Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

on behalf of his native county. My heart responded to the expression of the Right Rev. Prelate who spoke last night with such approbation of that most interesting individual. I had the satisfaction, at the request of the Committee, to examine that individual when he was a member of the College at Islington, and I heartily repeat the satisfaction and delight I experienced on that occasion. We now see that numbers of the coloured tribes are hastening back from Sierra Leone to their own land.

The Rev. Gentleman then proceeded to urge strongly a more liberal support of Christian Missions.

The Bishop of RIPON.-My Lord. Christian friends. In rising to move the Resolution which has been put into my hands, I cannot refrain from expressing the satisfaction I have experienced in finding that the sentiments it contains so entirely accord with my own feelings on the present occasion. Referring to the success which has been graciously vouchsafed to our Missions abroad, as well as to the prosperity that has attended the financial exertions of our Society at home, it would impress upon all its members the obligation of cultivating a spirit of humility and watchfulness, of faith and prayer, in prosecuting the great work in which it is engaged. And surely, my Lord, not without the greatest reason; for scarcely anything can be more dangerous, scarcely anything more calculated to estrange the heart from God, than the consciousness of success, unless it lead us at the same time to connect the idea of the gift with the Almighty Giver, unless we find the ready means of checking every rising feeling of pride and vain-glory in the comparison between our own unworthiness and the boundless mercy of him who has thus far furthered our undertaking. And herein, as it would seem to me, consists both the obligation and the blessing of humility. But while it teaches us to ascribe the sole honour to him to whom alone it is due, it at the same time disarms prosperity of its danger, and renders it harmless to its possessor. With these Christian graces as our constant companion, we shall find the work of Christian watchfulness, which is recommended to us, a comparatively easy task. For what place can there be for the feeling of pre

[ocr errors]

sumptous self-confidence, where that spirit pervades which leads us to exclaim, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the praise." May we never fail to implore the aid of the Divine blessing upon the work of our Society, and upon the labours of its missionaries. I will conclude by reading the Resolution :

"That, while this Meeting gratefully records its deep sense of the Divine favour manifested to the Society in the last year, not less in the work of grace in the Missions than in the prosperous state of the finances, it would earnestly impress on the members the obligation to cultivate a spirit of humility and watchfulness, faith and prayer, in the continued prosecution of the great work in which the Society is engaged."

The Rev. J. CUNNINGHAM, Vicar of Harrow, in seconding the Resolution, alluded to the fact, that some years ago, the Committee had committed to him the task of bringing before the Society the state of the New Zealand Mission. I was commanded to make an honest exposition of all the difficulties under which it laboured, and also of the faults with which some of its members were charged. I ventured to say then, that if you would only wait a little you would find that from those distant shores the vindications would come back, and that we should be told, that the men whom we had chosen and sent out, as men faithful to their crucified Lord, would be found not to have disgraced that commission. How thankful we ought to be to-day that we hear, not from them, or from the professed advocates, or the old friends of the Society in New Zealand, but from the Bishop who was recently appointed to that di cese, and was prepared closely to scrutinize the character and the circumstances of those missionaries. From that Bishop you have a Report to-day, telling you the delight which he felt in witnessing their labours, and putting the broad seal of his Episcopal sanction to the fidelity with which they have discharged their duty. What a blessed account we have received from New Zealand! What encouragement to any sinking heart; and how it may teach us to hope, that if, by the blessing of God, it is the object of the

Committee to send our true lovers of the Gospel, and under the true banner, you will not, through the mercy of God, be disappointed; but you shall hear reverberated from those distant shores the language of religion, and the strains of approbation from every honest man in those colonies of the British empire, for the blessing that the persons you employ are permitted to accomplish.

