a priest, because Aaron was now infirm, and not able to perform the duties of a minister to so large a congregation. That as to their printing this year, they had got a new edition of a small treatise, called The Way to Salvation, in the Malabar tongue; which was all they could do, because of a scarcity of paper, except two or three sheets of the Portuguese Bible. That the printing of the Portuguese Old Testament was very earnestly desired by the Dutch ministers at Batavia. That the Hiedelberg catechism in the Singalean tongue had been printed at Ceylon; and the Gospel according to St. Matthew in the Malabarian, that language being used in the north of Ceylon. That the Rev. Mr. Cramer, who alone knew the Malabarian language, being dead; and Mr. Wetselius, who alone knows the Singalean, being old; there is occasion for more ministers in that island. That the Rev. Mr. Aguiar, who had lived ten years as a Protestant missionary at Collicatta in Bengal, was appointed a Portuguese preacher at Columbo, and other places of Ceylon. That, at Batavia, there was a great want of Portuguese and Malayan preachers, by reason several were lately deceased. That Mr. Sichterman, the Dutch director at Houghly in Bengal, greatly wishing a Protestant mission might be established at Collicatta, had promised to give any missionaries all the liberty and encouragement in the Dutch territories that lay in his power. They then give a brief account of some troubles in the kingdom of Tanjour; and that Mr. Obuch, in company with Mr. Widebrock having travelled to Nagapatnam, and fetched a small compass farther into the country, preaching the gospel, hád got a hurt, but was happily recovered; though after a confinement of three quarters of a year to his bed. They conclude with hearty prayers and wishes to God for the society, and a blessing on all their designs. "Other corresponding members have given their opinion, and advices concerning the mission, which have been taken into most deliberate consideration by the society; after which, particular answers were sent (in pursuance of their express orders and directions) to all these letters, by the Heathcote, captain Jonathan Cape, now bound to Fort St. George, together with the things desired by the missionaries, and the usual remittances to them; and, by the continned favor of the directors of the East-India company, to so Christian and charitable à design, all these remittances m goods and money went freight-free; for which the societydesire those gentlemen to accept of their heartiest thanks, in public testimony of their gratitude.* "In the year 1720, the society extended their regard to the Greek church in Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and Egypt. To this end they published proposals for printing. here, with a new set of types, the New Testament and Psalter in Arabic, and were enabled, by the blessing of God, on the recommendation of the bishops, joined to the charity and zeal of their own members, to procure an edition of above six thousand Psalters, and ten thousand Testaments, as also of five thousand Catechetical Instructions, with an Abridgment of the History of the Bible annexed in Arabic; at so large an expense as the sum of two thousand nine hundred and seventy six pounds, one shilling and sixpence halfpenny, to which his late majesty was a bountiful contributor, by a gracious benefaction of five hundred pounds; five thousand six hundred and sixty-eight Psalters, two thousand six hundred and eighty-two New Testaments, and two thousand two hundred and twenty Catechetical Instructions, with the Abridgment aforesaid, have been already sent to those parts, or into Persia, by means of their correspondent in Russia, which were most thankfully received; and the rest are reserved to be sent as occasion shall offer. "In the beginning of the year 1732, the society, when they heard the melancholy account of the sufferings of the Protestants in Saltzburg (having first obtained his majesty's leave) resolved to do all that lay in their power to raise collections for their persecuted brethren. To this end, in June the same year, they published, An Account of the Sufferings, of the persecuted Protestants in the Archbishopric of Saitzburg, c. and afterwards published, A further Account of their Sufferings, &c. with an Extract of the Journals of M. Von Reck, the Commissary of the first Transport of Saltzburgers to Georgia; and of the Ministers that accompanied them thither, 1733. These accounts being enforced by the generous example of many noble and honorable persons, as also by liberal contributions, and earnest exhortations from. the bishops, and their clergy, had, through God's blessing, *"The Danish missionaries in the East Indies write word, that since their settlement at Tranquebar, to the 27th of October 1752, they have conferted to the Christian faith five thousand five hundred and minety four persons in Pagan darkness." so good an effect upon the minds of charitable and well-disposed Christians of every rank and denomination, that the Society (besides making many large remittances to Germany) have been enabled to send over to the English colony in Georgia, in the years 1733, 1784, 1735, and 1741, four transports, consisting of more than two hundred Protestant emigrants, chiefly Saltzburgers; who, with two missionaries and a schoolmaster, are settled by themselves at Ebenezer; where lands are assigned to them by the trustees for estab lishing the said colony: and the society are informed by letters of the 15th of March 1738-9, that they are well pleased with the healthiness of the climate, and the fruitfulness of their plantations. "The great expenses of these transports, and the many extraordinary charges that have been necessary for the support and encouragement of this infant settlement, together with an hundred pounds a year as a salary for their two missionaries