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have heard. We had the most of the work, as the French and Dutch were on board their ships when we were attacked by the Japanese. The country is very sickly in the summer-time, and we have had small-pox in the ships.

We should be glad to return, and long to have the pleasure of again seeing and hearing your voice in your service. We often talk of things which you told

us, and have found them come to pass. I hope you will excuse all mistakes and the liberty of writing to you. It was the wish of my shipmates, who have signed this letter. More would have signed, but some are in hospital, and some not just now in the ship. We have a great many more Wesleyans in the ship.

[Several signatures are appended.]

HOME-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE.

1. EASTBOURNE.-From the Rev. J. Goodacre.-April, 1865.-I am full of gratitude to God for the success which has attended our labours. The Circuit shows an increase of thirty-eight members during the year. In the Mission part of the Circuit there are the following improvements:-At Hailsham we have secured additional members, and our services are well attended. Our

raptures the coming of a Wesleyan minister among them. He spoke of some godly officers who were, to some extent, supplying the ministerial lack of service. It is desirable that this defect should at once be remedied by the appointment of a minister to our own men there.

2. CHESTER. From the Journal of the Rev. John Stephenson.--Sunday, January 8th, 1865.-Morning and evening at the Mission-chapel: at the Sundayschool in the afternoon. There were a hundred and forty children present. The chapel was full in the evening, and two persons professed to find the mercy of God. During the day we were much interested by seeing a poor lad, a cripple, not having the use of his legs, carried by another lad to the school and to the evening service. This kindness has been continued. A rough man who had been at some of our services was present on Monday the 9th. On grasp ing his hand, and asking why he was not with us on the previous day, he replied that he had been in the house all day, and did not like to appear among us on a Sunday in such a dress, and added, "I shed many a tear yesterday." This man's conduct is thoroughly reformed. [Many highly interesting and encouraging instances of conversion are noted in this Journal. The Mission is vigorously prosecuted. The Mission-chapel is filled on Sundays by persons who are under religious concern.]

great want here is a chapel. At Hawkham we have secured a cottage for preaching. We have formed a class of fourteen members. Our worship here is crowded. At East Dean a class has been organized of seven members, and we have from twenty to thirty at our weeknight service. At another village God has prospered His work. The congre gations have been remarkably good. We have often wondered to see so many coming from a great distance in the stormy weather we have had during the winter. We have obtained a room at Newhaven, close by the harbour, in which I have seen from sixty to one hundred people. It is probable that 2,000 men will be shortly employed here on public works; and if so, the labours of a Missionary minister would be well bestowed upon the locality. We are vigorously exerting ourselves to raise sufficient to claim the grant of £400 to our new chapel at Eastbourne, from the Watering-places Chapel Committee. I lately met with a soldier of the Royal Engineers, in a railway carriage, who received a tract most respectfully. He told me that in early life he had been in one of our Sunday-schools and was afterwards a member of our church. 3. PRESTON. From the Rev. R. Allen. He had served at the Cape of Good-April, 1865.-Our efforts during the Hope, and spoke of our Missionaries there and of their good work. He had also been at the Mauritius, where he knew many soldiers who had in this country belonged to our denomination, and who, he said, would welcome with

past year have been directed to consoli date and increase the church connected with this Mission, and considerable improvement has been the result. Many of the members gathered together had no previous acquaintance with Method

ism, and consequently demanded much care and pastoral oversight. We have a distinct Society and leaders' meeting, and the leaders have entered heartily and intelligently into all my efforts. The young people have required, and have repaid, assiduous care. We have a Bible-class of forty members, most of whom are living in the fear of God and in fellowship with His people. During the winter several have been made partakers of salvation through Christ. Our week-night prayer-meeting is attended by about fifty persons, and is marked bya hallowed influence. During December we had prayer-meetings at noon daily, and I have seldom attended meetings distinguished by more of grace and power. We had also services in the evenings for a week, which were blessed to many persons, and there were many striking cases of conversion. Our congregation is much increased. The chapelsteward last quarter received £12 more than heretofore. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is well attended, and at the Sunday-evening prayer-meeting two hundred persons have frequently been present. We have two hundred and twenty church-members. My classes have increased from thirteen to thirtyone, and their contributions per quarter have progressed from £1. 14s. 6d. to 24 38. Fifty-four prayer-leaders conduct sixteen cottage-services weekly, and great good has resulted from their labours. The average number of domiciliary visits has been twenty-five per week. The military at the barracks have received some attention. Some of them are meeting in class with their wives, and about thirty are marched to morning service. The voluntary service is better attended than I have seen before. We have established a dayschool, and have an average attendance of ninety children. A night-school has been commenced, at which about eighty attend.

