pouring into the ocean of eternity, in a condition perhaps more fearful than millions of dying pagans! If this be false, let it be exposed; if true, oh let there be no delay in strenuous efforts for our countrymen's salvation! Besides, although success is not the rule, it is the encouragement of exertion; and has not success already been commensurate with our liberality, our toil, our prayers, our faith? Let all boasting be excluded; still there is reason joyfully to exclaim, What hath God wrought!'" IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETY. IT has been the practice of the Committee to request every year the services of some minister to visit all the stations of the Society, to confer with the agents on the plans necessary to be pursued for the advancement of the interests of evangelical religion, and to offer any suggestions that may occur, which may enable them satisfactorily to discharge the important duties devolved on them. This pleasing, though laborious, engagement has just been fulfilled by the Rev. M. A. Garvey, B.A., of Kentish Town, On his return, Mr. Garvey presented to the Committee a report of his tour, containing a minute record of the observations made when visiting the several stations, and many valuable suggestions, regarding the future operations of the Society. It affords the Committee the greatest satisfaction in being able to state, that, in general, their cause was never in a more promising condition than at the present time. The most evident improvement characterises many of the stations. The attendance on the preaching of the gospel is considerably increased, and urgent requests are made to the agents to visit new districts, and establish new stations. The unfavourable circumstances that hindered the progress of the work in one or two stations have been obviated, and a more healthy state of things now exists, justifying the confident expectation that is entertained, of a measure of prosperity such as has never before been enjoyed. In other districts, the difficulties with which the missionaries had to contend are yielding to their persevering labours, and christian efforts. "The agents," Mr. Garvey remarks, "have lived down the prejudices at first excited against them by the priests, and have now access to the houses of the people at pleasure." When at Castlebar, Mr. Garvey preached in the Courthouse in the afternoon of the Sabbath. "It was well filled, and a large proportion of the audience were Roman Catholics. I preached a plain gospel sermon avoiding all disputed topics, and for an hour and twenty minutes my address was listened to with the deepest attention. I am happy to say it has not been without fruit. One Roman Catholic has renounced the church of Rome in consequence of it, and there is reason to hope that his whole family will follow his example. This information, with other of a pleasing kind, I have received, since my return, in a letter from Castlebar. I have the greatest hope that the Connaught Mission will prove the means of blessing thousands with the light of the gospel, and may be the beginning of a great spiritual revolution in that benighted province. It would greatly aid this mighty work, if some of our distinguished brethren from London would occasionally visit your agents and preach to the people. It is also very desirable that a Chapel should be built as soon as possible in Castlebar; for until that is done, many who are friendly to your cause will not declare themselves." The Committee rejoice exceedingly in this testimony to the advancement of the mission at Castlebar. Did the finances of the Society admit, they would most gladly carry into operation their original intention to add to the brethren already embarked in that undertaking the best qualified individual they could obtain, who may be fitted, by his extensive knowledge and attainments, to exercise an influence over the entire province. Will not our British churches generously respond to such a call? The province contains nearly a million and a half of immortal souls, and presents a field of missionary enterprize not to be surpassed for interest and importance by any region of the globe. Nothing prevents the immediate occupation of this sphere of labour, but the want of adequate pecuniary resources. The Committee cannot suffer themselves to believe that the friends and advocates of "pure and undefiled religion" in this land, who possess an abundance of this world's riches, will permit such an opportunity for great and extensive usefulness to be neglected, whilst it is in their power effectually to meet the necessities of the case, That they do not readily administer the necessary funds can only be accounted for by supposing them ignorant of the facts of the case. The Committee would therefore earnestly entreat all who peruse this statement, to use their influence to obtain for them such an augmentation to their income, as will justify them in taking immediate steps to carry into full operation their original design in the establishment of the Connaught Mission. Mr. Garvey, besides the usual duties devolved by the Committee on their deputation to the churches, was entrusted with a large amount of the sums specially contributed for the relief of "the poor of Christ's flock," and the regular attendants on the ministry of the agents, who were involved in great distress, consequent on the potato blight of last year. "My advent," he observes, "at the various places I visited was hailed as that of an angel of mercy. Never did it fall to the lot of any one to undertake a more delightful mission. The gratitude expressed towards the Christian people of England, who so nobly and disinterestedly stepped forward to aid their suffering brethren in the sister country, would appear exaggerated to those unacquainted with the impassioned character of our Irish fellow-subjects. In one or two places, a large number of the recipients of your bounty surrounded me as I mounted the coach to proceed on my mission, and it was with difficulty I could extricate myself from them, sometimes both my hands would be clasped by half a dozen poor creatures, their eyes moist, and their voices faltering through the power of their feelings; whilst such expressions as the following would reach my ears, 'The blessings of the widow and her four orphans on you, and them that sent you.' 