and a schoolmaster, have so far reduced the charities belonging to this branch of the society's designs, that they have nothing left now to answer any future wants and contingencies, excepting two thousand five hundred pounds, new South-Sea annuities, which have been purchased as a standing fund for paying the aforesaid annual salary to the missionaries and schoolmaster, till some certain and settled provision can be made for them in Georgia; but, for particulars, the society refer themselves to their books of receipts and disbursements on this account, which may be inspected gratis by any person calling on their secretary, at their house in Bartlett's Buildings, London; of which two extracts have been already published, and dispersed among the benefactors to this excellent charity, with the thanks of the society, and their prayers that God would eternally reward so great and seasonable an instance ofChristian beneficence, as had been ministered on this occasion to persecuted Protestants, when driven out of their native country, under the most pitiable circumstances of distress." But little more can be related of this mission until near the close of the eighteenth century. "After the first Missionary, Ziegenbalgh, had finished his course," says Dr. Buchanan in 1806, "he was followed by other learned and zealous men, upwards of fifty in number in the period of a hundred years, among whom were Schultz, Iænicke, Gericke, and Swartz, whose ministry has been Gillies' Hist. Col. vol. ii, p. 6—15. continued in succession in different provinces, unto this time."* "Mr. Swartz," says the Christian Observer, "was born in Germany, in the year 1726. On the 17th of July,1750, he ar-rived at Madras, at the age of twenty-four, to preach "to the Gentiles" of Indostan "the unsearchable riches of Christ.' That he might be more extensively useful, he made himself master of four different languages. His labors were various and immense. He preached much, very often several times in a day. He frequently visited the different Churches planted on the south-east coast of India. He instructed the schools of the Malabar children. He visited the sick; and he was often employed in secular transactions of a difficult and confidential nature for the government and for individuals. Even in his sixty-eighth year, when on a visit to the Churches of Cuddalore and Negapatnam, he commonly preached three times every day, in English, Portuguese, and Malabar. In this "labor of love" he was actuated by the purest motives. Salvation by grace, through the tonement of Christ, embraced by faith, and evidenced by a life of holiness and devotion to God, was the theme on which he dwelt with peculiar pleasure, energy, and effect. He was himself a shining example of primitive Christianity, and might justly have said, "Be ye followers of me am of Christ." So established was his character for integrity, that he was honored with the confidence, not only of the Europeans within his extensive sphere, but also of the native princes and their subjects. When Tanjore was besieged, and the garrison perishing with hunger, and when the Rajah solicited and promised in vain; Mr. Swartz, by merely giving his own personal promise of payment to the country people, prevailed on them to bring in corn by night, and thus saved that important fortress. The late Rajah of Tanjore, though a Heathen, frequently consulted Mr. Swartz on affairs of magnitude, and also committed to the care of Mr. Swartz his adopted son, the present Rajah; a young prince who favors the Christians in consequence of the impressions made upon his mind by his reverend guardian. as I "The labors of Mr. Swartz were not confined to the in struction and conversion of the Hindoos; but with equal *Chris.ian Researches, .125, Armstrong's third edition. earnestness and fidelity he exhorted nominal Christians, whenever they came in his way; English, Portuguese, and German; to "repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," in order to forgiveness and salvation. After near half a century of uninterrupted and excessive labors and self-denial in the service of Christ, I find him, in a series of confidential letters, which are now before me, exulting, at the close of his days, in the prospect of a happy eternity; not building, however, his hope of acceptance with God upon his own labors and merits; but on the unde. served grace of God, and the meritorious sacrifice of his beloved Son. "It must afford sincere gratification to the Christian, that whilst adventurers will cheerfully expose themselves to the multiplied dangers of distant voyages and unhealthy climates in pursuit of gain quem "neque fervidus æstus Demoveat lucro, neque hyems, ignis, mare, ferrum--- Men are not wanting, who are ready "to forsake all," and freely and voluntarily to encounter as great dangers and greater hardships, for Christ's sake and the Gospels. "It is a great consolation that, whilst the conduct of many Europeans might induce the Gentoos to suspect that the God whom Christians worship is Mammon, a Swartz has been raised up there, the excellence and lustre of whose Christian character and conduct have subdued prejudice, and enforced conviction; have filled the people with love, the Bramins with admiration, and the Rajah with revcrence."* A short account, (by a Missionary,) of one of Mr. Swartz's journeys in 1793, is as follows: "On the 20th of September 1793, I set out on my journey for Tanschaur, in company with the worthy Mr. Schwartz. The prince of Tanschaur, the adopted son of the late king Zuletchi (whom he, by the express desire of Government, had brought to Madras,) accompanied us, with his retinue, on horseback, for some miles. On the evening of the same day we reached Tircupalur, a great heathen place, with two temples, esteemed very holy by the pagan priests. Here 'Christian Observer, vol. i, p. 849, 350. |