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Voted, that the thanks of this Board be presented to the generous donor.

Voted, that the next annual meeting of this Board be held in the Philosophical Chamber of Yale College, on the Thursday next after the second Wednesday of Sept. 1814, at 10 o'clock, A. M.

Voted, that the Prudential Committee be authorized to allow the missionaries of this Board such incidental and unforeseen expenses, as have been necessary.

Voted, that the thanks of this Board be presented to Samuel H. Walley, Esq. for his services as Auditor.

The Rev. Drs. Morse and Worcester, and Mr. Evarts, were appointed a committee to prepare and publish an address to the public on behalf of the Board.

Voted, that it be the duty of the Prudential Committee to compile and publish a report, including the address to the public, the report of the Prudential Committee, a statement of the Treasurer's accounts, such account of donations as may be found expedient, extracts from the minutes of the present session, and such other information as they may deem useful.

During the session, the Rev. ALEXANDER PROUDFIT, D. D. of New York, and Gen. HENRY SEWALL and the Rev. JESSE APPLETON, D. D. President of Bowdoin College, of the District of Maine, were unanimously elected members of the Board.

The Rev. Dr. Miller was appointed to preach at the next annual meeting; and the Rev. Mr. Richards was appointed his second. Voted, that the Recording Secretary give immediate notice to all the members of the Board, who are not now present, of the time and place of the next annual meeting.

The meeting was closed with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Richards The foregoing account of the doings of the Board was compiled from the records by the Prudential Committee.

The Annual Report of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Sept. 15, 1813.

BRETHREN,

When Jesus of Nazareth was going about doing good, despised and rejected of men, little was it expected by the world, and little did it comport with human probability, that he would ascend to the right hand of the Majesty on high, be invested with all power in heaven and earth, and reign until every knee should bow to him, and every tongue confess him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. As he himself, on his way to the joy set before him, passed through scenes apparently the most inauspicious; so his servants, whom he has been pleased to employ in great designs and enterprises for advancing his kingdom, have generally been subjected, especially in their initiatory attempts, to trials and adversities, painful in their nature, and unpropitious in their aspect. But often has he shewn that his thoughts and ways are not like those of men. Often has he displayed the plenitude of his power, wisdom, and goodness, in

causing light to shine out of darkness, in carrying small beginnings into great results, and in crowning designs and enterprises, held for a time under discouraging circumstances, with unexpected and glorious success. Always, indeed, there is perfect safety in confiding in him; and happy are they, whether for the present successful or unsuccessful, who are truly engaged in his cause. Under these impressions, the Prudential Committee now meet their brethren, and submit their report with lively sentiments of gratitude and hope.

It was not until about three months after the last meeting of this Board, that the first intelligence from our missionaries sent out to the eastern world, was received in this country. In the mean time, however, they were not forgotten by the Prudential Committee. As the ordinary intercourse with India was obstructed by the war, it became necessary to establish a special channel, through which communications and remittances might be made with safety. For this purpose, the Committee assigned to Samuel Williams, and Junius Smith, Esqrs. of London, and to the Hon. John Herbert Harrington, Esq. the Rev. David Brown, D. D. and the Rev. William Carey, D. D. at Calcutta, such agencies, as might be requisite in those places respectively for securing remittances to our missionaries, and for furthering generally the objects of this Board, To the gentlemen designated as agents at Calcutta was entrusted, very particularly, the application of the means forwarded to India by this Board, for aiding in the translation and distribution of the Holy Scriptures.

1811.

