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That this meeting regards with peculiar gratification and thankfulness the preliminary measures adopted by the Government of India for discontinuing the support heretofore given to the temple and worship of the idol of Juggernaut, in the province of Orissa; and also the intended enactment of a law relieving the natives of India from the forfeiture of property on renouncing idolatry and embracing the Christian faith ;-the former measure so necessary for the consistency and honour of a Christian nation; the latter so consonant with the principles of social justice and religious freedom.

I have no need to dwell on this resolution, because the audience have already responded to it. You saw, Sir, the air of dissatisfaction when we heard the advantage taken by the natives of the patronage afforded by the Government in favour of that monstrous idol; and you saw that air of dissatisfaction exchanged for a burst of grateful exultation when it was announced to us that the disgraceful impost was upon the point of being abolished-that obstacle removed from the progress of the Gospel in India, and that disgrace wiped off, too, from a Christian country. (Cheers.) We are, some of us, the old friends of the Society, its warm friends, and its friends for life. (Cheers.) Of course, we are no longer able to advocate this cause in public, as we have been wont to do: the defect, however, lies not in our will, but only in our physical energy. (Cheers) The times in which we live are pregnant with deep interest to every thoughtful Christian mind, and call loudly for the redoubling of our exertions on behalf of the Missionary cause. Wherever we look, we see agitation going forward, and changes taking place. Systems of government, and systems of religion, that have been recognized for ages, are now becoming disorganized, never to be put again on their former footing, unless you can suppose that the world will go back. (Hear, hear.) We know the meaning of this mighty moral earthquake the shaking of things out of their places -this earthquake greater for extent and continuance than any that has yet been since man has been on the earth, so mighty and so great -we know what this commotion portends; for we have heard a wise saying, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is." "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come." "Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." And this word, "Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of those things that are made"-made by man-that the things which cannot be shaken, the kingdom that cannot be moved, may be introduced and remain. (Cheers.) Not only we, but men of every caste and of every clime, are impressed by the unusual aspect of the world, with a deep and undefined sentiment that we are hastening on to some great crisis-that a new era is coming on the earth. What is that but the new creation of the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ? If I were to preach as many years longer as I have already done, it should be upon the theme suggested by the dear and honoured friend who preceded me. I would only preach more of Christ; my preaching should always point to Him, and Him alone should it magnify. There would I lay my honour, my praise, around his beloved name. Let earth and heaven ring with songs of thanksgiving to Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and

has made us kings and priests to God and to the Father. To Him be glory; and let every creature say, Amen and Amen. (Cheers.)

The Hon. and Rev. B. W. NOEL seconded the resolution in a devout speech, which we must omit, to make way for the excellent address of

The Rev. W. CLARKSON, (Missionary from India,) who, in supporting the resolution, said: It glances at two things-the preliminary measures on the part of the Government for discontinuing the support hitherto given to the temple and worship of Juggernaut, and also the relieving of the natives of India from the forfeiture of property on renouncing idolatry and embracing the Christian faith. Annually, from the treasury of the British magistrates in India, 23,000 rupees go out for the support of this idol, which is every year the occasion of the death of at least from 10,000 to 20,000 of our fellowmen. Annually, for the last 600 years, ever since that temple lifted up its fire towards heaven, as if to draw down vengeance on the land, there have been, on an average, from 100,000 to 150,000 worshippers; and one-tenth of that number is computed to have died by the way to it, or on the road from the pilgrimage. No wonder, then, that we are called to raise our Ebenezer this day, and say, "Thus far the Lord has helped us on." (Cheers.) And this has been done-I say it advisedly-by the instrumentality of the Churches of God in India and in Great Britain. The Baptist Missionaries, year by year, have sent forth their manly protest in our Indian periodicals, and lifted up their voices and cried against this mighty abomination. Therefore we have to learn our own powers, under God, in subduing every form of evil. Look again at the latter part-that is, the withdrawal of the law-I may say, the law against Christianity-the refusal on the part of Government to sustain the civil and religious rights of the converts to Christianity. trace for a while the history of that law. instructive. The native Government of India, or as we call it in India, the Bengal Government, with an enlightened policy, with large Christian sentiment, propounded the law that converts should have their rights. That law was appended as a clause to a more voluminous law, called the lex loci. The clause gave offence to the vast Indian communities. They held their Exeter Hall meetings in Madras and Calcutta. They protested against it, and signed, by thousands, petitions to Leadenhall-street, and they were determined to crush this infant liberty. For a while they were successful. The lex loci published in India came to Leadenhallstreet. There was much in it objectionable on several grounds. The law securing the rights of native converts was quashed. It never saw the light of day. How did we do in India? Did we feel dismayed? No. Committees were formed; letters were sent out through the provinces to the Missionaries, asking them to send well-authenticated cases of every loss sustained by Indian converts. They drew up these cases. Committees, officers, and clergymen, with a Right Reverend Bishop at their head, sent home petitions to Government, and to the Government of Leadenhall-street, protesting against these things, and asking for relief, on one measure after another; and, at last, Leadenhall itself melted. (Cheers.) They sent, not many mails ago, a direct order to their own Indian

