The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-23 00:00:00

Spirit blasts them ; and they were turning back to their
own native pollution, there to sleep with the wreck and
the ruins, like those of the cities of the plain, of all the
systems that have dared to raise themselves against the
pure doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Renewed cheering.) He would ask attention but for one
instant more, because he felt he had forfeited his own pledge.
They had beard of "irresponsible committees;" they had
heard of the charge of assuming episcopal authority—and he
trusted there was at least one among them who would sit
at the episcopal bench ere long, but, he would not say, in the
presence of the chairman, who that individual was. (Cheers.)
But, certainly, they ordained no missionaries; they only se-
lected those who had been ordained ; and what was the exa-
mination to which those missionaries were subjected? Sup-
pose there was the society (and believed he was one of its
members) for the propagation of the gospel. Let it not forfeit
its right to that name! (Hear.) It was a high pretension ; and
he faithfully blessed God that they could say, in the face of
the world, that though they called themselves the Church
Missionary Society, they could challenge investigation into
the results whether they were a society for the propagation
of the Gospel ! (Cheers.) But take the society which bore
that name—suppose the humble individual who now ad-
dressed the meeting to present himself before that society
and ask for an appointment ; suppose he honestly said he
was no believer in the doctrine of baptismal regeneration ;
suppose him to state his reasons in all their native force for
clinging to the doctrine of justification by faith ? Suppose
he added that, Episcopalian as he was, he did not think the
Episcopalian channel the only channel for conveying Divine
grace ? Suppose be did not believe, as he certainly did not,
in a church visible, believing that there was, indeed, one
Catholic church spiritually ; if he honestly stated these
things to the committee, responsible or irresponsible, would
they employ that individual ? Would they send him abroad
to do their work ? (Hear, hear.) Oh, that he could multi-
ply himself into millions, in order to maintain the doctrines
of the gospel wherever heresy, wherever " church doctrines,"
and all the inventions of men had been introduced as their
substitute ! (Loud cheers.)
The Rev. EDWARD BICRERSTETII was then introduced,
amidst much cheering, to support the resolution. He re-
joiced at seeing himself again surrounded in Liverpool with
so many dear brethren, whom he had so long loved. Glad
he was to support his dear brother Buddicom in this reso-
lution. With him he well remembered the time when the
Liverpool Association was indeed very feeble—a single con-
gregation at first, two or three added afterwards, and then
how little was the interest felt in this blessed cause! But,
at the present anniversary there had been thirty-seven ser-
mons preached, and probably £7OO or XBOO raised after those
sermons. To God our Saviour be all the glory ; let us mag-
nify together his great name; let us thank God arid take courage
for what was before us ! (Hear, hear.) The report had given
many of the details, with which he had been furnished; but
there were two or three facts respecting the present state of
the society which he would communicate. He was glad to
say that the great debt of about £20,000 had been reduced to
£lOOO. (Cheers.) So that the society at present was only
owing to those who had advanced money to it, to enable it
to carry on its proceedings, the sum of £lOOO. (Applause.)
Weinustremember, however, that in the income of £116,000,
the sum of £12,000 was absolutely a donation and legacy,
and, therefore, could not he considered as regular income;
and we must remember, also, that ail the members of the so-
ciety through the country deeply sympathised in its peculiar
circumstances, and, therefore, made extraordinary efforts to
increase the income of the last year. (Hear.) He trusted
that the blessedness of having made those efforts, and the
happy result, would act as quickening motives to sustain,
and even to increase, our exertions. (Hear.) The general
state of the society's missions was this :—there were 92 sta-
tions ; 1241 Christian missions ; 687 schools ; and 36,904
scholars; there were 66,000 attendants upon public worship;
and about 6000 monthly communicants at the Lord's table.
(Hear, hear.) This, generally, would shew the members of
the society how large it had progressed in its foreign missions.
