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father, too, who has had no small share of missionary toil, yet both can say, We ask no higher honour for our sons than that to them should "this grace be given, that they should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Fathers and mothers who seek civil or military appointments for their sons love them, and many a heart aches and many a tear falls at parting-nevertheless they go; and surely the fathers and mothers in Israel will not be less willing to give up their sons for the glory of God and the benefit of more than 400,000,000 of immortal beings devoted to idolatry, but open to Christian instruction. What, then, is to hinder high-minded, warmhearted, enterprising young men from saying, "Here, Lord, am I; send me?"

Oh! my dear young friends, let me beseech you, take this matter to heart; take it to your closet, think over it, pray over it, resolve over it. Think not for one moment I would urge any unqualified man to enter the missionary field. Oh! no; rather let it remain unoccupied than unfitted men be there. But why not be fitted? Natural talent is not wanting; education is not wanting; a spirit of enterprise is not wanting; and say not the Spirit of God is wanting, for here, surely, we may say, "If we have not, it is because we ask not." "He will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him." I might urge the claims of the heathen; I might tell you of young men, many of whom now are thirsting for knowledge which runs from purer springs than the puranahs and shasters of the Hindoos. I might tell you of fathers who, though they would tell you their daughters could not learn, would be proud for their sons to be taught by an Englishman. I might tell you of wives and mothers, unable longer to bear the miseries heaped upon them, putting an end to a life spent in degradation and turmoil. I might tell you of widows of six or seven years of age doomed to a life of shame and contempt; of all these I might speak, for I have seen them all. But I would rather point you to Him "whom not ha seen you love," but who, in so of this wide earth, is still

story of his great love

to millions. As

yet

"the heathen for

Satan, the arch

sits on his thre

exclaims,

whose right

has bid

every creature. Surely we need in these
days some Deborah to say, "Up, for this
is the day in which the Lord hath deli-
vered" (India and China) "into our
hands; is not the Lord gone out before
us?" "Tis true the contest may be
arduous, the conflict severe; but when
you see gathered around you even a little
band of converts from heathenism, you
will say,
"And what is our joy and our
crown? Are not ye, in the day of the
Lord Jesus?" and you will joyously
sing,

"And thou, dear Jesus, thou shalt wear
The glorious conqueror's crown;
And the poor laurels that we win
We'll cast before thy throne."

"Who is on the Lord's side, who?"
Islington, May 5.

RELIGION IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness. SIR, I have been about eighteen months in this colony; and, as Divine Providence does not seem to promise a long course for me, I am anxious that our churches in England should know something of the religious state of this land, and especially of the existence, condition, and proceedings of a sister church at Saint John's.

Distant and isolated churches, like this, must always suffer great disadvantages, because shut out from the friendly oversight, intercourse, and sympathy of Christians at home; but, unless their cir cumstances and labours are made kno they can never receive the attention aid which they require. When in Derbyshire, I knew but little colony, and of the congregation I now minister; and I am 1 that there prevails, among the Great Britain generally, great in reference the real four"

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auburban chapels.

ncluded, being at nd in the parish of nt professes to but he has, in with the parishes etually put down the population of the population of nsus of 1841, is stated as 67,889! writer intended to tensive parish, he en the number of will be found three stake is made in the population of ich the Table gives whereas, if it was neighbourhood, the Pield, and Lees ought Again, Saddleworth, writer supposes, but bordering on Lancaarish of Rochdale, is rits 16,829 inhabitree chapels-Delph, ead, each of which is

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interrupted by ill-health,-there would be others at hand to occupy his post. Feeling that, if we labour at all in this country, we should do so with zeal, and to the best purpose, I have applied to the Committee of the Colonial Missionary Society for aid, and have received a kind letter in reply. But, perhaps, the Editor of the CHRISTIAN WITNESS will also interest the public in the welfare of this church and this colony. The simple fact of their attention being drawn toward us will be useful.

The CHRISTIAN WITNESS is regularly read by scores in Saint John's, and is highly approved. The number of subscribers for this year is double that for the last. The CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE has found its way here also. The Evangelical Magazine has fifteen or sixteen subscribers; and other periodicals are taken in various numbers. All this may seem small to you; but it is ground altogether unoccupied before, and is the beginning of greater things; for, "if the Lord will," we hope to extend your usefulness still more widely in this land. The people have not been in the habit of taking periodicals, especially religious ones; but it is gratifying to witness the pleasure with which my monthly parcel is expected and hailed by many. Hoping that your work, in every department, will prosper yet more and more, and that your useful life will be long continued. I remain, Dear Sir,

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writer came to this country; but in four months the people found themselves able to give at the rate of nearly double their offer, and he has received accordingly, reaping in worldly matters as God has prospered his work. He has four Bible-classes and one grammar-class, employs several distributors of loan tracts, and has formed a missionary association. Some of the first people of the colony belong to our congregation. We have here an open door, and the elements and means for great usefulness.

