appropriate to the object of our meeting, is contained in Zechariah iv. 6, 7: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." There are two distinct topics to which, on an occasion like the present, I would briefly call your attention. The first is, The difficulties attaching to our enterprize. Our object is vast and stupendous: there is no doubt, however, if we look to the Book of God, that it will be accomplished, and we, therefore, address ourselves to it. If we conferred with flesh and blood, if we sat in the schools of philosophy, or were engaged in the prosecution of politics and science, we should deem the object to be fanatical and extravagant. We look forward to nothing less than the conversion of the whole land of China to the Saviour. It is not our wish to make China as Europe, or even as our own beloved country. The kingdom of God exists, indeed, in the midst of us; but how many millions there are of the inhabitants of our country who continue aliens from it, and strangers to its choicest blessings! Such is the condition of our land after having enjoyed for so long a period unequalled Christian privileges; yet we confidently expect that the hundreds of millions of China will one day become holy to the Lord, and will recognise our own agency in the production of that result.

The attainment of our object, great as it is, is to be pursued by an order of means adapted to secure specific ends. The character of the Chinese is to be changed through the power of divine truth, and that truth is to be brought in contact with their minds by the labours of the Missionary. While I sometimes endeavour to take in this way a discriminating survey of the Chinese Mission, my heart is overpowered by the vastness of our project, and becomes more and more ready to fail within me. I see, indeed, some elements of character among the people that would lead us to expect a great turning of them to the Lord. But there are other elements that repel the rising expectation, and send us in more earnest prayer to the Throne of divine power and grace. There is among the people a spiritual apathy, which is most distressing.

True it is that their own systems have little hold upon their minds; yet one is constantly tempted to explain that fact by referring it to the earthliness of their nature. Men are prone everywhere to cleave to the dust; but of all men the Chinese are the most absorbed in those things that perish in the using.

There is, again, a sensuality amongst the people which is most disheartening. This is an invariable adjunct of idolatry. The

temples of the Chinese do not present the same disgusting scenes that are to be found in some other lands; still the thing itself stands out in the most painful prominence. -If you would have any distinct conception of the social and moral abominations that prevail amongst them, just read again the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. There you have a picture from the pencil of Inspiration of the debased character of society in those highly civilized nationsGreece and Rome: suppose every line of that picture to have become darker and deeper through an increasing degeneracy of 1,800 years, and you will be enabled to realize the present condition of the Chinese. How shall these be transformed into the temples of the Holy Spirit? How shall the pure beam of Gospel-light penetrate an atmosphere so gross, so feculent, and foul?

There is only one other characteristic of the Chinese, as a people, to which I shall advert specifically, that is, their conceit and arrogance. The war, between their country and our own, has taught them a lesson of their own weakness which they will not speedily forget; but many years must elapse before they are brought not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, even as regards the arts and pursuits of this life. Therefore we may well wonder, when the Chinese shall be found sitting, as little children, at the feet of Jesus, and receiving with meekness the engrafted Word. So much for the character of the people among whom we are to labour. Such are the materials we have to remould and to re-form. Difficult as the work is, we address ourselves to it with confidence, knowing that the Gospel is the wisdom of God and the power of God to salvation to the Jew and the Gentile, to the Englishman and the Chinese.

It must be borne in mind, however, that the Gospel has to be presented to the Chinese through the medium of a language singularly difficult to be acquired. We must not have any men for China who are not prepared to devote their whole lifetime to it; for years not a few must elapse before they can acquire a thorough knowledge of the tongue. It will not suffice for a Missionary to be able to speak with some freedom on common topics, and to write an ordinary composition: he must acquire an ability to speak and write like a native. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit in the language of the people to whom it is sent, as it is the sword of the Spirit at home. Three versions of the entire Scriptures have been already completed by Morrison, Marshman, and Gutzlaff, and a thorough revision of these is now going on by one who has been in the field long enough to engage in it.

