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spectacle will be exhibited, that triumph for Sacraments of the Gospel, being such as must be won; and happy are they who are have grown, partly of the corrupt following the pioneers of its accomplishment, and of the apostles, partly are states of life while many are yet withholding their aid, allowed in the Scriptures; but yet have not are banded together to promote it. like nature of sacraments, with Baptism and If, my friends, it be questioned whether in the Lord's Supper, for that they have not this union of so many men of many minds any visible sign or ceremony ordained of there may not be various errors inculcated, God." In that we shall all agree; but this I must confess that it is not impossible, when teacher further tells us," This Article does I see what errors are taught in this day. It not deny the five rites in question to be is very possible that some of those humble sacraments, but to be sacraments in the sense agents who are engaged in this work may in which baptism and the Lord's Supper are fall into error; for we see that errors are sacraments; sacraments of the Gospel,' taught in the present day. The pamphlet sacraments with an outward sign ordained which I hold in my hand recites the Twenty- of God. They are not sacraments in any second Article of the Church of England, which you will permit me to read for your improvement," The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardons, worshipping and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God." In that we all doubtless agree. But here is a comment upon this Article, as follows:-"There was a primitive doctrine, whatever its merits, concerning the fire of judgment, which is a possible or a probable opinion, and is not condemned. That doctrine is this: that the conflagration of the world, or the flames which attend the Judge, will be an ordeal through which all men will pass; that great saints, such as St. Mary, will pass it unharmed; that others will suffer loss; but none will fail under it who are built upon the right foundation. Here is one purgatorian doctrine not 'Romish.' Another doctrine, purgatorian, but not Romish,' is that said to be maintained by the Greeks at Florence, in which the cleansing, though a punishment, was but a pœna damni, not a poena sensûs; not a positive sensible infliction, much less the torment of fire, but the absence of God's presence. And another purgatory is that in which the cleansing is but a progressive sanctification, and has no pain at all. None of these doctrines does the Article condemn; any of them may be held by the AngloCatholic as a matter of private belief; not that they are here advocated, one or other, but they are adduced as an illustration of what the Article does not mean, and to vindicate our Christian liberty in a matter where the Church has not confined it." I can conceive, because I have the testimony of my senses to the fact, that such doctrines may be taught in our day; I cannot deny that there may be some other similar doctrines taught. Let me read to you the Twenty-fifth Article:-" Those five, commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted

sense, unless the Church has the power of dispensing grace through rites of its own appointing, or is endued with the gift of blessing and hallowing the 'rites or ceremonies' which, according to the Twentieth Article, it hath power to decree.' But we may well believe that the Church has this gift." Now, Sir, if our missionaries were to preach such doctrines as these, I for one should have very little hope that this Society could do any good. But these are taught by our missionaries; they are taught by those who are regularly ordained. And consequently, although I cannot deny, that in a large body of agents devoting themselves to this good work some errors may creep in (though there is as good a provision perhaps for preventing it as could be formed), yet still I wonder in my conscience, that those who know, from the facts which are presented to us daily, how they who have the most regular ordination can follow their own fancies so far from the Word of God, should withhold their efforts in aid of an Institution like this, because there is a possibility that errors far less noxious, far less likely to lead the soul astray from God, may be imbibed by some few of these numerous agents. Let it be borne in mind, that they are examined by a Committee, who are themselves men of faith and prayer; let it be borne in mind, that there are ministers of various denominations, who make it their office to examine their doctrine and their spirit; let it be borne in mind, that this provision is made to prevent such error creeping in, and that now, by the blessing of God, some years have passed over the head of this Society, and many souls have been added to the Church of Christ, and no such errors have crept in, and no such errors (at least as far as we know) have even been charged upon the humble, but useful agents, who are engaged in this work. Surely, if technical objections to our Institution may lead some to wish that a different one had been formed, we may at least well continue these efforts until the evils exist which are so anticipated and condemned.

