The "opinion" alluded to, meant the deep-guages of these heathen-some of them dissoseated conviction of the soul, the reality of nant, and harsh, and almost inexpressible by the mind, and not the varying opinion that the human organs, and some so mellifluous comes and goes by the sight of the eyes, or by and sweet, that one would almost wish them the hearing of the ears-the conviction of the to be our mother tongue; their habits, some assembly that the proposition was true. The savage and uncouth, and others positively thing to be accomplished, was the evangeliza- voluptuous and refined; their religions, some tion of the heathen. This institution had not metaphysical and refined, and others so gross been called into existence to carry on the and material, that they could be scarcely work of civilization-to propagate the know- called religion at all—the difficulties in the way ledge of the arts and sciences-to carry to of dealing with these people must be fully the heathen superior systems of philosophy. apparent. The work in hand was their evanThey did not say that civilization would not gelization. He did not think that word confollow in the path of the Christian missionary; veyed any full, distinct, and comprehensible but if he should descend to lower ground, idea to the English mind. He would rather and be made the missionary of the arts and say they had to indoctrinate all these people sciences, and of philosophy, and not hold with the truths of the gospel, to instil these himself in a position above these things, he truths into their hearts, to "bring them out of must have failed to understand the word of darkness into God's marvellous light." The God. The missionary was sent forth to pro- resolution said it was necessary the work should pagate the knowledge of a living faith, that be carried on with vigour; and to carry it on which would enter into the soul, and make with vigour required a large infusion of the him a new man. If there was truth in the spirit and mind of Christ; and when that bible, this must be true, that " if any man is spirit was solemnly and positively impressed in Christ, he must be a new creature." The upon the heart, its recipients would address missionary, then, was sent forth to take part themselves in right good earnest to the work in the instrumentality that was to regenerate of evangelizing the heathen. The resolution the world, to bring men to a new mind, to spoke not only of the necessity of possessing give them possession of a new heart, to make the spirit of Christ to carry on the work, but them what the bible declares to be the object it put forth an alternative. The resolution of the propagation of the gospel,-to make said that if they were discouraged they would them "like Christ Jesus." This work could be need the mind of Christ to keep them from carried on only by men imbued with the spirit being improperly and unduly depressed; and of Jesus-men possessed of the temper mani- if they were unduly elevated with success, fested by the Lord. This was not the spirit they would want the mind of Christ to of mere formalism, nor was it to be regarded moderate their exultation. Let them take as the spirit of mere sectarianism. This work care to cultivate the spirit of earnestness, of could be maintained in its vigour only by disinterestedness, of intelligence, of devotedmen possessed of the spirit of our Redeemer. ness, of simplicity, and of zeal, and then they would go on their way rejoicing-not cast The Rev. WILLIAM BROCK, in seconding down under discouragement, nor puffed up the resolution, expressed his conviction that when the prospects were in their favour. the week's gatherings would be greatly bene- Oh, that they might all be baptized unto that ficial to the institution. Their friends from spirit, and go on their way calmly, through the country had done good to their brethren good report and evil report, looking far bein London, and he hoped their brethren in yond their present prospects and plans, reLondon had done good to their friends from membering that their rule of duty is the the country. There had been a sort of re- Lord's own commission, their hope of success ciprocation of kindly and generous influences. the Lord's promise, and that sooner or later The resolution was too good. Some resolu- they must reap if they faint not. Let this be tions were not good enough, inasmuch as they but one of the results of this meeting-that contained no suggestions worth having. But the Divine Spirit may come down and difthe resolution before the meeting contained so fuse itself through the missionary committee, many, that he scarcely knew where to begin, the contributors, and the missionaries themthey were all so valuable. The substance of selves, then they would be doing God's work it was, that for the work in which they were in God's own way, and they would find of a engaged, they wanted the earnestness and truth-" He will not forsake the work of his disinterestedness of their Lord and Saviour own hands." Let it be the ambition of every Jesus Christ. Those who took up the matter one to do what they could in this great cause, from mere impulse, were not the men whom not for the sake of pleasing man, but God; and God would honour, and they were not in doing it for His sake, he would weigh their the men who, on other accounts, would go on with it very long. Unless a man was baptized into the Spirit of his Lord and Master, he could not take the first step in the right way. When they thought of the lan

motives in the balances of the sanctuary, and however feeble their outward actions might be, they would not fail at the last to receive the commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

The CHAIRMAN said it was a rare thing for a man of property to devote himself to the ministry and to the missionary work. He did not know why that should be. Certainly it ought not to be. A more noble work cannot be engaged in; and at the present time, should men of this description come forward-men of decided piety, men on whose judgment the Society should rely, how gladly would he point their attention to Jamaica.

