BOARDS OF AGENCY Appointed June 27, 1836. GENERAL AGENCY OF NEW-YORK. COMMITTEE. The Rev. W. W. Phillips, D. D., Gardner Spring, D. D., Joseph M'Elroy, D. D., Rev. John M. Krebbs, Rev. George Potts, Rev. Elias W. Crane, Rev. James V. Henry, Rev. John N. Campbell, D. D., Rev. W. D. Snodgrass, D. D., Rev. Charles Cummins, D. D.. Rev. Jacob Green, Rev. Nicholas Murray, and Rev. H. R. Riley, with Messrs. James Lenox, Moses Allen, Henry Rankin, Hugh Auchincloss, A. Platt, Samuel Boyd, George Douglass, M'Kown, Robert Jaffray, Eliph. Weeks, and Ro bert L. Stuart. General Agent. Mr. James Paton, New-York, Assistant Treasurer. GENERAL AGENCY OF THE WEST. COMMITTEE. Rev. Messrs. William L. Breckinridge, H. Humphrey, James Blythe, D. D., John Matthews, D. D., J. L. Wilson, D. D., James Hoge, D. D., Rev. R. H. Bishop, D. D., T. F. Russel, Jos. Huber, R. Davidson, Daniel Russel, Samuel Cassady, Abijah Bayless, D. A. Sayre, John Green, James Stonestreet, J. S. Berryman. Rev. W. C. ANDERSON, Louisville, General Agent. The Rev. Messrs. Benjamin F. Spillman, Shawneetown, Illinois; and James Coe, Piqua, Ohio, Agents. Mr. Henry E. M'Clelland, Louisville, Assistant Treasurer. COMMITTEE. GENERAL AGENCY OF THE SOUTH. The Rev. A. W. Leland, D. D., Rev. Professor Howe, Rev. John Witherspoon, D. D., Rev. S. S. Davis, Rev. J. Le Roy Davis, Rev. Samuel Graham, D. D., Rev. George Baxter, D. D., Rev, Horace S. Pratt, Rev. P. J. Sparrow, with Messrs. Eugenius Nesbit, Dr. Dunlap, Gilbert T. Snowden. Rev. JOSEPH W. BLYTHE, Columbia, S. C., General Agent. Gilbert T. Snowden, Assistant Treasurer. The Rev. D. Newell is also an Agent of the Society in the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore, and their vicinity. Solomon Allen, Esq., Philadelphia, Assistant Treasurer. In the following Report there is frequent mention of an anticipated transfer of the Society to the General Assembly. The reader will easily account for this, when he recollects that the Report was prepared before the Assembly had decided adversely upon the question of the transfer, and the members of the Board and of the Executive Committee had no apprehension of such a result. The Report, as presented to the Board, was expected to contain a historical record of the proceedings of the Society and the operations of their missionaries; and to present suggestions and motives to Christians for increased exertions to advance the great cause of Foreign Missions, and should now be read in connection with the Circular published in the August No. of the Chronicle. FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT Of the Western Foreign Missionary Society. PRESENTED MAY 26TH, 1836. THE VISIBLE CHURCH OF CHRIST looks for the renewal of her earliest and best days, in her home-condition, and the extension of her banner, with all its primitive and precious blessings, to all the kingdoms and nations of the earth. This expectation rests on the word of God, the nature of Christianity, and the analogies of Providence. To a realization of her own hopes, in this respect, she is now beginning to apply, with some degree of earnestness and faith, the instrumentality which God has given her. These efforts can alone apprise her how great and eventful the undertaking is. A vast and difficult course of Christian labors must doubtless be gone through, before the ancient, and firm, and powerful bulwarks of Satan shall be effectually shaken, and the way be prepared for God to magnify his grace and mercy, in bringing all nations out of gross darkness into the marvellous light of the gospel. The strength of Pagan superstition in many places, and the characteristic obstinacy of Mohammedanism—its haughtiness and contempt of other religions; and the inactivity of mind, and its cold indifference to eternal things generally prevalent in all ungospelized lands, are almost incredibly great; and thus Christian enterprise and self-devotion have a hard work, a strong opposing current, when all other obstacles arising from climate, difficult languages, repulsive and sinful customs, and political impediments, have been surmounted. The God of grace, however, has ordained the arrival of that glorious day, and, with an Abrahamic faith in his word of promise, the congregation of true believers must go forward, in his name and strength, to fulfil the duty; never yielding to despair, and never thinking of relaxation until the work is done. As prayer becomes more earnest, Divine energy may be expected to blend itself, in these dark regions, with human instrumentality, in forms of grace and wisdom at once mighty and delightful; and salvation thus advance with unexpected glory, through the aid of many unanticipated co-operations. It is enough for us, as to present duty, to be assured that the mind and will of God is known, as to the precept and the issue, and that he will make it plain. We must remember that the great purposes of God in the government of the universe, in their ends and the manner of their fulfilment, very far transcend the ranges of human thought; and that hence, in many things, the actual dispensations of Providence disappoint the anticipations of the most considerate, and the plans of the most calculating. The duration of any single generation here below is too short to allow the children of Zion to take into actual observation more than a few of the windings of the highway of progressive holiness, by which the church is to ascend to the tops of the mountains, and be elevated above the hills, that all nations may flow unto it; and thus, at