now commenced soliciting subscriptions to enable them to build, but they soon met with difficulties, in consequence of which I judged it prudent to take no part in the concern. They persevered, however, and succeeded far beyond expectation. The following is a correct copy of their circular, with the names of the subscribers, and the amount of their subscription.* "UNION CHAPEL AT BENARES. "General Loveday having kindly granted a piece of ground within the cantonments at Benares, for the purpose of erecting a small chapel on it, subscriptions are now respectfully solicited to be appropriated to the erection of the building. The humble individuals with whom this under taking has originated, wish it to be dis tinctly understood that the chapel will be at the service of evangelical clergymen of all denominations, who may wish at any time to occupy it for preaching the Gospel. It may be used also as a school, either for European or native children, or both." As soon as they had collected a sufficient sum to enable them to make their arrangements, they commenced building. The plan, of which I enclose a copy, was entirely of their own devising, and the erection of the building was also wholly under their own management. It doubtless put them to a great deal of trouble; but they seemed pleased with their undertaking, and persevered. By the end of March it was finished, so as to be capable of being used for public worship, and on the 2d of April I received a note from the two individuals on whom the principal management of the concern had devolved, requesting me to open it on the following Sabbath. With this request I declined complying, principally with the view of affording them time daly to consult others who might be expected occasionally to preach in it. This they accordingly did; the result of it, and their consequent proceedings, I shall state in their own words, extracted from the minutes of their proceedings as they are recorded in the chapel-book. On the chapel being finished so as to be capable of being opened for divine service, the individuals with whom it originated, and who had taken the whole management of its erection, applied to the Rev. T. Morris, of the Church Missionary Society, and the Rev. M. T. Adam, of the London Missionary Society, to open it, and occasionally to preach in it. It was found that the former, in consequence of his connexion with the Church Missionary Society, thought he could not with propriety preach in it; and the latter con * See List of Contributions, page 44. sented to open it. On Sabbath evening, the 11th inst. it was accordingly opened by the Rev. M. T. Adam, when a sermon was preached from Isa. liv. 5, last clause, And the God of the whole earth shall he be called.'' In consequence of the plan of union on which the chapel was commenced being now found to be impracticable, after mature deliberation, it appeared better Society, and it was unanimously agreed that it should belong to some Missionary on to make it over to the London Missionary Society. A letter was therefore acceptance of it in the name and on the be sent to the Rev. M. T. Adam, begging his half of the Society, of which the following is a correct and full copy: "To the Rev. M. T. Adam. 'REV. AND DEAR SIR,- The Union Chapel at Benares being now finished, in consequence of finding that a union so extensive as that we at first contemplated, is impracticable, after maturely weighing all the circumstances connected with it, it appears to us the most likely way of securing the peace and usefulness of the chapel, that it should belong to some Missionary Society; we have therefore resolved to make it over to the London Mis sionary Society. Wishing still, however, to adhere so far to our original plan, that it shall be considered open to the occasional labours of evangelical clergymen of all denominations who may wish in such manner to occupy it. 'The glory of God, and the good of our fellow-creatures, have been our great and only motives in erecting it; and it is with no small gratitude we acknowledge the goodness of God in enabling us, by the kind contributions of many friends, to commence and to finish it. We now devote it to his service; and we, whose signatures are hereto annexed, beg you will be pleased to take charge of it in the name and on the behalf of the London Missionary Society, from this date; and hereafter take such measures respecting it as may appear to you necessary and desirable. We are, Rev. and dear Sir, Your very sincere well-wishers, THOS. BRICKELD, J. DUTTON.' Secrole, Benares, 14th April, 1824. "In this request he readily acquiesced, and intimated that he would take an early opportunity to communicate to the Directors of the Society the contents of their letter, with which he had no doubt they would be gratified." In consequence of their request, I now preach in the chapel on Sabbath and Tuesday evenings, and may possibly suc ceed in collecting a small school in it on Sabbath mornings. I am endeavouring to do so, but meet with difficulties in getting the parents to send their children. (A supply of Sunday-school spelling-books, and reading books, will be most thankfully received; a supply also of English Tracts will be very acceptable.) The above is a faithful outline of the principal circumstances connected with the erection of the Chapel, and the making of it over to the Society. In the whole of which I wish it to be particularly understood, the good people have acted entirely from the diciates of their own minds. They are entitled to no small commendation for the great trouble they have taken about it; but they doubtless will feel abundantly recompensed, if it is in any measure, by the blessing of God, made instrumental in extending his spiritual kingdom around us. It needs a verandah, (a sort of portico), but we have no money, and cannot entertain the hope of being able to raise so much here, in consequence of the previous liberal subscriptions of many of the residents at the station. May I beg the Directors to assist us by allowing me to draw on the agents, say for 301. or 401., to be appropriated exclusively to this or any other object which may appear necessary in connexion with the Chapel. It will be an encouragement to the good people to farther exertions in behalf of the Society, and will enable us, in all probability, to finish the building. It has a little plot of ground connected with it all round, on the margin of which a number of little trees have been planted, which are likely to grow up during the ensuing rains. I have not yet attempted to form a church, but shall keep it constantly in view. A small communien service of plate would be a most acceptable present from any of the good people in England." In a subsequent part of his letter, Mr. Adam communicates the following interesting circumstance. 