serving the earnestness of attention and solemnity of feeling, which a large number of Africans evince when they meet in the house of God. At Kissey, where the church is capable of containing 1000 persons, the building is crowded Sunday after Sunday, with attentive hearers. At Wellington, the same constant and numerous attendance, in proportion to the population, may be noticed; as at almost every other station in the mission.

An excellent new church has recently been erected in the island of Bananas, almost entirely at the expense, and by the labour of the negroes; the church accommodates 312 persons, "barely sufficient," observes the missionary, "for a population of 520, in this church going country."

It is a remarkable fact, that nearly as large a proportion of the whole population in Sierra Leone, profess their faith in Christ, by their attendance upon divine

worship, in connexion with the Church of England, as in some of the most favoured districts of the metropolis of this great christian empire. And if christian love and zeal are to be estimated by the test of obedience to the last dying command of our blessed Saviour, in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, the comparison is decidedly in favour of the missionary district in Sierra Leone.

The comparison before us is for the year 1845, since which period, as weshall presently notice, a very encouraging progress, especially in reference to attendance at the Lord's table, has been marked among the liberated Africans; but at that date, the population of Sierra Leone was 41,058; the attendants on public worship, 8,686; the number of communicants, 1,648; the population of Islington was 60,000; the attendants on public worship, 15,500; the communicants, 2,063. Thus the proportion between the whole population and the attendants on public worship in Sierra Leone, was 1 in 43, in Islington 1 in 4; the proportion of

communicants in Sierra Leone, 1 in 25, in Islington 1 in 29.

When the Rev. E. Bickersteth visited Sierra Leone in 1816, he thought it a great privilege to communicate at the Lord's table with six African converts. The missionaries now number a devout company of 1,876 regular communicants, being an increase of nearly one fourth in the course of twelve months; and most gratifying it is to learn, that nearly one in every three worshippers, under the pastoral charge of the missionary clergy, is a consistent, and we hope, spiritual communicant.

The desire evinced for the possession of the holy scriptures, is another very pleasing sign. A few years ago, a large stock of bibles was always on hand, but latterly, as fast as they have arrived, they have been purchased by eager applicants. The last two shipments were hailed with peculiar joy, and in about a fortnight after each arrival, nearly the whole of the smaller bibles, 1,500 in number, were sold. The secretary of the Sierra Leone Bible Association, had (25 Nov., 1846,) nearly £100 in hand, as the proceeds for the past year.

The willingness of the natives to contribute out of their limited means toward the support of the missionary work, must be also noticed. In addition to £271, paid in 1846, for the instruction of their children in the day schools, they have contributed £157 7s. 3d. for general missionary purposes, a sum exceeding that received the preceeding year, by £50.

Many christian converts, who have departed this life, have borne witness to the power of the gospel to give peace and hope in the hour of death. The Rev. J. W. Weeks, speaking of a poor widow, who had been for many years a communicant at Gloucester, remarks. "It may be truly said of her, that she was a christian indeed. Her knowledge of scripture was surprising; her attendance on the means of grace regular

and devout; her whole conduct exemplary; her faith in Christ simple and firm; her hope of glory bright and stedfast; and her end peace. I knew her upwards of eighteen years, and can bear my humble testimony to her Christian character during that period. During the last few months she was confined to her house, I asked her one day how she felt in the near prospect of death. She replied, 'I know I am a poor sinner, nothing worth; but Christ is my Saviour, and the comfort He has given to refresh my soul since I fell under this sickness, is very great. I thank Him truly that He has continued this trial of sickness so long.'

The last time I saw her she had broken a blood vessel, during the previous night, in a fit of coughing. At intervals, when able to converse a little, she said, 'I wish to be with my Saviour; but hope He will help me to bear my pain patiently, and wait His time. I can die happy: I am not afraid of death, because my blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, has enabled me, of His goodness, to trust altogether in His mercy. He took His blood, His own heart's blood, to pay for my sins: the work is all His own. Praise His holy name!' In three days from this time, she was removed from this world of sin and sorrow, to that of joy and eternal happiness."

The principal educational establishments in Sierra Leone, are the Christian Institution, Fourah Bay, where the Rev. S. Crowther, and several highly qualified native catechists, have been prepared for missionary labour;-the Grammar School, which numbers fortyfour pupils, of whom thirty-four are boarders; of these six are maintained and educated at the expense of the African Native Agency Society, and nineteen at the expense of their friends, by whom the sum of £35 was paid in the three months ending last December twelvemonths; the pupils of the first class read Xenophon's Anabasis and the

Greek testament: in addition to these, the Female Institution must be named; also twenty-five day schools, instructing 3,315 scholars, and twenty-six Sunday schools, attended by 2,480 adults, so that no fewer than 5,873 individuals are regularly receiving daily or weekly instruction on scriptural principles, in connexion with the Church Missionary Society in this-its oldest, and perhaps most favoured mission.

