If

ought to measure it, not so much by the amount that was given, as by what was left after the gift. Let them recollect how the charity of the widow was measured in the sacred scriptures, while others gave of their abundance, and had still superfluities left, she gave all, and nothing remained behind. He was aware that this was a subject of delicacy, for he admitted that it was difficult to say where superfluity began, or to draw the exact line where sufficiency ended. they saw the crew of a shipwrecked vessel, which, by an almost miraculous blessing, had escaped the fury of the storm and reached in safety to the shore, they would not be surprised at observing that the crew were disporting themselves, and merrily enjoying their almost renewed existence-they would not, he said, be surprised at that, if all around them was calm, and that no vestige remained of the recent tempest; but if they saw that the storm still raged, and that there were other vessels in the distance tossed to and fro by the hurricane from which they had so miraculously escaped; if, under these circumstances, they saw them amusing

CONNEXION OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT

The Rev. Mons. Merle D'Aubigne, President of the Theological School of Geneva, observed, that wherever the light of the gospel came, there came also the light of the church missions. Where there was no light there were no missions; where there was but little light there were but few; but wherever there was much light, there also, in gratifying proportion, was there an abundance of missions. That the prevalence of Church missions was perfectly in unison with the principles of Christianity, it was only requisite that he should bring to their recollection that the church of the apostles was itself the first missionary society. In Germany, in Switzerland, in France, where light had at last shone forth, after a long spiritual death, the bright sun of the missions had made its appearance. The ships which kept up a connexion between England and the remote islands of New Zealand, bore with them the light of the word of God. But it was not only in these places that the

themselves, gathering up the shells and pebbles on the beach, then, indeed, they might be surprised, and their surprise would not be the less if they learnt that they were in sight of the king of their country, and that he had sent out a vessel to their relief, that that vessel he had entrusted to his only son, and that the son had perished in the struggle, by which they were saved,-nor would their surprise be lessened, when they learnt that the last words of that

dying son were, 'Shew your love to me for what I have done by bearing the same tidings of safety and salvation to your brethren, for it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these should perish?' Under such circumstances, he repeated, they would be surprised if the crew who had escaped should neglect so important a duty, and only think of their own pleasure, and care only for their own safety. This, then, was the spirit in which they should act, and while they blessed God for their own safety, they should do all in their power to extend similar blessings to their brethren who were still tossed about by the storm.'

pel of truth to the poor heathen. He had gone to India, and had since written home to express the delight it would give him again to hold in his arms a beloved brother he had left behind him, if he would join him in the same holy cause. He would mention to them another instance of a man in humbler life than the preceding-of one of their colporteurs, who had gone out to Canada, and had there found abundance of occupation as a missionary. He visited a township near to the borders of the United States, and there, with the blessing of God, many of the population-of a Roman Catholic population-had, by his exertions, been united to God. A church was founded in that village, and, during the late revolution there, the rebels had come to the members of that church to tempt them to return to the Roman Catholic faith. Rather than do this, sixty or seventy of these poor but faithful people had been obliged to quit their fields and cottages and go with this poor missionary to America, where, however, they had the good fortune to be well received. They had made a collection for them at Geneva, but they had not stood in need of it, having gone back to their own villages after the rebellion was over. They had sent another young man as missionary to the Mauritius; and the first pupil they had had at their school at Geneva, had gone thence to the University of Oxford, and was now in the neighbourhood of Calcutta preaching the gospel. It had been said that there were not now so many missionaries in India as there were ten years ago; but he had heard, with the greatest satisfaction, that no fewer than twenty-five new

