Let

stricken before the ark of Jehovah, stretch not out your hand to his rescue. not the priest have to bless you for the salvation of his god, but if the god cannot save himself let him fall, and let him perish." I have trespassed too largely on your time and patience, and will only add another thought, and in doing that we can assure those who ought to be our auxiliaries as men, though we do not want their alliance as a government-in speaking of their mournful opposition, we can assure them, that we do it more in sorrow than in anger, but, as men, we feel our country disgraced, as Christians, we feel our God dishonoured, his righteous frown incurred, and his awful curse provoked, by this most unprincipled alliance with the monstrosities and obscenities of Hindu worship. But while so speaking of men, let me not forget the debt of gratitude we owe to the God of Missions and to India's God. Few and feeble as our efforts have been in India, compared with India's vast demands, yet God has condescended to honour our inadequate exertions. When the Missionaries of Christ landed in that continent, less than half a century ago, they found the people every where sitting in darkness, gross darkness, that might be felt. We cannot say that the darkness is past, but (thanks be to God) India's midnight hour has long since passed; the star of the morning has long since risen, and shines brightly; or, if its brightness seems to wave, it is only, as we turn to the distant horizon, where the line of living glory is every moment growing broader-where, in noiseless grandeur and almighty strength, the light of the world is shining brighter and brighter to the perfect day.

The Rev. JAMES SCOTT, Missionary from Demerara, next addressed the meeting.He felt that in addressing that assembly he was addressing friends of the negroes. There were in British Guiana 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 50,000 were now brought under Christian instruction, and might be said to be habitual attendants at places of worship of one denomination or other. About 18,000 were under the spiritual guidance of the agents of the London Missionary Society. Although the negroes who were members of churches were not all that they could wish them to be, yet they had many qualities which would be ornamental to Christians even in higher circumstances. The Missionaries met with a degree of zeal, and a desire to co-operate with them in the work of the Lord, that was peculiarly encouraging, while it rendered efficient assistance. There was a member of his church, an aged disciple waiting for the coming of his Lord, who had been so diligent, so laborious, so honoured in the work

of his Divine Master, that some years ago there was not in his neighbourhood a child above the age of nine whom he had not taught to read the Scriptures with a considerable degree of fluency. A very few weeks before his (Mr. Scott's) embarkation for England, whilst visiting a negro village, an aged negro sent a request that he would visit her. On entering the house he found her stretched on a blanket on the floor, and apparently dying. She had not been able to leave the hut for upwards of twenty years, and had never fixed her eyes on a minister or a Missionary of Christ. He expected, from the circumstances in which he found her, that she must necessarily be an ignorant creature, about to die without the consolations and the hopes of the everlasting Gospel. But in conversation with her he found her an enlightened, a devoted, and, he believed, a genuine follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, enjoying in her humble station those consolations which were neither few nor small, and living in the glorious hope of the coming of our Lord. On inquiring how she came to the knowledge of the truth, he found it was through the instrumentality of a Christian brother, who had read to her the Scriptures, and after attending the chapel repeating to her what he had heard. At one period the Missionaries were not allowed to visit the houses of the people; but now, thanks be

to God, they could go to the huts, to the prisons, and to the houses of the dying. There was a young man who had gone from village to village preaching the word of God, and who assisted him in the formation of his Sunday-school. There were in one estate about seventy-four individuals, of whose conversion he entertained no more doubt than that of any Christian before him, and whose conversion he believed was attributable, under God, in a great measure to the labours of that young man. Numbers of the adult population were able to read, and the love of prayer was remarkably manifested among them. Mr. Scott next referred to the encouraging circumstances of the stations in Demerara, especially Montrose, and George Town. The negroes at the former had in the last year contributed 3257. towards its support, and the latter, the station occupied by Mr. Ketley, was entirely self-supported; the other stations were making similar efforts, and his own people, during the past year, subscribed to the Society nearly 2001. If he were privileged to return he believed the time would not be long before they would have the honour of supporting their own pastor. The most kindly spirit existed in the colony among ministers and people of all denominations. The Society must not imagine that its work was entirely done in

British Guiana; much yet remained to be effected. At a Missionary meeting held shortly before he left the island, one man of colour addressed the congregation, and after stating the benefit they (the negroes) had received from the labours of this Society, he urged upon them liberal subscriptions on behalf of this Institution, that it might have the means of sending the Gospel to the coast of Africa. Mr. Scott then alluded to the sermon preached by Mr. Harris on the preceding day, and expressed a hope that if he returned to the colonies he should there carry out the spirit which that sermon inculcated. He had great pleasure in seconding the resolution.