One other circumstance deserves atten

tion when we are attempting to estimate the difficulties of the Chinese Mission. Rome is there, strong and active; the adherents of Popery are reckoned by hundreds of thousands; and the altered relations to China since the peace of 1842, and the subsequent Edict of Toleration which was issued in 1844, have infused new life into all their proceedings. As many Missionaries (if not more) have been added to China, during the past five years, of the various orders of the Roman Catholics, as of all the Protestant Societies of England and America together. I have no sympathy with that spurious liberality which would regard Popery as only a somewhat corrupted system of Christianity it is the mystery of iniquity, the abomination that maketh desolate, the perversion of the Gospel of Christ, and, in its spread and growth among the Chinese, we shall have this, in addition to all other difficulties that oppose our one great object -the conversion of the people by leading them to the truth as it is in Jesus.

:

We cannot, however, allow ourselves to be discouraged-great as the mountain is, it will become a plain: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." This, the second point to which our notice is directed by the oracle of the prophet, "We believe, therefore do we speak," giving vent, that is, not only to the overflowing conviction of our hearts, but feeling assured that the word of the Gospel shall not become void. The Father reigneth, the Saviour governeth, the scheme of Providence is one-all its events are bending to one end-the lines of divine purpose and action are converging to one point: they must meet, ere long; and then shall be realised that condition of the earth, in which it shall be filled with the glory of God.

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The more closely we examine the series of transactions which have resulted in giving us our present position in China, the more are we compelled to pause at every successive stage, and to say, This is the finger of God." First, there was the peace of 1842. Its object was simply and solely the interests of commerce; and, as such, the individual on whom devolved, in Providence, the honour to conclude it, scrupled not to tell us, that, if the movements of your Missionaries interfered with its workings, he would deport them from the country altogether. Then came the Edict of Toleration, which was applied for by the Ambassador of France, solely with a view to the advantage of the Roman Catholics. It was, moreover, worded so ambiguously, though undesignedly, I believe, on the part of the Chinese Statesman who drew it up, that its provisions might have been monopolised by Rome; but in an article which

the Plenipotentiary of our Sovereign had had introduced into the second treaty which he formed with the Chinese,-an article which was in nowise designed to subserve the progress of the Gospel,-it was stipu lated that the subjects of the Crown of Great Britain should have an equal right to all the privileges that might be conceded by the Emperor of China to the subjects of other nations. Thus the blind were led in a way they knew not, and all the rights that became the property of the Roman Catholic Missionaries, belonged to the agents of the different Protestant Societies of England. To what influence, but that of the Spirit of God, should we ascribe the largeness of heart with which the Emperor of China repealed all the penal statutes enacted by his predecessors against the professors of Christianity? Surely this came from the Lord of Hosts, who is excellent in counsel, and wonderful in working. A great and effectual door has been opened to us. We have entered it, and the Word of the Lord has had free course, despite all opposition.

Viewing our difficulties and encouragements, what is the amount and manner of action which the occasion demands of us? What does it require from the churches of our country, and especially from the London Missionary Society? What a calling, brethren, is ours, to be the ministers of salvation to the tens of millions of these people, that through our mercy they likewise may obtain mercy. The noblest ambition is to win souls. The triumphs of successful politicians are worthless compared with the glory of a minister who is instrumental in saving souls; and the joy of the Missionary is the same thing, but greater in degree. If I had the whole constituency of the London Missionary Society before me this evening, I would say to them-Discharge your calling as the service demands to be discharged. You have selected your posts in China; make them strong and complete. Look out among you men whom the Directors may appoint to this office. In the name of China, we ask you to send forth more labourers into its plenteous harvest; and, in the name of the Directors, I entreat you to furnish the means. It has been said, that they are indifferent to the claims of China. I have been about, north and south, among the Churches, pleading for China; and I state the truth when I say, that I have nowhere found such anxiety for the establishment and prosecution of the Chinese Mission as at the Board of Directors. They sympathise with our brethren who are this evening to be commended, in this vast assembly, to the grace of God, for the work to which we trust He has called them. One of their