missionaries had gone out during the past year. The British Isles, which had ever sent out the most active and eminent missionaries, sent them everywhere to preach the gospel of our Lord, and their church was eminently calculated for such a purpose, as it was as much the church of the poor as of the rich. He had given two remarkable instances, both of rich and poor persons of his own country, who had gone out as missionaries, and he hoped such an example would be followed in England. He could not help calling to mind, at the present moment, the words of a poor converted Cingalese woman, who, when somebody asked her how it was that she appeared so happy? replied, while a copy of the Cingalese Bible lay open before her, by placing one hand on her heart, and pointing with the other to heaven, and exclaiming Christ here; Christ there.' But had they Christ in the heart, as well as Christ in heaven? If they had Christ in the heart as well as in heaven, let them not keep the Saviour for themselves alone. Let them contribute to make Him known in other places, where his name was not yet beard. How could others have the blessing of the knowledge of Christ, unless he was taught and preached to them? His prayer was, that God would spread abroad the missionary spirit; and that he would diffuse it liberally among the Universities of the land, at Oxford, at Cambridge, at Edinburgh, and especially at Dublin, in order that they might witness the blessing of parents bringing up their children with a view to their embarking in the holy objects of societies like the present.'

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tendants, and the school no scholars, there was at once an end of the expense so applied. But if, on the other hand, the church or the school should each succeed and become too small for the purposes required, they must then build other churches and schools, and increased demands must consequently be made upon the society. In such a case, the

more

they prospered the more money they would undoubtedly require. The meeting, then, must learn that they had but little chance

of escape from a liberal subscription. If they had given one guinea, they would have to give more. And this he was sure they would cheerfully do, as they ought to rejoice that such success attended the exertions which they made. It was the custom in China, in former times, when an infant was born to wrap it up in tight folds of linen and to do every thing to stop its growth as much as possible. But such a principle must not be applied to this society; but in order to give it increased health and vigour, they must at once set it free from its swaddling-clothes, and that they could only do by constant prayer for its success, and by liberally subscribing to its funds. In many instances they had proceeded on a mistaken economy, and hence the diminished success of their churches in Australasia and some other places, where a want of liberal support with regard to this society had been in some respects injurious. If there were a principle of more rigid selfdenial at home, they would very soon have much less of complaint about the expenditure abroad. Certain principles had recently established themselves in a part of the University of Oxford, which do not tend to favour missionary operations in the world; but with regard to the sister University, he assured the meeting, and no doubt it could be said of large numbers at Oxford also, it presented a spectacle which must make a Christian's heart leap for joy. He had lately visited Cambridge, to preach on behalf of this society, and it was enough to make an old man young to see the numbers of young persons thronging in, all intent on the advancement of the glory of God and the salvation of the world. But still he ventured to say that the missionary spirit was not yet awakened to the extent that it ought to be. What an extraordinary thing it was that a large number of persons seemed to imagine that they had nothing to do but to leave the missionary cause to take its course! They say, 'You may sit down in your arm chair and study the fathers, or pursue any other intellectual indulgence, and leave the missionary cause to stand as it does, and by the providence of God its object may

be accomplished.' This was one of those cases in which extremes meet. The class of men who most abhor enthusiasm, and think the cardinal vice of the world is fanaticism, were in this sense the greatest fanatics and enthusiasts in the whole world. If he understood what enthusiasm meant, it was at least a branch of it to expect the end without the means; and he should like to know, if he were to sit down in his arm-chair and pursue his studies to the greatest extent-most delightful employment would it be-whether it would not be the height of enthusiasm to believe that the great ends of an all-wise Being, who delights to act by means, and who has chosen the sympathies of one man to operate on those of another would be spontaneously accomplished. God hath chosen the foolishness of preaching, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the great object of the gospel :-if, then, he were to sit down and say, 'Let the Church alone, let missions alone, and be careful of the great meetings once a year, that you do not get into a state of excitement, and desert the sober and unseen path of propriety, or if excitement be felt there, take care that it be felt nowhere else,' he wanted to know if we expected, without any honest diligence and application of the means, the end would be accomplished, whether he would not be one of the greatest enthusiasts in the world? That person, then, was the most sober person in the assembly who did most for the missionary cause. He had heard with delight the Report state what had been doing in North America. It was highly satisfactory to know that they were endeavouring to remedy what was called civilization. The history of civilization, or colonization, might be collected from the annals of past ages. It meant a Christian country going with a bottle of ardent spirits in one hand and gunpowder in the other, seizing the natives, and if they did not confer on them the mercy of exterminating them, inflicting on them the deeper injury of driving them from their own fields, and lakes, and mountains, back into the recesses of the country, till, as in the case of Canada, the melancholy result was that only an English or French po