6 "I have attended several melas, (Hindoo fairs), since my last, and distributed a number of tracts; but the only circumstance connected with them, which appears worth relating is the following: Few, possibly, may recollect, that I prepared a tract in Hinduwee, a considerable time ago, called A Comment on the Ten Commandments.' It was my first performance; and, like most first performances in a foreign language, was, doubtless, very defective. It was repeatedly asked for at melas, and it was not long before the whole edition was distributed. About two months ago, a teacher in one of my schools mentioned to me, that some person in the city had translated it into the Persian language, in poetry. The circumstance appeared to me singular. Not having as yet studied Persian, I was unable myself to form an opinion of its correctness. I therefore, sent it to Mr. Adlington, missionary of the Church Society, and begged the favour of him to look it over for me. He very kindly did so; and the following is his opinion of it. The author of it certainly possesses the power of making excellent and soft-flowing rhyme, and I am inclined to think, that were the first part of it (which together with an address to the Divine Being, contains an ascription of praise to Mohummud,*) put away, it would be a very useful composition to give away at melas. A word here and there will require correction; and should you have any idea of getting it printed, I will look it over again with great care." In consequence of this favourable opinion of it, I have resolved to endeavour to get it printed; and Mr. Adlington is now engaged in correcting it. Another Missionary wanted at Benares. We cannot conclude this article, without endeavouring to engage the attention of ministers and others, who might feel no objection to go out to India, on the principle of LIMITED SERVICE, lately adopted by the Society, † to the great importance of Benares, as a station for missionary operations, and to the assistance, particularly requested, by Mr. Adam, in the letter from which the foregoing extracts are made. The vast importance of the place, as a missionary station, will be at once acknowledged, when it is stated, that the resident population is computed at nearly 600,000 souls; that of the houses it contains, at least 8,000 are occupied by Brahmins alone; and that the Hindoos who assemble at it during the festivals exceed all calculation. Mr. Adam, stating his opinion on this subject, in a letter to the Directors, written shortly after his arrival at Benares, expresseshimself as follows. "This city, as a Missionary station, stands pre-eminently important. Its fancied, and far-famed sanctity-its venerated antiquity-its being considered, in the estimation of the natives, as the seat of Brahminical learning and purity, and the great multitudes who inhabit, * This letter was added by the Translator. + See Annual Report for 1824, page 131, and Missionary Chronicle, for 1824, page 131. and on certain festivals frequent it, seem to point it out as the CITADEL OF THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. When once it surrenders to the Armies of the Living God, and the Christian Missionary standing amidst its forsaken temples, can proclaim, "BENARES THE GREAT IS FALLEN ! IS FALLEN! IS FALLEN!' we may reasonably expect, the march of Christianity will be rapid indeed." Mr. Adam, has for some time past, earnestly solicited the Directors to send out, at least, another Missionary to his assistance, and they have felt a strong desire to meet his wishes; but have hitherto found it quite impracticable, for want of instruments. The necessity for sending out the required assistance to Mr. Adam is now considerably increased, but the state of the seminary will not, at present, enable the Directors to furnish from thence the desired aid. Mr. Adam, alluding to the new circumstances under which his connexion with the lately erected chapel has brought him, observes ;— "The chapel hitherto has been well attended, and the only thing in connexion with it, which I have to regret is, that all the services devolve entirely on me. These, in addition to my other exertions, I feel to be a burden which I cannot well sustain. Supposing, too, I were to be removed by death or indisposition from the station, every exertion, so far as the Society is concerned, would immediately cease, and every thing afterwards would be to begin anew. Should the Directors send out any fellow-labourers to me, do endeavour to send amiable, kind-hearted, good men, who know what it is to bear and forbear, and to love one another, "that we may dwell together in love and be of one mind." The Directors will be happy to receive applications for this most interesting and important object; and it is their earnest hope and prayer, that the present appeal may not prove to have been made in vain. BANGALORE. IN our Chronicle for February last, we inserted an account of the persecutions endured by three brothers, converts from Paganism to Christianity, inhabitants of Commonillee, a village near Bangalore, and fruits of the mission at that station. From a letter lately received from Mr. Laidler, it appears that those persecutions have, at length, issued in their expulsion from the village. A petition in Canara has been, in consequence, drawn up by the persecuted individuals, and presented to the Rajah of Mysore, by the Hon. A. Cole, British resident at that city. The following is a translation of the petition, by Mr. Laidler, in which he has endeavoured to preserve the idiom of the language as much as possible. 