commenced, the objection naturally arose, why form a society for establishing schools in Newfoundland, when the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel employ THIRTEEN schoolmasters on the island. The answer was, that, with the exception of a school, established when Lord Gambier was Governor, and one or two Sunday Schools, there was no school for the education of poor children in connexion with the established church throughout the island; but that the principal religious instruction, both for children and adults, was really afforded by the Methodists, without whose exertions the greater part of the islanders would have become Roman Catholics, as was in great measure the case with the inhabitants of St. Mary's Bay, &c. and that at Placentia a church, originally built by the Missionaries, was then occupied by the Wesleyan Methodists, who regularly performed divine service according to the Liturgy.

The last two publications at the head of this article are of a very opposite nature, the one inculcating the careful consideration of worldly prudence, and the adoption of human means and contrivances, by which the progress of Christianity may be advanced; and the other approximating to their ideas, who consider that faith in the Divine Providence may justify a very considerable neglect of worldly prudence. The truth here, as in most cases, lies between the parties, but the Hints of Mr. Douglas deserve very serious and attentive consideration by all the friends of missions, though they contain some positions which we are not prepared fully to

concede.

Mr. Vaughan's production must occupy our attention somewhat longer. He commences his letter by stating,

At our last anniversary I was led to express some doubts with which my mind had been assailed with respect to the propriety of the Missionary enter

prize, in that form especially, in which the various modern Societies, and the Church Missionary Society amongst the rest, is pursuing it. These doubts have remained with me, and have been present to my mind at intervals for some months; and as the time of our anniversary and of my own annual sermons draws near, I have felt myself strongly called upon to strive in God for their solution.-Vaughan, P. 3.

Most persons occupying so prominent a situation as Mr. Vaughan, and having committed themselves so far as to appear as preachers of the Church Missionary Society's annual sermon, would have hesitated before they brought forward, at a public anniversary, the doubts with which their minds had been assailed. They would have striven in God, or conferred with men, or used other means, to arrive at a clear determination before they had endangered the harmony and the edification of a public meeting, It is a grand deviation from practical wisdom, to speak first and think afterwards.

Mr. Vaughan's first doubt was as to the lawfulness of the Missionary appointment. Having persuaded himself that, Matt. xxviii, 19, 20, and Mark xvi. 15, 16. were to be confined to "a peculiar order, 'Jesus's elect witnesses,' which has now ceased, the Apostles having no successors, he was unable to find any precedent for Missionaries.” By the help, however, of 2 Cor.

viii. 23. he has discovered that Missionaries may be sent forth as the messengers of the churches, and that, in the vision of Ezek. i. and Rev. iv. the Apostle is as the lion, the Prophet is as the eagle, the Evangelist (Missionary) as the man, having bowels of mercies; the Pastor, as the ox that treadeth out the corn. He thence concludes,

I do therefore recognize in every distinct church authority to send out by the hand of its Rulers a Messenger, or any number of Messengers, whom they deem fitted for the work; and I shall not question the right of the Church Mis

sionary Society to send out such Messengers, on the assumption of their being episcopally ordained, and that by Bishops of the church: of whose members alone it professes to be constituted. You perceive, my latitude does not extend to the employing of Lutheran, or any other than Church of England Ministers: and I should certainly hesitate to accede to the appointment of a Missionary ordained by any other BISHOPS than our own. You perceive also, that I make the community responsible for the fitness-that is, for the God-call and competency-of their delegates. These things premised and supposed, I give you leave to send, &c. -Vaughan, Pp. 5, 6.