Sir R. H. INGLIS, Bart., M.P.— said that the Resolution which he had to propose, referred to Mr. Samuel Crowther. Many revere his name, and one of the delightful feelings connected with the proceedings of this Society in Africa, is, that many arise there, whose names are associated with Christian excellence here. It occurred to some who had the privilege of hearing the valedictory address to Mr. Crowther, that he was about to set forth carrying that, without which talent would be vain, the zeal which never faints. In a Report which he drew up after his arrival at Freetown, he used the expression, that he took advantage of his voyage to begin his work, as it was his principle to master his business, lest his business should master him: and he translated a portion of St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and his first sermon was delivered to a native congregation. In that Report, Mr. Crowther announced his intention of proceeding to his own country to preach the Gospel, and stated, that even Mahomedan chiefs expressed their gratification that their countrymen, even of a different persuasion, were admitted to the office of teachers among their people. * *

I feel that I have encroached on the Meeting at greater length than I intended, and I will conclude by submitting the Resolution with which I have been intrusted:-That the Meeting regards with deep interest the fact that one who was formerly rescued from slavery by a British cruiser is now an ordained minister of the Church of England, and employed as a missionary of this Society in his native land; and they look forward with renovated hope to the entrance of the Gospel into the interior of West Africa, by the instrumentality of liberated Africans trained in the Society's Mission at Sierra Leone. The Rev. Dr. MARSH Seconded the Resolution..

J. P. PLUMPTRE, ESQ., M. P., moved the next Resolution:"That while the Meeting rejoices with humble thankfulness in the evidence of the power of the Gospel of the grace of God in the Missions in Tinnevelley and New Zealand, they desire to give glory to God for all that he has wrought, and to stir up their Christian friends to 'continue instant in prayer' for an increased outpouring of the Holy Spirit in all the operations of the Society at home and abroad."

The Rev. HUGH STOWELL.-My Lord and Christian friends, the Report to which we have been listening has more than realized my most sanguine anticipations. I could have almost wished that the Right Reverend Prelate, who so gracefully and properly, as the diocesan of this great metropolis, preached the Anniversary Sermon last night, had been amongst us, to hear the details of that Report this morning. I am disposed to think, that it would in some degree have mitigated the anxiety and distress which he evidently laboured under, at the comparative smallness of the success which has crowned our modern missionary efforts. I am quite aware, that there is a mystery in the apparent want of more ample progress in modern Christian efforts; but, instead of grappling with that mystery, as the master mind of Butler did, by endeavouring to adduce corresponding mysteries in the ordinary course of providence, in order to mitigate the strength of the difficulty, I would rather ask, is it not a mystery of unfaithfulness on the part of the Church, and not a mystery of the dispensation of the grace of God? For has not God made his will, so far as it is to control and guide us, clear as the day-light, when he has left it as thelast crowning precept of his Gospel, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature?" and has the Gospel ever been clearly, faithfully, uncompromisingly preached, and God failed to realize the promise, "Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world?"

The Rev. Gentleman then adverted to the miraculous powers, and to the gift of tongues which had been vouchsafed in apostolic times, and were now withheld,-with all these deductions, (said Mr. Stowell) I am

bold to say that the measure of success which has crowned our efforts in India, in the South Sea Islands, in New Zealand (the brightest gem in England's diadem,) in Western Africa, in the East India Islands, when compared with the instrumentality put in motion, and the degree of prayerfulness and fervour on the part of the Church, ought to astonish us because we are so great, rather than dispirit us because we are so small. I conceive, too, that we have only to come up to the measure of apostolic purity of faith, earnestness of love, importunity of prayer, and self-denial of zeal, and similar success shall follow, to that which attended primitive efforts. For however some good men may take views of millennial events, which may interfere with this expectation, I must confess I have no sympathy with them; the judgments that are to come, are to come upon the nominal Church for her unfaithfulness, but the visitations of the latter days are not to come upon the poor Heathen, who have never heard the sound of the Gospel. And I see not why, while the judgments of God are coming upon an apostate people, named

with his name, the Gospel should not be spreading, with more than its pristine glory, amid the untrodden and untilled wastes of Heathenism; much as it was, when the apostles began to enjoy their Christian fellowship at Jerusalem, forgetful of their commission, that persecution was sent among them, and "they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." My own pectation and hope is, that if those judgments which prophecy seems to indicate, should come upon a slumbering Church, the effect would be to drive out the lingering Christians at home; and our Oxford and our Cambridge may be forced to send out their missionaries, because they may find no place to preach the simple Gospel in at home.