166 TO THE FEET OF THE MOST HIGH GOVERNOR WE APPROACH. 66 Dasupa, Chinapa, Unia and Yangapa, Ryots, (husbandmen,) living at Commonillee, in the subdivision of Bagour and division of Bangalore. These four men of our family most respectfully present their cause. For the space of ten years, in the days of the Sultan, and till the year 1822, for the ground which has been given to us in Commonillee, by the favour of the great lord, the rent has been paid to the Cirear, and the duty of the government we have attended to. As a child receives support from its father, so we were comfortable in common, under the government of the king. In the year 1822, a preacher from Bangalore came down to a market, at a place named Venkatabrum, and was speaking. I, who am named Chinapa, was at the market that day. I heard their speaking. In the things they spoke, they made our gods to be useless; and said, their God, Jesus Christ, is the only true God; so it appeared to me. From Jesus Christ alone all must be saved, and our gods were useless. For that I conversed angrily with them, and said, You do not preach here, no person will hear you. Go, so I told.' They left that place and went under the shade of a tree and talked with the people. Many people heard them. Again I went and heard. A little doubt was in my mind. With them I argued, then they gave a proper answer to my question. For that, love came into my heart. I took one book which they had, and carried it to my village; all that was read and I understood plain. Then I considered, there is one God able to save me from sin, through Jesus Christ.' On that account I rejoiced. Since that day the preachers have been speaking through the village. I attended to hear and inquire; and I thought, this is the only true religion. I and my two brothers received baptism, and became children of the holy God. That news was soon heard in the village where we lived. The headman of the village made inquiry, asking me What kind of a subject is the Christian religion, and what are the Scriptures?' One day, the preacher came from Bangalore to Commonillee, the time he spoke, the headman and all the people heard. They said, 'This is the true wisdom, the holy religion. No doubt is in it.' They rejoiced. To the preacher they said, You have a charity-school in Bangalore, can you have one here?' The headman said, If you have a school here, I will get You a schoolmaster. You had better build a school here.' The preacher thought it necessary to build a place; and, a short time after, the materials were brought to the village, and the building about to begin. If The headman and village people conversed among themselves, saying, these people build a school here, they will try to get the village under their care; they will get an agreement from the Rajah. They will do this on the account of building a school.' The headman therefore said to the preacher, You have no right to build a school here.' His objec tion has prevented the building, and the materials are lying in the village till this time. Since that period all our kind friends in the village have become enemies to us; they have risen up and abused us very badly. They said among themselves, "These people, instead of worshipping our god, have left it and gone to the holy religion. In many ways they have abused us badly, and become bitter enemies. They again conversed among themselves. "This is not enough, only to prevent their building the school; as long as they are living in the village, they will be trying to get it. For that reason, we must try some plan to drive these people from the village.' So they have been conversing together. They tried to prevent our drawing water from the village well. In many unjust ways they treated us. We never noticed what they said or did; but we feared the word of God, and went on patiently and quietly. The headman and the people of the village conversed again, and said, These people are afraid we shall form some plan to charge them with some fault, and take them to the Subidar of Bagour, and he will take their ground and give it to other people, and drive them away.' They took us to the Subidar of B-, and the headman said, 'These people will not do for the village. Many falsehoods he charged us with. He said, There are good people come from a far place to stay in our village, we better give the ground of these people to them.' The Subidar made many inquiries, and he answered the headman, If new people have come to live in the village, I shall be able to give them ground; I have no right to send away old ryots (or farmers.)' Then he turned to me and said, You shall have more ground than you now have, to the value of two pagodas, that you may go on comfortably. All this the people of the village saw, and were much ashamed. They again talked among themselves, and said, We made one plan, but the business has gone another way than what we expected.' They became enemies; bitter more and more to us. Again they said, 'These people still stay in the village, and if they stay they will try some plan to get it under their care. The headman, and one from Bangalore, a great enemy, thought if they kept the village, the Christians would soon get it; but if a Brahmin engaged for the village, it would then be secure. These two went down to the Pettah of Bangalore to a Brahmin, and persuaded him to take the village. The Brahmin went to Mysore, and received an order from the great King. He came to Commonillee and said to us, 6 This village belongs to me, because I have got an order from the Rajah.' Then the old headman and the bitter enemy from Bangalore, told the Brahmin a great many things about us. The Brahmin believed what was said, and tried again to send us from the village. These three treated us very badly. We felt very heavily, because of their treatment. We came and told the preacher the things which happened to The us. The preacher answered ns, heathens and Christians will never agree; Christians are the children of God, heathens the people of this world, unjustly they will treat you. For that, you must not be afraid or sorry. Have