'May those that dried my tears, never have cause to shed a tear except in joy.' 'God bless the noble English !' with many others that I could not gather, but which evinced profound and earnest gratitude. It is such acts as these which would secure, beyond the danger of repeal, the union between the two countries; and I am firmly convinced, that the good effects of your benevolence on this occasion will not cease when the temporal wants of your clients have been satisfied. It will commend your cause to thousands who were hitherto unfavourable; and by-and-by those who have been the means of satisfying the bodily wants of the people, shall have the honour of feeding their souls with the bread of life. After mature deliberation on the nature of the cases brought under my consideration, as your Commissioner, I adopted the following four plans of administering relief: "1. The purchase of food. This chiefly consisted of Indian meal and oatmeal. Wherever I could, I engaged the friends of the poor to purchase at the cheapest markets, and carry it gratis; thus effecting a great saving of outlay. This food was then stored, and sold at low prices to those who had any means to buy, and distributed gratis to those who had not, under the superintendence of the minister and deacons, or principal men connected with our churches. "2. The purchase of seed potatoes, which were distributed by a similar rule to those who had land. By this means, your bounty will be felt throughout the whole of the ensuing year, and a vast number of persons rescued from the most abject poverty, and nameless suffering. "3. By lending small sums. This plan has been adopted, where there was any reasonable prospect of repayment. You will thus have it in your power to extend your beneficence to others, or to stimulate to industry and gratitude by forgiving the debt to those who have contracted it. In any case, the independence and self-reliance of the recipients are secured. "4. By giving small sums. This has been avoided as much as possible; but where the wants of large families came to be considered, and those that were of a complicated nature, it was thought that the recipients would be better able to expend the money to advantage, than either myself or your agents. In all these cases, however, care was taken that the character of the persons was such as to afford a guarantee that the money would not be mispent. "In addition to this, it may be stated, that the necessities of the Readers, which were in many cases very severe, were not overlooked, and that every where I took especial care to impress upon those who received relief, that I was sent to them by the Christians of Great Britain, to express their sympathy for the distress of their brethren in Ireland, and that what I then gave them, was to be received as a token of the cordial feeling with which they were regarded, and an expression of their desire for the wellbeing of the people of God in Ireland, and their earnest hope that amongst them the word of God may have free course and be glorified. "In every place I have directed that an exact account be kept of the cases relieved, and a statement prepared for the Committee." COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Extracts from a Letter of the Rev. Dr. Ross, of Sydney, New South Wales, to the Secretary. [THE following sentences are published because they testify to three facts, which can never be too strongly urged on the attention of the Independent churches. The first is, that the colonies are a noble field for Congregational principles and missions-the second is, that every suitable and devoted Congregational labourer in the colonies is blest and prospers-the third is, that for want of men and money, and these are wanted because grace is wanted, our colonial missions continue mournfully feeble and inadequate.] "By a newspaper which I addressed to you about two months ago, you will have been informed that our new Congregational church was opened on the 1st of January, 1846; and, that at the various services which were held on that day, and the succeeding sabbath, upwards of £300 were collected. Mr. Miller, from Hobart Town, came up to help us; and his sermons were peculiarly acceptable. "I write now, because I am anxious about Mr. Quaife. I quite approve of the caution and prudence with which your Committee is acting. Better send no men at all to the colonies, than unsuitable men. We could raise up such among ourselves. I am grieved at the scarcity which prevails in our body of disposable ministers, adapted to the times-of right-hearted, soundthinking, prudent, vigorous, devoted men. With a few such, we might, with the help of God, do wonders in this colony. One or two such, you must try to find. When I