From MR. DUNCAN, dated Morant-Bay, Oct. 3, 1821. I AM extremely sorry that I am under the painful necessity of writing at present in a different strain from my last. But the Great Head of the church has seen it meet to call our worthy Brother MR. UNDERHILL, from the field of labour, to his eternal reward, and also to afflict our venerable father MR. JOHNSTONE. These, considering the growing importance of this circuit, you will see, are very afflictive dispensations of Divine Providence indeed; and as you will be anxious to obtain more particular information respecting them, I shall relate the principal circumstances as they occurred. For some considerable time past, MR. JOHNSTONE had been rather poorly; perhaps chiefly owing to his extraordinary exertions about the Bath Chapel; he was able, however, to take the regular work of the circuit, till about three weeks ago, when one evening he was suddenly seized with fever, and his life was despaired of. As I was then at Manchioneal, some days elapsed before I received any account of his illness. I hastened down to the Bay, (on this day fortnight,) where I found him in a very low state; and MR. UNDERHILL also in the fever. MR. U. had been at Grateful Hill some time before, on ac From MR. DUNCAN, dated SINCE my last letter was put into the post-office, which gave an account of the death of MR. UNDERHILL, I am sorry to say we have lost our venerable Father, MR. JOHNSTONE. He expired this morning, while a few of his friends were commending him to God in prayer, in the joyful hope of a resurrection to eternal life. count of his health, which was there a little improved, and was in Kingston when he heard of MR. JOHNSTONE'S illness. He immediately came up to the Bay, and was only a day or two with MR. J., before he fell sick himself." As his constitution was much weakened by former afflictions, and the fever was extremely obstinate, it continued increasing till the sixth day, when his spirit, without a lingering groan, was released, on Monday the 24th September, and he entered "into the joy of his LORD." In MR. UNDERHILL'S death, the church has sustained a great loss. He was very attentive to the flock of CHRIST, over which he was appointed; watching over them with all the affection and vigilance of one who was most feelingly alive to their welfare. The little so ciety among whom he chiefly laboured, since he returned from America, bore towards him a great affection. On Sunday morning last, whilst I was endeavouring to improve the mournful event among them, my voice was frequently drowned with their unaffected sighs and groans; and, after preaching, the weeping negroes frequently observed that they had lost a good father. Morant Bay, Oct. 5, 1821. ertions. He was one of the chief instruments, in the hand of GOD, in bring ing this Mission to that distinguished place which it holds among our foreign stations; and thousands in the other islands will mourn his loss.-It was ever MR. JOHNSTONE'S aim, however, to conceal his concern and exertions for the cause of GOD from his brethren; for he seemed to possess, beyond most men, humiliating views of himself, and of every thing he did.-But dying in the LORD, his works shall follow him." He has laboured about eighteen years in these climates; and the fatigues he has endured, and the great privations he sustained, are registered on high, and shall be known in the great day. As the bearer is waiting for this letter, I have no time to state any particulars respecting him; and although I had time, yet I am totally inadequate either to express half his worth, or to give an idea of the feeling of his friends respecting their great loss. Our Jamaica Mission, in his death, has lost a Father indeed; and perhaps it would not be going beyond the truth to say, that among all our excellent Missionaries, he had never his superior, in laborious and successful exOn receiving the above accounts, the Committee directed the following resolution to be entered on their Minutes. "Resolved, That whilst the Com"mittee most deeply deplore the me"lancholy loss which the Mission has "sustained by the removal of Messrs. "JOHNSTONE and UNDERHILL, they "cannot but record upon their Mi May all of us who had the opportunity of seeing his great example, copy it, and follow him as he so constantly and fully followed CHRIST. "nutes the high sense they enter"tain of the upright, faithful, and "zealous conduct of the late REV. "G. JOHNSTONE, during the long pe"riod of eighteen years, in which he "acted as a Methodist Missionary in "the West India Islands. "tend with powerful opposition, but he "conducted himself in all respects as "the servant of the LORD JESUS, and "had the happiness to witness, for years "past, opposition declining, the religious "labours of himself and his Brethren "highly appreciated by those in autho"rity, and the most gratifying success, "in the conversion of souls and the in"crease of our Societies in that Island. "In the death of so excellent and ex"perienced a Minister, our West India "Mission has sustained no ordinary loss. "On hearing of his sickness at Morant"Bay, MR. UNDERHILL, though in a "feeble state of health, hastened from "another part of the island to visit him, dated Kingston, October 8, 1821. done. I believe the death of our worthy friends has had a tendency to fan the flame of missionary zeal amongst those who are left; and I pray GoD that it may burn with increasing fervour, till our work is accomplished. I have collected together