faith in Christ. Pray faithfully to God, and bear patiently. Go on, because they are ig norant; they are doing mischief to you; do not render evil for evil, the will of God must be done.' So we were patient according to the preacher's advice. Some time after, the ground which the Subidar gave us, in addition to that which we had, was taken from us and given to other people. Some of our old ground and two tamarind trees, which we planted, they have taken from us, and one of our houses is given to another person. So unjustly have they treated us, and we never gave any answer to them. Sometime before this, two women from one man's house came into ours, when we were not present, and robbed it. For that we felt much, and intended to inquire. In a short time the two women differed and fought, and the news of robbing the house was soon known to the whole village. Then we went and said to the people who stole, 'Have you done justly in this?' The village people, who were gathered together, said to us, We will give you two pagodas and four hundred seers of raggy(a species of grain, each seer about three half pints.) We answered them, 'The people who have stolen from our house have taken more than what you promise.' Then they all conversed together and wanted to put some fault on us. You too have done some wrong in this village.' So they said. We thought these people always wanted to charge us with some fault; for that reason we said, let us stay quiet. One day after we had a quarrel about our house affairs in our own family, the village people soon heard us, and said, 'This is the time we shall charge some fault upon them. They came into our house and said, Who gives you authority to fight in this way in the village?" Then they took us to the Subidar or Bagour; the Subidar inquired into the cause, and told the people, This is their own house quarrel, we have nothing to do with it.' The headman said to this, 'You must do some punishment to these people, or the business will not go on well; they will become impudent.' By many other ways they tried to get us punished. The Subidar then punished us badly, and took some fine from us besides, for the fault. What they did we took no notice of. Shortly after there was another talk among the people of the village: We have been doing so badly to these people, and yet they neyer move from the village, but they show outside to us that they will do us no injury; perhaps they will inwardly do some plan to take away the village from us; we must try another plan; we must drive away these people from the village through the medium of the caste.' So they said. They sent for the headman of the caste. All were gathered together and sent for us. They said, 'On account of your having gone to the holy religion, on account of your preachers coming and speaking to you, and on account of your hearing them, you are not fit to stop in our village. We are doing this bad treatment to you on that account.' 6 Then,' we answered, there are some Roman Catholics called Christians in this village; besides this, Mohammed and Pariah people are next your door; and what injustice your telling such things to us, and doing so badly to us! But, however, we are not your ryots, we belong to the most high king of Mysore, and we do not make the least fault to the government. We will never go from the village by your words.' So we said. Then the old headman, the bitter enemy, and the Brahmin headman, gathered together and said, You have talked so much to us that we will immediately make you go out of the village.' So they told, and sent Pariah men to enter our house, and take out all our things. They will not let us plough the ground; they say, 'You have gone to the bad religion of the Europeans; you better go to them altogether.' We told them, If you send us out of the village, and out of the caste, we shall never mind it; and if you kill us, we shall never lose the religion. If we leave the religion, where can we go to?, we never shall remove from the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.' Then the new Brahmin treated us very badly, to force us from the village. We have come from the village, and left our family and cattle and things, which we have, and we know not where to go. We do not want to complain, because they have treated us so badly here, but they have sent us from the village. That is the reason we present our cause to your feet, to support us with your powerful hand, for we know your hand will never thrust us away." Mr. Laidler states that he shall send the result of the petition as soon as known, and adds the following remark: "These brethren have suffered very much in different ways since they were baptized; but if they are indeed what we hope and have every reason to hope they are, viz. true believers in Christ Jesus, we cease to wonder why they prefer trials even to the loss of life, to the renunciation of the truth. AFRICA. Extracts of a Letter from Messrs. Hamil ton and Moffat, dated New Lattakoo, 8th May, 1824; addressed to the Secretary. Rev. and Dear Sir, WE have again to acknowledge the goodness and mercy of our Heavenly Father, in having brought us back in safety from so long a journey, which he has singu larly crowned with success. We left Cape Town on the 3d of March, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, and arrived at through the colony we experienced many this station on the of May. In passing acts of kindness from Missionary friends, and particularly from J. Baird, Esq., Landdrost of Beaufort, who rendered us every assistance in his power. We had a good supply of grass for our oxen, neither was there any lack of water. We occasionally heard the lions roar, but they were not suffered to do us any harm. We called at Hardcastle, and halted a few days at Griqua Town, where, on account of Mrs. Hughes' critical situation, it was judged proper that she should remain for a During our stay there, Messrs. Broadbent and Edwards arrived from their stations, the former from i health, and the latter for supplies. W short season. had some conversation with them on a variety of particulars connected with the * Left blank in the original. |