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merely in their very equivocal dresses, and their very alarming manifestations. But those who went amongst them, talked with them, and learned and studied them generally, came home, and relieved friends who were looking out of the windows in great distress. I can only express my own feelings in the language of a Frenchman, who, previous to the Revolution, hardly ever thought of a divine Providence. I saw him the day after the Republic was proclaimed. He was bathed in tears, and predicted a reign of terror. I saw him about a fortnight afterwards, and he said, with the utmost feeling, as he had done before, but with feeling of a very different kind, "I cannot account for the conduct of that populace, except on the ground that God is governing their instincts." And wherever I have gone, whether among the Legitimatists, among the Constitutional Monarchists, or among the Republicans, I have found, more or less in every mind, a persuasion that the Revolution, in its occurrence, and that the moderation and temper of the majority of the people since the Revolution, were altogether beyond the common order of political events; and that, as an English officer, who was not disposed too readily to acknowledge God, observed, "I watched as a soldier all that was done in this Revolution; and I know that no hand of man brought the King off the throne; there must have been some hand which no man saw." And that hand which no man saw is, I believe, more recognised in the public mind of the French people at this moment, than it has been for many, many years. I believe that there is an undefined, but a most salutary, impression abroad, that there is a controlling Providence,-that there is something in the state of the world that cannot be accounted for, except on the ground that it is God's doing. And, Sir, with regard to the prospects which this Revolution opens for our operations in France, I look upon our English work there as not a matter to be taken into account at all; because, if the English who were there, and heard the Gospel from our English brethren there, are now in England, they will hear the Gospel here; so that that matter need not be weighed as affecting the general interests of the kingdom of Christ. But the work of God, as conducted by us and other evangelical Christians in France, has had, it is true, in passing through the Revolution, to encounter some danger. First, there was the danger of a complete anarchy.

Had that occurred, it is very certain that the violent party would have been exceedingly liberal to the Gospel, as long as the Gospel did not interfere with them. But it is equally certain, they would have been as despotic to the Gospel as they endeavoured to be to the electors of France: they would have put down the Gospel, or anything that interfered with their own despotism, without the slightest hesitation, There was no time when I feared greatly a permanent anarchy, although for a considerable time I was compelled to admit its possibility. But since that memorable Monday in London, following the prayers of a Christian Sabbath, when the benefits of the holy Sabbath, and the sanctuary services, and the prayers of that Sabbath, came down and shed their peace upon this land, the balm that shed joy and gladness through England gave strength and refreshing to every friend of order throughout all France. And I know it to be a fact, that a French lady, a Roman Catholic, when reading the exaggerated and alarming, and in some respects amusing, reports of what was to occur in England, where many terrible things were to take place, said to her servants, “We must all pray for England; for if England be overturned, what is to become of the world?" And, Sir, while I believe that England had, on that day, the prayers and sympathy of every friend of order and of happiness in France,- that is, the prayers of such of them as do pray, (and would to God they were more than they are!)-I believe, also, that the events of that day nerved the minds of the French people unconsciously to themselves. The benefit was immense. The ultimate reign of order appears now to be expected. Another danger was from the prevalence of Communist doctrines. And if we had regarded the specches of a few persons, the words of a few noisy individuals, we might have supposed these sentiments had taken general possession of France. But my decided opinion is this, that a vast majority of the French people are, at this moment, convinced that a nation without a religion is an impossibility; they are convinced that, in the main, Christianity is a religion divine; but they look upon Christianity, as it has existed in France, as a thing rich in abuse and in absurdities. Many of them have not yet learned how to separate Christianity from these abuses and absurdities. Very many of them are unaware that Christianity, in itself, does not imply either the one or the other. But even those

who have their eyes open to these abuses and absurdities are content, rather than abandon the country to infidelity, which they believe would be its greatest woe, still to retain that Christianity which they see, with all its absurdities and all its abuses; and, I believe, never, since the days of the Huguenots, was the public mind in France so favourable to the truth as it is at this very day. That is my conviction. Then, as to the opportunity of our acting upon that mind, so prepared by the providence of God,— why, the facilities given to us now place us altogether in a new position. Hitherto, in France, the work of evangelization has been of a very restricted kind. It was impossible to enter a town unawares, or to get on until you had paved the way, and, after long anxiety, got an authorization to preach in some little room or other. So that our acting energetically on the mass of the people was impossible. But now the opportunity seems to be opening upon us, and the sphere of usefulness will be great. At the most recent Station which we have occupied in France, our Missionary had the greatest difficulty possible, six months ago, to obtain leave to open his chapel. Since the Revolution occurred, twelve individuals in that town have publicly renounced Popery; and two villages in the neighbourhood have invited him to enter them, to preach the Gospel; and he is in negotiation with several other neighbouring towns, with every prospect of forming a Circuit, and working it as Circuits used to be worked in the former days of our evangelization at home: and I believe that the sphere of labour now opening up will present a new aspect of our affairs in France, and perhaps call our Committee to deliberations and measures of a character they were not prepared to anticipate. If we look at the Continent generally, I think the expression which you used more than once in your opening address, "auspicious times," most appropriate. I believe, not only with regard to France, but to Germany, and also to Italy, the "times" are most "auspicious." Although my Resolution stops at the continent of Europe, I certainly could not stop there. I shall soon stop; but, looking at our great work abroad, our Heathen work, a work for reclaiming to Christ those who worship idols,-I believe we have other calls quite as loud as we have from that part of the Mission field, and louder. After all, what you, Sir, said in your opening address, though perfectly true in one respect, is only true in a very general point of view; that is,