The importance of the Fourah Bay Institution, and the Grammar School, can hardly be over-rated. The latter has been established in Free Town, for the purpose of giving a higher education to the native youths, than the station or village schools have been able to afford. It is intended to be a "high school," intermediate between the station schools and the Fourah Bay Institution. The education is of the kind usually given in this country, in what are termed "Commercial Schools;" the youths of the higher classes being also instructed in the Greek language, if they afford any promise of becoming candidates for missionary employment. The education is, of course, a thoroughly Christian education, upon the principles of the Established Church. Not that admission is confined to Christian youths—it is extended to heathen boys or youths, especially the sons of native chiefs, should such scholars be willing to conform to the regulations of the establishment. The most promising youths, whoexhibit hopeful signs of true piety, and willingness to receive further instruction with a view to their becoming teachers, are draughted off, from time to time, when their characters are sufficiently formed, to the Fourah Bay Institution, which thus preserves its true distinctive character of an institution for training native teachers, and the discipline and studies of the institution are cast according to that model.

Thus are our hopes both kindled and strengthened, that from this colony the word of the Lord may, in due season,

have free course and be glorified through that dark and vast continent, which has been so long the seat of idolatry, slavery, barbarism, and misery. The importance of these efforts in behalf of Africa, becomes the more apparent from the access which appears to be opening into different parts of the interior of the country. Through the late Mr. Thompson's visit to Teembo, the enlargement of the Timmanee mission, and the establishment of stations at Badagry and Abbeokouta, (of which we hope to be able in a future number to give our readers some account) the probability is increased that missionaries, native missionaries, may ultimately be permitted to explore and evangelize the hitherto unknown regions of Afric. In this expectation, how thankfully should we contemplate the preparatory means for so joyful an event which the West African Mission presents! About forty thousand Africans, from forty different nations, are placed there under the instruction of European missionaries. They learn English, and yet retain their vernacular tongues. The colony has, already, become a centre of commerce for West Africa, and far into the interior. Its philanthropic character is well known among the native tribes-as formed to promote the best interests of Africa. Seven principal native languages are being reduced to writing. Native chiefs in the interior desire missionaries for their people, and propose to send their own children to the colony for education. These circumstances afford abundant ground for thanksgiving and encouragement! nor is the hope a vain one, that Sierra Leone may yet prove to Africa a fountain of living waters, to refresh and cover with fruits of righteousness, that dry and weary land!

We hasten to conclude our missionary intelligence, with a short extract or two from the journals of our West African missionaries, which we think will prove interesting to Sunday school

teachers at home. The Rev. T. Peyton writes concerning a part of Free Town, in which he resides ::-"As we had no place of worship here, on Easterday I opened a Sunday school in my house for the benefit of the natives. On that day, 75 persons were present; on the following Lord's day, 116; the third, 213; the fourth, 231; so that we have 200 adults every Lord's day in our own dwelling house, to receive instruction in the word of God. I cannot express the happiness I experience in being employed in the blessed work of missions to the heathen. We do, indeed, enjoy a spiritual luxury here, of which our friends in England know nothing, in witnessing our people crowding every Lord's day to the Sunday school."

Of another Sunday school in Free Town, under the charge of Rev. J. Beale, the Report for 1847, relates in the words of a native catechist,—"The school has thriven remarkably, and the thirst for scriptural knowledge still increases. During the last quarter, I sold no fewer than five dozen of Watts' Scripture History, at 3s. 3d. each, and three dozen and a half the Catechism of Scripture History at 6d. to our scholars. We are endeavouring to make them find out the prophecies relating to Christ in the Old Testament, and their fulfilment in him in the New. With this exercise my scholars are very much pleased."

The following passage is taken from the Journal of the Rev. N. Denton, Missionary at Regent. He writes

"A very pleasing circumstance came to my notice a few days since, which discovered an unexpected good resulting from our boys' school. While the Rev. J. F. Schön was spending a few days with us for the benefit of his health, we went together to visit some of the people; and while speaking to a member of the church, who has been for the last seven months confined at home, and perfectly helpless from the

effects of a fall, he called his little boy, who attends our school, to reach him a scrap of paper stuck up in the side of the house. Having opened it, the boy read to us the text and parts of the sermon which Mr. Schön had preached at church on the preceding Lord's Day. The father told us, that being unable to come to church himself, he was glad to get what little his boy could bring him home, and that he had now many such papers, which were a great comfort to him. This is encouraging both

to schoolmasters and ministers; and it would be well if white children in England, would follow the example of the little black boy at Regent."

