of the truth. He left the army; he studied at the Serampore College; and he became an active, intelligent, and devoted Missionary. (Hear.) He was called to the barracks one day, to visit a soldier, who was in great distress of mind, and evidently dying. What was his astonishment and surprise, at finding the soldier to be his own brother! His ministrations were blessed to him. He, at the time, was under the deepest conviction of personal sin, and earnestly entreated the Divine throne for mercy; and his end was peace. Before he was called to his home in heaven, he indited a letter to his mother, full of warm Christian love and affection, telling her they should meet in glory. (Hear, hear.) The other brother laboured for many years in India. The state of his health prevented his longer stay in the church; and he is now one of the most active, intelligent, and useful members of my own denomination in England. (Hear, hear.) Blessings from on high bring with them increased responsibility on our part. Much do I delight to contemplate the success with which you have been favoured during the past year. Earnestly do I hope that that success may be continued and increased, and that your body may enjoy the greatest of all blessings,-a continued and abiding faith, accompanied with constant communications from above. With this, Sir, the Wesleyan body never can suffer, come what may. I pray it never may suffer. (Loud applause.) The REV. WILLIAM CHALMERS, A.M., Minister of the Marylebone Presbyterian Church, seconded the Resolution; which was supported by J. ROBINSON KAYE, Esq., of Summerseat, near Bury, Lancashire. The CHAIRMAN then put the Resolution, which was agreed to. CHARLES COWAN, Esq., M.P. for Edinburgh,-Before saying a few words, in support of the Resolution which I have the honour to propose, allow me to congratulate you, and this large assembly, on the position which you have the honour to occupy this day. I say, Sir, which you have the honour to occupy, because I think that an efficient and faithful Minister of our beloved Queen -(loud applause)-confers upon himself additional honour, in meeting, as he does, hundreds of Ministers of another class, who are associated with him upon this platform, for another purpose. (Applause.) Sir, I happen to know, and I say it not with flattery, because it is substantially true,-I happen to know, that your services in the high position which you have now occupied for so many years, have redounded much to the welfare of the large body over which you in some respect preside,-I mean the gallant defenders of our country. (Hear, hear.) And I know, and you have given us proof of it this day, that to have a gallant, a brave, a loyal, a devout army, it is necessary to inculcate on them those lessons of Divine instruction which caused Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, to be recorded as "a man of prayer and of good works." (Applause.) I have great pleasure in finding myself on the platform, face to face, with so many Ministers of the everlasting Gospel, whom I have the pleasure of knowing, and for whom I entertain so great a respect; and I rejoice in the reciprocations of good feeling, which have this day been expressed, on the part of the various speakers, not only towards the Church to which you, as well as myself, have the honour to belong, and in which we are humble office-bearers, but in the catholic spirit which has been evinced, and the good wishes which have been expressed, on behalf of the efforts that are now being made throughout the world at large, to spread, far and wide, the knowledge of the Redeemer's name. (Applause.) Within the last two or three years, we have met to deplore the desolating judgments which have afflicted our species in this land, in this city; and the judgment of another kind by which the food of a large portion of the people has been so seriously curtailed and injured. We have to adore and thank God, that such judgments have not overtaken the exertions of such Societies as that which I have now the pleasure of addressing. (Hear, hear.) The Resolution calls upon me to express, what I am most ready to do, my devout gratitude to God, for the great blessings He has continued among us as members of various Christian communities, and the promoters of Christian Missions; and it ought to fill us with astonishment, that our exertions should not have been paralysed by a corresponding infliction upon the means which have been placed at the disposal of the managers of these Christian Missions. I rejoice, on the other hand, in the assurance, that not only has there been no diminution, but a substantial increase has taken place in the revenue of this large body; and I think we are called upon to express our gratitude that such is the case. (Applause.) It would be an awful blot if even one of those associations, which are now in the habit of assembling about the month of May within these hallowed walls,-it would be an awful blot, I say, if their exertions had been paralysed and crippled. I rejoice, therefore, to be assured,—and all that I have had the privilege of hearing to-day tends to confirm me in the belief, that this great work will continue to be supported by the contributions and prayers of this large and growing association. (Applause.) It would be presumptuous in me to detain this Meeting; but having the honour of being a humble office-bearer of the Free Church of Scotland, I can never forget the kind welcome which I received immediately before our exodus from the Scottish Establishment nearly seven years ago; and I can never forget the kind counsel and sympathy afforded by so many of the Reverend gentlemen whom I have now the pleasure to see on this platform. There are many points of resemblance amongst us; and, although there are some points of difference, I believe we are substantially united in prosecuting the great work at home and abroad which it is given to us, as a Church, to carry forth. (Hear, hear.) And I may say, that, although our revenue for seven hundred Ministers does