The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-03 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY
SOCIETY.

An intermediate meeting of this society was held last
night at the Concert Hall, Lord Nelson-street. The at-
tendance was highly respectable
The Rev. H. CARPENTER opened the meeting by an
impressive prayer, and the Chairman, CHAS. INMAN, Esq.,
in a short address, stated the object of the meeting. The
Church Missionary Society meetings were originally but
small ; they had now, however, so increased that it was
necessary to hold between their annual assemblies an
intermediate meeting ; and on that occasion they
would be addressed by able gentlemen on two subjects ;
by one on the present state of China and the opening
here presented for spreading the word of God through
that mighty land ; by the other on the duty of Christians
to address themselves to the uncivilised world.

The. Rev. W. W. EWBANIK rose to address the meeting
amidst much applause, and stated that in delivering, in
conformity with his engagement to the Church Missionary
Society, a lecture on the past history, present state, and
future prospects of the empire of China, with special re-
ference to the spread of the gospel there, he proposed to
give nothing but a faint sketch, with which he trusted
they would be so interested as to be anxious afterwards
to fill up the outlines for themselves. The reverend gen-
tleman, after remarking that the Chinese historians
attach no credit to those marvellous times of fable of
which many English writers have treated, gave some in-
teresting particulars connected with Chinese history from
its commencement down to the Tartan dynasty which has
now possessed the throne of China nearly 200 years.
Notwithstanding foreign invasions and intestine troubles,
though dynasties have changed, yet China is China still.
Her language is unaltered, and ancient peculiarities still
separate her from all the other nations of the earth. The
Chinese empire, including Chinese Tartary, Thibet.
Cochin China, Burmak, and Siam, covers an area of no
less than 3,000,000 square miles, and the population
amounts to no less than 360,000,000 of souls, according to
that eminent missionary Mr. Medhurst, who arrived at
the result after the moat patient investigation of native
calculations combined with extensive personal observa-
tion. The religions of China are three. They are
the systems of Confucius, Laon-tsze, and Buddha.
The religion of Confucius is the most honoured, both by.
'the government and the learned. Those who make any
pretepsion to literature pride themselves on ten: the dis-
ciples of that philosopher; but, in truth, in the real sense
of the word, the system of Confucius can scarcely be
called a religion at all. It is merely a collection of moral
and political precepts, without any clear reference to the
Supreme Being. But, defective as it is in essential prin-
ciples, there is much in it which is good. It lays down
the golden rule of doing to others as we would they should
do to us. It exhorts men to excuse and feel for others
just as they would for themselves. Especially, it insists
most strongly on filial piety. This duty stands first and
foremost in the system ; and it has been well observed by
Mr. Tomlin, that, in this respect at least, " Confucius
surpassed in true wisdom Plato, Socrates, and Seneca, in
laying the foundation of all his social and political system
in the radical principle of filial obedience ; which has prayed
a vital and un tine principle to sustain and preserve the na-
tion for a longerduration than any other upon earth." This
is a very important consideration for the Christian mis-
sionary. He will feel thankful that there is s ich a
principle in the breasts of the Chinese, and he will strive.
by the grace of God, to lead them forward from parental
reverence to the pure worship of Him, who is the Father
of our spirits. Confucius, atheist as he was himself, is
now adored in China, as a god. About 1,600 temples arc
erected to his honour ; and, et the spring and autumnal
sacrifices, there are offered to him, at the expense
of government, 6 bullocks, 27,000 pigs, 5.800 sheep,
2,800 deer, 27,000 rabbits, and 30,000 pieces of silk.
The second religion of Chiaa, or We system established
by Laon-tsze, is of a very different nature from Confu-
cianism. It is full of superstition. Its advocates profess
to have constant intercourse with the spirits of the in-
visible world, and to control them by the powerful magic
of their charms. The sect is governed by a leader, who
is supposed to be immortal, arid who, in the opinion of
his followers, exercises despotic authority over subject
spirits. It is his to appoint and remove the deities
of various distracts. Without his special mandate no
divinity can claim the worship of his votaries. His
handwriting is an amulet which dispels all evil, and
no sincere believer will ever rest securely in his habitation,
till he has fortified himself against the angels of darkness
by the possession of one of these mighty autographs. Such
is the religion of Laontsze. We might easily increase the
list of its lying marvels. We might tell you of the elixir
of immortality, which has poisoned emperors ; the anti-
dote to death; the expulsion of troublesome ghosts; and
the marching of the priests of Taon over burning charcoal.
But we have said enough to convince ybu that neither the
infidelity of Confucius, nor the superstition of Laontsze,
can contain any comfort for the wounded soul, or lead their
blinded votaries to pardon, rind haepiness, and peace.
One other religion remains, and it is the most widely
extended of the three. It exercises its baneful influence
over the large mass of the population of China.
It is the religion of Buddha. It originated in India,
and was not introduced into China till the year 66
after Christ. I❑ that year, the emperor having been
informed that there was a Divine personage in the
West, 'of .the name of Baddha, sent messengers to
learn his doctrines and obtain his sacred bo As. And
thus was imported into the empire the miserable supersti-
tion, which now enslaves its millions. Let me state to
vou, in few words, its principle, and one or two of its ab-