(Hear.) With regard to the West African mission, he was
thankful to be able to state, that while we had been so grie-
viously afflicted by the results of the Niger expedition, God
seemed more and more to be opening the way from Sierra
Leone into the interior of Africa;—(cheers)—for the so-
ciety's linguist, Mr. Thompson, had gone 160 miles eastward,
into the interior, where he had established friendly relations
with the chiefs, who were willing to send their sons to the
mission schools at Sierra Leone, and earnestly pressed the
society to send missionaries to them.' (Hear.) Thus was
there a mutual pledge for the progress of divine truth in the
interior of Africa. (Hear.) He was happy also to say, that
the converted natives from Sierra Leone, who had settled at
in the Bight of Benin, were preparing the way for
another native missionary settlement, and therefore for the
progress of truth from that part of Africa. Thus, more and
more, the way seemed opening for the spread of the gospel,
as was originally hoped it would, from the colony of Sierra
Leone. (Cheers.) With regard to other missions, he would
mention, that at Calcutta there had been 96 fresh baptisms
within the year; in another place, the name of which was
not heard, there had been 660 baptisms within the year; and
in the Tinnevelly mission there had been 1,221 baptised
within the year. These simple statements, all of which were
connected with deeply interesting facts with regard to each
baptism, might serve to show how delightfully progressive
the work:of Christian missions was. (Hear, hear.) Then,
with regard to New Zealand, the progress of the gospel was
truly grateful and delightful. At ,on one Sacrament
Sunday, there were 1,100 persons present; the church was
too small to hold them ; and of these 1,100, no less than 487
New Zealanders partook of the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper. (Applause.) He wished our own congregations
were in such a state, or that even half of our congregations
were ready, in general, to stay to receive the Lord's Supper.
(Hear, hear.) At Torrago (we believe) there had been 198
baptisms within the year; and four chapels had been built
by the natives ; and, taking the general statement of the
number of natives who had embraced Christianity in the last
four years, in New Zealand, it would be found to have in-
creased from 2000 to 35,000. (Loud cheers.) Many, neces-
sarily, were yet very ignorant ; many had, doubtless, em-
braced it from a variety of merely temporal motives; but
they were all under a' course of instruction, the effect of which
would be best illustrated by some facts. War and cannibal-
ism had almost, if not entirely, ceased. (Loud cheers.)
Ancient superstitions had been forsaken. Many were making
the most diligent use of the means of grace, and were making
rapid progress in scriptural knowledge. The sermon of the
Bishop of New Zealand, to which the report referred, was
delivered in June last; and it stated "Christ ha's blessed the
work of his ministry, in a wonderful manner. A few faith-
ful men, by the power of the spirit of God, have been instru-
ments of adding another Christian people to the family of
God ; young men and maidens, old men and children, all
with one voice praising God,'all offering up daily their morn-
ing and evening prayers, searching the Scriptures to find the
way of eternal life, valuing the word of God above every
other thing, and displaying in their outward lives open pro-
mise of the influence of the spirit. Where will you find
through the Christian world more signal manifestations of the
presence of that spirit, or more lively evidence of the king-
dom of Christ?" (Cheers.) When we considered that the
Bishop of New Zealand had comparatively little interest in
the Church Missionary Society before he went abroad, he
(Mr. Bickersteth) thought that this testimony from his lord-
ship on the spot was peculiarly important, as showing his
sense of the value of its missions. To God, as he had said
before, be all glory ! (Cheers.) But yet more to our God be
the glory that this beloved society had maintained stedfastly
its great Protestant principle ! (Loud cheers.) For his part
he had better hopes of the S'obiety for Propagating the Gospel
than his friend Dr. Byrth; he could not but think that that
society had given a pledge to the church that it would ad-
here to the articles in their plain and grammatical sense, and
he knew many devoted servants of our Lord Jesus Christ,
depending simply upon his grace, who were labouring faith-
fully under that society. (Hear.) He knew, too, that no
one would more rejoice to hear such a statement than his
friend Dr. Byrth himself, because what we wanted was not
party feeling, but we wanted to exalt our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, and to advance his gospel in its purity and
simplicity. (Cheers.) Adverting to the plain duty of ad-
hering to the principles of the society. he could not but feel
there was a deep responsibility upon all our societies. They
were all under a solemn obligation to Almighty God
to employ, as missionaries, only faithful and devoted
servants of their Lord and Master ; and the command
was plain—" If there come any unto you, and bring
not the doctrine of Christ, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God
speed is partaker of his evil doing." (Hear.) Upon this
peat principle we must rest; upon this principle trust was
reposed in the committee by all the contributors to the so-
ciety ; and it was a duty equally, to Christ himself, to the
contributors who supported the society, and to the heathen,
to whom, if whom, if we sent an adulterated gospel, we
should be doing nothing but mischief. (Hear.) He felt,
therefore, that therein had been one peculiar trial of this so-
ciety during the past year. One of its missionaries, Mr.
