system upon it, chiefly taken from the most unexceptionable parts of the Vedas: the adherents of it discard the grosser parts of idolatry, and worship only the God of nature, without any sensible representation. The young Hindoo philosophers actually declare that this is the only means of impeding the progress of Christianity, which they say is fearfully rapid.'

"In conclusion, my friends, I appeal to you, then, whether from the north pole to the south pole, there is a single nation which is so visibly opened of the Lord for the reception of the gospel, as India? And if, as I apprehend, none can be named, is it not the imperative duty of British Christians now to take the work energetically in hand? Would you entertain a doubt as to what it was your duty to do, if you had heard a voice from heaven commanding you to carry forth the gospel with power and strength to India? You know you would not. Without extravagance I may declare, that such a voice has been heard. The extraordinary display of so many striking facts, which show such a promising state of preparation in India, is the voice of Providence, as distinguishable as if it had been heard from heaven.

"India, and especially the great capital, Calcutta, the emporium of commerce and trade in the East, is evidently destined in God's providence, to become the central point for the regeneration of the vast continent of Asia; its political relations, its favourable geographical position, the great preparations which have been made, and which are in operation for the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom,-all these things clearly show that from that centrical spot the blessings of civilization and the light of revealed truth will extend their cheering rays over the nations of that immense continent. All the new discoveries of the hidden powers of nature, all the improvements in arts and sciences by the wisdom of man, which in our eventful times are advancing in such rapid strides, are destined to advance the great work of evangelization. Steamers now go in twenty days from Calcutta to China; and from Calcutta to Suez in about the same time. The great rivers of India, the Ganges, Indus, and Burhampooter, are ploughed by English steamers. A plan for constructing a railway from Calcutta to Allahabad, a distance of five hundred miles, has lately been projected by a skilful, ingenious officer, and proposed to the East Indian government. They are also speaking of a second grand railroad, which is to be constructed through Central India, from Calcutta to Bombay, a distance of about fifteen hundred miles. India is in peace, and the times are more favourable than ever for the execution of such great and important schemes. By these wonderful improvements new paths will be opened for the spread of divine truth in that great empire; distances will be surprisingly shortened, and the communications between the different provinces facilitated. Thus while the children of the world carry out their gigantic plans for improving commerce and amassing wealth, the missionary follows on, in these newly-opened tracts, and the light of the gospel penetrates more deeply into the remotest recesses of the darkest paganism.

"As to outward appearance, mission work in India has to wind its way through a chaos of hostile elements: conflicts will continue, and troubles will not cease; and therefore, he in whom the eyes of faith are not opened, is in danger of being confounded at the leadings of God's providence: but one thing is certain-the cause will eventually prove victorious. Amidst the powerful blows which fall from every side upon the old fabric of Hindooism, it must at last be crushed to pieces. If the Church of Christ will but act worthy of her high powers and destiny, no atheism, no other hostile infidel system, shall be erected on its ruins; no, a beautiful temple of the Lord shall be built up, in which he shall be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and India's millions of inhabitants shall rejoice with us in God their Saviour.

"Some people believe that centuries will still elapse before heathenism is extirpated in every part of India, and before the whole country can be evangelized. I am not of their opinion, and feel no inclination to join the ranks

of those who have nothing but difficulties to produce, and can fix their eyes nowhere but upon the darkest background of the picture. One great event is following another in our days in the political world, shaking whole nations and empires. And do we not perceive the same thing happening in the religious world, events of the greatest magnitude succeeding each other with increasing rapidity?

"While the building of Solomon's temple was in progress, it is very probable that many came and looked on, who, seeing the preparations, were ready to say it was perfectly impossible that the magnificent structure contemplated could be finished within six or seven years; forasmuch as they could only perceive the foundation being laid, and the ground levelled; but they were little aware of what was going on in the marble quarries of Tyrus, and in the cedar-forests of Mount Lebanon. Thousands of labourers and artisans were there engaged in cutting the timbers, and preparing the marble blocks and framework of the noble edifice. Every part was made ready and received its polish there; and so perfect were the preparations, that it is expressly stated, And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone, made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was building.'

"In like manner there are, in the present day, thousands of hands, heathens, and Christian believers, and unbelievers, engaged in preparing the materials for the spiritual temple of God. They who know the Great Architect, have been permitted to look into his plan, and they can rejoice in hope, being assured that a glorious edifice will be raised, although they are not as yet acquainted with the details, nor how the several parts are to be joined together; they know quite well that the workmen engaged in his service, work, as it were, into each other's hands, and that the various materials are calculated in the nicest manner, to fit into their proper and destined places. Yes, they have a happy presentiment, grounded upon facts, that the whole will be finished much sooner than might be expected.