The resolution was then put and agreed to.

He,

to the various collectors throughout the country, and to the members of Juvenile and other Auxiliaries; and that they be requested to continue their labours, connecting with them yet more fervent prayer, in the hope that these labours may become, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, increasingly beneficial. If it were thought right, as a matter of Christian courtesy, to submit a resolution of this kind for the adoption of religious assemblies, he could have no sort of objection; but his conviction was, that those who are acting from principle are the last in the world to wish to be thanked for their services. therefore, regarded a resolution of this kind rather as an expression of Christian sympathy The Rev. T. F. NEWMAN moved the next and brotherly love than as a tribute paid to resolution. The visible amount of success those, who, working in the service of a Divine which had attended the labours of the Society Master and consecrating their energies to the was perhaps altogether disproportioned to the promotion of His glory, look for no other real amount of that success. It was impos- reward than His approving smile, and no sible to ascertain by any information, the other animating principle than that love to most intense and searching, in the present Him which had been kindled up in their state of things, what the Lord had been hearts, and which in its nature and scope graciously pleased to do, through the instru- bears some resemblance to the love which mentality of the servants of this Society, in animated His own bosom. It would be well the east and the west, the north and the for us to challenge our own consciences and south; and therefore it was important to our own hearts, and to ask, with a determinawalk by faith and not by sight-to hold fast tion to know what is the truth, whether we by first principles to keep firm hold on the are assembled on principle, whether we are truth of God, and to devote every energy to listening and speaking on principle, whether, disseminate the gospel throughout the world, in retiring from the house of prayer toand to carry out the blessings conferred by night, we shall be increasingly desirous that the great Head of the church, whose promise the principles of the gospel, in all their beauto his disciples was, that he would be with tiful simplicity, in all their expansive inthem always, even to the end of the world. fluences, in all their deep commiseration, Reference has been made to the depression shall, in our different spheres of action, be which has been felt in all the departments of exemplified and maintained. Our missionary the missionary enterprise ; but he trusted that meetings would never subserve the object to none retired yesterday, and that none would which they might be devoted, till they became retire from the present meeting with their extensively the means of grace, the means of minds depressed, their spirits flagging, their animating the soul, the means of producing hearts cast down. He recollected the words a higher range of Christianity towards those addressed to him many years ago, at a critical who are Christians, and towards the world and anxious period of his life, by the father without the pale. For what was the gospel? of his revered friend (Mr. Hinton)" Nil Was it not the embodiment of Divine love? desperandum, Christo duce "-" Despair no- and ought it not to be exemplified and susthing, Christ being our leader." That was a tained and commended in the lives of the motto which, as a confederated body of followers of Him who "loved us and gave Christians, they would do well to bear in himself for us?" Let them fall back on the mind. If Christ was before them-if they principles in which this and kindred societies were serving a divine Master-if they were originated-let them remember the essential seeking with simplicity of aim and holy zeal point. "Man is lost wherever man and steadfastness of purpose to diffuse found." The gospel was the message of God throughout the world the knowledge of re- to lost man; and, therefore, that message demption through the blood of Jesus Christ-embraced by lost man in any latitude and let them not be scared by a passing cloud, under any circumstances, must rouse him up, let them not be daunted by difficulties, let not must spiritualize his degraded nature, must any seemingly adverse circumstances draw bring him into communion with God, and them from their post, Rather let it drive them with a more intense ardour to the throne of grace, and make them pray for those showers of divine blessing which would fructify the desert, and cause it to rejoice and blossom as the rose. He had been requested to propose for the adoption of the meeting the following resolution :

That the thanks of this meeting are especially due

is

assimilation to God, and prepare him for those enjoyments which will await the ransomed church when all sublunary things shall have passed away. And not only ought those principles which are matter of theory to be remembered, but the principle which binds every individual Christian to his Master. Those who had consecrated themselves to Jesus Christ ought to show in every thing

by the power of the gospel, which you are assembled to assist in propagating, shall the image of God be stamped on the soul of our fellow creatures, throughout this degenerate world, and every voice unite in one anthem, and every heart bound with a similar impulse, as the crown of immortal glory is placed upon His head, "who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich."