Pursuant to arrangements made by the Committee, a remittance of one thousand dollars for the support of our missionaries, and another of the same amount for aiding in the translation and distribution of the Scriptures, were forwarded by the Treasurer to our agents in London in the month of November. About the same time fifty pounds sterling were remitted to the Rev. George Burder, to refund what had been advanced from the treasury of the London Missionary Society, to Mr. Judson, when in England, in In February, another remittance was made for the support of the missionaries to the amount of twenty-two hundred dollars. Of the receipt in London of these several remittances, the treasurer has been duly advised; and assurances have been received from our agents there, in terms very gratefully to be acknowledged, of their cheerful acceptance of the trusts confided to them. For the translation of the Scriptures another remittance of about thirteen hundred dollars, (more than five hundred of which were specially appropriated to the repairing of the loss sustained by the fire at the Mission House at Serampore,) was made in May; and another of about a thousand dollars, in July. Of the receipt of these two remittances, it is not yet time to have received advice.

At the meeting of the Board in 1811, a sum, not exceeding three hundred dollars, was appropriated to the purchasing of books for the use of the missionaries. As our brethren, when they were fitted out, were furnished with but few books; the Committee thought VOL. IX.

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it important to embrace the earliest opportunity of conveying to them an additional supply. Accordingly, as an unexpected opportunity was presented in November, a purchase was made of such books as were supposed to be the most suitable, to the amount of about two hundred dollars These books were put on board the schooner Alligator of Salem, bound to Arracan; were directed to our agents in Calcutta, and committed, with special instructions, to the care of the supercargo, who was also constituted an agent for this Board. The Alligator sailed from Salem about the first of December; and by her, official letters were forwarded from the Corresponding Secretary and the Treasurer to our missionary brethren, communicating to them such advices and directions as were deemed expedient; and to the hon. Judge Harrington and Drs. Brown and Carey, respectfully soliciting their assumption of the agencies entrusted to them, referring them to documents accompanying the letters, by which they would be made acquainted with the institution, design, and transactions of this Board, and the instructions under which our missionaries were sent out-and soliciting their good offices in favor of the missionaries, especially in reference to the difficulties and dangers to which they might be exposed on account of the war. These letters, with leave, will be submitted to the Board. From the Alligator no intelligence has been received since her departure.*

The substance of the information respecting our missionaries, collected from the letters which have been received, is comprised in the following statement.

The

Our brethren were all highly favored in their passages. Lord had them under his gracious care-kindly preserved their health-rendered their situation on board the ships agreeable-and conveyed them in safety to their destined port. Messrs. Newell and Judson, with their wives, arrived at Calcutta in the Caravan, on the 17th of June, and Messrs. Hall, Nott, and Rice, with the wife of Mr. Nott, in the Harmony, on the 8th of August, 1812. By Christian people there of different religious denominations, they were received in a manner the most courteous and affectionate; and their letters very pleasingly testify their deep and grateful sense of the Divine goodness to them, and of the cause which they had to "thank God and take courage."

Soon after their arrival, however, Messrs. Newell and Judson, received an order from the government, requiring them to return to this country by the Caravan; and signifying, that the Caravan would not be allowed to depart without them. By this order they were thrown into great perplexity and distress. Their Christian friends at Calcutta and Serampore entered with great sympathy into their situation; earnest solicitations were employed in their behalf with the officers of the government; and special and united prayers were offered up to Him who reigns in Zion, and turns the hearts of men. After some time the order was relaxed, and liberty

* It is hardly time to expect intelligence from this vessel.

was granted to the two brethren, to depart, by any conveyance which might offer, to any place, not within the jurisdiction of the East India Company. It then became a weighty question, whither they should go. Respecting Birmah, which had been contemplated by us, and by them, with particular desire and raised hope, as the field of the mission, they had received such information, as decisively to deter them from attempting an establishment in any part of that empire. China, still farther east, they supposed to be absolutely closed against them. Seeing no door open, or likely to be opened, in countries eastward of British India, they had only to turn their eyes westward. While in this state of anxious suspense, they received letters from their brethren of the Harmony, dated at the Isle of France, with the intelligence that the governor of that Island was friendly to missions, and very desirous of having missionaries employed there, and in the neighboring Island of Madagascar. As the Isle of France, Bourbon, and the more easterly Island of Ceylon, are not within the jurisdiction of the East India Company; but belong to the Crown of Great Britain, and are under separate governments; in them the policy of the East India Company does not prevail. Messrs Newell and Judson, therefore, at length concluded to embrace the first opportunity of a passage to the Isle of France; considering that, should they not find it expedient to attempt an establishment either there, or at Madagascar, they would at least be out of the reach of that government, which had hedged up their way, and at liberty to go thence wherever Providence might direct them.

