But the guests are all mute as their pitiful cheer,
And none but the worm is a reveller here.

Shall we build to Affection and Love?--
Ah, no! they have wither'd and died,
Or fled with the spirit above;

Friends, brothers, and sisters are laid side by side,

Yet none have saluted, and none have replied.

Unto Sorrow?-The dead cannot grieve, Not a sob, not a sigh meets mine ear,

Which compassion itself could relieve!

Ah! sweetly they slumber, nor hope, love, nor fear,

Peace, peace is the watchword, the only one here.

THE LATE MRS. GIBSON.

(From the "Sydney Press.")

OUR readers will observe, in another part of our paper, a notice of the lamented death of Mrs. Gibson, the wife of the Rev. John Gibson, of Grafton, Clarence River, on Monday, the 9th instant (June); but as the case appears to us to deserve a more extended notice, we shall submit to the attention of our Christian readers the following particulars, in the hope that, under the Divine blessing, they may be useful in leading others in similar circumstances to exercise the same faith and patience, and to be followers of them who, through that faith and patience, have inherited the promises and entered into the heavenly rest.

Mrs. Gibson, whose maiden name was Todd, was a native of the island of Jamaica, where, at the early age of eleven years, she had been led to place her hopes of salvation in the Divine Saviour through the zealous labours of the agents of the London Missionary Society in that island. Her husband, the Rev. John Gibson, had been a Missionary under the London Society, in Jamaica, for eleven years, when his health broke down at last, and he was compelled to return, with his wife and family, to his native land. Oh his arrival in London, the Rev. Dr. Campbell, Editor of the British Banner, under whose superintendence he had been brought up for the ministry, recommended him to emigrate to this colony, along with the Rev. Dr. Lang, to occupy whatever field of usefulness might be opened up to him in the work of the ministry in this more genial climate. Dr. Lang at once pointed out to Mr. Gibson, as a suitable field of ministerial labcur, the district of the Clarence River in this colony, in which he thought Mr. Gibson's knowledge of tropical cultivation might be of service to his future flock; and Mr. Gibson acquiescing in this suggestion, accordingly emigrated per the ship Clifton, with all his family, and arrived safely in Sydney in the month of March, 1850. Mr. Gibson met with a very cordial reception at the Clarence River, and having left his family in Sydney in the first instance, he took them all down with him on his second visit to the d'strict, and reached Grafton on the 9th June, 1850, having in the mean time been admitted a member of the Synod of New South Wales, as a minister of the Australian Presbyterian Church.

VOL. VIII.

Mrs. Gibson took ill in March last, being then near her confinement. She was treated at first for dysentery; but her disease proved to be an affliction of the liver, of which she had previously had two attacks in Jamaica. In April she grew gradually worse, and after her confinement, which took place in May, she experienced a complete prostration of strength, accompanied with frequent and excruciating pain. About a fortnight before her death, she felt her end approaching, and told her husband she would not recover; repeating at the same time many texts of Scripture and hymns, in which Mr. Gibson joined her, and adding, "Heaven is a happy place-I want to go there! I can give up everything now-the world has no charms for me!" Then, addressing her husband, "Promise to take care of my mother." (Mrs. Todd had accompanied her first to England and then to this colony) "Jesus is everything to me now. To die is gain. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment," &c. She then prayed, "Come Redeemer, pity me! Lord, take me to thyself! I love thee-forgive my impatience! I have served thee Lord, from a child, eleven years of age! I can leave all things in thy hands." Her husband then prayed with her, after which she said, "What a pity I lost the glory! What a pity to come back again!"

On the Friday previous to her death, she had Occasional fits of delirium, accompanied with involuntary crying and grinding of the teeth, which her afflicted husband considered symptomatic of approaching dissolution. On Saturday she spoke but little, but looked very ill, and sighed deeply. She was resigned, however, to the issue, and wished God's will to be done, being happy in her mind, and patient to the end. On Sabbath (8th June) she breathed heavily and sighed deeply; her hands were cold at times, and she complained of pains in her limbs and pressure on her chest. At night she told her husband to go to bed, but as he did not expect she would hold out much longer, he watched her all night. At midnight she started up and requested her husband “to make it a matter of prayer whether she was to live or die," adding, "what a sufferer I am!" "Yes," her husband observed, "but Jesus' suffered the just for the unjust, to bring us to God,' and 'if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him.'” "Yes," she replied, in a tone of mild acquiescence, and expressed her happiness at the

2 Q

prospect. Her husband then asked her whether she could leave him, her mother, and her children; to which she replied, "The Lord's will be done! God will take care of you all." Mr. Gibson then repeated to her many passages of Scripture and hymns, in which she occasionally joined, and as she had often sung, "Vital spark of heavenly flame," in Jamaica, her husband repeated it to her at her request, together with the following hymns, "There is a land of pure delight," &c, "Jerusalem, my happy home," &o., "Jesus, refuge of my soul," &c., and, "When I tread the verge of Jordan," &c. She then asked her mother to moisten her face, and when this was done she began to sing, as well as she could, "There is a happy land, far, far away!" but the effort was beyond her strength, and with the word "hallelujah" on her lips, she expired.