first feelings, when they find themselves in China, will be, "What are we among so many?" I would hope, that, by the time these brethren arrive in China, there will be news from the churches, telling them that there are others ready to depart thither to strengthen them in their difficult undertaking. But perhaps there are men here to-night who will go,-men who are young in the ministry and students for it,-men of education, energy, and talent. Icommend the subject to your attentive and prayerful consideration. You should weigh the difficulties and the encouragements. This only will I say, that on the face of the globe there is not found a field so vast in which you can spend and be spent in the service of our Lord: there is no sphere so great, and that will afford an equal development for all the powers of mind with which Christ may have endowed you. Is it hard to leave kindred and country? You are the servants of Him who came from the heights of glory to our earth. Do you shrink from the fatigues and toils you must undertake? Oh, think of those words in Gethsemane, "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me." Oh, that the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts would move upon the Churches of this country, and bless our labours abroad, according to the desires of our hearts!

I cannot help wishing at this moment that the time of my embarkation for China was as near at hand as yours, but I shall follow you at no distant time. With one or two I have already been associated there, and I shall be most happy to resume our labours together. Brethren, I congratulate you all! I thank God that he has counted you faithful, and called you unto the work of this ministration. The enterprise to which we are pledged is indeed difficult and arduous. But faithful is He who has promised. As we live near to God, we shall be strong in him, and in the power of his might. May he uphold you! I pray for you. I ask all our friends here to pray for you, that, be our course in China longer or shorter, brightened with success or filled with disappointment, there may be nothing in it which shall cause the Churches of this land to be ashamed of us as their Missionaries and Representatives to the heathen. Oh, that the inscription over our dust, in whatever place each of us may find a grave, may be, He was a Missionary faithful to

the Lord!" Amen.

The Rev. J. SHERMAN then commended the Missionaries and the cause of China to God in prayer.

The Rev. J. WADDINGTON gave out the 113th hymn.

The Rev. A. TIDMAN, in stating the des

tinations of the Missionaries, said-If we rightly consider the circumstances under which we now meet in this place, they are calculated to awaken in our hearts mingled feelings of sorrow and of joy-of deep sorrow, that we are assembled together, for the first time in our lives, to witness the departure of five Protestant Missionaries to the vast Empire of China. Would to God that these scenes had been familiar in our former years! But with thankfulness and joy ought we to meet, on this occasion, to see our brethren giving themselves to this service under circumstances so favourable, and promises so auspicious. Our five Missionary Friends, who are now going forth, are destined to two important stations in the Empire of China - one, indeed, British Territory-the Island of Hong-Kong; and the other the vast commercial City of Shanghae, where facilities for preaching the Gospel and teaching the people are superabundant. Our brethren are about to take different important departments of Missionary labour. They are all to be employed as teachers of the Gospel of Christ; but some of them are more especially and exclusively destined to the work of the ministry. One of their number is appointed to a service, in some respects even more momentous than that of preaching the Gospel, when we consider the vast importance which must be attached to the labours of the Press, among the hundreds of millions to whom the living voice of British Teachers can never extend. In relation to that friend, the remarks of Dr. Legge must indeed afford strong encou ragement.

Our brother, who is appointed to the superintendence of the Missionary Press, espe cially in printing the revised edition of the Chinese Bible, is a man marked by the Providence of God for this peculiar service. Moved by an impulse, which he could not well understand, about three years ago, employed as he then was in useful secular pursuits, he engaged for the first time in the study of the strange symbolic charaeters of the Chinese Language, and with scarcely more than two hours a day from that time to the present at his command, without the help of any living teacher, and with a very limited amount of aid as to books, he has acquired the extraordinary power of reading a Chinese page; so that my friend, Dr. Legge, when he first ascertained this truth, was delighted above measure at that triumph of diligence and perseverance, by which our brother has fitted himself, under God's Providence, for the peculiar department to which he is called. This should encourage those young, and enterprizing, and devoted minds, who, looking towards China, feel that the language

prayers to God for me." Yes! Robert Morrison, whose name must ever be interwoven with China as the introducer of the Sacred Scriptures into the language of that country, and as laying the grand basis for all future efforts for its evangelization,--was the first link in that chain to which another and another has been added, without ever having been broken, which unites China in the closest bonds with the London Missionary Society. How wonderful, as you have heard to-night, is the present state of China, when compared with the period to which I have adverted.