The

4. ECCLES, Manchester.- From the Journal of the Rev. S. H. Pink.-January 24, 1865.-Saw some cases of deplorable spiritual darkness. One person had not been in a place of worship for ten years. Another never remembered offering any prayer in his life. children of this class of people are growing up to take their places in the ranks of English heathenism. No one who has not entered their wretched hovels can have the faintest idea of the moral degradation in which many of these poor persons live. If they were not

sought out by Mission efforts, they would live and die ignorant of God.

During the quarter the chapel at Eccles has been re-opened. The pecuniary results are most gratifying. The money expended (£1,200) has been promised, and means have been adopted to pay off an old debt on the chapel. One hundred additional sittings have been let, chiefly to persons resident in the village; and who, by means of Missionary visitation and cottage-services, have been brought under the influence of the Gospel. This shows that Methodism is spreading and strengthening itself among the people. The seat-rents are £17 per quarter in advance of what they were in the old chapel. The growth of Methodism here has, of late, been remarkable.

5. SHEFFIELD.-From the Journal of the Rev. Joseph Adams.-Sunday, February 5th, 1865.-On returning home this evening I came to a large company of people at Hillsbro' Bridge, who had been drawn together by the singing of some young persons. It was a beautiful night, and I took advantage of the opportunity,-distributing tracts and giving an exhortation. I was listened to with deep attention. Many were much affected, and I hope the seed thus sown may result in good.

February 6th.-Saw the colonels of the two regiments quartered in our barracks, who gave permission for my holding a weekly service among our men in their respective corps.

March 13th.-Well received by the soldiers in my visit to them to-day. On the following day I gave an address at a mothers' meeting, established in the barracks by the wife of one of the colonels. At seven o'clock I had service in the garrison church, and was encouraged by the attendance and by the tone of the service. These services are continued. The Rev. William Wilson gave an account of his Fiji Mission at the barracks, when about one hundred soldiers and a few others attended.

6. SUNDERLAND (Monkwearmouth).-From the Journal of the Rev. J. F. Reynolds, ending March 28th, 1865.December 28th, 1864.-I buried two persons who died in full assurance of faith. One of them was a youth, a member of a family of ten children, who with their parents occupied a forlorn dwelling. He had attended the Missionservices, was convinced of sin, and con

verted to God. As I stood beside the

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miserable cot on which he was expiring, his haggard face beamed with heavenly hope. As the family and some neighbours were there, I exhorted them, with tears, to repent and seek Christ. I shall never forget the scene. Every heart seemed bowed under the influence of the Holy Spirit. I knelt in the midst, prayed for and with them, and commended the soul of the dying but happy youth to Christ, and the broken hearts around me to the mercy of God. great amount of sickness prevails, and some virulent epidemics, requiring some courage in the visiter. I have consequently not an hour at my disposal, through incessant calls to the afflicted. This, however, is as it should be, if I can only glorify God and save souls. Our Mission-chapel will not hold the people who come to our services on a Sunday night, and the s: sequent prayer-meetings are well attended. The chapel being cold and damp, I procured an efficient stove, which has made it comfortable for the worshippers. I might easily have raised the cost otherwise, but I think it right to encourage the people who attend the Missionchapel to pay for it themselves, by making a collection on Sunday evenings as long as it is needed. This will help to teach them self-dependence and liberality, and to give them more of personal interest in the Mission. A harmonium has been presented to the chapel, which I have to play myself till I can get the help of some more qualified performer. Our Sunday-school, with its efficient and

devoted teachers, has increased to ninety, and this though we refuse to receive children from any other school. I have to superintend this school for the present. I am afraid of breaking down under the work, and hope soon to have more of local co-operation. Our numbers have increased during the quarter, and the members' contributions have been doubled, whilst they give liberally to other objects. As the Mission-chapel is too small to hold those who desire to worship with us, I feel it my duty to pro mote a new erection in this place.

7. EDINBURGH (Bathyate). From the Rev. G. Hobson.-Two Sunday. schools have been commenced in connexion with this Mission, which are doing well, notwithstanding the prejudices of the people in this neighbourhood. Seve ral backsliders have been reclaimed; and, notwithstanding the migratory habits of our mining population, we have a numerical increase this quarter.

