The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-09-17 00:00:00

THE RECTOR AND Till BISHOP.

31y dear thrittian friends, I ahould
think it wotaldloalni.ot an insult to .tand up before you,
or I of..n. any ...mouldy of professing dheipkw of our Lord
and sax lour, 1.. argo. Ito• al..tra,t duty .4 preaching the
thopel of t 'twist to the heathen. We have our
Master'. broad unchanging. v.. .nol—" Go ).e into all
the world. and preach the 11...pel to every creature."
.In 4 fort,, Ili. prof..,•in hip's, the mminand of Jesus
i• absolute Intt I tike it our meeting to night it not so
.11 with thool.i,el ur,„;in4 upon you this duty, as of
endeay.uria, 41.0 v you that the Churell Missionary
' L f .itlifal .igent for carrying out
---; of our I sd. ived lord and Matter. that
li,. andertaken, and that
•..iir with hi, al taut blessing.
.1,.11 ha. Isen already said I.y Mr,
ill, 94,131 chdova of the rhumb
-11.1.. rt. and ...athletics,
-.,11-e there it unquestionably a
to .lilvirige our great
WIII IV 3 isti•-i..n.,ry or rather
a spirit nil 'hon.!. 16,...,1. vocountgod and fostered—
for who'l, wo thank I •01—there it unquestionably a
u. di.parage ,orietiet in which we
have read,
with .icet. • ,rrovv and r•• •:. rir•ular which has been
our own othieet of Diocesan
nsirds of Ali.sions. I . that n tir.t reading it. I
was vety inuch at it 1,.••• t • melerstand what it really
toesot. Thms is one I ellen read to you,
I ..o.do-+ it aw 1,1 toy mind feelings which
partake., even of the veil -L.-4 anxiety. It is to this
effect:—
"1 • Ant,' ."

i.:".•iety is 3 I
till, the 13-t Moan..
Nhol. 3.131. t.• I t..rthr
I ;...I h
I. fully
in reznpl
S..i•inty
In thc•iii pre..innt I lay, 1.,
iliqiniltinn iii sn.sin• .011

