plans of Education have discovered themselves; but the great body of the people, with the President and other men of influence, receive and cherish them with thankfulness.

Of the TURKISH EMPIRE it may be said, that if there were any thing which might be regarded as a shaking of the nations, that is now seen for a thousand miles all round Constantinople-the one great political stay and refuge of the Mahomedan Imposture. If Mahomedan Governments are made to crouch under Christian, they will be compelled to remove the sword from the neck of Converts; and, were there no other reason but this daring and fierce enmity to Christ for expecting, if not the present extinction of Mahomedan Power, yet the withering of its infidel and cruel arm, Christians feel assured that, sooner or later, such a fate awaits that Delusion. In the mean while, of the Four Languages chiefly in use among Mahomedans, three-the Arabic, the Persian, and the Tartar-are and have been widely instrumental in making known the Scriptures; and, recently, the Turkish itself has been turned to the best account in the same manner. The Turk, oppressing and extorting from those around him while he smokes at his ease, may despise the proffer of the Scriptures; but the Turk mortified and in confusion, may open his eyes with interest and amazement on the invitations of the gracious Saviour to the weary and heavy-laden.

The bitter persecution raised against the American Missionaries and their Converts in Mount Lebanon, and which has, as already noticed, driven them for a season from their labours, is so far from discouraging as to the future, that it rather indicates the powerful working of Truth in SYRIA. The Scriptures were read and expounded to many in Arabic, and with the manifest blessing of God; and Schools for both Boys and Girls were in successful progress. It may be reasonably expected, that it will not be very long before these benevolent labours shall be renewed and enlarged.

In the HOLY LAND, there is a manifest gathering of Jews from Poland and Germany. Scriptural Pilgrimages are supplanting Idolatrous; nor will Jerusalem cease, in all probability, to attract to it the steady and efficient regard of enlightened Christians, while it shall continue to need, as it now does, their sympathy and their aid.

With the exception of a Missionary from the Wesleyan Society at Alexandria, there are at present no other Labourers in EGYPT but those from this Society. By them, and by other Missionaries in former years, following yourself in your journeyings in that country, many copies of the Arabic Scriptures and Tracts have been distributed: new ground has been opened by your associate, Mr. Lieder, in the Faioum: all our investigations shew that the Copts, the Native Christians of these regions, are both numerous, ignorant, and poor: their low condition is, indeed, a strong appeal to the charity of all who can contribute to their relief. The Dominant Power in Egypt, though Mahomedan, is exercised with more liberality than in other parts of the Turkish Empire. Egypt is important in Missionary Plans, as the key to Arabia and Abyssinia.

Egypt is the key to ABYSSINIA, not, as yet, by opening access to it through the regions which lie immediately between the two countries; for they are, at present, too wild and barbarous to afford a safe passage to Europeans; but by way of Jidda or Mocha, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea: the passage from Mocha, in particular, being short and easy across that Sea to Massowah in Abyssinia, while at Mocha a British Agent is stationed; and thus the means both of communication and protection are not distant from Missionaries endeavouring to establish themselves in Abyssinia. The remarkable circumstances which drew attention to that country need not be here repeated. Of its present condition, the Committee have no very certain information; but in the Instructions already alluded to, as recently delivered to their Missionaries, the views of the Society with reference to that country are sufficiently developed. Some obstacles, out of the controul of the Committee, have retarded the attempt to establish this Mission; but as Mr. Kugler arrived at Caïro from this country in the middle of May, and it was the intention of Mr. Gobat and himself to set forward in the present month, it may be hoped that they have already turned their faces toward that interesting region. They will have been preceded, and will be heartily welcomed, if he still live, by the young Abyssinian, Girgis; whose heart is bound to them, there is reason to believe, by the strongest tie which can unite man to man-the reception of spi

ritual benefit through them: and they will carry with them the best present which one Christian Land can make to another-the Word of God in its vernacular tongue.

In this Brief Survey, it remains to notice that dreary region which stretches along the greater part of the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Of the States of NORTH AFRICA, in respect of their intellectual and moral condition, we know but little. To the information relative to Tunis and its more im

mediate vicinity which was collected by Mr. Greaves, and appears in the Appendix of the last Volume of your Researches, we have since been able to add nothing of importance concerning these

countries.

DESIGNS AND FUTURE MEASURES.

It is on this account, chiefly, that, in addressing you on the last head proposed, that of Measures to be pursued, the Committee have adopted your own suggestions to them, of wishing particular attention to be paid to North Africa.