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SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

Not, then, hitherto, Sir, from the union of many men of many minds in this good work have any real evils sprung up. But it is far from sufficient to defend the Society on this ground. It is its glory. It is one of the great wants of the Christian Church in this day. And again and again, whenever I have the opportunity of speaking to my fellow Christians, I would tell them, that the plain command of Christ is, that his people should be united in faith and love, and that they have never yet been so united as to do his work in the earth. We must seek for more of that spirit of unanimity, than ever has yet been attained. Is it practicable by coercion ? Again and again this has been asked, and never answered; and we must ask it again and again, till it is answered. Is it practicable by coercion? Is it practicable by any authority, that such doctrines as those I have adduced can ever absorb all the objections to our system of my good friend on the right?* Is it practicable, that he, and all who think with him, will be absorbed into our system by doctrines such as those? And if, as far as such doctrines are concerned, we are farther off from union than ever-if it becomes more palpably and undeniably clear, that it is impracticable by that old and almost decayed road of coercion-why not try the way of common sense? Why not leave men to have their own views on disputed and obscure points? Why not lay hold with our whole heart of those great truths which no Christian man denies? Why not make that the nucleus, around which all that is wise and good in the world may rally, to carry on the mortal strife against all the real foes of human happiness-against the real mischiefs which we so perversely overlook, in pursuing the several objects that we have in view?

To me, Sir, it appears that the combina tion of so many in a good work, the object of which no one questions to be good, ought to combine men of every name in our support. Surely those that are most familiar with the state of the poorer classes, ought to be attracted-I should almost say, charmed-into conjunction with our efforts, by knowing that there is nothing else that acts upon their minds, and that this comes into contact with them upon so many points. Surely, the merchants, and the wealthy men, and the manufacturers of this land, ought to lend their aid in this good work, when they know that it is calculated to make those classes, whom they pronounce to be dangerous to the welfare of our country, most certainly its glory and its strength. And indeed I should not complain of their want of aid at least in some places; for though the 2,000,000 of the metropolis maintain but fifty-two mission

* Dr. Leifchild.

aries, the 300,000 of Manchester and Salford maintain fifty-one; and therefore the manufacturers are not all sluggish; and they who know the wants of their fellow-men, do sometimes manifest considerable zeal for their instruction. But not only should the wealthier classes feel this to be their duty and their happiness: I think we may fairly ask that every statesman, who professes to be enlightened, should aid in a work like this. What is it that embarrasses the statesman of our day? what is the chief difficulty that meets him at every point? It is the religious factions of our country. And if he sees a set of Christian men combined, not to remove those discrepancies of opinion which it is not their province to attack, but to soothe down the asperities which arise out of those discrepancies, and to make the great population of this mighty empire one in spirit and in heart; he should hail it as the best ally of government, and as the harbinger of all those improvements which he wishes to introduce among the population. Nay, more: whoever looks with a serious eye upon the condition of our fellow-men, whatever be his creed in politics, whatever the opinions he wishes to prevail, must find, I should have thought, that here is the proper resting-place of his heart, when he would seek for that which shall benefit his fellow-men. I can conceive of the manufacturer at Manchester, and the master in the cotton districts, eager to give to those whom they employ, cheap bread and cheap sugar, and zealously combined for this object; but I would ask them all, whether, when they have given them such benefits as these, and employment and wages to those who are starving, they can secure in that competence industry and sobriety, whether they can secure that the husband shall love his wife, and the parent be fond of his child, and neighbours be friendly and united? Can they guard them against those visionary theories that prevail in politics and in morals too? They know they cannot. Although employment may bring multitudes of blessings to the poorer population, it is nothing but piety that can make us a happy people. It is nothing but piety that can point to such trophies as we have heard of to-day, where happiness has been introduced into the bosom of families that were miserable, not alone because they were starving, but because they were ungodly. Oh! why should not this be the policy of every patriot, of every philanthropist, of every man who wishes to see his species made more happy, or even less unhappy?—to direct his steady efforts to make men "wise unto salvation," to lead them to submit their unbridled wills to the law of God, their ungodly pride to the humiliation that acknowledges its dependence upon the cross, and all their

passions to that mild sceptre which gives men peace on earth, and introduces them to bliss in heaven.