ex

After some further remarks on the principles by which the Society and its missionaries should be animated and an allusion to certain attacks which had been made upon the Bishop of Chester for his attachment to the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, including that of Justification by faith,-the motion was put and carried unanimously.

Register of Events.

THE RECALL OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA-LORD ELlenBOROUGH by the Board of Directors of the East India Company, which became publicly known about the end of April, has excited a considerable sensation in the country. It certainly wears the decided aspect of an imperium in imperio, that an assembly of merchants should be able to contravene the wishes of government, and to arrest one of the most potent officers of the crown in the midst of his victorious and prosperous career ;and that without even assigning a reason for their conduct! Such, however, is the power at present allowed them by the law of the land. How long it will continue to be so, remains to be seen. This is the first exertion of their extraordinary privilege made by the Board of Directors, and will, very probably, be the last. It may not matter much to the government at home, that Lord Ellenborough should be recalled, since they have so many able men ready to take in hand the reins of government thus wrested from him; but it can hardly be without an injurious influence on the inhabitants of a mighty empire, to see their highest officer of state, whom they are accustomed to regard with profound reverence and awe, thus demonstrated to be the mere functionary of a mercantile company, and removeable at their pleasure or caprice, without regard to the ability, or the contrary, with which he has discharged the duties of his station. SIR HENRY HARDINGE is appointed, with the mutual consent of the government, and the Board, to succeed to the vacant office, and his placeas Secretaryat War-is filled by SIR THOMAS FREEMANTLE, late Secretary

to the Treasury. With regard to Lord Ellenborough, for whom, no doubt, the whole transaction will be of a very humiliating character, we cannot avoid looking back to the specimen of most absurd and antichristian conduct, exhibited by him, in the affair of the gates of Somnauth, and thus tracing in this, as we frequently may in other matters of this description, an eminent exemplification of the fulfilment of the Scripture declaration, "Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

We regret to say, that the DISSENTERS CHAPEL BILL, or, as it would be more properly termed the Socinian Spoliation Bill has passed the House of Lords, and will but too probably ere long, make its way through the Commons, and become the law of the land. The Bill proposes to make the doctrines which have been promulged in any Dissenting Meeting House for the last twenty-five years, the criterion by which the principles and intentions of the founder of the trust shall be tested, and thus of the creed for the propagation of which the trust-money shall henceforth be dedicated, except in the case where the sentiments of the founder are expressly declared. It seems neither more nor less than this-that a theft successfully concealed twenty-five years, shall prove a title-deed to guarantee the thief in the possession of the property stolen! That such a measure should have found advocates in a conservative government, we sincerely lament: that it should be endured in a chistian country, we earnestly deplore. But we cannot but view with grateful satisfaction, the noble stand made against the measure by two of the Prelates of our Church-the BISHOPS of LONDON and EXETER. We should have been glad if the whole bench had more resolutely, and perseveringly, marked their abhorrence of it. But while the conduct of the Lords, presents a fearful example of the destitution of principle so common in the present day, the protest of the Bishops affords a striking proof of the propriety and value of the place which is assigned them, in the legislative assemblies of the country. What can be more proper, becoming, and scriptural, than that the counsels of a christian nation sould be watched over, and hallowed by the presence and advice of christian Bishops, as representatives of a christian church? How the eyes of Dissenters can be blinded to this, we are at a loss to imagine -as much as we are to conceive, how any means can be devised, by which property can ever be certainly secured, which is left for the propagation of christian truth, among those who refuse to acknowledge any definite test, by which orthodoxy may be judged of, or to adopt any means by which it may be at all permanently fixed in any place where it now prevails. We speak with all allowance for the infirmities of every plan which can be devised by human beings, and with all charity towards the persons and views of conscientious dissenters; but with a thorough conviction of the radical defects of a system, which, by rejecting the decency' and 'order' that Scripture enjoins, has involved itself in difficulties

from which no human arm can extricate it.