We ought frequently to contrast these periods, in order to recognize the extraordinary movements of Providence, and the great work which, as a consequence, is now before us. We have done so already this night, and we ought to do so again and again. Who can fail to recollect how that immense portion of the globe, for 3,000 years, had been shut out from the light of the True Religion, and the intercourse of European Society, though not from the light of science, literature, and social order. It was like a distinct and different world by itself; and long after Morrison went, and some Missionaries had joined him, it remained in the same isolated and exclusive condition. But we all know the patience, and prudence, and untiring perseverance, with which he laboured to accomplish his great work, the translation of the Scriptures, and other religious books, into the language of that country; and how he rose to a post of honour, and to universal esteem.

But we have lived to see, as if by magic, a total alteration take place in the state of that country. The temple of Janus has been shut, the gates of commerce have been thrown open, and prejudice against foreigners, accumulating for ages, has suddenly melted away, like the thick dews of the East, under the powerful beams of the sun; and more-as you have heard to-night -God has moved that one mind, which guides the movements of 360,000,000 of human minds, to turn round, and invite the light of revealed truth, and bid it welcome, forbidding all obstacles to its progress by the opposition of the natives, and affording equal liberty and protection to all its professed advocates. Oh! if Morrison could have foreseen this, how would his heart have bounded for joy! "It is the Lord's work, and it is marvellous in our eyes!" If this astounding event, and the extraordinary prospect it presents before us, of the progress of Christianity in our world, fail to impress human minds with devout gratitude and admiration, they must be stupidly blind. "It is the Lord's work, and it is marvellous in our eyes."

We have heard to-night of the vast re

sponsibility thrown upon us by this unexpected opening, and especially upon our Society, whom God has delighted to honour by making it the pioneer in the enterprise. But, alas! how little has hitherto been done! We have as yet but ten Missionaries there; and these dear brethren will make but fifteen, whereas there ought to be at least 100. Some have blamed the Directors for this, as if they could have kindled a spirit in the country necessary to meet the demands. What more could they have done than to state the case, urge the appeal, and apply the funds, as fast as they were obtained, to the operations of the Society in that direction? This they have done; are doing; as this night witnesses. We who blame them,-what have we done? The failure is with us, as we have been told tonight with great plainness, and great fidelity, but with great truth. Perhaps, however, one cause might be found in the numerous other things which have recently been pressing on our attention, and enforcing their claims; together with the deep interest excited in the affairs of Tahiti. We cannot do all things at once; but, thank God! though not progressing so fast as we could wish, we are advancing surely. Too much haste, by sending improper persons, might injure us. The brethren before us are the men. God has found them out; God has prepared them; and to God be the praise! Go forth, dear brethren, with faith and hope; go forth, brethren and sisters in Christ, carrying with you the sympathy and prayers of this great congregation. We will familiarise your names to us. We will watch for the tidings of your arrival, and the accounts of your labours; we will strive to raise funds for all your necessary supplies; and still more, endeavour to reinforce your ranks, when your work presses heavily upon you. Assure yourselves that this scene will never be forgotten by any one present at it, nor yourselves, as bearing in it so prominent a part. Oceans may roll between us, but our thoughts will often meet at this spot, and our prayers unitedly ascend to the throne of the Heavenly Mercy. The Morrisons and Milnes, who have ascended there, may know of what is now taking place; and over the ascent of whose spirit to them will they watch with so much eagerness as over yours? Yes, we enlist in our work the sympathies of both worlds. Politicians find their ends accomplished in the present world; but, where theirs terminate, ours only begin; and will go on till they shall be celebrated in the never-ending songs of blissful saints and angels.

This has been a most refreshing meeting. The Directors and Officers of the Society must be animated by it-it shows them the