a class of boys, and meet them as often as I can, to impress their minds with spiritual things. MRS. YOUNG also has had a class of girls some time; and I am happy to say, that in this respect we have not laboured in vain : several, both of the boys and girls, have become serious, and are much changed. Extract of a Letter from MR. YOUNG, LAST evening, I preached a funeral sermon for our venerable father JOHNSTONE, and beloved brother UNDERHILL, from Phil. i. 23, to a large and deeplyaffected congregation the weeping of the people on this occasion was quite overwhelming. Our dear departed friends were most deservedly respected while they lived, and of course their death is much lamented. The present is a solemn season to the Jamaica Missionaries, yet not a discouraging one, I trust. I hope we shall stand to our post, and never quit the field till our work is ANTIGUA. In the following Extract, dated April 28th, 1821, MR. PARKIN states the formation of a Branch Missionary Society for English Harbour, and its vicinity. ENGLISH HARBOUR is only like a straggling country village, yet our Collection at the public Meeting amounted to 40%. currency: six pounds were collected the day before, when a sermon was preached on the occasion. Three days after the meeting, our worthy Treasurer, J. GILBERT, ESQ., said to me, "I have been casting up my account, and find I have in favour of the glorious missionary cause 607.; viz. 30%. sterling. This evening our Collectors paid into the hands of the Treasurer 51.; so that, although our Society is but a week old to-day, it is worth 601. currency." On this I could say with the poor but happy negro, "Me heart laugh, me heart cry," to see the subject find its way to the hearts of all, even to the children. In English Harbour there are two Juvenile Associations, male and female. How delightful it was to see the little Secretary of each present eighteen dollars; the girls ten, the boys eight. EXTRACTS FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF DIFFERENT MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.-From MEERUT (India) the REV. HENRY FISHER writes, May 4, 1820: My Native Christians are, at present, all with me. We have the Sacrament on the first Sunday in every month, at which they regularly attend and participate. Every Sunday, at eleven o'clock, they all assemble in my study, to read the Gospels. If I were to write down their conversations, they would indeed furnish interesting subjects for correspondence; but I have no time to be very minute. him again in the evening, when he was engaged in his prayers, but to what or whom they could not tell. I asked my little congregation what they thought of all this. They sat silent, with their eyes cast down, and sighing heavily. At length, ANUND turned to MATTHEW PHIRODEEN, and, passing his arms round his neck, exclaimed, with the most touching expression of affection, as well as of gratitude to GOD,"Ah, my brother! my brother! such devils once were we! but now, (and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and elevated his whole person,) JESUS! JESUS! my GOD! my SAVIOUR!" It was very affecting. My last recruit to my little party of Native Christians, was a Brahmin of very high caste, a Naick of the Twentyfifth Regiment. He This man has had deep convictions of the folly of idolatry, and of the spiritual nature of GOD, for NINE years. was with the Army which took the Isle of France; and there used to steal in, among the Inhabitants and British Soldiery, to the Church, which he was willing to believe was the Temple of the True GOD; and there he strove to worship in spirit and in truth. He determined to endeavour to shake off the terrors which sometimes alarmed him, in the anticipa tion of the consequences, both of a temporal and spiritual nature, that might follow his apostasy from the superstition of his fathers; and, if ever a convenient opportunity should present itself, to unbosom his soul to a christian Minister. Last Sunday we were conversing on the universality of the feeling that prevails in all nations, that some atonement for sin is necessary. I related to them what my three sons had seen, as they returned with me from Hurdwar. A Fakeer was observed by the road-side, preparing something extraordinary; which, having never been observed before, excited a curiosity to draw near and examine his employment. He had several Hindoo Pilgrims round him, all on their way from the Holy Ghaut; who assisted in preparing the wretched devotee for some horrible penance, to which he had voluntarily bound himself, in order to expiate the guilt of some crime which he had committed long ago. His attendants literally worshipped him; kissing his feet, calling him God, and invoking his blessing. A large fire was kindled under the extended branch of an old tree: to this branch the Fakeer fastened two strong ropes, having at the lower end of each of them a stuffed noose, into which he introduced his feet; and thus being suspended with his head downward over the fire, a third rope (at a distance toward the end of the branch) was fixed, by which he succeeded with one hand to set himself in a swinging motion, backward and forward through the smoke and flaming fire, which was kept blazing by a constant supply of fuel, ministered by many of his followers: with the other hand he counted a string of beads, a fixed number of times; so as to ascertain the termination of the four hours, for which he had doomed himself daily to endure this exercise for twelve years, nine of which are nearly expired. A narrow bandage is over his eyes, and another over his mouth, to guard against the suffocating effects of the smoke. By this means he says he shall atone for the guilt of his sins, and be made holy for ever. The last half hour of the four hours, his people say, he stands upright and swings in a circular motion round the fire. On coming down, he rolls himself in the hot ashes of the fire. The boys went to see LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.