The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-09-22 00:00:00

anntcH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

The friends of this society have had the doable pleasant
of hearing a missionary and • missionary Bishop this
week, the latter being no less than the Right Rev. liishop
Benin who enjoys the a/moot unexampled honour of
having been permitted to labour for ten years in that
unhealthy diocese which has been termed "The White
Man's Grave," namely Sierra Leone. There were sermons
preached at the parish church of St Mary's, at Christ-
church, and at St. John's church, by the parish clergy,
and by Bishop Beckleit and Mr. Mandrel!, on Sunday,
and on Monday and Tuesday missionary meetings were
held tither at the Royal Hotel, the National schools, St
Mary s, or those school at St. John's.
The meeting at St Mary's national schools was held on
Monday evening, when the Rev. T. Greens presided, and
the deputation were the Rt. Rev. Bishop Heckles, of
Sierra Leone, and the Rev. T. Maundrell, late miasionary
to Madagascar.
The meeting was commenced by singing, and prayer by
the Rev. T. A. Feltner.
The Crudities then rose to read the abstract of the
financial report. He said he could not but feel that in
this parish, they hail not done as much as they ought for
carrying on this work. He did not wish to foster any un-
holy rivalry; but he thought there was a godly rivalry,
where congregations who love the truth endeavour to
excel one another in love and good works, and they would
feel in this parish rather put to shame that the compara-
tively small parish of John's had really done in comparison
far more than St Mary's parith had done. By God's
blessing, they in St Mary's parish had been enabled to
raise funds for the erection of a new church, and therefore
the at year had been a time of testing and trial; but
In the coining year he hoped they would turn their efforts
towards increasing their contributions to the most blessed
work of Minions abroad. The amounts contributed were
Melcombe Regis, £lBl 6e. lid. (of this .C 29 lls. had, been
contributed by the Juvenile Association); St. John's,
£14411.. ; Abbotabury, So 104.; Broadway and
Bincombe, £I7 Is. •, Chickerel, 1.35. ld. (doubtless, said
Mr. Greens, now Bishop Heckles 's son is labouring at
Chickerel, the contributions thence will be increased) ;
Radipole, £1610.. 5d.; Preuton, 13 2.1; Upwey, .C 5 3a. 2.1.;
Wyke, 1.5 Is, The Chairman then called on the
miadonary,
The Rev. T. Mau:matt, to tell some of his experiences
In the Isle of Madagascar. Mr. Mandrell said he had
been Ivry pleased to listen to the report, for it showed
they had been taking an interest in the work; but he
suggested that each person who had contributed should
en • second contributor. Ile did not see why they should
not, for Weymouth had many rich visitors, and thus the
collection could be doubled or trebled. It was • great
pleasure to a missionary to COMB here and See. so marry
valuedp funicceani, efiOr..d that sympathy was
what.
tLehs.: Tonl7snr
their trials and difficulties, theyr in England :are lifting
up his arms, by their prayers and sympathy. Ile should
take them *rough his own experience which would show
that there are many both of trials and encouragements in
the minionary work. Madagascar was 1,000 miles long
and from 150 to 350 miles wide. The land on the coast is
so fiat that there is scarcely a prepay outlet for the rivers,
so that when the tides meet the ravers, the latter inundate
the country, and bring on malaria, which "knocked over"
Europeans. By taking quinine you recover for a time,
and then are " knocked over" again.. But the interior
country is higher; you craw ridge after ridge of
mountains, hoping each ridge will be the last But as the
missionary gees down into the valleys he sees a ridge
tieing up higher still. And as he goes down, the track is
often trodden into mud by the bullocks, so that hisbearers
often go through the rivers instead of the muddy track.
At last he gets one plateau something like Salisbury Plain
or the country round Weymouth without the sea and be
reaches the capital of Madagascar, with one house higher
than the rest, the house of the Queen, for no house must
be higher than that The tithe In the centre of Madagascar
are unlike the rest, many as fair as Europeans, many
with the Roman nose, straight hair, and ions faces. They
are far more intelligent than the people on the coast, and
tsars to read much more quickly. This tribe Is master
of nearly the whole island,although they had fought
o even one against the other. They fortified their
villages with an immense moat, with only one narrow
peerage, and he had stood on the plateau and seen 67
viflajee all surrounded by moats. This lighting went on
all Rada= I, a man a hundred years in advance of his
age, became King of the Horn and be was called upon
to settle a dispute between two tribes, when he claimed
their territory for his own. A third tribe said they wonld
not submit to him because he was • beardless youth, but
Madams took his army down and conquered them. At this
time the London Missionary Society sent missionaries,
Radama protected them, and in a few years 11,000 youths
went through the schools. Only about 200 became
Chrhitians. when • queen came, who fell under the power
of • Conservative reaction, and in Madagascar the en.
