It was decided on the 11th August to erect a small Chapel at Cooly Bazar (now generally called Hastings) for the members resident in that locality which Chapel was opened on the 2nd November 1843.

On the 12th October a plan was presented by the SubCommittee appointed for the purpose regarding the visiting of Church members but the details of the plan are not recorded.

On the 12th February 1843, the depressed state of the Sunday School was brought to the notice of the members, and on the 6th July the allowance from the Church to the Missionary Society for the services of the Pastor was raised from Rs. 60 to Rs. 70.

On the 29th December Mr. J. C. Page who was a member of the Church was ordained to the Ministry. Not many years afterwards Mr. Page was the instrument of building up the work of the Mission in Barisal and those parts where there are thousands of Christians at the present day.

On the 7th March 1844, a new Register of Members was ordered to be prepared and on the same date a Sub-Committee was appointed to ascertain the practicability and desirableness of punkahs for the Chapel.

It will thus be seen that Mr. Evans' interest in the material and spiritual condition of the Church led him to strive to set right whatever he considered to be otherwise, with the result that will next have to be touched upon.

On the 10th June 1844 the letter-a copy of which is below— from Mr. Evans resigning the Pastoral office was read.

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH IN LALL-BAZAR.

Dear Brethren,-On my arrival in this country I was urgently solicited to accept the Pastoral office among you as a Church and people. I had previously determined to be free in this respect and to discharge my duties as a Minister of Christ as my services might be required, but your destitute condition at that time, after consulting my Brethren led me to accede to your unanimous wishes and I consented to become your Pastor as far as attention to other missionary engagements would allow.

To the best of my ability I have invariably sought to promote your spiritual good amidst many interruptions and much of anxious imperfections.

My numerous engagements in other respects, the state of my health, and now, other causes, render the continuance of my services undesirable, and, rather than endanger my health and frustrate all my attempts to be useful in these departments of labour, I beg to tender my resignation of the Pastoral office amongst you from the present date.

I shall hand over the books and papers of the Church to my brother Thomas, who has kindly consented to preside at your meeting this evening.

With earnest prayers for your future welfare,

from what ensued, but it is not necessary to go into the details suffice it to say, that it was arranged for a further meeting to be held for the "other causes" mentioned in the above letter to be enquired into and that it appeared that the evils had arisen more from misunderstanding than from any evil intention. The Chairman of the meeting reproved the troublers for their unlovely and unbecoming conduct, after which the following Resolution was carried :

"That as an evil spirit appeared to exist in the Church a season be set apart for humiliation and prayer when Saturday evening and Tuesday morning were agreed upon for that purpose."

At the meeting of the 17th July the following letter to Mr. Evans was passed, and was signed by the Chairman and Deacons on behalf of the Church.

To REV. W. W. EVANS.

CALCUTTA, 17th July 1844.

Dear Sir,-We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter wherein you, for various reasons, some of which are specified,

signify your resignation of Christian Church.

the Pastoral charge over us as a

We regret that any circumstance should have occurred to have deprived us of a Pastor, especially as we have been more than once in the destitute condition in which we now are. But we indulge the hope that our future good may be promoted by our present painful circumstances.

We cannot allow you to leave us without expressing our sense of the great obligations under which your ministrations have laid us, and offering you our sincere thanks for the affection and interest in our spiritual welfare which you have manifested during the three years and a half you have laboured among us.

nor

We trust your labours have not been in vain and we pray that the Lord may be with you and bless you abundantly; would we close this letter without expressing our high respect and esteem for your estimable partner Mrs. Evans whose many excellencies and uniform kindness have greatly endeared her to us. Our earnest prayer is that she, with you, may partake richly of every New Covenant blessing.

Signed on behalf of the Church,

J. THOMAS, Chairman.

JAS. IRVINE,

E. GRAY,

L. MENDES,

After this the following entry occurs:—

Deacons.

"At the Church meeting on the 11th February 1845, it having been stated by the Rev. J. Thomas that the Rev. W. W. Evans our late Pastor on behalf of himself and Mrs. Evans had expressed a desire to withdraw their membership from the Church and had accordingly requested that their names might be taken off the Register of Church Members, it was resolved unanimously that the request of the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Evans be complied with, and we earnestly desire that their future steps may be guided by heavenly wisdom, and that they may not only enjoy much of the Divine favour in their own souls, but be made eminently useful in promoting the cause of our God and Saviour."

This would indicate that there were no more troublers in Israel. Mr. Evans, however, remained on in Calcutta till after the death of his wife on 3rd October 1845 and assisted in vernacular and English work at Cooly Bazar. The following remark

appears in the Church's letter to the Missionary Association, dated the 21st December 1845:—

"The English services at Cooly Bazar have been conducted for the most part by our late Pastor Mr. Evans, who, as long as his health permitted, never failed to attend and some of whose last efforts to make known the Gospel, before he embarked for England, were spent there."

His health and spirits soon broke down after his wife's death and he had to leave for Europe in December.

There is no Tablet in the Chapel commemorating Mr. Evans' pastorate. Every effort has been made by the present writer to procure portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Evans but he has unfortunately failed as none seem procurable in England even from the members of their family.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.

IT has been stated in Chapter VII. that a letter was received from Mr. King of Birmingham in 1809, regarding the working of certain Charity Schools in that town, which was read in Calcutta in September of that year, when Mr. Leonard suggested that a similar school might be opened in Calcutta.

The idea was taken

INTERIOR OF THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION, CALCUTTA.

up by the Serampore Missionaries, so on Christmas Day of 1809 Dr. Marshman preached his sermon at the Lall-Bazar Chapel in aid of the projected Charity School from Psalm 37: 3, when the sum of Rs. 269-9-0 was raised at the collection; other contributions were sent in afterwards which raised the total to Rs. 300.

In February 1810, Mr. Peacock was chosen Master as the school already had between 30 and 40 children, and on the 20th