The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-24 00:00:00

her right's or her privileges, bat as a religious benefactress,
scattering the seeds of divine truth over the habitations of the
globe, and sending forth her Christian ministers to preach
among the heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ.
(Cheers.) It had been said by an eloquent advocate of mis-
sions, though not in connection with the missionary subject,
that the more we multiplied and diffused ourselves for great
objects of benevolence, the more we guarded against the ex-
cuses and palliations which usually were in our power. Per-
haps nothing was more true, and he believed that the more
we extended and multiplied ourselves for sacred objects the
more we guarded against the acrimonies that embittered and
met us in the course of life. He knew, indeed, of no field of
exertion more sacred than that which was the object of this
society ; and if it were true (and no man could doubt it) of
those who remain ignorant of that truth, if the silence of na-
ture had not been broken, that there is joy in heaven over
one

sinner, what enjoyment could be more important, or
more eloquent or safe, than the undertaking in which they
were that morning engaged? (Cheers.) The result of efforts
of this kind would flow on concurrent with ourselves through
all eternity ; but our connection with both exertions and re-
sults in time would be short, and ouropportunities of coming
forward to assist in them must be most uncertain. Mr.
HodgsOn concluded by moving the first resolution, to the effect
that the report read to the meeting be adopted and circu-
lated under the direction of the committee, and that the com-
mittee be re-appointed.