[ocr errors]

We rejoice to find that a large, and highly respectable meeting has been held in London, for the purpose of instituting a "SOCIETY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE LABOURING CLASSES." As might naturally be expected, LORD ASHLEY took the chair on the occasion, and able and very interesting speeches were delivered by him, and by the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, Mr. Colquhoun, M.P., the Rev. R. Burgess and others, and a few concluding remarks by the Bishop of Salisbury, who declared his cordial approval of the objects of the Society, and closed the Meeting by pronouncing the Apostolical benediction? The Society directs its attention to three main objects-viz. 1. The improvement of the dwelling-houses of the poor, in town and country. 2 The extension of the allotment, or rather field-garden system. 3. The formation of friendly loan societies. How far the accomplishment of these objects, to any great extent, is prac.

ticable, we pretend not to say. No doubt immense difficulties must be encountered even in the attempt to carry them out. But we may well ask, 'Is there not a cause?' and we think that he must be blind indeed to the true interests of his country-in the most comprehensive sense of the words— who does not perceive that all truly scriptural christianity unites with the dictates of genuine benevolence, and indeed of common humanity, in demanding at the hands of the better classes in this country an attention to the temporal and spiritual welfare of their poorer brethren far different than has ever hitherto been attempted. We must up and be doing with vastly increased sense of duty and ardour in fulfilment of it, if we would avert from ourselves the righteous indignation of the Almighty, whose voice we may well hear exclaiming to us in no doubtful accents, "Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

[ocr errors]

A SCRIPTURE READERS SOCIETY for the dioceses of London and Winchester has been recently set up, under the patronage of the Bishops of both those dioceses. As might be expected it is vigorously opposed by the Tractarians, and especially by their great organ with the world-the Times journal. We trust, however, these Bishops will not be moved from their truly laudable object by any opposition-however violent-that they may meet with from this quarter. This case affords another somewhat ludicrous specimen of the way in which that extraordinary school reverence, and stand by, Bishops, so long as they pursue the course which pleases them, and as vigorously denounce them the instant they diverge from that course! We hope such glaring examples of their gross inconsistency may be useful to those who are yet blinded to the true nature of their erratic and tortuous policy.

We observe with sincere pleasure that the Bishop of Exeter has introduced into the House of Lords a bill towards the SUPPRESSION of the atrocious devices for FEMALE PROSTITUTION, now so awfully rife in the country, and especially in the Metropolis. We earnestly wish him 'God speed' in this most important and imperiously demanded measure.

Notices and Acknowledgements.

WE shall feel obliged to our readers to correct an extraordinary mistake which crept into our pages, in the heading of a letter inserted in our last number, for May. We allude to a letter entitled 'LETTER OF THE REV. P. ROE.' It should have been, 'LETTER OF THE REV. DR. Stopford.' It was extracted from the life of the Rev. P. Roe, which, we suppose, occasioned the mistake.

The letter of An old Subscriber,' enclosing one from 'W. G.', is under consideration, as is also that of 'R. M. P.'

We are much obliged to 'A. S. The communication will probably appear in our next number.

The lines of W. T. C.' and 'W. B,' are not, we fear, suited to our periodical.

Received two letters from A. S., Garthorpe,' for the good intention of which we are obliged.

We may possibly allude to the letter of A Dissenter' on another occasion. We rather doubt whether he is so fond of straight-forward truths' as he imagines. Perhaps as extremes meet-he resembles the Tractarians, in only liking them when they coincide with his own views! We have no objection whatever to attend to his communications, though we do not agree with them.

« ПредишнаНапред »