The change which it has pleased God, in His wise and holy Providence, to make in your domestic circumstances, together with the degree of regular system to which the Press is now brought and which has been so effectively kept up by Mr. Schlienz, may leave you at liberty to resume, in some measure, as opportunities offer, the labours of RESEARCH. Your visits to those parts which have been least explored, and perhaps not at all with the views which govern the researches of this Society, while they will tend, with the Divine Blessing, to the maturing of fit measures for the highest good of their inhabitants, will so fill your mind with a noble object, and recall the habits and feelings of former years, as greatly to assist you, by the grace of your Heavenly Master, in quieting those emotions which the remembrance of a Beloved Wife and separation from Beloved Children will not fail at times to awaken.. The Committee wish you, however, to consider Malta as your home; as they are persuaded that the Direction of the Press and the General Superintendence of the Mission cannot be, at present, so intelligently and efficiently carried on from any other quarter.

Of the four great Continents of the Globe, Africa is the lowest in the scale; and, of the four quarters of this Conti

nent, the Northern is the lowest in respect of Christian and moral advantages. On the Eastern side, through Egypt and Abyssinia, somewhat seems likely to be accomplished: on the Western, the labours of Christian Missionaries have not been in vain in the Lord: on the South, at the Cape, there has long been a nucleus of growing Civilization and Christianity; but, on the North, there are these TEN great Evils, all in operation, almost without any counteracting influence: Mahomedanism-Paganismu

Barbarism-Habitual Wars-Slavery almost impenetrable Deserts-unknown Languages-the want of Ancient and Modern History, or accounts of Travellers, to guide our steps-dangerous Climates-want of a British footing, nay, even of a European footing, a single step beyond the Regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco.

Each of these Evils may exist, in a great degree, in the other three quarters of Africa: but, from the North, they present the most combined mass of impediments to Missionary Undertakings.

Yet, though there is so little to invite and so much to deter, in the moral aspect of these regions, there has been, without ceasing, a desire, on the part of the Society, for these many years, to effect something for North Africa. Its attention has been drawn toward this object at various times. In the year 1817, at a time when a new ardour was excited among British Travellers on behalf of the Interior of Africa, much interesting information was communicated, through the kindness of Admiral Penrose, which is to be found in the Missionary Register : see Volume for 1817, pp. 394— 405. Some degree of interest was more particularly excited by the curious, though certainly vague, intimations of the existence of Christian Tribes in the Interior. It is impossible to ascertain whether such exist, without the Researches of competent persons; nor, were their existence ascertained, would such a discovery lead to any very important results, unless some measures were permanently adopted and pursued.

In the year 1824, Mr. Greaves visited the Regency of Tunis; and effected, both in the way of examination and of Scripture distribution, as much as could ordinarily be done in so short a space of time as he stayed there: but, as he did not go as a permanent Missionary, though in a truly Missionary Spirit, his

Work has carried our views very little beyond the beginning.

It is something, however, to have begun, small as that beginning may be. Our own minds have been affected by what we have heard: our purpose has been pledged by what we have, though so feebly, attempted. To what, then, may we be considered as called in behalf of North Africa?

It is important to mark where Providence opens our path. The information of 1817 was laid before us through the circumstance that Men of Science were desirous of penetrating into the Interior; and the inquiries of Mr. Greaves were prompted by a feeling, that, without personal research, little could be done: but Providence, gradually alluring us to this most difficult region, has opened the way a little further, and that in a manner, as significantly to indicate that it is our duty to execute, without fear or weariness, His purposes of mercy.

Recent Travellers have brought us better acquainted with the country immediately south of Tripoli and bordering on the great Desert, than with the line of country which stretches to the westward as far as the Atlantic, between Tunis, Algiers, Fez, and Morocco to the North, and the Great Desert to the South. The Barbary States, themselves, offer many topics of research; but, of the district to the southward, we have scarcely any knowledge: yet there is reason to believe, that, in that very district will be found the most promising medium of ultimately conferring intellectual and religious benefits on North Africa. The Committee refer to the Kabyles, or Kabayles; a people of whom some account will be found in an extract from Shaw's Travels given at pp. 481, 482 of the Appendix to the Researches in Syria and the Holy Land; and at pp. 292-294 of the Missionary Register for 1826, which last intelligence was procured by Mr. Greaves. The language of this people has attracted attention, and progress is making in the acquisition of this tongue. It will, of course, be one of your first objects in visiting North Africa, should you have it in your power to do so, to acquire the most accurate information on this point; and to make the best provision for furthering a plan of this nature, should the Society be hereafter in a condition, with respect both to Funds and Labourers, to follow up such a plan.