nerratives were heathens, and the -Radicals were
the opposite of what he hoped would be
the caw in England. A chief came into the queen's
"e
' and *rationed to thrust a spear into his own
becaurie the Queen allowed the missionaries, he
said, to teach that there was soother king, who would
take all power. The Queen then persecuted and !dew the
converts, and drove out the missionaries; but after a time
she died and Rada= II came to the throne, and he
favoured the missionaries, when they found, instead of
900, more than as many thousand converts. It was after-
wards arranged that the Church Missionary Society's
zclia should go out there, but should confine their
to the cont. He (the speaker) went out, and found
that Redeem had died, and he stayed in Mauritius for •
time, afterwards going to the northeast coast The
pampa generally tikes four or five days; but the currents
were an strong that the captain of his vessel, the
Phantom, had to steer round the north-east coast, and go
to the Comoro Islands. He afterwsrdaibore upend sailed
to the Seychelles, 1,000 miles from Mauritius in the
Indian Ocoee. He sailed thence in the Orestes, and
another hurricane came on and drove him to the
Mauritius again in October, after he left there in July
previous. Next voyage he was more fortunate, and
arrived at Madagascar. His first duty was toga about and
en the country. Then are no horses, carriages, roads, or
and they travel in • very primitive palanquin.
Here the traveller is carried across hills, through rivers,
and down valleys, and sometimes the bearers' heads are
ealril.st above water, and perhaps _ you would see a
ci 's head popping up. Many • Malagasy, swimming
across, has been seind, and many • native woman, going
for "ter at night lie was afterwards transferred to
another place called Tamatava, and he had to cross the
sea, this time in the Souvenir. Another hurricane came
as, with neither sun, moon, or star to be seen. The
amend day, the helm was washed away, and marl after
magi was cut down. They had 250 bullocks on hoard, and
the captain had to batten down the hatches, so that all
below died, and only 20 of the bullocks survived. The
captain aune In and maid it was " up ' with them :hut
several of them called on God, and next day the hurricane
abeassi, they got up juryman., and ultimately got to the
Seychelles, whence he took steamer for the Mauritius.
Yet be didn't believe the trials of the missionary are
greater than those of the trailer or the sailor, be only
mentioned them to task for their prayers. At his second
destination, by the help of Horeb Chrlatians, be collected
four Or five little congregations. The Malmsey use palm
leaves for table cloths and spoons for their rice, so that
they have new table cloths and moons each time. Their
church was a Malagasy house, which thin could always
by pulling out one end of it. These Malagasy
used to respond much better than people at
beam do. He used to teach the adults by means of the
cidliren who had been taught in the school, for he used to
go over the teaching again and again to impress it on the
went& At last he was to he removed to the Mauritius,
sad whiting to tske with him some of these boys fur
educaties be had to go up to Antananarioo, to get per-
mission for the natives to leave. On his second visit he
sew immense_ propose from the labours of the London
Qi=emSnraiiisk Cniltagtianivillafy7thehaiddonlaswwchndrcheestre4 the
it was made law that the salon= should be kept e'er;
ant it was kept as well in the capital of Madagascar ;;
UMW than In any European capital. The Queen ordered
her 11111_to he unfurled in even village as • sign that she
and she wished her sibt_ . War also.
Lalbri ',...W5; asked if they were real Mania= I Were
on e
ha real f Are they consistent
cksidinalmid Hot when our ancestors were converted by
e
of Augnetine, did they all lead godly con.
til
sisMi:sevieel Granted that in Madagascar they were
neatly nominal Chrietians, yet there were many earnest
gnome =i smongei them, and Madagascar was
to tbe Muth.n the Mauritius there is
putting Lord's Hay till within one hour before
agree bertinnever but In Madagascar them is no bazaar on t
is Wrlllit deal of drunkenness int
lArd'e LW' ThereA Crown are taken i —e n kind; but
cositt&ii armadas ":ir the
her tenth barrel of rum as
the
crested that it shall be knocked open and let
=fie the ow He urged all to be united, and act as
ens nava for Chriet East Africa is onnto the Mia Wall.
:Vwit:::l,ll.Ma toll:14% ti Viphrot=ntiothrtt"
Mahe MgcgtJa mad he had cams
ele= raseemegeeitee tbs &WM dying stags Of his

son ; but in answer to prayer, it had pleased God to spare
him. The missionary knew the value of prayer ;he
often went to • dwal • uncertain whether he would be
welcome or not, but e remembrance of the prayers
offered for him in this highly-favoured land encouraged
him to go in with boldness. He returned thanks to God
that he had been spared for ten years after labouring in
the diocese well called "the White Man's Grave. He
believed it was in answer to prayer, for • young man con-
firmed by him ten yearn ago had told him on his return
that he had been praying for him ever since he was con
finned. In the midst of all the difficulties and dangers
which threaten our Church. the society has been prnerved
to spread abroad the gospel of Christ, untainted by
Romanism, Fueeyism, or Ritualism. In all his diocese
there was not one of the native clergy but they could
place in any evangelical pulpit in the United Kingdom.