look at my beautiful chapel, when I see the numbers that are attending it-of all sorts, and classes, and from all parts of the Colony,-I am cast down when I think of the consequences that might result were I to be removed. I have no lease of my life-it is frail and uncertain as that of others. What an omission, what a neglect, on the part of our body, at home, may it not be considered, to leave New South Wales with only one minister in it; and that too when there is so much to encourage and excite. As to Mr. Quaife, he is labouring hard, and I believe successfully. He has secured for himself a very high place in the estimation of my people. He evidently is not a hireling, and is seeking not his own things, but the things which are Christ's. The Weather-board Chapel which was built for him, at a cost of £100, has been paid, and out of his small allowance he has himself contributed largely. The attendance upon his ministry is good,-several have been converted-a church has been formed, and his prospects of usefulness are encouraging. I do therefore recommend him to your Committee, as a proper person to be assisted by them, to the extent of £40 or £50 per annum, for a year or two, until his people can do something for him. "I must conclude this hasty letter. I will take an early opportunity of again writing to you. I am delighted with the proceedings of the Union. O how I should have liked to be present at your Manchester meeting! The smiles of heaven rest upon all my beloved brethren! "Believe me ever to be, "My very dear Sir, "Most sincerely and faithfully yours, "ROBERT ROSS." THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS, AND CHURCH MEMBER'S MAGAZINE. SEPTEMBER, 1846. Theology and Biblical Illustration. ON MEDITATIVE PIETY. AMIDST the religious activities of the present day we should be much on our guard lest the excitement of public services interfere with the quiet and lifenourishing exercises of private meditation. If the religion of a former age was too much confined to the closet, that of the present is too much limited to the church. The claims of the world were then too often disregarded in the nourishing of the believer's own heart-piety. Our own spiritual health is now too much neglected in seeking the welfare of others. Public and social assemblies were then less frequent-domestic and private devotion are now less cultivated. Truth was less frequently presented to the mind in the attendance on sermons; now it is less frequently impressed on the heart by prayerful contemplation. Not that our religious bustle of committees, public meetings, sermons, speeches, associations of many kinds, should cease. Far from it. There is need of far greater activity than we have as yet not only attained, but perhaps imagined. But this activity is only healthful, permanent, productive, when arising from and tempered by devout meditation. This is the fountain. without which the streams will become either diseased or dry. There are two elements in genuine piety-the meditative and the practical, and religion is defective in the absence of either. When the former is exclusively cultivated it is not right meditation-when the latter, it is not right practice. To be always meditating, never acting, is to meditate to little purpose. Some such there have always been-more in former ages-too many still. The race of monks and hermits is not extinct. These are always reading, musing, praying, and can talk much of "sweet experiences," and seem always so calm, so placid, as some think, so eminently spiritual—as they say, "getting beyond the noise of the camp to the quietness of God's presence. But they do nothing. They sit wrapt up in their own selfish enjoyments, thinking they honour God by their inactive piety, and that they are the more spiritual the less they have of care and labour for the good of others. How false a view of the religion of Him who "went about doing good," and of his inspired servants, who were "instant in season, out of season." Others err on the contrary extreme. They hurry from sermon to sermon, from meeting to meeting, from work to work, but are little in their closets. Their ears, eyes, hands, tongue, are busy, their hearts, alas! keep holiday. And this is not good practice. It is defective in motive, and there is no truly useful activity in religion unless it originates from, and is sustained by, a healthy state of the heart. This must be secured by cultivating the meditative element. God must be honoured in our thoughts as well as our acts-nay, we must honour him by the former in order that we may honour him by the latter. Just as a good harvest can only be expected from a welltilled soil: "While I was musing," says the psalmist, "the fire burnedthen spake I with my tongue." The words of God to Joshua, ch. i. 8, are very significant: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein." He was to meditate much, in order that he might "observe to do." The habit of holy acting must be acquired by cultivating the habit of holy musing. How much more zealous would the church become, and how much more good would result from her labours, could all her members say with David, "Oh, how I love thy law; it is my meditation all the day-mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word." But what is religious meditation? Is it every exercise of the mind on religious truth? There may be many kinds of meditation on one and the same subject. We may meditate on a plant chemically, to analyze it-botanically, to classify it-theologically, to trace the evidences of