FOREIGN MISSIONS: BEING THE SUBSTANCE OP AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, ON FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 1 , 1866 . BY ALEXANDER DUFF, D.D., LL.D. CONVENER OP TBE FOREIGN MISSIONS COMMITTEE. EDINBURGH: ANDREW ELLIOT, 17 PRINCES STREET. 1866. N.B.— The following Address is published at the special reguest ot the Foreign Missions Committee. FOREIGN MISSIONS. GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF .THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 1, 18G0 Dr Duff, who was received with loud applause, gave in the Report of the Committee on Foreign Missions, (No. VII.) He said — The report has been issued for some time, and I suppose may be taken as read. It is rather a bulky one ; but if any of the members have had leisure to look at the details, amid the varied business of the House, they will acknowledge that its bulkiness does not arise from mere inflation or expansion, but from the vast accumulation of facts which have been brought together there. It is a- record of a very comprehensive character; which itself indicates that our missions are conducted on an extensive scale of operations, and there- fore implies that this House ought to feel more than ever interested in their progress. There are many leading subjects included in the report. To go over them seriatim would require a whole night : several of them I must leave to those who are to follow me. A few of them I must more specially notice ; but before entering upon the proper business details, I will allude very briefly to the deaths of the eminent missionaries that have occurred in the course of the year, and are recorded in the report. In the Record for last October an interesting biographical notice of the first of them, Dr Mackay, appeared from the pen of one with whom he was long associated in the foreign field, and who is now working as an evangelist in one of the long-neglected localities of this city, as well as pastor of the flock gathered in by his labours — the Rev. Mr Smith. A suitable statement regarding the death of Dr Mackay was also inserted in the minutes of the Foreign Missions Committee. I shall therefore only, in one sentence, say with reference to one who was my companion and associate as a student at St Andrews, and afterwards my associate and colleague in foreign lands — that no man of greater or more varied talents, acquirements, or accomplishments ever left these British shores for the foreign mission field. (Applause.) And I will add this with regard to him — since in this House this very day, I believe, difficulties in connexion with pastoral colleagues at home were spoken of — that, 4 though we were colleagues, and had daily intimate intercourse, having constantly to consult each other, and very often upon perplexing matters, yet, praised be God for it, never was there any serious jar or discord between us. His ashes now peacefully repose in the suburbs of Edin- burgh, but, up to his latest breath, his heart was in India, with the native converts whom he loved so well, and the heathen millions whom he longed to save. His record is on high ; and his best earthly monu- ment will be found in that great central institute on the banks of the Ganges, which he assisted so materially in establishing, and which, from the success with which God has graciously crowned it, has become the pro- lific mother of a numerous progeny of similar institutions over all parts of India. (Applause.) With regard to the other whose death is noticed in this report, he was the oldest missionary connected with our mission, though not the oldest missionary in connexion with the Church, since he was originally an agent of the Scotch Missionary Society. I refer to the late excellent Mr Mitchell, of Puna, of whom it may be truly said that he fell on the battle-field. The same mail that brought me the tidings of his death brought also a letter, written by himself, only a few days before, full of earnestness and zeal in behalf of his great work. He fell literally on the battle-field ; fell in the arms of victory, clad in the panoply, the full armour of God. His mortal remains lie in the suburbs of Puna, the metropolis of the great Mahratta confederacy, whose chief once contested the sceptre of supremacy over India with Britain. There he lies — a brave soldier of the cross — “ Like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him — (applause) — and his best earthly monument will be found in the native church of Puna, in the planting and nursing and rearing of which he may well be said to have had the principal shard. There is one other death alluded to in the report which cannot be passed over without remark. It may be unusual to bring such notices into such a report. But I felt it a duty to do so, the committee ap- proved of its being done, and I hope the Assembly will sanction it. The Assembly itself has, I think, set the example ; for, if I mistake not, it entered some years ago into its minutes a memorial of one of the most generous and distinguished lady members of this Church : — I refer to the late excellent Duchess of Gordon. And if I were allowed to speak for myself individually, I would have no difficulty with regard to another. The person to whom I refer is one who in the earlier years of this Church rendered great and essential benefits to our cause in different districts of Scotland, even as far north as the Shetland Islands. And though circumstances arose which led to her alienation from this Church, and the cessation in this land of those services which she had so freely and so bountifully rendered, yet let me here say this, that v'liile the stream of her liberality ceased latterly towards the Church in Scotland, it was only diverted into other channels, and was largely directed towards India and foreign missions. These are the circumstances which warrant me in thus referring to one of w'hom, as she lias now gone to her rest, I can have no delicacy in speaking here, this day : — For the last ten years, from that noble lady large sums of money were sent for mission objects at Calcutta; amission chapel was built by her; she defrayed the expenses of the house of a native pastor and of a preaching station ; and theological scholarships were founded at her expense. The sums of money she spent annually for years past upon evangelical work in Bengal, and specially the neighbourhood of Calcutta, were very great ; and one of her last acts before her death was to send to me a large contribution towards building a new church in South Africa. Such are some of the facts. I therefore cannot but venerate the memory of the late Countess of Effingham. (Applause.) The memory of the party named in the report will, I think, be held in high regard by the members of this Assembly, as that of one of the earliest and most active supporters of the Ladies’ Society for Female Education in India and Africa, and who was always forward in every good work. I know there is a morbid sentimentality upon this subject which would almost shut out gratitude from finding expression ; but I feel this, that if “ to do good and communicate” is a Christian duty, it must surely be equally a Christian duty to be thankful to God when he puts it into the hearts of His people to do so. (Applause.) To Lady Foulis the cause of the Redeemer was dear in whatever department it came before her ; and her interest in the cause always took the form of self-denying action. Her zeal, too, was as judicious as it was warm. The Assembly with all its work was much on her heart ; and the little circular for prayer which annually preceded the meeting of the Assembly was got up at her expense. During the meetings of Assembly, as many brethren as could possibly be accommodated under her hospitable roof, were ever welcome. The cause of missions, at home or abroad, to Jew and Gentile, was peculiarly dear to her. For many years she had a w r eekly prayer meeting in her house, when the mission cause was specially prayed for. To the mis- sionary brethren, when home in quest of health, her house was a home, and she herself was their nurse. The godly Mr Johnstone, of Madras, died in her house. As regards material aid, she was a liberal contributor to all the funds of the Church. The great day alone wili declare what she did, for little of it w T as allowed to meet the eye of man ; she ever studied so to act, that her right hand did not know what her left hand did. Now, after such a statement, it occurs to me to throw out a suggestion for the con- sideration of the members of the Assembly, which, if acted