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so. 313. — NEW SERIES, NO. 30.]

[June 2, 1862.

THE

CHEONICLE.

ANNIVERSARY OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

SIXTY-EiaHTH GENERAL MEETI]Sra.

At no previous period in tlie history of the Society have its constituents
assembled under circumstances of deeper and more solemn interest than
on the occasion of the late Anniversary. The Friends of Missions, instead
of being diverted from their great enterprise by the diversified and ever-
multiplying claims upon their benevolence, have discerned in the signs of
the times, concurrently with the new and wonderful openings which God,
in His gracious providence, has afibrded for the wider spread of the Gospel,
particularly in China and Madagascar, a strong additional motive to work
while it is day, since the night cometh when no man can work. At the
various meetings and services peculiar to the hallowed season, the numbers
who attended, and the absorbing interest excited, were such as to convince
alike the friends and the opponents of Evangelical Missions, that they
retain an abiding hold upon the sympathies of British Christians.

MONDAY, May 12th.

I^eio JBroad Sti'eet Chapel. — An early Morning Prayer Meeting was held, specially
to implore the Divine blessing on the several Services of the Anniversary.

Weigh Souse Chapel. — Service for the Juvenile Friends of the Society. Rev.
Caleb Scott, of Lincoln, commenced with reading and prayer. Rev. Eustace R.
CoNDEE, M.A., of Leeds,'"preached from John iii. 26, and Rev. R. Best, of Bolton,
offered the concluding prayer.

TUESDAY, May 13th.

Guildford Street Welsh Chapel— A sermon was preached, in the Welsh language,
by the Rev. David Robeets, of Carnarvon.
VOL. XITI.—1862. a

156

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle ^ June 2, 186.2.

WEDNESDAY, Mat, 14th.

Surrey Chapel. — After the usual Liturgical Service, which was I'^ad by Rev.
Newman Hall, prayer was offered by Rev. G.W. Condee, of Leeds. Rev. Andrew
Thomson, D.D., of Edinburgh, preached from Judges v., and latter half of the
28th verse. Eev. J. Rowland, of Henley on Thames, presented the concluding
prayer.

Tahernacle. — Rev, C. Clemance, of Nottingham, read the Scriptures and prayed.
Rev. J. P. Chown, of Bradford, preached from Acts ii., and first twelve verses. The
services were concluded by Rev. Joseph Steee, of Sudbury.

FRIDAY, May 16th.

Saceamental Seevices.

" Craven Hill Chapel. — Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel, M.A., presided. Addresses,
prayers, &c., by the Revs. A. Reed, B.A., W. Milne, M.A., B. Noeth, H,
B. Ingeam, a. McMiLLiN, and Me. Ball, M.P.

Stepney Chapel. — Rev.' John Kennedy, M.A., presided. Addresses, prayers, &c,,
by the Revs. W. Doeling, W, Bevan, Dr. Wilkes, J. Viney, and J. E. Richaeds.

Craven Chapel. — Rev. John Geaham presided. Addresses, prayers, &c., by the
Revs. R. Paekinson, W. Guest, W. Faiebeothee, and W. Spencee.

Union Chapel, Islington. — Rev. John Kelly presided. Addresses, prayers, &c.,
by the Revs. J. Sibeee, R. Bbindley, and J. S. Waedlaw.

Kingsland Chapel. — Rev. J. Jeffeeson presided. Addresses, prayers. &c., by
the Revs. J. B. Figgis, B.A., W. H. Hill, J. Bain, T. W. Ayeling, C. Dukes,
M.A., and E. M. Davis, B.A.

Hanover Chapel, PecTcham, — Rev. James Rowland presided. Addresses,
prayers, &c., by the Revs. W. H. Dyee, W. Thomas, S. J. Le Blond, W. P. Tiddy,
and J. H. White.

Trevor Chapel, Brompton. — Rev. Jas. G. Miall presided. Addresses, prayers,
&c., by the Revs. R. D. Wilson, R. Skinnee, E. H. Dele, R. Macbeth, W. F.
Claekson, B.A., J. BiGwooD, and W. M. Statham. *

Greenwich Eoad Chapel. — Rev. Pateick Thomson presided. Addresses,
prayers, &c., by the Revs. J. A. Macfadyen, M.A., and T. Mann.

Eccleston Chapel— Rev. Aethue Tidman, D.D., presided. Addresses, prayers,
&c., by the Revs. A. F. Bennett, B. Peice, R, Beuce, G. Rose, R. J. Saegent,
S. Maetin, and S. Peaesall.

Tarh Chapel, Camden Totvn.—Rev. J. C. Haeeison presided. Addresses,
prayers, &c., by the Revs. H. Taeeant, R. Dawson, B.A., and E. S. Peout, M.A.

New Tahernacle.— Rqv, R. Feeguson, LL.D. presided. Addresses, prayers,
&e., by the Revs. J. Deighton, Edwin Davies, G. Gogeely, C. Clemance, B.A.,
J. Glanville, E. Coek, and W. Geigsby.

Falcon Square Chapel.^B^eY. Heney Allon presided. Addresses, prayers,
&c., by several Ministers.

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle , June 2, 186.2.

157

The 68th Anniversary Meeting of this Society was held on Thursday, May 15th,
at Exeter Hall, and, notwithstanding nnfavonrable weather, was very numerously
attended. The Chair was taken at 10 o'clock by Lord Radstock. On the platform
were, in addition to the speakers, E. Baines, Esq., M.P., G. Hadfield, Esq., M.P., J.
Kershaw, Esq., M.P., E. Ball, Esq., M.P., J. Sidebottom, Esq., Isaac Perry, Esq., W.
Willans, Esq., W. D. Wills, Esq., C. Jupe, Esq., J. K. Welch, Esq., C. Curling, Esq., T.
Spalding, Esq., C. E. Mudie, Esq., J. Spicer, Esq., W. R. Spicer, Esq., Eus. Smith, Esq.,
J. East, Esq., W. JM. Newton, Esq., W. H. Ropes, Esq., &c. ; Rev. F. Trestrail, Secretary
of the Baptist Missionary Society ; Dr. Davis, Secretary of the Religious Tract Society;
Revs. J. G. Miall, Dr. Morton Brown, Newman Hall, Dr. Ferguson, G. Smith, T. W.
AveHng, James Kennedy, J. S. Wardlaw, R. Sargent, E. J. Evans, R. Dawson, W.
GUI, G. Gill, W. Harbutt, &c., &c.

After the 72nd Psalm, commencing " Jesus shall reign where'er the sxm," had been
smig, the Rev. John Graham offered prayer.

The Rev. Dr. Tidman read the Report : —

The Directors, in presenting to the friends and supporters of the Society a concise
abstract of its history throughout the past year, perform this duty with an ever deepening
conviction of the sanctity and grandeur of the enterprise to which they are committed ; of
the weakness and imperfection of the services they render ; and of the low amount of zeal
and energy hitherto put forth by the Church, compared with the claims of the Redeemer
and the wants and miseries of the heathen world. They are equally sensible of the limited
measure of success hitherto attained, and of the gigantic obstacles to further progress ;
and, under the force of these convictions, they must renounce the case as hopeless and
yield to despair, but for the promise and the oath of Him they serve, that success equal to
our largest hopes is as certain as though already won ; and that the feebleness of the
agency employed for its attainment, and the power of opposition put forth in resistance,
will only render the final triumph of the Gospel more signal and glorious.

But while deeply conscious of their absolute dependence on the grace and omnipotence
of God, the Directors would lay upon His altar their tribute of gratitude for the multipUed
indications of His divine regard which have attended the interests of the Society through-
I out the Sixty-eighth year of its history, just closed.

The fidehty and attachment of the Society's friends have been evinced by their unabated
liberality ; and, during a season of great depression in many branches of industry and
commerce, they have suppUed a revenue equal to its ordinary expenditure.

Between the Directors in town and country, confidence and harmony have continued
undisturbed, and their half-yearly Meetings have been distinguished by fraternal union and
reciprocated Section. Of this the last Report of the Country Representatives, dated
March 25th, will supply evidence.

'* The Meeting of Delegates assembled this morning rise from their work under the
powerful conviction that the present is a period of almost unparalleled interest and im-
portance in the history of the London Missionary Society.

** The liberty of Christian profession and worship restored to the persecuted Church of
Madagascar ; the highly satisfactory communications recently received from the Rev.
William Ellis, assuring the Society of the favour with which English influence and
Missionary operations are likely to be regarded in that island, together with the immediate
departure of Six Brethren to resume the Jong suspended work of God among the native
population, ought surely to be regarded as answering the prayers of Christians at home,
and followed by cheerful expressions of gratitude, and augmented liberality in the service
of the Lord Jesus.

" The enlargement, present and prospective, of the Society's operations in India and
China, cannot but be regarded with interest by the Churches in England, and may very

158 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

properly suggest the importance of a combined and strenuous effort to raise the permane&t
annual income of the Society to at least £100,000.

" The number of candidates for employment in Missionary service, and the great propor-
tion of applicants who are deemed eligible to be admitted to a course of training for the
work, are also regarded by the Delegates as facts of promise and of hopefulness for the
future ; and they cannot withhold the expression of their gratification at the statement of
the Foreign Secretary, that, though twenty labourers will be sent forth during the present
year, the Society will still have forty students in course of preparation for various fields of
Missionary labour.

** On a deliberate review and careful investigation of the last half year, the Delegates feel
that the gentlemen intrusted with the direction of the Society are given to it for such a
time as this. Their unwearying assiduity, their practical wisdom and great efficiency in
regard to questions of finance and matters relating to the general operations of the Society,
entitle them to the warm thanks and unreserved confidence of the Churches.

(Signed) " J. G. Mr all, Chairman,

" John Glendennino, Secretary."

Of the Missionaries of the Society, whose names are given in the last Report, amounting^
to one hundred and fifty-three, one only in actual service, the Rev. J. M. Lechler, of
Salem, has been stricken by the hand of death. The Rev. Dr. Boaz, also, who had previ-
ously, from failure of health, relinquished his pastoral charge in Calcutta, while zealously
engaged in promoting the interests of the Society at home, was in the month of October
called to his rest.

TwENTV-SEVEN Hcw labourcrs have been added to the Missionary staff — a much larger
increase than has been made, in the same period, for many years past. In this addition
are included four Hindoo Christian Brethien, three of whom had prosecuted an appropriate
course of study during the preceding four years in the Institution at Bhowanipore, and
were ordained to the work of the ministry in Union Chapel, Calcutta, in March, 1861 ;
and the fourth, who, in the early part of the present year, was ordained at Bangalore, with
a view to be stationed at Belgaum, where he has laboured for some time past in the
character of an Evangelist.

The number of the Society's Missionaries for the present year is One HrxDEED and
SEVENTY. They are appropriated as follows: — Polynesia, Twenty-five; West Indies,
Twenty-two; South Africa, Thirty-seven; China, Nineteen; India, Sixty -one; and
Madagascar, Six.

The number of Native Agents, including Teachers, Catechists, and Evangelists, cannot,
from its frequent increase, be stated with precision, but the aggregate exceeds Eight
Hundred.

The number o^ Missionary Students is the same as that reported last year — Fobty; the
Candidates received being equal in number to those who have entered on their work.

"While the facts just enumerated, connected with the home interests of the Society,
cannot fail to awaken our thankfulness, the aspect presented by the several fields of actual
Mission labours is equally encouraging. The older Missions of the Society, with rare
exceptions, have advanced in strength and prosperity; and new Stations have been
established in every chief section of its operations. And while Polynesia and Africa, India
and China, have yielded their increase, the clouds which for thirty years have poured down
desolation and death on Madagascar, have fled before the breath of Jehovah ; the Sun of
Righteousness has arisen on the land with healing in His wings ; and the soil, fertilized by
the blood of the martyrs, already abounds with thanksgiving and praise. Such are the
rich, the unmerited rewards vouchsafed to our imperfect labours ; and the Directors and
Friends of the Society may heartily unite this day in the devout acknowledgment,
" Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

But the Directors have been reminded, during the past year, of their peculiar obliga-
tions to those devoted friends of the Society by whom, in its earliest efforts, it was

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 159

fondly cherished and generously sustained. One of their oldest colleagues, their ingenuous
and truthful friend, their heavenly-raiuded and Christ-like Brother, HEifRY Townley,
has exchanged earth for heaven. Xearly half a century has passed since, awakened
from a death of sin by the Spirit of God, and constrained by the love of the Redeemer, he
came forth, amidst ridicule and scorn, from the circles of fashion and frivolity in which
his youth had been dissipated, relinquished the emoluments of an honourable and lucrative
profession, and went, at the call of his newly-chosen Master, far hence to preach the Gospel
to the Gentiles. In the Metropolis of India he laboured with untiring energy as a self-
denying Missionary, till compelled, for the preservation of life, to revisit his native land ;
and, with generosity rarely equalled, the entire cost of his Mission, amounting to many
thousand pounds, he presented as a free-will offering to the Society and to God. Though
disappointed, by the prohibition of his medical advisers, in his ardent hope of returning to
India, he carried in his bosom, throughout his protracted course of home labour, the heart
of a Missionary, and ever proved himself the faithful, loving friend of this Society. In its
counsels he assisted by his wisdom and experience ; in its trials, his faith and courage
cheered the timid and desponding ; in its moments of embarrassment, his generosity was
never tardy nor stinted ; and, as he reclined on his dying pillow, he praised God that he
had lived long enough to witness, through its labours, the wide extension of the Saviour's
Kingdom in the vast regions of pagan darkness and moral death.

The Financial Statement for the year presents the following items and results : —

Ikcome, 1861-62.
Oedi>'aet.

Subscriptions, Donations, and Collections ...... £4^,475 5 4

Legacies 5,940 11 6

Fund for Widows and Orphans and Superannuated Missionaries . . 3,364 2 11

Australia and Foreign Auxiliaries ........ 2,333 5 10

Dividends, &c 1,022 0 0

59,135 5 7

Missionary Stations 15,062 18 6

74,198 4 1

Special.

For the Extension of Missions in India 909 1 3

Ditto ditto Chma 1,533 15 0

For the ReHef of Sufferers from Famine in Southern India . . . 767 12 0

For the Re-establishment of Mission in Madagascar .... 1,821 7 4

For Central South Africa 346 5 6

Total . £79,576 5 2

EXPE^•DIT^BE.

Home Payments £57,959 17 7

For India, Special 1,263 9 1

For Madagascar 2,283 9 4

For Central South Africa 1.960 15 11

Raised and appropriated at the Mission Stations 14,467 15 5

£77,935 7 4

160 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

The friends of the Society will be glad to learn, from the preceding Statement, that the
Contributions to the Fund for the Widows and Orphans of departed Missionaries, and
Missionaries incapacitated for labour by infirmity or age, have this year exceeded those of
any year preceding. This increase has arisen chiefly from the Bequest and the Donation
of two generous friends to this specific object, and which have, in accordance with their
wishes, been added to the Invested Fund.

The number of Widows dependent on this Fund is Twe^tty-eight ; of Oephaxs aitd
Fathebless Childeen, Fifty-six ; and of Aged and Disabled Missionaeies,
Twelve ; making a total of Xixety-six individuals.

The Directors are gratified in stating that among the Contributors to the Fund are
included several of the MissioiN" Churches —a practice so appropriate and just that they
would be thankful, however limited the resources of the Contributors, to witness such an
expression of veneration for the departed and of sympathy for the living, from all those
who owe to them, as the Ministers of Salvation, even their own selves.

The Directors perform a pleasing duty in acknowledging the Christian liberality of the
representatives of their late revered and valued friend, William Alers Hankey, Esq., who have
presented to the Society an extensive tract of land, being part of their late father's estate
in the Island of Jamaica. The estimated value of the property exceeds £800, and, when
realized and invested, the annual produce will, in accordance with the wishes of the
generous benefactors, be appropriated to the support of the Mission on that District of the
Island.

In illustration of the encouraging intimations already given, the Directors proceed to
give a sketch of the Society's Missions in the several divisions of its extended operations : —

POLYNESIA.

The good ship " John Williams," on her return to the Pacific, safely accomplished her
first annual series of voyages both in the East and the West. In almost all the Islands
visited she received a hearty welcome, but especially in those to which she carried new
Messengers of mercy from the Churches of Britain.

In the Islands on which the standard of the Cross was first planted, the Georgian and
Society Groups, while there are evils to deplore, these are -greatly outnumbered by facts
which should animate our hopes.

In Tahiti, although " iniquity abounds," there are many who have " not defiled their
garments ;" and, amidst all the inducements presented to the people by the teachers of
Romanism, few, very few, and those not distinguished by intelligence or reputation, have
yielded to the seduction. On the other hand, the number of members in the Protestant
Churches of the Island is greater by one third than it was when Popery was first forced
upon the Queen and her people by the arms of France. They amount to nearly 2400.

The Rev. William Howe, in his last letter, dated January 28th, gives the following
gratifying statement : —

" I named to some of the Native Ministers that the first week in the 'year would be set
apart throughout the Christian world to pray for the outpouring of the Divine Spirit on
the Church and on the world at large. Eight of the Churches in Tahiti observed the week,
and a delightful result has followed ; seven very promising young men have offered them-
selves for the Institution for training Native Teachers at Tahaa, in addition to two others
the week before the Meeting. The two young men at Tahiti who were in the Institution,
have lately returned, and are producing a very favourable impression."

The reception of Messrs. Green and Morris, by the people of Tahaa and Raiatea,
was most cordial, reminding us of the days of their " first love,*' so glowingly described in
the volumes of Ellis and Williams. Mr. Morris, describing the strange scenes and
first impressions of his new home, writes thus : —

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 161

" Raiatea, 29th June, 1861.
** It is with feelings of very much joy and gratitude that I inform you of the safe arrival,
on Saturday the 22nd inst., of Mrs. Morris and myself at our island home, and Mr. and
Mrs. Green at Tahaa.

** Our reception by the natives has been very much more cordial than I expected ; in fact,
it has been enthusiastic. Upwards of twenty men have been doing the moving part for
us, and helping to fix up our bedstead, table, and chairs. It has been truly gratifying to
see the pleasure they have taken in helping us.

" On Tuesday morning we were attracted by about fifty or sixty women carrying poles,
two and two, with large quantities of bread-fruit, oranges, cocoa-nuts, mountain plantains,
yams, taro, bananas, sweet potatoes, some fowls, and a pig. These were all placed before
our door, and the women sat in a semicircle. Then a native came forward as spokesman.
He delivered a speech, Mr. Piatt translating, to the following efi'ect : —

" * Teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Morris. We thank God for preserving you in your voyage
over the mighty deep. Our hearts are rejoiced at seeing your faces, and we want you to
accept these fruits, vegetables, &c. (naming all), as an expression of our love and affection
towards you. "SVe hope you will be happy and comfortable in your new home in this far-
oflF country.'

" I need hardly say our hearts were filled to overflowing with gratitude to our God, and
tears of joy filled our eyes. I replied to their speech in as suitable terms as I could, wheu
all of them gave us hearty shakes of the hand, and their friendly salutation — ' la ora na.'

** This was enough to rejoice our hearts ; but it was not all, for the next morning a second
presentation took place. It was similar to that I have narrated, only from other persons.
After the second presentation we had a lot of fruits and vegetables presented by the boys ;
and to sum up, an enormous quantity of fruits and vegetables was presented to those on
board the * John ^Yilliams.'

*' I can assure you that we are filled with gratitude and wonder at these unexpected,
spontaneous, and enthusiastic demonstrations of affection and liberality from the Raiateans.
"\Ve rejoice, take courage, and pray that our lives may be long spared to labour successfully
amongst this people."

In the Hervey Islands — the next oldest scenes of Missionary labour — times of refresh-
ing have been granted from the presence of the Lord. The Rev. George Gill, who
laboured in this group for sixteen years, in a letter to the Foreign Secretary, in June last,
writes as follows : —

*' At Rarotonga a great revival has taken place ; upwards of eight hundred individuals
have joined the classes. In confirmation of this statement I will translate a portion of a
letter I have just received from Russe and Tindmana, the Native Teacher and Chief at
Arorangi. They say, ' This is a season of great joy on Rarotonga. Multitudes of men
and women, and young persons, have been led to abandon their former evil practices, and
their backsliding, and have with all their heart believed upon Christ, and have been admitted
into the fellowship of the Church.' "

The Mission Churches in Samoa are, through the watchful care and the gracious gifts of
the Good Shepherd, making progress in strength, liberality, and usefulness. The internal
strife between the natives, which has proved a serious hindrance to the progress of social
improvement as well as religion, has for the greater part happily ceased ; in certain districts
also a system of government has been introduced, well calculated to insure harmony,
security, and freedom j and, should this be generally adopted by the people, it cannot fail
greatly to advance the civilization and prosperity of the islands.

While the Native Christians often exhibit, to the sorrow of their faithful Missionaries,
many of the infirmities and defects which mark a people recently rescued from paganism,
they are, nevertheless, striking examples of renewing and redeeming grace. The congrega-
tions are numerous, and the Churches increasing, and their liberality in the support and
j extension of the Gospel would supply an instructive example to Christians of greater age
I and higher culture. Their ^Missionary contributions last year amounted to i?126S, exclusive
I of those for the support or 200 village Pastors throughout the various Islands ; and in
addition they sent kind and liberal assistance to their countrymen who are labouring as
Evangelists in the dark lands of the west. Thirty years since, the people who now thus

162 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle j June 2, 1862.

live and labour for Christ, lay miserable and dying beneath the unbroken darkness of
paganism.

