vails, where a professed Church exists, and a form of religion is enacted, where not a responsible soul is in a state of salvation.

Nor, we may add, must we confound temporal moral aspects with eternal prospects. For we may safely conjecture that a negro hamlet in Central Africa, however inferior in its temporal moral aspects, especially when contemplated in the light of our moral and intellectual biases, may, in its prospects for an eternal destiny, be superior to many an American village. That crowd of semi-barbarians, giddy with folly, addicted to vices, misguided by degrading superstitions, is composed of intrinsically noble human spirits, towering immeasurably above the most human-like animal species around them, endowed with educable reason, with illuminable conscience, and with spiritual susceptibilities, capable of being developed (as the modern religious history of Madagascar nobly shows) into a most heroic and martyr-like Christianity. Certainly, in a community like this, the Omniscient eye that could discern a predisposition to repentance in Sodom itself may recognize an abundance of the spirit of faith, and, tried too by the ethics of its dispensation, that community may follow its own conscience, and "live up to the light it has" more truly than many a New England village. And making the due allowance, as taught by the words of Christ, for its inferior advantages, its collective prospect for eternity may be far superior. For that New England village has placed before its mental view the pure New Testament ideal, and the solemn obligations of Christianity; and yet the large majority of numbers, wealth, and influence is impenitent, perhaps skeptical. And its Church, how poorly does it present that pure reality of Christianity which could win the world by its loveliness, purity, and power. Nay, how little heart for the work of shaping the world to the model of Christ, and winning it as a trophy to his cross.

Strictly of a piece with this want of heart is the want of a pure and flaming zeal in the prosecution of the missionary enterprise. And we develop this topic all the more fully because it at once establishes our argument, and shows that our favorable view of the heathen condition is a strong incentive rather than a damper to the missionary spirit. It is the want of that spirit, identical with the missionary spirit, which ruins the souls of that New England village. That same disposition by which that

village would become purely Christian, heir of eternal life, is the spirit by which it would seek with all its heart and all its strength to win a world to Christ. And the specific spirit, too, of missionary enterprise, burning with intense power in the heart of that Church, would react to kindle the love and zeal requisite to gain its own community for heaven. By seeking to save others, that village would save itself.

Bold assertions in missionary speeches and sermons, that all the world without the pale of Christendom is damned in mass, never quicken the pulse of missionary zeal. On the contrary, they ever roll a cold reaction upon every feeling heart and every rational mind. Our better natures revolt, and, alas! a gush of skepticism is but too apt in consequence to rise in the public mind, especially where precise ideas in regard to the question have not been formed and fixed. We had far better argue the missionary cause from the danger to our own salvation, from that low standard of Christianity which does not subdue the world to the righteousness of faith. We had better fix our hearts on winning every isle and continent to Christ, to secure him the crown of our entire planet.

Heathendom has her standing plea in condemnation of Christendom. She avers that Christendom, having the blessing and glory of religion, does most guiltily not only misimprove the boon, but repudiate her obligation to impart it. She charges that Christendom, with all her advantages, is still but too heathen, forgetting her mission of blessing the families of the earth with the gift of the Gospel, while she riots in refined licentiousness, expends her treasures in splendid self-gratifications, and employs her powers, trained by the civilizing discipline of Christianity, in wars of ambition and national aggrandizements. Heathendom thus maintains that, before heaven and earth, her case is fairer, if not in its present superficial moral aspects, yet in the light of reason and the judgment of eternity. Nor are we sure—and the possibility is a motive for higher zeal in diffusing the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ-that thus far in the history of the Christian ages, so have we misimproved our higher means, that the majority of the redeemed will not have been gathered by Christ from lands where the power of his cross has never yet been proclaimed.

A greater power of missionary enterprise would, in full

accordance with our views, increase, beyond all known volume, the amount of the spirit of faith in the hamlets and territories of heathendom. The "mighty works of the Gospel" may be so presented to the Sodoms and Gomorrahs, to the Tyres and Sidons of the heathen dispensation in the present age, as that they "will repent in sackcloth and ashes." And as the demoralization of one part of mankind sheds a demoralizing influence over all the rest of mankind, so the purification of one part reacts in blessing upon all others,

"Till, like a sea of glory,

It spreads from pole to pole."

When every part is purified a nobler spirit of rectitude is universally diffused, a loftier standard of Christian civilization arises, a more perfect model of Christian holiness is attained, and the Church, embracing the world, gradually rises to the realization of the ideal of a true, a holy, and a glorious Church. Thus, our favorable view of the condition of heathenism furnishes enhanced reasons and motives for the most earnest exertions by the Church for the world's conversion.

And yet the eternal crown of these giants of holiness, under high advantages may, by the law of equalization, be no brighter than shall be worn by their predecessors, who attained a lower stature, more hardly won, amid the struggles of a depraved age. So will the saints of all ages be graded to a proportionate level. The great advantages of that millennial age, worth centuries of martyrdom, warfare, and missionary toil, is that, generally speaking, ALL are saved, all through perhaps countless generations of the race; so that it may not be an unreasonable supposition that, ultimately, it is not the few but the many that shall be redeemed. And we are inclined to indorse the opinion that the finally lost will be, proportionally, as few as are the criminals executed upon the gallows at the present day in comparison with the rest of the community. They will be the malefactors of the world, perhaps of the universe.

