nius; and to all the unrivalled professors of your own German univer. sities. That the Baptist denomination existed in Holland, Piedmont and England, as early as 1457, and that anterior to the Reformation, thousands of Baptists lived in Westphalia, Guilderland, and Brabant, will appear from the history of Simonis Menno, now resting within twenty leagues of your city. One writer, whose authority it would not be safe to impugn, has declared that the Baptists were entitled to consideration as "a people who have never symbolized with antichrist, and who had their origin anterior to the rise of the man of sin." For the peaceful and unoffending character of the Baptists, we appeal to the testimony of universal history for the last 1800 years. On our own behalf-in the name of the millions of freemen in the United States, where we are happy to say, that Lutheran Clergymen enjoy the privilege of preaching what they believe, without let or hindrance. On behalf of the morally destitute in your own city, where Jews and Catholics assemble for worship without annoyance; and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we do most earnestly entreat you, venerable Sirs, no longer to obstruct the ministerial labours of our brother Rev. Johann Gerhard Oncken. We beg that he may be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; to erect a suitable place of worship in Hamburg, if the means to accomplish so desirable an object can be obtained, and to preach to his dying fellow men, "the unsearchable riches of Christ.' The Board of Managers implore the blessing of God upon the Senators of Hamburg, and pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit, they may receive, and always exemplify the gospel of the Great Redeemer. And, that the protection we solicit for the Rev. Mr. Oncken and his church may not only be secured to them by your Honourable body, but that they may prove a blessing to your commonwealth. With profound consideration, most respectfully Yours. By order of the Board of the American and Foreign Bible Society, CHARLES G. SOMMERS, Cor. Secretary. New-York, Jan. 1841. INTERESTING EXTRACTS FROM RECENT COMMUNICATIONS. AGRA. Extract of a letter from Mr. Philips, dated April 20, 1840. On our arrival here, we received painful information both from the spot and from Calcutta. The news of the death of our dear leader, and father, and friend, came upon us with almost stunning violence. Dear brother Pearce has done his work, just seen the last of his plans carried into execution by my location at Agra, and then gone to receive the approving smile of his Saviour, and the embrace of his earthly father, now that the son has done what the father wished to do. The work to be done in this neighbourhood is immense. In the whole space between Allahabad and Agra, I believe, there is not a single missionary; and, besides brother Thompson at Dehli, I think, if you search the country round, for hundreds of miles to the north and the west of Agra, you will find no missionary. There are, I believe, missionaries at Cawnpore; and towards the hills are a few American missionaries; but after all, the labourers are much fewer in proportion than in the Bengal, Bahar, and Allahabad districts. In fact, the farther you retire from Calcutta, the less is the number of missionaries. MONGHYR. Extruct of a letter from Mr. G. B. Parsons, dated June 30, 1840. IMMENSITY OF THE WORK TO BE DONE IN INDIA. It is quite overwhelming to reflect on the vast amount of work to be done in the great Indian jungle; and which, as the age of miracles is past, must be done by the instrumentality of christian benevolence. Surely from my heart I pray, Lord, give triple strength, and faith, and zeal, and love to every labourer in the field, and send out quickly additional hosts! Compared with the wants of the people and our own desires, we feel that ours is a very, very small beginning, very indeed; but we are encouraged by knowing that God does not " despise the day of sinalf things," and we have confidence in christian friends that they will not, but will labour together with us in their prayers, that from these little ignorant, despised ones, God would raise up some champions for the truth-some to preach powerfully the riches of Christ and gospel grace when we shall be silent in the tomb. Such is our desire, and our aim, and our prayer. The end, it is true, is far off; and the beginning seems very disproportionate to such an end; but the husbandınan hias long patience; the seed is small, and many, many days it lies hid, and shows no signs of life; but it grows up and increases, he knows not how, yet he becomes enriched with a plentiful harvest. And is not the God of grace as worthy of our patient trust as the God of nature? The success of similar attempts, which sprung from small beginnings-I refer especially to the Boys' Boarding school in Calcutta-may encourage the friends of christian education to hope, though it may seem hoping in part against hope. SPIRIT OF INQUIRY AT DACCA. You will be pleased to see in the "Heralds" printed at Calcutta, accounts from Dacca, which show that our scriptures and tracts are beginning to excite much attention, and great and effectual doors of distribution are opening. May this spirit of inquiry spread like a flame throughout the