8. GLASGOW (The Anderston Mission). --From the Rev. W. Ainsworth.-April 3d, 1865. The Mission has made steady progress during the quarter, and was never before in so encouraging a position. The subscriptions toward the new Mission-chapel now amount to nearly £2,000, and we intend shortly to commence the erection. We expect to open it before next winter, and till this be done the apparent results of the Mission cannot much exceed what we have been favoured to witness.

GENERAL RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

THE WESLEYAN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION. The Eleventh Annual Meeting in connection with the Wesleyan Dayschools and Westminster Training College, was held at the Centenary-Hall, Bishopsgate-street, on Wednesday evening, May 3d, George Smith, Esq., LL.D., presiding.

The proceedings were commenced with singing and prayer, after which Mr. Sugden read a brief Report, which showed that thirty-three new schools had been opened during the past year. The total outlay had approached £20,000, and new accommodation had been provided for 5,500 children. A most gratifying feature in connexion with the movement was the large use made of existing Sunday-school rooms. Of the one hundred and

twenty-three students who had undergone the Government examination, all had passed; and one hundred and twenty-five were now in course of training. Sixty-two had been appointed to schools during the year 1864. The number of children taught in the Wesleyan Sunday-schools of the country was 532,519, an increase of 5,206. Of this half-million, about one-sixth attended day-schools, an increase of 3,751; 19,512 met in select-class, and 26,790 were members of Society, an increase of 938.

The Chairman briefly dwelt on the importance of the work contemplated by the Educational Institution. The agencies which they had in operation were thoroughly sound, and worked most beneficially. They must zealously labour to counteract the dire evils which

were now at work. He shuddered at the thought of a Cornishman, whose ancestors had sat under a Methodist ministry, and who had gone with the highest authority to preach the Gospel, being converted by a Zulu, and coming back to tell them that he believed that individual had been raised up to destroy the Bible. He urged the necessity of increased support being given to the work.

The Rev. Dr. Osborn, President of the Conference, moved the first resolution, which expressed gratification at the evidence afforded by the reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors, and through other channels, of the efficiency of the Institution. He rejoiced that they had retained the distinctive Methodist character, which they had assumed at the outset of the work,-that conversion should be the avowed object of those who had its management. He was glad that they had a Cornishman to preside at that meeting, one who desired not to oppose but to back the influence of the truth. They had never feared the inspection of their schools; they had had no fear of the results: but he contended that they ought to be allowed to pursue their work in peace, after having given to the supporters of the cause proof that their confidence had not been misplaced. In conclusion, the President powerfully dwelt on the grievous errors now prevalent, and the urgent necessity for a vigorous prosecu tion of the work before them. The meeting was addressed by the Hon. Alexander M'Arthur, the Rev. F. J. Sharr, the Rev. J. Baker, the Rev. Gervase Smith, and others, who dwelt with much eloquence and force on the blessngs and value of religious education.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.-The Annual Meeting of this Society took place on the 3d of May, at Exeter-Hall. The Chair was taken by the President, the Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. The Rev. Charles Jackson opened the meeting prayer, and read the 145th Psalm. The Rev. S. Bergne read the Report.

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In France it was stated the circulation of Bibles was considerably in advance of the previous year, and amounted to 87,454 copies. A depôt had been opened in the Rue St. Honoré, Paris. In Belgium the work presented no new features; but the circulation was larger than that of last year, being 9,481 copies. The issues of the year in Holland amounted to 21,431. The work

in Germany was most satisfactory. After three years of delay, an answer had been received, marking out legal limits within which the operations of the Society might be carried on in Austria, and the work had been commenced. In Denmark, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, and Egypt, the Society had continued to labour, and its operations in nearly all cases had been extended. In Turkey, notwithstanding peculiarly adverse circumstances, the issues were only slightly below those of the preceding year; they amounted to 17,450. In India there was a lack of well-qualified agents. In China the issues exceeded those of the previous year. In the South Seas the Bible in the Samoan language was received with great joy by the natives; and the extraordinary sum of £1,533 had been already remitted for sales. The entire Bible in Fiji was now completed. In Madagascar every effort had been made to complete the whole Bible. The total ordinary Receipts amounted to £181,073. 14s. 5d., being £12,168. 108. 5d. more than in any former year.

The issues of the Society for the year were as follows: from the depôt at home, 1,745,670; from depôts abroad, 704,457,-2,450,127 copies. The total issues of the Society now amount to 47,989,579 copies. The ordinary payments had amounted to£163,820.108.10d. The Bible was now printed in about one hundred and sixty-nine languages or dialects. The new Bible-house was about to be erected in the line of the new street leading from the Thames Embankment to the Mansion-house.