on, would be one way of keeping such good deeds in everlasting remembrance. We are in want of candidates for the mission field, and I believe the college would have no objections to the addition of a scholarship or bursary. If, then, the eldership would raise the means of providing £500 to found a scholar- ship : that would at once serve a necessary purpose, and perpetuate the memory of Lady Foulis in a fitting and becoming manner. (Applause.) Another point on which I would here desire to remark is with regard to the necessity for mission buildings. This Church, as a Church, has never had a scheme for mission buildings. Missionaries, when they have returned from India, have been allowed simply to move about the country collect- ing money, the best way they could, for institution and evangelistic build- ings, but dwellings for the missionaries themselves have not been properly attended to. And allow me to say to the members of this House, that if there was a real necessity for the Assembly to seek to secure proper abodes for ministers at home, there has been all along the same necessity on the mission field. I can only say farther, that if for years missionaries abroad said nothing on this subject, it was because they thought the ministers who, at the shrine of principle and duty, resolved to abandon their pleasant 6 manses, must be first supplied ; but they always concluded that, when the ministers at home were supplied with houses, churches, schools, and every other want, they would surely be supplied next; they thought that it could not be that the poor labourers in the foreign mission field should be forgotten ; and they have waited with long patience. There are some members of this House from India who will be able and ready to testify to this fact, that not only is the want of suitable dwelling-houses injurious to the health of our missionaries, but that, as there is reason to believe, it has been accessory even to the death of some of them. The rent of build- ings, however insufficient or inconveniently situated, is also rapidly and greatly increasing, and thereby becoming a drain which cannot be longer endured upon the general funds of the Foreign Mission. What we desire, then, is to secure a General Mission Building Fund, to meet present urgent necessities and future contingencies, and which, at the same time, will not interfere with any other pecuniary object of the Church ; and I hope the General Assembly will remit the matter to the Foreign Missions Committee, to mature a plan, and bring it duly before the Church at large. (Hear, hear.) A case arose last year in which a house was absolutely needed in South Africa. I did not know what to do for the means. It would answer no purpose to make a public appeal; and as there was no other resource, I was fain to make a private appeal, since I was almost in despair; and so, without committing the committee, I took it upon me to write privately to a gentle- man in Glasgow about this case of pressing urgency in South Africa, and I said if you cannot, on other accounts, respond to the call, do at least take pity upon the sorrows of a poor old man. (Laughter.) The result of this appeal was a munificent response — fortunately for us nothing altogether peculiar in the Free Church. This gentleman sent at once the sum of £500 to build the house. (Loud cheers.) I think since no secrecy was enjoined in the matter, I may, without offendjng his extreme modesty over- much, mention the name of the gentleman — it is that of Mr James Burns of Glasgow, (ltenewed applause.) He said, “You should set a General Mission Building Fund on foot ; and if you do, my special donation of the £500 will not prevent my aiding the more general scheme.” I replied — “ Your proposal is most reasonable. The Foreign Missions Committee have always felt the reasonableness and the desirableness of it.” So I thought it might not be amiss to go to Glasgow to this excellent gentleman, and ask him gently this question, What length and strength of a lever he would give me to begin with 1 The result was that I got a lever of the length and strength of £1000 to begin with; but on the reasonable condition that all other members of the Church should contribute their due and propor- tional share. (Loud cheers.) And there is another quarter from which there is reason to believe another £1000 will be available. (Continued applause.) But not to dwell farther upon these preliminary topics, let me proceed to some of the other topics contained in the report. It is impossible for me to hold the report in my hands, containing such a mass of facts connected with the increase and progress of our Foreign Mission work, without being very peculiarly affected. Therefore, in my weakness, I ask, that you will excuse me if I fail to bring out what I would like to do. It is now thirty- seven years since I first attended the Assembly of the Church of Scotland. That Assembly appointed mens their first missionary to India. Then it is thirty-one years since it was my privilege first to address the General As- sembly of the Church of Scotland. 1 felt almost as much bodily weakness then as now, having emerged from the sick-room to address the House ; only with youth on my side I was enabled to rally, which in the providence of God is not very likely to be any more the case with me. At that time, only one mission station belonged to the Church, and but one missionary had been left in the mission field. There were only three or four converts then in existence; and that was the Foreign Mission of the Church of Scot- land ! It looked so pitiable and so very paltry an affair that I remember a facetious gentleman who used to go about the country in those days upon the grand Voluntary question, as it was called — that is, an aggressive crusade against Establishments — and his practice was to polish the shafts of his sarcasm, and excite uncontrollable ridicule and amusement by con- tinually referring to the Estab'ished Church and its mission, under the homely but significant emblem, of a great “ clockin’ hen wi’ ae wee chicken.” (Laughter.) Such was the state of things thirty years ago. I allude to the fact merely that you may be enabled to see and to trace what progress has been made since. That will be obvious to any one who chooses to take the most cursory glance at this report. Statistics, I know, are very apt to be regarded as dry, insipid, and uninteresting ; but, at the same time, remembering the fact I have now stated, I think a very brief statistical summary in connexion with the mission as it is now, is instruc- tive enough, and, to a reflective mind, interesting enough to warrant me to detain you a minute or two by giving you that summary. For instance, in regard to Christian Agency . — There are labouring in India 1G ordained European missionaries ; 3 medical missionaries — two of whom are Euro- peans and one native — along with several native assistants ; G European teachers ; 1 2 female do. ; 7 ordained native missionaries ; 3 licensed native preachers ; 2 East Indian teachers ; 84 native teachers, catechists, colporteurs, and evangelists ; and 18 native female teachers. These agents are located in the great cities of Calcutta, Bombay, Puna, Madras, Nagpore, and 37 other subordinate and surrounding stations. In Kaffraria, there are labouring 5 ordained European missionaries ; 2 European catechists ; 1 European teacher ; 1 female do. ; 1 6 native teachers ; 3 female do. ; 6 na- tive Scripture readers ; and 1 colporteur. The number of stations is 28, of which the principal are Lovedale, Pirie, Burnshill, and Macfarlan. In all, 187 Christian agents are labouring at 63 stations in India and Kaffraria, In those days, as I have said, there were only three or four native con- verts. We have altogether another state of things now. We have several native churches. In India, there were 491 members in full com- munion ; 522 baptized adherents, not commuriicants ; 64 adults and 62 children baptized during the year. The number admitted on a pro- fession of their faith in Christ since the commencement of the missions is 767. In Kaffraria, there are 866 communicants ; 392 baptized ad- herents, not communicants ; 60 adults and 111 children baptized during the year. In all, in both fields, there are 1357 natives in full com- munion with the Church; 914 baptized adherents; 124 adults and 173 children baptized during the year. With respect to these native churches, it is gratifying to learn that most of them are beginning to do something for themselves. With regard to one of them, established in Calcutta, the oldest