"One friend offers me to pay one-fifth part of the expense of a new sanctuary, estimated to cost £3000, if the old one can be sold. I expect two similar proposals, and smaller offers have been made, all without solicitation on my part.

"As to your periodical literature, a beginning only has been made, which has not been done by the Wesleyans or any other party here, owing to the distance. We have had only one parcel this year, for the harbour and the coast have been blocked up with ice; but this will show the contents of our monthly parcel:

42 Christian Witness.

36 Juvenile Missionary Magazine. 15 Evangelical Magazine.

12 Christian's Penny Magazine.
1 Congregational Magazine.
1 British Quarterly.

1 Teachers' Magazine.

"This work is altogether new here, and is a fair beginning; but books are lent about far more than in England, and your readers in St. John's are very numerous, though the purchasers may be comparatively few. If God spare us we shall do more for you, and perhaps you will do more for us."

This is a state of things which does great credit to the church at St. John's, and presents not only a shining example to other colonial churches, but strong encouragement to young ministers to go forth to those interesting spheres of evangelical labour. It is greatly to be wished that the attention of our junior pastors were seriously turned to the importance of the colonial field. What is wanted is, a body of hardy, adventurous, able, and somewhat experienced men, such as those already sent forth by the Colonial Missionary Society.

CHAPEL STATISTICS.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness. SIR,-In the WITNESS for May there is a statement made on this subject which is incorrect,* and calculated to make a wrong impression. Leeds had, it is said, four chapels in the year 1829, seven in 1841, and in 1845 they are again reduced to four. This is not the true state of the case. In the borough of Leeds (the population of which is given) there were in 1841 eight chapels, and there are still the same at the pre* I believe there is also an error both as regards Derby and York. In the former place there was not a second chapel till about three years ago; and in the latter city only a second chapel was built for the Rev. James Parsons, about nine years since.

sent time; that is, four in the township of Leeds, and one each in the neighbouring villages of Holbeck, Hunslet, Potternewton, and Wortley. In making this correction I wish to take the opportunity of saying that much remains to be done as to the building of chapels in a population which is increasing at the rate of twentythree per cent. We have in Leeds many denselypeopled localities, more especially in the eastern parts of it, where the wickedness and spiritual destitution is great, but where the means of counteracting it are comparatively few. The same remark applies to several populous villages of the neighbourhood, where no Congregational interest exists, the preaching of the gospel being supplied by other sections of the Christian church. How long this apathy and unconcern is to continue among us it is difficult to conjecture, but when we have less of the Puseyism of Dissent our laymen of enterprize, of talent, and of zeal, will be better encouraged to go forth into the highways and hedges as the pioneers and precursors of the settled pastorate and the established church, in the midst of the heathen at home.

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ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness. MY DEAR SIR,-I regret to find, on reading the CHRISTIAN WITNESS of the present month, that the Tables furnished by Statisticus are very far from being correct. Every one, of course, is aware that if such statistical documents are not founded on accurate data, the conclusions drawn from them will be erroneous, and therefore calculated to mislead the public, and prove worse than useless. The last Table especially is in several instances at variance with known facts, and ought not to pass without correction. Your correspondent gives the number of our chapels in Manchester at eighteen; whereas the Congregational Calendar for 1846, from which the information is professedly derived, gives only seventeen, and some of these are at such a distance from Manchester that they might properly

enough have been returned as suburban chapels. Middleton certainly cannot be included, being at a distance of several miles, and in the parish of Rochdale. Your correspondent professes to give the population of towns; but he has, in several cases, confounded that with the parishes and dependencies, and has actually put down the population of the latter as the population of the towns. Take Rochdale, the population of which, according to the census of 1841, is 24,091; but in the Table it is stated as 67,889 ! with only one chapel. If the writer intended to give the population of the extensive parish, he ought, in justice, to have given the number of chapels in the parish, which will be found three or four at least. A similar mistake is made in the case of Ashton-under-Lyne, the population of which is only 22,678, and which the Table gives 46,304, with one chapel; whereas, if it was intended to embrace the neighbourhood, the chapels at Stalybridge, Dukinfield, and Lees ought to have been included. Again, Saddleworth, which is not a town, as the writer supposes, but a district in Yorkshire, and bordering on Lancashire, and actually in the parish of Rochdale, is stated to have no chapel for its 16,829 inhabitants; whereas it has three chapels-Delph, Upper Mill, and Spring Head, each of which is given in the Calendar.

Whether the statements made in reference to the other towns and chapels mentioned in the Table are accurate or otherwise, I am not competent to determine; but I think you will agree with me that a correct list ought to appear in the WITNESS, in lieu of the very imperfect and erroneous one inserted in the last Number. Some one of your numerous and able correspondents will, it is to be hoped, undertake the work, and perform it in a manner to give satisfaction to the public and advance the interests of the denomination.

Sincerely wishing you continued and increasing success in your Editorial labours, as well as in the work of the ministry,

Believe me, my Dear Sir,
Yours very truly,

Ashton-under-Lyne, May 8, 1846.