Among the several Islands to which tlie Word of the Lord has gone forth from Samoa,
Savage Island stands prominent. This terrific name, assigned to it by Captain Cook,
did but too accurately describe the ferocity of its inhabitants at the time of its discovery,
in the year 1774.

"We had no sooner joined our party," writes the great navigator, "than the islanders
appeared at the entrance of a chasm not a stone's throw from us. We began to speak and
to make all the friendly signs we could think of, which they answered by menaces, and one
of two men who were advanced before the rest threw a stone, which struck Mr. Sparrmaa
on the arm." Describing an attempt at another part of the coast to hold friendly inter-
course with the people, Captain Cook states—" We had been there but a few minutes before
the natives, I cannot say how many, rushed out of the wood before us. The endeavours we
used to bring them to a parley were to no purpose, for they came with the ferocity of wild
boars and threw their darts. Two or three muskets discharged in the air did not hinder
one of them from advancing still further, and throwing another dart, or rather spear, which
passed close to my shoulder. The conduct and aspect of these islanders occasioned my
naming it Savage Island."

When our Missionaries, moved with compassion for these barbarous people, first attempted
to carry to them the tidings of salvation, they found their brutal nature still unchanged,
and were compelled to retire. " My last visit to this island," writes the Rev. A. W.
Murray, " was at the close of 1853, and at that time it was in much the same barbarous
state as when it was discovered by Captain Cook."

But the providence of God brought to Samoa a native youth from Savage Island, whose
ferocity was subdued, and whose confidence was won by the power of Christian love. He
heard of Christ, and wondered ; he learnt to read His Word, and believed ; and, impelled
by love to his country and compassion to his kindred, he returned to his dark home
accompanied by Teachers from Samoa, who made known to the islanders the grace of the
Redeemer. The Lord gave testimony to the Word of His grace ; and the present hopeful
condition of the natives will be learnt from the subjoined report of the Rev. W. G. Lawes,
the first European Missionary ever located on the island. It is dated Alofi, October
17th, 1861:—

"I am glad to be able to tell you of our safe arrival at this place. We left Samoa on
the 12th of August, in the * John Williams,' accompanied by the Rev. G. Pratt and family,
who were appointed by the Brethren of the Samoan Committee to introduce us to our
future sphere of labour. We landed on the 20th of August. We were, indeed, heartily
welcomed by the people, who were expecting their promised Missionary. The landing-
place was crowded with hundreds of men and women, who were so eager to shake and
smell our hands, that it was with difficulty we reached the Teacher's house. The people
no doubt fully merited the name which Captain Cook gave them. We could not help
contrasting the two landings — the present and the past. Now, they are all clothed, joyfully
welcoming their Missionary — then, they were naked savages, rushing down like wild boars
upon their visitors. We found a good house ready for us, which our female friends soon
made a comfortable home. As soon as the excitement of our landing had subsided a little,
a joyful sound broke upon our ears in the stillness of the evening hour. It was the voice
of praise and prayer ascending from around the family altars of a people but fifteen years
ago degraded savages. Although there was not much poetry in their hymns, or music
in their song, it was a joyful sound to us ; no Christian heart could hear it and remain
unmoved.

As soon as our good ship had gone, and I was able to look round upon my field of
labour, I was amazed at the extent of the work already done. So far as I have been able
to ascertain, there is not a vestige (outwardly) of heathenism remaining; all has crumbled
away beneath the power of God's Word. There are five good chapels on the island ; one
of them will hold 1100 people, but it is too small. They are fine specimens of native

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle^ June 2, 1862. 163

ingenuity; they have been built, of course, vrithout European oversight; except in the
doors, there is not a nail in the building; all is firmly tied together with cinnet. The
teachers seem worthy men, and God has manifestly been with them in their work : of
course their knowledge is very limited, and the work to be done great and arduous. I am
appalled when I think of the work before me : may I not hope for help ? The word of
God has to be translated, and all this land cultivated for Christ.

"I can do but little until I get a thorough knowledge of the language. If anything
will 77iaie a man learn a language, it is to be surrounded by a loving people thirsting for
the word of God, and to be unable to speak to them. You will be glad to know that I
have made a commencement in the native tongue ; I conducted the Missionary Prayer
Meeting a fortnight ago, and gave an address in the native language. A Missionary Prayer
Meeting in Savage Island is very diflferent from a Missionary Prayer Meeting in England.
All the people attend here ; there could not have been less than 800 on either of the
occasions we have witnessed. T have a class of fifteen young men, which I meet every
■week. They are remarkably quick and intelligent : I hope that at no distant day they will
be usefully employed as assistant Teachers on their own island. I hope in my next letter
to be able to give you some interesting information respecting the laws, customs, &c.,
which my limited knowledge of the language prevents my doing now."

In the Islands of Western Polynesia, including the New Hebrides and Loyalty
Groups, the people have suffered very severely from the introduction of measles. In
Mare, Lifu, Tana, and Akeiteum, a great number of the people fell victims to this
malignant epidemic. The Christians received the painful visitation with humble submis-
sion to the will of God ; but the heathen ascribed it to the anger of their gods for the
admission of Christian Teachers, and the overthrow of their former superstitions. For a
season the believers were in great danger from the threatened vengeance of their adversa-
ries, but, at the visit of the " John Williams," in September last, the ravages of disease
had nearly ceased, and the Missionaries, trusting in God, anticipated a return of peace and
prosperity.

Eramaxga, beyond all other islands of the Pacific, has obtained a mournful notoriety
by the barbarous murders perpetrated by its savage inhabitants, more than twenty years
since, upon Williams and Harris, and recently upon Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, who,
impelled by Christian compassion, had nobly settled on its blood-stained shores. But
although the shadow of death has rested so heavily upon this Island, we are thankful to
learn from the journal of Mr. Murray, that there is yet hope for Eramanga.

In no ^klission field has the necessity and value of Native Agency been more evident
than in Polynesia ; and, with much satisfaction, the Directors inform their constituents
that the several Institutions for training Native Evangelists are conducted with great judg-
ment and efficiency by the honoured Brethren to whom this important charge is committed.
The Institution at Tahaa has ten Students, that at Rarotonga, twenty, and that at
Malua, in the Island of Upolu, eighty-five ; making a total of One Hundred and fifteen
Candidates for the different departments of Missionary service in Polynesia.

The Churches throughout the Pacific have for many years possessed the sacred Scriptures
in their own tongue, and in their several dialects. During the last year, the Rev. Dr.
Turner has carried a revised edition of the Bible in Samoan through the press ; and the
Rev. Alex. Chisholm has been rendering the same service with the Bible in Tahitian, The
expense of these literary labours, as well as of the editions to be printed, is kindly dis-
charged by the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society ; but, as in former
editions, the outlay will be fully repaid by the sale of the sacred volume, of which the
people are willing purchasers.

THE WEST INDIES.

The Mission Churches in British Guiana, into which the Gospel was introduced by
the devoted John Wray, more than fifty years since, have, under the Divine blessing.

164 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle , June 2, 1862.

made steady progress both in outward and internal prosperity. Several Churches, both
in Demerara and Berhice, have attained the ability and the honour of self-support, and now
sustain to the Society a filial relation, rather than that of beneficiaries and dependents. It
is the earnest hope of the Directors that, at no distant day, such may be the position of all
the remaining Stations — a hope cherished, not only that the funds of the Society, thus
liberated, may be applied to new efforts for the salvation of the benighted millions of the
East, but from a deep conviction that the discharge of this great Christian duty is as bene-
ficial to the Churches as it is honourable to the Saviour. The Directors will not cease to
cherish towards the Churches originated by the Agents of the Society the warmest parental
affection ; and, should they be visited by seasons of suffering or depression, they will
gladly render them the proofs of Christian sympathy, and that measure of assistance which
circumstances may require : but they wish it to be clearly and universally understood that
they cannot encourage, on the part of the older Mission Churches, the expectation of
permanent dependence and fixed support.

The jNIission Stations in Jamaica at the commencement of last year, were, in coramon
with all other Churches in the island, visited with an extraordinary religious revival. It
can scarcely occasion surprise that among a people so excitable as the coloured inhabitants
of the island, the general awakening degenerated, in some instances, into extravagance and
disorder. But from these evils our Churches, by the discretion and firmness of their
faithful Pastors, were generally preserved, and they report severally their conviction that
the late revival, though attended by many indications of human weakness and sinfulness,
was verily the work of God, and that it has resulted in abundant blessings to the people.

The Reports from Ridgmount and from the other Stations in different districts of the
island, are of a very gratifying character, justifying the devout and thankful conclusion that
the Spirit of the Lord has been poured upon multitudes, and that, in their saving con-
version, " His Word has had free course and been glorified."

SOUTH AFRICA.

The greater number of the Churches within the Cape Colony, raised and organized by the
former eff"orts of the Society, have for several years past] supported their pastors, inde-
pendently of its pecuniary aid ; and other Stations which, for the present, require assistance,
are annually increasing in strength and resources.

Among many gratifying communications which have been received from the Colony
during the year, that of the Rev. Joseph Kitchingmax, of Graaf Reinet, has
afforded the Directors peculiar pleasure. His Report affords evidence of that spirit of
holy earnestness which has more recently been cherished by the Church of Christ,
and which has led, in numberless instances, to special prayer and corresponding
effort for the revival of religion and the conversion of the world. Such appears to have
been the course pursued by the Cliristian people of Graaf Reinet, and the happiest
results have followed. Careless professors have been aroused from their lethargy — souls
dead in sin have been quickened together with Christ — and from the Churches of the
locality the Word of the Lord has sounded forth in the regions beyond them. One of
the first fruits of this gracious revival is the determination of the Church over which Mr.
K. presides, in future to support their pastor without drawing on the funds of the Society.

Our Missionary Brethren labouring beyond the Colony among the Hottentots, Kaffirs,
Griquas, and Bechuanas, report favourably of the state and prospects of their several
Missions; and, although the people generally are poor, they do what they can both to
support and diffuse the blessings of the Gospel.

The Rev. Richard Birt, with the Rev. Thos. BROCKWAY,are labouring indefatigably

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle y June 2, 1862. 165

at Feelton ; and their efforts are amply rewarded by the attachment and progress of the
people. Mr. Birt writes, under the power of a grateful heart in acknowledging the special
favour of God, as follows : —

** T am thankful to say," he observes, "that there are signs of God's Spirit among us
in occasional conversions, though we have not to record any mighty work. Seventeen
members were received into fellowship last month, and four re-admitted who had been
under discipline ; and there are among the Catechumen several fresh converts. We trust
that this week of special prayer, which has been an enjoyment to us, will be the means of
bringing down upon us and all round us, reviving grace and quickening power.

*♦ Our arduous work is sweetened, not only by the absence of everything that would be
grating to the feelings, but by a perfect harmony which obtains in our little community — a
harmony which takes its rise in a close union of heart and spirit. For this we are oft con-
strained to say, * Bless the Lord, O my soul !' "

Mr. Brockway gives a most encouraging report of the state of the Schools, in which he
labours most assiduously : —

" Before speaking of the Schools," he writes, " there is one fact which I am sure will
greatly please you — that I have been able to preach in the language of the people for some
time past. I commenced in April last, and although, as Mr. Birt's health is now pretty
good, I have not been often called upon to preach, yet I avail myself of every opportunity
to speak to the people in their native tongue^

" Our Schools have recently been very full. During the last month upwards of two
hundred and sizty children have been taught, including boys, girls, and infants. You will
be gratified to hear that we still keep our School supplied with material from the payments
of the children. Between sixty and seventy of my boys write in copy-books, and all are
making very satisfactory progress in reading and arithmetic. I feel very sadly their want
of a literature; — very, very little has been done hitherto in the work of translation.

" One more fact you will permit me to mention. Some time since, thinking a treat
would stimulate and encourage my lads, I promised they should have one. Subsequently,
I thought it would be better to refer it to themselves whether they would have the promised
dinner or a book. With only two or three exceptions, all hands were held up for a book,
and this a lesson book to be used in school. This, for lads who do not often get aught
else but Indian corn for food, was a gratifying circumstance, and I feel sure it will please
you."

The Rev. William Ross, who succeeded our lamented Brother Helmore at
Lekatloxg, and extends his exertions widely in the surrounding region, gives a gratifying
statement of his Mission, and in confirmation mentions that the Church Communicants
numbered 70G.

Our veteran Brother, the Rev. Robert Moffat, with his colleague the Rev. Wm.
ASHTOX, continue unweariedly to carry forward their varied labours at Kurunian. These
labours include the charge of the Native Church and Congregation — the Education both of
adults and children — Itinerant visitations to the neighbouring aborigines — the Revision of
the sacred Scriptures — and the vigorous employment of the Mission Press ; and, in these
several departments, they are much encouraged by the results. The following cheering
letter of Mr. Ashton is dated October 24th, 1S61 :—

" The work here is more prosperous now than I have ever seen it before. We are, I
hope, participating in the blessings of the Holy Spirit's influence, which have been sought
by God's praying people throughout the world. There seems to be a revival, especially
among the young people. We have four classes, comprising some fifty persons, whom we
meet once a week at sun-rise. Out of these we propose to select the most eligible for
membership.

*' The demand for books is increasing so rapidly, both here and at the other Stations and
Out-Stations, that I can scarcely supply it. When I returned from the Colony I found
that nearly all the books I had lefc bound had been sold. I have since bound another
supply, and am printing an edition of 4000 of the School Catechism. The new Hymn-book
is out of print, whica must be the next work after the Catechism is finished. While at
Bedford I translated a good part of * Instruction for Young Inquirers,' by Dr. Innes of

166

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

Edinburgh, which I hope some day to finish and print for our inquirers, both young and
old. The press was never so useful in this country as it is at present, which I am sure you
will look upon as a hopeful sign."

The latest intelligence from the newly-established Mission among the Maiebele, under
the chief Moselekatse, is contained in a communication from the Rev. Robert Moffat, dated
the 20th of November last, in which he gives extracts from the letters of the Brethren
labouring in that remote region. The Rev. W. H. Sykes writes : —

" Moselekatse is getting feeble ; I believe he never walks a step, but is always carried.
He is very kind to us, and has never annoyed us since my return. Mangwane, his eldest
son, is constantly with him. We like this young man; he is always respectful towards us,
and is pleased with any attention shown him. He manifests a strong desire to enjoy
comforts like ours, such as houses, furniture, earthenware, Sfc. So far as my short-
sightedness will allotc me to judge, I believe, should he succeed to the throne, he would he
a true friend to the Mission, although I do not know how the possession of j^ower might
influence him."

Nothing can be more important for the future interests of the Mission than the character
of him who shall succeed the aged chief, and who may ere now have been installed in the
seat of despotic power. May the prayers of the Church ascend to the God of all grace on
behalf of Mangwane, that his heart and life may be brought under the benign influence of
Christianity, and that his government over the myriads of the Matebele may be as
just and beneficent as that of his father has proved cruel and destructive.

Mr. Moffat also forwards the translation of a letter from Sebehwe, the son of Sebobi, a
native Christian Teacher, in reference to the lamented death of Mr. and Mrs. Helmore,
their children, and attendants. The writer had just returned from the country of the
Makololo, north of the Zambesi, and he gives the statement which he received from
Sekeletu, explanatory of those mournful events. The chief utterly disclaimed the crime
with which he had been charged of administering poison to our lamented friends ; and was
no less anxious to exonerate himself from the guilt of having forcibly detained the waggon
and other property, both of Mr. Helmore and Mr. Price, throwing the blame upon Mahuse
and Khonate, two men of the Missionary party, as instigators of the outrage. But, what-
ever may have been the conduct of these men, no reliance can be placed upon Sekeletu's
Jittempts at self-vindication, which are totally at variance with the facts of the case. The
entire conduct of the chief and his people was basely unprincipled and cruel, and has
naturally been followed by remorse and dread. It may be that the providence of God will
overrule their wickedness, and render their present feelings and professions the means
hereafter of introducing Christian Teachers to make known to them the Word of life. For
the present we must await the clearer intimations of the Divine will; but Messrs. Price and
McKenzie will take up a station between Kuruman and the Zambesi, and thus be ready to
advance whenever a door of entrance to the Makololo may be opened.

The conclusions drawn by Mr. Moffat from the letter of Sebehwe, founded as they are
upon the experience of nearly half a century of Missionary life among the native tribes,
possess great force, and are well calculated to animate our future efforts to lead Sekeletu
and his people to that Saviour whom, in the persons of His faithful servants, they have
despised and rejected, robbed and destroyed.

" Whatever may be the amount of guilt," observes Mr. M., " attached to other indi-
viduals, it is evident that Sekeletu feels deeply the unenviable position into which he has
brought himself and his people, when he can beg of an individual whom he never saw
before to take charge of Helraore's waggon, and offer to make restitution for loss of property
to whatever amount demanded. This is not only a step in the right direction, but going
a great way, for a young, inexperienced, and independent heathen chief. This encourages
the hope, which cannot be abandoned by any one who is at all conversant with the history
of Missions, that the loss of sacred property, and especially the sacrifice of valuable lives.

Missionary Magazine and ChroniclCj Ju7ie 2, 1862. 167

in the Makololo Mission, tcill not be in vain. Such events, which have so often character-
ized the introduction 0/ the Gospel among barlarous and semi-barbarous nations, may try
the faith of the Christian, but they cannot destroy it. The command, as well as the
promise of the presence of the Saviour and the Sovereign of the world, are unalterable.
He must reign; and we ought to be thankful for every incident which betokens a change
for the better, even in the most abandoned."

In the Society's last Report, it was stated that the Directors had reason to expect that
the Rev. Roger Price would accompany the two orphan children of the lamented Mr. and
Mrs. Helmore to Cape Town ; and further, that he had been encouraged to come with them
to England. The Directors judged that after the laborious and painful scenes through
which he had passed, and the heavy bereavements he had suffered, his health and spirits
needed relaxation, and that a visit to his native land would prove not only beneficial to
himself, but also truly gratifying to the friends of the Society, and useful to its interests.
But Mr. Price, after mature deliberation on the proposal of the Directors, while deeply
sensible of their kindness, decided that his course of duty led him back to the interior,
and he left Cape Town on his way to the Kuruman on the 19th August last. The surviving
children of our late beloved friends, Mr. and Mrs. Helmore, safely arrived at Southampton
in the mail steamer, " Dane,'' on the 28th September. During the voyage they were under
the care of Christian friends, who rendered them every proof of affection, and they reached
England in merciful circumstances cf health and comfort.

The entire family, consisting of four daughters and one son, are receiving the special
consideration and care of the Directors, as well as that of their immediate relatives; and we
trust that, under the Divine guidance and blessing, they may, after receiving a course of
sound education, be found qualified to fill useful positions in society, and, above all, that
they may become humble and devoted disciples of that Saviour in whose service the lives of
their honoured parents were sacrificed.

CHINA.

In the colony of Hong Kong, and in the cities of Canton-, Amot, and Shakghae, our
Missionaries have continued the labours of former years with unabated diligence and
fidehty, attended with many encouraging proofs of the Divine favour.

In HoxG Kon g, Dr. Legge informs the Directors that the general aspect of the Mission
is cheering, and that the Native Church and Congregation, under the able ministry of
Tsun-sheen, is advancing in numbers, intelligence and piety.

In Canton, our Brethren, Messrs. Chalmers and Turner, are about to form a second
and third Station in that populous city ; and they state with thankfulness that the people,
whose former deadly hatred to the Christian Teacher was notorious, will now listen with
attention to his message, and that both in Canton and the surrounding country, the
facihties for Missionary labour were never so abundant.

The Mission Hospital is now under the charge of Dr. Carmichael, who entered on his
labours in the month of February.

In Amov, the ministry of the Messrs. Stronach and Lea has been rewarded with a
large amount of direct •access. Their congregations are numerous and attentive, and the
number of their believing Converts, united in Church-fellowship, is about 250. They have
just erected an additional place of worship in a populous and respectable quarter of the city,
in which they anticipate a crowded audience to listen to the Word of Life. Of the general
attention of the people, our Brethren give the following encouraging representation : —

" Our principal Chinese chapel is very numerously attended by devoutly listening hearers
twice every Lord's day ; and during the week, almost every day two or more services are
held there, our Evangelist, Tan tai, and other Chinese Brethren, assisting us in making
known the Gospel to all who come to hear.

" Our chapel beyond the north gate of the city is always encouragingly attended — many

168 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

of the women, as well as the men, of the neighbourhood being constant and earnest hearers
there.

" Another chapel we have opened in the populous or much frequented village of Tah ch'u,
being a great thoroughfare about three miles from Amoy, at which several of our Church
members reside.

«' The female meetings for our Chureh members and others are now very numerously
attended, and are regarded as peculiarly encouraging.

" Daily we go out and preach in the streets — before the temples, or in various wide parts
of the thronged thoroughfares. Wherever we go, far or near, we always see large com-
panies soon gather around us to hear our preaching. Sometimes some of those who come
attempt to gainsay and resist the truth. Still, crowds listen eagerly when we proclaim
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We trust our unceasing prayers will be heard ;
and that, of the many thousands of those to whom we have often preached Christ, we shall
at least meet not a few around His tlirone in heaven."