But if this Institution and its object must still be doomed to neglect from the wealthier and the great, I am sure of this, that it commends itself to every Christian heart just in proportion as that person becomes acquainted with its objects. And on this I ground my own hopes for its future success. Its facts speak irresistibly to every Christian_mind. Its facts have an eloquence which makes no other needed, and which surpasses all the rest. There is no other argument wanted, but just the crowd of the unhappy and the vicious reclaimed to order and to peace. This, as my Rev. Friend has said, is the grand argument which will prevail with a spiritual mind. And in proportion as spirituality prevails in this community, I cannot hesitate to predict, with the certainty of a moral axiom, that your friends must multiply, that the zeal manifested in your cause must still increase, that difficulties will not be answered, but swept away-the march of improvement will leave nothing for the enemy to say against you. And if you act in the spirit in which the enterprise has been begun, I do not doubt, my friends and fellow-countrymen, that God will signally honour these efforts, to the conversion of numbers and the multiplication of your own blessings.

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The Rev. RIDLEY HERSCHELL, Author of the letter lately circulated by the Mission, to the "Children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and himself a Christianized member of the Jewish nation. Mr. Chairman, I beg to second this Resolution. I have always felt a deep interest in the London City Mission; but I can now look with the greatest confidence and perfect certainty at an additional reason why we may expect God's blessing to rest upon this Society. Let it not appear Jewish prejudice, or mere partiality of feeling; but certainly I can say, with those of old who were mourning in Babylon, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." I dare not forget my own kindred, my own brethren according to the flesh; I dare not in any way neglect them. And I feel, therefore, thankful to God, yea, and I believe fully that many of my brethren feel thankful to God for the efforts-the blessed efforts of the City Mission on their behalf. Many, I know, have wished to benefit the Jews, and knew not how. The first thing for one who would benefit others certainly is, to possess within his own breast the love of Jesus that constraineth him; but I feel thankful that this Society has undertaken, in so simple a way, to stir up the minds of my poor benighted brethren. I am fully persuaded, from my own feelings, that this indirect way of proceeding is far more likely

VOL. VI.

to be effectual, than any thing that has been undertaken for them in this great metropolis. I know that it is making a considerable stir among them; I know that numbers among them are really willing to listen to the Word of truth,-thousands, yea, many thousands of them, who live in this vast city in the greatest poverty and distress, and who never heard the word of instruction in any way. This, indeed, Sir, is one of the great "irregularities," that a Gentile should go to teach the Jews to know the God of their fathers. It is a great "irregularity;" blessed be God for it! But while so much has been said about irregularity, I feel thankful that so many priests are engaged in this work. For Peter, himself a Jew, and very much prejudiced against any thing that was irregular, and who clung to the priesthood as long as he could, when he beheld at the right hand of God, Him who is the High Priest, the Melchisedec Peter then addressed, not a certain order of men, but all the believing brethren, and said, "Ye are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." They were all made the priests of God, anointed with the Holy Ghost from on high; and wherever they went, they delighted to tell what the Lord had done for their souls in sending the Messiah.

God said, when he placed the Jews in their own land, "The poor shall never cease out of the land." And why not? In order that Divine or godlike benevolence might be manifested towards them by those who had possessions; that God might give the opportunity to poor sinful men to be his almoners unto their fellow-creatures. It was a blessed opportunity; and for this reason the princes in Israel were called the benevolent ones-the liberal ones-the bountiful ones. This was their dignity, this their nobility. And the "spiritual sacrifice," which we, as anointed and ordained priests, are to offer to the Lord, is to attend to the poor and the destitute. The priests at Jerusalem were not to live for themselves; every Levite was to feel that he was a burden-bearer for all Israel, and every one in distress had a right to claim his sympathy. This was the glory of their office,-to stoop down to the poor leper, who could not be visited by father or mother, husband or wife. And we, as believers in Christ, are to "offer up spiritual sacrifices;" even the ordinary gifts and benevolent contributions being an offering "of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God;" not that the money itself is anything but as manifesting the inward charity of the heart.

I am thankful, then, and thank my God. in your hearing, that he has stirred up this Society to consider the state not only of the destitute in this metropolis of the Gentiles,

I

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SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

but of my poor brethren. Numbers of them are flocking hither, and every year the increase of them here is great; and those with whom they come first in contact are not the spiritual, but the most depraved and destitute. They see Christians who are debased and degraded, just what they have been taught from childhood that the Christian religion makes men to be. It is a great blessing, therefore, even if nothing is addressed to them personally, that they should see that there are Christian men going about among these heathens who are called Christians, and telling them of the error of their ways, showing that sincere Christians do not sanction vice and immorality. The great stumbling-block in the way of many of my brethren, in various parts of the Continent, is the ungodliness of those who are called Christians.