Just

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Government, that they should, as soon as possible, bring in a distinct law, declaratory of Indian converts' rights and liberties. So we, in this day, in 1850, erect two Ebenezers for the London and all the Missionary Societies, and all the Christians of India, which have striven as one man for the accomplishment of this purpose. And now, I ask, wherefore all this? I ask, earnestly, but humbly, wherefore all this? Wherefore has the Government of India, partly subject to British churches, wherefore have they succumbed to our wishes ? Wherefore have they sent abroad their mandate from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, proclaiming that India's converts are free, and saying to them, virtually, "If you will, you may embrace Christianity. No courts of ours shall despoil you of your property; you shall have redress." Why, but that the Church of the living God may tell them what Christianity is. Our courts are open to the Hindoos; but we want, first of all, the courts of God's house. (Cheers.) We want Missionaries. You say, we have them. I do not say so. We have them, not in anything like a proportion to the demand. If God has opened India by his mighty Providence,-if he has acted on an unprecedented scale,-if he has, for the first time in the history of nations, rendered two hundred millions of people, more or less, directly subject to the British people,-is it too much of us,-is it too much of the feeble representatives of the mass of India's humanity to say, We want something more commensurate, on your part, with the mighty operations of Divine Providence. All the wrongs of India, the bare sound of which has made Exeter Hall resound again and again, have been hushed. (Cheers.) There is scarcely a difficulty or obstacle now lying in the way which we can ask God to remove out of it. I believe God has taken away the stone that once lay at the door of the sepulchre of India's entombed sons. (Cheers.) Why? That the Church of God might say to them, Rise, and come forth full of spiritual life! God has taken away the bands and the grave-clothes that were wrapped around India. Why? That we might make them as living men in the land of spiritual life. But what is wanted! The great thing-the climax of India's history-the great exigency of her vast myriads-that is wanted. God has done all.

Man, so to speak, so far as Government is concerned, has done all; and we look to you pastors we look to you students-we look to you mothers of Israel-daughters-pillars in the temple of our God-we look to you to carry on the great design of Providence, and bid India as it is civilly free, to be free with the liberty of Jesus Christ. (Loud cheers.) So far as past time is concerned, I do not lament one obstacle with which we have to contend in India. I do not lament over one convert who has had to give up his property. I do not lament that the Missionaries have had to fight their way, year by year, upon the battle-field of India. No; we want not so much the palmy day as the stormy. We want not so much the sunshine of prosperity as the rough blast to mature the moral character; and blessed it will be, blessed in India's future history-it will be the most blessed thing in the history of India, that, at the very first inroad of Christianity, the very first steps of Christian warriors, difficulties of governments, difficulties of caste, difficulties gathered from

now.

hell beneath, and the length and breadth of the land, confronted the Missionary of the Cross,confronted the convert of Christ. India is degenerate, and we want a special process to make it come into love and liberty. India is effeminate, and we want a special process to make it manly and vigorous. India, in the masses of its mind, is false, deceitful, hypocritical. We want the real testing process, whereby we may say with full assurance and confidence, "Thou art my brother in Christ, and thou art my sister." I have had joyous times with the converts of India. I have given to them the full affection of my heart. I have loved them, not with a pastor's love merely, but as a brother-as a friend loveth, with the utmost ardour of affection. But never could I have done so, never dared I do it, unless I had seen that soul manifest its real fidelity to Christ by sacrifices such as we can scarcely contemplate. There never was a time, from the period when the Cross was first uplifted in Judea, in which the Church of Christ was so free as it is (Applause) Patronage does not court, persecution does not terrify us. We may go where we like-do what we like-we may say what we like, and our converts may do the same. We call on you to raise another Ebenezer, and to say, "Thus far again the Lord hath blessed us." It is astonishing to my mind to witness the comparative scepticism of Christian minds, the comparative want of confidence in God's Word. It is astonishing to hear the dark surmises, the gentle whisperings, and the sententious doubts expressed as to the past and the future, as far as regards our Indian Missions. The Church of God has no business to doubt at all. The Church of God has no business to bargain with its Lord. Imagine-it is to my mind most anomalous and awful-imagine the Bride, the Elect of God, the clothed with white and chastity and beauty-imagine her standing before her Lord-imagine her bargaining with him for her laurels-imagine her saying, "Thus much will I do, thus far will I go, if thou wilt give me thy blessing in a certain return of regenerate souls." The Church of God has too much of the mercantile spirit of Great Britain; the Church of God too often says, "Ready money, and quick returns." If the Church of Christ says to its Lord, "I will not go unless you give me a return; I will not sow unless you pledge the harvest; I will not expend my energy unless you show the issue that shall attend it;" the Church of God has already written upon it "The glory is departed." Our portion is thisneither more nor less than that of Milton's saints