Sierra Leone is now truly a British colony : they count
their converts by thousands, and now the natives are
listening to native preachers capable of preaching the
Gospel in all its fulling. In one church are GO communi-
cants, in another over 300, and ia all there is • large
proportion of communicants. The government of the
colony had given • email grant to enable the pastorate to
subsist: but soon the churches would be able to airport
their own pastors without help. The congregations were
divided into many classes, such as the communicants, the
class for baptism, the class for enquirers, and even the
sinneen class, and many of the latter class had been
advanced to the other. The classes for confirmation go on
from year to year. and at the confirmation time, only those
are confirmed of whom the minister has tolerable certainty
that they are fit persons. There classes are met week by
week by the missionary, the native pastor, and the
catechist. At the Waterloo station he was asked whether
the converts really deserved to be called converts at all
But the society has done its work faithfully, the converts
arc well taught, and they show their sincerity by support-
ing their schools, and partly supporting their own pastors.
They had sent borne a thank-Offering of £BlO to the parent
society, for what they had done for benighted Africa.
They pay penny a week each in the class, and from that
penny a week, are provided the ea/erten of the native
teachers. These used to have £5O • year to support their
wives and families hut they made efforts, and succeeded
in raising the salary of the juniors to .CBO a year and £l2O
a year to the seniors. So fatal was the climate to
Europeans that a young man who went out to the
Gambia, only preached one sermon, be never preached
another,
_but died. Another stayed only three months,
was obliged to be removed to Madeira, followed him to
England, and there six weeks after died. What • blessing
it was that native preachers had been raised up to preach
the Gospel, without danger to their health I The Gambia
bait now been placed under Binhop Crowther, who
relieved the Bishop of Sierra Leone from much of his
work, and much of its danger. The Church Missionary
Society was extending its work far beyond its former
limits, which are now extended to Sherboro. It was
deserving of evay support, and though in Melcombe Regis
they had been labouring to erect a new church, and it wee
very creditable to them yet let them remember that no
church ever worked for tine mission cause without drawing
a double blessing on itself. He wished them with one
eye to see the wants of this parish, to see • growing con-
gregation In Christ Church and extend the building; but
he also wanted them to see the wants and send aid to the
mission work in Sierra Leone, South Africa and other
distant parts. The Africans made their efforts of elf-
denial, they were willing to help not only their own but
other societies, and on the jubilee of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, they sent • thank-offering to that
else. They do value the Sabha* the Word of God, they
thank God for the liberality of England that sends forth
the Gospel, and are willing to make sacrifices in turn. Let
us then support
The Cnsinner said that he found that the ordinary
Income of this society for the pert year was £198,000, and
that the extraordinary income, taking into account the
contributions of the various mission stations, and the
special fund, amounted to, .C 261.221. He thought that was
Indeed • most encouraging fact, and he saw in it • very
cheering evidence of the menacing vitality of the evan-
gelical portion of our national church. He said "Of the
evangelical portion" advisedly; because no one but half a
fool could bind himself to Le existence of many parties
In the Established Church, and he supposed the Church
Missionary Society was not indebted for much of the
increase to the exertions of Rationalists or Ritualists. He
saw in this the best possible answer to those who are so
fond of talking about the "late" Evangelicals. When the
leaves of the past summer are falling in vermilion and
gold, and leaving the trees bare, what is the tale that they
That the trees are dying Far otherwise ; their story
is just the opposite—that the trees are living and growing,and that their many-coloured coata are growing too small.
But if only we wait till the next spring, we shall see these
trees not bare and stripped and barren, but living and
growing, and covered with • grander and richer foliage.
Moreover, he felt that their thankfulness to God Almighty
for the increased support which the Church Missionary
Society has received, ought to be greater, because it is idle
to conceive that the circuentances of our own age are
favourable to the growth of the missionary spirit.