This is sad trifling. It may be fairly disputed, whether the Church of England has ever yet, by the hand of its rulers, sent out a single Missionary. The legislature has entrusted certain persons with the power of ordaining others for colonial service; but when so ordained, they are not sent forth by the church, but by the piety of individual members uniting in the societies for promoting Christian Knowledge, or propagating the gospel, or sending Missions to Africa and the East, &c. The church, as an established and recognized body, does nothing; and in this respect all the Missionary Societies which send out clergymen, stand on equal ground. As members of the church of England, regarding her whole constitution as more scriptural and beneficial than that of other churches, we should certainly desire, that all the Missionaries sent forth by the Church Missionary Society were regularly ordained ministers of the establishment; but we can never feel ourselves justified in withholding our assistance from those who are going forth in the name of Christ, even though they follow not with us. If churchmen can be obtained we would send churchmen; but if not we would send Lutherans, or Moravians, or Dissenters, or Methodists, rather than incur the fearful guilt of withholding from perishing sinners the

gospel of salvation, while we have the means of sending it.

Mr. Vaughan next adverts to the expediency of the enterprize. We are not sure that we clearly understand his meaning; but as far as we can comprehend his statements, he is of opinion, that the usefulness of Missionaries will chiefly arise from their becoming translators and circulators of the Bible. We ap

prehend the permanent utility of Missionaries, under the divine blessing, especially rests upon this; we conceive their present usefulness must arise from preaching Christ crucified, and instructing the rising generation.

Missionary exertions, properly so called, are a link in the chain of instrumentality by which God does, as it were, send forth his Baptist to announce Messiah's second coming. And, as though he would not leave the work to mere Evangelists, he has sent his Apostles out afresh in the book of their testimony. It is to that witness, I confess, that I look more than all the rest; infinitely above all the rest combined but to the being and efficacy of that instrument I perceive that Missionary efforts, properly so called, are necessary. I should expect that God would make them soand the fact turns out so. Missionaries have been diverted from their direct, ordered and designed course to become the translators, printers and publishers of the Bible. That which would not otherwise (I speak humanly) have been; or, if in being, would not come into hands, would not be studied, and would not be understood; is, through their instrumentality, had, known and read of all men; and is made to be to them for a witness in the place of miracles, a standard of appeal by which to confirm their assertions, a supervisor, corrector, substitute and superseder. Education, Missions, Bibles, human writings, have all their place in the one great work of publishing God's name, Jesus, to the ends of the earth. Nor do I see how any one of these instruments can properly be spared.-Vaughan, Pp. 8, 9.

Mr. Vaughan next adverts to the conduct of Missionary institutions, condemning those appeals to the passions by which rude boys have felt themselves inclined to leave

their shop boards, without knowing what they had to say, and to do, and adding, that

It cannot surely be difficult to ascertain whether an individual, subjected to public and to private examination, gives a probable account, when he says God impelled him to desire that he might preach his Son among the heathen.Vaughan, Pp. 9, 10.

These remarks evince considerable ignorance, both of the human heart, and of the conduct of the Church Missionary Committee.

Men of any experience know that it is a MOST DIFFICULT matter to decide who is a true Christian, and who shall therefore be accepted. No man can have attended the Church Missionary Committee of correspondence, when those who offer their services are examined, but he must have felt this. Ignorance and selfconceit may lead a candidate to say, God has impelled him to desire, that he might preach his Son among the heathen; but Christian humility, and right feelings of the importance and difficulty of the work to which he aspires, will lead the real Missionary to adopt very different language.

That the Church Missionary Committee have not proceeded without due caution, appears from the statement of their report.

: The offers of service, during the past year, have been more numerous than during the year preceding: 60 persons have expressed their readiness to labour in the work of the Society. Of this number the services of 16 have been accepted; those of 29 have been declined; and the cases of the remaining 15 are under consideration.Miss.Rep. P. 35.

No offer of service is attended to without consulting the most prudent and pious ministers and religious friends, with whom the individual is connected, without repeated private conversations, and a careful public examination; and when such inquiries prove satisfactory, the individual is only then received on the express condition that he is to be regarded as a candidate on

probation for six months, and under the liability of being rejected at the end of that period.