of our mission stations, something more has to be said. It is with most earnest and intense thankfulness to God that I refer to this case. Through the blessing of the Great Head of the Church, the congre- 8 gallon has been regularly organised with its own pastor, and elders, and deacons, who entirely manage their own affairs. I trust and hope it will be fully understood what it is this Church is now doing, for it is my belief there are hundreds of churches and congregations in Scotland that would be the better of taking a lesson from its example. This little native church in Calcutta last year resolved, as speedily as possible, to become self- sustaining, and last spring, after taking a careful review of their resources and agencies, and everything connected with it, they came to the deliberate resolution to declare themselves as now self-sustaining, with every con- fidence that under the providence of God they will be permanently self- sustaining, and pay their minister and provide for all other church pur- poses. I think a fact like this, of a small native church raising upwards of £150 a year, and declaring itself self-sustaining, ought to rebuke and put to shame many Christian congregations in this land. (Hear, hear.) Then with regard to schools and educational institutions. In India, there are 6 great institutions for the rearing up of teachers and preachers, and 14 schools for the teaching of English and the vernaculars, containing altogether 5768 scholars ; 28 schools, where only the vernaculars are taught, with 2621 scholars; 8 schools for girls, of which 5 are boarding- schools, for teaching English and the vernaculars, containing 550 scholars ; and 36 vernacular schools for girls, with 1815 scholars : in all 92 schools, and 10,754 scholars. (Applause.) In Kaffraria there are 364 boys at school, besides 75 at Lovedale Seminary, and 436 girls — in all, there are under instruction both in India and Kaffraria, 11,629. Then, let it be remembered that in the institutions, all the most advanced branches of the highest education are taught in inseparable conjunction with the evidences and doctrines of the Christian faith. With regard to the schools, there is, I fear, a most false and absurd impression still prevalent in many parts of this country, as to the kind of teaching that is carried on in them. I wish to declare, with all peremptoriness, that the children are most fully instructed in Christian truth and the elements of the Bible. When I was at home before, it was my privilege to go into many of our schools when I was going my rounds through different parts of Scotland, and it may be that there are some present here who will be able to remember that even in the pulpits at that time I was often led vehemently to assert that you could not find in Scotland one school where the Bible was more thoroughly taught than it is in our mission schools in India ; and I think the Christian parents of this country have too often their children less effectually taught in a Christian sense than they ought to be, and less effectually than the children of the heathen are taught in our mission schools. In those early days we had no female schools at all. The truth is, that at that time to get access to females of respectability, of caste, with a view to their mental, moral, or social improvement, was very difficult indeed — rather, it was something like an absolute impossibility. You might as well have attempted to lift the loftiest peak of the Himalayan mountains, and throw it down in the Bay of Bengal. The state of Indian society is peculiar, and cannot be understood by those who have never been in India. It was clear that if we wished to reach the female popula- tion, we could only do so by getting at the male population ; first raising up a generation of educated males, who would create the necessity for a generation of educated females. Therefore, we never attempted then to get at the female population at all. It would have been a waste of 9 strength and energy. I said I will labour at the education of the males, and in the long run you will find that this is the most effectual way to get at the education of the female population. That generation has passed, and, praise to God, the prediction is being verified. There is a demand now in India for female education wherever English education has awakened the native mind from the sleepy drench and lethargy of ages ; so that we cannot now possibly supply the demand. And here I cannot help tendering my most earnest thanks to the Ladies’ Society of Edin- burgh and Glasgow, for their effectual help in this great work for the education of the females of India and South Africa. (Hear, hear.) Time would fail me to bring out in detail before you all the other agencies at work. The minds and consciences of adults as well as of the young are addressed, and every mode of reaching them resorted to. Besides the insti- tutions and schools, in which the minds and consciences of the pupils are daily plied with divine truth, and which have been signally owned by God as a mighty instrument for the conversion of souls, the following among other means are adopted for spreading the glad tidings of salvation among the people, viz., the direct preaching of the gospel in English and the ver- naculars ; missionary itineracies ; medical missions ; household visitation ; translating the Scriptures, books, and tracts ; colportage ; and the training of converts for the ministry. These agencies, as regards India, are at work in the rural districts, as well as in the great cities, — the native mis- sionaries having in almost every instance the principal charge of the missions in the former. Such, briefly, is the varied character of our mis- sionary operations. There is, in truth, hardly any form of Christian effort that is not more or less engaged in, and there is no class of the people, from the Brahman down to the Pariah, that is not the object of our care. And this suggests to me, Moderator, the desirableness of making a state- ment if possible to dissipate a delusion which still unhappily prevails in some quarters, where ignorance threatens to become hereditary. Though from the first, in one form or other, our mission has to the world assumed what was called a fundamentally educational character, we have wrought fully as much in the way of direct effort to bring the message of the gospel to bear on the minds of the people at large as any other mission in India. Ay, and we have, by God’s blessing, been enabled to reach all classes of natives. There is a horrible misconception on this subject in certain minds. I have long ago given up paying much attention to what is said of it ; but now let me for once express myself, and deliver my soul in the matter. Very little comparatively has been published on the sub- ject hitherto. One reason of that is this, that what we have to do when we go out preaching is to deliver our simple gospel message at a particular place ; and when we go there again, why it is ditto, and ditto as you go to another place, and that day by day ; you tell them substantially the same thing over and over again, and if there be no conversions, and nothing to report in the shape of deep awakenings, the people at home get wearied of these everlasting statements of mere labour done ; and therefore the missionaries give up writing about them. But meantime these movements are not without real and lasting effects ; they are tearing up the fallow ground ; they are preparing the soil ; they are sowing the seed ; — the crop will be reaped by others, the harvest gathered in when those, who have torn up the fallow ground and sown the indestructible seed of the Word, lie buried under the sod. (Applause.) I believe in 10 this way the gospel has been most effectually preached by our European and native missionaries and catechists, during the years that have now gone by, not to thousands only, but I think I am fully within the mark when I say to tens and tens and tens of thousands of the native population of India. And now happily cur rural missions have been taken charge of by trained native agents permanently. This is the principle adopted in Mahanad in the Bengal Mission, and also in Nellore in Madras, and at Iudapur in the Bombay Presidency. In the first of these, one, who was born and bred as a Brahman, has long been a faithful labourer, the Rev. Jagadishwar. In the second, another of our able and devoted native missionaries, the Rev. Venkataramiah. In the third, the ever active and energetic Rev. N. SeshadrL I have had the privilege of meeting these native