whole continent, then we shall have full work for every translator and every distributor, though multiplied a thousand fold! DELHI. Extract of a letter fram Mr. Thompson. My visits to one section or other of the city have been continued. I am happy to say, every morning and afternoon, and with undiminished interest. Sometimes, indeed, I come home grieved and sickened at the spirit and bearing of Mohammedans, and discouraged at the secular minds of Hindoos; but at others I am refreshed by the inquiries of both, the desire for the particular portions of the scriptures or well-known tracts, or by the conversation of some former hearer or reader of our books. Not unfrequently, indeed, an applicant or two comes home with me for what he could not be supplied with abroad. On these occasions, and to the Charandasis, and to christian friends at a distance, I have, since my last statement, distributed 79 volumes of the scriptures, and 212 gospels; 7 pamphlets, and 1515 tracts; making a total of 1813 tracts and scriptures in Urdu, Hindoo, Persian, Sanskrit, Arabic, Bengalee, and Panjabi. I ought to have mentioned that I received a small quantity of Panjabi tracts, and two or three Urdu gospels, as specimens, from our American friends of Ludiana, who passed through this some weeks ago, and gave us much pleasure by their company. Brother Porter kindly preached for me on a Wednesday and the following Sabbath; and I pray that his close and earnest address may do good. They have a Bengalee assistant, a valuable man, and, I trust, a truly converted soul. Extract of a letter from Rev. Adoniram Judson, dated Maulmain, 25th December, 1840. The The revision and printing of the Burman Bible was finished on the 24th October last-and a happy day of relief and joy it was to me. I have bestowed more time and labour on the revision, than on the first translation of the work. Long and toilsome research among the Biblical critics and commentators, especially the German, was frequently requisite to satisfy my mind, that my first position was the right one. Considerable improvement has I trust, been made, both in point of style and approximation to the real meaning of the original. testimony of those acquainted with the language, is rather encouraging. At least I hope, that I have laid a good foundation for my successors to build upon. I rejoice in the formation of the Bible Translation Society in England-and in the continued prosperity of the American and Foreign Bible Society. I verily believe, that it was by the special providence of God, that the old Bible Societies were left to take the unjustifiable course they did, in order that the peculiar truths which distinguish the Baptist denomination, might be brought forward in a manner unprecedented and ultimately triumphant. O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! BIBLE TRANSLATION SOCIETY. The First Anniversary of this Society was held at New Park-street Chapel, London, on Friday evening, the 30th April. Every part of this spacious edifice was crowded by a most respectable auditory. W. T. BEEBY, Esq. the Treasurer, took the chair. The Rev. E. STEANE read the Report, which commenced by stating the necessity which existed for the formation of the Society, and that since it entered upon a sphere of labour from which other Bible Societies had withdrawn, it was not their rival, much less their opponent. Resolutions approving of its formation had been passed at twenty-four associations, comprising an aggregate of more than 700 churches. A communication had been received from the American and Foreign Bible Society, expressing their satisfaction at the formation of this Institution, and they had since transmitted to it the sum of 1,032. 2s. 3d. Aid had been afforded in the completion of 85,000 books, consisting of the whole, or portions, of the Word of God: and to 46,500 now in progress. The receipts had been upwards of 2000l., in addition to the sum sent from America, of which 1,500l. had been remitted to India through the Baptist Missionary Society. Rev. D. WALSAL, of Bath, in moving the first resolution, said,-I have been a silent, though not an uninterested attendant on all the meetings during the week previous to the one now convened, and have heard observations from time to time upon those matters which affected the progress of the Societies whose anniversaries we have at tended, and by which, I feel assured, we have all been so much delighted and profited. Whether incidentally or by design I know not, but I have thought the arrangement of those meetings peculiarly happy. We began with attending to the claims of home, and by some forcible statements we were reminded that home was the place where we should first let flow the streams of our charity, and that to overlook home, to go after other and distant objects, was to be under the influence of secondary emotions, and not to act from first principles. After that we were directed to the claims of Ireland, which may be considered a part of our home. After that, we were yesterday parti cularly directed to the claims of foreign climes, and now, I presume, we have, just as a parting exercise, to contemplate this evening a Society which looks favourably in its spirit and in its principles, on both home and foreign operations-and that, as