God, and seeking not their own, but his glory.
God hasten this day! Amen.

The Hon. and Rev. BAPTIST W. NOEL.
I omitted to state, Sir, the contents of two
letters which have been put into my hands.
One gentleman undertakes to maintain a mis-
sionary for two years at 651. per annum; and
another will be responsible for half the ex-
pense of a missionary on the district to which
I referred, if any others (through the Secre-
taries) will agree to contribute or collect the
other half. Without mentioning their names
I was requested to state this, in the hope that
their liberality will not be without imitators in
this assembly. Some gentlemen also take so
much interest in the state of the poor around
us, as to visit with the missionaries from house
to house, and they have not found it without
benefit and blessing to their own souls.
The CHAIRMAN put the Resolution to the
Meeting; it was carried unanimously.

I thank God that a great and deep feeling of affection is raised up in the hearts of Jews The Rev. PETER LORIMER, Minister of towards the people of this land, on account the Scotch Church, Islington.-I cheerfully of the sympathy manifested towards them rise to move,-"That the thanks of this Meetwhen the late persecution took place at ing be given to the Treasurer, Sub-Treasurer, Damascus. I have been on the Continent Clerical Examiners, the Committee, and other since, and the very mention of my coming office-bearers, for their valuable services during from England gave me an introduction the past year; and that the following clergyeverywhere. Many of the rabbies have men, ministers, and gentlemen [names read], actually become acquainted with the English be the office-bearers, for the year ensuing." language from the interest they feel in The Resolution might more appropriately England, and they know the names of the have been moved by some one else, for I most benevolent advocates of their cause in have the privilege to be one of the England. The Jews that come here expect Clerical Examiners referred to; but it a manifestation of Christianity that they was wished that I should take some part have not seen abroad, and it is a blessing in this day's proceedings, to show that that though this land has shared in the per- ministers of all Evangelical denominations are secution of my brethren, and in the attempt to interested in this Institution. The Church of proselyte them with the sword, and spear, and Scotland is using every exertion to diffuse the burning flame, yet in these latter days there light of the Gospel among all classes; and she are many, many that remember the stones of may well expect that her ministers, wherever Zion, and that do feel an interest for the cause located, should follow her example. I have, of Israel. I know that many can say Amen, therefore taken a deep interest in this Instituto the intercessory prayer of the Prophet tion, ever since Providence brought me to this Isaiah, personifying the Saviour, "For Zion's city; and every year its claims to my support sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jeru- seem to gather strength. It is doing a right salem's sake I will not rest, until the righte- work, and doing it upon a right principle-the ousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the principle of combining the prayers and exersalvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." tions of all who love Christ; the principle Oh! that the time would speedily come when that laymen as well as clergy are to be centres "the bringing in of Israel shall be as life from of light and healing to their neighbourhoods; the dead," when all the nations of the earth the principle that the simple Gospel of Christ, shall behold the salvation of God, and when by whomsoever made known, is the power of shall be verified what King David sang in the God unto salvation;" the principle that every forty-seventh Psalm—“Oh! shake hands" thing is to be hoped for from efforts like (so it is in the original), "all ye people;" these, conducted in a spirit of fervent prayer unite in fellowship and brotherhood. Oh! and humble dependence upon the Holy Ghost. that the time might speedily come when all This Institution is prominently the friend of nations, Jews and Gentiles, having Jesus, and the poor man in London, (I rejoice to say, not him alone, as the centre of their brotherhood his only friend, but certainly one of the best and union, and influenced by the Holy Ghost, friends he has,) but it is also the friend of the and him alone, shall thus be united and re- rich; it is the friend of the Jew as well as of joice together, having one eye to the glory of the Gentile; it is the friend of all who are