JONATHAN SUTCLIFFE.

LIFE OF D'AUBIGNE.

BY REV. ROBERT BAIRD, D.D.

Biography.

JOHN HENRY MERLE was born in the city of Geneva, in the year 1794. Consequently he is little more than fifty years of age.

Although a Swiss by birth, he is of French origin. His family, like that of many of the inhabitants of Geneva, is descended from Huguenot ancestors, who were compelled to leave their native country because of their religion, and to take refuge in a city upon which one of

VOL. II.

their countrymen, John Calvin, had been the instrument, under God, of conferring the blessings of the Reformation.

The great-grandfather of the Rev. Dr. Merle D'Aubigne, on his paternal side, was John Louis Merle, of Nismes. About the epoch of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, this worthy man, who was a sincere Protestant, fled from his country, and took refuge in Switzerland, in order to enjoy the religious liberty which France, under the rule of Louis XIV., denied him.

His son, Francis Merle, married, in

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the year 1743, Elizabeth, the daughter of a Protestant nobleman, residing in Geneva, whose name was George D'Aubigne. Agreeably to a usage which exists at Geneva, and, I believe, in many other portions of Switzerland, by which a gentleman adds the name of his wife to his own, in order to distinguish him from other persons of the same name, Mr. Francis Merle appended that of D'Aubigne to his own, and was known as Francis Merle D'Aubigne. Since his day, the family have retained the name of Merle D'Aubigne.

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George D'Aubigne, just mentioned, whose daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Francis Merle, was a descendant of Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne, who left France, in the year 1620, on account of religious persecution. This Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigne was no common man. The old chroniclers call him " zealous Calvinist, if there ever was one. He bought the domain of Lods, near Geneva, on which he built the Chateau of Crest, which still remains. The old Huguenot warrior handled the pen and the lyre as well as the sword; and his Tragiques, a poem full of life and genius, drew a vivid picture of the court of the imbecile Henry III. of France, and his infamous mother, Catherine de Medici. His Histoire Universelle de la fin du 16me Siecle had the honour of being publicly burnt in Paris, in the year 1620, by order of Louis XIII. He wrote also the Confession de Saucy, and several other works. It is related of him, that, at the age of eight years, he knew well both the Latin and the Greek languages. At the age of fourteen, he went to Geneva, to finish his studies in the "Academy," or University, of that city. Having completed his course in that Institution, he returned to France; whence, as has been stated, he was compelled to fly, in the year 1620. Upon establishing himself at Geneva, he became allied by marriage, with the families of the Burlamachi and Calandrini, two of the most honourable families in that city, both of Italian origin; for Geneva was a "City of refuge" to persecuted and exiled Protestants of Italy as well as of France.

Francis Merle D'Aubigne had many children, one of whom, Amie Robert Merle D'Aubigne, was born in 1755, and was the father of three sons; the oldest and the youngest of whom are respectable merchants in America-the former in New York, and the latter in New Orleans-and the second is the Rev. Dr.

Merle D'Aubigne, the subject of this notice. Amie Robert Merle D'Aubigne had a strong desire in his early years to consecrate his life wholly to the service of his God; and his parents allowed him to pursue the studies requisite for the right discharge of the office of the ministry of the gospel. But on his father's death, his uncle and guardian caused him to give up his studies and embrace other pursuits.

The end of this excellent man was truly tragical. In the year 1799, he went on an important commercial mission to Constantinople and Vienna. On his return from the latter city to Geneva, through Switzerland, in the autumn of that year, he was met on the road, near Zurich, by the savage and infuriated hordes of Russians, who had been recently defeated by the French forces under the command of Massena, and by them was cruelly murdered!

His widow, who is still living in Geneva, in a vigorous old age, devoted all the energies of an active and enlightened mind to the care of her fatherless children; and now daily thanks God for having supplied her with the means of giving them a liberal education.

The Rev. Dr. Merle D'Aubigne was educated in the "Academy"-or, as it is more commonly called by strangers, the University-of his native city. After

having completed the course of studies in the Faculties of Letters and Philosophy, he entered that of Theology. The time when he finished his preparations for the ministry is uncertain, but probably about the year 1816.

The Theological Faculty in the Aca-. demy of Geneva, when Dr. Merle D'Aubigne was a student, was wholly Socinian in its character. Whatever were the shades of difference in regard to doctrine, which prevailed among its professors, they all agreed in rejecting the proper divinity of the Saviour and of the Holy Spirit, salvation through the expiatory death and intercession of the former, and regeneration and sanctification by the influences of the latter. With these cardinal doctrines of the gospel, others which are considered by all Evangelical Christians to be fundamental in the system of their faith, were also renounced. The same state of things exists at this day, in the school which Calvin founded, and in which that great man, as well as Beza, Francis Turretin, Pictet, and other renowned men taught the youth, who gathered around them,

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