"They also serve who only stand and wait;" as well as those

"That on angel's wings fulfil their Master's great behest."

If we seek success, that is, if we make that the sine quá non of our efforts, we shall never find success. It is when we are low, humble, at Jesus' feet,-when we say, like Isaiah who saw his glory, "Lord, here am I; send me," it is when we say, and when we fulfil the saying, that we are ready to plant on the barren sands of the Himalayans, or the black, rugged rocks of the Western Hills, that the Master will give a blessing. It is, then, in the harvest of India we shall find that the path of success is the path of willing, faithful duties owned and crowned by

God. There is a place in the South of India whence an illustration may be drawn, which will throw light upon my remarks. The husbandmen sowed the seed in that place, but for a year no rain descended; consequently, there was no harvest. The next year came; the husbandmen did but indulge in dark surmises as to future prospects. They did not watch the clouds, but sowed the seed again and again. The second year the heavens were as brass, and the earth was as iron; and so, for all the famished thousands of that district, no harvest of corn sprung up The third year came; we get our rains periodically, and again the believing husbandmen, in faith and hope, sowed the seed in that hitherto barren soil; and at length the providence of God moved for the accomplishment of his purposes. The windows of heaven were opened, and gushing torrents inundated the plains; the soil became plentifully saturated by the earlier and the latter rain, and then, to bless the eyes, and cheer the hearts of the people of those districts, not for a year, not for two years, but for three years, the harvest sprung up. And this I speak advisedly, and as a tower for nine years, I may be considered as understanding my subject. This, I say advisedly, will be the case, under God, in British India. Your labourers have sown; aye, and if they had not been labourers that need not to be ashamed, they would have given up the work long ago. They have gone to work over the length and breadth of the land, and the seed has seemed lost. It has seemed as though few blades of righteousness had or would spring up. But they have gone on sowing. Their wives have died, and have been buried in the soil of India; the children of India's Missionaries have mingled with the dust of India's soil; and the missionaries themselves lay beneath the clods of the valley there. But we will hope the seed that is sown shall spring up. Yes! for one, I say, and I do say it with confidence, I believe every sigh and every tear that has been heaved and shed for India-I believe every prayer that has ascended to God on behalf of India,-I believe that every voice of exhortation uttered to the Hindoo in India, shall rise up with acceptance, and be remembered before the throne of God; and when the mighty privileged period shall have arrived, then the windows shall be opened, and the spiritual influence shall descend, not in the scanty, stinted showers of our own northern climes, but in the full, gushing, mighty torrents of our Indian monsoons. Then shall be the harvest, not of the little, narrow field of our