The following passage, with very trifling modification, is deserving of general attention:

It may be very fit that after such a scrutiny the offerer be placed under some kind of tuition. He may still have much to learn, not only with respect to languages and foreign modes and habits, but also with respect to the truth of God, as set forth in the Bible: which, though it be clearly and distinctly set forth there, is for the most part gradually, and even slowly, brought into and digested in the soul. Believing him to be fitly stored with the information which is necessary to his office, and to his peculiar destination; and I congratulate you, my dear Sir, upon having now obtained the means of furnishing him, so far as outward preparation is concerned, with much useful material, in your new seminary-and having now for some time had the opportunity of noticing his habits and cast of mind, and of instructing him fully in the design and expectation of a Missionary Society; the senders recognized visible source, (if he have not must procure authority for him from the that authority already;) and thenWhy, then they have nothing more to do, but furnish him with the necessary outfit, pay his passage, bid him God speed, secure a kind reception for him on the further shore, and maintain an affectionate correspondence with him; to guarantee, if it be possible, his food and raiment on the one hand, and regular communications of his proceedings and of God's dealings with him in his Mission, on the other. Watchful, so far as we may be allowed to be, that he perish not; warm and kind and constant in our desires for him; (and will not these breathe themselves in prayers?) we must not seek to hamper and control his daily journeyings, or his daily tarryings; whom he shall speak to, or how he shall speak: he is no longer a child, but a man; we leave him with his God he knows our mind; if good, God will lead him to observe it. not a great part of the wisdom of such a Society consist in knowing where its control ought to cease? Send none whom you cannot trust, but trust whom you send. Your one direction is, 'do the work of an Evangelist all the ways you can preach God.'-Vaughan, Pp. 10, 11.

Will

Mr, Vaughan then observes,

My attention was next directed to the issue which is to be expected. What do I mean when I send out a Missionary? I mean to do what I believe to be the will of God, in sending one out to testify of him according to the truth word amongst the heathen. Then my main concern is not with the result as it respects men-it is not this man or that man saved, much less is it nations saved by wholesale (Paul did not effect this) which I am looking for; but that those to whom he goes shall surely know that they have had a Prophet amongst them. In other words, it is the fidelity of the witness that I must be anxious for; not what is commonly called the success of his message. Men usually mean by success, how many souls has he saved? A very ambiguous question; which only the great day can certainly disclose, and which we are by authority put off from attempting to resolve. No. We have a surer and a more worthy success to aim at if we have declared God according to truth by our Missionary, God has a glory in that place above other places, we are unto Him a sweet savour of Christ both in them that are saved and in them that perish. Now, if I be really seeking any other object than God's glory, in his own way, and according to his own will; and expecting any other result than that which He who is grace in mercy and mercy in grace shall be pleased to effect, He being the only operator of it; not only shall I assuredly be disappointed, but I am pursuing an unlawful object: I sin in my mercy. For God is, and is to be, paramount and alone; He will not let man sit by his side; He will not let the desire of promoting salvation-much less the desire of promoting civilization and the amelioration of moral and political society-be joined with his glory; but I must go, and send, alone for God, and just as he shall will; whether that will be a super-induced salvation, or a destruction already present sealed.Vaughan, Pp. 11, 12.

There is a kind of stoical indifference in this style of writing, which savours more of the spirit of the world, than the spirit which was in Christ Jesus. An harshness;an utter absence of affection and compassion--the very reverse of his spirit who wept over Jerusalem. St. Paul desired to visit

the Romans that he might have some fruit among them also, and he encourages Timothy in the expectation of saving himself and them that heard him. An Evangelist therefore may well look for fruit-may well mourn over the want of success-ought never to be satisfied, if he sees no result of his labours-ought incessantly to wrestle in prayer to God to render his word successful, and they who send out Evangelists or Missionaries, while they should ever remember, there is a praying time, and a waiting time--that the husbandman hath long patience, must at the same time look and long and pray for success. In fact we only know that God is glorified when his word is successful--that success is the present promotion of God's glory. How God will be glorified in the perdition of ungodly men is a fearful subject of contemplation, a matter of faith which we do not yet fully understand; and there is something wrong in us when we can dwell on such a subject without very painful feelings. God may see fit to disappoint our expectations of usefulness, but if we cease to feel that disappointment as a severe trial, whether as Ministers, Missionaries, private Christians, or members of religious societies, we may fairly conclude that there is somewhat wrong in ourselves. It is only the slothful servant who is satisfied when his talent is wholly unproductive.