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THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.-The May meeting soirée of the Alliance took place at Freemasons' Hall, on Thursday, May 4th, and was attended not only by the members of the Alliance in London, but by many friends of Christian union from the provinces and foreign lands. The Chair was occupied by the Hon. William Ashley. After the singing of the hymn, "All hail the power of Jesu's name,' the Rev. Dr. Vaughan read selections from Scripture, and the Rev. Newman Hall offered the opening prayer. Pastor Cohen Stuart, of Rotterdam, gave information in regard to the religious condition of Holland. The Rev. Mr. Schrenke, Missionary of the Basle Society, on the Gold Coast, gave information in regard to the progress of Missions among the negroes there, strikingly at variance with the libellous statements of certain Anthropologists.

The Rev. Carr John Glyn, who has recently visited Italy, spoke of the first Bible Society meeting, held at Naples last October.

THE LONDON CITY MISSION.- The Annual Meeting of the above Society was held on Thursday, May 4th, at Exeter-Hall, under the presidency of Joseph Hoare, Esq. The Report stated that there were at present 395 Missionaries, (an increase of five over last year,) by whom 2,048,581 visits had been paid, of which 246,467 had been paid to the sick and dying. 7,187 adults had died who had been visited, of whom 2,605, or nearly three in eight, were visited by the Missionary only. The Receipts had been, for the general funds, £40,041. 7s. 2d.; to the Disabled Missionaries' fund, £731. 18s. 7d. The Bishop of Ripon, Sir S. Morton Peto, Bart., M.P., and several clergymen and gentlemen addressed the meeting.

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NESS FOR CHRIST.-It has often been a matter of wonder to notice what insignificant means the Lord is pleased to employ for the carrying out and accomplishment of the most important results. Going out a few days ago, I passed an Israelite in the streets, who, as soon as he caught sight of me, felt a kind of pleasant surprise, and seemed as though he felt anxious to speak to me. waited; but, finding that he did not come, I took no further notice of him, and walked on. I had been making one or two calls, and was about returning home again, when, to my surprise, I came again in contact with the same individual. He seemed to have followed me all the way. I now went up to him, and inquired whether he had any wish to speak to me. After some little hesitation, he asked me whether I was not a Missionary. This answered, he exclaimed, Well, I thought from the first moment I saw you that you must be the gentleman; and I can only say, that I feel unspeakably thankful and happy in having at last met with you." And now comes the remarkable story, which I shall give you in my friend's own words—

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"About two years ago," he began, "you visited our little town, B. It soon became known who you were, and the object that led you to us. Hearing that you were discussing the claims of the Gospel with a neighbour of mine, a very bigoted Jew, I was determined to come and witness the issue.

After much debating, my neighbour grew very hot, and, at some cutting remark that you made, he became desperate, and wreaked his vengeance upon you by turning you out of doors. In the act, I noticed that you dropped something out of your pocket. I instantly picked it up, with a view returning it to you; but finding, on looking at it, that it was a mere tract, (one, probably, of little value to you,) I kept it, little thinking how great a treasure it would prove to me. Seated again in my room, I examined the tract more closely, and found it to be a treatise on the 53d chapter of Isaiah, This excited my curiosity, and I deter mined to read it. The popular and attractive style in which that tract is written, pleased me at first very much, though now and then my feelings revolted at the assumption that Jesus was the promised Saviour; but, banishing this thought from my mind as much as possible, I continued the perusal. I had not gone half through it, when an unac countable restlessness of mind took hold of me; but, believing it to be a mere inward excitement, I put the tract aside, determined to read nothing more of it. This, however, was not to be; the arrow of God's word had already entered my soul. Nay, I could find no rest. My wife was distressed at the sight; but all she did could not induce me to divulge my secret sorrow to her. I felt myself constantly, as by an irresistible power, drawn to the tract; and, when I could hold out no longer, I took to the reading of it again. I was lost in wonder at the great and solemn truths it contained; and, for the first time in my life, I began to doubt the truthfulness of the religious system to which I had so long been adhering; and a light began to glimmer in my soul, that the Christians may be in the right after all. Pondering and contemplating these things one evening, with my tract before me, my wife suddenly rushed into my room, and, seeing my confusion, and the tract before me, passionately exclaimed, Now I see what has been troubling you all this while; and with this she seized the tract, and tore it into a hundred bits. At first, I was stunned; then a kind of remorse overwhelmed me, and I was once more determined to banish the subject altogether from my mind. But did I succeed in this? You shall hear. In a day or two I was easier—indeed, I thought I felt quite happy again; and my wife was delighted to see the change: but the fire was only smouldering under

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