design in it-morally, to draw useful analogies from it. So there may be meditation of various kinds on the same text of Scripture, historical, critical, speculative. Religious truth may be an object of mere study like any other truth, and yet there may be the entire absence of religious meditation. This has a religious object, the exciting of holy feeling, the prompting to holy acting. A worldling may study the Bible just as he may any other classic. He may write critical notes on the odes of David just as he would on the Odes of Horace, and with as little devotional feeling. Let this distinction be borne in mind, that the mere study of religious truth as an exercise of the intellect is not religious meditation. It warms not, it quickens not. Like the moon, it may be clear and beautiful, but it is cold withal. A few hints for the profitable engaging in this exercise may not be without their use. 1. Select one topic at a time. Be not discursive. You could not examine a hundred master-pieces of painting at once. To appreciate them you must examine them one by one. Leave not the subject till you have drawn from it its honey. Bees would work to little purpose if they merely buzzed about from flower to flower, looking, smelling, perhaps settling, but not waiting to extract the sweet. 2. Select the plain rather than the abstruse. For exciting religious affections do not speculate on the mysterious. The greatest mysteries have a plain and practical aspect. The most important truths are the easiest. In the words of Jeremy Taylor, "High speculations are as barren as the tops of cedars, but the fundamentals of Christianity are fruitful as the valleys or the creeping vine." 3. Choose a subject adapted to your present circumstances. Have you committed recent sin? Think of its aggravations and God's abhorrence of it. Then, to cure despondency, meditate on God's willingness to pardon, and the all-sufficiency of the atonement of Christ. Are you in sorrow? Dwell not on your troubles, but on the tender care of your heavenly Father, and the "exceeding great and precious promises." 4. Have a time for it. Else it may be done at no time. AFTER READING THE SCRIPTURES, meditate. Better read a very little, and then ponder it, than very much without thought. And give a practical direction to your reading. "Have I performed that duty? am I guilty of that sin? am I imitating that example?" &c. BEFORE PRAYER, meditate: "Be not hasty to utter anything before God." Ponder what recent sins you need to confess, what comfort you require, and what strength to resist the special temptations which at that time you have most reason to expect. Thus will the habit of meditating at all times be acquired, so that the thoughts will always have a tendency to flow towards God as in a natural channel. Thus will passing events furnish aliment to the soul, and the hidden truth be drawn forth which lies concealed beneath the external aspect of every object and every occurrence. Thus shall we find " tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." Religion will not be a detached thing of the Sunday, the church, the closet, but connected with and casting its influence over every thing. Thus outward circumstances will become spiritual helps, instead of hindrances. 5. Act out your meditations-else they are lost. What advantage is it in meditation to have been convinced of the evil of a certain course if I avoid it not in future? The meditation is lost, worse than lost; for the mind is injured by every holy resolution not practised. It is thus rendered more incapable of holy resolves for the future. A holy desire and resolution obtained in meditation is the gift of God: not to act upon it is to resist the strivings of his Spirit. "Quench not the Spirit." How many are the uses of meditation! How many arguments urge to its cultivation ! 1. We are "sanctified by the truth"-by the truth entering the mind and heart. But this cannot be without meditation. The thought of sinful indulgence increases the lust for it; so the thought of holy truth inflames a spiritual appetite: "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin. against thee." "The sword of the Spirit is the word of God;" and we shall not be prepared to resist the devil with our "It is written," unless the mind is made familiar with truth by meditation. A well-disciplined mind, no less than a regularly drilled army, is far better prepared for the assaults of the foe, than if the armour were never put on but when the war-trumpet sounded; as with every habit, the effort required to resist temptation will be less, if we are diligent in acquiring the use of our weapon, the sword of the Spirit." The proper fence will almost involuntarily be made when the enemy aims his deadly thrusts. 2. The world appeals to our senses. But as Christians ". we walk by faith, not by sight." Spiritual things cannot be presented to our senses by vision ; they must, therefore, be brought near our minds by contemplation. Else the world and Satan will have every advantage. Faith can only supply the want of sense, by meditation keeping the objects of faith in contact with the soul. 3. Meditation is the soul of prayer, and prayer is the ladder down which the angels come to strengthen us in obedience: Meditation is the tongue of the soul, the language of the spirit." There is no genuine prayer without meditation: "And only while we pray we live." 4. Our obedience will be less dependent on accidental influences. Our hearts will be like a garden watered by an ever-flowing stream, rather than |