In Shanghae, although the nearness and hostile intentions of the Insurgents have been
very unfavourable to Missionary operations, our Brethren, Messrs. Muirhead and
Macgowan, with their Native Assistants, have lost no opportunity of prosecuting their
labours, both in the city and the surrounding towns and villages. Of their labours and
successes during the former part of the year, the following is a concise report : —

" We are happy to inform you that, during the last six months, the Gospel has been
steadily gaining ground ; our numbers are continually increasing, and the number of
Christian professors in this heathen land is being gradually augmented. The utmost
efforts have been put forth to bring the knowledge of the way of salvation within the reach
of as many as possible. We have had daily services in the City, both in the large and small
chapels. The several country stations hare also been frequently visited, and latterly a plan
has been adopted by which the Chinese Hospital, with its immense daily attendance, shall
be thoroughly evangelized.

" But our greatest success has been in some of the country places. Many obstacle*
which exist in Shanghae to the spread of the Gospel, are not found there. Here, every
one seems immersed in selfishness, or influenced in some degree by the debasing influence
of the foreign residents; whilst there, much more simplicity is found, and a readier assent
given to the doctrines of the Cross. In T'say-so, for instance, our success has been
altogether remarkable ; in six months seventeen members have been admitted into Christ's
Church, whilst not a single individual has been brought under Church discipline.
> ** Independently of what has been done in Shanghae, and of what is still being carried
on, a great deal has been done in the country, in the way of Bible and Tract distribution.
Many families have been supplied with the Word of Life or with epitomes of Gospel truth;
several districts have been visited and preached to, and well-founded hopes are cherished
that the doctrine of Christ crucified has shed hght over many a dark soul."

This gratifying statement has been succeeded by one from Mr. Macgowan, written
with mournful feelings, so recently as February 5th.

You will no doubt have heard by previous mails that we are again threatened with an
attack from the rebels. Their approach has been marked by murder and desolation, and
we behold the evidence of their presence on all hands. All the adjacent country has been
desolated ; and were it not for the kindness of the foreign community in raising money ta
assist the destitute, the condition of many would be sad indeed. As it is, multitudes have
been deprived of their all ; men who were in comparativelj^ easy and affluent circumstances
a short time ago are now wandering about in the utmost distriss. The effects of this
intestine war were never brought so vividly before my mind as at the present. Hitherto
it has been at a distance, but now, when it comes within our own neighbourhood, we begin
to appreciate what a terrible scourge it is.

" I am very sorry to have to tell you that our Church at T'say-so has been scattered.
The place was captured about three weeks ago by a rebel detachment, when our poor
converts suffered very severely at their hands. Some of them were carried off, and com-
pelled to join the rebels; others were at once killed; several are still wandering about the
country, endeavouring to evade the bands which are plundering and marauding; whilst but
a very few have arrived at Shanghae in safety. I cannot tell you what grief I have felt at
this dispersion of our little flock. I had entertained very great hopes of the rapid progress
of the Gospel at T'say-so, and I had every encouragement to do so. In a short time I had

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 169

intended to baptize twelve or thirteen who were desirous of making a profession of Christ ;
but now, in all human probability, that can never be, as many of these have not been heard
of since the capture of the place. My earnest prayer is that the dispersed converts may
have grace given them to stand fast in the midst of all the difficulties by which their faith
will be so much tried.

** The Native Preacher who was stationed at T'say-so is busily engaged in preaching in
Shanghae. The population of this place is immensely increased; thousands have lately
come here who have never heard the Gospel, I am very anxious, therefore, to have as
much preaching as possible. I have myself two services a day ; one in the morning, at
our large chapel, and the other in the afternoon, at the smaller one. I am happy to say
both are well attended."

In addition to these established Missions, three new and most important Stations have
been recently adopted.

Messrs. John and Wllsox have commenced Missionary labour in Hankow. This
city is 730 miles nmrSk of Shanghae ; it is the great emporium of commerce on the
Yang-tsze-Kiang and most important as a centre from which communication may be inter-
changed with the several provinces of the empire.

On the 5th of November Mr. John reports, in very encouraging terms, the result of his
first labours : —

" Having been here for several weeks, preaching daily to this people, you will be
pleased to learn how the work is progressing. As we have no regular chapel, the services
are conducted in a large hall in my house. The door is opened every afternoon for two
or three hours. The native assistants (two in number) and myself preach in turns.
At the close of each service books are given away to all applicants who can read. My
audience generally consists of the representatives of several provinces. Canton, Fu Kien,
Sii-Chwan, Kwei-Chow, Kan-siih, Shan-si, Shen-si, Hunan, Kiang-si, Xgan-hwei,Che-Kiang,
Kiang-su, &c., &c., all meet here in their respective merchants and artisans. Many of them
come and go annually. Not a few attend our preaching from day to day, and to most
our speech is quite intelligible. From this point the Gospel may penetrate and spread
over the eighteen provinces. The Gospel is listened to invariably with much atten-
tion. Most come with the sole purpose of learning what this new doctrine is. The
questions asked by them, and the answers elicited by questions put to them, are indicative
of a state of mind far more inquisitive than that of any part of China that I have yet seen.
The books are received thankfully, and, what is far better, are read by many. Those who
have obtaiued one part of the Scriptures often come for the other part or parts, having read
the first through. Others come for explanations. Two or three days ago I was surprised
to hear a man talking fluently with the Native Assistant, whilst I was giving away some
books at the close of the service, about God the Father in heaven, Jesus Christ, atonement
by the death of Jesus, Paul the Apostle, and other subjects. On inquiry I found that he
had received parts of the Scriptures, which he had read carefully, find was now in quest ot
more. Not long since I presented the Tau-Tai with a copy of the New Testament,
together with some scientific works. To-day his Excellency called upon me. 1 was
agreeably surprised to find that he was more deeply interested in the New Testament and
our religion than in the other books. He told me that he had been reading the New
Testament, which I found to be a fact from his subsequent inquiries.

*' The Mandarins here are disposed to be very friendly. The district magistrate has called
upon me twice, and written me several very kind letters. The Lieutenant-Governor has
sent me a proclamation to be posted on our door, commanding both soldiers and people not
to molest foreigners, under the severest penalties."

The Rev. Joseph Edkins has commenced a new Mission in the city of Tien-tsin",
where he has been lately joined by the Rev. Jonathan Lees, who left England in the
month of October. This city contains a population of 500,000, and is distant from Peking,
the capital, not more than one hundred miles. The letters of Mr. Edkins represent the
disposition of the people to be friendly, and their attention to the preaching of the Gospel
as striking. He records also several instances of the power of Divine truth on the hearts
of indi\-iduals, and their public profession of Christianity in baptism — the first fruits of his

170 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

labours in Tien-tsin. Since the commencement of his Mission, six converts had been admitted
to the rite of baptism.

Our disinterested and devoted friend Dr. Lockhart, embarked for China on the 9th of
June, and in the early part of August reached the city of Shanghae in safety and peace. ,
Having been favoured by the British Ambassador, the Hon. Fredk. Bruce, with a passport
for Peking, he reached that city in the beginning of September. His arrival in the capitaU
and his description of the various scenes and objects which lie witnessed, given in his own
lively manner, are deeply interesting and instructive. Dr. L.'s first letter is dated Peking,,
September 18th.

** I have arrived, by God's great goodness, at the end of my long journey, and am at
Peking, living in this Tartar city, at the British Legation, as Mr. Bruce's guest. As soon
as I got ray passport, I started, and in five carts journeyed the hundred miles from Tien-tsiii
to Peking ; it took me two and a half days to do it. What a contrast with the beginning
and end of my journey ! I was two hours slipping down to Dover, one hundred miles from
London, and the final one hundred miles were nearly three days in accomplishing. How-
ever, at last I rolled in my cart under the great gates, and entered the Imperial City,
thanking God for all the way in which he had led me, and given me grace to enter on this
place as the hoped-for sphere of labour. Mr. Bruce has been very kind, and promises to
help me ; at present I am a visitor, but I shall be very loth to go away, and shall try all
plans to secure my residence here. I believe this will be accomplished, and that soon I
shall be able to report that I have entered on my work in this place.

" This is a grand place for work ; it is the capital, the vital heart of the empire. I
expected to find much dirt here, and it is here in quantity ; but still there is much of great
interest — its walls, its gates, its streets and palaces are all vast and fine. I have seen the
old Jesuit Observatory on a grand terrace on the walls, with its neat bronze instruments by
Verbiest, Ricci, Schaal, and others — not used at present; they are immense things, and
richly ornamented. Also, in another part of the city, the old Romish cathedral ; on its gate
is the inscription 'Via regia coeli 1657.' The walls were painted by Ghirardine. It is
being repaired most fully after long neglect and decay. I am going to the old cemetery,
where Ricci, Schaal, and many others of the old Missionaries lie interred ; it is outside the
city in the West.

*' I hope my coming will be the commencement of Protestant Missions in Peking, and
that the London Missionary Society will not give up the place. There is a house I shall
try to get in a few days, but owing to the death of the emperor, affairs are unsettled, and
nothing can be done just now. The more 1 see of the place, the more important, in every
way, does it appear to me."

In the next communication of our friend Dr. L., he writes as follows, October 3rd: —

*' I have been at Peking for three weeks, and though I have not entered into possession
of ray house, I hope to do so in a few days, and am getting furniture and the odds and ends
wanted for housekeeping. My notice was called to a house next to the British Legation.
The Government buy the premises, and I rent from the Legation and put it in repair, of
which it needs a great deal, chiefly for the hospital part. The sale is not completed, as the
money is not paid ; but probably in a week I shall have possession, and can wait awhile for
it. I am rejoiced to get a house at all, as I am the only British subject in Peking out of
the Legation, and it is a new thing altogether. I consider it a good beginning for the
Mission, and though I can see that I must be alone for a time, yet in due course others will
be able to join me.

" The house and premises cover a good deal of ground. There is a large gate and wal?
to the street, then a small court and house, then a quadrangle with rooms all round. This
will be for dispensary, hospital, &c. Immediately I enter the house I shall open a dis-
pensary. I have already picked up several patients, and I and my work are getting known
about the city."

Dr. Lockhart's hopes of obtaining opportunities for the benevolent exercise of his pro-
fessional skill have been fully gratified. The applicants for his assistance include individuals
of all classes ; and the numbers that flock to his dispensary, and the amount of daily
labour he endures, would be suflUcient to overwhelm any man not endowed with our
friend's buoyant spirit and benevolent heart. We indulge the sanguine expectation

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 171

that the introduction of Christianity to the inhabitants of Peking, in connection with
the exercise of benevolence to the afflicted, will tend to conciliate their regard for
foreigners, and dispose them to listen to the "good words" which Dr. Lockhart and
his Native Christian assistant address to them ; and that thus the way may be pre-
pared for the introduction of direct Missionary labour, and the public proclamation of the
Gospel,

With feelings of intense sorrow, the Directors close their brief recital of the Society's
operations and interests in China, by adverting to the violent persecution which the Native
Christians of Pok-lo have suffered from their countrymen, involving the violent death of
the venerable Ch'ea, the first convert in that district to the faith of Christ. Pok-lo is a
town of about 15,000 inhabitants, situate in the province of Canton, and distant 100 miles
from the colony of Hong Kong. To render the present statement more intelligible and
instructive, it may be necessary to recapitulate the facts connected with the origin and
progress of this interesting Mission.

In the year 1856, Dr. Legge reported the interesting case of Ch'eS, a Christian convert
from Pok-lo. He was a man advanced in years, and his mind had been awakened to the
truth and divinity of the Gospel by instructions he had received from a colporteur in the
service of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and he came to Hong Kong seeking further
counsel from our Missionaries. He was admitted to the privileges of the Church, and
shortly returned to his native town. In the year following he again visited the colony,
accompanied by a Native Convert; in 1858 he made another visit, attended by two other
Converts, and in the year 1859 he appeared with two more. All these had been brought
to embrace the truth of Christ by his means. In the early part of 1860, Ch'ea again presented
himself to Dr. Legge, with rdne additional candidates for Christian baptism, making a total
of fourteen souls brought to the knowledge of the Saviour by the Christian zeal of this
venerable man. In the spring of 1860 the Rev. John Chalmers, accompanied by Tsun-
Sheen, the Chinese Evangelist, made a visit to Pok-lo, where they were greatly cheered
both by the stedfastness of the converts already received, and by the urgent application of
many of the people for Christian baptism ; and of these, forty-four were deemed suitable
subjects for that ordinance.

In the month of January 1861, sixteen additional individuals from Pok-lo and its vicinity
were received into the visible Church by Dr. Legge at Hong Kong, " making a total," as
our friend observed, *' up to that time, of eighty-five individuals who had publicly come
over to the Christian camp."

In May last both Dr. Legge and Mr. Chalmers again visited Pok-lo and the surrounding
country, when they received upwards of forty additional Converts ; and airangements were
then made for opening a sanctuary in which the Native Christians should meet to enjoy the
truths and ordinances of the Gospel.

Such had been the rise and progress of the kingdom of God. The seed of truth sown in
the heart of an aged and obscure individual had been watered by the grace of the Holy
Spirit, and through progressive years it had brought forth thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold .
All was promising ; and it was hoped that a European Missionary might shortly be appointed
to this inland Station, and preach the Gospel without let or hindrance. These bright
prospects have, however, been suddenly overcast. In the early part of October, Dr. Legge
received intelligence that a spirit of enmity and persecution against the Native Brethren
had been exhibited by'the higher class of their countrymen ; and, after obtaining an assurance
of redress from the Governor of Canton and a native officer to protect him on the journey,
he hastened to Pok-lo.

The result of our friend's intervention appeared for the moment quite satisfactory ; for
although he was fully sensible of the duplicity and injustice of the native authorities, they
promptly conceded to the claims of Dr. Legge on behalf of the Christians, and rendered him

G 2

172

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2j 1862.

abundant profession of respect and honour. But, within a fortnight after his return to
Honc'- Kong he received the painful tidings that his hopes had been grievously disappointed;
that the native authorities, who had for the hour yielded to the influence of their superior,
the Governor of Canton, had basely violated all their engagements, and had themselves
become parties in a series of cruel persecutions, terminating in the torture and murder of >
the faithful Ch'ea — the proto-martyr in the cause of Protestant Christianity m China.

"When 1 left," writes Dr. Legge, Ch'ea remained in temporary charge of the house.
He was full of joy, as I was, and unsuspicious of danger. On the evening of the 13th of
October, he was forcibly carried off by a body of ruffians, led by Soo Hoy-u and a confede-
rate like' himself. They took him to a village not far oflF, and hung him up all night by the arms
and feet to a beam. During the two following days, he suffered much torture and insult,
and on the IGth he was taken to the river side, and, on refusing to renounce Christianity,
was put to death, and his body thrown in the stream. On the 14th, the triumphant foe
declared his intention to burn the village of Chiik-iin, and the Brethren there, with their
families, fled to villages more remote, where they could take refuge with Christian fiends.
On the 17th, fourteen of them made their way to Canton. The man from whom we pur-
chased the house came here, bringing his wife and daughter with him. Others came from
Pok-lo; and, four days ago, two came from Kot-leng, saying that persecution was extending
to their neighbourhood, and a reward offered for the heads of the two principal men among
them.

<' I have obtained a copy of part of a placard posted up in Wye-chow, and purporting to
be issued by the whole city. It offers fifty dollars for the death of every foreigner coming
among them, and 20 dollars for the death of every Chinese aiding in bringing the foreigner
there, or in circulating his books.

" Such is the present posture of affairs. Our Brethren are indeed in an e\il case."

These facts, though deeply painful, can awaken neither surprise nor fear in the minds of
reflecting Christians. Persecution for Christ's sake is the sure and invariable result of faith
in His name and obedience to His will. But it is no less certain that persecution has ever
defeated its own design — that it has ever been overruled by God for the furtherance of the
Gospel; and we doubt not that in China, as in Madagascar, the blood of the martyrs
will prove the seed of the Church.

Since the publication of the last Annual Report, important changes have occurred in the
Imperial Government, which must hereafter greatly affect the poUtical and social interests
of this vast empire, and will probably have an important bearing also on the future labours
of the Mission Church. On the 22nd of August the late Emperor, at the early age of
twenty-nine, fell a victim to the unrestrained indulgence of his vices ; and his son, a child
of only eight years of age, was nominated by the dying father as his successor, with a
council of regency during his minority. This council was composed of unprincipled men,
who had surrounded the late Emperor, and employed their influence to gratify his unbridled
passions ; they w^ere the declared enemies of intercourse and alHance with foreigners, and
by their cruel and perfidious designs our countrymen, while engaged in friendly negotiations,
were^seized, imprisoned, and two of,their number cruelly put to death. The mother of the
juvenile Emperor, with Prince Kung, his uncle, arraigned the council of regency before the
supreme tribunal, for sundry crimes affecting the honour and the welfare of the empire ;
these charges were substantiated — the regency was deposed — and three of its members were
sentenced to die, two by their own hands, and one by the public executioner. Prince Kung
is esteemed a man of enlightened mind and steady purpose, and the new government, of
which he is prime minister, is daily gathering strength and commanding public confidence.
The men whom he has displaced have only paid the just penalty of their bad counsels and
pernicious doings, and they have fallen unpitied by any class of their countrymen.
_ The Tae-piug Insurgents have continued to carry desolation and death wherever their
power has prevailed. The cities of Nanking, Suchow, and Ningpo are, for the greater
part, in ruins ; and the wretched inhabitants who escaped the sword are perishing by famine.

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle j June 2, 1862. 173

By the latest intelligence we learn that they have surrounded Shaxgh a.e in almost countless
numbers ; but it is hoped and expected that the combined forces of Britain and of Franco
will be sufficient to protect the city and repel the invaders.

The favourable judgment which some of our Missionaries heretofore entertained in relation
to the character of the Tae-ping Insurgents has been greatly quahfied, especially in applica-
tion to their leader, by further acquaintance with their proceedings. And so bold and
blasphemous are the pretensions of the Tien-Wang, and so cruel and oppressive is the
exercise of liis despotism, that any immediate advantage to the cause of Christianity
resulting from the success of his adherents is well-nigh relinquished. Nevertheless,
Mr. John., during his sojourn at Nanking, met with several individuals who not only pos-
sessed an accurate acquaintance with the essential truths of Christianity, but exemplified
their influence on their spirit and character. These men secretly disavowed their faith in the
divine pretensions of the chief; but had this conviction been known, or even suspected, the
sacrifice of their lives would have been the penalty of their unbelief. Our Brethren, how-
ever, entertain a strong conviction that the circulation of the New Testament by the authority
of the Tieu-\Vang has diffused a large amount of Christian knowledge among many of his
followers; and they feel assured also, that the downfall of idolatry, wherever the rebel arms
have triumphed, has inflicted a blow upon Buddhism from which it will never recover, but
which will ultimately work the total overthrow of that system of falsehood and superstitioQ
throughout the empire.

What may be the eventual issue of this deadly strife to the respective combatants time
only can disclose ; but that the Imperial Government can be re-established in the several
provinces in which for years past it has been subverted, appears most improbable. But
" the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ;" and in this assurance the friends of Missions put
their trust, and, without doubt or dismay, wait the issue of the present conflict. " He will
make the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He will restrain ;" and,
whatever instruments may be employed, " He will overturn, overturn, overturn, until He
come whose right it is ;" and the land of Sinim shall unite with every nation under the
whole heavens to crown Immanuel Lord of all,

INDIA.

It was the painful task of the Directors, in their last Report, to set before their consti-
tuents the deplorable condition of the people of Travancore, who were at that time sufi'ering
the horrors of famine. The recital of their miseries excited the compassion of many friends
of the Society, and funds were contributed liberally for their relief. This timely aid greatly
alleviated the misery of the starving multitudes, and filled with joy the hearts of our
Missionaries, who gladly became distributors of the funds with which they were intrusted.
The providence of God signally interposed at the juncture when the afilictions of the people
were extreme, and their prospect most gloomy ; when the heavens were as brass, and the
earth as iron, He sent a plenteous rain, and beauty and fertility covered the land. The
Rev. James Dothie, of Nagercoil, writing in June last, describes this blessed transfor-
mation as follows

" In a letter I sent you by last mail I stated that although the pressure of the famine in
this part of the country was over, owing to want of rain fears were entertained that the
ensuing harvest might prove a failure. I now send you a short note to say that within the
last week or ten days a plentiful supply of rain has fallen, and there is now every reason to
expect a good harvest. Indeed, I never saw the country looking better than it now does.
The fields are well supplied with water, and — such is the effect of timely rain here — the
face of the country has become quite changed within the short space of eight or ten days."

Writing in the following month, Mr. D., while confirming his former statement, describes

174 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

also the affecting condition and prospects of the people from the sore visitation they had
suffered, but/vhich the Christian bounty of England would happily mitigate : —

" The pressure of the famine may now be considered to be over ; but distress still prevails,
and doubtless will continue to prevail, among the lower classes of the people, for months to
come. Great numhers around us of all classes have been obliged to part with everything
belonging to them, in order to obtain the bare necessities of life. But the money now in
hand will relieve the immediate wants of multitudes, and may do something towards enabling
many of our people to recover the small articles of property they were obliged to part with
before the means of relief were placed at our disposal. The sums forwarded are now suffi-
cient to meet the necessities of the case, and we have requested the Secretary to tender our
united thanks to the Directors and friends in England for the generous manner in which
they have responded to our appeals for help."