surd practices. Its principle is•the bles:-..edness or annihi-
lation. There is, indeed, a heaven, bet there is a bliss
aboie heaven, and that Hiss is absorption into Buddha.
This happiness is to be obtained by constant repetition of
the name of Buddha. We are told in one of the sacred
books, as a proof of this, that, during the Sung dynasty,
a blacksmith of the name of tlwang was in the habit of
repeating the name of Buddha, with all his might, at
every stroke of his hammer. Suddenly, one day, he was
rewarded for his perseverance by a mlnculous absorption
into Buddha. The reverend gentleman here detailed the

kingdom of God our Saviour prosper in China, all will be
well." So he died, as he had lived, full of faithl and zeal,
and panting for the evangelization of China's multitudes.
In 1815, during the life and by the advice of Mr. Morri-
son, was founded at Malacca, on the Malayan peninsula,
the Anglo-Chinese college. This,institution has proved
a ..nost important one. It was formed with the intention
of aiding the studies of European youths in Chinese, and
of giving Chinese youths every facility for the acquisition
of English. In the year 1837, six%pious Chinese were
preparing for ordination in that college. 'We might, if
time allowed us, tell you much of the successful eff otts
of the society in the island of Penang, and. that wonderful
creation of modern commerce, Singapore. For several
years unwearied missionaries have been preaching there
the gospel of Christ. But we hasten to notice those
missionary voyages which have been undertaken from
time to time along the coast of China. That eminent
Prussian missionary, Mr. Gutzlaff, led the way in 1831.
He had the courage to commit himself to Heathen sailors,
in a junk, which was sailing to ore of the northern pro-
vinces. We may judge of the peril to which he was ex-
posed when we hear that, during the voyage, the crew
deliberated whether they should kill him and throw him
overboard, to possess themselves of his large box, which
they believed to be filled with dollars. Ignorant of his
acquaintance with the language, they debated the scheme
in his presence. Mr. Gutzlaff requested them to open his
box, and it was found well stored with Chinese Bibles,
and tracts, and medicines. At one of the places where
they touched on their course, a shopkeeper offered to pur-
chase the missionary from the captain of the junk for
2,700 dollars, in order that he might exhibit the wonder-
ful " son of the western ocean" to admiring crowds, and
so attract customers to his shop. Bet he was safe in all
his dangers, under the protection of God, and returned in
peace to his mission at Macao. He afterwards became
interpreter to the Lord Amherst, which sailed under the
command of Captain Lindsay, who bears testimony to
Mr. Gutzlaff, that he conversed with the natives
with the fluency of the Chinese themselves, and
that that people were everywhere delighted to be ad-
dressed by an European in their own mother tongue.
In 1835, a regular missionary vessel was provided, and
Mr. Medhurst, with another missionary, visited the same
places at which Nir. Gutzlaff had before landed. Mr.
Medhurst's narrative of his voyage is a most interesting
one. Everywhere did he find the most anxious desire,
on the part of the natives, to possess themselves of his
Scriptures and tracts. As soon as a book was held up, he
tells us, a rush was made at it, and in many places the
Chinese police were obliged to beat off the applicants with
cudgels. Even Confucian mandarins were not ashamed
to receive instruction from the " outside" strangers.
Sometimes the pressure was so great, that the distributors
of the books were obliged to escape from the people, by
climbing a rock or hill. On one occasion, as the mission-
ary vessel was leaving the harbour, the people swain out
to her, and clung to the tackling, and declared that they
would not leave it till their wants were supplied. " And
thus," said Mr. Medhurst, in concluding his interesting
desc:iption, " we have gone through various parts of-four
provinces, and have given away 18,009 volumes, of which
6,000 were'portions of the Bible, amongst a willing people,
without meeting with the least injury, having been
always received by the multitude of the people with
a cheerful smile, and, generally, by the officers with
politeness." Such is a very brief account of the principal
efforts which have been made by Protestant missionaries,
as a commencement of the great work of China's evan-
gelization. These efforts are still continued, and we trust,
as England becomes more alive to her privileges and
responsibilities, will constantly be increased. At the
important city of Ningpo, Mr. Mc Gowan, a zralou,
American missionary, is labouring, with his wife, an
English lady, with pleasing prospects of success. Mr.
Medhurst, of whose labours we have just spoken, with
the Christian ehrician, Dr. Lockhart, arc busy in the
noble work. In Chusan, with its million of Chinese,
Mr. Milne has preached to multitudes, and many join
him in Christian worship. In Hong Kong, so lately the
residence of a few poor fishermen, but which now, under
the protection of British laws, contains more than 20,000
inhabitants, you may see temples of Christian worship,
built by Christians, and filled to overflowing by Chinese
congregations. There, Sunday after Sunday, are Mr.
Shuck and Mr. Dean exercising their useful ministry,
and there, also, our own church missionary society has at
last commenced her labours. Her missionaries, Mr. Smithand Mr. M'Clatchie have taken their posts, and have sent
home to us a most interesting and encouraging report of
their earliest proceedings. Mr. Smith writes :—" China
is open beyond my expectations : the most cheering pros-
pects invite us. The Hai Hong, or principal magistrate
of Amov, has expressed his wish that the people may re-
ceive Christian struction. British intercourse is desired.
In the spirit evinced by the people and the rulers, no
obstacles at present exist to proclaiming the unsearchable
riches of Christ." How encouragingly ought such ac-
counts as this to fall upon the Christian ear ! And, indeed,
in addiicie to the kindly feeling towards us, which seems
at present to triumph over the jealousy and suspicion of
c-nturies, even in the court of Peking, there is much in
the circumstances of the Chinese which ought to inspire