has been well said in the Report, "It is antagonist to none; friendly to all existing institutions." It has been long my conviction, that we must attend to our home population in religious matters, in order to prove that we are true Britons; that we must attend to our Irish population, in order to prove that we are true Protestants-and that we must attend to foreign operations, in order to prove that we are true Christians, the followers of him who spoke first of Jerusalem, and then spoke a word of mercy concerning all nations. We are now about to attend to the claims of the Bible Translation Society. And here I have one remark to make. It has always been very astonishing to me that, in the estimation of some sort of persons, and of all sorts of persons, the denomination to which we have the honour to belong, has been considered half-sighted, short sighted, and selfish, folding itself within its own bosom, and circle, and interest, unmindful of any thing great, noble and generous, stripped of every warm feeling and generous friendship, as those who recognised the existence of no brotherhood or brethren in any part of the globe, either at home or abroad. And yet, while this feeling has been so general, it has happened, in the kind providence of God, that men from our body have been among the most enlarged, philanthropic, and most original in their designs, and the most benevolent and expansive in their plans of any of the servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I think when we feel assured that an opinion so contrary to facts is spread abroad against us, it becomes us always, or as often as we have opportunity to report progress. We all very well remember that it was the members of our body who projected, on a most noble scale, the thought and the practice of missions to the East. Running down from that period to the present, we find the members of the Baptist body projecting, in the East, the noble design of giving to all the people, in their own tongue, the blessed word of inspiration. We find also, looking for a moment at home, that a member of our body projected the most noble design of giving the Bible to all, in British and in foreign dominions. And we find, also, that the members of the Baptist body have projected, or brought to light, the principle of giving this word of God, most seriously and prayerfully, and according to the prin ciples of a faithful version of that holy word, into whatever language that word shall be translated. Now, these I hold to be great things. They are things which, so far as they may originate in any body, will be sure to extend their influence over every body of Christians. They are things which involve principles pregnant with all sorts of good, and which may be carried out to any extent by those who approve of them, in the North, in the South, in the East, and in the West. It ought to be borne in mind, that it has pleased God so to constitute our minds, that we give voluntarily greater honour to the projectors of a noble design than to the executors of it; and that we do this according to principles which seem to appertain to our intellectual nature; and that all those who project a noble and a godlike design, stand in the same relation to those who execute it, as the mighty sublime wave that ploughs from the vasty deep the pearl or gem, stands in relation to those other waves, each lessening in their volume, which convey it at last to shore. Such honour, I hold, have the men which belong to our body. Such men were Thomas, and Carey, and Pearce, and Fuller, and Yates, and others: some now in this very house of God, have shared in this great glory. They are above all praise, praise-worthy; and they may feel assured, however they may be viewed, or however their conduct may be received among men, that great is their reward in heaven. I think this Society is one of very great importance; and the more its branches may be considered-the more the world which lies before it may be contemplated-the more fully shall we be persuaded that it is one that must not have our cold approval merely, but that must demand the warmest energies of our mind in its promotion, and the largest contribution of our purses for sustaining the operations in which it may engage. I feel confident that it is impossible to recognise the principle on which this Society stands, the principle of giving faithful translations of the Holy Word of our God to the nations of the East, and to any other nation, without enlisting our most cordial approbation in its behalf. Its necessity is equal to the importance of the Word of God itself, for no version can be supposed to be the Word of God which is not faithful. And if there be a necessity to circulate his Holy Word, that necessity implies another, that with prayerful attention, and the use of all the means which a gracious Providence bestows upon us, we should be directed to that point, that nothing shall be added thereto, that nothing shall be taken therefrom-but as the Father of all mercies has given us the Word, so it shall be considered an inviolable word to which we do well to take heed for the guidance of our own steps, and that it may be a light to the feet, and a lamp unto the path of those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. I feel no