English clime and land, but the wide, oceanlike, expansive plains of India's soil. (Cheers.) I will just conclude with one remark respecting India's liberty, and that you will understand as an application of all that has been said. We wanted to build a mission-house. How was it to be done? I will tell you what the natives did. One Indian convert, a Coolie, a man whose glory it was to wear a sword,-a man, the privilege of whose tribe it was to travel armed,such a man,--a Christian man of but two years' standing, came with his sword in his hand, and said: "Let that be sold for the mission-house." My remark was, "What will you do without a sword?" The answer was, "They that take the sword shall perish by the sword." The man who travels armed is always in danger, and the man that travels unarmed is the only safe man. And then came the Indian women, and upon their necks hung the silver necklaces, and on their ankles hung the silver anklets, and on their arms the silver armlets; and the women brought their nose-rings and their ear-rings, and their anklets, and cast them into the treasury of the Lord: so that amongst a poor people we collected about £5 worth of ornaments, which would correspond at least to £50 or £100 worth of our own ladies' ornaments. (Cheers.) Warriors of England!—I wish there were some here, but I do not see them-I would say to them, When will you give up your swords? (Hear, hear.) But, Ladies of England, here you are, in rich, full abundance, and we say to you, When will you give up your ornaments for the Lord's cause? (Cheers.) In Gujerat there was a castle inhabited by Portuguese people. It was besieged by Indians. The besieged were placed in such hard straits for implements of war, that the Portuguese women, while they assisted in all the martial operations going on, melted their precious plate and jewels, which they brought from Portugal,-vast dowries of plate, to sustain the siege, and defend their own people. Oh! in the mighty siege going on against the several forms of Antichrist,-oh! in the mighty battle which the sacramental host of God's elect is waging against the myriads of earth-ye daughters of Israel-ye mothers of Israel-show to your brothers, show to your fathers, show to your friends, that you will first take the lead in real consecration and self-denial, and let the ornaments be melted and cast into God's treasury for carrying on this spiritual conflict. (Loud cheers.)

The Rev. T. ADKINS, of Southampton, moved, and the Rev. DANIEL KATTERNS seconded the resolution appointing the officers.

The Union Meetings.

CONGREGATIONAL UNION.

THE Twentieth Annual Assembly of the Congregational Union was held in New Broad-street Chapel, London, on Tuesday, the 7th, and Friday, the 10th of May; Rev. Dr. MORISON in the Chair. After the devotional exercises, the Chairman delivered the following

ADDRESS.

MY DEAR AND RESPECTED BRETHREN,-I am deeply sensible of the great honour you have conferred on me, by placing me in this chair. The voluntary suf

frages of an assembly constituted as this is, may well be regarded by any of the Pastors of our Churches as an enviable distinction. I profess not to be indif

ferent to the esteem and good-will of my Brethren. Next to the endeavour to secure that "honour which cometh from God," it has been the sincere and anxious aim of my public life to deserve the confidence and affection of the Pastors and Churches of our Denomination, and to identify my own happiness with their success in the advancement of our common Christianity.

But when I call to remembrance the distinguished men who have preceded me in this post of arduous duty, some of whom have passed to a higher sphere, I seem at this moment to have lost sight of every other consideration, save that of the responsibility which must attach, at so momentous a crisis of our history, to the Chairman of your Union. I should even now shrink from the task which you have assigned me, did I not feel assured that I stand before an assembly of devout and holy men, who will extend towards me their generous sympathies, and who will ask of God that I may be aided in the wise, and faithful, and loving discharge of the sacred trust they have committed to me.

It is no small consolation to the Chairman of this Union to be enabled to assure himself that no questions can come before him tending, in the remotest degree, to infringe the independence and liberty of the Churches. We abjure all Presbyterial and Episcopal functions, in this goodly fellowship. We entertain no Congregational appeals. We settle no cases of discipline. We moderate no calls to the pastoral office. We pronounce no ecclesiastical censures. We claim no authority or right of dictation over pastors or Churches. We are, in no legitimate sense of the terms, an Ecclesiastical tribunal; and can never, therefore, be agitated by the discussion of questions which might lead to the disruption of our fraternal union.

The experience of twenty years has shown the compatibleness of effective union with the maintenance of strict and

Scriptural independence. Were it otherwise, we should tremble for the ark of Congregationalism, and should begin, for the first time, to suspect that it was at variance with the spirit and with the facts of the New Testament. But we have detected no such discrepancy. Our distinctive Church polity has been preserved inviolate, while, in these annual gatherings of pastors and delegates, we have realized the beneficial and refreshing influences connected with fraternal

intercourse, the interchange of pious sentiments, the warm greetings of Christian love, and the combined effort to do good to the souls of our fellow-men. We verily believe that, as Congregational Dissenters, we have yet to ascertain the full amount of strength and invigoration to be derived from the more perfect development of the principles and practice of Christian union.

At no period, perhaps, in the history of our Denomination, has the importance of a healthy and vigorous union among ourselves been more strikingly manifest. The times on which we have fallen are, in many respects, critical. There is a great conflict of systems and opinions. The Establishment, though placed under an act of uniformity, is torn asunder by factions prelates opposing prelates; High-churchmen contending with Lowchurchmen; Romanizers seeking to extirpate Evangelicals; and statesmen at their wits' end to know what they are to do with a formidable party which threatens to rule both Church and State with a rod of iron. We wish we could say with truth, that in this struggle we had discovered any strongly-marked development of the spiritual life-anything to raise it materially above the rank of an ecclesiastical squabble.