Humphreys, had embraced views which he (Mr. Bickersteth)
could not but think were a departure from the simplicity of
the gospel ; a full statement of those views would be pub-
lished in the appendix to the report, with a plan of the
church he proposed to erect, founded much on Tree-
tarian principles. The meeting would, therefore, judge
for themselves. The committee at Madras and the com-
mittee at London acted promptly and immediately upon
the case ; and whilst they had done so at these places, he
(Mr. Bickersteth) would read a portion of a letter he had in
his hands from the Bishop. of Calcutta, which would show
that there was a real danger. Bishop Wilson, in a letter,
dated September the 3d, last year, said—" I feel it to be a
very serious evil, the semi-Popery which is disgracing the
Protestant church, and reviving more than all the exploded
statements of the nonjurors a century after the happy settle-
ment of church and state, and the glorious revolution of
16b8. It is a cruel system of error, and seems to have some-
thing of the strong delusion to believe a lie, of which the
apostle speaks. It is actually desolating my diocese,
and especially my infant missions, so that I have been
compelled to speak more boldly and decidedly than,
under other circumstances, my position would have
allowed. I trust I have checked its progress, though
I find that nothing will damp or convince a thorough
going disciple of their school." (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
When the missionaries abroad were in this condition, did it
not become a plain duty upon the society, especially when one
of their own lanourers was so tainted, to take a decided stand ?
Yes. (Hear.) He felt then, and he felt now, God had gra-
ciously assisted and directed our beloved committee to make
a decided stand against this modified system of popery.
(Loud cheers.) He had attended several committees of the
society in London upon this subject, and he had been truly
delighted with the spirit of Christian wisdom, firmness, meek-
ness, and love, which had marked their proceediugs ; and
whilst he would not lead his dear brethren to put confidence
in any human being in any time of temptation, he thought
the society might adopt the beautiful terms of the Apostle,
with regard to the committee in London. " We have con-
fidence in the Lord, touching you that you both do and will
do that which is right." (Loud cheers.) At this time, too,
it was peculiarly important we should be steadfast and
firm in defence of the great Protestant truth of our re-
formation. (Cheers.) The Romanists were full of energy,
and activity ; they were invading all our missions ; they were
entering in atithe doors which we had opened, and in every
way they were exerting themselves by multiplying and send-
ing out labourers among the heathen. The very way in
which they exerted themselves was exceedingly simple some-
times. He held in his hands an advertisement from the
Catholic Magazine—[Feb. 1843.]—N0, he would not call it
the Catholic, but the Roman Catholic, Magazine, (cheers,)
from the Bishop of Hobarton' who said he " feels compelled
to solicit the attention of the Catholics of the United King-
dom to the state of his newly-created diocese. The diocese
extends over the whole of Van Dieman's Land, which is
equal in extent. with Ireland. As soon as a sufficient number
of priests can be obtained (and may the spirit of God now
inspire some who are regardless of the comforts and con-
veniences of this life to offer themselves at the altar of mercy,
to labour for the salvation of this deplorable class,) they will
sail for this land of exile and misery. The charitable are
therefore humbly solicited to contribute towards the relief
and regeneration of this fallen and degraded class." And
what was to relieve, and regenerate, and convert them ?
" Donations, particularly in money, (and the faithful are
earnestly invited to join in subscribing even in small sums
for this work of mercy,) chalices, loxes, holy oil-stocks,
crucifixes, tabernacles, candlesticks, missals. breviaries,
tures, he s!
o
prayer-books, books ofi piety and instruction, vest
nit
i
albs, surplices, altar-linen of each kind. Pio
water vast"—(loud laughter,) and so they went onhseoulir.i)tcttyge
other contributions. -Observe! no biblee,—(bear,
word of God was never asked for! (Cheers.) Let them
take their holy-water vats, their chalices, jee4rordnxweso,z4
the ie holy oil-stocks ; but, by the blessing
*ending there men of God who had the love of Jesus
shed abroad in their hearts, and with the Bible intheirCulisoridsst
we cared not for till rho trumpery which papacy might
(bold cheers,) Let not us
lied at oil t
rill? dittkkliqtlt it fret IV 14. 2c
however,
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