kind of sympathy with those individuals who imagine that the existence of this Society needs a lengthened apology. When we look at the actual necessity of a world famishing for the Bread of Life, I feel that there is not only a necessity for this Society. but for a hundred such, if it be the will of God. When we consider that there must be 900 millions of inhabitants on the face of the earth, and that as yet only 40 millions of copies of the Word of God have been distributed amongst them by all the instrumentality which has been employed-when we consider that it would take on this principle 660 years to supply the families of the earth, each consisting of five individuals, with a single copy of that Word-and when we consider the perishable nature of the article we distribute (for " books grow old, and the worms eat them")-when we consider all this, need I ask what men on earth, what society of men, should have any monopoly either in the printing or distribution of God's Holy Word. Tell me not that any men shall look on me with jealousy for desiring to bear a part with them in circulating this Word. I say they are sectarian if they do. I say their principles are not so pure as they might be if they do. If the object be to give to the perishing millions of the world the Bread of Life, I think they would hail every man, every set of men, that felt desirous to promote this great, this godlike cause, and bid him God speed in the name of our God. If it be not so, it would not deter me from any efforts I may feel disposed to make, and so far from considering this Society as a rival of any, I think it is a most needed one. Would to God there were a hundred such, acting on the same godlike principle of desiring to give the pure Word of God, by which alone men can be saved! Oh, this principle is dear to my own heart, and as I think I have seen something of that truth whereby my own soul shall be saved, as I feel the blessedness of that Word which is sweeter than honey and more precious than gold, my desire and prayer to God will be, "Send out thy light and thy truth, O God, that they may lead men to thy holy sanctuary, to thy footstool of mercy, there to receive the blessing of an endless life." I feel that we ought to enter most deeply and seriously into the principle on which this Society stands, and in the temper of that principle to act out, as far as God's providence may direct us, that principle, so as ultimately to cause the most glorious results. We know that in the Reformation, or in the doing of any great work, the minds of the best of men have always been so contracted that they have not seen the ultimate object to which their principles would lead. We know that this was particularly the case with the immortal Reformer, Luther, for he verily thought he would reform the Church in which he remained, rather than sever from it; but he acted upon those principles which had first enlightened his understanding-he knew of his doctrine that it was of God-and, acting under the dictates of his conscience, he followed the light of heaven; and though that light led him in a thorny path, he saw it more and more clearly to be the path marked by Infinite Wisdom; and the principles upon which he had embarked led him further to sacrifice all other feelings and considerations, until he came forth in the evolution of that glorious principle so oft repeated, and which may God give us ever highly to esteem The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants." Little did he think that his principles would so conduct him; and, whatever may be the present designs of this Society-not to say any thing as to the origin or necessity of it-God make it a willing burden which he has put on us by the necessity which created it. The Lord give us clean hands and a stout heart, that, we may carry to its utmost extent, as his Divine light shall make our path clear to us, this most glorious principle; and then what is to be done? There is a great work before us; there are millions of individuals that are now open to us to receive our versions, especially in the East-so hungering after the Bread of Life, that our missionaries are obliged to conceal the box which contains the books, sent to them with so niggardly a hand. I believe there is much of standing opposed to us in this world. I believe there is a very great deal to be done before we shall see the desire of our hearts and the purposes of Heaven realized. I believe there are many things to which we must attend more sedulously, and in the spirit of prayer, and in dependence upon God, before we shall see the light of Divine truth go forth as the morning, and the righteousness of our God as the noon-day sun If we remember that there are at the present time 630 millions, all of them recognising the vile traditions of men, in the room and stead of God's Holy Word-if we remember that there are 180 millions of Mahommetans, all reading, believing, and trusting in an apocryphal revelation-if we remember that there are 12 millions of Jews, all stumbling at the Divine truths set forth in the Holy Scriptures, because they reject the New Testathat Divine light by which the Old alone can be understood-if we remember that there are millions of individuals under the Papal sway, to whom indeed may be ment, |