the missionary with hope. Oile of these encouragements
ought not, even in this brief review, to be omitted. It is
the very extensive diffusion of a knowledge and taste for
reading throughout the empire. It has been estimated
that nine-tenths of the adult males are wale to read
ordinary books, thou h, alas ! not one-tenth of the
female population. And then, the most important
fact, that the printed book is equally intelligible in
all parts of China, even though the author, in speaking,
way be canfined to a single dialect, must stand promi-
nently firth amorgst our encouragements; and the Chi-
nese not on'y can, but will read. There is scarcely a
house • so poor, but some well worn and valued book way
be seen occupying its shelf. I' was by books that Budd-
hism first made its entrance into the empire, and by books
that it won its way into the remotest provinces. Morri-
son felt this, and the thought cheered him during years of
patient toil. This thought encouraged the Bible Society
lirgely to help him in his arduous undertaking. 0 may
the seed of the word, then, be thickly strewn over a pre-
pared soil, and may the fruit be abundant ! The reverend
gentleman then, in an impassioned strain, pointed to the
time when Confucius, and Laontze, and Buddha will
cease to enthral the minds of sinful idolators—when Chi-
nese women shall assume their proper places as compan-
ions and friends of their husbands—when infanticide shall
cease—when Christian churches and schools shall bless
that immense empire—and called upon Liverpool not to
be backward in boneuritig the Lord of Missions with an
increasing portion of her commercial wealth. He alluded
to the to' !nation of the Yeung Men's Society for aiding
mie,ionary societies. and assured his hearers, that