A Committee of Relief, including one of our Missionaries, having been formed in the city
of Trevandrum, under the auspices of the Rajah, the Directors instructed our Brethren to
apply £200 for distribution through that agency. This grant, the Dewan, the Prime
Minister of the Rajah, acknowledged in the following terms, which show the influence of
practical Christianity upon the mind of an intelligent Hindoo : —

" I am indeed highly gratified to hear that you have received from the Directors of the
Society in London, advice of additional contributions to our Relief Fund. Nothing can be
a nobler spectacle than that of a people, thousands and thousands of miles remote from
India, extending their warmest sympathies so far, and contributing so liberally to the relief
of suffering here. I have heard with admiration of the munificent sums which each succes-
sive mail has been bringing out to India for the sufferers. The spectacle is as instructive
as it is noble. With such sympathies pervading the world, what splendid results may not
be expected."

Our Missionary Brethren entertain the assurance that the sufferings of the people, and
seasonable deliverance, have, under the Divine blessing, disposed their minds to regard most
favourably the character and claims of Christianity.

"Thanks to the Lord of rich mercy," writes the Rev. Ebenezer Lewis, " who has blest
this year more than preceding years, who has removed disease and famine, and given us
health and food to enjoy, and who has caused His heavenly light to shine in many a heart
once darkened by sin and heathenism, and in many a village that was till lately covered
with tlie shadow of death. True it is that the Lord's ways are not our ways, neither are
our thoughts His thoughts. The disturbances, plagues, and famine, that were of late raging
in this country, though they appeared at the time ruinous to the community, have been
nevertheless, as many can testify, overruled for the promotion of God's glory and the good
of souls. On account of the famine, many idol worshippers had to forsake the pagodas,
built and adorned by their ancestors, but which are now falling into decay. On account of
the assistance rendered by the Missionaries to the afflicted during the late caste disturbances,
many of the heathen became favourably disposed towards the Gospel, and, during the time
cholera prevailed, finding themselves disappointed by their demons, notwithstanding their
earnest entreaties, and their offerings of sheep, 'goats, fowls, &c., have now given up their zeal
for idols, turned their hearts to the glorious Gospel of our Lord, and incUned their ears to the
instruction of His servants. There is reason to believe that numbers of all castes, who read
our Tracts and Scriptures, are now convinced of the truth of Christianity."

The general aspect of the Mission cause in India, according to the universal testimony
not only of the actual labourers, but of all others interested in the object and acquainted
with its progress, is highly animating. Xot half a century has elapsed since the Missionary
entered India, if not by stealth, yet on sufferance; subject in his Christian efforts to
arbitrary interference and vexatious restrictions ; and since 1813, when these servants of
God first obtained the sanction and safeguard of British law, they have carried the glad
tidings of salvation to almost every nation and every tribe of her diversified and mighty
population. They have translated the Word of the Lord into many Indian languages, the
very names of which, in some instances, were previously little known, even to the literati
of our country. The sacred Volume has also been widely cu-culated and read by millions.

Ilissionary Magazine and Chronicle^ June 2, 1862.

175

whose tmderstan dings it has enlightened, whose consciences it has awakened, and whose
love of evil it will, as surely as it is the "Word of God, hereafter overcome. To multitudes
its saving truths have already come, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. From every class of idolaters to whom the Missionary has
consecrated his labours, souls have been given as his recompense. Numerous communities
have been formed who have cast their idols to the moles and to the bats, and have received
the Lord J esus as their Saviour and their King ; and their fathers in Christ, as they behold
in their transformation the wondrous power of a Uving faith, exclaim with a thankful and
a loving heart, "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto
you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God ; and to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come."

The Mission Schools are crowded with Hindoo youths ; and in these schools the pupils
are taught not only the principles of true science, which awaken their contempt for the
fables and absurdities of Hindooism, but they are made familiar with the majesty, and
rectitude, and mercy of Jehovah, in contrast with the licentiousness and cruelty of those
imaginary deities whom their fathers trust and serve ; and not a few have been led amidst
scorn and persecution to forsake father and mother, wife and children, houses and lands,
for Christ^s sake, and take up the Cross and follow Him.

It is also certain that, although the genius of idolatry is unchanged, its manifestations
have been modified and controlled. Heathen spectacles are not so grossly offensive, and
heathen festivals are not so revolting and abominable as once they were ; and among all
classes, the priests and the people, there is a powerful though undefined impression that
the days of heathenism are numbered, and that its dense darkness will soon flee before the
day-spring from on high which is rising on their country.

In these several branches of effort our Missionaries, in common with the Brethren of
kindred Institutions, have toiled hard, and in all the rewards and encouragements of labour
they have largely shared. During the past year, while they have rejoiced over many new
converts, they have been gratified no less with the social and moral improvement of their
Churches. Instances have multiplied in which the brotherly kindness and mutual
sympathy of the native Christians present a happy contrast to the apathy and selfishness of
the Hindoo character. They contribute, and, according to their limited resources, con-
tribute HberaUy, to various benevolent and rehgious institutions ; and they are advancing in
that great Christian duty of supporting those of their Brethren whom the Holy Ghost hath
counted faithful, putting them into the work of the Ministry. The aggregate of these free-
will offerings for the year, of which reports are given (and the returns are very deficient),
exceeds £600 — an amount which aforetime would have been thought incredible.

In our Christian schools, the parents no longer think it a favour to the Missionary to
send their children for instruction, but they have learnt to value education, and readily pay
the appointed fees fcr the advantages received. In Bellary, those payments last year
exceeded £28; in Bangalore, £32; in Madras, £115; and in Calcutta^ £124. In
reference to Calcutta, Dr. Mullens, in his last communication, says : —

^ ** We have resolved, amongst other things, to increase our Institution Fees from four
annas to eight, i.e., from sixpence a month to a shilling ; and only to-day I have had the
pleasure of gathering up 200 rupees as the fees of the present month of March. The value
of education is rising all round us ; paying schools are flourishing in all directions within
Calcutta and its suburbs, and it is a good thing that Missionary Institutions can enjoy the
benefit, and thus reduce the expenditure of their benevolent income. Very few of our
scholars have left in consequence of the change ; and, as we are endeavouring to make the
instruction and management of the Institution more efficient, 1 hope our numbers may
eten*increase. We have commenced the year very fairly with over 400 scholars."

I'fQ Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

The interests of Female education in India, and more especially education among the
higher classes of Hindoo women, have lately suffered a grievous loss in the decease of Mrs.
Mullens, of Calcutta. It is well known that hitherto females of that class have been
almost entirely excluded from the influence of the Christian teacher. Their habits of life
are those of utter seclusion, and rarely can even a European lady find admission to the
Zenana. Indeed, until yesterday it was deemed by the learned and wealthier Hindoos
disreputable and dangerous that their wives and daughters should receive any education
worthy of the name, and, above all, that they should be taught the sacred truths of Chris-
tianity. But our late valued friend, by her peculiar qualifications, was able in several
instances to overcome these great obstacles ; and we cherished the hope that the example
once established would be adopted extensively by the higher classes in that city, and that
hereafter the neglected and uninstructed Hindoo lady would be permitted to enjoy visits of
mercy from Christian teachers of her own sex, and, through the blessed truths of the
Gospel, be made wise unto salvation.

But our hopes have been suddenly disappointed ; just as Mrs. M. was rejoicing in her
labours, and extending them widely, she was stricken by a fatal malady, and after a few
hours of intense suffering, she died. Were it not that the gi-eat Head of the Church, who
quaUfied her for this service, can bestow like endowments on others of her sex, we should
mourn over her death as an irreparable loss to the Missionary cause. But we trust that
ber spirit will animate many of our Christian countrywomen to make similar attempts for
the instruction of Hindoo ladies ; and, should this be realized, we are not without hope that
they will find, as Mrs. MuUens found, encouragement beyond their expectation among the
secluded inmates of the Zenana.

The Annual Report of the Society, for several years past, has borne testimony to the
indispensable necessity of a well trained Native agency for carrying the work of Missions
to maturity. Foreigners can never be secured in sufficient numbers thoroughly to evan-
gelize a heathen country ; and although in some qualifications they may excel the Native
Evangelist, in others they are greatly his inferiors. India, beyond all other countries,
from its vast extent and teeming population, requires a large increase of such agents ; and
we are gratified in adducing the judicious observations on this subject of the Rev. M. A.
Shereing, contained in the last Report of the Mission at Benares : —

" It is high time, especially in the older Stations, that Missionaries should occupy the
position of superintendents of a number of Churches. Every Mission of fifteen or twenty
years' standing has one or more Native labourers, of education, intelhgence, and earnest
piety, who would do honour to any Christian community in any part of the world. These
men have been well tried in subordinate positions, and have shown themselves competent to
exercise a higher authority and influence. In a few Missions some of them have been thus
promoted, and are either Pastors of Native Churches or head masters of schools ; and very
few instances have occurred in which they have disappointed the expectations formed
respecting them. But the principle should be carried out on a far larger scale than has
hitherto been attempted. The work, on which many Missionaries expend a vast amount of
time and labour, might be as efficiently and much more satisfactorily performed by the
Superior class of Native Christians."

In these views generally the Directors heartily concur, and they are thankful that their
Brethren throughout India are fully senbible of their truth and importance, and that the
number of Native Pastors and Evangelists is yearly increasing.

The claims of India on the zeal and benevolence of the British Churches are paramount
to those of any other heathen land. More than one hundred and fifty millions of her
people are the subjects of our Queen j and, having been deeply wounded and humbled by
the power of our arras, we should aim, by every effort of Christian mercy, to heal their
Bufferings and lift them from their degradation. Every year brings us into closer inter-
course and alliance with that vast empire ; and the gigantic efforts now in progress for the

Missio7iary Magazine and Chronicle , June 2, 1862. 177

social aud political improvement of the country, wiU prove blessings to^ India and blessings
to ourselves, in the measure in which they are sanctified by the influence of that Divine
\Yord which has made oiu- country free, and great, and happy. Now, then, is the moment —
the urgent and auspicious moment — when Zion should ascend the mountain top, lift up
her voice with strength, and cry aloud to the millions of India, '* Behold your God i"

Instructed by these clear intimations of Divine Providence, and painfully convinced of
the insufficiency of the entire agency yet in operation for the overthrow of that gigantic
idolatry which has for ages been the bane and the curse of the country, the Directors have
appropriated fifteen of the twenty-seven Christian labourers sent forth within the last year
to India, and they will rejoice to increase that number to such extent as the Great
Head of the Church shall provide warm-hearted, faithful Evangelists, qualified for the
service.

MADAGASCAR.

The Directors close their Report by offering their warmest congratulations to the friends
of the Society, and by inviting their humble and adoring praise to God for the wonderful
and blessed change which His providence has wrought in the state and prospects of
Madagascar. On the 23rd of August last the Queen, after a reign of tyranny and
oppression exceeding thirty years, was called to stand before the Judge of all the earth.
Before her death she had nominated her son and only child, Rakotond Radama, as successor
to the crown. The young Prince had, however, to encounter a formidable rival in the
person of his cousin, Ramboasalama, the willing Minister of the late Queen in all her acts
of persecution and cruelty, and the avowed and relentless enemy of the Native Christians.
But God preserved his life from the hand of his enemy when it was lifted up against him,
and the fallen usurper is now the captive of his lawful sovereign. The prince is greatly
beloved by the people, and especially by the Christians, to whom he has often proved a
protector at the risk of his own life. His avowed principles and policy, both domestic and
foreign, are directly the reverse of those of his late mother ; and all who abhor cruelty and
wrong, who love liberty and mercy, must unite and pray, " May God preserve the life and
uphold the throne of Radama II., King of Madagascar."

Nearly five-and-forty years since, the Fathers and Founders of our Society commenced
the efforts, which they had long before contemplated, for introducing the Gospel to Mada-
gascar. In the month of March, 1819, Messrs. Bevan and Jones, Agents of the Society,
landed in the Island, with a view to permanent labour ; but, within a few weeks, the former
of these devoted men, and his wife and child, were removed by death ; the wife and child
of his associate also died ; while the solitary survivor was so utterly prostrated by disease,
as to be compelled for a season to return to Mauritius.

Undismayed, however, by these calamities, Mr. Jones, who had, in the meantime, been
joined by Mr. Griffiths, proceeded, in the autumn of the following year, to Madagascar,
and through the kind offices of the British Resident, they were permitted to settle at
Antananarivo, the capital, with the entire approval of Radama, the King.

The favourable regard of the King was, doubtless, to a considerable degree, secured by
the beneficial arts and customs which the iMissionaries, in subordination to the higher
objects of their office, introduced and commended to his subjects; but, eventually, multi-
tudes of the people understood and appreciated their ministry, and sought instruction in the
great truths of salvation.

Encouraged by the favourable intimations of Divine Providence, the Directors made
vigorous efforts to extend their labours, and, from the year 1818 to 1828, they sent to
Madagascar fourteen labourers, consisting of six ordained Missionaries, two Missionary
printers, and six Missionary artisans.

178 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle j June 2, 1862.

But, at the expiratioa of eight years from the establishment of the mission, Radama,
who had proved its active and faithful friend, died ; and he was succeeded by the late
Queen, whose reign of cruelty and terror is at length closed.

During the fifteen years of their residence in Madagascar, the Missionaries laboured with
unwearied diligence and zeal and the results of these labours must command our admira-
tion. The number of schools they established amounted tO' nearly 100, containing 4000
scholars ; more than 10,000 children passed through these schools, to whom were imparted
the elements both of useful instruction and religious truth. Elementary books were pro-
vided for the pupils ; and a large proportion of these were distributed among the people,
who acquired the art of reading without attendance on the schools. Two large Congrega'
/lOTW were formed at the capital; and nearly 200J'persons, on profession of their faith,
were admitted to Church-fellowship. Preaching stations were established, also, in several
towns and villages at a distance from the capital; and many services were held, weekly,
at the dwellings of the Native Christians. Two printing presses, sent out by the Society,
were in constant operation, and beside School-books and Tracts, printed and put into
circulation, a Dictionary of the language was prepared and printed in two volumes. But,
above all, the whole of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were translated,
corrected, and printed in the native language— & language which had been first reduced to
a written form by the labours of the Missionaries.

Towards the close of 1834, the coercive and persecuting measures of the Queen were
brought into full and fatal operation. All Christian instruction was prohibited in the
schools — the congregations dispersed — the observance of Christian ordinances strictly
prohibited — and even the possession of the Sacred Scriptures was attended wLth heavy
penalties. And, as an aggravation of all other sorrows, the Christians beheld their faithful
Missionaries compelled to abandon their much-loved work, and themselves left as sheep
without a shepherd in the midst of ravening wolves.

For the fifteen years following the expulsion of the Missionaries, many thousands of the
Native Christians suffered poverty and degradation, slavery and death, rather than deny
Christ, or relinquish their hope of heaven, founded on His dying love. The Rev. Wm.
Ellis, on his visit to Madagascar in the year 1856, collected much authentic information
respecting these faithful confessors and heroic martyrs, of which he has given in his
interesting volume a concise summary : —

" More than twenty years have passed since the profession of the Christian faith was
publicly prohibited in Madagascar, and during this period all available means have been
employed, often with subtile ingenuity and great severity, to enforce the prohibition. Death
has not only been inflicted, but in the preliminary treatment of the condemned, and in
the manner and circumstances of their punishment, it has been an object to augment the
agony of their sufferings, and to render the prospect of death most frightfully appalling.
The first Christian martyr in Madagascar suffered in 1837, the second in the following year.
Three or four years after, nine at least werie put to death in such a manner, and with such
accompanying circumstances, as were intended to involve the supposed criminals in the
deepest ignominy. In the year 1846 the sufferings of the people appear to have been
great ; but the severest persecution to which they were subjected, and in which the greatest
number fell, occurred in the year 1849.

" But besides these, multitudes, probably amounting to thousands, and including those
of every rank and age, from the unconscious infant who, with its parents, had been sold
into slavery, to the venerable sire whose long life had been spent in the service of his
country — or from the noble, whose rank and lineage placed him near the throne, to the poor
and friendless slave — all had been punished for supposed or acknowledged participation in
the reading of the Christian's Book, or the offering of the Christian's prayer. The
punishments inflicted had been almost as varied as the condition or the circumstances of
the criminal. The Tangena, or ordeal of poison-water, had frequently been administered
with fatal effects. Confiscation and seizure had been made of house and land, and of
every kind of property belonging to the accused. Multitudes were reduced to slaveryj

Missionary Magalzine and Chronicle^ June 2, 1862. 179

sold in the public markets, and subjected to all the ordinary miseries resulting from sepa-
ration from their nearest relatives, frequently with two extra conditions, intended to
enhance the bitterness of their cup, viz. — that they should only be sold to those who would
engage to make them labour severely and continuously, and that their relatives or friends
should not be allowed to redeem them, buc that they should be, as it was expressed, * like
weeds of the waste, bowing down their heads till they died.'

" I obtained a detailed and deeply affecting account, written in the native language, with
the substance of it also in English, of the trials of the Christians in 1849, the period of
the last severe persecution.

*' Of the numbers implicated, some idea may be formed from the fact that at one time
and at one place, 37 who had explained or preached the W^ord were reduced to slavery,
with their wives and children ; 42 who had possessed books were made slaves, and their
property seized; 27 who had possessed books, and who had preached, or explained, were
made slaves, with their wives and children ; 6, with whom it was a second offence, were
imprisoned ; 2055 had paid one dollar each ; 18 had been put to death ; 14 hurled from the
steep rock ; and 4 burnt alive.

" Those who had been appointed to die were treated with the greatest indignity. They
were wrapped in old, torn, or dirty mats, and rags were stuffed into their mouths. Seven-
teen of them had been tied each along a pole, and had been thus carried between two men,
bearing the pole on their shoulders, to the place where sentence was to be pronounced.
One of their number, being a young female, walked behind the rest. Four of them, being
nobles, were not killed in the ordinary way, as there is an aversion to the shedding of the
blood of nobles — they were therefore sentenced to be burned. When the sentence was
pronounced, some derided, and the condemned were then carried away to the places of
execution. The four nobles were burned alive in a place by themselves. Two of them
were husband and wife, the latter expecting to become a mother. At the place of execu-
tion life was offered them if they would take the required idolatrous oath. Declining to
do this, they were bound, and laid on the pile of wood, or placed between split poles,
more wood being heaped upon them, and the pile was then kindled. Amidst the smoke
and blaze of the burning wood the pangs of maternity were added to those of an agonizing
death, and at this awful moment the martyr's child was born. I asked my informants
what the executioners or bystanders did with the babe. They answered, * Thrust it into
the flames, where its body was burned ,with its parents, its spirit to ascend with theirs
to God.'

" The remaining fourteen were taken to a place of common execution, whither a number
of felons who had been sentenced to death were also taken to be executed together with the
Christians. The latter were put to death by being thrown over a steep precipice — the
Tarpeian Rock of Antananarivo. Each one was suspended by a cord on or near the edge
of the precipice, and there offered life on condition of renouncing Christ and taking the
required oaths. Of these there was one, who, though in the prospect of an ignominious,
instant, and violent death, spoke with such calm self-possession and humble confidence
and hope of the near prospect of glory and immortal blessedness, as very deeply to affect
those around him. The young woman who had walked to the place of execution, it was
hoped would be induced to recant. With this view she was, according to orders, reserved
until the last, and placed in such a position as to see all the others, one after another,
hurled over the fatal rock. So far from being intimidated, she requested to follow her
friends, when the idol keeper present struck her on the face, and urged her to take the
oath and acknowledge the idols. She refused, and begged to share the fate of her friends.
The executioner then said, * She is an idiot, and does not know what she says. Take her
away.' She was then taken from the place, and afterwards sent to a distant part of the
coimtry."

Although death had not been publicly executed upon the Christians during the latef
years of the Queen's reign, which is attributed mainly to the influence of her son, yet her
unrighteous and cruel laws remained unrepealed, and from the uniform tenor of the letters
received from the Native Christians, it is evident that the reign of terror continued to the
latest hour of the Queen's life ; but her son and successor, while his own life was yet in
jeopardy, proclaimed liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to them
that were bound. And if we have heretofore remembered in our prayers " those that were in
bonds as bound with them," it behoves us to-day to share in their songs of deliverance.
" When the Lord turned again their captivity, then were they like them that dream. Then

180

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

was their mouth filled with laughter and their tongue with singing ; then said they among
the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them." " Verily," replied the emanci-
pated exiles, " The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof ^ye are glad/'

The views and the policy of the new sovereign, in relation to foreigners and their re-
spective governments, are most liberal and enlightened. Hitherto none but natives have
been allowed to reside in Madagascar, except by permission of the Government, and these
exceptions were very rare, and granted only for a limited period : such were the terms on
which the first Missionaries were received by Radama. But now all restrictions on com-
merce and intercourse with foreigners are abolished — the country and the capital are opened
before them — and the King makes known his strong desire to live in peace and amicable
intercourse with all nations.

On his accession to the throne, Radama il. communicated these jusfc and enlarged views
specially to the Governor of Mauritius, for transmission to the Government of England ;
and, in consequence, an influential deputation was immediately appointed to visit the
capital of Madagascar, with a view to present the congratulations of the Governor to the
King, on his accession to the throne, and to assure him of the friendly disposition of the
Queen of England and her people. The deputation also conveyed appropriate presents to
the new sovereign, as a practical expression of respect and friendship.

