Missionary Register. No. 15. MARCH, 1814. No. 3! VOL. II. t Home Proceedings. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY Rev. John Owen's History of the Society: WE are happy to announce, that the Rev. John. Owen has undertaken, at the request of his friends, to prepare a History of the Society during the first ten years of its labours. This work will be published in 2 vols. 8vo. price 21s. demy, and 31s. 6d. royal paper. We shall render all the assistance in our power toward the perfecting of this history; and shall suspend the series of papers on the subject, which we announced in our last Number, till after its appearance. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. York Church Missionary Association. William Gray, Esq. President. Rev. John Overton, Rev. John Graham, A Thorpe, Esq. and D. Russell, Esq. Vice-Presidents. William Gimber, Esq. Treasurer. With a Committee of Twelve Gentlemen. This Association has just been formed in aid of the Parent Society. "The British Nation," says the Address circulated in York, "has awakened to a sense of its duty; and the Church is now ready to send some of her Ministers to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Different Societies have been formed among the various denominations of religion to carry on this great work. But, while we of the Established Church wish success to them all, we ought to afford peculiar aid to those who accord with us in the same system of doctrine and mode of worship. This appeal to some of the best feelings of the heart, a concern for the benighted Heathen, and for the extension of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, and particularly of that reformed part of it to which we belong, cannot be made in vain." WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONS, Beverley Missionary Society. To the account of the Auxiliary Societies which we gave in our last Number, we have to add another established at Beverley on the 13th of January, John White, Esq. in the Chair. In the evening a Sermon was preached by the Rev. J. Barker, from Rom. v. 21. Missionaries to the East and West Indies. We noticed in our last, p. 56, the sailing of Dr. Coke and seven companions. Mr. John M'Kenny, appointed as a missionary to the Cape of Good Hope, with his wife, has not yet, indeed, left this country, but will take his passage by the first opportunity, On the 31st of December, Dr. Coke, with six Missionaries, sailed from Spithead for Bombay, on their way to the islands of Ceylon and Java: Dr. Coke with Mr. W. M. Harvard and his wife, and Mr. George Erskine, in the Cabalva, Captain Birch: and Mr. William Ault and his wife, Mr. Benjamin Clough, Mr. Thomas Squance, and Mr. James Lynch, in the Lady Melville, Captain Lockner. In January, five Missionaries, Messrs. Boothby, Allen, Lill, Stewart, and Rayner, sailed from Cork for different islands in the West Indies, in which they were appointed by the last Conference to labour. Foreign Intelligence. MALTA AND THE LEVANT. We noticed in our First Volume, pp. 362–364, the design of the Church Missionary Society to establish a Literary Representative at Malta, and the appointment of the Rev. William Jowett to that office. Dr.Naudi, who has resided some time in this country with medical objects in view, has just sailed for his native island, his return having been delayed by the awful visitation with which it has been lately afflicted. He is warmly interested in the designs of the Church Missionary Society, and in those of all similar institutions; and will prepare the way for the Society's Representative at Malta. The following letter, addressed by Dr. Naudi to the Secretary before his departure from this country, will open to our readers an interesting view of the promising state of the Levant, with reference to attempts to revive decayed Christianity, and to extend the boundaries of its beneficent. dominion. Letter from Dr. Naudi to Rev, Josiah Pratt. My dear Friend London, Feb. 21, 1814. I feel myself very much gratified by the Church Missionary Society being persuaded of the important good which will be likely to attend your exertions in Asia, Africa, and in the Islands; and that it has appointed me as its Member and Correspondent in the Island of Malta, as being the center of the Mediterranean. A considerable time has elapsed since I laid before this Society the importance of its exertions in Aleppo, Syria, and North and East Africa. From the time when I had met with the pious Germano Adami, Bishop of Aleppo, about the year 1799, I perceived that those countries were much disposed for the reception of Christian Knowledge, and for the ready admission of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. On my visiting England, and during my stay here, I have been very glad to observe, that, as ways were opening abroad in different parts of the world for the reception of the Sacred Truths; so new means were growing up among you for the sending of Christian Truth throughout the world. The success of your Society, and of similar Institutions, and the rapid increase of the British and Foreign Bible Society, are convincing proofs of I received, lately, some accounts from Georgio Kako, whose letter to me some time back we translated. Among the other communications, I remarked a fact which is worthy your attention; as opening to the Society, a prospect of future success in the Levant. In his passage from the island of Santorini to that of Cyprus, he was obliged to stay some time at another island, Rodi. He endeavoured to do some spiritual good, and to make known the Gospel of Jesus Christ in that island, which exhibits a sad scene of religious and moral desolation. Having met there with the Turks and Greeks in a kind of market, he gathered some of them about him, and began to speak of his voyage, in order to gain their attention, as they are very ignorant. He then introduced the subject of Religion and Christian Duties. He was heard with pleasure, and the concourse began to increase; and things were so well advanced in a few days, that the Basha sent for Kako, to ask him why the people crowded round him, and to inquire what that amusing book was which he was reading to the people. Kako courageously answered: "It is the Bible; which is the Holy Book, containing the immutable law of the common Creator." The Basha replied, "But this book, I hear, is against God; and therefore against Mahomet, and contrary to the Turkish Government." Kako answered, "This book, which your Excellency sees here, is quite the same as the law of God; and, consequently, can be in no way contrary to God, nor to his holy will. Mahomet is never mentioned in it, nor is there any thing against government: nay, it is so far from this, that if the subjects of the Grand Signior will, as I hope, read this sacred book, they will not only be more happy in themselves, but become more obedient to the Ottoman Porte, and more friendly to the government." same time he pointed out to the Basha various passages of Scripture on obedience due to the sovereign, and submission to the powers that be. The Basha was satisfied on the subject, and Kako was dismissed. This public proceeding of the Basha was very advantageous for that Island; the people had more confidence in Kako; and the good obtained was most remarkable. At the My friend concludes his letter, by wishing some person to be engage to go to Syria and Palestine, and especially to the neighbourhood of Aleppo; who, if endowed with the requisite qualifications, will probably be the means of effecting much good in those countries in particular; and would be able to point out what would be wanted for the further promotion of so holy an undertaking. The Mahometans are not such enemies to Christianity as in general is supposed, but are rather liberal to every persuasion in matters of religion-They are in a very low state, indeed; almost in perfect darkness. Georgio Kako, in his last journey into the interior of Asia, observed, that for the most part there, they are so ignorant, that they know scarcely what Mahometanism is; and that they are equally as ignorant of Christianity as of the Turkish Religion: which state he thinks to be |