The Rev. F. OWEN, one of the deputation from the
parent society, seconded the resolution, and said he had not
risen so much to make a speech as in the way of a witness to
give some testimony upon the state of the heathen world. It
had been his lot, under Divine Providence, to visit a portion
of it, and to return to his native counrty again, with the
view, he trusted, of stirring up in the minds, if it were of but
a few individuals, a sense of the perishing condition of the
heathen. Yet it was but a small portion of the heathen
world which it had been his lot to visit. The population of
Southern Africa was exceedingly thin, there being, perhaps
in the whole of it, not more than half a million of people.
Among the Caffre tribes whom he journeyed through, there
were about 70,000, or 100,000: the tribe to which he was
sent as a missionary, the Zooloos, contained about 50,000 ;
and after the abandonment of this mission (of which he
might have an opportunity to give some account,) he went
into the interior of Southern Africa, to the northward of the
colony of the Cape of Good Hope, where there was a scat-
tered population over an immense extent of country, within
the reach of Europeans, of perhaps not more than 100,000,
if so many. Perhaps one might be disposed to say that
the population of Southern Africa being so exceedingly
thin,' she had not so great a claim upon our benevo-
lence as other countries where the population was so
much greater. Yet it seemed to him, and he was im-
pressed with the conviction, that the circumstance of the thin-
ness of the population of the south of Africa, was a reason
why we should more abundantly commisserate the heathens
there, who were walking in darkness. (Hear.) Especially
when we considered to what the thinness of the population
was owing, and the reason why there were immense tracts of
country wholly without inhabitants, through which, indeed,
he had travelled from day to day, and week to week, without
meeting a single soul. What was the reason of this ? It was
crime that thinned the country of its inhabitants. It was not
that the country was unable to support the population, be-
cause in some parts it was very fertile ; but it was crime which
had emptied the country of its inhabitants. And what was
the crime owing to? It was owing to the circumstance that
the heathens of that country were not acquainted with the
grounds of moral responsibility—because they were unac-
quainted with the first principles of religion ; because they
were ignorant of the being of a God, and did not acknow-
ledge the doctrine of a Providence, or the superintendence
of an invisible Being over the affairs of men, nor believe in
a future state of rewards and punishments. (Hear, hear.)
This being the case, we could easily comprehend how there
could be no restraint to crime—how the passions of men,
being uncontrolled by religion, must break forth and produce
the most disastrous effects ; and the consequence of this had
been, that nation had risen up against nation, tribe against
tribe. They had, by their weakness and their injustice, pro-
voked Europeans to attack them ; and the effect had been,
that society could not in that country hold together, the very
bonds of society were dissolved, and society itself melted
away. This was the reason why there were in that country
so few inhabitants ; and it appeared to him that this was the
reason why we should more abundantly commiserate these
wretched persons. (Hear, hear.) He believed the object
of the committee, in requesting him to attend this anniver-
sary, was, that he should give some account of what he had
seen with his eyes, and some of the details of the mission,
the unprosperous mission, to the Zooloos. He would remind
the meeting that, although be had retired from the mission-
ary work, it was not because he himself had turned his back
upon it, but because he was not supported in his sphere of
labour by the society which had sent him out, and which
could no-longer support him because they were not helped
by the funds of the Christian public. (Hear, hear.) After
the abandonment of the Zooloo mission, and having encoun-
tered great difficulties and perils for a year or two, he could
have returned to the quiet labours of his own country, but
he went to another part of Southern Africa, to the north of
the Cape of Good Hope, where he would have laboured to
this day bad the Church Missionary Society been able to
support him there. It was the Zooloo mission, however,
which was more properly the mission of the Church Mis-
sionary Society. They did not assist him in the Bettuanah
country. He went thither upon his own suggestion; but
when the society received the tidings of his departure to that
country, they felt they were not able to carry on a mission in
that remote region, although there were circumstances which
rendered it peculiarly favourable to missionary enterprise,
and it would have opened a way into the very interior of
Africa; for beyond that particular place were innumerable
tribes which had not been explored, and who would, from all
accounts, be willing to receive missionaries among them.
But as he had said before, it was the Zooloo mission which
was the mission of the Church Missionary Society, and with
which the attention of the meeting must be principally en-
gaged. He sailed to that country about five years ago, along
with his friend Capt. Gardner; and having travelled through
the tribes of Caffre land, and a large extent of uninhabited
country beyond, he arrived at the south-east coast of Africa,
from whence he went upon a visit to the Chief. The Chief
might be considered, if the place had no idol, as the great
idol of the nation. He was the object of their worship :
they felt accountable to none but to him ; and the posture in
which they approached him was the posture of worship. They
used terms towards him applicable to no human being ; they
talked of him as if he had neither beginning of days nor end
of years; and they ascribe immortality to him. When he
gave, as was customary, food to eat to the people who live in
the town where he resides—when the meat was cut up and
distributed among the people, they were accustomed, in their
way of exclamation, to send out his praises in these terms—
"Thou that art greater than the heavens." Many other
terms of flattery they were in the habit of applying to him.
This chief allowed him (Mr. Owen) to reside in a hut which
he built for him in his own neighbourhood, about a mile from
the town, in view also of a hill upon which criminals were
wont to be executed for the most trifling crimes. On this
spot he remained for four months, beholding from time to
time—every morning almost—criminals dragged thither
and butchered in the most summary way, being knocked
with huge knobsticks upon their heads, and so instantly
murdered. It was not possible for him to carry on the mis-
sionary work there with much success on account of the
hostility which this tyrannical chief showed to the word of
God. It seemed indeed as if he could not endure to hear of
another being greater than himself ; it seemed as if he could
not endure that his people should be instructed that there
was another being whom they were to serve and regard
above him, for when he (Mr. Owen) spoke to him and his
people of God, it plainly appeared they had no conception
of the spiritual essence of that Being, to whom be glory, for
ever. (Hear.) Although by his questions to him (Mr.
Owen), and his own answers thereto, he shewed that he con-
sidered he was himself some deceased chief of the white peo-
ple. According to his own ideas, they have a way of vene-
rating and worshipping the spirits of their ancestors, and
particularly the spirits of their chiefs, to whom they offer
propitiatary sacrifices, which spirits they suppose to exist after
death. When, therefore, he spoke to them concerning a
spiritual being, the creator and governor of all the world, the
chief supposed he was talking to him of some deceased king of
England; and when he enumerated to him the list of kings and
queens of England, from William the Conqueror, he asked
which of them were our Gods. (Hear.) Where the mind, there-
fore, was without religion, and it did not know the grounds
upon which moral responsibility rested, there was no knowing
to what extent their evil passions might carry them. This
was the case with the king in whose dominions he lived ; he
was a tyrant ; he acted according to his own will and fancy ;
he was not restrained by any moral or religious considerations
from putting any of his subjects to death whom he suspected,
or whose cattle he desired to obtain, upon the slightest pre-
tence, either by public prosecution, or otherwise by secret
assassination. He was the only being to whom his subjects
looked up to with any reverence. They had, indeed, no no-
tion of any being superior to him, and thus they were desti-
tute of all the spirit of liberty. He might have another op-
portunity of giving a detailed account of the actions and
manners of this cruel heathen king, which might not only
interest, but shew what a miserable and unhappy creature man
is without religion, when he is left to his own evil passions.
He felt, however, that he could not at that time, addressing
them at the early part of the meeting, when so many of his
rev. brethren were waiting to speak. He should at the follow-
ing meeting bring before them, on the part of the Church Mis-
sionary Society, the general state of the heathen, and give a
further account of his mission to the Zoloos ; but at present
he should sit down by seconding the resolution.
The resolution was then carried unanimously.

