilks, were among its principal founders South Sea Islands were chosen as the first field of operations. Captain Wilson offered himself to the Directors, to take charge of the voyage contemplated; the ship Duff was purchased; and thirty Missionaries, of whom six had wives and three children, embarked in the river Thames, August 10, 1796. They set sail from Portsmouth, September 23, and after a prosperous voyage, cast anchor in Matavai Bay, March 7, 1797. They were received by the natives of Otaheite (Tahiti) with every expression of delight; and having delivered their presents, and made known their intentions, by means of two resident Swedes who could speak English, Pomarre yielded to their wishes, and on the 16th of March, 1797, granted them the district of Matavai, in the presence of a grand assembly, as represented in our Engraving. Many years these devoted missionaries laboured with but little success; but at length, the Divine blessing descended, the whole population renounced idolatry, destroyed their idols, and embraced Christianity; many of them with sincere affection, “in spirit and in truth."

The work of God's grace continued to spread, and native teachers have been raised up as missionaries to other islands but to give a detailed account of the instruction and civilization of these once barbarous islanders, the translation of the Scriptures, and other valuable books for their use, is impossible within our limits.

The African islands (but especially South Africa) have been marvellously blessed by means of the London Missionary Society; and the benefits of the British constitution have been extended to the enslaved Hottentots, and other natives of Africa, by the zealous exertions of Dr. Philip. The East Indies have many successful labourers of this Society; and an Anglo-Chinese college has been founded by Dr. Morrison, the late Dr. Milne, and their colleagues at Malacca, destined to be an incalculable blessing to the East. China has been blessed with a translation of the whole Bible into its difficult language, by Dr. Morrison; which, with his Grammar and Dictionary, has been considered the noblest work of any uninspired writer, or of any agent in the church of God since the days of the apostles. This translation of the Holy Scriptures opens the treasures of eternal life through Christ to nearly one-third of the human population in China, and the regions around. Various other translations of the Scriptures have been made by the missionaries of this Society, the particulars of which we cannot here detail. The stations of the Society are eighty; having ninety European missionaries, besides twenty-one printers, schoolmasters, and artisans, and many native ministers and teachers, amounting to about four hundred. The schools of the missionaries are numerous, containing about twenty thousand scholars.

The average expenditure of the London Missionary Society is about 40,000. The receipts for the year ending April 1832, are stated at 40,1137. 15s. 5d., which is contributed in principally small sums; though we rejoice to hear that on Monday, June 25, a Donation was paid to the Treasurer of 400/. from some unknown friend. Contributors of a penny per week and upwards are entitled to the interesting Missionary Sketches.

MISSIONARY MUSEUM.

OUR young readers in London, and those who may visit the metropolis from the country, will find an hour's most delightful and instructive occupation any Wednesday at the Missionary Museum, Austin Friars, Old Broad Street, London. No charge is made for admission: but tickets must be obtained from some of the Directors, many of whom are Ministers both in

London and the country. The "Museum" contains a great variety of curiosities from all parts of the globe; more particularly of the IDOLS, which have been delivered up to the Missionaries, after the conversion of the once deluded and brutal heathen to the knowledge and enjoyment of the gospel of Christ.

A SABBATH IN THE SOUTH SEAS. CONFIRMATION the most ample of the regeneration of Tahiti and other islands in the South Seas, has been furnished by officers of ships, both French and English. They have given the most unqualified testimony of the prevalence of piety among the inhabitants, and of the success of the missionaries in their benevolent labours. Perhaps nothing could better illustrate the vast improvement of these once savage and barbarous people, than the account given by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennett, Esq., of their first Sabbath in Tahiti. These gentlemen were a deputation from the London Missionary Society, to visit their different stations in the several parts of the world. Their "Journal” has been dedicated to his Majesty William IV. In that most interesting work, these gentlemen say:-" At sunrise, we went to the chapel on the beach, near Mr. Nott's house,-a neat structure, having bamboo walls, thatched with palm leaves, furnished with benches made of bread-fruit-tree planks, and capable of holding about four hundred persons. It is now used only as a school and prayer-meeting house. On our arrival, we found the place filled with natives of both sexes and various ages. They were all kneeling, while one of them was offering up prayer in the most fervent and devout manner. Scarcely a head was lifted up when we entered, and stepped as softly as might be to a place near the person who was officiating at the time. When he had finished his address to the Deity, he gave out a hymn, which was sung with much animation by the people. He then read a portion of St. John's Gospel, many of those who were present producing their Testaments, and following his voice, with their eyes on the words of the book. Another prayer was then offered up, and the assembly departed in the most quiet and becoming order to their houses, after haying continued together about an hour in this spontaneous service; for none but natives were present except ourselves— two strangers, who, coming into their meeting under such circumstances, though we understood not a word that was sung or said, yet were constrained, by evidence which we could not mistake, to confess that God was in the midst of them; and so, falling down, we felt that we could with them worship Him who is no respecter of persons, but who accepteth those in every nation, that fear him and work righteousness.'

"After breakfast, at nine o'clock, we accompanied Mr. Nott to public service, in the greater chapel over the river. This we found filled with a silent, decorous, and neatly-clothed congregation, of nearly six hundred persons: many of the females wore bonnets of the English shape, and other parts of European dress. Mr. Nott preached from the words, Sanctify them through thy truth,' John xvii, 17. And what indeed but truth➡ the truth of God-could have sanctified such a people as they were within this generation,-yea, less than seven years ago? The audience was exceedingly attentive, and appeared to join heartily in songs of praise, and silently to engage in prayer with the minister. We dined at Mr. Wilson's, whose house is hard by; from whence, learning that some native teachers would catechise the children, we returned to the chapel; and there witnessed a scene at once exhilarating and affecting. About sixty young persons were on their knees when

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