which must have considerably commend this performance to the attention of Christian parents, and hope it will be found very useful in the instruction of their children. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. DOMESTIC. EDINBURGH AUXILIARY MISSIONARY SOCIETY. The Annual Meeting of the Edinburgh GEO. Ross, Esq. President, in the After a suitable prayer by the then submitted to the meeting, and also unanimously approved of : 1st, That it is highly gratifying to observe the encreasing prosperity of Missionary Societies, both in their success among the heathen, and the support they have received from the Public. 2d, That there still exists a most urgent call for Missionaries in many quarters of the heathen world, and that consequently it is the duty of all christians to redouble their exer tions in assisting Missionary Socie ties to supply this deficiency; and 3d, That in order to extend the usefulness of this Society, and ren, der it universally acceptable, the words" Or other similar institu tions" be added to the 1st Rule. The following is a List of the GEORGE ROSS, Esq. VICE-PRESIDENTS. 1 The Rev. Dr. Campbell, James Farquhar Gordon, Esq. John Tod, Esq. Robert Hepburn, Esq. Mr. Adam Black, South Bridge, Treasurer. The Rev. Dr. Fleming } Secretaries The Rev. Dr. Ireland EXTRAORDINARY DIRECTORS. Dr. Buchanan Henry Grey John Waugh, Esq. William Murray, Esq. George More William Innes William M'Lean, Esq. Alexander Tweedie, Esq., and George Gibson, senior, Esq. Mess. Andrew Dick, ORDINARY DIRECTORS. Alexander MacAuley James Haldon, Mess. Andrew Hamilton James Howden NORTH BERWICK BIBLE SOCIETY. A Bible Society was sometime ago formed at North Berwick, of which the following gentlemen were chosen as Office-Bearers, &c. We have not room to give the rules of the Society. JAMES DALRYMPLE, Esq. Preses. CALTON AND BRIDGETON ASSOCIA- PURPOSES. A respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Calton and Bridgeton, was held on the 12th of January, in the Calton Session-house, with the view of forming an Association for Religious Purposes, when David Smith, senior, Esq. was called to the Chair, and the following Resolutions were moved, and unanimously agreed to: 1st, That this meeting form themselves into an Association, called the Calton and Bridgeton Associa tion for Religious Purposes, with the view of assisting the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Missionary Societies, and other Institutions having for their object the circulation of the Scriptures and the extension of Christianity. 2d, That a Committee be appointed for the purpose of forming and arranging the Rules and Regulations of the Association; and that this meeting adjourn till Tuesday the 17th current, at six o'clock, in the same place, to receive the report of the Committee. George Smith, On the 17th a meeting was accordingly held in the Calton Sessionhouse, agreeably to adjournment from the 12th current, David Smith, senior, Esq. in the Chair: the Mi nutes and Resolutions of the former meeting having been read, the Committee appointed to prepare the rules of the Association, presented the following Laws and Regulations, which were read and approved: We give them in full. Laws and Regulations of the Association. 1st, The first object of this Association shall be, to ascertain whether all the poor in Calton and Bridgeton be supplied with Bibles; and those found wanting, and unable to purchase them, shall be furnished, either gratis, or at reduced prices. 2d, After supplying the local wants, the Directors shall from time to time aid such Societies and Institutions as are included in the first Resolu tion, in such proportions as they may think meet, and as the necessities of these Institutions may seem to require. gested, tending to promote the in 4 terests of the Association, consider 3d, Every Subscriber of One Penny per week or upwards, shall be considered a Member of this Aged and adopted. sociation: the payments to be made weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, as the Subscribers shall think proper. Donations to any amount will be gratefully received. 4th, The business of the Association shall be conducted by a President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Secretary, who shall be chosen annually, and thirty Directors, five of whom shall go out annually from the top of the lists and five new ones be elected in their place. 5th, The Directors shall appoint as many Collectors as may be judged necessary, to receive the Subscriptions in the various districts. These Collectors shall pay what money they may have received, once The meeting also agreed to lay these Regulations before the general meeting, appointed to be held in the Church that evening for their consideration. The Committee having adjourned to the church, the Resolutions were read to the general meeting, in order to explain the intentions and objects of this Association; the Laws and Regulations were then read; which being approved and adopted, the meeting, agreeably to the fourth Regulation, proceeded to elect Office-Bearers and Directors for con ducting the business of the Associàtion. a month, to the Director by whom Extract of a Letter from a. Gentleman they are appointed, who shall pay it to the Treasurer. 