serve, that the above regulations have a prospective view, being intended for the signature of more than two. Rangoon, Oct. 21, 1816.

Extracts from the Mission Records.

OCTOBER 22, 1816. Agreed, that while no expense is incurred for houserent, the monthly appropriation for food and clothing, and other common expenses of a personal nature, be the same as proposed by the Serampore brethren, in the case of Mr. Judson, viz, one hundred and thirty rupees, payable in Bengal, for a man and wife, and ten for a child; thus making the monthly alJowance for two couples and three children, which now compose the mission family, two hundred and ninety rupees. This sum is intended for personal subsistence, independently of all public and extraordinary expenses, which are to be defrayed by special appropriations. Agreed also, that all expenses attending the press, shall be referred to a separate account, and defrayed from monies granted for the purpose by the Board.

A. JUDSON.

GEORGE H. HOUGH,

it requires a much longer time than I have been here, to make a first impression on a heathen people. If they ask again, what prospect of ultimate success is there?-tell them, as much as that there is an Almighty and faithful God who will perform his promises, and no more. If this does not satisfy them, beg them to let me stay and try it, and to let you come, and to give us our bread; or if they are unwilling to risk their bread on such a forlorn hope as has nothing but the WORD OF GOD to sustain it, beg of them at least not to prevent others from giving us bread. live some twenty or thirty years, they may hear from us again.

And if we

I have already written many things home about Rangoon. But one large parcel which I forwarded to Bengal is lost, I fear, not hav ing had any accounts of it. This climate is good, better than any other part of the East. But it is a most filthy, wretched place. Missionaries must not calculate on the least comfort, but what they find in one another and their work. However, if a ship was lying in the

My dear brother Rice,

I HAVE Completed a grammar of the Burman language, which I hope will be useful to you; also a tract which I hope to get printed as soon as Mr. Hough arrives.

If any ask what success I meet with among the natives?-tell them to look at Otaheite, where the missionaries laboured nearly twenty years, and not meeting with the slightest success, began to be neglected by all the Christian world, and the very name of Otaheite began to be a shame to the cause of missions; and now the blessing begins to come. Tell them to look at Bengal also, where Dr. Thomas had been labouring seventeen years, that is, from 1783 to 1800, before the first convert, Krishno, was baptized. When a few converts are once made, things move on. But

part of the world 1 should choose, and that too with the entire approbation of all my Christian friends, I would prefer dying to embarking. This is an immense field, and since the Serampore missionaries have left it, it is wholly thrown on the hands of the American Baptists. If we desert it, the blood of the Bur mans will be required of us. Nan cy unites with me in affectionate remembrance; we both long to see you again.

have hit right in brother Hough. But one wrong-headed, conscientiously obstinate fellow, would ruin us. Humble, quiet, persevering men; men of sound, sterling talents (though perhaps not brilliant,) of decent accomplishments, and some natural aptitude to acquire a language; men of an amiable, yielding temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of all, and

the servant of all; men who enjoy much closet religion, who live near to God, and are willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake, without being proud of it-these are the men, &c. But O, how unlike to this description is the writer of it! Still, however, I am, with neverceasing affection,

Your most affectionate brother in the Lord, A. JUDSON.

Interesting Letter from Messrs. CAREY, MARSHMAN and WARD, to the U. S. Baptist Board of Missions, dated SERAMPORE, June 25, 1816.

DEAR BRETHREN,

We have seen, with peculiar joy, the attention of our dear brethren throughout the whole continent of America, excited to the state of the heathen, who have indeed been given, in the Divine covenant, to the Redeemer, for an everlasting possession. The indifference formerly felt respecting the extension of that kingdom, which is the subject of all prophecy, of all dispensations, and for the universal spread of which the world itself is kept in existence, is a reflection which ought to cover every one, whose song is "Crown him Lord of all," with confusion of face. We were too long absorbed in the affairs of individual societies, when all the prophecies, and all the promises, as well as attachment to Him who is to be called "the God of the whole earth," should have led our devotions to the salvation of the whole world, and filled our contemplations with the delightful scenes on which the mind of ISAIAH dwelt with so much rapture.

We rejoice to see the American churches making this a common cause, and that means have been taken to unite all their energies in the hands of so respectable a body Vol. I.

24

of pious ministers, &c. We now send our congratulations and most fervent wishes for the success of your efforts. May many thousand souls, each more precious than the whole material system, recovered to å state of endless blessedness, be your certain, ample, and imperishable reward.

Should Divine Providence give you favour in the eyes of the Burman government, as we hope it will, that empire stands in great and pressing need of many more missionaries; and we would recommend you to send, as soon as possible, to other places, as to Siam, Bassem, Ummurapore, Ava, Martaban, &c. By thus confining your present efforts to this empire, the languages of which have, no doubt, a strong affinity, your agents will form a united phalanx. Having an immense people of the same manners, prejudices, religion, and goyernment, as their object; and being near each other, and engaged in the same country, the experience and acquirements of each will come into the common stock, and bear an ample interest. They will be able mutually to give solid and matured advice; and in cases of removal by death, to supply the loss of those gone to receive their great reward. We would strongly recommend, that one or more, who may hereafter come out, obtain a competent knowledge of medicine.

Perhaps missions in no Eastern country need so much all the wisdom, and advice, and mutual help, which missionaries can supply to each other, as, from the despotic and capricious character of its government, that in the Burman empire does.

