The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-05-13

boen brought In contact with hundred families
and that twelve dialects have been reduced to
writing! In relation to tho mission to Gaboon, VIII
offer only few general remarks 1t is now more than
i've years since went to that mission The people
among whom we went did not know what was our
put they gave Us time Sa SSys BEEN
treated with uniform courtesy One OF our hrst OBJ
jects was to ut up bamboo chapel and invite them to
come and hear the word Of God. The invitation has
been attended to- When the people rst came into our
place Of worship they observed no decorum Men came
with their hats on with their pipes, and some with
guns We found that it was necessary to tell them not
to do and they gave up the practice III our
preaching, deemed necessary ut tho close OF tne
sermon put questions to Them and ask them ~ 10
the impressions they had in relation to the nstruc-
tons they received The gospel has scarcely been
supplied them yet There are some there tnut nsVe
heard of the Lord Jesus Christ and who gratihed
to 1t sxerting influence that u beginning 10
show itself The Sabbath Is observed very generany
among the people and II not unoourteous 10 say 80
the Sabbath would even say Is better observed there
than in those great houses Of prayer in your city
pie They 20 in boats on trading excursions the
rivers and exhibit many traits Of character that would
be emnentiy worthy Of more civilized class OF men,
| or two points upon which wish to make few re-
marks. have been asked about the capabilities OF
the African race for intellectual improvement and
suppose 1t implies doubt whether they capa
bic of any intellectual improvement will not go the
length to say that If they had the mean. OF improve
Isl the Chinese the Hndoos; but yet capable
of improvement, have brought with me specimens OF
education in essays and communications from many
Of the pupils; and communicate on in relation to two
Of these pupils appeared in the Herald, which pro-
nounccs that the intellectual capabilities of these two
boys almost marvellous notice many astounding
facts to their capabilities mention the fact merely
to show, that one of these has made himself good
printer, in two three weeks-anothcr fact, which
will show the intellectual capacity Of these people,
An old man, after school had been established,
70 US op in to
have her instructed. This man, after two or three
weeks and learned himself He called, placed his
Daughter on his knoe, and learned the alphabet He
reads and writes have had correspondence
with that man, and hope his salvation is secure.
have heard it said what sort of climate Is Africa for
up his mind to govern his passions He cannot remain
there without making this sacrifice and II he do not,
he cannot live. There than three thousand
whites engaged In the slave trade this coast
press this humiliating subject furtherthe men carry
hope that tho Word will be extended to that people,
and that the of that country will obtain salvation
through the Word 1t well known fact, that the
officers in the British and the French service go there
for the purpose Of having thor promoted There
is single part of that country that is not prepared
the hgh the white
held among the natives. The slave trade is giving
away to lawful commerce. but ! conhne myself to the
subject of the missionary If it be the desire to send
missionaries there, one hundred, one thousand all
of them would get welcome. Mr. W.. after detailing
the particulars Of visit made by him to the king 3
house where no had met men as old as 80 years, who
had gladly embraced the religion of the gospel, con-
cluded.
The Rev. GGoRcE H. FISHER, d. D., of the Reformed
Dutch Church. Of tho city of New York; next addressed
the meeting ut length, cxhortng them to aid in the
promotion of the religion of Christ and its extension
oil the world and proposed resolution to that
effect
Chancellor wALpwoRrn seconded tho resolution.
The following hymn was hereupon sung by the con-
gregation -
On the mountain top appearing,
Lo. the sacred herald stands,
Welcome to Zion bearing
Zion, long in hostile lands:
Mourning captive,
God himself will loose thy bands.
Has thy night been long and mournful!
Have thy friends unfaithfu proved?
Have thy foes been proud and scornful,
By thy signs and tears unmoved!
Cease thy mourning
Zion still il well beloved
God, thy God, will now restore thee;
He himself appears thy Friend;
All thy foes shall fee before thee;
Here their boasts and triumphs end:
Great deliverance,
Zon's King will surely send.
Peace and joy shall attend thee;
All thy warfare now Is past;
God thy Saviour will defend thee
Victory is thine at last:
All thy conflicts
End in everlasting rest.
The Rev Mr. CALHOUN, from tho Syrian mission,
next addressed the meeting and said that he had al
ready addressed several congregation in this city, and
would be necessarily compelled to make Of state
ment ana facts, to which ne had siready reierrea,
his own home His abode Mount Lebanon,
which consisted of a long range Of mountains, ex-
tending from the northern part Of Palestine to Tyre
Sometimes could plain of moderate extent,
and the highest summit Of the mountain was from
10000 to $4,000 feet His residence fixed in one of
the lowest regions about four miles and half from
| the sea. having a commanding view of Mount Lsba
Fountains gush forth from the side of the noun
tain, and there to be found villages which are
erected there for the sake Of safety. There no
wells there and it is the custom for the female part Of
the community to go and bring water from these to
they generally story high with fiat roofs and
with floors of earth The people who inhabt them
are the Druses and the Maronites John Chrysostus
preached ut Antioch for fourteen years in the Greek
language The people the peasantry here, were re-
marknbe for their poiteness and as regarded religion
other people in the world Some three years ago,
when he went from Smyrna to Syria, there broke
hundreds of lives lost and it was an American
missionary, accompanied by Syrian officer, that ef
fectcd treaty Of peace All the FRANKS as foreign
pending these negotiations, when all arms dell
vcred up. Six missionary churches were established
there and of them the most vigorous was mt Con-
stantnople There we're hundred members
sisting OF thirty women and seventy men, md out OF
this seventy were ten acting missionarcs The Rev.
Mr. C.. went to review the history OF Voltairo, who
originally Catholic, and became subsequently an
infdcl-but. his death-bed again became Catho-
lic-Talleyrand did the samc-but such converts as
they could make in Syria would never change, once
having been enlightened by the Gospel. God was in
those parts OF the earth-as he was here and every
where and he hoped that the labors and prayers of
those around him would promote the cause OF the Cos
pei in the Syrian land.
The Rev. Mr.. PoMERor, Of Bangor. Maine, next ad-
dressed the meeting He had bee in Syria, and would
like that he had time than permitted to dwell
upon the subject He first became ed with his
brother who preceded him. at Mount Lebanon and
cheerfully concurred in all that had been said by him.
In relation to the people Of those regions. He had
looked the Of his house. down the valleys and
slopes of this HILL aud less than ffty-one villa
gcs surrounded with tho olive and tho palmtree look
Ing beautiful and picturesque. Mr. p wont on to say,
that the Greeks had but one million of people under
their own government, under King Ohio There were
several however In the Turkish Empire, and they had
their patriarch ut Conss Tho Jews had their
Patriarch, Grand Rabbi, there also; and tho Armc
mans had their Patriarch, also at Constantnoplc
These had both civil and ecclesiastical authority.
Schools wore established at Athens. where was also
university and the press there was free They would
not allow the King to touch the press After drawing
vivid picture of the degraded and dcmorazcd condi-
ton Of the Jews who had less than six synagogucs
in Constantinopc. and describing their form Of wor
ship, unmcaning mummery he went on to dwell
upon the great field that lay there for missionary
labor among the Mohamedans, the HISTORIANS the
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