"Where,' says a pious and able writer on modern missions, in anticipation of that glorious period, Where is now Diana of the Ephesians? Where are now Jupiter and the gods of Greece, and where is the whole Pantheon of Rome? The first Christians testified against them, and they vanished. Witnesses of Christ came to Britain, and where are now Woden and all the Saxon gods, with the sanguinary rites of the Druids?' Brethren, the idols we assail have long since been routed, and the sword we wield routed them. "The gods of India are the same, under different names, which Italy and Greece adored; the sword of the Spirit chased them from the West, and shall it do less now in the East? Many of them are already fallen: Bel boweth down, and Nebo stoopeth.' And the Christian missionary approaching, and standing before the most crowded temple and the firmest throne idolatry boasts of, is divinely warranted in taking up a burden against it, by saying, Thy days are numbered, and thine end draweth near.' Yes, if there be stability in a divine decree, if there be merit in the mediation of Christ, if any truth in the doctrine of his reign, and power in the agency of his Spirit, the prediction shall be fulfilled. The history of the world, to the latest period of time, is written already in his mind. Every province of idolatry and error has its limit and its date appointed there. The angel is already selected who shall eventually shout, Babylon is fallen, is fallen!' The chorus is appointed whose voices are to resound, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever!''-(pp. 332-341.)

It is not, then, without reason, in our opinion, that THE CONVERSION OF BRITISH INDIA, TO THE FAITH OF CHRIST DURING THE PRESENT GENERATION, is regarded as an object which may be

deemed probable, and which the Protestant Missionary Societies of England may well keep in view, as perhaps at present the grand object to which providence seems to challenge the attention of this Christian country. We have allowed ourselves to digress much beyond our intention, with the view of touching on this point for we enter fully into the views of the Church Missionary Society on this subject, and are only surprised that there has not been made a more express and direct appeal to its friends at large, with reference to the late accession of territory in the Punjaub, and the hopeful prospects which thus open before us. We are per

suaded, that a large thank-offering might have been obtained in answer to an appeal made on this ground, and having had this subject before us, we have thus far deviated from our immediate line of remark.

To return, however-let us not forget that, "The field is the world." Nor let the Church be unmindful of her commission"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature"-or of the sealing promise-" And, lo, I am with you alway." This is our charter-and never did the day-spring from on high seem to smile with such benignant aspect upon the nations of the earth as at this present. Wherever we turn, "the field seems white to the harvest," which, to adopt the words of the Bishop of Calcutta, seems literally to "languish for the want of reapers"—and hence the sincere joy we have felt in every extension of our Church's influence-in none more than the seasonable establishment of the Colonial Episcopate, and the consequent organization of our Church in her foreign dependencies. "CHURCH AND STATE" is our established motto. It applies equally, we conceive, to our colonial and domestic empire-nor can we doubt, but that if the principle which it implies is abandoned, the vast empire which now stretches over a seventh part of the earth's surface, will as such crumble into ruin. The fabric will fall-and if so, how great will be the fall of it! Who can tell the consequences to the whole civilized and heathen world? The decadence of this great Protestant empire, would, for a season at least, be as a universal eclipse: an awful pause in the history of our race. Hence, we repeat, the sincere joy we have felt in every extension of the legitimate influence of our Established Church-in every symptom of a revived national Christianity, affording us the hope that Great Britain was yet to stand out as the privileged nation from whom the streams of life should flow to a fallen worldto furthest India and the east, to our colonies, west, north, and south, and, through them, to the countless tribes and nations who seem by the providence of God for this very purpose to be