missionaries again and again, and I would only say that, while they differ exceedingly in natural temperament and disposition and character, they are all, as Christian ministers, equally zealous and successful It has been my lot to visit most of the missions, from Cape Comorin on the south to the banks of the Sutlej on the north, and I have no hesitation in saying that there have scarcely been any European missionarieswho have conducted missions more effectively than these native brethren are now doing. (Cheers.) This report refers to the opportunity which has been given us, in the providence of God, of entering upon a new, or rather upon two new fields of labour in Central and in Western India. Let me remind the members of this House that, in the district to the north of Bombay, and stretching away eastward towards the great Ganges, there is a range of hills, rolling and beautifully-wooded hills, inhabited by wild aboriginal tribes. It is among some of these that the German mission has been so successfully working, that is, among the tribes that go generally under the name of Coles. Those on the western coast are called Waralis ; their system of belief has nothing in it of the Brahmanical ; they seem indeed to know and to worship no God at all. Dr Wilson tells us that, when' the question was asked whether they expected to go to God after death, the answer was an affecting one. They said — “ How can we get to God after death ? — the big men round about us drive us away and banish us from their presence — how can we expect the great God to allow' us to approach Him?" It was their degrading idea that the great God was only a bigger man who would act towards them with the hauteur, pride, superciliousness, and cruelty that great men did. Then in Central India among the hills, to the north and east of Nagpore, you have the people known as the Gonds. They once were powerful and united, until driven from the plains by the Mohammedans, and attacked by the Mahrattas afterwards. They are a very wild tribe, and had strange and shocking habits and practices. Human sacrifices pre- vailed among them to a great extent, and until recently, among some portions of them, cannibalism. Happily the beneficent influence of the British Government has put an end to most of these inhuman atrocities. The more civilised natives still talk of them in this way — that these hills have for their inhabitants “ wild beasts, demons, and savage Gonds.'’ They are characterised by three qualities, as we are told by those who know them best — superstition, and, alas ! drunkenness, and the third, a strange quality to be combined with these — love of truth ; a singular con- trast in that respect to their more civilized but mendacious neighbours of the plain. Well, the providence of God opened up a way of access to these people, .and what was wanted was a missionary to go to them. At 11 home it seems scarcely possible to get any one, who is worth sending, to go out to the mission field, but in this case Mr Cooper, who was quite entitled to come home on furlough, with singular disinterestedness, at once expressed his readiness to remain where he w;is. (Cheers.) Accordingly, his junior, Mr Dawson, was written to and requested to go up to Chind- wara in the hills ; and I am happy to say, to his great credit, that, like a true soldier, he at once obeyed the signal from headquarters. The very next letter brought the news that his luggage was already on its way to the hills, and himself about to follow. (Applause.) The next difficulty was the pecuniary means. Well, Mr Hugh Matheson, London, kindly sent us £200 from a fund entrusted to him by a friend, which were applied to the furtherance of this enterprise. (Cheers.) Then, about Western India, — qualified native agents, with the newly licensed preacher, Mr Shapurji, at their head, were willing to go, but we wanted mouey, and what was to be done? £300 were wanted to establish the new mission; Mr and Mrs M‘Dougall gave us £250, and afterwards the sum of £50 was made up with the aid of a few friends. (Cheers.) Now, while these new missions have thus been providentially supplied for one year, I would wish to im- press upon this Assembly that these must be abandoned again if the people of Scotland do not come forward and support them. 1 trust, however, such a thing as their abandonment is impossible. (Hear, hear.) In regard to South Africa, I may remind you that there is a central institution there — the Lovedale Seminary — and it is an interesting fact to know that with the aid of Government grants and other means, fully detailed in the report, this institution promises ere long to become self- sustaining. Then there is the proposed mission to the Transkei territory. That territory was desolated in a strange way seven or eight years ago, through the unaccountable and strange fanaticism of the native tribes. They were led to believe, by a famous witch-doctor, that it was a duty on their part to put the whole of their cattle to death, and to burn up all their corn, depriving themselves absolutely of all means of subsistence, in the belief that when they had done this there would spring up from the earth a finer race of cattle, and that corn far better than they had would be given them in utmost abundance. The extraordinary call was generally responded to. Some of the deluded people actually said they heard the bellowing of the coming new race of cattle, and saw their great horns shooting up from the ground. (Laughter.) The delusion pre- vailed ; most of the cattle were slaughtered, and the corn was burnt. The British Government afterwards discovered that this was more a political manoeuvre than a mere piece of blind fanaticism. Their great chief had come to the conclusion that if he could persuade the people to destroy their cattle and their corn, thus depriving themselves of the means of subsistence, he would have them more at his disposal, to enable him to carry out his long-cherished political design — by constraining his subject hordes, under the pressure of famine, to precipitate themselves on the neighbouring territories, overspread Kaffraria and the Colony, drive the British into the sea, and reign over all South Africa to the Cape. His people only dis- covered, when too late, that they had deprived themselves of the means of life — that they were famishing. Numbers of the poor natives died, 30,000 crossed the Kei into Kaffraria, where they were saved from death by the liberality and kindness of the British Government and colonists. But after it was ascertained to have been a political trick, the Cape governor 12 said in effect — “ Now that your country is depopulated, and you have left it and are dependent on us, we will keep it ourselves.” The Government last year resolved to give back this territory to the natives on certain conditions. But great numbers of the original possessors had died, and when the territory was to be re-occupied many emigrated from the Cape colony to those regions ; and many of the people, amongst whom our missionaries were labouring, went there too. Now, they could not see the people and members of their own flocks go away, knowing that they wanted the preaching of the gospel and schools for their children, without attempting to do something for them. Greatly to the credit of the native churches, two or three catechists were sent at their expense, along with the Chris- tian emigrants. But European missionaries were imperatively demanded to head, guide, and direct the whole adventurous movement. Hence the fervent appeal to this country for two such qualified men. A brotherly deputation from our own and the U. P. missions sought an interview with Kreli, the paramount chief of the Kaffirs, who, with great courtesy and liberality, expressed his willingness to receive the new missionaries, and give them any location they chose. And here let me make this remark. It does seem passing strange to witness the readiness with which these Kaffir chiefs give locations to missionaries, as compared with what we have witnessed in our own Christian land, in connexion with the refusal to grant sites for churches. Even the great Basuto chief, Moshesh, with whom I spent two or three hours on the summit of his impregnable mountain, be- yond the great Orange river, — that most singular and astute man, who is more of a politician than most of the British rulers out yonder — (laughter) — rejoiced in having the French missionaries in his territory, and he de- clared it was with his whole heart he gave up any piece of ground they chose to select for the erection of houses