Mrs. Gibson, we need scarcely inform our readers, had discharged all the relative duties of her station-as a daughter, a wife, and a mother -as one would have presumed from the last scene of her earthly existence. For people

generally die as they live, and therefore, if we would die well, we must live well. How bright an example has this West Indian lady left to you, ye daughters of Australia! She lived but

one year in your country-God sent her here to die. Mrs. Gibson had expressed a wish to be interred in the allotment recently purchased by the managing Committee at Grafton for a Presbyterian Church and minister's dwelling, and the interment accordingly took place there on Tuesday, the 10th ult. There was great sympathy manifested by the residents of Grafton and its vicinity, and the funeral procession was followed by a goodly attendance. Before leaving the house, Mr. Gibson gave out the hymn, "Why do we mourn departed friends ?" after which he offered up an appropriate prayer. When the coffin was deposited in the grave, Mr. Gibson addressed the spectators and again prayed, after which the company dispersed, the scene throughout having been deeply and powerfully affecting.

EVERY year as it passes bears with it some new lesson-some fresh experience-some seeds of thought for all future time. The contemplation of the history of the past teaches this truth. The lesson one period of time suggests is embodied in the experience of the succeeding one. The experience of one generation adds to the wisdom of the next. This is the element of progress. We see it ever in operation. Much

of the mist and mystery that enveloped science has rolled away. Prejudice and superstition have hid themselves as the light of intelligence has advanced. Commerce has extended; and now all the nations of the earth are linked in one trading brotherhood. The world is ever active. But yesterday the representatives of almost every people under heaven crowded beneath the crystal roof of the Great Exhibition, with eager interest, to gaze upon the collected triumphs of industry and art gathered from the four quarters of the globe. Thus mankind is ever longing after higher and higher attainments; and gathering up their strength, learning lessons from the past, carefully considering the present, they venture on the future with redoubled energy, and press on to perfection.

Thus should Christian effort be,-ever progressing. The world has need of this. Even in our own beloved and favoured land virtue has not undisputed sway. In the strife for wealth men overlook the true riches. The labours of the Home Missionary are much needed even in Christian England. There are portions of our population seemingly as deeply sunk in moral depravity as are heathen lands. Fearful ignorance is found to exist of the simplest principles of religious truth; and with ignorance superstition goes hand in hand. And in such localities that form of religion which has the most sympathy with superstition finds the most favour and the readiest acceptance. And, as the agents of the Home Missionary Society often to their sorrow and discouragement find, when the influence which wealth commands, and the

power possessed by the employers of the poor are exerted to foster prejudice, and encourage superstition, then the weapons which the humble preacher of the simplicity of the Gospel wields seldom reach the heart, or disturb the peace of those who hug their moral chains around them with increasing fondness. The labours of the agents of this Society are chiefly devoted to those portions of our land where the means of religious instruction are few, and distant from each other. In many instances the sphere of the Missionary's labour is wide and extensive. He assumes the pastorate over two or more villages. And here the opposing influences differ greatly from those prevalent in our cities and larger towns. Here the Puseyite finds in the rustic simplicity and ignorance of the people a pleasant field of labour. Here the bigoted Churchman, backed by wealth and intimidation, now bribes, now threatens, and draws or drives away alike the parent and the child, from the humble, unpatronised, ungarnished, poor conventicle where nothing but the Gospel can be given. This frequently involves the Agent in bitter and malignant persecution and if not direct, the indirect means used to undermine his comfort, happiness, and usefulness by detraction, inuendos, and reproach, form an almost constant trial of faith and patience. Do not these men deserve the sympathy and prayers of the Church? Ought not their hands to be upheld, their hearts encouraged, and their means of usefulness increased? Many more places than those occupied wait the visits of the Home Missionary. There are other fields of peculiar interest and pressing claims which demand the prayerful effort of the Christian Church; places where now the only kinds of religious teaching are "Roman Catholicism, very vigorously sustained under the auspices of wealth and influence," or its offspring Puseyism, stealing its way under the mask and name of Church of England Protestantism. And if the bulwarks of our true Protestantism are not to be under