Juvenal and Horace, and the illusive fictions of Virgil—
we would not touch a single laurel which decorates their
brows. We admire their talents, we respect their virtues,
and cherish their memory. But that they were sufficiently
acquainted with the truth, I do not believe; for it is not
the fact. Look where we will, into the purest of their
creeds, whether of fabulous, civil, or philosophical the-
ology, we find some or all of 'them comprising doctrines
from which, as Christians, we insinctively recoil. The
indulgence of licentiousness was allowed—the sensual
appetites left unrestrained—a community of wives sanc-
in
tioned—the i
awfulness
dn: f a—e
otnes
efst
,hnooetdfuhrarfai
actual
from
Lhtumht:
reloddfl
el suicide enforced—the revenge of in-
juriestusrerefii tnkaeeumgt
ehhnti
this,
tdaAke
dne
jfgimegercth:psratudolni
asmfiopteycirdoaoahr.nillriel:il
tstoaSauhtonnurekdheyc hdewf
deformity
unmovedty
a n Heathenism
upone
e
daallptihce-
ahiossun
sufficient—thatmen tellnot
nt
reclaimed
aewi
fmirtohe
md a
ob-
scurity bhhe
scurity and conjecture ? If so, let him coolly sit down and
calculate the miseries which that gospel has terminated—
the tgnoranceie hasinstructed —the excesses it has abolished.
—and the wide and withering moral desolation to which it
has said, " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further."
The reverend gentleman then, in an animated and elo-
quent strain, pourtrayed the blessed privileges and ad-
vantages conferred upon ourselves by the precious gift of
the everlasting gospel, as well as its attendant blessings in
less favoured climes. Already, he said, have the miseries
of Christ began to smother the widow's funeral pile, to
arrest the immolations of Juggernaut, and to redeem the
endearing loveliness of woman from the degradation to
which every country but Christendom his consigned her.
The night of heathenism is far spent; the day is at hand;
Christianity is awakened from the slumber of c, nturies.
and moving on with accelerated triumph. Genius, and
learning, and zeal are weaving laurels for her brow. On
every shore are displayed the banners of the cross. You,
may see them waving from the frozen ledges of Green-
land to the burning *ands of Sierra Leone ; from the
Isles of the Pacific to the banks of the Ganges ; from the
snows of the Poles to the scorching suns of the Equator.
The Indian is burning his Shatter, the Arab his Koran,
and the Hottentot his consecrated relics. The tenant of
every soil is cheered by the tidings of pardon, and the
complexion of every climate irradiated by the hope of
immortality. The gospel—the everlasting gospel—the
gospel of the God of peace and love, is beginning to
extend ; and it will extend, and extend, and extend, till
the ruins of sin, amidst the last blaze of the last con-
flagration, shall be lost in the splendour of eternal day.
And for effecting this grand scheme of banish'ng the
darkness and superstitions of heathenism, for which he
had shown the wonderful adaptation of the gospel, Eng-
land was likely under God to be the chief instrument If
ever there was a nation that possessed facilities for the
conversion nf heathen lands, that nation is England.
Her political pre-eminence, her unrivalled commerce, ber
undisputed empire on the main, those stupendous energies
which she can call forth and exert in periods of difficulty
and danger,—all these accumulved advantages stamp her
a missionary notion. For, think you that these varied
blessings have been heaped upon her merely fir temporal
purposes, merely that she may grace a brilliant page in
history, merely that she might be the mother of migh'y
nations, who shall perpetuate her language and institu•ioos,
when her own empire and influence shall have rased
away? Not so, not so, " Occupy till I come," is Christ's
command, not only to individuals but to nations. The
day of account must be solemn to Britain, as one of the
most opulent and influential nations of the globe. Iler
earthly victories have been matchless. Iltr genius,
and activity arid industry have all been crowned with
eminent success. Scarcely a people exists whose en-
treaties for aid she has not listened to—few are the
monarchs whom she has not assisted either with blood or
treasure. Victory has followed her flag from the Norman
conquest to the field of Waterloo, and from Waterloo to
A ffshariistan and Ferczepore, on the banks of the Se-
!: j. in the plains of Lahore. But what, 0 what ! have
been the spiritual conquests in comparison with what they
ought and might have been ? The rev. gentleman then
alluded, in most affecting, terms, to the very lamentable
has of life which has recently taken place on the plains of
India, and then enlarged on some of the reasons why
Liverpool especially ought to contribute more largely than
we hare yet tone to the great and glorious work of evan-
gelising the heathens throughout the world, aid thus
imitate the munificent Reynolds, of whom it was beauti-
fully said, " That he exported his fortune before him to
Heaven, and is gone thither to enjoy it." Again, look at
India, which has been an inexhaustible mine of wealth to
England. Owe we no debt here ? Is not India—its
thrones—its sceptres—its treasures—its territories ours?
Are not its people, in a higher and s'ronger sense.
ours ?—our own fellow-subjects—subjects of the cro
of 'Christian Protestant Britain, and are we not,. there-
fore, bound to provide for the spiritual neci ssaies of
her children ? Oh! that all who prof, ss the faith of Jesus
were melted down by divine love—fused into one mass—
actuated by one spirit—and raising one universal shout,
" Let us march against the common enemy of man—let
us fight fur the spiritual li erties of the world ; in the
cause of the Redeemer let us conquer or die !" Will this
branded

.:ed as wn— dusiasm .n righteous indigna-
tion we repel the charge. Is it lawful for the• British pa-
triot's heart to vibrate with an indefinable thrill of ecstatic
joy, when he listens to the poet's song of the meteor flag
of England, which

Has braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze."
And is it not a higl.er and holier enthusiasm in the patriot

citizen of Zion to' exult when he bears alott the flag of
the everlasting covenant,. which for six thousand years
has withstood more than the shock of a thousand navies
manned by earth and bell? which still shall brave " the
battle and the breeze" of conflicting moral elements—
which shall survive the funeral obsequies of sin, and
death, and the grave, and .finally wave in triumph over
the citadels of the nhtions' when all their pomp and gran-
deur are swallowed and lost amid the overpowering
glories of Nlessinh's reign? Mr. Hampton concluded
amidst much applause.
The doxology was then sung, and the meeting separated.