living in error and in sin, while it is the champion of the Gospel against the error, and the declared enemy of all sin. It looks with a comprehensive eye of charity athwart the vast population of this mighty city, and stands forth as the religious friend of all. There is at its centre, you may well believe, a vigorous intellect at work and an extensive spirit of charity, to have rendered to the community the services it has; and I cannot but think, that it is destined to be one of the great moral and spiritual guardians of the teeming multitudes around us. Will you allow it to become languid and weak? Is the decrease of missionaries to go on? Let us resolve that it shall not. If it is, as has been said, a tower of light, let not the light expire, but kindle it brighter and brighter. If it is a fountain of life and healing, let not the fountain become dry, but be filled fuller and fuller. If it is a tree planted by Christian love, let us water it with our prayers and cherish it with our sympathy, that, by the blessing of God, it may reach a prouder stature, and may spread its branches wider, and yield more abundant fruit to those who live under its shadow.

that this

"Do you come from the incumbent? have
you his sanction to make this application to
us? have you read our rule,
Society never obtrudes its aid?"" Oh! how
I lament such an unchristian expression
occurring in the rules of that most admirable
Society-"never obtrudes its aid!" I love
this Society, because it obtrudes and intrudes
its aid everywhere. Its assistance is needed
every where; and every where is it ready to give
its assistance, within the local limits of this
large metropolis. Now I could not have
taken upon myself to say that the Rector sent
me, or would have approved of my going
there; and therefore I should not have fared
much better with the Church Pastoral-Aid
Society. What then was I to do? There
was no other resource but to make applica-
tion to the Committee of this Society. And
my application was immediately attended to;
this Society sent an agent even before we
had collected the funds necessary for the
payment of his salary, and sent one of its
respectable Secretaries, (if I were speaking
according to the dialect of Oxford, I must
call him its Lay-Secretary; but I am happy to
call him one of its Reverend Secretaries,) and
he had the kindness to draw up rules for
myself and a few friends, and form us into a
Society, giving us the benefit of his advice
and his prayers, and enlarging our views
considerably, so that we took in a very large
slice of the whole parish. Am I not, then,
under great personal obligations to this
Society?

E. V. SIDEBOTTOM, Esq.-In seconding this Resolution, I must, in consequence of the claims of this Society upon me personally, break through a very good resolution of mine -never to open my lips in a public assembly. The subject of the Resolution is gratitude; and I must express my own. I do not speak from a spirit of egotism, though I must use that ugly letter, "I," more than once in what I have to say. When I went, about a year and a half ago, to reside at the north-west corner of the vast parish of Marylebone, I of course felt some wish to become acquainted with my poor neighbours; and a large neighbourhood I found of that description. willeth not the death of a sinner, but that visited some of their miserable habitations, all should come to repentance." Is there and I found that there was a vast mass of any thing in my being a member of two great ignorance, and sin, and consequent wretched- Church Societies, the Church Missionary ness around me. Now what was I, as a Society and the Church Pastoral-Aid Society, member of the Church of England, to do? to render it inconsistent in me to join this Why, perhaps, it will be said, that I ought to Society or solicit its assistance? Why, as a have applied to the incumbent, the person member of the Committee of the Church invested with ecclesiastical authority in the Missionary Society, was it not to be supposed parish. I knew him to be a very zealous that I should have caught a little of a misman for his own Church; but how would he sionary spirit, and that if I wished to send have received me? He would say, "I should the blessed Gospel to the Antipodes, I should advise you to get all these people to attend not neglect the heathen living next to my the parish church, or the district places of own house? And then, as to the Church worship affiliated to it." Why, I must have Pastoral-Aid Society, the objects of that answered, "That is very much like catching Society, are precisely the same as your own; birds by putting salt upon their tails; how but supposing that it should please God to am I to get them to go there?" And then, I crown the labours of that Society with the suppose, the colloquy would have ended, by utmost success it could expect; supposing the Reverend Rector's servant showing me the that they were in a situation to send men door. Had I applied to the Church Pastoral- and money into every parish in England, what Aid Society, of which I am a member, and would be the consequence? They could not was once (very unworthily on the Com-expect to have more than half the incumbents mittee, what would they have said? Why,favourable to them, and permitting them to

Is there any thing to prevent me, as a member of the Church of England, from joining this Society? I take the true principle of the Church of England to be that of the great Founder of all true Churches, who I

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