The Rev. Tuouns NOLAN said that, by the arrangements
for the meeting, he found himself privileged to introduce the
next resolution :

" That the success which it has pleased God to vouchsafe
to the labours of our missionaries during the past year, espe-
cially in Western Africa, India, and New Zealand, calls for
devout thankfulness and renewed prayer that the Lord of the
Harvest would continue to own this society in gathering souls
from among the heathen."
To every true Christian the terms of the resolution affirmed
only what he acknowledged at once to be an obvious duty,
and felt, in the discharge of it, to be an exceeding great and
happy privilege—to offer prayer and to render thanks. It was
a good and pleasant thing to give thanks. The heart that is
constrained, by an abiding sense of mercies past, to praise
and bless the Lord for his goodness and the wonders that he
doeth for the children of men, is the most likely to engage
again with cheerfulness and vigour—the best elements of
success—in fresh efforts of practical benevolence and active
love. So that the f
this resolution, whilea mof mind, implied in the spirit of
itis the only becoming one for the
Christian, is unquestionably the best also for the interests of
the cause which he seeks to advance. A spring of latent
energy is detected, a fountain of exhaustless hope is opened,
an ardour is awakened in the mind, duly thankful for the
past, and humbly trustful as retards the future, that will
neither be deterred by difficulty, by delay, nor even
defeated by disappointment, ina'smucheodas the cause to which
they are devoted must needs be a good one, and the zeal
thus tempered must certainly be accordingto knowledge.
When the uncertain future is contemplated through the
prayer of faith, the buoyancy, excessive perhaps, of hope is
tempered, that might arise from a remembrance of former
success ;
and, as the tide of pious thankfulneasscl'sbrred out
for that success, new energies are enlisted, b
ai.holy resolves are formed, the harbingers, under
be
undegr
tdbboakdw,eiotlfi,
renewed and increased triumphs again. i
was the great principle of missionary enterprise, as well as
the great secret of missionary success. Believing it to be
sound and scriptural, he give it an bumble but most cordial
support. The Church Missionary Society went forth in
obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus, " Go ye unto
all nations and make Christians of them," nor would it cease
from its labour of love so long as that command was uncan-
celled ; and certainly they could not for a moment doubt of
eventual success, so long as the accompanying promise was
unrecalled, " Lo, I am with you always even to the end of
the world." Without further trespassing on the time and in-
dulgence of the meeting, he begged leave to propose the re-
solution.
Mr. JOHN HOWARD seconded the resolution, and in the
course of his observations, he stated that some years ago, a
gentleman, a friend of his from York, named Graham, on
hearing that' Liverpool only then contributed £BOO per
annum to the Church Missionary Society, said he was as-
tonished at it, especially as the little town of York, with a
population not exceeding 30,000, remitted £lOOO, whilst
Liverpool, with 200,000 inhabitants, sent only £BOO. Mr.
Graham threw out the hint, and it was not without its use,
for the contribution eventually reached £2OOO. This cir-
cumstance showed that Liverpool only wanted to be stirred
up in order to do more ; and the, best argument to address
to her on the subject was the word of God,
expressed in
the command of our Saviour, " Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature, for there is joy in
heaven over every sinner that repenteth." (Hear, hear.)
The resolution was then unanimously carried.
The Rev. A. It. C. DALLAS proposed the next resolu-