-The following pleasing account of the progress of Christianity in the island of Raivaivai, about 400 miles S. E. of Otaheite, is given in a letter from MR. S. P. HENRY, dated Feb. 3, 1821. It was Sunday when I made the land, and I went on shore early in the morning. The natives were all assembled to go to church. My presence detained them nearly an hour beyond the usual time of service. How affecting and delightful was the scene which presented VOL. I. Third Series. JANUARY, His Regiment, in the course of time, (I pass over all intermediate circumstances,) came to Meerut. There he heard of the assembling together of a few native christian converts, to read the Scriptures, and to worship the One only God through JESUS CHRIST; and he VOLUNTARILY visited this infant Church, in their vaulted chamber over the Meerut Gateway. There he learned that the "Padre Sahib" would care for his soul, and teach him the way of salvation; and we became, in consequence, intimately acquainted, and he was, at last, baptized. itself! Each individual, on entering the church, kneeled down and uttered a prayer; when Para, the person whom King Pomarre left there for the purpose of instructing the natives, performed the service of the day. There were 848 assembled at the church for the worship 1822. K of the Universal God; 700 were within, and the rest were outside, unable to gain an entrance. The very orderly manner in which they conducted themselves, not only in church but during the Sabbath, awakened my highest admiration. The whole of their gods are mutilated, removed from their Morais, and converted into stools at the entrance of the church, which is very neatly built; the ground is nearly covered with grass, and provided with forms. Its length is 117 feet, and breadth 27. There are about 25, who have not yet adopted the religion of the SAVIOUR, but who have renounced idolatry. They say, "We have no books, nor proper Missionaries to instruct us; and we will wait till one comes, before we become Christians." The rest appear very anxious they should have a guide. This surprising change has taken place within the short space of only four months! It happened upon a great feastday, when all the natives were assembled. DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. ANNIVERSARIES.-The Anniversary of the Wesleyan Branch-Missionary Society for the Reading Circuit, was held on the 22d of November; JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH, Esq., M.P., in the Chair.-That of the Branch-Society for the Lancaster Circuit, was held on the 21st of November; and the Sixth Annual Meeting of the York Juvenile Society was held on the 22d of the same month. All these Meetings are reported to have been interesting and successful. ORDINATION. On Tuesday, Dec. 4, MR. OKE was solemnly set apart for the Christian Ministry, and for the office of a Missionary, in Romney-Terrace Chapel, Westminster; and on the following day left London for Bristol, from which port he is to sail for St. Christopher's, in the West-Indies. CONTRIBUTIONS.-The total amount of contributions in money received by the General Treasurers of the Wesleyan Missionary Society during the month ending Dec. 20, 1821, was £2087. 4s. 10d. OBITUARY. 1. DIED, January 12, 1821, aged 23, MRS. ROBINSON, wife of the REV. JOHN ROBINSON. She was the daughter of MR. JAMES SOPER, of Warmhill, in the parish of Hennock, Devon. About her seventeenth year, it pleased GOD to show her deplorable state as a sinner. The manner of her conversion she thus relates:-"Being on a visit at BoveyTracey, my friends invited me to go to the Methodist Chapel. I complied; but, though I paid great attention to the sermon, my mind was not much affected. On the same evening, however, while sitting with my parents and brothers, I recited to them part of the sermon. While I was telling them that the Preacher had said, the wicked, when they come to die, will howl for anguish of heart; my brother JAMES, who, till then, had been very thoughtless about his soul, was so struck by the sentiment, that he could take no rest. Next Sabbath, he went to Bovey Meeting, and soon after my other brothers, WILLIAM and JOHN. Í also then began regularly to attend the preaching; and my mind became more and more enlightened. My sins I felt as a burden too heavy for me. I cried earnestly to the LORD; and, in about three months, he spoke peace to my soul." It may encourage others to attempt to" serve their generation according to the will of GOD," when they learn from this account, that through her re-preaching the sermon she heard, three brothers, her mother, and many of her acquaintance, were eventually brought to a saving knowledge of GoD. From the time when MRS. ROBINSON first joined the Methodist Society, she continued to adorn the doctrine of GoD her SAVIOUR. Several times in a day she was in the habit of reading the Bible, and pouring out her soul unto God, in private. She excelled in giving a proper turn to