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Our prospects in Kingston are rather | Our building fund is attended to the last pleasing than otherwise. hope the peo- Thursday in every month, or oftener, as ple improve considerably, both in know- necessity may require, beside our conJedge and purity. Situated as we are tingent fund, all of which the Missionhere, it is necessary to be very cautious ary must superintend. as to what we say as well as what we do. Through the first period of my stay here, I did nothing compared with what some would have done. I thought it better to study the dispositions of all parties first, and know what plans would be most productive of good before I adopted any. Before my return to England I drew out a rough set of rules for the consideration of the leaders and people, thinking if God spared me to occupy my station again, it would be well to see their effects, and judge of their influence if strictly attended to, before they were proposed to the church as permanent rules for its disci

In Port Royal there is a pleasing prospect of usefulness. A person conducting himself properly, would be received gladly, as the people there have preaching only about once a month. It is my intention, as soon as time will permit, to take a journey to Manchineel. from which quarter I had an invitation last night. At the above place, and at Morant Bay, Missionaries are wanted exceedingly. By next packet I hope to be better able to give you information respecting these places.

Spanish Town, June 9, 1820. REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,

pline. These rules have been strictly From Mr. Godden to Dr. Ryland, dated enforced, notwithstanding the great op position made to them by the leaders; and their good effects are, through the blessing of God, very visible. Each member has a ticket, which he or she renews quarterly; and as each person must come for a ticket, we get a partial acquaintance with them all, and find out the evils which have too long been kept

secret.

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Through the mercy and forbearance of our heavenly Father, I am still in the land of the living, still under the influence of hope, and labouring towards the rest that remaineth for the people of God, like a ship towards her port, through a tempestuous ocean. God has been pleased, in a measure, to grant the desires of my soul, as it respects the Redeemer's cause at Spanish Town. I told you, in a former letter, I baptized twentyone persons in Rio Cobre, in March last; and I am exceedingly happy to add the following extracts from my Journal.

Lord's-day morning, May 7.-Baptized twenty-two persons in the river, before seven o'clock. Returned home, and preached to a full house. Gave the right hand of fellowship to the newly baptized, accompanied with a short address to each. In the evening, administered the Lord'sSupper to about two hundred persons, forty-three of whom I have had the pleasure of baptizing. Our place was literally crowded; we had not half room enough. Collected £5 7s. for the poor. Thanks be to God, the church is formed and likely to prosper.

Within the last three weeks I have distributed 48 score of tickets, and had an opportunity of speaking to that number; very many of their replies have been good and appropriate. I asked one woman from the Mandingo country, what god she worshipped there? "Hey, massa! God lef (leave) dat country, God go away, no one say tome back againdem people make gods and play tricks wid em." Do you love God? "I try to love him wid de heart in trut." Well, then you obey him? Yes, massa, you love me, you glad for do what me bid you, so you love God so you do." On Monday night last I preached at a gentleman's pen to windward, to a very interesting audience, and exceedingly at tentive. I left Mrs. C. there for a little change of air while our house undergoes some repairs. On Thursday night I rode nine miles, and preached again to a large number of black and brown persons. I Lord's-day, June 4.-In the morning, would often repeat my visit if I could; preached from Rom. vii. 24. The con but my spare hours are few, I assure you, gregation large and attentive, and much at present. On Monday again, God affected. At mid-day, leaders' meeting. willing, we intend visiting Happy Valley, In the evening, administered the Lord'sthere to preach to a number of negroes Supper to about sixty; the rest, from vawho have promised to come and hear.rious circumstances, unable to attend, Our leaders' meeting is every week, when we hear all complaints, and dismiss those who are improper persons, and admit such as offer and are approved, into the various classes, in which they remain pon probation a longer or shorter time.

especially from the late heavy rains. We had about 300 spectators, and collected three pounds for the poor.

Monday, June 5.-At two P. M. held our Missionary prayer-meeting, as usual, (to correspond with the hour at which it

is held in Britain,) and it is very pleasing to believe that, at the moment we are praying for Zion's prosperity, many thousands in Britain are praying for us.

On the 7th was the fast-day, in com memoration of the great earthquake in 1692. Preached to a large party of feel. ing people, from Luke xiii. 1-5. Introduced the service, by reading Dr. Coke's account of the dreadful calamity which occasioned the anniversary fast. Briefly explained the circumstances connected with the text, and observed (1) that we are apt erroneously to conclude those to have been the worst of sinners, who have been driven out of time by means so awful and sudden. However true such conclusions may be in some cases, they are sometimes untrue; as in the text. (2). If we escape such terrible judgments, we are prone to think ourselves less sinful, and more deserving. Our text refutes the proud conclusion. (3). However proud we may be of our moral attainments, there is only one way by which we may escape a more dreadful punishment than earthquakes can inflict; "Except ye repent," &c.-language which implies that our righteousness is not the medium of our security, or escape even from temporal calamities that we equally deserve the same kind of punishment, (referring to Port Royal,)-and that we may and ought to expect worse, except we truly reform and repent.