and chapels as well as for gardens, and all in perpetuity. The Kaffir chiefs are ready to do the same in the Transkei territory ; and this fact needs to be proclaimed, up to this very hour, in the ears of some of the landed gentry of this Christian Scotland. We have only to compare the liberality of these benighted Basuto and Kaffir chiefs with their conduct, and it ought to call the crimson blush of shame to their cheeks. (Hear, hear, and applause.) This being the state of matters beyond the Kei river — £1000 were wanted to plant the new missions — and an appeal for the same was made in one of the public jour- nals. And I must say it to the credit of an elder of this Church in Cupar- Fifc, that he cheerfully responded to the call, and expressed his belief that the whole of the sum might easily be found. Yes, no doubt the money exists ! — tens of thousands, and more ! What is wanted is an extractor to bring it out of people’s pockets. (Laughter.) I scarcely knew what to do in this dilemma, — when some three or four ladies came to the rescue. After they had no doubt consulted together, they agreed to try to raise the sum of money wanted one way or other. It may be that some indi- viduals may not approve of this particular way, or that other, by which ladies propose to accomplish their own schemes ; but for my own part, my experience of their doings is, that it is always best to leave them alone. (Much laughter.) When I was at home for the first time, two ladies, sis- ters, at Inverness, knowing that we wanted money for missionary build- ings, proposed to raise one thousand pounds of it in pennies, and resolved that they would not take from any person more than a penny. The limi- tation to a single penny did not seem to me very wise ; but it was useless 13 to find fault. In travelling about here and there I was once and again asked for my subscription. I was ashamed to give only the penny, and would have given more, but the answer always was, “No, no, we arc strictly prohibited from taking more than a penny.” The result, however, justified the confidence of the good ladies in their own favourite scheme ; for, after an incredible amount of labour iu correspondence and otherwise, the sum of very nearly £ 1 000 was raised. So I think it was better to let the ladies alone. (Laughter.) These ladies said they would raise the amount in copper pence ; and now our lady friends say they will raise a like sum in silver pennies or half-crowns — that they will not go down to the lower classes of people with this call. Those who have tried such experiments can best imagine the huge amount of correspondence and drudgery necessary even to carry out the scheme of raising £1000 in half- crowns. For my own part, I really believe that scarcely any money you could offer would induce most men to undertake the task as a piece of work. But the ladies voluntarily imposed the heavy task upon them- selves, and they are progressing. Some weeks ago I was informed they had raised enough to plant one of the missions in the Transkei territory ; and yesterday I was told they were nearly up to the mark of the second half. (Cheers.) Now, to my mind, this is a delightful exemplification of the benevolence of genuine Christianity. Here are three or four ladies in Edinburgh w ho had never seen South Africa, who had never seen the Kaffirs, who never had their feelings and sensibilities lacerated by witness- ing the exhibitions of brutal barbarism that prevail amongst them ; but who, simply because they have heard of their condition, have raised £1000 in order that they may be taught — may receive Christian instruction — taking pity upon them, and toiling, and labouring to accomplish this blessed object. I say, iu one word, that this is above all Greek, all Roman fame. (Cheers.) Let me now come briefly to another topic. I want to draw special attention to the ordinary revenue of the Foreign Mission Scheme. £16,000 is the aggregate amount; that, however, includes donations, legacies, and such like ; the real sum from associations and church- door collections amounts to little more than £10,000. Then, again, how much is raised in India and Africa ? You find literally at this moment more money raised in one way and another in the foreign field itself than is raised by the Free Church of Scotland at home. I think that is a notable fact. The money raised abroad consists partly of the contributions of Christian friends, partly of fees from pupils, and partly of grants in aid by Government for education, which never interfere directly or indirectly with our religious instruction ; they are applied at once to the specific agency for which they are designed. These schools in which they are received have never changed their essentially Christian character, and the pupils are being thoroughly trained in Christian knowledge. I have mentioned fees as now an important item of revenue. I may add that it is also a significant sign of progress. When I went to India first it was a great thing to get a pupil of respectable caste or parentage to come out to a school at all. It was looked upon as an absurd scheme — as a wild and visionary project — and a proof of downright folly to expect it ; it was talked of as Thomas More’s Utopia. They laughed at me if I expected to get even one of the higher caste young men to come to me to receive instruction, and more particularly if I declared I would teach them the 14 Bible. Even my own countrymen held that such schools as I proposed could never make progress in India. But there was then a remarkable native in Calcutta, a man far a-head of his countrymen, a Brahman by birth, and of high social position and influence. I refer to the celebrated Rajah Rammohun Roy — (applause) — who came over to this country and there died. I met him twice or thrice every week in his own house or mine. What made him draw more particularly to me was, that my system was one of religious instruction. I was insisting upon it that all teaching should be saturated with true religion. He himself had made considerable progress. He had studied Arabic to understand what Mohammedanism was in its fountain-head — the Koran. He had studied other languages to know what their religious systems were; and he had studied Hebrew and Greek to know what our Scriptures were in the original ; and he had come to this conclusion, that the greatest and holiest Being that had ever visited this earth was Jesus Christ ; that the highest moral teaching in the Shastras and other religious books of India was far surpassed by the sublime mo- rality of Jesus, and he himself extracted the precepts of the Gospels, trans- lating them into Bengali with the title — “The Precepts of Jesus — the Guide to Happiness,” and circulated them at his own expense. I told him fully of my proposal to give religious instruction along with instruc- tion in every branch of really useful knowledge. Certainly, he said, that is altogether the right course ; and it was his great influence that secured the first few pupils — first two and then five boys — of respectable family. If it had not been for him I could not have then begun. I commenced my humble operations with five, but I said, I am ready to begin with one — (applause) — and more, to go on and persevere for years, if the Lord spare me, even if there should be but one, for the value of one immortal soul is not to be estimated. (Applause.) Our little school went on steadily increasing, and soon the little one became literally a thousand. For the last quarter of a century more than that number has been in regu- lar attendance. Having told my noble native friend, that, as with Chris- tians, everything was consecrated by prayer, I meant to open school every day with prayer. Of this also he cordially approved, adding that he knew no form of prayer so brief, so comprehensive, as what we called the Lord’s Prayer; and until these boys came to understand the language of religion, we had better teach them the meaning of that prayer, and use it for a time. At the outset he was wont to come to the school day by day for a whole month, to countenance us by his presence, and to encourage the youth in the school, as well as to conciliate and inspire confidence into the parents. To me it seemed like the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in my eyes. And, while upon the subject now, I could not help gratefully referring to such aid received from such an unexpected quarter. (Ap- plause.) I was going on to say that we were very glad at the commence- ment of our mission to get these few youths to attend our educational