Our whole view evolves the conclusion that the possession of the Gospel is not only a glorious and blessed, but a most solemn and responsible boon. The savor of life unto life may be a savor of death unto death. The Gospel within reach, the Gospel heard, the Gospel possessed, all involve an accountability, whose shade of guilt God alone can precisely measure. The Gospel

within reach carries a power of warning of its claim to attendance and attention. The Gospel heard involves a right to faith and obedience. The Gospel possessed proclaims the obligation to practice and diffuse its doctrines and power through the earth. The greatest sinner in the world, measured not by superficial aspects, but by compound responsibilities of sin committed and advantages enjoyed, may very probably be the Gospel hearing sinner, who knows his duty and does it not. His woe is that of Chorazin and Bethsaida, in comparison with which the doom of Sodom was light.

Our conclusion then is, that if Arminianism explains itself aright, it leaves to Calvinism alone its inexorable, histórical, and geographical reprobation, a counterpart to its own theological. We survey heathendom with melting pity indeed, but without that horror and mystery which the dark, damnatory view of reprobation affords. We contemplate the whole without any shuddering misgivings of divine injustice. And yet, in the very humaneness of our view, we gather fresh motives, more searching and home-coming views of responsibility, and more cheering incitements to quicken the nerve of missionary enterprise, through all the sections of the Christian Church and for all the lands of the habitable globe.

ART. VIII.-FOREIGN RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

PROTESTANTISM.

GREAT BRITAIN.

THE RATIONALISTIC CONTROVERSY.The essayists and their friends, after having been censured by all the archbishops and bishops of England, and after having seen, at least, part of their views condemned as contrary to the Thirty-nine Articles by the Court of Arches, have received the weighty support of one of the colonial bishops of the Church, Colenso, of Natal, in Africa. The bishop, who already once before had given offense to his Church by his views on the doctrine of the New Testament respecting polygamy, has written

count of its important bearing upon the Methodist bodies is as follows: New great theological controversy, but also Connection, 1966; Primitive Methodists, on account of the eminent talent dis- 5,791; the Bible Christians, 1,782: the played in its compilation. The admira- United Free Churches, 4,253; the Reble and lucid style of the bishop, the form Union, 1,118. The present memcandor with which he sets forth all his bership is as follows: Wesleyan Methviews, as well as the fine exegetical tact | odists, (inclusive of the French, Auswhich he has shown in the handling of tralasian, Canada, and Eastern British many difficult passages, are admitted on American Conferences,) 519,969; New both sides. There seems to be some Connection, 32,480; Primitive Methoddoubt how the Church is to deal with ists, 141, 185; Bible Christians, 24,056; him. Another colonial prelate, the United Free Churches, 60,880; Reform Bishop of Capetown, is reported to have Union, 11,355. come to England in order to institute against him a prosecution for heresy; but no exact intimations have as yet been given as to what the Episcopate of England will do in the matter. Many have expected that Bishop Colenso would spare all trouble on that head by his resignation. Several well-known members of the Liberal school, as Rev. Mr. M'Naught and others, have already taken this course. Another brilliant writer of the same school, Rev. Mr. Maurice, was recently reported to have the same intention, but to have later yielded it to the representations of his friends, who are resolved to assert the claim of the Liberal school to a good standing in the Church, and the same representations will be undoubtedly brought to bear upon Bishop Colenso if he should feel inclined to resign.

In the mean while the counts of charge against Dr. Williams and Mr. Wilson have been reformed, according to instruction, and the case against them was soon to be brought up again in the Court of Arches. Proceedings were also to be instituted against another of the essayists, Professor Jowett.

PROGRESS OF METHODISM.-According to the latest statistics of the Method. ist denominations of Great Britain, it appears that all of them have made considerable progress during the past year. The British Conference of the Wesleyan Methodists has had an increase of 5,476 in Great Britain, an increase of 4,809 in the Foreign Missions, and a decrease of 810 in Ireland and the Irish Missions; the French Conference an increase of 77; the Australasian Conference an increase of 2,343; the Canada Conference an increase of 2,060, and the Eastern British American Conference a decrease of 108. Thus the whole connection has received during the year an increase of 13,847 members. The increase of the other

EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE. ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE BRITISH ORGANIZATION.-The Sixteenth Annual Conference of the British branch of the Evangelical Association was held in London, from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16. The annual address was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Macfarlane of Clapham, upon the foundation principles of the Alliance. The report referred to the various means employed by the Alliance for the protection of religious liberty. The statement of funds was satisfactory, the income of the past year amounting to £2,030. Sir Culling Eardley was appointed president of the British branch of the Alliance, having hitherto been chairman of the Committee of Council only, a post involving duties to which his failing health had rendered him unequal. Several important modifications were made in the constitution and duties of the Council. It was determined that an abstract of the proceedings should be furnished to all the sub-committees as soon as possible after each monthly meeting.

Deep interest was expressed in the position of the two Spanish prisoners, Matamoros and Alhama, who had just been condemned, the one to nine, the other to eight years' imprisonment, for the sole crime of being Protestants. Sir Culling Eardley spoke with strong indignation of the sentence, but he hoped the Spanish government was not proof against the power of concentrated public opinion. He suggested that in England there should be extensively signed a declaration, very respectful in its terms, to the Spanish government and the queen, appealing to the generosity and the justice of the Spanish nation, and referring particularly to what Protestants have done for Catholics in other countries. He expected that such a declaration would be indorsed by the English