The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-05-20 00:00:00

n, prof

tion of the committee, and also apf
the ensuing yeir.

The Rev. A. BOYD, incumbent of Christ Church, Chel-

tenbair

Two point

, of consider

able importance, he remarked, were introduced into th

The first was a reference to the high success
which it had pleased God to bestow upon the labor.
the society, and the second to the difficulties which im-
peded its progress—difficulties which, unless God in his
,rovidence turned them aside, threatened to cripple in its
was destined to be a highly
With regard to the first of these
points, it was impossible to look back upon the history of
the Church Missionary Society without admitting that,
during, the forty-five years of her existence, God had been

movements what otherwi

efficient institution

pleased to confer upon her no ordinary measure of success.
Half a century was but like a fragment of time. But a
few years back, comparatively speaking, the society sprung
into existence, having been brought into being by the
efforts of a few distinguished, pious, and prayerful mcn ;
qnd the advocacy

nding that it could corn

and patronage of Wilberforce, in the first years of he
existence she could scarcely command an income of £3O(
Ten years rolled on in her history, and, though much wa
done to stimulate public liberality, £lsto was the averag
and limited amount of her income. Ten years more'rolle_
on, during which Christian liberality se med to be in-
creased, for, her income was raised from £l5OO to £15;600.
Time rolled on : there was the same increase in liberality,
and at the end of the next ten years the average income
was £40,000. In ten more years the income averaged
£70,000; and now upwards of£loo,ooo had been announced
as the resources of the Church Missionary Society for the
present. ;Much applause.) In all this we saw distinct evi-
_

dente of God's blessing; and when the principle of-de
suciety was so committed to the regards of the Christian
public. that they would give liberally of their substance
to make known " the way of salvation," we might safely
arrive at the conclusion that it must be deep in men's
convictions. (Hear.) Aud when we considered the times
in which all this had been done, it must be admitted that
they were of a very remarkable character. The society
started into being abcut the commencement of the pre-
sent century, when the whole world was convulsed ; it
was in that memorable year when our colonies were
threatened by the gigantic ambition of Napoleon—when,
as first consul of France, he sought to bring destruction
upon the British empire by annihilating our greatest co-
lony in the East. Look, too, to the character of those
years in which the society had so largely increased her
income. Take the first fifteen years; the period from 1801
to 1815. It was a time of great perplexity, of disorder, of
incessantstruggle. Duringthose years England maintained
the mosttremendous conflict, that perhaps anycountry ever
maintained, against the world; but during the whole of
that period she augmented her contributions to God's most
sacred cause, proving that the people were deeply im-
bued with christianity, and that they were resolved that
no national triumph, end no political perplexity should
stand between them and the duty they owed to their God.
(Cheers.) The period from 1815 to 1825 was marked by
deep commercial perplexity : the country, at the end of
that period, stood upon the edge, not of military disaster,
but of mercantile destruction. It was even proclaimed
that the Bank of England was within three days of bank-
ruptcy. Yet, notwithstanding all this, the christians of
England never relaxed their efforts ; they continued
pouring forth their funds into the coffers of the society.
(Hear.) Let him now calculate the success which had
attended the labours of the society by another process.
Look at the place which the society now occupied in the
public estimation. There was a time when it was frowned
down upon by the great ones of the land. At the com-
mencement of her career she had no noble patronage, no
episcopal assistance ; she leant upon the feeble of the land
in one sense, but the power of the land in the other
sense, she leant upon the poor of England—the poor
in means but rich in faith. (Hear.) She threw herself
upon those who could only bring pence into her coffers, but
those who gave their prayers along with their efforts.
(Cheers.) • And this was the right course. She declared
that her strength was not in dependence upon an arm of
flesh, hut in the promises of the Lord. She therefore
carried on her work in the spirit of faith ; and look at the
position she now commanded. (Hear.) The time of
suspicion, of doubt, and of timidity had passed away ;
those who once held back felt it now a distinction
to have their names written upon her books. (Hear,
hear.) The nobles of the land recommended her
claims; the bishops, who had held aloof, until after cau-
tious and deliberate enquiry, gave to the society the high
sanction of their venerable patronage. All this shewed
that the society had gained public confidence. (Hear.)
The success of the labours of the society might also be
collected from the vast extent of those labours. There
was a time when her expectations were very small. She
took to herself a small little at first, " the Missionary
Society to Africa;" sbe purchased a territory of some
ten miles square, but she had lived to take a larger name
and a greater field. She then called'herself the Mission-
ary Society to Africa and the East, but that was not the
full extent of her operations, fur her progress had been as
gigantic as that of our own empire. By a strange provi-
dence, indeed by an almost irresistible fatality, greatness
had been heaped upon England. She had been compelled
to take possession of countries that the ambition of our
statesmen never intended to place beneath the British
crown. Our soldiers had, by strange circumstances, been
forced into lands into which they had not the most dis-
tant intention of entering ; our fleets had been called to
act against shores, against which it was never intended to
bring to bear the thunder of British artillery. So, we
found God placing-Britain as a sort of Queen among the
nations, and Britain almost compelled to take the empire
of the world upon herself. The Church Missionary So-
ciety was equally extending herself. Whether we looked
at India, China, the West Indies, or Canada, in the Pa-
cific, in New Zealand—in all those regions the society had
established the banner of Christ ; and taken up a portion
which 45 years since the founder of it would never have
dreamt of taking. In all this therewas evidecce which made
us believe that" the Lord is with us." Success had been
stamped upon all these proceedings, but let the meeting
look further and see the result of all these efforts. He
could point to parts of the world in which the society was
pursuing its operations, and tell them not of civilization
introduced but of Christianity established. He could
point to New Zealand, which ten years since was a land
of barbarians, with its large number of schools and 3,000
scholars, 22 stations, and rapidly increasing cumregations.
He could point to Hindostan. Respecting tuts country
he could refer to the testimony of the metropolitan in
India. Although Christianity there had not availed so as
to upset the superstitions of the Hindoos, yet it had in-
troduced a doubt respecting the institutions of Hindooisw,
which, after all was a preliminary step to final and
majestic success. Men, there, were asking themselves
this question, " What is truth?" In all probability
they would have to pass through a season of infidelity
before they could attain to the consummation of Chris-
tianity. It seemed, indeed, to be the plan of God's
dealing to make men first suspect their errors, and then
to embrace truth. In all probability this would be the
state of Hindostan, and in all probability it would also
be the same with the Church in Ireland. First of all the
Irish would begin to suspect the errors and superstitions
of Romanism ; then there would be a lapse into infidelity,
but in the midst of all there would be the materials of
truth—in the Church in Ireland, and in the Missionary
Society in Hindostan. (Hear.) He would now advert
to the second point noticed in the report, viz., the difficul-
ties which embarrassed the Society, and stood in the way
of perfect success. He believed that in many instances
they lay deeper than was commonly suspected. (Hear.)
He apprehended no embarrassment from a deficiency of
funds, or from a falling off of interest in the public mind,
hat difficulties of a more serious kind, difficulties which