The resolution was then put and carried. The Rev. JOHN ANGELL JAMES, in proposing the next resolution, said, I stand here literally as the forerunner of one whose shoe latchet, without any insincerity of speech, I profess myself utterly unworthy to unloose. There are many referred to in this resolution to whom the remark will apply; for in recollection of some of the observations contained in the admirable discourse-(I trust it will be an effective one) that we have heard on the past morning-what are we, any of us who labour in the word and ministry amidst all the comforts of an English home, compared with those honoured and devoted men who soar so far above us in the exercise of their Christian zeal, and who go to foreign lands to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ ? “ My brethren, returned from distant lands, bearing honourable scars, bright with glories that have been received in your Master's cause! receive from us the tribute of our admiration of the zeal and the piety which we have not yet found grace to emulate. God grant that you may still be spared to return to those scenes of honourable labour which call you back with a voice to which any thing that we could say could neither add emphasis nor impression. But I must not dwell on each beloved and honoured name included in the resolution, the names of Scott, of Medhurst, of Gogerly, and of others, but select from it that one individual on whom I would concentrate the attention, the admiration, and gratitude of this large and listening assembly-an individual who has done more for the cause of the Redeemer, in one sense, than this-(brethren, forgive me if I wrong you-if I depreciate the value of your labours)-than this whole platform of ministers, of tutors, of students, and of pastors. For have we translated the whole Bible into the language of the heathen, and prepared an instrument, not only for the edification of the churches that have been converted under the ministry of our brethren in the South Seas, but an instrument to be employed for the conversion of other islands

yet to be explored. The resolution is to this effect:

"That this meeting regards, with gratitude to the Author of all good, the deeper interest in the cause of Missions which has been produced in all classes of society throughout this country, by the visits and the labours of the Missionaries who have returned to this country; the auspicious circumstances under which the Rev. John Williams, and the band of devoted Missionaries who have embarked for the South Seas-the translation and printing of the entire volume of the Holy Scriptures in the Tahitian language-the recent tidings of the extensive renunciation of heathenism by the inhabitants of the Navigators Islands-the favourable position of the West Indian Mission-and the cheering prospects of increased usefulness in the widely-extended stations of the eastern world."

It is not to John Williams that I direct your attention-not that for one moment I would pluck a single leaf of the laurel that his country has weaved for that honoured brow-not that I would for one single moment turn away a prayer that follows the Messenger of Peace, (for we will give it this name for ourselves, though it must, according to established laws, retain its own name, the Camden;) not that I would for a single instant diminish that intense interest which has been excited on its behalf, but call upon you all to join in presenting the poet's language:

"Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurl'd
To furnish and accommodate a world;
Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave
Impel the ship whose errand is to save;
Charged with a freight transcending in its worth
The gems of India, nature's rarest birth,
That flies, like Gabriel on his Lord's command,
A herald of God's love to Pagan land."

