"For we being many are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of LONDON: 18, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YA JANUARY, 1840. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AT PROVIDENCE new chapel, GEORGE TOWN, BRITISH GUIANA. BY THE REV. JOSEPH KETLEY. IN the admirable Letter of Instructions which the Directors of the London Missionary Society address to each of their agents, on his departure to a foreign station, are the following just remarks:-"You will teach such a body (the church he may gather) the important duty of supporting itself, and also of making due provision for the perpetuation and extension of the gospel in surrounding parts. The reasonableness and necessity of this must be apparent. Unless Missionary Societies are, from time to time, relieved of the expense of supporting particular Missions, by those Missions becoming independent of foreign aid, it will be utterly impossible for them to accomplish what they aim at-the diffusion of the gospel through the whole heathen world." This object has been happily attained in the case of the church at Georgetown, by a very close adherence to the principles of the New Testament, as they are embodied in the order of Congregational churches. We, therefore, cheerfully insert the narrative, with which Mr. Ketley has favoured us, as it illustrates the working of our church polity in a missionary field, and as it supplies an example that, we hope, will be imitated by most of the churches gathered from amongst the heathen.-EDITOR. THE province of British Guiana comprises three large districts, formerly the distinct colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, situated on the South American continent, north of the equator,* in latitude from within 2° to 9°, and between the longitudes 56° to 70°. Its boundary on the north is the Atlantic from the mouth of the Courantyn on the east, to the mouth of the Oronoco at Point Bareema on the west. Its other boundaries are not fully defined. It is true the Courantyn River, from its mouth to its source in the south, determines the frontier, but as it scarcely extends to one-half * It is a remarkable fact, that notwithstanding the acknowledged value of this province in a commercial point of view, and the interest that events which have transpired within its boundaries have excited in the moral and religious world, yet its geographical position appears scarcely to be known. So that these immense possessions of the South American continent are frequently classed with the little islands of the West Indies; and parliamentary papers, annual reports, and official advertisements have sanctioned the popular error. N. S. VOL. IV.-VOL. XXIII. B |