not greatly exceed £80,000, or about £120 for each,-(I say it not in a spirit of reproach, but with feelings of regret,) small as it is, it is actually more than is received by many working Clergy of the Church of England. (Hear.) I trust there is some advantage in the members of evangelical denominations meeting on occasions of this kind. We are apt to forget, when carrying on our own work entirely by ourselves, the various claims which other sections of the church of Christ have upon us; and we are apt to forget that precept of the Gospel by which we are exhorted to "provoke one another to love and to good works." I sincerely hope that we shall be enabled to congra tulate each other on the result of this Meeting, and on the result of our having undertaken to carry forth, with greater vigour, greater self-denial, those most important operations which God has so signally blessed, and in the carrying on of which we are entitled to expect His bless ing. (Hear, hear.) I trust if we are spared to meet together again, we shall be privileged to congratulate one another on a still larger measure of success; for we are not entitled to limit the measure of blessing which God has promised to the work carried on by those who are fellowworkers with Him. (Loud applause.) The Resolution which I have the honour to move is, "That this Meeting expresses its devout gratitude to Almighty God for the increased resources placed at the disposal of the Committee, by the augmentation of the Society's Income during the last year; and cherishes the hope that the same spirit of liberality may continue to manifest itself, and speedily render the funds more fully commensurate with the wants of the great work which they are intended to promote." The REV. WILLIAM BEVAN, of Snow-Hill Congregational Church, Wolverhampton, said,-Sir, the reference which this Resolution makes to the information already laid before the Meeting might seem to render it superfluous in me to offer any reasons for its support. I am sure that there is no member of this Society anxious for the advancement of the honour of Christ through its instrumentality, in conjunction with that of kindred institutions, who will not give God thanks that He has enlarged, at its disposal, the measure of the silver and the gold which are His. From the favour of which this is one expression,-from the growing success which adds expression to expression of the favour of Him whom you serve, towards the work which you endeavour to do; you may well take up the observation of my valued friend, Mr. Chalmers, and look upon your present position, not only as a position worth maintaining for the glory of the King of kings, but a position demanding of you that you send the army in advance, well furnished, going on conquering and to conquer yet more. (Hear, hear.) I say this on the ground of your own statistics. They have not been undervalued by the Rev. Doctor who seconded the first Resolution, although he made a reference but to one of the items. I have compared these items in the Report of the last year with the present; and I come to this conclusion, that in every sense in which you can regard prosperity to be desirable, in every point of view in which you can trace the result of the Divine wisdom and blessing, you have reason to rejoice, and take your present prosperity as an omen of better days, and more abundant blessing to come. (Applause.) For, Sir, I find the increase for the year thus, Circuits Chapels and preaching-stations 34 690 34 827 5.183 4,230 I do not mean-mistake me not-I do not mean that you are to limit the measure of the Holy One of Israel to this arithmetic. You are rather to look at it in this point of view :-Here is not only so much ground possessed, here are not only so many focal centres of light created, but here are the depositories of an influence at once truthful and divine, from which the leaven is now spreading, and from which it will go on to spread. The progression of intelligence and piety, under the Spirit of God, no man can compute,-and, blessed be His name, no man can bound. View your advanced posts in this light, and then you will see, in the work before you, a grandeur ever growing more radiant,an approval from on high, ever becoming more cheering,-a blessing shed upon the world, ever increasingly appreciated, -until you feel that while, with all humility, you have been but the instruments in the hand of the Mighty,-the hand of the Mighty has upheld you, and carried you forward to the destined consummation. (Applause.) Your Missionary Society realises, to my mind, the vast idea of the Missionary work-the proper idea that which begins at Jerusalem, and that which then advances to the world. On whichever side I turn, I find your communions, in this happy land of ours, ever intent upon Missionary spoil. If I turn to Ireland,-unhappy, famished Ireland, famished for her food, but famished yet more for the bread which liveth for ever-(hear, hear)—there I behold your labourers zealous, patient, intelligent, prayerful, seeking to gather from the gloom of superstition, and the dominion of priestism, the immortal minds of those who come of a race once illustrious for the height of their culture, the purity of their morals, the simplicity of their faith. You go to win Ireland back to the point whence spiritual oppression has led her; to raise her from a degradation at once profound in all its social aspects, and fearful in its spiritual results. (Hear, hear.) And if I travel to the continent of Europe, I find amidst the mysticism-the half mythology, half Christianity of Germanythat there you lift up the pure testimony of Christ, and there you exalt the supremacy of God's revealed truth. (Hear, hear.) If I go to France, and ask what shall be the preserving influence that will harmonise her discordances, establish her authority, and illumine her people with more than the lustre of politeness or invention ?