If it shall please God to give a prosperous journey to your Brethren who are proceeding to Abyssinia, much light will be thrown, it may be reasonably expected, on the state of that country, and the measures to be pursued for its benefit: but, with reference to the work of Research, as such, it may be remarked, that we have now attained sufficient knowledge of the different countries round the Mediterranean, the case of North Africa alone excepted, to guide us in all the efforts which the Society has it at present in its power to make; and on this point it may be safely added, that its means are far beneath the openings. and calls for exertion. The Society's Missionaries are, however, continually bringing us better acquainted with the people among whom they sojourn; and it can scarcely be too often repeated, that however discouraging the circumstances may be in which a Missionary may be placed, he is yet fulfilling one important object of his Mission when, by the lively and just exhibition of the views and feelings of the Natives around him, he is enabling his friends at home to enter with intelligence into the difficulties of his situation. A true estimate of the state of a people can never be formed but by one who, in the Apostle's sense, being spiritual, discerneth all things. It is to well-informed and devout Missionaries that we are indebted for the most full and accurate knowledge of the state of man throughout the world, in respect of his real character and most-important interests; and to such men the Church of Christ still looks for that just estimate of all things around them, which may serve to guide its future measures in behalf of the Unchristianized World.

But if the work of Research may now be chiefly left to those who are at the same time actually engaged in Missionary Labours, that of the PRESS is likely rather to demand increased exertion than any measure of relaxation. The state of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean is such as will probably open, at no great distance of time, wider fields for the circulation of the products of the Press than we have yet seen. In the mean while, it will be important that every practicable means of improving the Translations already executed should be adopted.

The cultivation of the Maltese and Arabic Languages is a point of importance, in reference to the future use of

the Press in those countries which seem to stand most in need of our aid.

The Committee will gladly see the Works already prepared for the Press brought into as speedy circulation as circumstances will allow. Milner's History of the Church of Christ, making Five Octavo Volumes in Italian, and the Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans in Modern Greek which you have compiled from the Homilies and the chief English Commentators, cannot be made known, the Committee are persuaded, without great benefit, under the Divine Blessing, to all who use those respective tongues. The Periodical Work, the Philanthropos, which you issued in Greek, cannot be resumed, perhaps, as a Work to be published at fixed periods, until the Greek Department of the Press shall be more adequately provided for: the Committee would advise, therefore, that each Number should be complete in itself; and that the publication should be occasional, as you may have opportunity.

The Committee need not urge on you and your Brethren the advantages likely to arise from an enlightened EDUCATION of the Natives of the different countries with which the Mission becomes connected. They rejoice in the good promise which Greece affords; and in the beginnings of Education, both male and female, among the Copts in Egypt. They are aware, that, under present circumstances, the expectation of benefit from Schools must be much qualified: the tone of society must be raised before enlarged advantages can be looked for; but Education has a direct tendency to raise this tone. It is to a Seminary of a higher order that the Committee would direct attention. They have ever considered Malta as a spot pointed out, by various advantages, for the site of an Institution which should have in view the preparation of Native Teachers for the various countries to which our Mission is directed; and it is with pleasure, therefore, that they witness a growing disposition in the Local Authorities there to foster wise plans of Instruction, and that they see the germ of such an Institution in some Native Youths lately brought under the protection of the Society.

In conclusion, the Committee would touch on a point, at once of peculiar delicacy and of especial interest.