any given period, the fact of the conversion of the world to God must be more a matter of faith than of sight. As the time, and manner, and circumstances, of the introduction of the law in the wilderness, the advent of Jesus, and the establishment of Christianity in the fulness of time, were such as, in many respects, to fill the minds even of good men with surprise; so the ways, the times and seasons of Messiah's coming to reign over the nations may not be such as the wisdom of men devise. That he will come-that he is now upon his way, and is preparing his work before him, should arouse all his friends, and all denominations of his people, to provide that vast sum of spiritual resource which the circumstances of the times, the urgent claims of the Heathen, and the importance of the work require. In proportion as particular churches, as well as individuals, embark in this cause, will the prayers of the pious among them be enlisted in its behalf; and we, therefore, rejoice that each of the large evangelical denominations of our land, as such, have taken up the work, both because of the aid and intercession which they may be expected to consecrate to it, and the inherent good which they are likely to receive from it. We are glad, also, that the General Assembly of our church, by the assumption of the management of this Society from and after our present meeting, will have enrolled itself in the list of denominational action. The Executive Committee meet the Board at this time as the last anniversary on which its immediate superintendence is to devolve upon either them or us, with the sentiments of congratulation, founded in the hope that the Society, by this change, is to realize the more extended and efficient means of usefulness to the perishing heathen. We hope that, under such an organization as is now to be established, our great community will address themselves to the glorious undertaking with new and redoubled zeal and spirit. The measures connected with this change of relations have unavoidably produced some interruptions in the course of the proceedings of the Executive Committee, during the year of which they are now called to render an account; and some important arrangements have been deferred for the action of the new organization. In other respects, the operations of your Committee have been carried forward as usual, if we except the obvious disadvantages resulting from the want of Agents to aid us in the collection of funds. To our covenant God, and Redeemer, we are called to render devout thanksgivings for the preservation of the lives of all our Missionaries; for the encouragement which he is affording them; and many other instances of his providential favor graciously allotted to us. In the PRESENT REPORT, the Committee would first lay before the Board, a general view of the present state of the several missions under their care, the events connected with the internal arrangements of the Society, the state of its agencies and its funds; and then conclude with some remarks on the subject generally. MISSION TO WESTERN AFRICA. b Following the order of their respective dates of commencement, the Mission to Western Africa would first require our notice. But, in reference to this field, the Committee have little of an encouraging character to communicate. At the period of our report last year, Mr. Pinney and Mr. Finley, with one or two colored assistants, were still engaged in performing such missionary services as the state of their health and other circumstances permitted. Shortly afterwards, however, these two brethren, exhausted by disease, and no longer able to prosecute their labors, embarked for the United States; having suspended all further efforts for the present, and left the mission premises and property in Millsburg, in trust to the members of the Baptist Mission, by whom the house has since been occupied. Mr. Pinney's health has been gradually improving; and he has recently expressed to the Committee a willingness to return to the coast of Africa, whenever it shall be thought best, and a few additional laborers shall be found ready to accompany him. On this subject no decision has been made, nor have the Committee any facts or considerations to submit in addition to those which were presented in their last annual Report. They still retain the belief that the Board should not think of yielding to the pressure of discouragement; but that either another and well-concerted effort should be made to reach the high and mountainous regions in the interior of the Colonial Establishment, or that its operations should be resumed in some other quarter. To whom is that great continent to look for the largest share of its interest in the legacy of Jesus Christ, if not to the Christians of these United States? and, even in view of all the physical and political barriers which rise before us at every step, who will say that the long-deferred gift cannot be conveyed to her? Besides, these obstacles are for the most part, such as promise no natural alleviation. Under the operation of causes, among which those connected with the slave-trade have been far the most considerable, the moral and social character of man, as he exists along the borders of the African slave-coast, has sunk to the lowest point of degradation, and now nothing can lift him up, but that great power of God in the gospel, which the southern tribes and kingdoms of that continent are now so happily experiencing. The attention of the Committee, as well as of these missionary