The Rev. J. LEECHMAN, M.A., rose to second the resolution. Reference was made in the resolution to the collectors, and to the members of juvenile societies; and he would take the opportunity of mentioning an interesting circumstance which had come to his knowledge the other day, thinking it would encou rage both parents and children to exert themselves more than they had hitherto done for the promotion of this great cause. There was a little boy who procured a collecting box, and went home with great delight to show it to his mother; and he said, "Mother, I have got a collecting box, will you give me a penny a-week for the missions?" She said,

that they regard themselves as His "who the mind every where shall be emancipated loved them and gave himself for them." He the conscience-the soul-every thing that had sometimes been affected with admiration is noblest in man shall be vindicated; and, and gratitude when thinking of the social principles which bind man to man, and the power of which has never been so fully exemplified as under the refining and sanctifying influence of the gospel of Christ. It was a beautiful thought that what they were doing now might, under the Divine blessing, touch the conditions, and necessities, and happiness of some one living in distant climes, and at present enveloped in all the shades of moral ignorance and death. It was a beautiful! thought that the prayers now ascending from this spot might bring down blessings on their brethren in Calcutta, in Africa, and in Jamaica. It was the privilege of the Christian that, while confined to one spot, a little insignificant being, might, by his zeal and his earnest supplications at the throne of grace, contribute more to the success of the missionary cause, than some who had apparently lavished large sums on the object, without, at the same time, offering up their earnest and believing prayers. Christianity must advance. That was the purpose of God, and all his promises afforded encouragement to look forward to that result with confident expectation; and as Christianity advanced, the No, I cannot; I already subscribe to your world must be benefited and blessed in all its brother's box, and I cannot always be giving. interests. Its social, political, religious, ever- You must take the box back again, and give lasting interests would all be advanced by it to the teacher." The little fellow looked the march of the gospel and the multiplica- at the box, and was sadly vexed at the thought tion of the triumphs of the Redeemer. As of having to part with it; and, after pacing Christianity advanced, all tyranny must be up and down the room for some time, he swept away, all ignorance must flee before it, came up to his mother and said, "How many and all the superstitions of the heathen must pins do you get for a penny ?" She said, "I be scattered and cast to the moles and the don't know-about so many." "Well," said bats. Oh, glorious prospects! Oh, animating he, "will you buy your pins from me, anticipations! Cherish them. Bind them mother?" She said, "Yes;" and he then to your hearts. Let nothing induce you to began to collect pins from this person and despair of the cause of the gospel,-of the from that, and persevered to such an extent, cause of the Redeemer. Many references that at the end of the year he found in his have been made to the revolutions which missionary box four shillings and some odd have taken place, and to others which may pence. He hoped his young friends, the colbe impending. As far as they have established lectors for this Society, would be encouraged the rights of man, and contributed to the to go on in a similar way, and that all the extension of Messiah's kingdom, we hail parents present would encourage them in this them. Many of the changes which have great and good work. He would mention a taken place have been in the right direction. circumstance which took place in India. It But there is one revolution yet to come, had often been said, "The poor receive the mightier than all the rest, and methinks we gospel, but have any of the learned, have any have its harbinger and distinct intimations of the brahmins been converted to the faith? that that revolution is not far distant. Men's When will you ever get them to become minds are heaving, principles are brought into preachers of the gospel of Christ?" Now, collision, the power of thought and inquiry in Benares, the holy city, there lived a brahare awakening every where; men are beginning to feel as men, not as serfs; the intelligence of the human mind is springing up, and we hail it. Christianity addresses itself to intelligence, and therefore we rejoice that the human mind is raising itself, breaking its fetters, and springing forth into the possession of its rightful liberty. Oh, may nothing interfere with the progress of truth! and then