We only add, let Sunday school teachers at home, rejoice and sympathize with their fellow labourers in distant heathen lands, and pray that the influences of the Holy Spirit, may largely descend upon the work; by whose grace alone, fallen sinners, young or old, rich or poor, at home or abroad, can be made "wise unto salvation."

THE Church of England Sunday School Institute dates its public existence no further back than November, 1843, when a Meeting, for the purpose of forming some such Society, was held in the National School Room, Redcross Street, Borough, presided over by that well-known and highly-esteemed clergyman, the Rev. W. Curling. A Provisional Committee spent much time and deliberation on the formation of the Society during the winter months of 1843-1844; and on April 1st a Public Meeting, held at the Hall of Commerce, brought the Institute into general notice, as one (however as yet a humble one), of those noble religious societies which distinguish our beloved Country. An appeal to John Labouchere, Esq., to take the office of Treasurer, met with a prompt and cordial assent, fully borne out by a continued interest in the welfare of the Institute; and one after another of the most active and respected London clergy came for

ward with their approval and co-operation.

We cannot do better than extract from the last Annual Report the statement made as to the objects of the Society, and the means by which it proposed to carry out these objects.

OBJECTS OF THE INSTITUTE.

"1st. To promote union among Church of England Sunday schools.

"2nd. To supply teachers with information upon such subjects as shall tend to the better instruction of their classes.

"3rd. To collect and communicate information as to the best methods of organizing and conducting Sunday schools.

"4th. To obtain and record statistical details as to the condition of Church of England Sunday schools.

"5th. To assist in the establishment and extension of such Sunday schools. "6th. To aid, with pecuniary grants,

MEASURES PROPOSED.

1st. The establishment of a central medium of communication between Church Sunday schools, through which information may be given and received.

2nd. A careful consideration of the various systems of instruction, and the issue of new publications on Sunday school education.

3rd. A provision, for the use of the members in the Metropolis, of a Circulating Library, Lectures on various subjects, and Conversational Meetings on matters of Sunday school discipline.

4th. The establishment of a depôt for the sale of the most approved Sunday school books and materials.

PRESENT SUCCESS.

The Committee, with deep gratitude to Almighty God for the measure of success afforded them, are happy to say that the Institute has already spread its ramifications in many quarters, and that steadily, however slowly, it is advancing towards that position which it is designed to occupy-that of a NATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY.

A DEPOSITORY

Has for some time been opened for the sale of approved publications, Bibles, and Prayer Books, in addition to the books published by the Institute. It has recently been found necessary to remove the offices of the Institute to more commodious premises, and the depôt is now at 169, Fleet Street. The office hours are from 9 to 5, and from 7 to 9 o'clock, during which time the Assistant Secretary is in constant attendance.

For the works printed and published by the Institute itself, see advertisement on another page.

A Library of useful works has been formed, and is in constant use. Donations of suitable books would be gratefully received.

THE MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE.

This was felt quite indispensable to

stitute. The Committee trust, by its

means, to be brought into closer association with the various Church schools scattered throughout the country. They hope it may also serve high and holy purposes in its direct reference to the great work of youthful education in the things of God. They ask for it, ready sympathy, earnest prayer, and active support. A full account of the plan of the Magazine is appended to the present number.

CONVERSATIONAL MEETINGS AND LEC

TURES IN LONDON.

These are well sustained and well attended. They are held in various places, according to convenience, and have been considered greatly conducive to the mental and spiritual welfare of Sunday school teachers.

CO-OPERATION EARNESTLY SOLICITED.

The plans of the Institute have been now sketched out, but the task yet remains to bring those plans into full operation, and make them efficient. Many teachers would we doubt not, express a grateful sense of what the Institute has already done for them, but this feeling should find vent in active endeavours to bring other teachers within so beneficial an influence and to promote the welfare of so useful a Society. Let us strive, (and we speak now as teachers), to break up the isolation which so lamentably exists; let us throw away that pride that would whisper in our ears a self-satisfied confidence in our own plans, and a systematic disregard of anything that others may say about Sunday school teaching; let us lay ourselves out to give and receive fresh impulses in our path of duty and privilege; let us endeavour to throw into one common stock whatever knowledge, zeal, or energy we may possess, feeling that these things are talents entrusted to us for the welfare of all, and that as no man liveth to himself, so neither should he live for himself.