In the month of February a despatch from the British Government reached Mauritius,
accompanied by an autograph letter of congratulation, from Her Majesty the Queen to
Radama IL, which were forwarded forthwith by a special messenger to the capital. These
documents will afford great satisfaction to the new sovereign, and tend greatly to consoli-
date his Government.

In accordance with the invitations of the Malagasy Christians, Mr. Le Brun visited
the island, and proceeded to the capital, in the month of October. He was accompanied
by Andrianado, or, as better known by his English name, David Johns, who was compelled
to flee for his life, and take refuge in Mauritius in the year 1836, where he has [since
laboured as a Christian Teacher among his countrymen in exile.

The report which this intelligent man gives, of what he had heard and seen at Antana-
narivo, confirms and enlarges all the good tidings previously received :—

" From David Johns," writes Mr. Ellis, " I received much explicit information respecting
the Christians, and the encouragement afforded them by the King and some of the high
officers. The Commander-in-Chief is very favourable ; he has given the Christians a house
near his own residence for a chapel ; and some of the female members of his family are
very sincere Christians. Letters recently received from the capital state that the King has
walked at the head of a large procession of Christians, from a palace in the suburbs to his
residence in the city, and that, at his request, the Christians sang all the way.

*• The statements made personally by the King to David Johns, and the explicit assur-
ances by the Christians i)i their latest letters, exclude the slightest ground for doubt as to
the wishes of the King and the people that Missionaries should come as soon as possible,
and that they will be cordially welcomed. In regard to the proceedings of the Native
Christians, the King recommended them not to make any change in their modes of worship
or organization till Mr. Ellis and the Missionaries came to tell them what to do.

"The Christians are active, energetic, and grateful for their wonderful deliverance,
feeling their way in ecclesiastical matters. Their numbers have greatly increased since the
accession of the King to the throne. Their desire after books is great — the neophytes
for elementary books, the advanced Christians for the entire Bible. They said to David
Johns, ' Tell Mr. Ellis we wish he was here to talk with the King ; but tell him not to be
anxious or afraid on our account : we shall be firm ; we cannot be turned from the English,
or from the faith and practice taught in the Bible. Tell him not to fear that we shall
listen to what the priests say, or encourage them. But tell him we want Missionaries, and
printers, and press, speedily ; that we shall keep on in our past way till he and the Mis-
sionaries come to tell us how to proceed, and how to help the Word of God to grow.'

" The King seems to be walking iu the steps of Radama I. as closely as he can. He has
ordered schools to be established, as soon as Teachers can be provided, in all the villages in
which schools were opened by the late King. He has abolished the ordeal by Tangena.

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 181

He has made it a rule that all who appear before him shall do so in European clothes. He
has encouraged the study of English to the utmost extent, having made it the diplomatic
language of his government. In this respect the people share fully in his preference. As
an illustration, I may mention that when Mr. Le Brun began to pray in French, before one
of the large congregations on the Lord's Day, the Native Minister stopped him, and re-
quested him to pray in English, as the people liked] the English language ; and he conse-
quently did so."

The re-opening of Madagascar to the Missionaries of the Cross — an event for which the
Church has prayed and waited five-and-twenty years — left the Dii'ectors of the London
Missionary Society without hesitation as to their course of duty. Eight years since, when
the prospect of deliverance for the persecuted Christians and the admission of Christian
Teachers appeared to be at hand, upwards of Seven Thousand Pounds were raised by
the members of the Society to accomplish this object; and, although the sanguine hopes
then cherished were for the time disappointed, this fund has been held sacred, and is now,
happily, available for the object designed. It appeared, also, to the Directors that their
long-tried and boloved friend, the Rev. William Ellis, whose visit to Madagascar in
1856 was connected with incalculable advantages, would be the man to undertake another
visit to the Island, with a view precisely to ascertain facts, which may have great influence
on the future progress of the Gospel, and to prepare the way for the introduction of a new
body of Christian labourers. Our devoted Brother readily accepted the invitation of the
Directors, regarding it as the clear and imperative call of his Divine Master to this new
and arduous course of duty.

Mr. Ellis embarked at Southampton, for Madagascar, on the 20th of November, and
reached Mauritius in health and safety on the 27th of December. It was foreseen that, in
consequence of the unhealthy and perilous climate of the coast during the early months of
the year, our friend would be detained in the colony during that season ; but it was
anticipated that he would possess opportunities for correspondence, both with the King and
the Malagasy Christians, and of giving them assurance of the unabated sympathy and
affection of their friends in Britain. These expectations have been fully answered ; both
the Sovereign and the people have rejoiced at the intelligence that he was so near their
coast, and have, we trust, ere this, given him a hearty welcome in the city of Antananarivo.

Encouraged, also, not only by the permission, but the urgent wishes of Radama, and
the importunate requests of the Native Christians, the Directors resolved to use all prac-
ticable means to send forth, in the early part of the Spring, a band of Missionaries (not less
than six in number), suitably qualified for the different departments of labour demanded by
the new circumstances of the Church in Madagascar. In addition to three Brethren
directly bearing the Missionary office, it was hoped that other devoted individuals might be
found : one, at least, well instructed in surgery and medicine ; a second, with qualifications
for promoting general and Christian education, by training Native Schoolmasters; and a
third, practically acquainted with the art of printing.

The gracious Master whom we serve crowned these efforts with success, and raised up
six devoted labourers for these different departments of service. The Rev. Robert Toy
and Mrs. Toy; Rev. John Duffus, and Rev. W. E. Cousins; Dr. Alexander Davidson, and
Mrs. Davidson ; Messrs. John Parrett and C. H. Stagg, embarked for Madagascar a month
since ; and it may be hoped that, under the guidance and protection of Him whom they
seek to honour, they may, by the anniversary of the King's accession, reach their destina-
tion. They take with them a printing press and a supply of type ; school materials, and
other valuable appliances for the recommencement of the Mission. The vessel is also
stored with 10,600 copies of the New Testament and portions of the Old, in the Malagasy
language, the munificent grant of the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and the Com-
mittee of the Religious Tract Society have added to her treasures 300 reams of paper to

182 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle ^ June 2, 1863.

employ the new press. They have also borne a moiety of the cost of 20,600 volumes of
Christiaa works translated into the vernacular, including James's " Anxious Inquirer,"
Hall's "Come to Jesus," " The Pilgrim's Progress," and other treatises suited to the
present state of the people.

The Directors thankfully acknowledge the munificent Donation of £1000 from a Friend,
who, with Christian modesty, withholds his name, towards this re-commencement ef the
Mission in Madagascar; and they have received also for the same object, from other
generous donors, an additional amount, together with dividends, of £820. But these
contributions fall short of the outlay incurred, by more than £400 ; while the expenditure
of the Society will be increased by not less than £2000 per annum. They would there-
fore urge upon the Friends of the Society to express their gratitude to God for his gracious
interposition in the re-opening of Madagascar, by such a permanent increase of their
liberality as shall meet the urgency of the occasion, and enable the Directors to occupy the
wide and newly opened field by an adequate number of devoted labourers.

Who can review the history of the Church in Madagascar without adoring gratitude to
God, who granted to his suffering saints, through the prolonged course of their heavy
sorrows, grace to glorify His name by their humble confidence and dauntless courage ?
His strength was made perfect in their weakness; and, when they passed through the deep
floods and the devouring flames. His presence was their stay, and His love their song. The
more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied ; the two hundred believers, with
which the persecuting reign of the late Queen commenced, had increased more than ten-
fold when the persecutor died. The Church in Madagascar supplies an additional chapter
to the Book of Martyrs, and affords us delightful and conclusive proof that the truth which
our Missionaries teach, is the same Divine truth, and attended by the same Almighty grace,
as that which constrained myriads in the primitive age to take joyfully the spoiling of their
goods, and to lay down their lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

When the fathers and founders of the Mission were driven from their converts, in the
infancy of their knowledge and their faith, the exalted Saviour called from among them-
selves faithful men, taught by His Word and qualified by His Spirit, to become Pastors
and Teachers of His Church. These Native Overseers have ministered the word and
ordinances of Christ with singular wisdom and fidelity, and have in all things been
ensamples to their flocks, in their holy lives, their patient sufferings, and their triumphant
deaths. Most truly may we say that the Mission in Madagascar has been God's own
Mission ; and from its trials and triumphs we may learn what His presence and His power,
apart from human agency, can do, when the prosperity of His Church and the honour of
His name are involved.

But, while we thankfully acknowledge the faithfulness and loving-kindness of. the Lord
to our suffering Brethren throughout the last thirty years, and render Him our praise for
the prospects of the future, it cannot be superfluous to observe that these prospects, though
bright and cheering, are not cloudless. Already, both Popery and InfideUty are there and
active ; and no opportunity will be lost of misrepresenting and withstanding the Teachers
of God's pure truth. Nor should it be forgotten that, in the history of the Church, many
who have nobly braved the fury of the storm have lost their vigour and vitaUty under the
sunshine of courtly favour and popular applause. Let us then make the Christians of
Madagascar the special subject of our earnest prayer that He, " who holdeth the seven
stars in His right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," may
preserve their light pure and glorious amidst ^the superstitions of Antichrist and the dark-
ness of Heathenism.

The CHiJEMAN said I am sure that the fii-st note which sounds after that report will
be one of praise and thanksgiving to God, A more encouraging report I have never heard.

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 183

I have, through the kindness of Dr. Tidman, had an advantage which you, my friends,
have not had — the advantage of reading that report in detail ; and I can assure you that
its details are not a whit less interesting than the summary to which you have just listened.
After what we have heard I am sure we shall offer what 1 may call our thanksgiving for
victories ; and it will be the desire of every one that our hearts may be lifted up to go
forward with fresh courage in our path. We are met together to hear accounts of what
God has been doing, of the victories which He has been gaining, of the armies which he
has sent forth, and of those who have become not His prisoners but His children. And if
there be one thing which we need more than another, it is, I am sure, a grateful heart to
acknowledge that it is His hand that has done all that we hear of, and that it is His hand
that will do more than we have yet seen ; and that figure of celebration of victory reminds
me of another celebration of victory of which we have lately heard — a victory carrying
with it destruction, desolation, woe; men, through the agency of the devil, rejoicing in
their successes over their fellow men and their brothers. How thankful we ought to be
that our thanksgiving here is mingled with no bitter cup ; that our ground of thanksgiving,
even for the slain, is that^they have exchanged time for eternity — that they have exchanged a
poor suffering body for a'glorious immortality. That noble band of men who went forth
in weariness, and it may be in fear, we now read of their triumph. We read of the fruits
of this victory ; we read of harvests being gathered ; we hear to day of this part of the
world and that being refreshed and enlightened by the glorious Gospel ; and surely, then,
our hearts must be lifted up to fresh praise and thanksgiving. But this is not all. It is
not enough to give thanks ; there must be some proof of thankfulness, there must be some
reahty in our gratitude, there must be something beyond coming here once a year and
listening to an encouraging report and encouraging speeches. Our work does not stop here.
I believe that we are ourselves, each of us, responsible in the sight of God for being privi-
leged to be fellow-labourers with others in this great work. There is no one here, from
the oldest to the very youngest, who cannot co-operate, and co-operate mightily, in this
work of spreading the Gospel. "Ask of me," says God, " and I will give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance." There is a promise that those who ask shall receive, and I do
beheve that if the spirit of prayer were poured out on this assembly, and we were all with
one mind and heart to besiege the throne of grace with petitions for fresh blessings, we
should, at the next anniversary, have a Report still more encouraging, still more rejoicing to
all our hearts, than that to which we have just listened. I can conceive nothing more
encouraging than one passage in that Report ; I refer to what is said about a poor old
man in China. Xow I know that men are very apt to say that the converts from heathen-
ism are a very different sort of Christians from Christians at home, that they belong to an
inferior grade ; but I do think that the instance to which I refer is enough to prove the
enormous value and importance of a single native, to whatever country he may belong,
being gained over to the cause of Christ. Here is a poor old man brought to the know-
ledge of the truth of the Gospel, and through his instrumentaUty, I believe, something like
seventy or eighty persons have been added to the Church. I wish there were many
Christians like that in England ; I wish there were many who, after a few years' knowledge
of the truth, could say that theu' testimony had brought in seventy or eighty more ; soon
then would the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God. I believe that
the fault is in ourselves, in each one of us here. You may remember a very striking passage
at the close of our Saviour's last prayer, where He says that He has given glory to His
disciples that they might be " made perfect in one." And why ? " That the world may
believe that Thou hast sent me and hast loved them as Thou hast loved me." I do believe
that there is nothing more destructive to the cause of Christ and the spread of His Gospel^
than the slightest mark of disunion amongst Christians. I do esteem it a special privilege
to be allowed to preside over a meeting which embraces Christians of all denominations —

184 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle j June 2, 1863,

Christians who, though they have not uniformity, have unity. I trust that that unity will

not be a unity in name only, but that there will be a spirit of love to the one centre, which
shall exclude from our view any differences in the path by which we may be arriving at
that centre. I trust we shall remember, while aiming in different ways at attaining the
same common goal, that one crown, one Saviour, awaits all who are tending to that goal.
If we had been transferred a few years ago into the midst of the island of Madagascar,
during the reign of the Queen, we should not, I believe, have heard much about our
differences ; we should not then have had much time or disposition to dwell on minute
points of difference in our belief, or in our practice. Our object would then have been to
get together as closely as possible, to be united to each other by every tie and bond of our
common religion ; we should have fought spiritually the same fight ; we should have suffered
together, as being members of the same body ; we should^have rejoiced in the same hope,
and looked forward to the same deliverance. And I cannot help saying that if it is
necessary that Christian unity should be developed by adversity, I know not but that in
His providence God may see fit to bring us together by the scourge of adversity, if we will
not be united amid the blessings of prosperity. It is our own testimony at home that gives
life to the message abroad ; it is the tone of each one of us at home that gives vitality to
those who go forth to heathen lands. It is true we are all one army, but the soldiers who
go forth from amongst us go with the same spirit that is in ourselves. Being part of the
same army they are imbued with the same spirit, and are under the same discipUne that we
are. If there is any deficiency in the labourers abroad, it is because there is deficiency in
the labourers at home. I do trust that this meeting will have this practical issue — that we
shall each and all feel our own responsibility as being met here in the sight of God
to hear of His work, and to celebrate His triumphs, and that there will be nothing on our
part which will enable the world to say that God has not sent Christ because Christians are
not one. The passage to which I have referred should be brought home to us with the
greater power, because it comprises almost the last words that the Saviour spoke. If we
keep our eyes fixed upon our great Captain we shall not be careful to ascertain the differ-
ences between the uniforms of the regiments, but we shall go forth united by the victory,
with the consciousness that the victory has already been won by Him, and that He is
leading us on to the complete demolition of the kingdom of Satan, Without interposing
any longer between you and those speakers who will address you in relation to the work_of
the Society, I would entreat for the Meeting, and would at the same time entreat for
myself, that there may be a spirit which will do honour to the cause of Christ. While we
are rejoicing in victory abroad, we must remember that the enemy is even amongst us,
that he is amongst us to divide us, that he is amongst us to separate us, that he is amongst
us to paralyse every effort in the cause which we desire to promote, and that the only way
in which that enemy can be defeated is by our clustering more closely than ever around
Him who is " the Author and finisher of our faith."

The Rev. Dr. James Campbell, of Bradford, moved the first resolution, viz. : —

" That the Report, of which an Abstract has been given, be approved and adopted, and that it be
forthwith printed and circulated by the Directors. That this Meeting humbly presents its tribute of
gratitude and praise to the God of all grace for the measure of success with which He has rewarded the
operations of the Society in its various extended fields of labour. It regards with peculiar pleasure the
increase of the Mission Churches, and their steady progress in the Christian duty of self-support ; the
advancement of Scriptural Education in the Mission Sctiools ; and the increased efforts more recently
adopted for the mental and moral improvement of Hindoo females of the upper classes. And the
Meeting would especially express its thankfulness to the Divine Head of the Church, tnat he is raising
up for the service of the Society an enlarged number of devoted Missionaries from the Christian youth
of our country, and from the Churches redeemed by His grace from among the heathen."

He said : — My Lord, a portion of the Christian tribes have met together to-day, as you have
reminded us yourself, to celebrate their annual festival. They loyally salute you as their
chief. The reverend Orator of the tribe has set before us the work in which we have been

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle^ June 2, 1862. 185

engaged, and the work which we have still to do ; we have listened to the words of weight
and authority, and of generous charity, which you, our chief, have uttered ; we have listened
to that statesman-like oration — men call it a Report — which has been delivered, in familiar and
eloquent tones which we are all glad to hear, respecting the Mission field of this Society. And
now. Sir, I see the tide of Christian emotion rising fast in this assembly, waiting to be com-
bined and conducted as a mighty force lo assault the strongholds of Sin and Satan. It is a
time when the minstrel of the tribe, some venerable bard, might well take his lyre, and
with phrensied ecstacy sweeping his fingers across its strings, might give forth that patriot song
which would conduct and combine this unison of Christian hearts into a Divine harmony of
Christian efi^ort and sacrifice. I am no minstrel, I cannot utter this eloquent poesy of music.
But there is another gift less rare and more potent withal, that a man with a man's heart,
with a neighbour's heart, with a Christian's heart, can make an honest pleading for the
blessed Saviour whom he loves ; and if that honest pleading be but true to the love which
was manifested unto men, I am sure it will thrill through the heart of this assembly with
more than a minstrel's power, because it will thrill through their hearts with the power of
the truth which is itself Divine, and which comes to us with Divine power. The Missionary
work has more of Christ and of Christ's spirit in it than any work with which human interests
and human efforts are connected. It brings before us more facts of a primitive kind than any
other modern story that we read ; it brings before us facts which restore and reproduce
Christ and His Apostles ; it is the time of establishing a new order of things ; it is like the
beginning of the Gospel, it awakens the heart of the Church to a new consciousness ; it
shews our own immediate connection with what is passing in other lands ; it projects upon
the disc of human thought a great reformation, a regeneration of all things. We are assembled
for the promotion of this great undertaking. The resolution refers to the success of the work.
My memory does not carry me back to the beginning of this work, but it does reverentially
and lovingly every day carry me back to some who saw the beginning of it. Perpetual honour
to the fathers and founders of this'Mission, and incomparably greater honour to that God and
Saviour who put such thoughts into their hearts, and who carried their trembling devices
to such a glorious issue ! O, that faith of those embarked on this modern enterprise !
how it sighed in secret prayer ! how it gathered together obscure praying companies !
how it pondered and mused in holy reverie on that command which it did not see how
to obey, Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." And when
it had brought them together in their narrow chamber, and they had agreed that .they
should do something to obey their Lord^ command, and had agreed as to what they should
do, they had few friends to assist them ; but the same faith in its deep secret teachings
told them that friends should arise. When they began the work they did not know that
they would ever find a commencement in those foreign parts. They were quite persuaded of the
necessity of beginning it, but they saw how great was the disproportion between any feeble
eflforts which they could make and the great work to be accomphshed. They could not
articulately describe themselves what their hope was; but, whilst their understanding could
not define their hope, their Christian hearts held it, iheir faith possessed it, and sent
them forth not knowing whither they went. There is not a fact in the modern history
of the Church which is fuller of sphitual instruction and example than the very fact
to which I am now attempting to recall your memory. It is as true an illustration of
faith to the Church in these latter times' as Abraham's faith was to the Church in former
days. It has waked up the Church to a new sense of spiritual life; it has made the
Christian life a true practical working thing. The mechanisms and church systems and
formulas dwindled, as you, my Lord, have reminded us to-day they ought to dwindle, to
their own place of subordinateness, and Christ was exalted over all. And if we have
been encouraged by the commencement, the progress of modern Missions has been
equally beneficial to the Church at home. Why, it has done this at least, it has destroyed
that cramping description of Christendom which separated Europe from ?all other parts
of the world. The London Missionary Society and other kindred Societies have now
sent the Gospel to every country of the earth, and in every country are heard the words,
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." It is all Christendom — the world
is Christ's. And then this work has vindicated the capacities of the human soul as dis-
tinguished from the human mind ; it has shown that the soul is capable of being quickened
by Di\ine power, and expanded by Divine love, where the mind is little informed and the
understanding little cultivated. Philosophy, with all her boasted wisdom, ought to have
discovered this long ago ; but it was left for this good Missionary work to demonstrate that
the soul has higher objects than those of earth, with its temporary interests and its
fragile relationships — that the soul of man is immortal, and of God. And this Society has
demonstrated in this latter day what the Apostle had to demonstrate at Athens and at Rome,
and what has just as much needed proof as it did then, that the soul of man has relation to