But there is another in this assembly besides the name and recollection of Williams; and it is from the peculiar connexion in which I stand to that individual as my fellow-townsman, that I have been selected this morning to introduce him to you, that he might lay on that table the fruit of nearly forty years' honourable and devoted labours in the cause of his Master. I never shall forget when, at one of our Missionary meetings in Birmingham, Mr. Nott, having just then completed the printing of the New Testament, presented the first copy to the late beloved and revered Dr. Ryder, the Bishop of the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and who, with paternal grace as well as episcopal dignity, pronounced his blessing: "If," said that distinguished ornament to the Church of England, "my brother will think a bishop's blessing worth having.' And now he appears before us this morning to lay before us the Bible, the whole Bible, which God has honoured that mind to translate, and that hand to transcribe. God bas not gifted him, as he has our friend Williams, with the powers of speech, but he has conferred upon him still higher, I was going to say, and will not add, more useful

"

gifts, but gifts that God has himself employed for the very highest purposes, next to bestowing his own Son and Spirit upon the world for the world's salvation. For what could any of us do at home or abroad without the sacred Scriptures? I therefore now call upon my friend Mr. Nott, whom I shall esteem it my honour to the last moment of my life to call my friend, and brother, and father-to present, not himself merely to the assembly, but to present the Scriptures, at least in effect, to the Society and to the world. This he is prepared to do, as he is about, according to the announcement that has been made, to leave his native country, and go back to the land of his adoption; and we cannot wonder, after what God has honoured him to accomplish there, that Tahiti, in his view and in his heart, should have charms stronger than the soil of England.

The Rev. H. Norr then stood forward, and was received with an enthusiastic expression of feeling. He spoke to the following effect:-Soon after my arrival in London, I had an opportunity of laying before the religious public the progressive and very encouraging state of the Tahitian and neighbouring churches in the Southern Seas. I had, before I left that island, in February, 1836, finished the translation of the native Scriptures in the Tahitian language, and I brought the manuscript of the translation with me to be printed. On making known the object of my voyage to that noble Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, they immediately granted that 3,000 Bibles and Testaments should be printed in the Tahitian language for the use of the natives of those islands, and that, I am happy to inform you, has been accomplished. So that, in February last, only two years from the time I embarked for England, the entire Scriptures were in print; and thus the nation will now have an opportunity of seeing and hearing in their own tongue in which they were born, the wonderful works of God. By the favour of the same noble Society which I have just alluded to, one entire Bible in the Tahitian language has been neatly bound, and was presented to the London Missionary Society, at a meeting of the Directors in March last. This, Sir, said the venerable Missionary, holding in his hand a copy of the Tahitian Bible, is a specimen of the book which I have now the pleasure of presenting to you. But as my return to the South Sea Islands has already been made public, it now only remains for me to solicit an interest in the prayers of this audience, and of the whole religious public in general, for the Divine protection of my beloved brethren and sisters who have lately left us, and are now, perhaps, more than 1000 leagues from us, and that

He who trod the sea of Galilee and hushed it to a calm, might also tread the briny wave before me, and grant to me, and all who sail with me, a speedy and safe landing at our desired port. Entreating, therefore, this interest in your prayers, you will suffer me to bid you a final farewell; but, by a final farewell, I mean not an eternal, not an everlasting farewell, but a last farewell; for as respects our meeting again at a Missionary Anniversary of this description, I feel persuaded you will see my face no more. Accept, then, Mr. Chairman, and ladies and gentlemen, and beloved Directors of the Missionary Society, accept then this my final farewell.

The CHAIRMAN having expressed the extreme pleasure with which he had listened to the preceding address,

The Rev. W. H. MEDHURST rose and said (in reference to the Chinese philosophy and superstition)-Yes, China has had her sages; and what have they taught her? Miserable teachers! After all, their wisest and their greatest men have not been able to point the millions of China to the Source of being, and to direct their attention to the eternal, self-existent God. The greatest man that ever lived in China-the man of acutest mind and most expansive intellect -was himself more ignorant of God than the merest child in Christendom. Having referred to the character and tendency of the Chinese superstitions, Mr. Medhurst continued:-In these few things I have shown you the heart and mind of China-a puerile mind and a depraved heart it is! I could go further into the subject, but time forbids; it is sufficient, however, to show that China needs your sympathies, your exertions, and your prayers. I rejoice to say that the attention of the London Missionary Society has long been directed towards China. In the year 1804 the Directors of this Institution cast a longing eye to that important country; in 1807 Morrison went forth; and since his departure about twenty labourers have followed him to that important field. Their labours have been directed to the translation of the sacred Scriptures, which, a few years after the arrival of the first band of labourers, was effected. They have also endeavoured to set up schools in the colonies, and spread the Scriptures and tracts among the emigrants in the Malayan Archipelago, and at the doors of China itself. You have heard in the Report the amount of books printed. I have taken some trouble to go into that question, but have not been able, from insufficient data, to ascertain the precise number. Now, when you consider that the Bible occupies twenty-one volumes in that language, you will perceive that they have put into circulation more than