brethren, has been recently turned towards a location lower down the coast than the territory of Liberia; and it seems not improbable that in the course of the ensuing year a new effort should be made, at least to introduce the means of education to some of those towns, from which direct and earnest applications have been made. In the event of such an effort, a pious, judicious, and devoted physician, for that field, will be an almost invaluable acquisition. Proceeding in our usual order, the MISSION TO NORTHERN INDIA next claims our attention. This at present consists of fifteen individuals, comprising five ordained ministers of the gospel and three candidates for the ministry, and possessing two printing presses, a philosophical apparatus, and good library. The Committee rejoice in being able to state, that since the last annual Report, the operations of the Mission to India have been attended with the continued marks of the divine favor. The lives of all the missionaries have been preserved, and the health of Rev. John C. Lowrie, the only one of them who has been seriously indisposed, has not materially changed during the year. Rev. James Wilson and John Newton, with their partners, after a prosperous voyage, arrived at Calcutta in due season, and remained in that city, as was expected, until the 24th of June last, when they proceeded by water, on their way to the Upper Provinces. During their stay, and on their protracted voyage up the Ganges, they were all blessed with good health and spirits; and, at the last date of intelligence from them, they were proceeding, by land, from the river to Lodiana, where they probably arrived early in December last. Miss Julia A. Davis, who accompanied this reinforcement, as an assistant to the mission, was induced, some time after her arrival at Calcutta, and with the concurrence of our brethren, and the friends of the missionary cause in that city, to form a matrimonial connection with Rev. John Goadby, of the English General Baptist Mission at Cuttack; and, in consequence, withdrew from her connection with this Board, with the hope, it is believed, of being enabled, with greater prospects of usefulness, to prosecute the work for which she left her native land. Our missionary brethren appear to have met with great kindness and hospitality at all the stations and British settlements on their way up the Ganges, and to have experienced a growing conviction of the importance of India missions, and the desirableness of a great enlargement of our opcrations in that country. Mr. Lowrie having, in compliance with a special and repeated invitation from the powerful sovereign of the Panjab, made an excursion to the court of Lahor, conferred with the government on the subject of education, and visited some of the principal cities and other objects of interest within its territory; and, having spent the dry season at Simla, in what is familiarly called the Hills, or Hill Provinces, and made several tours of observation during the summer, for the purposes of information, as well as of exercise and change of air, has thus collected an amount of knowledge which may prove highly useful to the cause of missions. In education, agriculture, and morals, Mr. Lowrie found the population of the Maha Rajah, Ranjet Singh, consisting of Sikhs, Hindus, Mussulmans, &c., much like other parts of Hindustan. This territory was originally divided among a number of independent Sardars, who now acknow ledge the sway of this powerful Chief. But on the termination of his life, now considerably advanced, it is supposed that things will revert to their original condition; and the whole eventually fall, as other portions of India have done, under the direction of the British power. As there is a want of enterprise, of sound policy, and moral energy, in the existing government, and an apparent jealousy as to the influence of Christian education, such a change would doubtless prove highly beneficial to the temporal and spiritual condition of the population. A considerable part of the country through which Mr. Lowrie passed is neither fertile nor densely populated; but the vicinity of the capital was covered with luxuriant wheat and fine gardens, extremely fertile, and adorned with the beautiful mango and tamarind trees. Amritsir, the seat of Sikh learning and devotion, the resort of pilgrims, and the site of a beautiful and picturesque sacred reservoir, is important also as the commercial emporium of the Panjab, and the mart of the fine fabrics of Cashmere; and may thus be regarded as the most eligible position in Lahor for a missionary station, whenever our operations in that quarter shall demand a selection. The result of Mr. Lowrie's observations, however, would seem, for the present, to give a decided preference to the population of the Hill provinces, as, in some respects, more likely to be benefited by missionary efforts, and as possessing a climate more favorable to the health of missionaries. The people are less attached to caste than those of the Plains, and to those immoral habits and customs which so extensively abound in India; being simple in their habits and modes of life, devoted to agriculture, and combining a larger share of industry, uprightness, and thoughtfulness of character. The natural productions of the soil, and consequently the staple articles of subsistence, correspond also much more with those of our own country; and this fact, while it might promote both the comfort and the health of our missionaries, would enable them to transfer |