But it is mainly with our own voluntary Christianity that we have to do on this occasion. Everywhere pressed down and retarded by the working of the Establishment, it were well if we could feel that we had done all in our power to carry out our professed principles of doctrine and polity. Leaving other Denominations to think and speak for themselves, we ought to be deeply anxious that we may be enabled to render a satisfactory and joyful account of our own stewardship. The effectual nourishment of our own spiritual life is everything to us. A survey of the defects of other bodies of professed Christians, however just and searching, would not remedy those which exist in our own Churches; though, if we were better men ourselves, the entire religious community would benefit by our spirit and example.

But it is difficult to speak of things which require remedy among us, without putting a weapon into the hands of our enemies, which they know but too well how to use; and without subjecting ourselves, in certain quarters, to the charge of narrow-mindedness and censoriousness. But surely, dear brethren, we are

here to "speak the truth in love," and to endeavour, as far as possible, to render this annual gathering of the representatives of our Churches an instrument of real benefit to the Denomination at large.

In glancing, however, at some of the passing clouds which overcast our horizon, we would not be unmindful of the kind and gracious hand of God which has been upon us. Our history has been one of Divine interposition. Our standing is one of surpassing responsibility. The struggle of ages has wrought out our liberties. We have now secured for ourselves, by God's blessing, our proper status in the body-politic. Our Churches have been largely multiplied. Our Institutions for the training of a godly ministry are now equal, perhaps, to the wants of the Denomination, and the claims of the age. The learning of a large body of our pastors will admit of fair and honourable comparison with that of other communities by whom we are surrounded. We have, I sincerely believe, an increasing number of efficient and devoted pastors. Our general and periodical literature cannot but be respected by those who are antagonist to our polity. Our Educational and Missionary undertakings are palpable demonstrations of our patriotism and Christian philanthropy. And, if we dare not boast of the grace of God which has been bestowed upon the Congregational Churches of this land, we may say, with humility and gratitude, that God is accomplishing a great work by us, both at home and abroad; that we are taking our full share in the noble enterprise of our country's conversion; that we are making no inconsiderable progress in the inculcation of Scriptural views of the kingdom of Christ; that we are raising a breakwater against the Romanizing tendencies of the age; and that there is as goodly a development of the spiritual life among us, as can be found in any other section of the great Christian community, of which we form a part.

With such impressions as these of our position, which I believe to be substantially correct, it may appear to be somewhat ungracious, if we venture to hint at other views of the state of our Churches, which may be less favourable, and less the subject of congratulation and hope. But it were surely a proof of great feebleness and self-deception on our part, were we to linger only on the bright side of things, and refuse to look those evils

fully in the face, which are too painfully obvious to escape the observation of any who are really jealous for our reputation, and which must be put away from us, in order to the improved spiritual health and the increased prosperity of the Independent Churches of England and Wales. So long as we are satisfied with our position, we shall make no hearty or effectual movement towards a more advanced state of the Churches. We are in some danger occasionally, I think, of over-estimating our standing. I hear much and read much on this subject, in which I am unable, with the facts before me, fully to sympathize.

The principles and platform of our Churches, being, as we think, in accordance with the Word of God, cannot be too warmly espoused, nor too highly applauded; but we must never forget that we, as a people, may be far inferior to our system, while others may be greatly superior to theirs. I could wish to see our men and our literature effectually purged from every approach to the boastful spirit, which is an equal insult to the piety and good taste of the Denomination. We have, verily, too many defects among ourselves to luxuriate in selflaudation, or to deal harshly and uncharitably with other good men who may differ from us.

I know not, dear brethren, how you feel, but I am often agonized and humbled in being compelled to witness something like an unsettled and disorganized condition in certain of our Churches. Not a few of them seem to have lost the principle of coherence and steady progressive action for the consolidation of their best interests. Every little occurrence disturbs their equilibrium; they have no settled harmony, no generous cementing love; pastors flee from them, or are worried to death by them; hence they acquire no influence for good in their localities, and present rather a caricature than a correct representation of Evangelical Nonconformity. that either a lamentable want of piety, or the prevalence of the Diotrephesian spirit, is the bane of such Churches. Our hope is, that their numbers are not formidable, and that a better mind may yet be restored to them.

I fear

Nor can we watch the migratory tendency of some of our pastors without an impression of heartfelt concern. When brethren are called to higher spheres of usefulness, we recognize the hand of Him "who walks amidst the golden

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