--I find your agents, ever and anon, permeating the towns and villages of that country, and penetrating through the passes of the neighbouring Switzerland, there establishing for the honour of Christ the ordinances of His church. (Hear, hear.) But I will not take you over the extent of the ground. Look at Spain; there are your Missions. India, Ceylon,there have they won trophies of salvation. If I go to the islands of the Southern Seas, amid all that is interesting there, in the labours of other Missionaries who have toiled hard and long, I find none of them exceed your toil for the Friendly Islands and Feejee. (Applause.) If I go to New-Zealand, I find you have been instrumental in reducing barbarous cannibalism, and infusing into the hearts of men a spirit of love and peace. And what shall I say of Africa? Myself brought into public life in connexion with an institution which broke the last shackle of the British slave, what shall I say for my hope of Africa? what shall I say for my hope of the lands to which the Africans have been removed, from the land of their birth, as to the land of their graves? I find simple Christianity, and your own plain, earnest Methodism, always, "When unadorn'd, adorn'd the most "— breathing upon that burning surface a cooling air-invigorating and training men for enterprises of commerce, while calling them to the enterprise of the skies, and setting before the world a specimen of that civilisation after which they have imagined, but imagined in vain, which they have sought through other media, but sought in vain :and now, to the honour of Christ, Africa, elevated from its lowest point of debasement, bids fair to resume her pristine place, not only among the learned, but the pious, of the world. Who can estimate the value, but who can estimate the responsibility, too, attaching to our colonial possessions ? There you extend your sympathies, and there your care provides. (Applause.) Now, Sir, I said that the scope and labours of your Society realise to my mind the great Missionary idea, not in its fulness, but in the opening of those doors through which you have yet to travel, until you cover the wide surface of the world. I look upon the existing conjuncture of providential circumstances with our Missionary progress somewhat after this fashion. God first stirred His church to the discovery of the world's necessities. He then awakened in His church a sympathy with the world's woes. Now He has made all things tributary to the enterprise of His church, for the relief of those woes and necessities. We must improve these advantages, and it is at our peril that we look back, lest, in the inscrutable mystery of His providence, He take away from us, and give to others worthier of them, the facilities of His providence, and the mighty power of His grace. (Hear, hear.) Look back, Sir, with a world before us! Look back, with angels hailing us on! Look back, with all events ministering to our advance! Look back, with Christ Himself at our head, giving us victory after victory, to invite and command us forward! (Applause.) No, Sir; if in the day of anxiety, if in the day of depression, if in the day when success seems to flag, we hear the sound, "Christ expects every man to do his duty," how is that sound deepened, and how is its proper conviction in our minds strengthened, when it comes from the fields that are whitening to the harvest! (Loud cheers.) One sentiment more, and I will not further intrude upon the patience of the Meeting. (Applause.) Ever carry with you this idea, that you are associated with the work of God's Gospel by no accidental relationship. (Hear, hear.) Your work of Missions, our work of Missions, the work of Missions in every part of the church, is no incidental thing in connexion with the kingdom of Christ. is the thing-the one thing-the only thing. (Loud and vehement applause.) What was His presence in the land of Judea, but a Mission from heaven to earth? Where did He travel, but where there were minds to be instructed, diseases to be healed, souls to be saved? (Applause.) What was the commission given to His friends, whilst He lived, in this blessed toil? He sent the twelve, and He said, "Go ye not into the way of the Samaritans, nor into the way of the Gentiles enter ye." They were to be limited to the southern portion of the sacred land; but then He called "seventy others also," and He sent them hither and thither to every place to which He purposed Himself to go. And the spirit of His presence was with them; as, in their mission, they endeavoured to win the hearts of men to their Lord. (Hear, hear.) He consummated His work of instruction by His atonement. Dying on the cross, He realised all that He had taught; summed up in His own glorious propitiatory person not only all that types It had adumbrated, but all that the Prophets had seen, and all that Psalmists had sung; and then, rising from the grave, He gathered His disciples again around himself; and of what was it to speak? He had disclosed to them His truth, and promised the Spirit "to bring all things to their remembrance," and make them His witnesses. "Behold," said He, "all power in heaven and on earth is given to me. The Father hath heard my cry, and hath seen my tears. He hath glorified the Son; and now, henceforth, it is the mission of the Son to glorify Him. I have told you, that I am going from this earth to heaven, but not to forsake it. Upon this world are ye to go for me; and as ye go, there is the promise of my Father; I am its guarantee, and I will not suffer the Spirit to fail. Go ye into all the world; and when your work is arduous, and the days are gloomy, and the nights are long, and all men are against you, and devils stir up distraction around you, then remember that I am with you still upon the mission of God's love, and so abide ye unto the end." (Applause.) Who can look upon the aspect of the world at this moment, and not see and feel, that He is upon His glorious throne, with His holy catholic church, and with your own institution, which is not the least long may it be among the greatest!of the thousands of Israel? (Loud applause.) Do I look