against the indolence that has hitherto characterised us, and inviting our Christian zeal and interest, shall we say we will refuse to accept the invitation? Pecuniary contributions are referred to. I would say to the meeting, none need be afraid that on that subject I shall go into any thing to interfere with the feelings excited this day. But while we have acknowledged our obligations to further personal devotedness, we have at the same time acknowledged our obligations to further pecuniary contributions. Where is the evidence of personal devotedness if pecuniary contributions are withheld? We ask the man who is so devoted what he purposes to do? This Society has undertaken to raise 100,000l. per annum. How is this to be done? The way to raise a steady annual contribution is to follow out such a resolution, wherever it can possibly be done, by an immediate doubling of our stated contributions. I find it has been determined on in various parts of the country, and I am anxious that this great metropolis should not be the last among the thousands of Israel. The Rev. Dr. Ross, of Kidderminster, in seconding the resolution, said-This is a glorious day; these are delightful scenes; the sounds which have reached our ears in the preceding addresses have been cheering and heart-stirring. Blessed are our eyes for what we have now seen; blessed are our ears for what we have heard. This has been a glorious day for our Lord and Master. It is in his cause we have assembled together; to contemplate his triumphs, and to cheer each other onward in this holy conflict, to the achievement of new victories. He has come amongst us in the persons of these persecuted Christians. He has shown us what he can do for them, what he can make them, how he can elevate and purify them. Now does he commit them to our care, our sympathy, and our protection. Most gladly do we receive the charge, and desire to keep it. Oh, may we be made the humble instruments of proving to them the trath of the Saviour's promises for whom they have been ready to die—the tenderness of his compassion and the greatness of his love. This is a glorious day for the church of Christ. How do such scenes as these tend to break down those petty barriers of separation which keep one party of Christians from another, and weaken their moral strength? How do we feel as if thrown back on primitive Christianity-as if brought into close contact with the first principles of divine truth-principles which cannot have full play in our bosoms without warming our hearts, enuobling our sentiments, and purifying our zeal. Look at their countenances, call to your recollection their simple tale, and oh, do you not feel as if amidst those scenes of warfare and of strife that prevail too much amongst us, you could at once and for ever cast away the weapons of contention, and pour the oil of peace over the agitated bosom of our Christian communities? This is a glorious day for the Missionary Society. Come forward and contemplate this as the result of those operations, which were commenced amidst many fears, and have been conducted in the exercise of humble faith; but operations to which, year after year, God has given the testimony of his approbation. These are men and women that were once ignorant; they are now instructed. They once had gods made by the hands of men, before which they bowed their knee, and to which they offered up their homage; now they acknowledge no God but the threeone Jehovah, they bow before the sceptre of the King of heaven, and have the honour of being called Christians. They have been driven from home: they have come to us. They have come to us in the name of Christ -in the name of Christ we receive them. They have come to bless England. From this meeting there will go forth a power and influence, that will tell upon every Christian in these British isles. And we will carry them back by means of our prayers. We will send them back richly stored with spiritual wealth, that they may be the means of enriching and blessing those who have driven them from home. We talk confidently on this point. True, the Queen of Madagascar sways the sceptre of that island; she has forbidden the spread of Christianity; but as well may she command the sun not to shine, the tempest not to roar as well may she plant her throne on the sandy beach and forbid the approach of the advancing tide. The seed has been cast into the earth, and God will pour out his blessing till it grows up a mighty tree and the various tribes of earth take shelter beneath its branches. Multitudes in Madagascar are in a state of persecution and slavery. We have been the unintentional cause of it, and yet we might have expected that something of this kind would have sprung out of our efforts. Others are exiled, and some have been destroyed. What then are we to do? Shall we abandon them? Shall we do nothing in order that we may participate in those triumphs which the Cross, we are assured, will yet gain there? If we spurn the thought, what must we do? What the resolution pledges us to do-we must devote ourselves with increased activity -we must give our pecuniary contributions in order that the new exigencies which have occurred may be met, and that the work which we have been the means of originating may be carried on. We have been doing something, but how little compared with what is demanded from us! We have been giving our penny or our pound. Look at these refugees; what have they given to the cause of Christ? The wife hath given her husband. These children have given their parents. Mothers have given up their sisters. They have abandoned their country; they have left the scenes of their youth; they have stood over their own graves; they have even given up their liberty, and all for the sake of Christ. We have been talking of the sufferings of these Christians, do not let us forget the sufferings of their Master. O thou exalted Immanuel, let us never forget the travail of thy soul! We, depending on thy grace, will put forth new efforts; and