6th, The Directors shall meet on the first Monday of every month, or oftener if necessary, on the business of the Association; any five of .whom shall be a quorum. 7th, the Directors shall use all prudent means to procure Subscriptions and Donations, and to promote the interests of the Association. 8th, That every regular meeting of the Directors shall begin and end with prayer. 9th, That a Sermon shall be preached annuale, in the Calton Chapel and Bridgeton Meeting house, alternately, for the benefit of the Association, in the month of April, on the Sabbath preceding the general meeting. 10th, A general meeting of the Association shall be held annually, in the month of April, on the Monday following the Sabbath on which the Sermon is preached, when the Treasurer's Accounts shall be audit ed, the state of the Funds, the Res eipts and Expenditure of the preceding year, and all the other proceedings of the Committee, shall be reported, and submitted to the inpection of the Association; Office Bearers and Directors for the following year shall be elected, and any measures which may be sug in Glasgow. "Our Bible Society here prospers beyond our expectations. The city has lately been divided into four districts, and Bible Associations are formed in each. One of them (the first that was formed) has already procured 1500 subscribers, and it is expected the number will amount to 2000. The three others are but lately formed, and just commencing their operations. We have now four Associtions in the Suburbs, and we hope to be able this current year to raise £2000, from Bible Associations alone. We remitted last year (ends ing in December) 1170 pounds, but we are in expectation of doubling, if riot trebling that sum this year. A Youth's Auxiliary Missionary Society has been established here lately, to which, nearly £100 have been already subscribed." ITINERANCY IN THE NÓRTH. Extract of a Letter from a Minister who has been itinerating during the Sum mer in the North, to the Editor of the Christian Herald. I have spent the summer as usual, in preaching the word of life through various parts of Aberdeenshire. In giving an account of my former exertions, I have, for a variety of reasons, uniformly avoided entering into a minute detail. I think it right still to act on the same principle.Some of the old stations were not visited; but, I went to various places, where I had not previously been. In general, the desire to hear is nothing abated, in some places it appears to be growing. I saw various cases, which as I thought, evinced the finger of God. They were gladdening to my heart, and occasioned thanksgiving to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I however, decline entering into particulars. A gradual yet obviously an increasing attention, has been excited to the gospel among more than a few. They ap pear to hear with a keener relish, with a greater degree of discrimination, and to be more influenced by the truth of God. In rather a detached quarter of my course, a religious library has been formed. It appears to prove a public blessing, another is just a bout to be instituted, in a place where it is equally needed. I am not without hopes that one or two more will soon be established. From these institutions, I expect blessed consequences. The Sabbath even ing schools which I mentioned last year is doing well. Another has been established in a situation in which it is sufficiently needed. It is much to be wished, that this blessed means of instruction was more univerally enjoyed thoughout Scotland. A broader foundation would thereby be laid for the eternal welfare of the young. In the present day, there is certainly an imperious call to godly men, who possess any competent measure of talents, to cultivate these as much as possible, and to pray to God to increase them, that they may be of use in Sabbath evening schools. I was glad to hear, when in Buchan, that a Sabbath evening school union had lately been formed there, by christians of different denominations. Their object is, to establish schools as extensively as they can through that district. It gives me unfeigned pleasure to inform you, that under God, the religious tracts are leavening the VOL. II.