186 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

the unseen and eternal, while the intellect, however highly it may he cultivated, has itg formal
relation to earth and the present temporary system. It has also explained those words
of our Saviour to which you, my Lord, have reverentially directed our attention. The
types of Christian piety presented in connection with Foreign Missions are, generally
speaking, types of a higher mould than those which we have been accustomed to see
amongst ourselves. We have learned in the history of Christian Missions how to explain
our Lord's words ; we have really come to understand them, and to carry our knowledge
into the lessons which we give to the children whom we gather round our knee, that the
kingdom of heaven must be received by us as little children. The heathen, too, have taught
us that Christianity is a practical life, — a lesson which has been imperatively required by
the churches at home. Look at the Mission Converts, and see how their piety enters into
everything. See how it influences their dress and their company, their acquisition of wealth
and their administration of what they have acquired. This Mission field has also called into
activity the maityr spirit of Christianity. There has been a constant supply of Missionaries,
however many may have fallen in the work. The places of Smith, Williama, Helmore, and
others have not been left vacant. There is still the spirit of the martyrs in the Chris-
tian Church ; and though at home we may see Christianity enfeebled by luxury, in the
mission. field we have seen the spirit of primitive Christianity rolling away the reproach
which the Church sitting at her ease is apt to bring upon our Divine faith. The Mission
work has taught us, too, a great truth which we needed to be taught in this somewhat unearnest
and sceptical age — I mean the presence and the power of the Holy Ghost in this world ; it
has taught us that '* the other Comforter " is as truly living on the earth and present with His
disciples as was the Comforter who passed into heaven in our nature, and who sent Him to
occupy His place. The native Christians of Madagascar would almost seem to have suffered
persecution for this very end ; to have been brought through this great fire of affliction as God's
disciples, scholars of the Spirit of God and of no inferior teacher, to teach people in this
sceptical age that they must believe in the existence of spiritual powers, and especially in
the existence of that Almighty power that saves men from death and lifts them out of
wretchedness and ruin. Well, my Lord, if these be the characteristics of the mission work,
if these be its beginnings, and these be some of the lessons and fruits which are bestowed
upon us, let us look for a moment or two, as my resolution calls upon us to do, at the
success with which that work has been attended. Look at the relation in which we stand
to that vast field. The fathers and founders of this Society, in their narroAV chamber, felt
that there was pressing upon them an innumerable fcrowd of dark faces, dark not merely by,
sin, but by stupidity, ignorauce, insensibility, and a perverted conscience. The dullness of
death was upon them ; there was a uniform surface of darkness presented to their eye, but
their spiritual sense penetrated the crust, and they saw within this corruption some tracagl^of
that Divine life which might be kindled into a new flame. But we can look upon a larger
world than that which they knew. They did not know what we do — they had not seen the
features of the Mission field. We know some of the principal men by name ; we have
entered into their houses and formed part of their common society. There is now scarcely
a spot in the world which has not been hallowed by some martyr-missionary, or by some
convert to Christianity who has sealed his testimony by his death. We are familiar with
the various tribes, and, though we may not be able to mention them by name, we can extend to
them a brother's sympathy, grasp them with a brother's hand, and feel that they are not
only one in heart with us but are actually going along with us in this great cause. And
then, is it not a great thing that we have been knocking, if I may so speak, at the
gates of the cities of the earth, that we might be allowed to bring the message of salva-
tion? The Apostles, when they went forth, went under the same command; they
had indeed special and temporary endowments that they might carry the conquests of the
Gospel over a vast surface. But if you can conceive the Apostles to have contemplated the
cessation of tongues and of spiritual gifts — and we know that it did take place— what
a mysterious feeling must have come upon their spirits as to how their Lord's wishes were
to be accomplished, that all the ends of the world should remember and turn unto Him."
We stand at an advantage over even the Apostles, inasmuch as we can see how this com-
mand is to be fulfilled, and how this great blessing is to be realised. Nothing has yet to
be accomplished in the Mission fields of which there has not been a germ and type already ;
it only requires the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon them and upon the Church at
home, and then the seed which we have scattered will send forth the blade, and then the
ear and then the full corn in the ear. It is a great thing for us to be enjoying permanently
what the ancient Christians only enjoyed temporarily — it is a great thing to have a perpetual
Pentecost. We hear, in the correspondence of this and other Missionary Societies, men of
other countries saying, " Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved ?" and we are enabled

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 187

to answer, blessed be God, in the tongues wherein they were born, " Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and ye shall be saved." And we have had, as we have been repeatedly reminded,,
our martyrs sealingtheir testimony of Jesus with their blood; we have had many martyrs whose
names are not known everf amongst ourselves. I speak in the presence of students and
scholarly men, who can in some degree estimate the daily martyrdom of men in soli-
tude and m a strange country, plying their work of daily translation and revision,
without any of those comforts and luxuries which lighten such labours under other circum-
stances, feehng the tide of their life flowing feebly, and yet more feebly, until at length the
hand that guides the pen is tremulous, the martyr hears the sound of the approaching
footsteps of death, and he is forced from his study to his native air, that it may breathe new
life into him ; lands in England, like the sainted and venerated Medhurst, to breathe out
his martyr spirit : binding thus the two sides of the earth together in a covenant never
to be broken, to join heart with heart and hand in hand in this great enterprise, till Christ
alone shall reign upon earth. Moreover, we have had domestic martyrs, martyr women,
many of whose names have not cropped out into the sight of men, that womanly seclusion
resting upon their memoiy, which characterised so beautifully and so gracefully their
life. They have left an impress, however, upou their sex, for whom they laboured,
many of whom they lifted out of the mire of spiritual death into the glory of the Christian
character. And now we hear that the Church herself is at this moment offering her sons
in larger numbers for the missionary work than she has hitherto been accustomed to do.
This is one of the most healthy signs in the Christian Church. And as to funds, it does strike
me that we are sometimes scarcely just to the Christian Churches of this land with regard
to that subject. "When all things are going on in the regular way, when there is no special
object pressed upon the attention of the people, the funds will sometimes fall rather below
the mark ; but let there be a conjuncture in God's providence ; let there be a claim for a
miUion Testaments ; let there be an opening, or a possible opening, in Madagascar, or let
there be an opening in China, and I ask, has not the Church of God always been ready, I
might say beforehand, with its contributions to meet such demands ? We see the native
Churches multiplied, new candlesticks being every now and then lighted up by Him who
walketh in the midst of the candlesticks. Heathendom does not now appear as dark as it
once did. Education is sending its streams of nebulous light through the earth, out
of which shall be formed stars to shine in the brightness of the Redeemer's glory. It is a
most encouraging fact that a very perceptible portion of our ordinary income for the last
year is derived from Mission Stations, swelling as it does the balance this day, and leading
us to hope that native contributions will ere long be multiplied ten-fold. They have their
special seasons for prayer and revival, in comparison with which our own land seems
dry and barren. They are themselves opening new Missions, sending Missionaries
to other parts, as in the case of that Missionary who went to Savage Island, and who
seems to me to have been honoured by God in even a higher degree than the eunuch
of Queen Candace, if indeed he were the founder of the Church in Ethiopia. When
that eunuch went forth on his mission, he went as a man of rank, and station, and
power, and men bowed down, as it were, before his influence; but here was a man
who had nothing to recommend him but his piety, and who has nevertheless founded
a Christian Church in Savage Island. I should like, my Lord, to have heard that rude
song; I can scarcely trust myself to say what emotions it would have awakened in
my breast. There is shortly to be a grand musical festival in this metropolis, and
numbers are looking forward to it with deep interest. I would rather have heard that
rude song in Savage Island. There is a music deeper than sound — as in Ehsha's min-
strelsy, lifting his depressed soul into fellowship with the Father of spirits ; or pious David's
harping, which waked up the echoings of youthful piety in the heart of the hardened Saul ;
or the song of the persecuted in their mountain retreats, in which voices hoarse with the
shout of battle mingle with the pipings of childhood and the broken tremulous utterances
of tender women, in one song of liberty. That song, that rude song, in Savage Island,_has sent
its thrill of Christian melody into all our hearts this morning. And then look at other
parts of the Mission field. The West Indies have escaped from pupilage. We have no
lamentations over emancipation in those islands ; our plantations are not going back into
the bush ; we are rejoicing as a free peasantry, independent in their natural liberty, and
seeking to improve that liberty by contributing to the service of God. South Africa, too,
as we have been reminded, has escaped from her pupilage, and has begun to yield abundant
fruit to God. As to that other region, where our Brother Helmore breathed out his gentle
and heroic spirit, we can see nothing in that vast territory but the fresh grave of the Missionary,
and the Missionary's wife, and the Missionary's children. The seed, however, has been sown
there, and a Christian Church may yet have its piety enriched and hallowed by the story

1.88 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

of the Missionary stranger and his wife and children, whom ruthless tyranny left to die,
unhelped and unheeded. We have sacred places, my Lord, as well as others. We need
not raise up any crusade in order to recover them ; Christ watches that solitary grave, and
by and by He shall cause to spring forth the seed which has been buried, and we may hope
to go in with our Lord and reap the harvest for which the martyr prepared. We have heard
also of the claims of China. I remember how the venerable persons to whom I have
already referred used to pray for the breaking down of the \^-all of China ; I remember how
we haunted those shut gates ; I remember how our Missionaries stood outside and watched
for the opening of those gates ; I remember how they thrust their tracts and their messages
of love through every chink which they could make. Now the wall of China has been
opened, and we have had a large harvest. But what obstructions, and complications, and
contingencies are there connected with the Mission work ! China seems to need our
prayers more now than she did even when her gates were closed. We feel ourselves to be
in the hands of Him by whom kings reign, and we are more than ever called upon to pray
to Him for guidance. Madagascar, too, although it is again open to us, requires our
earnest prayers, even more than in the days of her calamity. Amid our successes we
cannot tell how long our Missionaries will be permitted to remain in any of the lands to
which they have been sent ; we cannot be sure that statecraft will not come in with its
protection to paralyse all our energies, and to arrest the fruitfulness of our work — a work in
which we are made to feel our feebleness in order that we may place our confidence solely
in God. Now that our instrumentality is in some degree powerful, now that progress is
being made, we must not put our trust in our work, but in the word of the living God.
Every member of this tribe must grasp with one hand his peculiar weapon, and lift the
other in earnest prayer, invoking the grace and the help of the God whom we worship.
Let us then go on together, bearing forward that flag which has never turned back in the
day of battle : and in the hour which is darkest, and our hearts most trembling, let us but
see that Banner — Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah my Banner — and our steps shall not return back-
ward until we have cast down the last citadel of sin and Satan, and joined, with a voice faint
but rejoicing, in the universal shout of victory : — Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth!

The Rev. Dr. Thomson, of Edinburgh, in seconding the Resolution, said : — My Lord,
I do feel myself to be highly honoured in being permitted to stand on the platform of this
world-renowned Society. The names of its sainted founders and of its earlier Missionaries
mingle with the memories of my boyhood, while the records of its steady progress and of
its later triumphs have gathered towards it mucli of the interest of my riper years. And
that interest has not been diminished, but greatly increased by listening to the elaborate
Report which has just been read, and which has carried us in an hour almost round the
globe. In addition to what may be regarded as the common staple of Missionary
intelligence, let us just think, for a moment, of some of the more outstanding facts which
have been made to pass before us. I find, for example, that a multitude of naw Stations
have been formed during the last twelve months ; and that the unprecedented number of
twenty-seven Missionaries have been sent out to the Mission field. I find that a great
number of Native Churches are becoming self-supporting ; in this very circumstance giving
proof, not merely of increased numerical force, but of growing life and vigour. I find
further, that an increasing number of Mission Churches are sending in contributions to the
parent Society, and that the remarkable sum of more than .£15,000 — a sum equal to the
whole income of some of our Scottish Societies — has during the past year found its way into
your treasury from this one source alone. I find that the Gospel is making its way like a
flowing tide farther into the interior of China, and receiving, in many cases, a welcome
unknown in the earlier history of Missions there. I find that Tahiti has not allowed the
intrigues of French Jesuits or the wiles of French profligates to rob her of her crown, but
that the number ©f Protestant Church Members is much greater than when France, envious
of this prize, sought to blot out this little Eden of your early Missions from the map of the
world. And I find above all, that this Society, true to the pledges and the prayers of former
years, has entered by the great door and effectual which the hand of God has thrown wide
ppen in Madagascar, and that not one Missionary only, but a whole stafif of Missionaries,
equipped with a printing-press, and every other apparatus of Christian enterprise, have gone
out to follow up the earlier triumphs of the Gospel in that great important island, to sow
far and wide the seeds of the Word, and to gather the fruits of those seeds which had been
sown long before, and silently nourished by the blood of martyrs. Surely this year, in the
history of the London Missionary Society, should receive a white mark. When I look at
it with its newly -formed Mission Churches, with its other Churches in all stages of progress,

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle , June 2, 1862. 189

and with others that are so ripe as to have become independent, and with others still that
are swelling, with their gifts, your Mission funds, it reminds me of one of those great trees
of which naturalists tell us, which present at the same time, on their branches, fruits in
every stage of progress, from the first formation to the full formed and mellow fruit, all of
them beautiful in their season. I think the Lord, when he comes up to this tree, will not
pronounce on it the terrible malediction, " No man gather fruit from thee for ever," but
will rather say, " As in past times thou hast brought forth thirty-fold, thou shalt hence-
forth produce unto sixty, and even an hundred-fold." I have referred tig^the earlier history
of this Society, and it seems to me that we might gather not a little that is encouraging;
from glancing back more frequently than we do, upon what we may term, though only in
the way of comparison, its " day of small things." I have always understood that its
original designation was " The Missionary Society for while it was preceded a few years
by the Baptist Missionary Society, yet when it first arose it was still like a new thing in the
land. But how many new societies has it since helped to stimulate into existence, how
many Churches has it inspired with something of its own Missionary zeal, how much has it
done to create a Missionary atmosphere ! I am very far, indeed, from saying that all the
Missionary zeal which has arisen since, has been produced in this way, but I do say that
the good which it has accomplished is not simply to be estimated by the number of the
Missionaries whom it has sent forth during the last sixty years, but by the Missionary
sentiment which it has done so much during the same period to awaken and foster, while
its catholic constitution and liberal administration have created a genial atmosphere in
which the best spirits of the age have always delighted the most to refresh themselves.
Oh, what a high delight would it be to the founders of this Society, could they arise from
their graves, or rather look down from their thrones, and see the numerous societies aiming
at the same ends and doing the same work, that have come into existence since. To show
what progress has been made in Scotland within a period much less than that which has
elapsed since this Society was founded, I may mention that there are men, not very old,
who are able to remember when one large section of the United Church, to which I belong,
gravely spent many hours in their synod, in discussing whether they might prudently undertake
the support of one foreign Missionary. And now our synod is with ease maintaining seventy
such labourers, with an annualincreaseto its Mission staff and with resources remaining behind
that are very far indeed from being exhausted. A few years since we commenced a flourishing
Mission to India. This year we have entered upon one to China, and 1 pray God that, as with
your great Society, the only change we shall know may be one of progress. But, returning
to the early history of this Societyand of modern Christian Missions as connected with it, I have
heard it stated that when that excellent magazine, " The Evangelical," was still in the season
of its honoured youth, its editor engaged to devote one page to Missionary intelligence,
adding, however, with a degree of caution worthy of a Scotchman, that he would only
supply the matter when it was supplied to him ; and that, not unfrequently, this matter
could not be found, and that the editor, driven to his wit's end, was obliged to fill up the
vacant page with anecdotes, racy extracts from old divines, and by those other expedients
which are known to the editorial staff. What a different state of things now, when every
Society and Church has its Missionary Chronicle, when the difficulty with editors, as my
excellent friend Dr. Tidman can tell us, is not to find matter for the space, but space for
the matter ; and when a distinct periodical has been found necessary in order to present a
monthly and very condensed digest of the Missionary intelligence of the whole world ! A fact
like this presents us with an interesting means of measuring Missionary progress ; but there
is another which tells us how very much the sentiments of the British public generally have,
within the last half century, been revolutionized for the better on the whole subject
of Christian Missions. Go back in imagination to the time when Fuller and Pearce
had recently planned, along with Carey, the Serampore Mission, and Carey and his
associates had for some time been at their work in India. Had you gone into
the British Senate at that period, on some night when India was the subject, you might
have heard some honourable member doing his best to raise a laugh at the idea of a shoe-
maker, such as Carey had been, sitting down and planning to himself the conversion of
India; and you would have found that it required all the eloquence and the moral power of
Wilberforce to rebuke the superficial sneerers. in that noble saying, that to his mind there
was something even more subUme in the thought of a good and earnest man sitting down
and planning measures for the conversion of India than in blind Milton sitting in his study
and planning his " Paradise Lost." I remembered this fact when not many years since I
met one of your own presidents. Sir CulUng Eardley, coming out from the House of Com-
mons with Dr. Livingstone on his arm, and learned from Sir Culling that he had been in-
troducing that remarkable man to some of the chief statesmen of the day, who, I have no

190 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862

doubt, felt themselves as much honoured by grasping the hand 'of the great Missionary and
Missionary traveller, as he did by grasping theirs. The cause, then, is advancing, notwith-
standing the many obstructions and discouragements which occasionally arise to try our
faith. But I confess that, in looking at your Treasurer's statement, I should have liked it to
record a much longer figure. Has not the time come, when in this emporium of the world,
and in this age of Christian millionaires, in this great city where is the pulsing heart of our
humanity, multitudes of men should be found undertaking the entire support of mis-
sionaries ? I should like to see a collector's book, not simply with a column marking how
many pounds a man would give, but how many Missionaries he would undertake to support.
It must come to this some day, and why should it not come to this now ? The hour is
coming, and now is, when Christians universally must begin to give for the extension of
the Gospel, and for the true regeneration and happiness of our world, up to the extent of
self-denial. Your Lordship can no doubt call to mind a memorable passage in history, that
of ancient Rome, when the enemy was approaching to its very gates, and when its brave
senate, undaunted by the momentary triumph of its adversaries, resolved on the conquest
of the world. Now we have had Oxford essayists and reviewers, who have been attacking
Christianity in its very citadel in this country, and seeking to undermine whatever is most
sure and stable in our Christian evidences, and to rob us of whatever is most sacred and
precious in our Christian doctrines. I confess I am not at all disposed to speak of these
essayists generally as first-rate intellects. Five out of the seven, I should rather be inclined
to describe as a sort of intellectual valets, who are content to wear the cast-off clothes of
their German masters. But I say, let us adopt the policy of Rome of old, and while not
yielding one inch of ground, or one iota of truth to these dishonourable assailants, set our-
selves to the conquest of all the earth for Christ, and by the moral miracles which our
religion is constantly producing in our Mission fields, be ever adding new and shining pages
to the volume of our Christian evidences ; for, as an admirable clergyman, who really adorns
the Church to which these essayists belong, has finely said, " One of the strongest argu-
ments for Christianity is Christendom." It would be well for us all, the ministers of the
Gospel as well as others, were we frequently to go to our Bibles for the simple purpose of
rectifying our judgments on this whole subject. When I look up to heaven in the light of
the Bible, I find that that is a great Missionary country. I find that, whenever the intel-
ligence of the conversion of a sinner is carried up to that blessed world, there is joy among the
angels of Godover the one sinner that has repented. It seemsto me, therefore, that if an un-nriis-
sionary heart should be carried up to heaven — supposing, indeed, that were a possible thing
— it would find it to be a most uncongenial place for it. And, then, when I look into
prophecy, I meet with marvellous predictions on this subject. I find it declared by the
greatest and most evangelical prophet, that while suns and systems are to disappear, while
material things arc to vanish away, the Church of God is to be the great memorial and
monument of the Divine character through everlasting ages ; that when the Gospel has
been universally propagated, and men brought universally to bow to Christ, there will be a
Rrand chorus of all God's creatures ; the mountains and the valleys will break forth into
singing, all the trees of the fields will clap their hands, and redeemed men and happy
angels will take up the higher notes of praise ; "for it shall be to the Lord for a name and
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

The Rev. R. D. Wilson moved the second Resolution, viz. : —

•« That this Meeting feels constrained to record its deep and grateful sense of the Divine mercy in
the re-opening of Madagascar to the labours of Christian Missionaries ; in the wonderful preservation
and increase of the Native Churches during their severe and prolonged persecution; in the accession
to the throne of a sovereign with views of civil and religious fieedom, alike liberal, benevolent, and just.
And the Meeting would earnestly invoke the prayers of God's people on behalf of the King, the JNatiye
Churches with their Pastors, and the band of Christian Missionaries sent forth by the Society to aid in
the extension of the Kingdom of Christ throughout the island."