The eternal salvation of the souls of

men is the grand object of our hopes and our cares. Whatever has not a bearing, preparatory at least, to this end, can be no fit object of a Missionary's attention; and the more direct and immediate that bearing may be, the more entirely will it occupy his mind and elevate his hopes. It has pleased God already to gather some to Himself from these regions, by the labours of our Missionaries; and others are now, by their means, brought to walk by faith with Him in this world. But a difficulty arises here, so far as our course lies among those who are already outwardly Members of Christian Churches. Whenever the Member of a Church which holds the main Truths of the Gospel, though with a great mixture of Error, discerns that error, he is perhaps disposed prematurely to break away from its Communion. It requires much wisdom, candour, and fidelity, to guide the conscience aright in such cases. The Committee cannot, however, avoid making one important distinction on this subject. The Roman-Catholic Church is entangled in a snare from which it cannot be freed, while it holds the Infallibility and Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome. The Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and Abyssinian Churches, though in many points far gone from the simplicity and purity of the Truth, are not so entangled; and also possess within themselves the principle and the means of Reformation, when it shall please God to rouse those Churches into action, in their acknowledgment of the Authority of the Scriptures. If a conscientious Roman Catholic, on light breaking in upon his mind, might still be content to hold Communion with his Church in the hope of contributing to its reformation; yet he will be certainly led to feel, if light increase, that the rejection of the supreme Authority of the Scriptures and the acknowledgment of an Infallible and Universal Head on earth are, virtually, a rejection of the Authority of the Great Head in heaven, because it is the substitution of the authority of fallible and sinful man in the place of that of Christ. A conscientious member of other Churches may perhaps with the happiest effect, from the blessing of God, become the means of imparting, in proportion as he himself receives it, a continually increasing degree of the light of Truth to the members of his own Communion: but it is inconsistent with

a full acknowledgment of the Authority of the One Sovereign Lord in heaven to hold communion with a Church which virtually denies that authority; and precludes itself, by the very nature of its dogmas, from attempting any effectual reformation.

On this and all other points, as they may arise, we commit you and your Brethren to the gracious guidance of Him whom we gratefully acknowledge and rejoice in as our Supreme Lord and Master. In seeking for and exercising that Wisdom which is profitable to direct, we may be assured of His blessing; and of the continued guidance of that Unseen Hand which has hitherto opened and directed our way. May He grant to us and to you a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; and finally bring us all, after our wanderings on earth, to the House of our Father, and give us all to meet there in the presence of His glory with exceeding joy!

To these Instructions, delivered to Mr. Jowett, we subjoin his Reply; as it contains additional information relative to the Mediterranean, and such views and feelings as we cannot but earnestly pray may be ever cherished by his Fellow-labourers throughout the world.

MR. JOWETT'S REMARKS ON THE MEDITERRANEAN AS A SPHERE OF LABOUR.

Although the Instructions now delivered to me, for which I beg to express my hearty thanks, have fully enlarged on all the principal objects of the Mission; yet the Committee will allow me, or rather perhaps will expect it of me, very briefly to advert to the impressions resting on my own mind in reference to that important sphere, which it is now my purpose, should God permit, for the third time to visit.

MALTA-With regard to Malta, it is a matter of unfeigned joy to reflect that I shall return bearing with me copies of the ever-blessed Gospel, translated into the dialect of that Island. Many wearisome days and nights have been devoted to this Sacred Work; and, for its future improvement, much pains will have hereafter to be expended: but all these toils are immeasurably overpaid, by the delightful hope, that thousands, who would otherwise have continued Sept. 1829.

sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, will now rejoice at seeing a Great Light springing up among them. What tongue can utter, or what heart conceive, the value of a Single Book of Holy Scripture ? How great, then, is this treasure-the entire Four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles! When I think of it, I am often ready to break out, in the words of the PsalmistI rejoice at thy Word, as one that findeth great spoil! May this gladness of heart be experienced by many of the inhabitants of Malta-yea, by them all!

But if the gift be great, great, no doubt, will be the enmity of Satan to its introduction. We are not wholly ignorant of his past devices, and of his cruelty. In order to shut out the common people from the free use of the Word of God, there is nothing, however subtle or violent, to which he would not, if permitted, instigate the hearts of wicked men but we look upward to One, who is Mightier than the strong man armed, and whose judgments are deeper than all the cunning devices of the Wicked One: we dare not fear the strong-holds of Satan, lest our Master should be displeased at the weakness of our faith and the coldness of our love: He bids us fear Him, and Him only. We humbly believe that the God of Peace will accom

plish His promise, and bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Let us then rest on His Almighty Arm; and let us be found, in this part of our Malta Mission especially, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, that Missionaries may be enabled to open their mouth boldly, and to speak as they ought to speak-that every high thing, which exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, may be cast down-that those, who now are enemies of Christ, may be converted into Preachers of the Gospelthat the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified-and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.

Concerning the operations of the Press, I rejoice to find that the Society estimates highly the importance of that establishment, and desires that it should be placed upon a still more extensive and effective footing.

In reference also to Education, I fully share the interest felt by the Society, on behalf of the rising generation of the Countries around the Mediterranean; especially with regard to those who may,

3 H