DONATIONS TO FOREIGN MISSIONS. Pyb. of Donegal. Chesnut Level ch. Pby. of Baltimore. Wycomico ch. sup. Rev. H. R. Wilson, 10; Monokin ch. do. 8; Baltimore, an aged female, 5, Phy. of Carlisle. Big Spring ch. Newville, 80 less dis. 50 cts. ; Chambersburg ch. sab. sch. to ed. a scholar at Futtegurh, and another in China, 50; Louisa McKinley, bal. to con. REV. C. A. WYETH, 1. m. 5; coll. in part, 131,21, less ctft. and disc. 2, Pby. of Huntingdon. Spring cr. ch. 10; Sinking cr. ch. 13, Pby. of Northumberland. Milton ch. 30; Washington ch. addl. 5,16; Sunbury ch. in part, 19,76; do. little girls' sew. soc. 1,50; Northumberland ch. 16; Danville ch. mo. con. 28,01; do. sab. sch. 6,77; do. coll. 64,25, of wh. Alex. Montgomery, to con. his wife, JANE MONTGOMERY 1. m. 30; Hartleton ch. in part, 10; Warrior Run ch. 33,32, SYNOD OF PITTSBURG. Pby. of Blairsville. Congruity ch. 32,78; do. 9,50; New Alexdría ch. 20,55; Elderridge ch. 1,80, 2.00 Pby. of Indianapolis. 23 00 Hopewell ch. to con. REV. D. V. SMOCK, 1. m. 30.00 Pby. of Logansport. Indian cr. ch. Alex. Williamson, don. 5; Lafayette ch. 9, 14.00 214 77 North Arm Branch of Paris ch. 22.00 THE DOMESTIC MISSIONARY CHRONICLE. APRIL, 1844. BOARD OF MISSIONS. For the Domestic Missionary Chronicle. Often, as my eyes have looked over the pages of the Missionary Chronicle, deeply interested in the matter they contain, the tear of joy and gratitude to God has start ed, whilst reading of "the wonderful works of God," narrated by your missionariesworks of love and mercy to poor sinners, wrought by the Holy Spirit, in his renewing and sanctifying operations upon the hearts of men. How cheering to the heart of the Christian, to read some of the narratives of your missionaries which tell of the revival of religion in their churches,—of anxious inquir. ers for salvation,—of sinners under convic. tion of sin! The angels in heaven rejoice over a sinner that repenteth; how then can we refrain our joy, when we have cause to believe the soul of a fellow mortal has been plucked as a brand from the burning, and made an heir of eternal salvation through the instrumentality which God has been pleased to make effectual to salvation, "the preaching of the Word." The love of Christ, and the love of souls, constraineth us to rejoice; and whilst we thank God and take courage from these evidences of God's faithfulness, our hearts are enlarged to pray more fervently, "Thy kingdom come!" And when the missionary so often urges this request upon us, "Christian brethren, pray for us, and for our little flocks in the wilderness," what Christian, the sympa. thies of whose soul are not chilled by the frost of worldliness and formality, can pass by this earnest appeal of the missionary, and not bow his spirit before the great Head of the Church, and pray for a blessing upon the labours of the missionary, and for a time of refreshing to his flock? God has been signally gracious to the churches supplied by the missionaries of the Board during the previous year. The Spirit of God has descended upon many of them, and the result has been, a goodly ingathering into these churches of precious souls-we trust, redeemed souls-who, it is to be hoped, will exert a powerful, and happy influence in still more enlarging and extending the Redeemer's kingdom. But whilst I have even wept for joy over the record of these things-and 'tis a refreshment to a pious soul, to weep such tears;-on the other hand, the accounts of the wants, the difficulties, and trials of the devoted servant of God, who has left the endearments of home, the comforts and joys of the fireside-has sundered ties of the tenderest kind-who goes far into the wil. derness of the West, lives in log huts, on the lowest fare-clothed in the meanest apparel-subjected to the diseases of a new climate-and, indeed, in some instances, scarcely able to obtain the actual necessaries of life-and all for Christ's sake! These have often brought the tear of sympathising sorrow into my eyes, while I have prayed God to touch the hearts of his children who have this world's goods and to spare, that they may bestow a portion to alleviate the wants of the destitute preacher on missionary ground, and send the bread of life to those who have it not. Christian brethren! is it not a reproach to us, who are surrounded with temporal comforts, and partake in all their fulness of the rich privileges which the Gospel gives us here at home, that we are not more ready and willing to do our part of the service which Christ requires of us, viz. to pray for, and by our sympathies and contri butions, to sustain those ministers of the Gospel who are willing to leave the privileges and comforts to which we cling, to preach the Gospel to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge, only asking of us in Christ's name, to give them food and clothing, that they may do the work to which God has called them? 66 Why is it, Christian, that for this very purpose, the Lord's treasury is not overflow. ing with the spontaneous, free-will offerings of Christ's people? Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me." Do we not recognize these missiona. ries as the disciples of Christ? Are they not our brethren? Why then are they suffered to want, while Christians at home have so much they call their own? Where is our sympathy for our brethren? where our love to Jesus? Instead of being urged to give, by the recital of the wants and priva. generous tions of our dear brethren, the "Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Demands my soul, my life, my all." Christian brethren, who really love the Lord Jesus Christ and his cause, we must crucify this spirit of selfishness, which hinders so much good doing, and at once come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. We have been praying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." He has heard our prayer. He is coming, gloriously to reign in the Compare our love to Jesus Christ, and hearts of the children of men; and will we his cause, with his love to us-" even while refuse "to prepare the way of the Lord, and May the selfwe were sinners," and what an ungrateful, make his paths straight?" selfish spirit do we manifest towards our denying spirit of Paul, and his brethren, blessed Saviour, in suffering his ambassa-yea, the spirit of Jesus Christ, rest upon us all, and then we shall always be ready, not dors to want for a few comforts, which we only to do, but suffer for His name's sake. Let us pour out our souls in earnest prayer to God for his blessing on the efforts of our could so easily, and without sacrifice, spare them! Besides, we owe this much to them, and to Jesus Christ, who has purchased us with his own precious blood, to provide for their wants, and we are recreant to the spirit of the Gospel, if, when we see our brother have need, we open not our bowels of compassion toward him. A Christian, on dedicating himself to God, when he fixes his eye on the cross of Jesus Christ, and beholds what manner of love the Saviour has manifested for his soul, in dying for him, is ready to exclaim, Board of Missions, and that his Spirit may "Amen. COMMUNICATIONS FROM MISSIONARIES. ILLINOIS. FROM A MISSIONARY IN PEORIA COUNTY. encouraging to the Missionary. Solemn warning to the Intemperate. The cause of temperance is heartily sustained by most of our citizens, yet there are some, who still take the intoxicating cup, and a few who traffic in the soulGod has recently destroying poison. About He continued to Since my last report, I have been permitted, in the good providence of God, to prosecute the work of an Evangelist without interruption, and, I trust, it has given on this subject a most solemn not been in vain in the Lord. I have warning. Two men, who were brothers, adopted the plan of preaching once on the went to a neighbouring place, about twelve Sabbath in each of the villages of my re-miles east of this, to purchase some salt; gular charge, and, once in some distant this they obtained, and also a gallon and neighbourhood, in the afternoon, or evena half of whiskey, and set off for home. ing of the Sabbath; such places are quite It was now near night. The day had been numerous, and the calls of the people are rainy, but comparatively mild. urgent. It is an encouraging feature in sunsetting, the wind blew a gale, and the our prospects at present, that there is a cold became intense. One of the brothers very good attendance, and good attention lost his hat, and left the sled to get it. In to the word preached. I am every where looking for his hat, he wandered off, and most cordially received, and welcomed to saw the sled no more. their humble fire-sides to partake of their wander about the prairies until the next hospitality. I am not unfrequently strongly morning, when he found himself some reminded of apostolic history, by the distance from his home. He arrived people "praying us with much entreaty there the next afternoon, badly frozen. that we would receive the gift, and take Search was then made for his brother. upon us the fellowship of the ministering He was found about five miles east of this to the saints"; and these mites are be- place, lying on his sled, frozen, and dead, stowed with so much simplicity, and his hat off, and his eyes wide open. He honesty of heart, and so much pleasure, has left an amiable wife, and a large fathat I am again forcibly reminded of that mily of children. * * memorable saying of our Lord, "It is more blessed to give, than to receive." There is an evident advancement in the cause of truth over the minds of the people generally; they are much more disposed than formerly to hear sound truth, and its influence is much more decided. Since I last reported, I have had a public catechizing in each of the places of my charge, which has been attended with much apparent interest. The children are making good progress in committing the shorter