152,000 volumes of Scripture truth; in addition to which it may be mentioned, that the Missionaries in that part of the world have been able to compose, print, and circulate 650,000 tracts and books, as I have found by a subsequent calculation; so that there are more than 800,000 Scripture tracts and books in the Chinese language; and by a comparison of the number of pages which each book occupies, it will thus be found that more than thirty millions of pages of Scripture truth have been printed and circulated in that empire. Some have been unconscious of the extent of good which has been wrought in that empire, and when putting up their petitions to the throne of grace have hardly dared to say, as Abraham said of the cities of the plain, if there should be ten righteous men in that city. But this comes from want of information. There are a hundred who have been baptised by the instrumentality of labourers in the Chinese mission. Some of these have become evangelists to their countrymen; one of them has suffered much for the cause of Christ, and is doing still all that he can to spread the savour of that blessed name. Thus the Missionaries have been endeavouring to effect the object for which they went forth, and to set up the standard of the Cross on the borders of China. But did I not hear, in the eloquent speech of my reverend friend and brother who opened the proceedings this day, that the two-leaved gates of China are yet barred against us? And is that an idea that is to go forth and remain on the minds of this people? Forbid it, Heaven! its gates are not barred and closed against us. You have heard much of Chinese edicts, and proclamations, and manifestoes-I will tell you something about Chinese edicts. I would that I could undeceive the Christian public on the subject, but I despair of doing it till we can take you to the borders of China. Not a man (I fearlessly say it) that ever went to the Chinese shores, and attempted to spread the Gospel along her coasts, ever thought these edicts worth a farthing. It is only at a distance that they look dismal; the nearer we approach, the more puerile and harmless do they appear. With regard to the principle of opposing the will and authority of the ruling power, I could say much; but I shall just observe, that I conceive it right, morally and politically right, to endeavour to spread the truth in a country, in defiance of the direct orders of its rulers. I will go further, and I conceive it the right of man to spread any opinions, right or wrong, in any country in the whole world, where he feels that he has a fellow-man to teach and to save. Now, with regard to edicts, I will tell you a little. Having dwelt on this subject as illustrated by events in the history

of Rome, and other empires, Mr. Medhurst proceeded:-So much for edicts—but I have not done with them yet. When the Amherst went round the coast, and circulated books and tracts in every direction, piles of edicts came down to Canton against the "barbarian vessel;" in spite, however, of these, the vessel continued to go along the same line of coast. And in the year 1835 I went on a similar expedition to the northern and eastern parts of China. When I returned, an edict was issued, occasioned by my enterprise, and it was declared that these barbarians were an intractable set-that they were most violent and crafty, that there was no dealing with them-and that in defiance of the emperor's edicts they had sent a ship round the shore of the empire, and carried their books to the neighbourhood of the capital itself. Mr. Medhurst mentioned other facts, to show that the Chinese edicts are unworthy of serious regard, and resumed:-I really believe that men who are capable of being misled by such edicts, deserve to be misled by them, if they pay attention to things that are merely meant for an empty name, and have no reality. But perhaps you may say, the Chinese have added acts to edicts. They droveaway LeangAfa, and imprisoned Keuh-a-gang, in 1836, and fired at a boat on the Min river in 1835. These are true, but see the weight which we should attach to them. LeangAfa was driven away in consequence of the tumult which prevailed regarding Lord Napier. He has since returned to his native country, re-visited his native village, and is now gone again to the scene of his labours in Malacca. Keuh-a-gang was apprehended, but he had no connexion with the Missionaries or their books, and his only fault was that he composed the types for Dr. Morrison's Dictionary, for which he has been sent perhaps to the wilds of Tartary. In the consideration of all these things we may come to this conclusion-that the gates are closed against us only so long as we mean to stay away. But if we come to the solemn and fixed determination to go thither, to plant our feet on its shores, and to spread the Gospel through the maritime provinces of the empire, there is nothing at present to hinder or resist us. But it is necessary that I should come now to the consideration of my expected departure. I hope by the Providence of God to be enabled soon to leave my native shores, and to revisit that land of difficulty-that land of danger, if you please-China. I recollect it is the remark of Basil Hall, the enterprising traveller in all the seas round the world, "People talk very much about revisiting their native land, and it is sometimes the case that they fall down on the ground and kiss the land that gave them birth; but