Missionary spirit is just love to Jesus Christ, burning on
the believer's heart. We live in a day of controversy, and
we love the truth, we must be prepared to contend and
that earnestly, for the faith that was once delivered to the
saints. But while controversy is needful, the atmos-
phere of controversy is not congenial to the love of Christ
In the heart, and therefore not congenial in itself to the
growth of • missionary spirit, and the societies like this
are worse for it. We have to deplore a very considerable
amount of open apostacy from the ranks of the evangeli-
cal body in cur church, we have with pain to see that not
• few .1 our younger members are dropping away from
under the old banner of evangelical truth, are growing
impatient of the preaching of the old truth, and are
turning aside unto vanities. And all this must tend very
much to cripple our missionary efforts. He was far from
thinking that it is any great advantage to the wheat that
It Mould be mixed up with an immensity of chaff, and
when he saw our young people and some of our old people
too, growing restless and dissatisfied with the preaching
of the truth, he was far more disposed to say "Open wide
the church doors and let the wind blow away the chaff."
But still, for the sake of chretian parents, who have wept
and prayed over their eons, and to whom it must be •
painful and bitter thing to see them turning aside from
the old paths, we feel deep sorrow for this apostacy and
sometimes one is almost reconciled to the lees of these old
and true friends who are taken to the saints everlasting
rest, when we know that they are spared the shame, and
grief , and sorrow of seeing their sons and daughters
I turning away from the simplicity of the faith, from the
I simplicity of Gods truth. But- while there is enough in
Ithe state of our church to make even true man and
woman weep between the porch and the altar —when we
I see the progress of the Church Missionary Society, and
know that this progress has not linen accelerated by any
compromise, but by an uncompromisiug, unflinching,
adherence to the old Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we !nay
thank God and take courage. A rotten spray here and there
may fall train the most laxuriant growth of the living tree
when the wind shakes the branches ; but the glorious tree
of evangelical truth, planted by our Reformers, and
watered by their tears and bluoil, is too full of the living
sap of God's Holy Spirit, and too deeply rooted in the soil
of English hearts, to be upturned by any of those storms
which will continue to sweep over the surface of the
church of Jesus, until the Master's presence and the
Master's word "Peace I be still " ushers in his churches
Into the day of rest. Now they must sing the doxology,
and their friend the Bishop would pronounce the blessing
upon them, and as they left the room tonight, he was sore
they would leave behind the practical proof of the
sincerity of the love to the society which has been faith-
ful and true to the Divine truth, Labouring for the spread
of the gospel, and the salvation of souls by the Lord Jesus
—(applause).
The collections on behalf of thin society were at St,
John's Ohureh, XX Is. 10d. ; St. John's meeting. £B2s. ;
at St. Mary Church, 136 Is, 3d., and at Christchurch
£ll 16s. 11d.

FRESH ATTRACTION FOR WEYMOUTH.
IS IT THE BET?

A dozen splendid cygnets were received on Wednesday
last by Supt. Vickery, being the birds first kindly pro-
mised by Lord Ilchester. These have been brought
through their first state in the most scientific manner, so
that the Corporation will not have the trouble of
bringing them up. One would think the Council are now
pretty well stocked with swans and cygnets, considering
that they are just commencing to keep them, and have
hardly got used to the business. We would suggest that
they go on a little steadily now, and don't further multiply
their new acquisitions till they are used to the u
meat. It seems that the cost of the swannery fr,t
added to the rate, with a prospect of further outlay
for embankrunnt next spring. So it is to be hoped the
committee will bear in mind they have spent and will be
spending public money, and,
.charming as it may be to
have a swannery up Radipole Lake, we don't
want too many white elephants. In saying this
we don't want to be considwed ss in the least hostile to a
fine swannery being gradually acquired, as soon as the
Corporation understand the management and can ascer-
tain the full cost; it is only their taking upon themselves
too much that we fear. Nor would we undervalue the
services of the committee, who have advanced the matter
to the present promising state. Weymouth has need of
all the extra attractions that she can acquire, and if
Radipole Lake can emulate the Fleet water in having. •
charming flock of graceful birds, it will be no small gam.
We almost wish, though, considering that the swannery
is, after all, to be paid for by a rate, that the town had
first been consulted whether the surplus " pin-money " of
the Local Board should be event on swans or an isluarium.
What Weymouth feels the greatest need of is • place
where visitors can enjoy themselves on • wet day, for
every one must have noticed how they flit alter • few days'
rain. An aquarium under cover would have provided
this great want, and though costly, the experience
of Brighton shows that one adapted to the Else of the
place has paid. We should not need to have • very large
one, and thus visitors would be sheltered from the rain,
and would meet and become acquainted with each other,
a thing of considerable difficulty here now. We venture
to think that the swannery will not meet the wants of
Weymouth in this way. "'Feeding the Swans" will be
an outdoor amusement, obtained with some difficulty, and
unattainable in wet weather. Of outdoor pleasures we
have many in Weymouth, and therefore it is to he hoped
the Corporation will not spend too much of their surplus
cash on yet anotheroutsloor attraction, forgetting our sure
seed of an aquarium.