brought within our reach and influence. We would not confine ourselves to one spot, but grasp within our arms the whole habitable globe. We will not dissemble, therefore, that we hailed the scheme for a colonial episcopate as one of the most cheering signs of the times; nor can we regard it as otherwise than a fair and lovely sight-a national aspect of things peculiarly becoming,— that the Church is at length presented in almost every part of our colonial empire in her just proportions, and recognized as the handmaid of the state in blessing the nations now subject to our rule. We are aware, indeed, that this is but in part the doing of the state that it is more properly a self-development of the Church-an Ecclesiastical movement, rather voluntary and impulsive, than owning a national origin, or deriving any high support from the supreme civil power. Still it is something, especially after so long a conflict, and in such times as these, to have compelled the highest sanction of the state-and that we have now a co-ordinate civil and ecclesiastical polity organized throughout the empire, and exercising its blended influence in almost every territory of our wide-spread dominions. "We cannot conclude this chapter," says Mr. Hawkins, tracing the struggle for the colonial episcopate, "without a remark on the wonderful growth and expansion of both mother and daughter Church in the half-century, which has elapsed since the planting of the Episcopate in America. The Church in the colonies, at the period of their independence, was indeed "in a great strait." Unorganized and imperfect, it was little able to meet and triumph over the persecution to which on all sides it was exposed: for while "without were fightings, within were fears." Yet these troubles, threatening as they seemed, were overruled by a merciful Providence, for the ultimate benefit of the Church, and were perhaps even necessary for its restoration. At the time when it seemed almost in danger of dissolution, it was providentially empowered to renew its strength and mount up. The Church which, in 1784, ran the risk of being betrayed into some modification of Presbyterianism, now numbers twenty-six bishops, and 1231 clergymen, within its proper borders. Two bishops have been consecrated for the direction of foreign missions: one, namely, for China, and one for Turkey. Nor has the Mother Church of England, which transmitted the gift of Episcopacy to America, exhibited fewer tokens of life during the same period. Seventeen bishoprics have been founded in the different colonies and dependencies of the British Crown and, with a view of marking the increased ratio of progress of late, it may be stated, that fourteen of them have

"91 We need not remind our

been the work of the last ten years.' readers, that since the date of Mr. Hawkins's "Notices," there have been other advances in the same direction. "All this," we agree with Mr. H., "is cause, not of boasting, but of thankfulness." It would seem incredible, as Archdeacon Manning has observed, "that Great Britain should have been a colonial power for 200 years before the Episcopate of the English Church set a foot upon its foreign shores. It will scarcely be believed, that at a time when one seventh of the habitable earth obeyed its rule,

1 Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of England in the North American Colonies, &c. (pp. 411, 412.)

"The Queen has given her royal consent to the immediate subdivision of the diocese of Australia into three distinct bishoprics, by the establishment of one see at Morpeth for the northern division of New South Wales, and of another at Melbourne, for the district of Port Philip.

"These new sees, which could not have been constituted but for a generous sacrifice of private interests on the part of the Bishop of Australia, will derive a considerable portion of their endowment from the Colonial Bishoprics Fund.

"Thus, then, within the space of five years, which have elapsed since the Declaration of Archbishops and Bishops' was signed at Lambeth, nine new sees have been erected. Of these, two-namely, Gibraltar and Fredericton-derive their endowments almost exclusively from the fund placed at the disposal of the episcopal trustees; and four others-namely, New Zealand, Tasmania, Melbourne, and Morpeth-receive important assistance from the same source. The remaining three-namely, Antigua, Guiana, and Columbo-have been endowed by means of a different distribution of the funds at the disposal of the imperial or colonial government for ecclesiastical purposes.

"No less a sum than £15,000 has been contributed towards the endowment of a bishopric (not originally contemplated) within the British possessions in the Chinese Seas. "Of this endowment fund, the sum of £5,000 has been most liberally given by two individuals (over and above their donation of an equal sum for the erection of a college); £6,000 was raised by congregational collections in the diocese of London, under the authority of the bishop's pastoral letter; a grant of £2,000 was voted by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and about an equal amount has been remitted to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel by individual contributors. But a considerable additional sum will yet be required, and a special committee has been named to collect such further funds as may be necessary to make a permanent provision for the see. "Of the colonies still remaining without episcopal superintendence, the Cape of Good Hope and South Australia have been mentioned as presenting the strongest claims; and it would have been the duty of the committee, on the present occasion, to renew the appeal on their behalf, had it not pleased God to put it into the heart of an individual member of the Church, by an exercise of almost unexampled liberality, to guarantee endowments for a bishopric in each of those colonies.

"It is well known that the Bishop of Calcutta is using the most strenuous efforts to obtain a subdivision of his own enormous diocese, by the erection of a bishopric at Agra, for the north-western provinces. Such an arrangement is imperatively requisite for the welfare and extension of the Church of England in north India; while the recent wonderful spread of Christianity in the southern provinces of Tanjore and Tinevelly must, ere long, force attention to the importance of sending forth a chief pastor for the special oversight of those infant churches.

"The committee, before concluding their report, consider it a duty incumbent upon them to specify those other possessions of the crown which, from their importance, as well as their distance from any existing see, appear to require resident bishops. They are principally Sierra Leone, Western Australia, the Mauritius, and Prince Rupert's Land.

"But it is obvious that a further subdivision will, ere long, be required in many of the existing dioceses; and even at present, the rapidly-increasing population of Canada, taken in connexion with its vast territorial extent, demands for the efficient administration of the Church within that province an addition of at least two bishops.-(Third Report of Colonial Bishoprics Committee.)