My dear Sir, I beg an interest in your supplications. We are united in the bond of peace; may it never be broken. I have been raised from despondency relative to the cause. I could hardly keep the soul in the body, so to speak, when we attended to the Lord's Supper the first time. Overjoyed, I beheld nearly, or quite, two hundred members, all decently clad; and the smile of serene satisfaction sitting on their faces gave a tinge to the scene my weak soul could scarcely support. Notwithstanding the excessive fatigues of the day, the almost unbearable heat of the weather, and the suffocating heat of the meeting, it was a joyful

season indeed!

AMERICA.

IN our Number for September last year, we inserted an interesting communication, on the state of religion in America, from

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the pen of a respectable Presbyterian minister in New York. Some calculations were made in this document on the number of competent' ministers of the gospel, compared with the bulk of the population, which certainly presented a most appalling picture of the deficiency of religious instruction throughout the United States. We have, however, seen some recent communications, which, in adverting to the letter we had published, serve, in a considerable degree, to qua. lify the statement it contained. It ap pears that our Presbyterian friend had assumed that a collegiate education is essential to the competency' of a gospel minister; and that, on this basis, he computed the number of such ministers in the United States at only two thousand five hundred. Happily, however, for the church and for the world, there are many cases in which individuals have occupied, with great advantage, important stations in the church of God, who have not been favoured with a collegiate education. Instances of this kind will readily occur to the thoughts of all who have any acquaintance with the state of religion in our own country; and they are frequent, in perhaps a yet larger proportion, among the Transatlantic Churches. " By adopting this standard," it is remarked, in the animadversions alluded to, "the writer has rejected from his calculations, thousands of the faithful servants of the Lord Jesus, who are labouring with great success in the United States. At the time when the letter was written, there were, in the regular associated Baptist Churches, no less than 1,953 ministers of the gospel, who, to use the language of a much revered friend, in unwearied labours for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause, and in ardent love to immortal souls, are not a whit behind their most zealous congrégational brethren. At the same period, the local preachers in the Methodist connection amounted to at least 3000, and their travelling preachers to 695. At the date of this letter, the ministers of these two denominations alone amounted to

about 6000."

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We feel happy to give our readers this encouraging explanation of a statement which could not but excite deep concern in the minds of all who love the souls of men; and take the same opportunity of assuring our American friends, that we shall insert, with great pleasure, such brief statements of the progress of religion among them, as may be forwarded us from accredited sources.

London: Printed by J. BARFIELD, 91, Wardour-street, Sobo.

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THE

Baptist Magazine.

NOVEMBER, 1820.

THE WESTERN CIRCULAR LETTER.*

The Union which exists between Christ and Believers.

equivalent for all the dishonour which the character and government of God could ever sustain; yet we must likewise regard his death as a sacrifice for the sins of his people.

THIS subject is one which has sometimes been rendered obscure, by a forced and unnatural and extravagant interpretation of scripture: it is one which it is possible so to dilute and generalize as to deprive it of all its sig- When Christ came to execute nificance and beauty; or, on the his great commission, God enother hand, so to colour and dis-tered into an absolute engagement tort as to render it a mere caricature of the truth. May the Spirit of God enable us to avoid extremes, so that we may not be chargeable with darkening counsel by words without knowledge. I. It may be proper to commence with some remarks on the nature of this union.

Union to Christ is both fœderal and vital. In explaining the former of these expressions, let it be observed, that, while the death of Christ is to be viewed as a sacrifice for sin taken in the most general sense, so that there is no degree of guilt nor any number of offences which God cannot consistently pardon, since in giving up himself he offered an

with him, assuring him that he should "see his seed and prolong his days, and that the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand." That such a promise might be sure to the Saviour to whom it was given, it must have been equally sure to the saved to whom it relates. It could not be fulfilled to Christ, unless it were fulfilled in them. In conformity with such a promise, all believers are represented as given to Christ. The gift must have been preceded by a design to bestow; so that we are thus led to the doctrine of some divine appointment with relation to Christ and believers an appointment which secured to the Re

We have thought the "Circular Letter" of the Western Association deserving of a more extensive circulation. It was written by the Rev. Mr. Crisp of Bristol, the respected colleague of the Rev. Dr. Ryland.

EDITORS.

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