to commerce? Let my esteemed friend, from an old and familiar locality in Lancashire, which I love still,-let his testimony be witness, how the highways of commerce are being prepared before the nations through the operations of our Missionaries. Therefore do I claim the support of commercial men. (Hear, hear.) What shall I say of the political relationships upon which our eyes travel, till we become involved, oftentimes, in inextricable mystery, and we come from human confusion and the upheavings of revolution, and say, "Where will all this end ?" But let us look to the land of the Southern Seas, and the people of the African coast, and of the African interior, and behold what the Gospel of Jesus Christ doth for the kingdoms of men: how it setteth up the throne of justice, provideth for the widow and the fatherless, breaketh the bands of the enslaved, and smiteth down the sceptre of the despot. And shall we turn to philosophy? To what are we indebted for researches and discoveries in the most unknown portions of the world, in this our day, but to our intelligent Missionaries? Who is it that has brought to light the marvels of the Southern Ocean? Who is it that can insure safety to discoverers, as they go beyond the boundaries of civilisation looking after African lakes? The peaceful, humble Missionary. Who takes in safety, through a semi-barbarous, if not an entirely barbarous, people, those who go upon missions of political and commercial importance, so as to facilitate and secure the wise and right adjustment of international transactions? Who but a Missionary of your own institution? (Loud applause.) What shall we say of philanthropy? O, where is the bright sample of philan thropy around which angels gather to behold its glory but in the love of Christ? He is at once the pattern of what human excellency is destined to be, and His is the glorious hand by which it is to be made such. And where shall we find a philanthropy to compare with the "love of Christ which constraineth us?" (Hear, hear.) As the eye of piety strains its nerve to catch a glimpse of the promise which assures a waiting church that the time of God's redeemed is well-nigh come; and as the heart of piety, looking upon all the abomination that is done under the sun, lifts up its voice to the Lord God of Sabaoth, and says, "O Lord, how long, how long? Let not the enemy vaunt himself;" and as the eye desires to see, and the heart to feel the assurance, that the good time is coming, let us look at the growth of our Missionary institutions, the warm heart of our Missionary churches, the full pur pose of our Missionary heralds, and the tokens of blessing which are accumulating upon the records of every Missionary Association; and then let our hearts rejoice, and our tears be exchanged for the glisten of hope and triumph. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus;" come and give Thy people a willing heart to consecrate yet more to Thee. (Loud applause.) Come and give wisdom in greater measure to them to whom is consigned the direction of Thy work. Come and baptize, with a richer unction, all who have gone forth in Thy name to do Thy battle and win Thy victory. "Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, Come and set all people free." And let the church, with one heart, as with one voice, strive, wrestle for this; care for no other striving, enter into no other contest; and then the peaceful conquest, the radiant glory, and the fulness of that kingdom, shall be ours; and every nation shall bless the hand which smiteth off their fetters, and exalteth their souls to God. (Applause.) The REV. PETER M'OWAN, of Liverpool, said,-Sir, the circumstances through which this great Society has been called to pass during the last twelve months have led myself, and I may say the great body of the Society's friends in the provinces, to review the principles upon which its operations are founded, and the great results that it has wrought out. And it affords me unspeakable pleasure, on this occasion, to say, that that examination of principles and results has issued in the confirmation of our faith, in the exciting of our hopes, and in the increase of our zeal. (Hear.) I cannot but feel that I and all who advocate this great cause stand upon firm ground. What are our principles ? One of them is, that man, wherever he is found, is fallen, a sinner, the victim of passion, the subject of guilt and misery. Is not that at the very base of our operations? It was the fact of man's fall that justified the eternal Father in delivering up His Son to be incarnated in the habiliments, the lowly habiliments, of our nature, and to be made an offering for sin, and that justified the Son in laying down His life for the ransom of a lost world. And when we consider that six hundred millions of our fellow-creatures are in this fallen state, without God, and having no hope in the world, who, I ask this day, looking back upon what he has done to promote their recovery, can for a moment think he has done too much? or, in looking at what he has given, can for a moment think he has given too much? or, in reference to prayer, can for a moment think he has prayed too much? (Loud applause.) Sir, we in the provinces are covered with shame to think that we have done so little, given so little, and prayed so little for the recovery of our lost heathen brethren...... Another of the grand principles upon which our operations are based is, that the Gospel alone supplies an adequate remedy for the wants and woes of our fellow-men. That principle cannot be disputed by any friend of this Society, or by any individual who believes in the holy Scriptures. This is our maxim, Revelation, not reason; (loud applause ;) the Gospel, not philosophy. (Renewed applause.) And knowing that the Gospel is God's remedy, and that we possess that Gospel, who can hesitate to say, that it is his bounden duty to exert all his powers, and all his influence, in order that that Gospel may be sent to those who have it not? (Applause.) The very |