Catechism, and in a number of instances, the parents are doing the same; besides this public catechizing, the same is frequently done at the fireside from house to house. Our weekly prayer meeting, and bible class, are maintained with increasing interest, and I cannot but hope, with God's blessing, will be productive of great good. Wants of the Surrounding Country. In Nov. by appointment of Presbytery, I preached at C***, in Stark county, and administered the Lord's Supper to the little church in that place. We sat under the droppings of God's sanctuary, and his word and ordinances were sweet to our taste. There is a church in that place of about thirty members, a respectable part of which are substantial Scotch Presbyterians, strongly attached to the way in which their fathers worshipped God. They have been in part supplied by a brother, who I have just heard will not preach for them any more, and they must now depend on occasional supplies. There are neighbourhoods contiguous to C***, in which churches mightbe formed; this renders it an exceedingly interesting and important location for a missionary. Indeed, my brother, the calls for preach INDIANA. ing in the different settlements around, name it to some one of the city pastors, which come to me, if all attended to, it might be effected. would leave me no time for my own immediate charge. In view of these desolations, and the desire of the people to hear the Gospel, who can for a moment doubt the importance of the great work in which the Board is engaged, in sustainng missionaries on this ground. FROM A MISSIONARY IN KNOX COUNTY. Revival of Religion Continued. When I last wrote you, we had enjoyed an interesting season, of the outpouring of God's Spirit, and the awakening and converting of sinners to himself. Again FROM A MISSIONARY IN FULTON COUNTY.I have the unspeakable satisfaction of A House of Worship Completed.-The communicating the interesting fact, that Cause of Religion Advancing. the work of the Lord is still going on After much serious labour, we On the last Sabbath in January, we held have our house of worship finished, and a communion season. The exercises dedicated. At our fall communion, the commenced the Thursday preceding; the Sabbath following the dedication, we had weather was remarkably unpleasant from an addition of eight members. In Jan. excessive cold, but the congregations from we had another communion season, and the first were good, and during the latter had an addition of seven. We have had part of the time, remarkable; large numnothing like a "stir," but I think there is bers came on foot, and for several miles. abundant evidence that the Spirit of God Four persons in the bloom of youth were is in our midst. Our house has been too received into the communion of the small on several occasions. Once the Church. Oh, my brother! it is cheering members could find but little else than to think of what the Lord has done for "differences in doctrine" to talk about; this long neglected portion of country; now, it is the state of their own hearts, and we as a people deeply feel and thankand the great need of a revival of God's work, which most engage their attention. fully acknowledge our obligation to the Board of Missions for the influence which One thing is very observable, the increasing attention of parents to their children, under God they have had in demolishing and a renewed effort for the conversion the strong-holds of the great adversary of and salvation of the children of the souls, and building up the kingdom of church. Want of a Sabbath School Library. We succeeded in organizing a Sabbath school in Jan., conducted by one of our elders, and consisting of from 15 to 20 scholars. As regards this school, it is a day of small things." We are scarce of books, and have no funds to procure any. We have not a sufficient number of Union questions, and have no Sabbath school library at all, not a volume, and I have been thinking, whether it is possible that we could obtain a second-hand library" from some rich city Sabbath school. We do not know how to order our request, or to whom to address it, ** Jesus Christ. It is now almost two years since I first visited this region, and witnessed the desolation that reigned around. A little church had been gathered many years since, and had been left to die. Few, very few, were called by the name of the Lord, and fewer still adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour. Two or three heads of families, and six or eight of the younger part of the community, constituted nominally the Church; but there was no vision, and as a necessary consequence, no order. I looked, as I passed over the desolations of Zion here, and saw an interesting body of youth growing up, without God, and without hope, and was moved or as a session, we would ask for some-to preach the Gospel to them every third thing of this kind. Perhaps were you to "Sabbath, without any promise, or any |