that we occupy every land." We certainly occupy some parts of Asia, and Africa, and Europe, and America. But, take the races of men, and the Mongol race-take the creeds of men, and the Buddhist, with the exception of a small portion of Ceylon-are altogether beyond the sphere of our exertions. Not one of the multitudinous race of the Mongols, not many of the hundreds of millions where Buddhism prevails, are yet approached by our Missions. All these tribes are entirely beyond our efforts. And, again, if you take the vast continent of Asia, where half the world is living, I find that, east, north, west, centrally, you have not a foot of ground. If you come again into our territories, the whole of the Bengal Presidency is without any agency of ours; the whole of the Bom. bay Presidency is without any agency of ours; the whole of the Agra Presidency is without any agency of ours: and if, upon the continent of Asia, you are to find our traces at all, you must come within two or three hundred miles of the termination of that continent. In Asia there are thirty-three languages that are speaking allegiance to the Queen of England; but in Asia (Continental Asia, I mean) you have only two languages that are speaking by your agents the Gospel of the Son of God to our fellowsubjects there. However, I am glad that other Societies have agents there; and I cite the encouragement of others as a stimulus to our exertions. In alluding to what has been done, and the prospects opening before Christianity, in India, I rely upon the calculations of a respected brother belonging to another Missionary Society, who has collected a variety of most valuable statistical inforniation. In India, at this day, we have, of European Missionaries, 300 men, a staff wonderfully increased within the last seven years, and holding out still greater hopes of a further extension. These 300 Europeans have, of native Agents, Catechists, and native Ministers of various grades,-excluding Schoolmasters, they have, assisting them, of Hindoos preaching the Gospel to Hindoes, 1,304 men. They have of Schoolmasters also assisting them, though many of them not directly, in the dissemination of the Gospel, 1,600 men. What, then, do you suppose is the actual number of Missionary communicants now in India? 24,000 men. The number of nominal Christians under the charge of the various Missionary Societies of those who have renounced Heathenism, and profess Christianity-is

now 90,000; and you may add to them, 110,000 of the ancient Syrian Christians. Now, these facts are sufficient to show that where the teachers have a strong staff, where they have laboured long and hard, God has given a blessing; and I earnestly implore every member of your Missionary Society to take into his thoughts that vast continent of Asia. I have no time to go into the matter as I could wish to do. Many of you know what I would say if I had the time; many of you have responded on other occasions to what I have said; but I trust that, with more and more width and fervour of heart, you will be prepared now to take the entire of our great cause into your consideration. Sir, when I look at this Society,-when I look at the Christianity of England at this day, -when I look at the movements of the churches abroad,-one impression ever returns upon my mind, wherever I am, whether it be in my closet, in the streets of Paris amidst their excitement, or whether it be here, the impression, that the crisis of this moment will depend, for its ultimate development and issue, to an extent altogether unappreciable, on the movement taken with regard to it by the piety of Great Britain. I believe we have now come to a point in our religious history, where Providence thunders into our ears the necessity of the spirit of sacrifice; if it be necessary, even to death.

The rege

neration of the world is now the cry of every man that possesses any love for liberty. "Regeneration!" is ringing round the barricades of Europe, and surrounding itself with much that is dangerous, not to say appalling. But all this regeneration is only the regeneration of institutions, a material regeneration. It will do little. And yet that cry for regeneration is but the echo of the wants of the world. We must interpret it in another sense. They do want it. Those cities, those villages, those continents, want it. Every man upon those barricades wants it. Regeneration is the thing they require. But that which is demanded, that which man really wants, is that which God has commissioned us to carry him, not the regeneration of political institutions, but the regeneration of men, the regeneration of souls, the regeneration of that which is dead in sin. And, to carry out this regeneration, we must be prepared with a spirit like that which the world has. Men talk of dying for their country; and they do it. Men talk of contending to blood for liberty; and they do it. Men talk of