give me the day when the vessel is sailing down the channel, with Old England behind it, and all the world before it a day far preferable when enterprise and novelty entice us away." This was the travellernow hear the Missionary. I have been twenty years from my native land, and having seen various vicissitudes, I have come home, driven by sickness from those scenes, to seek renovation in this healthy land. I do not kiss the land; I am about to return, and I look forward to that day with pleasure. Not that I have fewer regrets than others at leaving these kind friends behind, for I testify it with gratitude, that ever since I have been connected with this Institution, I have received nothing but kindness from the Directors. They may not have agreed with me in all my views, but as regards personal kindness and real affection, I feel that I am leaving friends behind; and if, perchance, the keen eye of an observer should mark the glistening tear in my eye when I am about to leave my native land, let him not think that it is on account of the dangers that await me, but kind friends that have been wrapped around my heart, and on account of the few individuals about to accompany me in the same glorious enterprise. There are at present no Missionaries appointed to return with me except a Missionary physician. I hope the number will be sufficient to gratify my wishes and expectations, and when we shall be embarked again on the briny deep, with the sail swelling in the breeze, and the prow parting the waves; then, when we shall see the curling waves dashing against the vessel's bows, and the angry waters driven away with their white and silvery foam on each side of the vessel, then will be the time

to say

to see on this platform more than twelve months that if we intended to do good ago, among the Chinese by education, we must teach the teachers. It was one of the best remarks which that or any other deputation ever made. I wish it had been followed up, and by this time we should have a very different state of things. But it is not too late to mend. We need educational agents, who have talent enough to learn the language of China, with humility and kindness enough to teach it to babes-who will thus labour in the cause of propagating education there. We need also pious physicians, who, by the talents which God has given them, will make benevolence and science co-operate with religion, and thus open more widely those gates which already invite our entrance. We need, still further than this, all the aid you can give us in revising the version of the Scriptures; for although the glory of the Protestant mission to China is the translation of the Bible, yet, as a first translation, it needs improvement; and for this we need your kind aid in furnishing us with dictionaries, polyglots, and commentaries, and all that you know of the talent of the present day that has been brought to bear on the interpretation of the sacred Scriptures. Who is there that would not feel it an honour as well as a pleasure to present such works as these to aid in the improvement of a work which shall live as long as time shall last? When we have the holy Scriptures revised, we need improvement in our facilities for printing them. We need multiplied copies and editions as fast as the opportunities for circulating them-and these last are faster and farther than the Christian public have yet improved. And when we have greater facilities for multiplying the copies of the Scriptures, we need increased facilities for circulating them. And now I cannot depart from you, beloved friends, without entreating an interest in your prayers. I hope when you bow before the throne of grace, and in your best moments look to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I hope you will think of those who are engaged in this distant field, in this interesting work, in this hazardous enterprise, and pray with fervour and with earnestness that God would smile upon the mission to China. I observed that I am about to quit my native land, but in so doing, I rejoice to leave a legacy behind me. I have been engaged in inditing a book to give to the world, and I rejoice to present it to you, Mr. Chairman, as the representative of this meeting, and of this Society -it is a book devoted to the interests of the Chinese mission, calculated, I think, to awaken some interest in its behalf, and certainly to impart to you some new information on the subject of China.