Mr. Vaughan next intimates a suspicion that the Secretary and leading members of the Society, "are enemies to the free, sovereign, distinguishing, eternal and everlasting grace of God in Christ Jesus;" and this he infers from the last Anniversary Sermon, the last instructions of the Committee, the last address by a clerical member, the Secretary's own address, and the Principal's speech at the opening of the College at Islington.

What answer Mess. Sumner, Bickersteth, Webster, and Pearson, will make to this charge, we know not: it appears to us wholly groundless. In preaching the Anniversary Sermon, in delivering instructions and addresses to Missionaries, and in opening the Missionary College, the different speakers were not so much called to describe the nature of the gospel, as to address persons of whom they had strong grounds to conclude that they were already acquainted with its doctrines, had experienced its power, and were desirous of extending its influence. On some of these occasions the temporal concerns and the literary pursuits of the persons addressed, necessarily occupied the greater part of the time allowed; yet surely such passages as the following imply at once an acquaintance with, and a strong attachment to, the gospel of grace.

Hear the Rev. Mr. Sumner.

It is the argument by which St. John enforces brotherly love: Brethren, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. It is the argument by which St. Paul exhorts us to the service of Christ, that they who were dead, and live through Him, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them. All these passages come to the same point, and imply the same duty-FREELY YE HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE. And it is an argument, which ought to strike closely home to every Christian soul. You have enjoyed the testimony of the love of God: you have been offered the covenant of everlasting life: you have not been appointed unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, by the peculiar, unsought, unmerited favour of God toward you.-Sermon, P. 4.

Now, the fact seems often to be overlooked, but can never be openly denied, that the importance of the Gospel to Heathen Nations now, is the same as its importance to those who were Heathens in the Apostolical Age. Paganism may vary in the objects of its errors or its superstitions, but it must always be essentially the same-the same in nature and in character. Ignorance of the true God, ignorance of His holy attributes, ignorance of His heavenly kingdom,

ignorance of the way of access to Him

are evils which admit of no modification; and did not oppress more heavily the nations which the Apostles were commissioned to enlighten, than they oppress the nations which are in darkness at this day.-Sermon, P. 6.

No! These are not changed. Eternity is still a profound abyss, which our imagination cannot fathom. The soul is still imperishable; and God is still the same; and Christ is still the same-the way, and the truth, and the life, by whom alone man has access to the Father. Sermon, Pp. 12, 13.

Oh reflect, my Brethren, how guilty this indifference must needs appear in the sight of the Son of God! He did not think it much to leave the bosom of the Father, with whom He was before all worlds: He did not think it much to take upon Him the infirmities and sufferings of man: He did not think it much to feel the exquisite sense of sin though without its guilt, and to undergo its direst penalty. Sermon, P. 22.

So also Mr. Bickersteth.

Abundantly adequate are the motives for every sacrifice-abundantly sufficient is the strength for every labour. We know that there is an infinite fulness in Christ our Head, for all our wants. We know that His grace is sufficient. We know that HIS Holy Spirit can work in us mightily, to will and to do of His good pleasure. The love of Christ, we trust, constrains you to go forth; and that love will sweeten every toil, and make you welcome every sacrifice. The Spirit of Christ strengthens and sustains you; and by that Spirit, out of weakness you shall be made strong, and be upheld, and established, and strengthened, even to the end. Fear not-only believe. He has promised, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.-Mission. Rep. P.211.

Remember, in the first place, that you profess to be CHRISTIANS; and are called, by that profession, to live to the glory of Christ, to magnify Him, to suffer, and if need be, to die for Him. You have felt that He is worthy, forwhom you should do this. He bought you with His most precious blood. He restored your souls. He sought you, when wandering far from Him; and led you in the right path. Your present, your highest joy, is communion with your risen Lord. He still intercedes for you. He upholds you in His ways; and will surely bring