He said :— My Lord, I can honestly say that I have felt this morning the importance of
these annual gatherings in relation to the work in which we are engaged. We do some-
times sit at our homes and brood over those difficulties which beset the path of Christ's
Church, until we almost begin to feel that the work of God is so hindered and hampered
by manifold antagonisms that advancement is well-nigh impossible. But when we come
together thus, it is altogether otherwise. We then turn past successes into prophecies of
future and complete triumphs. True, lights and shadows flicker over the great world's
harvest-field; we have the night, and we also have the morning ; but, as we are reminded in
the Report, the Lord's great work never for one solitary moment makes a backward step,
but through every hour, through every day, through every year, through every century, it

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 191

is resolutely and invariably advancing towards its final and complete accomplisbraent. We
are raade to feel that the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever, is always doing
God's great work, drawing the Church's heart into deeper and more abiding sympathy witli
Himself, belting this world round with living altars, where we find the graces of the Spirit
and the loving heart of Him who ever liveth to make intercession for us. We have been
told this morning, in language unmistakeable, that there is no hour so still that God's work
is not moving, no night so dark that it does not advance, no winter so chilling that it does
not quicken and expand. At home and abroad the cry waxes stronger and stronger upon
our ears, that God's great work is hastening on with an ever accelerating rapidity
to the glorious goal that lies before us, and that ere long the fact of redemption's
great achievement will be announced in the declaration, "The kingdoms of this world
have become the kingdoms of our God, and of His Christ." In listening to that
grand chapter in the world's martyrology relating to Madagascar, what bosom did not
thrill, what heart did not bleed ! It reminds one of the 11th chapter of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, so close has been the resemblance of the sufferings of God's people in that island
to the sufferings of God's people in the olden times. Moreover, the veiy words in which
those sufferings have been narrated to us seemed to throb as do the words which come
from the mighty intellect of Paul, and to breathe all the inextinguishable passion of his
great loving heart. We often feel, as we read of the triumphs of Christianity in these days,
as if there were something wanting to link them on to the triumphs of God's Church in its
infant state. There is a glory lying about the olden history which we have strangely missed
for many centuries in the new. We have seen here and there men who have been brought
by the Spirit of God out of darkness into marvellous light ; but the grand struggle, the
unbroken patiehce, the martyr heroism, has not been called forth of late as it was then.
Here, however, in this island of Madagascar, the old glory comes up with a fresh and a
celestial splendour. We are made to feel that wherever men plant their foot on the Rock
of Ages, there the anchor of the soul enters into the stormless quiet that reigns within the
veil ; we are made to feel that still the old martyr spirit breathes in the Church's heart,
lives entempled in the Church's soul, and that men are still willing to lay down their lives
for Him who died in order that they might have eternal life. There is something touching,
not simply in the fact that men, with their strong, stern resolve — men whose hearts and
souls have been baptized from above, have gone in lofty triumph to the stake where they were
called to suffer, but that women — trembling, compassionate, sensitive, timid women — torn
away from their own loved households, separated from their beloved children, have been
content to pine away in prison, to be made a gazing-stock in the market-place, to suffer a
long and lonely exile, and still to holdfast firmly and resolutely their faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ — this is still more marvellous. Moreover, do we not read in the martyrology ot'
Madagascar many of those grand old promises in a new light, lightened up by the martyr
flame in which they suffered, some of them which we had thought had little relation to our
own life ? Here reads one : — *' Fear not, I am with thee ; be not dismayed, I am thy God.
When thou passest through the fires they shall not kindle upon thee; and through the waters
they shall not overflow thee." There, amid all the efforts of men bent upon the destruction
of God's people and of God's cause, the infinite Father has watched over them with all the
tenderness of His compassion ; there by the altar flames of that city He has stood at the side
of the martyrs and said, '* The smoking flax I will not quench.'' He has nerved them for
the straggle, He has armed them amid their accumulated dangers, He has strengthened
them amid the death which they have been called to suff'er. And not only do we delight
to treasure their memories, their words, and their names, but we feel that our God has
gotten to Himself a new and great glory in the patient suffering and the lofty triumph of
our brethren in that island. Let us, then, my brethren, feel also that the whole history of
the Church is but the fulfilment of God's promise. That history as it^developes itself shows
with what stern resolution Omnipotence holds by every promise which it has uttered. Of
olden times it was said by God, " Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession ;" and, as if that promise
had been ringing in His ear, Jesus, when He offered up His last prayer, said," I pray not for
these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word." Ever since
that promise was uttered it has been moving quietly into accomplishment; ever since that
prayer was breathed it has been advancing with accelerated rapidity ; and these martyr
agonies, and these martyr triumphs — the grand accumulating results of Missionary labour
everywhere, make us feel that the day is coming apace when it shall be said that the
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God, and of His Christ. It is very
easy for learned men, men of keen intellect, men whose minds float over the whole range of
literature, to construct arguments in favour of Christianity, and to show, by intellectual

192 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862,

logical processes, that if men are determined to deny this, they must be content to deny a
good deal more ; but when we can point to these achievements, when we can show these
accumulated results, may we not stand before them as did our Master of old, and say,
" Believe me for the very works' sake ?" Where are works like these ? Search the
literature of the world, and you will find nothing comparable to them. How can we
possibly account for them, except in the simple way that God's Word teaches us to account
for them — that "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?" Do we not
feel, in that chapter about Madagascar, that the old Te Deum comes this morning with a deeper
and more musical murmuring upon our ears ? "The noble army of martyrs praise Thee." Did
we not feel, as these Missionary successes were recited by our Secretary, with such deep
feeling as brought the whole people gathered here into the deepest sympathy with his own
heart in the matter; did we not feel that the voice of the Eternal is waxing louder and yet
louder amongst the many peoples of the world, speaking with its invincible authority, and
** saying to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back, bring my sons from far, and my
daughters from the ends of the earth." Do we not feel that in all these gathered honours
of the Church He who looks in His love upon those who are bearing the heat and burden
of the day catches a diviner note and feels a deeper joy than it is possible for us to know ?
Do we not remember that He is sitting there, " The head over all things to His Church,'*
waiting until He shall see of the travail of His soul and be abundantly satisfied, and that He is
telling us, in these repeated successes, that the day is hastening on when all peoples, and
nations, and kindreds, and tribes, shall be named by His name, and shall be enlisted in
His service } Let us, then, beloved Christian friends, ere we part from each other this
morning, lay our hands with a new feeling of sacredness upon the symbol of our faith, and,
looking out upon the world with all its antagonisms, feeling it may be sometimes most
lonely, as he did who uttered these words, yet looking up to that God, who hath declared
that He will never leave and never forsake us, let us anew lay our hands upon the Cross
and say, ** God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ." Amid all the wrecks of passing things, that Cross is winning to itself
diviner glory still ; and when all antagonisms have been hushed and swept away, it will
gather around it the acclaioQ of every regenerated heart, and the song shall go up to Him
who hung thereon, " Unto Him who loved us and washed us in His own blood, be glory
and honour, dominion and power for ever and for ever. Amen."

The Rev. J. P. Chown, of Bradford, in seconding the Resolution, said : — I was sitting on
this platform, ray Lord, at our own meeting, that of the Baptist Missionary Society, a
fortnight since, listening to statements and appeals such as are ordinarily addressed to us
on these occasions, when the thought rose up in my mind. Now, how ought we to feel as
Christians at these annual gatherings, in the state of things relating to the Saviour's cause
and the state of the world they reveal to us ? and it seemed to me as though there were
three thoughts it ought to awaken within us, under the influence of which we should
speak, and give, and pray, and labour. The first is, compassion for the woes and suffer-
ings of humanity that still remain in the world ; the next, thanksgiving for the position in
which we are placed, the means we may make use of, and the blessing that has already
been granted ; and the next should be confident assurance, under anticipation of the
Saviour's ultimate and universal triumph. First, if we feel aright, there must surely be
sorrow and compassion for so much of the world as is yet lying in heathen darkness. There
is Europe with millions who, while nominally Christian, are as destitute of the power of
the Gospel as the veriest heathen prostrate before their idol gods. There is Africa, over so
vast a portion of which, with all that has been done, such gross darkness still broods. There
is India, with its boundless territories and countless millions, that, with all the labour
expended upon it, has yet to be won for Christ. There is China, with one-third of the
world's population shut up within its walls. Think of these and other regions, compared with
which our little island home is little more than a cottage and its people but as a family;
and what concern, surely, it should awaken, what zeal it should call forth ! and especially as
in the Gospel we have that which is the only power to fathom the depth of their necessities,
and give them the blessing without which they must be poor and wretched, whatever they
have. They may have their systems of philosophy, hoary with age and bright with the
halo of glory that has gathered around them, but these cannot satisfy their need. They may
have this world's wealth in "barbaric pomp," and supply all the earth besides with their
fruits and gems, but their physical grandeur only makes their moral degradation all the
more striking and appalling. These things cannot bless them. They have their systems of
religion, so called — Hindooism with all its craft and learning; Mohammedanism, with all
its worldly power and promised sensuality ; Roman Catholicism, with all itSv forms and
show ; but these only deceive the faith, and mock the hopes, and destroy the souls of all

3Iissionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 193

that trust in them. They have the crescent and the crucifix, the heathen temple and the
shaster ; but they have not the Gospel, -which alone can pour light upon their darkness,
and whicli has been entrusted to us that we may give it to them. And —

" Shall we, whose souls are lighted

With wisdom from on high —
Shall we to men benighted

The lamp of life deny ?
Salvation! O salvation!

The joyful sound proclaim.
Till each remotest nation

Has learnt Messiah's name."

And this brings us to the second thought that springs out of this, like morning light out of
the darkness ; and that is, thankfulness that the Divine remedy has been provided, and
that we may make it known to all the earth. We may be thankful for what it has already
done. We were told, I remember, at the meeting I have just referred to, by one most
justly honoured among yourselves and wherever his name is known. Dr. Vaughan, in an
address weighty and rich with Christian philosophy and thought, of what the Gospel has
already done for man, and how, contrasting all that was known either of the earth or
heaven when it was revealed, it had increased our knowledge till it had already given us
a new heaven and a new earth." And if this is true of any part of the world, how
pre-eminently true is it of our own land ! W"e talk of its greatness and sing of its power,
and rejoice in its distinctions and privileges, and well we may ; but we must not forget
that it is from the Gospel they spring. They are the branches laden with their blessed
fruit, spreading far and wide, but there is the trunk out of which they all grow and from
which their life is drawn. They are the stones that make the temple, but there is the
Deity that dwelleth within, whose glory beams from every portal, and the river whose
salvation flows from under its threshold to fill the world; "and everything shall live whither
the river cometh.^' It is the isle that, more than any spot of earth, has received the Divine
favour, because it is the Patmos isle, on which stand the golden candlesticks of that
Christianity which is to shed its light abroad, and reveal the Saviour's presence and glory
to all mankind. They tell us, indeed, that this island is like a ship anchored by the shores
of Europe — take this idea-— and manned with her noble crew, and freighted with her pre-
cious cargo of salvation for all mankind ; she shall send out her boats and barques of various
build, of which she has a glorious fleet around her, " Mayflowers,"" " John Willianases,'' and
other such, to sail over every sea and bear her treasure to every land ; and as these vessels
are ever sailing from her and bounding over the billows, the song of the crews shall be,

" "Waft, waft, ye winds the story,

And you, ye waters, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory.

It spreads from pole to pole.
Till o'er our ransomed nature,

The Lamb for sinners slain.
Redeemer, King, Creator,

In bliss returns to reign."

And surely we ought to be thankful for the privilege and honour thus put upon us, that we
are chosen of God to make it known. I sometimes think it would have been a privilege
to have been a trumpeter in the days of the old Jewish jubilee — to have sounded out the
joyous silvery peal that should have gone through the land with the morning sunbeams, to
proclaim liberty to the captive, and joy and gladness to all ; still more to have been one of
the old Hebrew prophets, to have gone forth with the power of the Spirit of God dwelling
within us, and declaring God's words out of our lips ; still more to have been one of the
glorious band of Apostles who went forth with Pentecostal fire upon their heads, and power
in their hearts. But we have a mission nobler far than theirs — to proclaim a jubilee such
as ancient Israel never knew ; to tell of a salvation of whose glory the very prophets them-
selves, perhaps, could never adequately conceive, and to do this in the promised richness and
plentitude of the Spirit's power, such as the cloven tongues themselves could never symbolize.
And there is glorious cause for thankfulness, not only that we have the privilege, but for all
the faciUties God has provided, and the abundant encouragement He has given us for the
use of them. Look back to our forefathers, and what would they not have given for such
advantages and prospects as are opened up in every direction before us. What faith they
needed, and what diflaculties they had to grapple with. What faith was that in which they
went forth amid the jealousy, or unbelief, or scorn of those they left behind, with that
Divine thought burning within them as though a live coal from the altar had fallen into their
bosoms and set their souls on fire with heavenly love and zeal ! What faith was that in which
they went down into the deep dark mine of heathenism, and wrought in gloom and danger,

194 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

till now we see liow they have brought from it, as an earnest of what shall be, some of the
brightest gems that beam from the diadem upon the brow of Immanuel Himself ! It was
thus that they entered upon their work, compared with which, ours, in the present day, is
scarcely to be called work at all; they stormed the citadel, we have only to go in and dwell
■where they fought and died. They were as the pilgrim fathers who founded the empire, in
whose privileges we rejoice as we worship in the temples they have reared for us. Let us
be thankful for all the blessings of the harvest rising up in every part of the world ; that
they have sown seed that we may reap; even if we had no results to point to, our duty would
still be the same ; but we have them, and glorious results too, as we can point to the Word
of God translated into almost every language spoken amongst men ; can point to the myriads
that are snatched from heathen darkness to Gospel light, to say nothing of those that have
gone up before the throne ; and this is only the dawn of the day whose glory is to fill the
earth, the first drops of the Divine shower that shall be poured out till the glory of the
Lord shall cover the earth, aud all flesh shall see it together. And this brings us to the
third thought, of the confidence and zeal with which we should give ourselves afresh to the
work, in the assurance and anticipation of the Saviour's ultimate triumph. True, we may
be honoured sometimes with the abuse of those whom our Gospel disturbs in their deeds
of cruelty, into whose dark den it flashes the light of that holiness and condemnation
they cannot bear, so that they are ready to say, with some of a kindred soul of old,
** What have we to do with Thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ; art thou come to torment us
before our time ?" and yet are compelled to acknowledge the Divine glory of Him from
whose presence they flee. True, the shrine-makers of Ephesus may rise up and shout out
the praises of their Diana when they feel their craft is in danger, and may seek to hinder
the spread of that Gospel which threatens the destruction of the system upon which they
have thriven. True, we may have to tell yet in the future, as we have in the past, of our
martyrs, but their blood shall be the seed of new generations, that shall give us a host to
take up the battle for every single soldier that has thus fallen. And even from these things
we gather encouragement ; but we have more than this to urge us onward ; we have the Divine
command as truly from our Saviour's lips as though He had come into our midst to give us
it this morning — and that ought to be surely none the less binding, that it has been eighteen
hundred years upon record; not only that, but we have the wailing cry of the millions in
heathen lands asking for that help we alone can give ; and as it comes wafted upon every
breeze, and borne upon every billow, and as it comes from those who are of the same flesh
and blood as ourselves, surely this should stimulate us to action and arouse us to zeal ;
not only that, but there is the great cloud of witnesses by whom we are encompassed, of
those who have gone before, some of whom have lived and laboured and died in the same
good work, whom we may suppose to be bending from their starry thrones to cheer us
onward. And not only that, but we look on to those glorious scenes we are taught to pray
for, and we know the result is as certain as it is beneficent and sublime. Whatever may
be the force and power leagued against the glorious cause, and however apparently weak
and unlikely our instrumentality, it is the cause of Him who uses the weak things of the
world to confound the mighty, and things that are not to bring to nought things that are;
and all opposition must fall, as surely as the towers of old Jericho fell before the rams'
horns of ancient Israel ; as surely as " proud Dagon " fell before the ark of the Lord ; as
surely as all the hosts of Midian fled before Gideon and his three hundred men with their
lamps and pitchers ; as surely as the Philistine giant fell before the sling of the Hebrew
shepherd-boy ; so surely shall all the forces we have to meet, and all the opposition arrayed
against us, fall before the preaching of " the glorious Gospel of the blessed God." Let
our hearts and eyes then be up to God alone, trusting in His might and desiring His glory
as the great end to be sought after, and then we shall be made strong for the work, what-
ever it is. It was this that inspired Moses of old when he went forth at the head of the
liberated bondslaves, to lead them to the Promised Land, this that animated the spirit even
of our Lord Himself, as, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross and
despised the shame ; so shall we be strengthened for our labour, and may rejoice in its
glorious privilege wherever we are found, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in our hand.

The Resolution was then put and carried.

The Chairman : — The resolution having already been approved of by the Meeting, I
will now call upon Dr. Tidman to make a short statement relative to India.

Dr. Tidman: — The Chairman of the Board of Directors is very anxious that the as-
sembled friends, the supporters of the Society, should hear something about India. I regret

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle^ June 2, 1862. 195

much that want of time did not allow me to read the Report fully ; but, looking to the
general interest of the Meeting, I passed over that part. However, we have a Missionary
brother here from India, who is about to speak, and I am quite sure that he will supply,
from his own information, the deficiency much better than it could now be done by any
written statement. There is but one resolution more, which will be moved by the Rev. W.
Cuthbertson and seconded by the Rev. "NV. H. Hill, who is not only a Missionary from India,
but the son of a Missionary, and, as it regards the place of his birth, an Indian himself:—

The Rev. W. Cuthbertson : — My Lord and Christian friends, the resolution I have
been asked to move reads thus : —

" That Sir Cflliitg Eakdlbt Eabdiet, Bart., be tfee Treasurer; that the Rev. Dr. TioiiAK be the
Foreign Secretary, and the Bev. Ebenezbe Peout be the Home Secretary, for the ensuing year; that
the Directors who are eligible be re-appointed, and that the gentlemen whose names have been trans-
mitted by their respective AuiiJiaries, and approved by the aggregate meeting of Delegates, be chosen
to fill up the places of those who retire, and that the Directors have power to fiU up any vacancies that
may occur.''

The only claim that I have, entitling me for a moment to appear before you on this plat-
form is, that for some two years I have been honoured with holding an oflBcial relationship
to this great and important Society. I had the honour to be asked by the Directors of this
Society to succeed the venerable Dr. Ross, of Sydney, as their agent, conducting the busi-
ness between them and their agents and Missionaries in the South Seas. And this morning
the little time that I shall occupy your attention will be almost entirely devoted to the
operations of your South Sea Missions. But before proceeding to tell you something of the
work going on in these Missions, I hope to speak to you a little as the pastor of an
Australian Church, and endeavour to tell you what we are doing in Australia for the Mis-
sionary cause. In that land, the Missionary cause is comparatively in its infancy. We are
struggling Churches ; yet I believe that there is no cause, with the exception, perhaps, of
that which is intimately allied with it — the Bible Society — there is no cause that so
thoroughly and universally has the confidence, or can command the liberality of the in-
habitants of Australia as this cause of the London Missionary Society : and the support which
we have received there has extended to all sections of the Church of Christ. I feel that — God
having placed us in that land — that our Heavenly Father has not opened up, in the wonderful
manner He has done, that wonderful colony of Australia merely that it may be peopled with
Anglo-Saxons, with the children of Britain — though it may not always be an English
colony, the descendants of Englishmen will have the power there for years and for genera
tions to come ; but we have been placed there for no selfish purposes — we have been placed
there, not merely to build up a great nation (though, God helping us, we will do that), but
we have been placed there chiefly to form Missionary stations for China and the South Seas.
We are trying to raise up the colony to a sense of its own responsibility, and its glorious
destination ; and we have already, in a humble way, begun to work it out. For example,
in one of the colonies, Tasmania, the brethren there have determined to found a college —
perhaps, however, that may be considered too presumptuous a title ; but let us call it an
academy — which will have for its end the education of those dear children — not merely
the orphan children — of the Missionaries engaged in the South Seas. I thank Dr. Campbell
for what he has said in reference to the wives and children of Missionaries. No one will
deprecate the Christian heroism of those noble men, who have gone forth from time to time
from this country to the Missionary work ; but I venture to say that, great as that heroism
has been, it is not to be compared with the suffering heroism of the wives of our Mis-
sionaries. The Brethren in Tasmania are about to institute this establishment, where the
children may be sent up from the South Sea islands — children who can never be enfolded
in a father's arms, who may never be blessed with a parent's love. We want a half-way
house, as it were, where friends will be able, from time to time, to visit them ; or, at all
events, within visiting distance if anything serious should happen. We are struggling to
do our own Missionary work in our own country ; we are trying to establish a Church
there, and to make an aggressive movement there; and we believe that, before many
years elapse, we shall be working in perfect co-operation and in perfect harmony with the
Directors of this Society — not taking the work out of their hands, but that we shall be
able to maintain and support the South Sea Missions. The time has not yet come for this.
I should be sorrv- to see that Mission as yet entirely dependent upon Australian contribu-
tions. We are not strong enough — and in a new country it would net be well to be inde-
pendent— we want the aid of the Directors and the Secretary we have here. We do not
mean " cutting the painter ;" we wish still to be joined to you as a Society, but we will
come to you in a little time and supply you with the men and the means. China has