The attempts of our Society in this empire, have ended in the transfer of the mission to brother Judson, and those from you who may join him; brother Felix Carey, our last missionary at Rangoon, having gone into the service of his Burman majesty. Something, however, has been done. A Missionhouse has been built; the language has been opened; a grammar printed; materials for a dictionary formed; a small part of the New Testament printed, and a number of copies put into the hands of the natives.

We know not what your immediate expectations are relative to the Burman empire; but we hope your views are not confined to the immediate conversion of the natives, by the preaching of the Word. Could a church of converted natives be obtained at Rangoon, it might exist for a while, and be scattered, or perish for want of additions. From all we have seen hitherto, we are ready to think, that the dispensations of Providence point to labours that may operate, indeed, more slowly on the population, but more effectually in the end; as knowledge, once put into fermentation, will not only influence the part where it is first deposited, but leaven the whole lump. The slow progress of conversion in such a mode of teaching the nations, may not be so encouraging, and may require, in all, more faith and patience; but it appears to have been the process of things, in the progress of the reformation during the reigns of Henry, Edward, Elizabeth, James, and Charles. And should the work of evangelizing India be thus slow and silently progressive, which, however, consid

ering the age of the world, is not perhaps very likely, still the grand result will amply recompense us, and you, for all our toils. We are sure to take the fortress, if we can but persuade ourselves to sit down long enough before it: "We shall reap if we faint not."

And then, very dear brethren, when it shall be said of the seat of our labours, the infamous swingingpost is no longer erected; the widow burns no more on the funeral pile; the obscene dances and songs are seen and heard no more; the gods are thrown to the moles and to the bats, and Jesus is known as the God of the whole land; the poor Hindoo goes no more to the Ganges to be washed from his filthiness, but to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanliness; the temples are forsaken; the crowds say, let us go up to the house of the Lord, and he shall teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his statutes; the anxious Hindoos no more consume their property, their strength, and their lives, in vain pilgrimages, but they come at once "to Him who can save to the uttermost;" the sick and the dying are no more dragged to the Ganges, but look to the Lamb of God, and commit their souls into his faithful hands; the children, no more sacrificed to idols, are become the seed of the Lord, that he may be glorified; the public morals are improved; the language of Canaan is learnt ; benevolent societies are formed; civilization and salvation walk arm in arm together; the desert blossoms; the earth yields her increase; angels and glorified spirits hover with joy over India, and carry ten thousand messages of love from the Lamb in the midst of the throne; and redeemed souls from the dif ferent villages, towns and cities of this immense country, constantly add to the number, and swell the chorus of the redeemed "unte Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, unto HIM be the glory;"—when this

grand result of the labours of God's servants in India shall be realized, shall we then think that we have laboured in vain, and spent our strength for naught?-Surely not. Well, the decree is gone forth! "My word shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it."

We shall be glad to render you, and our brethren in the Burman empire, every assistance in our power. We have always met the drafts of brother Judson, and have sent repeated supplies, various articles of food, &c. to meet the wants of our dear brother and sister there. Hoping to hear from you by every opportunity, we are, very dear brethren,

Your affectionate brethren and fellow-labourers in the kingdom of Christ,

W. CAREY.
J. MARSHMAN.
W. WARD.

Extract of a letter from Dr. Carey,

dated December 6, 1816.

"I AM now recovering from a severe bilious fever which brought me to the brink of the grave; and am still so weak as to be scarcely able to write. The Lord has had mercy on me, and I am enabled now again to engage in my beloved work, though close application is absolutely forbidden by the physicians, Yours, my dear brother, is the land of Wonders The great things which God, by hus Spirit, is doing in the United States, are truly astonishing, and call at once for the most grateful praises, and the most entire confidence in all his gracious promises.

Among these things must be reckoned the missionary exertions now making; and the Peace Society lately established at New-York, and other places; a society with whose object my heart most cordially coincides, and which must, through the Divine assistance, which will assuredly be granted, be fi

nally successful in the accomplishment of its ultimate object.

"To me it is a matter of much joy, that the churches in Kentucky, and other parts, insist on a mission to the West. The American Indians are undoubtedly committed exclusively to the American churches; and I trust the work of publishing the gospel to them, setting up schools for their instruction, translating the Word of God into their languages, and other things necessary to their faith, civilization, and comfort, will be engaged in with eagerness, and persevered in with tenacity, till the great object be accomplished.-Faith Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word.

"We live in a land where every thing around us tends to freeze the warmest affections of the mind; and yet very much good has been done: many have been converted under the Word. There are many churches in India, and every year brings a considerable increase of labourers in the cause of God. Yet all

that has been done seems lost in the vast population who fear not God; and though our brethren, and even churches, are scattered all over India, yet a person, unacquainted with their local situations, might travel over India, and hear very little of them.

"One favourable circumstance in this country is, the very general attention that has lately been felt by most classes of Europeans, to the establishing of schools for the education of the children of the natives. We have a good number of these schools belonging to the mission, and many are established by others, which promise to be of great utility. Brother Marshman has just drawn up a plan for these schools, which I think an excellent one. Upon that plan they may be extended to every part of India, if funds can be obtained, and ensure instruction in reading, writing, grammar, geography, astronomy, general philosophy, and morals, for the trifling sum of three rupees a year for each iad thus instructed. This plan includes a vigorous superintendence of the schools, which in every practicable instance will be performed by pious men, who will thereby have innumerable opportunities afforded them of recommending to the children, and the inhabitants of the villages and towns where the schools are situated, the gaspel of the grace of God."