Accordingly, on the 4th of August, Mr. and Mrs. Newell embarked for the Isle of France, in a vessel which could not afford accommodations for any more passengers; and the expectation then was, that Mr. and Mrs. Judson would soon follow them.

Four days after the departure of Mr. Newell, the Harmony with Messrs. Hail, Nott and Rice, arrived at Calcutta. After going through a process, similar to that, to which the two brethren before them had been subjected, these brethren came also to a similar determination. They were providentially, however, detained at Calcutta, until the latter part of November.

This interval of delay was marked with some changes, which should have been little to be expected, and which cast a new cloud upou the affairs of the mission. On the 27th of August, Mr. Judson addressed a note to the Baptist Missionaries at Serampore, inforcing them that he and Mrs. Judson had changed their sentiments on the subject of baptism, and signifying their desire to be immersed. Accordingly, on the first Sabbath in September, they were immersed. In his note, Mr. Judson says, "It is now about four montas since I took the subject into serious and prayerful consideration." Mr. Newell, however, who was his companion on the passage to Calcutta, and after his arrival there until within about three weeks of the date of this note, appears to have left him without any knowledge of the change. His other brethren, also, who were at Calcutta, when he went from that place to Serampore, ơn

the 27th of August, appear to have been unapprized of the object of his visit there, and to have received their first intelligence on the subject two days afterwards from Dr. Marshman.

In a joint letter, written about twenty days after Mr. Judson's immersion, his brethren, referring to the fact, say, "In consequence of this trying event it has appeared to him and to us, and to those with whom we have conversed, expedient that we should separate and labor in different fields." This letter had the signature of Mr. Rice. About four weeks after this a letter was written by brethren Hall and Nott, in which they say, "You will be surprised to receive a letter written by us alone: we are surprised and distressed that it is so. Brother Rice has been led to change his sentiments on the subject of baptism; and brother Judson and he will probably attempt a mission to Java. What the Lord means by thus dividing us in sentiment, and separating us from each other, we cannot tell. This we know, the Lord seeth not as man seeth; and it ill becomes us to be dissatisfied with what he does. We hope and pray that these unexpected things may not damp the missionary spirit which has been kindled, but that it may burn with a brighter and purer flame." Mr. Rice, in a letter of the same date, professes to have examined the subject, "with prayerfulness, and in the fear of God, and with no small impression of the delicacy and high responsibility of his situation."

Aware of the fallibility of the human mind, and of the frailty even of good men, the Prudential Committee have no disposition to impeach the sincerity of these two brethren. It cannot, however, but be regarded with regret, if they had not, "with prayerfulness and in the fear of God," examined that subject, before so late a day before they assumed engagements of so high and responsible a character; before they were placed in circumstances rendering it nearly impossible for them to preserve an equable state of mind, while examining as doubtful, a question which ought long before to have been settled with them, and in regard to which a change of sentiments would entirely change their relations, and open to them new and very different prospects;-before, in fine, they were in a situation, peculiarly exposing them, as the case might be, to mistake impulses for arguments, and an act, in which there would be "a shew of wisdom, in will worship and humility," for an indispensable effort of Christian self-denial. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure: and on this foundation, the instances of instability, which we lament here to record, but against which no human foresight could provide, should lead us more entirely to repose our hopes. They shew us that missionaries are but men; and forcibly inculcate the importance of great caution, and great fidelity in examination, on the part, not only of this Board, but of all who would offer themselves for the missionary service. Instead, however, of inducing discouragement, they should rouse the holy zeal, and quicken the pious exertions of all the friends of truth; and should they, in the wisdom of God, be so overruled, as

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