institution even gratuitously. In due time they were induced to pay for their books, and afterwards to pay fees for instruction. (Applause.) And such is now the rapid and marvellous progress of events, that if (mark you, I lay emphasis on that little word, if) things go on for another year as they have been doing for the last few years in Calcutta, I expect our great central institution there, apart from the salaries of the European Missionaries, will be well nigh self-supporting. (Loud applause.) Then the donation granted annually by the Home Committee will be liberated, 15 to be applied for other purposes in extending our mission in the wide territory of Bengal. (Continued applause.) Let me now look at home, and 1 am sure you will excgse me if I, for the time beinc, seem to plead this cause exclusively. (Cheers.) Fathers and brethren, wbat have you summoned me here for but to plead the cause of missions ? (Cheers. ) In doing so am I not pleading the great cause of Christ on earth ? — the cause which is nearest and dearest to His heart, though now seated on the throne of glory in the heavens ! I do not, and I say it most solemnly and in the presence of God, know in my own spirit what exclu- siveness is. My spirit would embrace the whole world, but, from mere human tinitude, action must be limited by time and space. There is not a single scheme of this Free Church of Scotland that I am not ready, if health and strength were given me, to plead with all earnestness. (Applause.) And indeed I have pled the cause of them all, for I regard them all as parts of one great whole. I rejoice in the prosperity of all ; but I want to see something like a proportion in regard to the giving of our money to different objects, according to their intrinsic and relative magnitudes. The sum of nearly £400,000 a-year, raised by the Free Church, is a magnificent contribution ; but I find that of this large sum, only about £10,000 is raised for the evangelisation of the world with its 800,000,000 of inhabitants ; that is, only about a fortieth part of the whole amount raised. Now, surely, in the estimate of sober and enlightened reason, there is a lamentable disproportion here. I would not have the contribu- tions to other schemes less, I would have them all greatly increased — ex- panded onwards indefinitely ; but I would have the greatest enterprise on earth receive a proportionally larger share than now. And that nothing, nothing proportional is given now to the great cause of foreign missions, admits of too painful a demonstration. Some of the members of this House will not, I daresay, be at all prepared for the statement I shall now lay before you on this subject. There are in this Free Church of Scotland 848 charges and 72 mission stations. Now, a statement has, at my sug- gestion, been drawn up very carefully and very elaborately for me, chiefly by my excellent friend Mr Braidwood, who devoted days to making the various calculations. Listen, then, to the facts which it undeniably un- folds, and tell me if there is not something in them worthy of your deepest consideration. In the 848 charges in connexion with the Free Church at present — leaving out stations — the membership is 247,472. Now, then, the total sums annually contributed by the whole of these congregations, divided by the number of members, shows the average rate of contribution for each member. This reveals a state of things which I am ready to be- lieve many in this House may know nothing of, and which, I am sure, they will at once candidly allow ought not to be. Let me read the details to you. Of the 848 congregations of the Free Church, then, there are 6 charges, containing 2733 members, which, during the past year, have con- tributed a little above 5s. each member; 17 charges, containing 7569, have contributed from 3s. to 5s. each member; 21 charges, containing 9094, have contributed from 2s. to 3s. each member ; 50 charges, contain- ing 19,176, have contributed from Is. 5d. to 2s. each member; 55 charges, containing 17,986, have contributed from Is. Id. to Is. 5d. each member; 47 charges, containing 13,822, have contributed from lid. to Is. Id. each member ; 78 charges, containing 21,327, have contributed from 9d. to lid. each member; 88 charges, containing 28,029, have contributed from 7d. 16 9d. each member; 119 charges, containing 32,407, have contributed from 5d. to 7d. each member; 126 charges, containing 34,753, have contributed from 3d. to 5d. each member ; 79 charges, containing 22,327, have contributed 2d. and a fraction; 72 charges, containing 15,848, have contributed Id. and a fraction each member ; 28 charges, containing 6065, have contributed Id. each member; 37 charges, containing 12,229, have contributed a fraction of a penny, from |d. to fd. each member ; 25 charges, containing 4112 members, have contributed nil per member. Now, I think that statement is something so astonishing that it ought not to be possible to bring it up in any future Assembly. (Hear.) It is one which, so far as the Church’s credit and consistency are concerned, I trust will never have to be repeated in this House. I cannot help feeling that it indicates there is something, be it what it may, radically wrong and rotten somewhere — what it is I will not judge. I could tell you strange things were I to go into details. For instance, I could tell you of one large congrega- tion, not in Edinburgh, with 7 00 or 800 of a membership, of which, about 500, last year, gave nothing at all to Foreign Missions. Such a state of things ought not certainly to exist in any Church professing to be a Church of Christ, and least of all in any congregation with such a lofty banner as that of the Free Church of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) We are taught to pray, “ Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We are commanded, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Yes, we have learnt that prayer when we were children ; we know the commands and precepts of God’s holy Word ; yet many amongst us, ministers, office-bearers, and people, apparently sit still, satisfied with doing nothing, or something so small that it is next to nothing, — that it looks like a mockery of our own profes- sions and of the precious name we bear. Let me remind you, brethren, how the Jews acted when they had become degenerate. They were bound by Divine command to bring offerings of the best of their substance and the first of their Hock, and they brought the refuse of their substance, and the lame, the sick, and the blind of their flock. And how did God Almighty look on this ? He sent His own prophet vehemently to expostulate with them, and to pronounce a curse upon them for their daring contempt and robbery. Now, wherein does our case differ from theirs ? And I ask you all solemnly, as in the presence of Almighty God, ought a precisely similar state of things to continue among us 1 We are bidden to give of the best of our substance to the Lord, by way of acknowledging our unspeakable obligations to Him. Yet there are thousands of persons, members of this Church, who acknowledge all these obligations by giving half a farthing, and thousands more who give nothing at all, in the face of a Divine com- mand, for the spread of the gospel over all the earth ! It is something so humiliating, that nothing — nothing — nothing but a sense of duty towards God and the souls of men would have compelled me to allude to it. No, nothing but a sense of shame at the thought of such a number of barren professors amongst us, and of horror at the thought that multitudes are perishing for lack of that knowledge, which they can. but yet refuse to sup- ply — could have aroused me to the discharge of so painful and invidious a duty. (Hear, hear.) In connexion with this subject, it must be allowed that during the last year twenty new associations have been formed ; and 1 must also, in justice to the brethren, alike present and absent, say this, that in particular localities I do know there arc special difficulties which 17 they have to encounter. There are ministers and office-hearers who are most anxious to do more, but they are hampered in many ways. Still, where there is a will there is a way : only this very day I heard of a minister who thought he could not get up an association for want of the living agency, but who has now resolved to employ the members of his Bible-class for the purpose. This is a result of the visit of our association secretary to his congregation; and I believe one of the happy effects of a well-conducted visitation of particular districts by