sacrificing everything for principle; and they do it. Christians,-ye that are really to regenerate the world,-ye talk of sacrifice, and self-denial, and death to the world, and crucifixion of the flesh, and resurrection to a new life in Christ. Such is your doctrine. Your words are words from heaven; they are not your own. To make them realities, you must have feelings from heaven, you must have principles from heaven, you must have help from heaven. And with these feelings, these principles, and this help, you will be prepared to make your words go out upon the population of Britain and of all other lands; and so the moral and spiritual regeneration of the world, occupying the mind of English piety, the heart and prayer of English piety, will be accelerated, under the present facilities, at a rate which, I believe, the Christian church has never witnessed, and at a rate which the wide world will hail, and in which heaven itself will rejoice.

The Resolution was then put, and carried unanimously.

The Rev. WILLIAM BEVAN, (Official Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance,) said, The Resolution which it is my privilege to submit to the Meeting is in the following terms:

"That this Meeting rejoices to learn, that the favourable answer of Her Majesty's Government to the Committee's Memorial on the danger which threatened the Missions in New-Zealand, from the apprehended infringement of the Treaty of Waitangi, is calculated to allay the feeling of alarm which had been excited among both the Missionaries and the natives under their pastoral care; and, that the grateful acknowledgments of the Meeting are due to the Right Honourable Earl Grey, for his kind and considerate attention to the subject, and for the assurance that he will immediately send such further instructions to the Governor of New-Zealand, as will secure the practical maintenance of the Treaty in its full integrity."

I rejoice, Sir, that this Meeting has the opportunity of recording its sentiment on this important question, as I believe it will be recorded cordially and unanimously. We have been accustomed to look upon our Missionary institutions, and our Missionary principles, as, in days gone by, requiring vindication. We have now to bless God that the direct and indirect action of Missionary labour has vindicated itself; that whereas, in the days that are past, it was found necessary almost to smuggle

our Missionary brethren into the lands of their destination, our men of commerce now hail their passage and speed their way. Then was the fashion to grace even the highest style of literature by witty lampoons on the simple and unsophisticated men who went forth with no engines of civilization in their hands to regenerate the world; now our Missionary literature takes its place, if not amongst the most ornate, at least amongst the most useful, of the times. Sir, in days gone by, Governments were accustomed to look, at least with some degree of suspicion, upon the men who went forth to vindicate the claims of "another King, one Jesus;" but we now rejoice to find, that they hail the co-operation of the simple-minded followers of Jesus,that they understand that the principles of our heaven-born Christianity are principles which give solidity to states, sacredness to treaties, and happiness to all mankind. I rejoice, therefore, in this opportunity of presenting to the Meeting a Resolution which bears on its fore-front a recognition of the social blessings which our Missionary labours have been the means of sending forth through the nations of the world. As it regards the subject of the Resolution, I am sure that the British nation will account itself indebted to the Committee of this Society, for a vindication of British consistency and British conscientiousness, in the preservation of the spirit and the letter of the Treaty to which this Resolution refers. If it had been violated, the character of the British nation must have, in a greater or less degree, suffered in the eyes of the world. You have been privileged to step in and conserve the rights which had been conceded by British treaty, and you have been the means of accelerating those measures which will establish the character of British honesty in dealing with the natives of that far-distant country. Sir, I cannot conceive that a higher satisfaction can be afforded to the distinguished Statesman, to whom this Resolution refers, than that which arises from the recollection of having yielded so promptly to representations which were based, as I believe, solely on Christian grounds; and I am quite convinced of this, that while, on the one hand, you will have contributed to uphold British integrity among those who are beginning to feel their path in the way of civilization, you will have a wider and clearer ground open before you for the successful prosecution of your labours among that people. But,

You

Sir, however much we may express our indebtedness to those who thus yield to our wishes on matters like these, we must never forget that brief but instructive sentence which I find at the close of your Report, that "the cause of the world's salvation is the cause of God." We have been taught to cease from Princes, or any son of man, in whom there is no help, and we have all had to learn, by the course of bitter experience, the momentous lesson, that we are dependent on the guidance and grace of God, for all that we have realized, and all that we hope yet to realize, in the regeneration and conversion of men. Let me for a moment dwell upon that impressive sentence, "The cause of the world's salvation is the cause of God." Then, Sir, it is the cause, the common cause,-the property, and the common property, of all the children of God. He has given his authority and commandment to the followers of Jesus, to preach his Gospel to every creature; and if there is a feature, Sir, in the whole of your Methodist constitution, which commends itself to my judgment and to my heart more readily and more warmly than another, it is this, that you vindicate the authority and the prerogative of every Christian to teach the truth of Christ. have no other question than this,-" Do you know the Lord? Do you love the Lord? Then go and teach his knowledge, go and spread abroad his love." And there can be no better answer to the arrogant pretensions of some men, there can be no better barrier against the encroachments of refined or vulgar superstition, than the carrying out of this high behest, committed not to one section nor to another, but, as their common right, and their common duty, intrusted to all who are born from above. "The cause of the world's salvation is the cause of God." Has he not given opportunities for the prosecution of this cause to all? Wide and effectual doors are opening before us. Shall we stand quarrelling as to our occupancy of one field or another, when the whole of Europe is languishing with an insatiable avidity after what it knows not? when the nations of the entire world, to which, from all our ports, we are brought into closest and responsible contact, demands that every link of communication should be sanctified and laid under tribute for the great purposes of our common faith? when nations and potentates, waking up to new visions of liberty, are admitting the Bible with its precious treasures, and