min-a man of intelligence, a man of learning, and a man of rank and property. That brahmin heard the gospel. It came home to his heart, he felt himself a lost and ruined sinner, and that he had found a Saviour, and determined to make a public profession of his attachment to Christ. His friends became alarmed; his father went to him, and said if he became a Christian, he would lose his

property, his status in society, and be separated from his friends. He however determined to persevere. At length his sister went, and when all other arguments had failed, she threw herself at his feet, looked up in his face, and said, "Brother, brother, what could induce you to think of becoming a Christian?" Now, mark his answer. He said, "Sister, it was the greatness of my sins that drove me to the Lord Jesus Christ." His sister said, "If you become a Christian, your wife and your child will visit you no more." He replied, "What will it profit that I gain the whole world and lose my soul!" And he was baptized and became a disciple, and a preacher of the gospel, and had been instrumental in bringing many souls to Christ. Our great missionary festival has now come to a close, and when I look around I cannot help thinking there may be some present to-night who will never again see the recurrence of a season like this. This may be the last missionary meeting which some may be privileged to attend. It may be the speaker, it may be some of my reverend brethren around me, it may be some of you. Let us, then, remember what God

says: "Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." And while we are seeking to send the gospel abroad, let us not forget ourselves; let us remember the words of the brahmin, "The greatness of my sins drove me to the Lord Jesus Christ."

The Rev. J. H. HINTON, M.A., at the request of some gentlemen around him, related to the meeting, with much feeling, the very affecting story of the poor boy afflicted with leprosy referred to by Mr. Sutton in the morning. How much ought such a case to interest us occurring in pagan lands, the result of missionary labour? This one case was a sufficient recompence for all our missionary expenditure and toil. But it was but one instance out of multitudes which might be adduced to show the benefits conferred upon the heathen by this and kindred institutions.

The resolution was then put and agreed to. after which the proceedings concluded with praise and prayer.

ARRIVAL OF THE "DOVE" AT CLARENCE.

Our friends will rejoice to learn that our little missionary vessel has once again borne her precious freight in safety to Fernando Po. After encountering a terrific storm in the Bay of Biscay, which compelled her to refit at Madeira, and from thence enjoying a pleasant though somewhat tedious voyage, she reached Clarence on Sunday, February 18.

All our friends were well, and were most joyously welcomed at Clarence by our brethren and the residents at that place.

Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by William Brodie Gurney, Esq., and Samuel Morton Peto, Esq., M.P., Treasurers, or the Rev. Joseph Angus, M.A., Secretary, at the Mission House, 33, Moorgate Street, LONDON: in EDINBURGH, by the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the Rev. Jonathan Watson and John Macandrew, Esq.; in GLASGOW, by Robert Kettle, Esq.; in DUBLIN, by John Purser, Esq., Rathmines Castle; in CALCUTTA, by the Rev. James Thomas, Baptist Mission Press; and at NEW YORK, United States, by W. Colgate, Esq. Contributions can also be paid in at the Bank of England to the account of "W. B. Gurney and others."

THE ANNUAL MEETINGS.

On Friday the 20th ult., at the Weigh House, after prayer by brother RoFF of Cambridge, brother BROCK preached the Annual Sermon from 2 Tim. ii. 24-26, which was felt by all present to be eminently suitable and impressive. The attendance was very large, and the collection liberal. Mr. BINNEY closed the service by prayer.

The Annual Meeting of Members was held on Monday the 23rd, J. H. ALLEN, Esq. in the chair. Brother GoUGH of Clipstone prayed; the proceedings of the past year were read, the Officers and Committee elected for the ensuing year, and a very interesting discussion raised on the best mode of rendering the Society more effective in its operations, during which many valuable suggestions were thrown out.

The Annual Public Meeting was held in Finsbury Chapel, on Tuesday the 24th, RICHARD HARRIS, Esq. M.P. in the chair. The attendance was very gratifying, and the tone of the speeches and proceedings generally, solemn and earnest. We do not remember to have attended any anniversary services with so much pleasure and satisfaction. After singing and prayer by Rev. J. WINTER,