authority of the Assembly, till the whole Church is overtaken, will be to bring home such matters to the un- derstandings and consciences of ministers, office-bearers, and people. With regard to the general aspect of the mission-field abroad, you will find this report in that respect a very sober one, for the great object has been to be strictly and rigorously within the truth. An immense work has been done, and is doing, in the way of preparation ; import- ant results of the highest kind have also been gained, but certainly nothing to boast of. At the same time, this is ever to be kept in mind that while a congregation of 1000 is thought nothing of here, where all are nominally Christians, in the same way as thousands of bushels of wheat are thought nothing of where improved agriculture is all but universal ; yet a single bushel would be regarded as a mighty thing in the way of augury of future harvests, when the pioneer in the ■wilder- nesses of Canada or America has had to cut down whole forests of trees and drain out whole marshes in order to obtain it. So in the same way, while we cannot talk of great multitudes being converted, yet we can talk truly of individuals being everywhere turned unto the Lord ; and of a prodigious work in the way of preparation, the relaxation of preju- dices, the upsetting of old superstitions and obnoxious usages, and the opening up of the minds and hearts of numbers to hail something better that is coming. Dr Duff then referred to the great changes of sentiment in regard to the missionaries and their work on the part of many of the leading people and even of the chiefs and rajahs of India ; some of these, whom he named, contributed liberally to the support of missionaries ; while others made advances in the principles of toleration and enlightened administration, which would reflect credit on the ablest and wisest of the monarchs of old Christendom. Dr Duff next gave instances in which, by the acknowledgment of educated natives, men of high caste and rank were looked upon as oppressors, and the missionaries as friends, while the religion of Christ was held up to the people as the most elevating and purifying. He next gave some account of the origin, progress, and objects of the religious society of educated natives in Bengal, known under the name of the Brahma Samaj. He briefly indicated some of the transitionary stages through which it had passed, and succinctly described its present doctrines, which are those of pure Theism. He then proceeded, saying — Many people in this country are ever apt to shrug their shoulders with a sensi- tive recoil from the very name of Theists or Deists. But they ought to try and realise the radical difference between the position of pure Theists in a land where the full light of the Christian revelation shines, and a land which for two or three thousand years has lain under the blighting mildew and shadow of the most frightful Polytheisms and Pantheisms under the sun. In the former case, if men born and brought up on heights illumined by the glorious sun of Heaven’s own revealed truth, lapse into Theism, it is a melancholy descent half way down the hill towards the nethermost abyss of B 18 error, delusion, and darkness. And were they to plunge into the morasses of Polytheism, or take refuge in the shadowy realms of Pantheism, with its dim and cold abstractions, its tilmy and meaningless platitudes, their case would be sadder still. Deprived, though alas, voluntarily deprived, of all faculty of spiritual eyesight, they may be heard, under the smiting of judi- cial retribution, as if dolefully exclaiming : — “ Oh, dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse, Without all hope of day !” How different, how opposite the position of those who have been bred and brought up among the jungly marshes of Polytheism, or the airy, unsub- stantial phantasms of Pantheism, when they have attained to an intelli- gent belief in one God , and that one Grove, that through the co-operative combination of all these varied influences, the long-in- durated crust of old systems and superstitions is beginning to break up ; that momentous changes of a general kind are now in actual progress, changes which, in upheaving and overturning the ancient foundations, arc paving the way for the introduction of a new economy — the renova- 4-5 tion and re-arrangement of the constituent elements of society against the time when He shall come, whose right it is to reign ! And what is con spicuou8ly true of India, might be shown to be true, in varying measure and degree, of all other heathen lands. “ But while all this must be freely admitted ; while in our own Indian and African missions, as well as in the missions of all other evangelical churches and societies, there have, in individual conversions, been vouch- safed precious and unmistakable tokens of the presence and power of the Almighty Spirit’s quickening grace; while in particular cases, in different regions of heathendom, considerable numbers, from various mixed motives, have appeared practically to abjure the external rights of heathenism, and placed themselves under Christian instruction ; and while, throughout all parts of the world-wide mission-field, preparatory work of all kinds has been making great, steady, and decided progress — we have yet as freely to confess, that nowhere, that we can learn, throughout the wide domains of earth, has there been anything like a copious outpouring of the Spirit of God, stirring up hundreds and thousands under deep and overwhelm- ing convictions of sin and guilt, as on the day of Pentecostal effusion, and in many quarters within the bounds of old Christendom, on either side of the Atlantic, in more recent times, to cry out of the depths of their con- vulsed and agonised natures, with uncontrollable vehemency, ‘ What must we do to be saved ? ’ Indeed, from almost all mission-stations, connected with every church and society, through all the climes of earth, the returns in substance may be said to be, ‘ Much labour expended, much fallow ground broken up, much careful culture carried on, much good seed sown, much fair promise in the bud, but comparatively little, and, in many cases, no fruit at all reaped in the actual conversion of souls ! ’ “ This general statement could easily be verified and illustrated by copi- ous detailed extracts from the journals of missionaries and their reports to home societies from every quarter of the globe. “ What then, it may be asked, is to be done ? What inference are we legitimately to draw from such a statement ? Are we to succumb to the clamour of the secular press and the contemptuous decision of the irreligi- ous world, and sorrowfully admit that modern missions have proved a failure, and ought therefore to be abandoned ? In the solemnity of apos- tolic language, we would respond, ‘ God forbid ! 5 ‘ God’s ways ’ are happily ‘ not as our ways, nor II is thoughts as our thoughts.’ To judge of missions as the secular press and an irreligious world may already have done, is to judge of them after the model of man’s ways and the current of man’s thoughts. With God ‘ a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years in other words, time is nothing with the Eternal. The act of creation is instantaneous, whether in the world of matter or the world of spirit. But, subsequent to the creative act, all the processes of growth, development, and orderly arrangement may be slow, and often even indefinitely slow. Still, the ultimate end is not on this account the less sure, however dark, gloomy, or uncertain it may appear to short-sighted man, who is but of yesterday, and, in comparison with the Omniscient, knows nothing. “ What countless ages were occupied by the mighty processes which issued in the preparation of the crust of our globe for the comfortable reception of man ! What millenniums elapsed — fraught with catastrophe 46 and change, and notable movements of every kind and degree in the in- tellectual and moral world — before the ‘ fulness of time’ for the won- drous advent and successful mission of the Incarnate Son of God ! How many generations appeared and passed away before the materials were ready for the marvellous outbreak of the Lutheran Reformation and its far-reaching influences to the ends of the earth ! “ So now as respects the work of missions. With reference to the next grand dispensation of Jehovah’s providence, it is altogether of an initial and preparatory kind. Hitherto it has only been our spring season, with its endless processes of draining and trenching, and culture and sowing, its