196 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

occupied a large portion of the Report, and has been brought prominently before you. We,
in Australia, believe we have an important work to do there ; and we believe that the most
powerful aggression that will be made upon the superstition, the false philosophy, and false
religion of the Chinese, will be made in Australia. That may seem strange at a lir^t glance,
but so great is the attraction of our gold-fields, and so near are we to China, with its
teeming population, that already our politicians are beginning to fear that the colony may
be flooded by them, and some among the number have been attempting to stop their
entrance amongst us ; but the Christian Church desire to see a wise and moderate immigra-
tion of them amongst us ; and, when they come to us, we treat them as strangers coming
to our doors ; and then our kindly feelings towards them, and feelings of gratitude on their
part, will induce them to hear the Word ; and I trust, when they return to their native country,
they will go away with something much more precious than fine gold; and in this way, we,
in Australia, shall be the first Missionaries to China. This is not a mere fanciful anticipation,
for we are akeady witnessing its fruit. Some time ago I was introduced to a Chinese merchant
in Sydney, who had just arrived. He told me he was a Christian man, and from conversing
with him subsequently, time after time, I soon found that his statement was true. He made
an application to be admitted a member of my own Church, and, after the proper pre-
liminaries had been taken, we received him as a member of that Church. He maintains a
noble Christian bearing; and what is more, in my own Church, and in the schoolroom at-
tached, .several times have I seen him addressing assemblies of Chinese upon the Gospel of
Christ. You have heard of the song listened to by Mr. Lawes, in Savage Island — I have
heard these people singing the praises of Jesus Christ. We have given them the Bible in their
own tongue — we have sent it to the gold-fields where they are labouring ; Lu Aka, the Chinese
to whom I have referred, goes amongst them as a Christian teacher. I have heard thera
sing the praises of Christ ; and though last night I heard the Swedish Nightingale singing
those beautiful words, " Come unto me," I was not one tithe so much impressed with the
melody from her lips as when I heard the children of the land of Sinim trying to sing the
praises of Him who will yet be Sinim's Lord. I will now venture to speak of the
working of the Missions in the South Seas — I go at once to Tahiti. And there is still something
that must come before your notice — something that will yet have to be seriously considered
with all the wisdom that can be found in the direction of this Society. You may depend upon
it, that the battle you will have to fight with Roman CathoUcisra will not be in this land,
where Protestantism has the power (and with God's help England will ever be Protestant),
the battle will be fought in your colonies, in the South Seas, in India, in China, and in your
great colony of Canada. I have talked, not merely with the Missionaries themselves, but
with the ablest politicians in the colonies ; I have conversed with teachers, with captains of
ships trading from island to island in the South Seas, and they are all agreed that
the state policy of France goes hand in hand with Rome, and that they are determined
to chase you from island to island, till every one of them is their own. What is the
evidence of this ? — look what is done in Tahiti. Look at New Caledonia — in one of
the largest of these islands, in the key, in fact, to almost all the islands of Fiji and
Polynesia, the French have got the wedge in, and they are determined to keep it
there. There is about being formed a new India steam route, in connection with the French
Government. The Emperor of the French is largely subsidising it, and making every
steamboat take out so many Missionaries free. A certain number of Roman Catholic
clergymen get free passage, and all others are taken at half fares. W^hen that system is in
operation, we shall find that India, China, and the South Seas will be flooded with Roman
Catholic priests, and Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Now, I say this for the purpose of stimu-
lating you, not for the purpose of casting any censure upon them ; I only wish you would
go and do likewise. It is dehghtful to think that Tahiti, one of the earliest of our fields of
labour, still stands true to the Gospel of Christ. I believe that partly through the geniality,
as it were, of the representatives of French pobcy, there is some measure of Uberty there,
though not a full measure, but I believe the time is not far distant, when, if you are wise
enough to face this pobcy at present, we may have full and perfect freedom on that beautiful
island. And well may your Report allude to the Navigator's Islands — to Samoa. Looking
at all that has been done there, it is just what Dr. Campbell would have wished should be
done. We say, where are the triumphs of pretended philosophers— where your writers of
essays and reviews ? Here are our essays and reviews. Can you write us a book like this ;
can you write anything like what our Missionaries have written ? They have written in
distant islands of hundreds of thousands of men and women brought out of darkness into
the bright light of Christianity, to sit in their right minds at the feet of Jesus. I will
not call them ot(r "essays and reviews," I would wish to correct the phrase, for this
has ever struck me as I came within the contagious influence of these Missionary spheres.

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle^ June 2, 1862. 197

When I have looked at the men who have gone, and know for a fact' what has been done
in these islands, I feel that if anything could be a proof that the saving Spirit of God is
still in the Church, we find the proof there, for it is written as clearly as in the Saviour's
prayer itself, " Thine is the power." The Navigator's Islands are wonderful places. The
Missionaries you have sent there have been most capable men, and in the presence of one
of them it will not become me to say much ; but I believe their policy is one that in every
case should be followed. One great element of success is, that no Missionary shall be
allowed to touch that which is merely worldly. I know that sometimes there will come a
seeming necessity to put the hand to traffic, and sometimes good men will think themselves
compelled to it by that necessity, but our Brethren of Samoa have stood clear of it all, and
that is why they retain so high an influence in the vineyard of the Lord. Look at Aneiteum,
Fotuna, and Eramanga. Do we not find ourselves moved to the very souls by the story ?
There must surely be something dreadful in these islands when Paton and Copeland were
obliged to flee. In Eramanga, too. Missionaries fell martyrs, and in the very next month
another Brother says, I am willing to go there — thinking it nothing peculiar, nothing to be
boasted of ; and Copeland, though bonds and death may meet him in the land, quietly
accepts the offer to accompany him. All honour to the true and brave I I honour the
great who have defended England, but I honour, with a deeper feeling and a greater
intensity, those brave men who have been fighting Christ's battles, and have fallen in the
glorious fight. Macfarlane is doing a good work, and time will show that it will be con-
tinuous, if you are ready to meet the Roman Catholics there, for I believe it is there that
you will have to meet them. I know the South Sea Missions, and perhaps they do not
look so grand, or so important, as Missionary fields, as India and China; perhaps
they are not. But look at the matter in this light : we have at this moment a great
Exhibition building, and the science, skill, and genius of every country is collected within
its walls ; perhaps there may be some Albert the Good with a yet higher title in connexion
with an International Exhibition ; perhaps the time will come when there will be a great
international gathering, not only of those upon this earth, but of heaven above, of all
races, kindreds, and nations ; and in that great gathering in the International Exhibition
which is to be, what would be said of the Missionary institutions of England, if, while they
sought the Hindoo and the ^Mohammedan, the Chinese and the negro, there was wanting one
large family, one, however, that we at present take an interest in, and can' bear the most
wonderful testimony to what we have done ? AVe know that the sons and daughters of
Polynesia will be there ; they will be there in hundreds and thousands, and it will be to our
glory to be able to say " Here are we, this wonderful powerful nation, England, and the
children which have been given to us — they are all here !" This is truly a wonderful
country ; and when, after a short absence, I return to see here the source of its power, the
embodiment of its importance, as I stand an unknown man amongst you, it occurs to me to
ask the question, as the fashion of the world has changed, as many dynasties have gone
down to the dust — these have been, and they have gone, is this country to follow in their
wake ? It may be, one cannot say ; but I will venture to make this prophecy, that as long
as England is true to her own destiny, as long as she extends her responsibiUty, as long as
she is filled with churches, as long as such glorious eff"orts as these are well supported and
maintained, Britain will never cease, but will continue to be the glory and the admiration of
the world. — I have great pleasure in moving the resolution.

The Rev. W. H. Hill, of Calcutta, in seconding the resolution, said : — India occupies
a most important position in the Missionary world; it possesses, I believe, one-third of the
whole Missionary body to be found abroad. Christian Friends, for one reason I regret the
silence of the Report with regard to India. We have no Cenotaph to speak of a departed
brother, no monument erected when a Missionary has lost bis life as a martyr, or who has been
sacrificed by his toils in a foreign clime, as in the case of ministers at home, but we look
to that Keport as our monument, and, had its pages been read, the honoured name of Mrs.
Mullens would have been heard to-day. My Lord, I have to speak of Indian labour, and, had
time permitted, I should have been glad to have shown at length, how some of our well known
difficulties atfect us — at this hour I can only barely hint them. The language in which the
Missionary has to address the native conveys to him still the falsehoods of centuries ; and
when we speak of God, the impression we make upon the mind is some representation of
Shiva, Vishnu, or Krishna, with all their evil and corrupting legends. I have seen Mr.
Lacroix taxing his invention to convey his meaning — but the people could not feel the truth
because they were only thinking of a Shiva. Again — caste has produced an influence of a
kind which has to be overcome ; it has deadened the affections, so that I have actually
passed by individuals perishing in the road, and when I sought to obtain help for them the
reply was, " Oh, they do not belong to our caste, let them die." On one occasion, while I

198

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

was preaching I saw an object supported on the tips of the fingers and the toes, "with an
expression of great agony upon the countenance. I said to myself, This is an ascetic
listening to the truth ; but when the people separated I found him still in the same
position. I went up to him and asked what was the matter ; he said, " I am in the
most intense agony, and I cannot move." "Where are your friends?" I asked. "I
have got none here." ** What is to be done for you ?" I inquired ; he said, " I have
been long ill ; I felt better to-day, and came to the market, but I became worse. I called
to those around me for assistance, but nobody would come, I was not of their caste.''
With the assistance of a convert I carried the poor man under the shelter of a shed, three
sides of which were open. To leave him there would have bean to leave him for food
to jackals, so I went from shop to shop and house to house, but the answer was
everywhere the same, "He is not of our caste." We got some wood, lighted a fire,
and left him again for a short time, and up to 10 o'clock at night I was seeking for a
refuge for the unfortunate man, but could find none ; all said, " He does not belong
to our caste." At length I went to one shop, and besought them to find room, if
even in the shop, for the poor man to lie down, and after some difficulty the shop-keeper
said, " I think he may belong to our caste; I will remove these things, and you can put him
here, but I cannot watch him through the night." The next morning I found him dying,
but the look of gratitude he gave me was ample reward for all I had done for him. I do
not blame the people — it is their religion, and this an effect. But for ten days, wherever I
went, for ten or twenty miles, they would come and stare at me as if I were the incarnation
of benevolence, and brought their children to look at him who had taken up the poor
sick man and i.'arried him to a shelter ; showing clearly that, notwithstanding the influence
of caste, there was still the heart that could feel for suffering, and appreciate benevolence
in another. It is a singular thing that one of our difficulties should arise from the action of
a nominally Christian Government — a point I would not desire to touch unless I had felt
compelled ; and I conceive you will unite with me in thinking that some allusion to it is
necessary on the present occasion. I do not desire that the Government should themselves
become teachers of religion, but I beseech them that their neutrality, which is nothing but
a political fiction, should be removed. It is a neutrality all on one side — a neutrality that
favours Hindooism and Mohammedanism, but ignores Christianity. The commercial
world will look after the material advantages that India has to bestow, but the Church
should see that Government acts not in practical hostility to Christianity. [During the siege
of Delhi, some portion of the Holy Scriptures fell into the hands of some of the soldiers of
the 24th Punjaub Infantry, and the result was, that Christianity began amongst the men,
some were baptized, and a Church was formed, when the major of the regiment put a stop
to the whole of the proceedings. I believe the matter was afterwards referred to the
Governor-General, when it was stated to be a mistake ; and he promised that certain rules
should be drawn up in regard to Christians in the native army — that was t^o years ago ;
Lord Canning has vacated the Vice-regal throne, and nothing has yet been done to cure the
evil. Contrast this conduct with that of a Native Prince. The Rajah Rundee Singh, who
rules over a population of 180,000, three parts Mussulmans, married the daughter of an East
India gentleman who was managing his estates, and her Christian influence has been most
remarkable. The Rajah and his brother attend religious worship regularly three times on
the Lord's Day, all public work is stopped on that day, schools and churches have been
estabhshed, hospitals, poor-houses, and such-like institutions have been erected in his
territories. A number of his people, comparatively few, however, look with ill-favour upon
the proceedings of the Rajah-, but the rest state, " He claims his own right to serve
God as he thinks he ought to do, and he gives to others the same liberty. He
makes no secret of his leaning towards Christianity, but on every suitable occasion
proclaims to every one under his rule that they have free liberty to judge for them-
selves upon matters of rehgion." It is said that the late East India Company
was afraid to show favour to Christianity. Is the British Government afraid? Are
we afraid to proclaim the truth in that country ? We want an open declaration in
India to remove the obstacles which have been thrown in our path. They look
upon us in India as hypocrites, because they believe we are working underneath
the surface to destroy their religion. Never to this day have we reahsed that liberty
■which Rundee Singh desires should be extended to all, and I look upon the resolu-
tion I am seconding to-day as a call upon each of us, so long as the necessity exists, to
follow the course which this Society has hitherto followed, and in the spirit which has
hitherto characterised its labours. In India this Society has a larger number of Mis-
sionaries than in any other country ; but what is it in comparison with the population ? — we
have one ^Missionary to half a million of people. I know not how better to illustrate that

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 199

proportion than by repeating an illustration given by Dr. Patrick, of the Presbyterian
Church in Ireland. He said, " We Presbyterians of Ireland are half a million of people,
and we have 450 Ministers ; in India there are 200 million people and 450 Missionaries.
India, with her 200 million people has precisely the same number of Christian Ministers
that we have with our half -million." Does not this present to us an insuperable difficulty? I
have sometimes felt that the British and American Churches cannot truly realise this
state of things, or they would send us ten Missionaries for every one they have sent.
Success has been the theme of our Meeting to-day. Success, if I understand the word,
implies adequate agency, but adequate agency has never been brought to bear upon the
world yet. I can only interpret success to-day, in the language of our Secretary, as " the
unmerited rewards of God and to Him be all the glory ! Let me just give you one or two
illustratious of these " unmerited rewards." There are now in India at least 125,000 Native
Christians. That seems a small number out of 200 millions; but break it up. Let us
suppose, what I believe is about the truth, that all the Church-goers, and all the Chapel-
goers in Great Britain and Ireland, were distributed in equal proportions to every Minister
engaged or disengaged, I believe the result of that would be, that all the Ministers would
have a congregation of 200 people, and a Church consisting of 25 members. If you
break up the 125,000 Native Christians of India in the same way, and divide them
equally among the Missionaries in India, the result would be, that for every Missionary
there would be a congregation of 300 souls, and a Church of 50 members. But statistics
will not give us satisfactory evidence with regard to the progress of Christianity, and
therefore let me refer to some other indications. The resolution which I was to have sup-
ported refers to the advance of Scriptural education in our schools. What has been tlie
result ? The Government, in educating so many thousands of Natives, has been demolishing
idolatry, but it has left the people who have been educated, Atheists or Deists. In our
Missionary schools education is based on the Scriptures. In the morning, before the
teaching commences, the pupils are all convened for prayer, and they are dismissed with
prayer at the close of the day. We teach them the Scriptures; and while on the one hand
we have been knocking down idolatry, we have on the other been rearing the temple of
truth. Let me mention a case which shows the necessity of Scriptural education being
carried on more than ever amongst ourselves as private Christians. Some time ago the
Govemraent of India appointed to the office of third magistrate of the city of Calcutta an
educated Native, who stood high, and rightly, as it then appeared, in their estimation. The
European community had for a long time been desirous that educated Natives should
receive that kind of encouragement, and we were all glad, I believe, when a Native was
made the tliird magistrate. That man had not been long in office before he was found
altering some of his own written decisions. This occasioned a great commotion through-
out the whole of the; Native and European community. Two young Natives who
were formerly in our college, called upon me at the time. While they were with me
the conduct of this Native magistrate became a topic of conversation, and these young men
said they believed that if that man had been educated in a Missionary college the
principles which he would have gained, and the character formed in him, would
have been such that he would never have allowed himself to descend to so dishonour-
able an action. Those young men were unconverted, but, having been in a
Christian college, they had learned the worth of Christian principles. I might multiply
proofs of the influence of Christianity, some of which it would be difficult for any
one but a Missionary to understand. It has been said that our converts generally
are of a very inferior class. There may indeed he many of whom that is true. It is diffi-
cult for any but ihose who live on the spot to realise the circumstances in which the people
are placed. The mass of the Hindoos are illiterate, and of course, to a certain extent, the
Christian converts amongst them partake of the same character. But it must be borne in
mind that the converts whom we have had in our schools and colleges, in such cities as
Calcutta and Madras, stand upon a much liigher platform than the converts in the
villages of the interior. The Missionary in a city is resident among his people ; the Mis-
sionary in the villages cannot live among them, because they are too far apart from each
other. He cannot go amongst them to preach without giving previous notice ; and it is
not reasonable to expect from those who have no Christian public around them, and so
little ministerial influence, the same growth and advancement that may be expected from
those who are more favourably situated. But in spite of these obstacles to improvement, we
have much cause for encouragement. Let me refer to the case of an old man whom I was
privileged to receive into the Church of God when he was seventy years of age. When he
first came to me and told me that he wanted to be a Christian, I was perfectly astounded ;
I could hardly credit that a man whose life had been devoted to idolatry, could, when his

200 Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862.

body was feeble and tottering with age, get a new idea into his head. It was, however,
faith in that God with whom all ^things are possible, that triumphed over ray doubts,
and that man at length was received into the Church. The Catechist reported
of him that his conduct gave him more satisfaction than that of almost any other
member of the Church. He lived at such a distance, that in order to attend the Sabbath
services he had to leave his house early on Saturday, and travel to a half-way house by the
evening ; there he spent the night, and on the Sabbath morning he set out for the place
where the services were held ; on the Sabbath evening he returned to the half-way house,
and on the next morning reached home. He gave, therefore, two days instead of one to
the service of God. In the course of his journey he always had to cross a number of
streams in a very rickety kind of boat which might easily have been upset, especially
when managed by a feeble old man ; and when it was remarked to him that God did not
require that such sacrifices should be constantly made, he replied that he could not sacrifice
too much for Christ, and could not do without his Sabbath bread. In this case you see
how the true principles of Christianity are being diff'used in India under the most adverse
circumstances. In itinerating among so many hundreds of thousands of souls I have some-
times been exceedingly depressed at the diflSculties of the work and the paucity of the
labourers. After I had preached a sermon, not knowing who would follow me, a Native
has come up to me and said, " What are we to do who can't read — are we to perish ?" My
Christian friends, Heave that quesiion with you. Ask yourselves whether you are prepared
to say that these millions who want the living voice to proclaim the truth to them because
they cannot read, shall be left to perish ? Mothers, this is a question for you. When
Missionaries are wanted, the mother who gives her son feels the sacrifice more even than
the father. A Christian mother Avhom 1 knew, when she had her first-born son, said,
*' I give this child to God when her second son was born, she said, " I give this child to
God and when a third son was born, she dedicated him also to her Saviour. Ere she
died she had the privilege of seeing two of those sons ministers — one a pastor at home, the
other a Missionary abroad, and if anything could have added to her happiness it would
have been the intelligence that her third son had given up commerce to enter the Mis-
sionary field. That Missionary mother gave all her sons to God, and she speaks to-day
through the lips of her first-born. I beseech you. Christian mothers, to take this matter up,
and see that some of your sons are so dedicated. It was Hannah who dedicated Samxiel,
and it is from you that God expects dedications now ; and if you appreciate the condition
of a perishing world, if you think of God's having given His Son for you, you will not feel
it to be a sacrifice but a privilege. I beseech you, then, rise to this privilege ; grasp it ;
seize the honour which God has conferred upon the Church, and give the Gospel to the
world. Wlien I was leaving India I did not expect to come to England. I was
going to the Cape of Good Hope, and I then expected that, after sojourning there
for a few months, I should return to my work with renovated health. God designed
otherwise. Some of the Native Christians who were with me at the last moment
before I quitted India, said to me, " When you go to the Cape of Good Hope, you will
perhaps find some colonists there who have contributed to the spread of the Gospel, and
some who have given a son to go forth as a Missionary to foreign parts." I mention
this because it harmonises with the resolution which I have risen to second: — " Where-
ever you meet such as have contributed to this good cause, give them our thanks." I
had, my dear friends, five or six hundred Native Christians lately under my charge in India,
and 1 hope to return to them, in the providence of God, ere the cool autumn has closed. And
in their names, as representative of something like 250,000 souls in India and Burmah, I give
thanks to every Church that has contributed to the Missionary funds ; I give thanks to every
Sabbath teacher who has interested himself and his class in Missionary subjects ; I give
thanks to every adult who has contributed to the cause of God ; I give thanks to the
Chairman, the Secretaries, and the Treasurer, of this noble Society. But I give special
thanks to the mother who has dedicated her son to God's service ; and in that day when
we shall hear the honourable welcome, " Well done, thou good and faithful ser^'ant, enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord," next to that honour will be the gratitude of converted
miUions to Protestant Churches, who have sent them Missionaries, and God's Book.

The resolution was then put and carried ; after which the Meeting terminated.

Missionary Magazine and Chronicle, June 2, 1862. 201

THE EYENIIS^G MEETINQ.

The Evening Meeting, convened specially -with a view to excite and maintain an interest in
the objects of the Society among its Juvenile friends, was held at the Poultry Chapel. G. J.
Cockerell, Esq., Sheriff of London and Middlesex, kindly presided on the occasion, and
impressive and effective addresses were delivered by the following Missionaries, viz. : Revs.
R. Sargent, from India, Dr. Turner, from the South Seas, R. Dawson, B.A., from China,
W. Gill, late of the South Sea Mission, and F. Jones, from Jamaica.

Contributions in aid of the Society will be tTiankfully received by Sir Culling Eardley Eardley, Bart.
Treasurer, and Rev. Elenezer Front, at the Mission House, Blomfield-street, Finsbury, London; by
Mr. TV. F. Watson, 52, Princes-street, Edinburgh ; Robert Goodwin, Esq., 235, George-street, and
Religious Institution Rooms, 12, South Hanover-street, Glasgow; Rev. Alex. King, Metropolitan' Hall,
Dublin; and by Rev. John Hands, Brooke Ville, Monhstown, near Dublin. Post-Office Orders should
be in favour of Rev. Ebenezer Prout, and payable at the General Post Office,

WILLIAH STEVENS, PBINTEE, 37, BELL ^AKD, TEMPLE BAB.

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