any conversation that was not profitable. Her motto was, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD." The preachers, who were received, in their regular course of itinerancy, into her father's house, she esteemed very highly in love, for their work's sake; and paid them every kind attention.As she lived, so she died, steadfast in the faith. A cold, caught during her confinement, brought on a pulmonary consumption, which terminated in death, in about nine months. During her affliction many had the pleasure of beholding the resignation which true religion can produce. Being asked, "Have you a desire to live or to die?" she answered, "I have no desire; the LORD's will be done." Many were her expressions of confidence in GoD; and although she had not those raptures which some have experienced, yet she had a well-grounded hope of eternal hfe. The morning before her departure, she said, that she had "not followed cunningly-devised fables;" and that she was very, very happy." When, in the course of the day, the Word of God, and some hymns, were read to her, she repeatedly lifted up her hands and said, "Very precious indeed!" That evening she fell asleep in JESUS. J. R. 2. Died, at Burslem, April 21st, 1821, aged 34, MRS. BRYAN, wife of the REV. JOHN BRYAN; of whom we have received from her husband, the following account. "She was born near Ruthin, Denbighshire. When the Wesleyan-Methodist Preachers first visited those parts, she attended our preaching. It pleased God deeply to convince her of her lost estate; she felt herself to be a sinner, who needed mercy; nor did she rest until she had obtained it. She soon received, through faith in CHRIST, the Spirit of Adoption, which clearly witnessed with her spirit that she was a child of GOD; nor did she ever lose that testimony to the day of her death. She was then in the 15th year of her age. "We were married in September, 1805; and a more affectionate woman GOD never gave to man. Her pleasure was to make me and her family comfortable. Her life was one uniform course of piety and love. In all the circuits where we travelled, she was much beloved. Indeed, I doubt whether she ever had an enemy, as she was careful not to give offence, or cause of stumbling to any. Such was her love to GOD and his cause, in this respect, that she would not wear any article of dress, which she thought would hurt the weakest member of the Society. It may truly be said of her, that her adorning was not that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of GOD, of great price.' "As a member of the church of CHRIST, she lived in close communion with GoD, and prized the means of grace; particularly her class-meetings, from which she never once absented herself, unless unavoidably prevented. As a wife and mother, she truly excelled. Often has she taken her children and solemnly presented them to Gop in prayer, in her bed-room, where I have found her, when I have come home from a journey, devoting herself and her whole family to the LORD. To her servants she behaved with almost maternal kindness; and if at any time she had to reprove them, she used no hard or unkind words, but spoke to them with her habitual tenderness of spirit. "In the latter end of the last year, she was attacked by a consumption; which, after five months of severe affliction, terminated her life. Throughout the whole of her illness, her mind was kept in perfect peace. Satan was not suffered to approach her.-At one time, her soul exulting in the mercy of GoD, she desired me to repeat a favourite verse of a Welsh Poet, which, in substance, is nearly as follows: ་ Who, who hath shelter'd in his bleeding side, And, after, failed to reach the shore! The battle's fought, the vict'ry gain'd.' She often repeated the inquiry, • Who ? who?' and said,None ever sheltered there and was lost.' At another time I said, You are very happy, my Mary.' Happy,' said she, I am indeed you see I am blessed be GOD, the work has long been finished: I have nothing to do with death, nor have I any pain in either body or soul.' She died in the act of prayer; and the last words she articulated were, 'O praise, O praise !'" 3. Died, June 16th, 1821, at Biggleswade, MR.JAS. CONQUEST, aged 23 years. When about 14 years of age, he became resident at Spalding, at which time also he was deeply convinced that he was sinner, exposed to eternal misery, and needed a divine change. He sought the LORD with his whole heart; and was soon enabled to rejoice in a sense of the pardon of sin, through our LORD JESUS CHRIST. About this period he joined the Methodist Society, of which he continued to be a useful member to the day of his death; exhibiting, in his deportment towards the world, and in his connexion with his fellow-christians, the practical tendency of genuine religion. He sustained the offices of Local Preacher and Class-leader. His gifts for the pulpit were very considerable; and he evinced an ardent desire to be useful to his hearers. As a Leader, his seasonable advice, and faithful admonitions, will not speedily be forgotten by his class. His afflictions prevented all active exertions for nearly twelve months before his death, a consumption having gradually undermined his constitution. During the last five months, he earnestly sought a deeper communion with Gop, and a full preparation for the kingdom of heaven. He was enabled to contemplate his sufferings as the merciful chastisements of his heavenly Father, and exclaimed, "I am in the hands of ar |