the messengers of truth with their ministry of reconciliation? Is it not time that we cease to entertain jealousy and strife, as to the occupancy of these fields of labour, and come to a common agreement to go together in all, and in all to lift up, not a distinguishing standard, but the one glorious banner of our crucified and crowned Redeemer? Then, Sir, may I not say, that "the cause of the world's salvation, as the cause of God," is the property of the whole church, because he has given the instrument for the prosecution of that cause to all? There is no monopoly in the Bible. There is no monopoly of the bread of life committed to any portion of the church; and he violates the very first principle of the government of Christ, who sets himself up as the exclusively authorized teacher of that word. What is that instrument, Sir? "The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And if God has given me the light and knowledge of the truth, if he has warmed my heart by the love which that truth reveals, he has put that word into my understanding, he has diffused its influence over my heart, that I may use the gracious and divine talent for his honour; and it is my honour, my privilege, no less than my responsibility, to use it for the good of men. The Bible, and the Bible only, it has been said, is the religion of Protestants. So I affirm of our Missionary enterprise. We are men of one book. If you go to distant lands, and stand by the side of the Missionaries, gathered from various associations, and hear their message, you will find that they lift but one trumpet, and give but one sound; that they vindicate the claims of one Lord on the homage of his creatures; that they open the covenant of one faith, and that they cry and sigh for the baptism of the one Spirit. Let us go on, in this confidence, not merely that the principles of truth, because they are the truth, shall prove irresistible against all the hostilities of error; but that the truth, which is our only instrument, is almighty for its purpose,

because it is the truth from the mouth of

God, spoken by the command of God, and ministered under the presiding blessing of the Holy Spirit of God. Once again, Sir, "is the cause of the world's salvation the cause of God," and therefore the cause of his people? Has he not given the pledge of blessing to us all? Have we not all the same promise? From every field of Missionary enterprise occupied by our evangelical

institutions, have we not received the first-fruits of that Spirit of promise? We go, then, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. We know that our feet tread upon the soil which our Saviour has redeemed; and we tread it with firmness of foot, because we go in the spirit and power of the Most High. We gather the first-fruits of that harvest, and we present them on the altar, not to the honour of the church,—to her joy, indeed, but to the honour of Him who is her Head. In this we are one. In prayer on earth, the saints are one, in deed, in word, and mind. Now, Sir, with a cause such as this, divinely delegated to us, divinely wrought, and hereafter to be divinely successful through our instrumentality, shall we give a niggardly amount either of sympathy, or intercession, or substance? Consider, I beseech you, beloved brethren, in what position you now stand. The world is sighing for regeneration. You stand in the midst of a heaving chaos, and on you, and your brethren in the labour and faith of the Gospel, it depends whether that chaos shall be moved to ruin or to life; whether, out of the elements that are now in social conflict every where, there shall be evoked a curse or a blessing. It is yours to diffuse the healing, tranquillizing, clevating, sanctifying influence of the truth of God; it is yours to stand before him, pleaders for him before men, and pleaders for men at his footstool; and how will your protestations of sympathy, and your prayers for help, be vindicated and sustained, unless you "strive mightily," according to the strength and ability which God giveth you, for the maintenance of his cause? Sir, let us hope that this Meeting will set an example to those of other kindred institutions which have to follow, of intense zeal, of self-sacrificing liberality, which all shall delight to imitate. Then shall this year, over which so many clouds of darkness have lowered, and concerning which so many fears have been awakened in the breasts even of God's most believing people, prove to us yet once more the lesson that "man's extremity is God's opportunity," that when most we need the impulse, he is most prompt to give it; when most his cause needs our resources, then most will he give a willing mind; and when we yield to the impulse, then shall we find him most near at hand to succour and to bless. Let this spirit pass from assembly to assembly, from denomination to denomination, and it will con

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