labour, and pray, and deny ourselves, until upon thy head shall flourish the crown of universal empire, and at thy feet shall lie a subdued and ransomed world. The resolution was put and agreed to. The Rev. J. J. FREEMAN then addressed the following questions to Rásóamáka : : Your country is now the land of martyrdom; there is the blood of the saints; there are many suffering for the sake of Christ; but will the Gospel spread? There are sufferings, there are tribulations, in Madagascar; but the Christians there are confiding in God. God is stirring up their spirit, and I do not fear that the Gospel will spread in that country. Can your Queen overthrow the Gospelcan she overthrow the kingdom of the Saviour in Madagascar? No; our Queen can do no more than she is permitted of God to do. With Him rests the supreme power; she cannot hinder the progress of the Gospel. Do you believe, from your own knowledge, that there are many in Madagascar who, amidst all tribulations, are yet persevering? Yes, there are now to the full 170 with whom we have been in the habit of visiting and conversation, and who are, amidst all tribulations, in the strength of God, desir ous of persevering. Andríanómanana was asked by Mr. Free man whether he had a single word to say to the friends of Missions before him, to which he replied, "I wish, first of all, to offer thanks to God for the compassion he has shown to us, that in his mercy he put it into your hearts to send the Missionaries to us to make known the way of salvation. I feel that in addressing you I am speaking to those who have felt the love of Christ in their hearts, and while I thank you as being the means of having sent to us the message of salvation, I have one thing on behalf of myself and friends to ask of you, which is, that in your prayers to God you will remember our country; that you will plead with God for that dark land, that God may permit us to return there in due time, and to be the means of making known to our countrymen the way of salvation. Our lives are in the palm of the hand of the Almighty; we are safe under his protection, but we ask the prayers of the Christians of this land, that God may in due time restore us to that land to be a blessing there, and in return for your prayers for us, we will con tinue in prayer for you, that the Holy Spirit may enable you to persevere to the end." A hymn was then sung, and the Rev. Henry Townley concluded by prayer, one of the most interesting services in which the friends of Missions have ever had the happiness to engage. The Collection amounted to the sum of 1201. 38. 2d., which, according to the present scale of contributions in aid of the Missionary cause, and considering the efforts so recently made in connexion with the anniversary services of the Society, cannot but be regarded as affording a strong proof of the sterling character of the interest mani fested on this occasion. PROPOSAL FOR SPECIAL PRAYER ON BEHALF OF MADAGASCAR. THE Directors of the Society, tenderly sympathising with their suffering brethren, the Christians in Madagascar, and deeply commiserating the awful condition of their persecutors, passed, at their meeting at the Mission House, June 10, 1839, the following Resolution : "That it be recommended to the friends of the Society to hold a special season for Prayer, on behalf of Madagascar, on the Third Monday in July, the Fifteenth day of the month, and that the members of the Society in particular, and the churches of Christ generally, be respectfully urged to observe such season, by appropriate religious services." In thus inviting the churches to consecrate, in this hour of deep distress and peculiar urgency, a particular season to special and united prayer, the Directors feel assured of their cordial concurrence. Leaving it to their numerous friends to make such arrangements in their respective localities as to their judgment may appear most suitable, they respectfully suggest the desirableness, wherever it is practicable, of one meeting early in the morning, and another in the evening of the day for public or social prayer; and they trust also, that in the intercessions of the family and of the closet, the social and spiritual interests of Madagascar will have an important place. May the Spirit of grace and of supplications be poured upon the churches, and may the power of prayer prevail with God! APPEAL ON BEHALF OF ORPHAN CHILDREN AT RAROTONGA. THE Directors have been grieved to learn, by a communication from Mr. Buzacott, that, owing to the great mortality last year among the people of this island, more than two hundred children have been reduced to a state of the most helpless and pitiable orphanage. The extreme necessity, however, under which these parentless children suffer at the present time, consists not in a want of food but clothing, of which, it is stated, they are utterly destitute. This fact, so painful in itself, is rendered still more distressing by one of the effects it has produced, namely, the necessary detention of the children from the house of God, involving the loss of that religious instruction which must be regarded as far more necessary to their minds than even clothing to their bodies. Mr. Buzacott intimates his conviction, that friends in England need only to be informed of the circumstance, and that many would readily part with old garments, of little or no use to themselves, capable of being converted into dresses for the destitute orphans of Rarotonga. The Directors, therefore, make public this affecting case, in the strong hope of the desired result being realised; and as the vessel with the annual shipments to the South Seas is now on the eve of departure, it would be most necessary that friends who may form the kind intention of presenting articles of dress for the above purpose, should send them to the Mission House, Blomfield-street, on or before the 15th of this month, and not later than the 20th. MISSIONARY CONTRIBUTIONS, From the 1st March to 6th April, 1839, inclusive-(continued.) |