incipient buddings often blighted by the frost, and its abundant broadcast seed lying buried and invisible in the bowels of the earth. As yet we have not approached the exhilarating glow, or dazzling beauty, or gor- geous magnificence of summer. Still less have we got within sight of the ripened fruits and waving harvests of autumn. “ But as surely as, in the ordinary providence of God, harvest will in due season reward the toils and long patience of the worldly husbandman, so surely, in God’s own appointed time, will a richer harvest than has ever yet waved over any of the climes of earth, reward the toil and long pa- tience of the spiritual husbandmen who are now buried with the varied processes of this world’s spiritual husbandry, ages, it may be, after most of them have been gathered to their fathers. “ All Christians admit, and indeed from the word of Revelation nothing can be more certain, than that the time is coming when the true saving knowledge of God in Christ shall fill the whole earth. How, then, is this grand consummation to be realised ? Solely through the universal diffu- sion of the Word of Life, brought home with power by the agency of the Spirit of God. That agency has hitherto ordinarily operated in slow, gradual, and limited ways. At times indeed, and in divers places, this ordinary method has been broken in upon by extraordinary visitations of the Spirit’s grace and power, more or less extensive as to outspreading, more or less intensive as to degree. But the prophetic Scriptures abund- antly indicate that, towards the close of the present dispensation, when the time of the latter day glory draws near, and as a fitting preparation for it, these extraordinary visitations of the Spirit will increase in number, in frequency, and extent. And this is tantamount to saying that when, through the various instrumentalities now employed, the seeds of Divine truth have been sown broadcast over the multitudes of the nations, reli- gious awakenings will become more numerous, extensive, rapid, and frequent over all the earth, until that which is now regarded as extraordi- nary, simply from its rarity or infrequency, shall become the ordinary pro- cedure preparatory to a new and more exalted spiritual economy. “ In figures and images, more graphic and bold than the uninspired mind could venture to suggest, the prophets pour out their vivid utterances on this momentous theme. “ Do we want a striking image of vast expansion with stateliness of spiri- tual growth ? Here it is. In connexion with the final spread and domin- ance of Messiah’s kingdom, when ‘all kings shall bow down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him,’ Jehovah says, ‘ There shall be a handful of corn on the top of the mountains,’ — a mere handful , let it be remarked, not an abundant supply — on rugged and barren heights, not in a fertile, well-cultured field, and yet, * the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon.’ 47 What emblems of the enhanced prolific power of gospel seed in latter days, when the merest handful, conveyed, it may be, by a sower obscure and unknown, and finding its way into previously inaccessible wilds, and tak- ing root in the cold and sterile eminences of a rampant heathenism, shall, under the sunshine and the rain of the Spirit’s vivifying influences, spring up and shoot forth, in all the might and majesty of cedars of Lebanon, that stretch out their sheltering arms into the skies, transcend the clouds, kiss the pure heavens above, and bravely scowl on the tempests of a thou- sand years ! “ Do we want striking images of swiftness of spiritual movement and change, with great numbers in singularly quickened motion 1 Here they are.- In one of his grandest visions of the latter days, the evangelical prophet bids us ‘ Behold the sons of the Gentiles with their daughters, as they hasten from afar on fast-going camels and dromedaries to the 'place of Jehovah's sanctuary .’ Yea, and as if such movement were not rapid and multitudinous enough, behold them again, numerous as the drops of rain in a cloud, darkening the sun, and swift as doves on the wing, flying to their windows ! And as if to render mistake in interpretation impossible, the prophet immediately adds — ‘A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation ; I the Lord will hasten it in his time.’ “ Do you want striking images of overflowing copiousness of spiritual in- fluences, with mighty resulting transformations 1 Here they are. Re- membering that with the inspired penmen the favourite emblem of the Spirit's gracious influences is water, in its various forms — an emblem consecrated by its employment for that end by the blessed Saviour Him- self, — do we not find the ordinary gentle descent of these heavenly influ- ences, represented by the refreshing dew upon the tender herb ? With more special reference to the times of the Messiah, do we not find their more copious outpourings signified by the rain, or reviving showers upon the pasture-grass 1 And with more special and manifest reference still to the times immediately preceding the latter-day glory, do we not read of fountains being opened in the midst of the valleys, where there were none before 1 of the parched ground being made a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water 1 yea, and of waters breaking forth in the wilderness, streams in the desert, rivers in high places, and floods on the dry ground 1 What a prodigious enlargement of supply have we here ? No longer an occasional sprinkling of dew upon the tender herb, but perennial springs and fountains breaking out in the very wilderness ! No longer occasional small rain, or even heavy showers upon the pasture-grass ; but rivers, streams, floods, for ever fertilizing the very deserts, or dry and parched grounds of earth ! And corresponding with the continued copiousness of the supply of the enriching element, will be everywhere the diffusion, the rapidity, the more than tropical luxuriance and permanence of growth. The thirsty soil will be turned into well-watered plains ; and all things will grow up with the freshness and rapidity of grass and willows by the water-courses. The barren grounds will be turned into fertile fields ; and what are now prized as fertile fields will, in those days of augmented fruitfulness, be accounted only for forests. The wilderness and the soli- tary place will be made glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose ; it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it; with the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. Instead of poor stunted withered 48 slirubs, the wan and sickly products of the desert, there is to be the cedar, with its durable strength ; the myrtle, with its refreshing fragrance ; the olive-tree, with its abundant fatness ; the fir-tree, the pine, and the box together, with their living, everlasting green 1 What inconceivable glorious enlargements and transformations have we here ! And yet, under all this splendid imagery, presenting us (if the expression may be allowed) with so magnificent a photograph of universally and permanently renovated physical nature — what have we but a glowing picture, drawn by the pencil of inspiration, of the marvellously rapid, glorious, universal, aud enduring changes to be yet effected in the intellectual and moral world, by the vastly enlarged and continuous effusions of the Spirit of grace, in ushering in the days of millennial blessedness 1 “In the view of future prospects so bright and glorious, your committee would earnestly plead for the services of a larger number of God-gifted men, and for ampler means to enable them to send them forth, ‘ bearing precious seed,’ to be spread broadcast alike over the towering mountain- tops and the low jungly plains of a still dominant heathenism, in the un- doubting faith, that, though for a time, little fruit of the highest kind may be reaped, the ultimate great world harvest is not the less sure, for ‘ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.’ And then, because the field and the work are the Lord’s, when the harvest is gathered into the heavenly garner, shall they who ‘ sowed in tears,’ but in faith, without the joy and comfort of reaping, be found to rejoice, together with those who have been privileged to reap, amid the hallelujahs of the skies ; and both together jubilant and exulting in the ascription of 1 blessing and honour, glory and power, unto Rim that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever !’ ” BALLANTYNE, ROBERTS, AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.