wish t ire...us 11 my clergy t, keep both
...ae find all other legitiroat I chiennels open in the
Parishes fic to gr,stt old •i ..3 1 that nut no much by
V e ournt ,•f anta.t.u.st r 'eyelets. s ea be soaring
abort aoeieWar--11-..ese t. • Hector reocegeh were
in italic., and avert the path sod mem. at the whole
.oes sond trivirel—" and I, i he it a iiners with
the fullest liberty of directing their gifts as they will—to
el. ..rage the general 01,j,,t f the Fun.ign missions of
the Church of England." —Aio fir an I can understand the
!nesuing 0 those words% irs .cine t sho (hi, —Whereas It
*mile he cry de epotic in lergyinan to have such •
direct partiality for any cal tr as not t,. afford to his
pariabioners equalconvenientes for sup all others,
and where. on the other hard it would not sem to
havedistinctive organisations for all those varioussociteiee
In the same pariah, for that tvrottl be to encourage &atm
enistic societboi,—therefore the noel adverble and better
•oaurse fa Ii- .'t there shouil he no organisations for
diAinetiv a ani.sionary societ.. hut that all our funds
should he roll, yds' simply for Church Minions, and then
be trannuitted to Diocesan 13 anis of Missions under the
presidency of the Bishop, who will take heed to the
equitable distribut'oe of the money. And this, ObOOTVO.
a. Is Stated in this address, on the broad priociple, unless
thereat* sense special directions to the contrary—that me
half shall on to the Church Mirgionary Society, and the
other half t a the Society forth.. Propagation of the GospeL
Now, to begin with, that ...old hardly be • fair distnhu-
tion of the funds, beca.uae if any person would take the
trouble to compare the rep,rts of the Church Mimi
Society, and the Society for the Propagation of the Go=
it will be seen the actual amounts contributed toward,
these two societies or.' by no means such as to justify
this equal division of funda. It does seem to me rather
inconsistett that woe,, exhorted to' soar above Kis-
aionary Soeietiee," to take part in the conatruction of
Dammam Boards of Missions, which, as far sal can under-
stand, is only another name for a new society butt take
exception to the whole movement, on the ground that 1
believe it is built upon a fat.... rotten, anal pernicious
founibition—natuely, that the Church of Ragland is so
large a home that there iP in •au for all echools and degrees
of thooeht—for the extrema ritualist, for the open
rationalist, and the true evangelical—to dwell together,
all uniting within her spacious chambers. It is • fact, no
doubt that upon the broad Pierrette of the Church of
England, we find standing side by side ritualists, rations-
tha evangelical.; but I take it this was not a
foreseen state of things—that state of things was neither
foreseen nor inteaded by the founders of our Protestant
! church, it formed no part of the gnrw. of our
! Reformers. I Like it that instead of t6t being •
beautiful feature of the original Mem of the architect,
of our Church, at is • sad sinking and settlement of the
foundation, occasioning • very unsightly crack in th,,,
walls of our Zion, which we should like to cover with the
mantle of charity, but which occasions very grave
thoughts anti anxiWas indeed as to the stability oy
whole building. And with these feelings and convictions
for one have no wish to POO this stem of things repro.
duced in our beautiful thriving and blessed native
ehurchei throughout heathen lands Is that what we
me gaming at—that in Tinnevelly, North-We. America,
and in the various wiasion fields, there shall grow up gide,
by side evangelical, rationalist, and ritualistic church. lls that what we are aiming ot?qW01 far from it. If to
soar above nessionaay societies means—we will soar above
the littleness of our own denominationalism and rejoice
la the work of faithful tam, whether they he members
' of the Church Itirsionary Society, the Wesleyan Mi.
Society, or the London Missionary Society. or say
0(10,..., great Ideas.' Evangelical and Prottstsnt +octet's,
—if that le to "sour chase societies," to say from our
hearts—" Grace, mercy, and peace he with all them that love our lordl Jeans Carist in sincerity"—why ! then, we will soar. And if to soar above societies be to say, "No
matter how beautiful the orgentwition of • society, no
matter how ...elf the list of its patrons, no matter bow
! much in acrordanne with the Matelu o.f our .*..urch I snd its Constitution—if it doe, not &ford a
us the tronge-si
guarantee that Christ. and Christ eruedied, shall alone be
! preached by its miasiinaries—why. than. We will have ! nothing to do with it. If that be to roar why. then, in the name of GA, we will soar. But if to soar above societies means this—that we will, to please, lawn, and
Ijtook down one jot or oua tittle of our fidelity to the
00, gloriou% and blamed principles of the Church Ilia-
! emery Society—we say "Nor we will not scar! We
will walk in the old paths. we stand lay the old princililes.
awl. G!.l helping us, wo will be faithful even unto death,
Oh !Christi. friend., the longer I live the more 1 feel
the solemnity of the work in which we are engaged. What do we believe! Is our Goapsl al:Lepel of reality, or
a 0 aspel of uureality I D., we believe that man is lost,
euilty, perishing, end undone., and with • lost 'tend_ ty before him, and to save, rescue, and raise him from 1.11
to heaven, the Eternal Son of Gel took our nature. lived
a life of poverty, self-denial, and shame upon this
and that He arm, were stretilearl out on Calve:*
that Ha died • death of some, and was laid in the mew
that He roes main from the dead a mighty Conmerees end
ascended up on high leading captivity captives HA OM It. will come again in glorious majesty sad a trembling rues to stand before His judgment elniltrtgli
do we believe that to come to Him, to know Him. tr....H1
Him, to love Him, to grasp Rim hand, to touch the
His garment—to look up into His blessed face—thaTillid
alone is life eternal I And if we believe this, me*,
seriously believe it--oontemplating the heathen eel=
in iirLlOralle, of this Saviour whom to know is life •
oh, my dear Christian friends, canes lindltime, or
or inclination, or anything else, but lust to live tie
make that Saviour known? Can we do ought else
weer., and hmel. and May, and then rise up straightway
under the power of mighty conetraining f ear and love, and
to to our sinful perishing brother, for whom Christ died,
And beseech bins to escape, while escape yet is possible
from the mends& of lost eternity, the awful doom of the
!old Noel Oh! Christian friend., you and I profess, do
we not supernatural beliefs. We profess we believe in a
:leaven that is worth the winning, in • hell which paralysis
every niaacls to think and dwell upon. Let our super.
natural beliefs show their reality sad manilas& *Mr
Reim in sapaastazal Unas in conapaaiad as,

T. .1., 7 ^

.d I. in tbs owes of C 1144 andAtto roaming at
I Vermilion! mankind. I commend tlis work on again to
Ironr,"Pragero, to your interest, and to your solemn and
deep =thoughts. and then God grant that his abun-
dant may rest upon this our missionary annirar-
'arr.
. l'he Doxology was sung, and • collection was made at
the doors.