-No. III. minds of some. Last year, I thentioned the case of a young woman who appeared to have got good from the perusal of the Dairyman's Daughter. I was credibly informed this season, that another young wo man had been very much impressed by the same tract, I heard too, of a man to whom one of these little messengers of mercy had been of great use. Had a pretty full, and interesting conversation, with an individual who had received no small benefit from a tract, which had been purchased from a hawker. I hope they are gradually cutting up the obscene ballads, and tracts, which in former times, corrupted the minds of the youth in such an extraordinary degree. This is an object of no inconsiderable importance. It is peculiarly affecting, to hear of hoary headed travellers to the eternal world, men perhaps of seventy years, and bending down to meet the grave, eagerly asking the hawkers, if they have got any song books. Every christian may do some good yearly by distributing a few tracts. This good work ought not to be left exclusively to ministers and the affluent. In several instances I find that merchants in the country have sold not a few of them. If this could be carried into cffect pretty generally, it would have a happy tendency to give them a much wider circulation. For some years past, a person belonging to Dundee, has, each summer, come to the northern parts of the kingdom selling tracts. I am sorry to find, that in many places, it is not known, except by a very few indeed, that tract societies are composed of good men of various denominations. Numbers believe, that all the tracts, come from the pen of those whom they call missionaries. Hence, if one happens to be prejudiced against them, of course, he is prejudiced against the tracts also. DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTION. A numerous and highly respecta ble Meeting of the friends of the Deaf and Dumb Institution was held in the Assembly Rooms, George Street, on the 13th of February, P the Right Hon. Lord Gray in the chair. The Report of the Committee having been read by the Secretary, it was resolved unanimously, on the motion of Hay Donaldson, Esq. that the report be received, adopt ed, and printed. He observed, that although this Society had already enjoyed a measure of public liberality which exceeded the hopes even of the most sanguine friends, it still presumed to look to the public, for the means of farther extending its usefulness. For this purpose, he observed, it was only necessary, that the objects of the Institution, and the means and the process with which they had been prosecuted, should be ge nerally known. Its object is, to remedy one of the most calamitous and affecting imperfections, to which human nature is liable; to withdraw that veil, by which many of the finest minds, and the most powerful understandings, have been rendered inaccessible to the lights of truth and reason and to the blessed light of religion; to restore these interesting objects to all the enjoyments, and all the usefulness, of social intercourse, and to open to their view those higher anticipations of happiness, which are not destined to receive their completion, in this state of existence. Of the success with which these objects have been prosecuted, the Directors of the Society are desirous that the public should judge for themselves. 66 In the ordinary business of the school," (said he), and in public exhibitions like that which now awaits us, you can discover the progress which these unfortunate persons have made, in every branch of useful knowledge; and, though you cannot see their hearts, you can trace, in their expressive countenances, those emotions of gratitude and delight, which accompany and reward the first exercises of their newly discovered faculties." The motion, being seconded by John Campbell, Esq. of Warriston, was unanimously agreed to. the The children afterwards were ex+ amined in arithmetic-in writing, from the diction of signs, exclusive of the finger language, by one of themselves, which shewed readiness and accuracy with which they convey their minds to each other-in writing the attitudes and uses of a variety of prints-and on questions moral and religious, which theyfanswered, with an acuteness and propriety, that would have done credit to children possessing all their faculties. Some specimens of their composition were exhibited, in the form of letters, written without the assistance of their master, which were highly amusing. The Lord's Prayer was repeated by two of the girls, so as to be well understood, as well as some poetry by one of the boys. After the examination, which af◄ forded the highest gratification to the meeting, it was moved by John Campbell, Esq. and resolved unanimously, that the most cordial thanks of the meeting be given to Lord Gray, for his obliging attention to the business of the day. Subscriptions will be received by Sir William Forbes & Co.-by the Secretaries-by any of the Committee-and at the Institution, Chessel's Court, Canongate. now DEATH. On the night of the 6th of Febru◄ ary, died at Broxbourne, Herts, the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D. where he was superintending an edition of the Syrian New Testainent, for the use of the Syrian Christians in the East. The "Christian Researches in Asia," and other works of this zealous minister, relative to India, have contributed greatly to the general interest now expressed by the British public to ameliorate the condition of our fellow-subjects on that continent, by sending them the word of life, given for the healing of the nations. |