mined, these open advances, and these insidious encroachments must be early met by well-directed effort the faithful, untiring preaching of the Gospel, the unmasking of deceptive appearances, and the use of all those means which the universal demand for education invites the servants of Christ to employ. But the Agents of the Society have, in the midst of much to depress, some source of encouragement and promise. They have not laboured in vain. Not only have Churches been sustained, but in some instances they have increased. Many who have walked long and honourably as children of the light, have joyfully gone to their eternal rest. Sunday and Day-schools, have been established and sustained. "During the past year eight stations, from various causes, have been relinquished, and eight of a more promising character have been adopted. There are now employed, or aided by the Society, 118 Agents, and 140 lay preachers, assisted by nearly 1,700 Sunday-school teachers, whose ministrations are attended by more than 40,000 hearers, and about 12,900 Sunday scholars, in the midst of a population of nearly half-a-million. Their chapels and preaching-rooms are 450. There are ninetyone Bible-classes, attended by 1,500 pupils. The number of members in Church-fellowship is 4,846, in which are included 463 added during the past year." The financial position of the Society has improved; and by reason of special and adventitious sources of income, the receipts have not only exceeded the expenditure, but the receipts of the previous year by £2,327 178. 8d. Of this sum the excess of legacies this year over the preceding year amounts to £2,028 108. 7d. The Committee, though deeply grateful for this special and unexpected liberality, cannot rely upon such extraordinary sources of income. The regular and expected income needs much to be augmented before the many inviting fields of labour which solicit help, and the many wants which those already occupied need to have supplied, can be met with ready, willing, liberal response.

The Irish Evangelical Society still struggles with Ireland. The difficulties which have presented themselves in our sister country have not yet been overcome: Ireland is a problem yet unsolved-a Gordian knot yet untied. verty of Ireland has not yet been removed. The prejudice in many English minds against everything Irish has not yet died away.

The po

The sym

pathy of English hearts has not yet found expression in great and liberal efforts for Ireland's elevation. The appeals of zealous and devoted friends of Ireland, so often and so ably urged, have moved and melted for the moment, but remain unanswered. The green hills and verdant valleys of poor Erin still smile sweetly in the summer sun,-the honest, open, blunt, warm good-nature, which has ever dwelt in Irish hearts, lives there still. But the thick gloom of Popery hangs its doleful, melancholy, degrading influence, and holds the down-trodden sons of Ireland in a soul-destroying bondage. Priestcraft still triumphs. Powerful, subtle, wakeful, jealous, cunning, crafty, it practises its wily arts, gets its seductive snares, and catches in its treacherous embrace the simple, uninquiring peasantry, rather as eager than unwilling victims.

A tyrannical State Church, instead of helping to snap asunder the fetters that bind these our

fellow-subjects in slavish subjection to a Romish priesthood, helps to rivet them the faster. And a Christian Protestant Government pays these priests, and patronises alike the Protestant and Popish creed. And yet the degraded condition of Ireland still calls for that spiritual life and freedom which alone can raise her to honour and independence. Let her call be heard, and heard to be answered. Disappointment, want of success, hope deferred, Popish persecution, might naturally cause the weary hands of the devoted Agents of this Society to hang down in despondency, but the promise of the mighty God forbids their fear: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, this or that." We cannot see His secret will. It is ours to perform his great commands, and wait the fulfilment of his promises :

"God's purposes shall ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower."

"In the Report of last year it was stated that the expenditure of the two preceding years had so far exceeded the income that a debt of £1,316 10s. 2d. had accumulated. To liquidate this the friends of the Society generously contributed, in special donations, the sum of £1,346 68. 6d. This difficulty being thus removed, the Committee proceeded to make such reductions and alterations in the operations of the Society as would bring its expenditure within its income. By the dismissal of Agents, and the relinquishment of stations, this has been accomplished; the excess of the income over the expenditure leaving a balance in the hands of the treasurer of £266 5s. 9d. The Society has assisted during the year thirty-two Ministers and Scripture-readers. There are now employed ten Pastors or Missionaries, ten Scripturereaders, and one Schoolmaster." But may it not be asked, "What are these among so many?" Is this a time to dismiss Agents, and relinquish stations ? Are these twenty-one labourers to be all the liberality of Christian England will send forth across the channel to help to evangelize and elevate Ireland? Did the Christian Church duly weigh the obligation laid upon her to assist the spread of truth in that region of error,--did she feel aright that England has not always done pure justice to Ireland,-did she carefully consider the evil which the annual importation of thousands of the Irish poor into our own land and the colonies, deeply imbued with the spirit and temper of Popery, is calculated to produce, then the response would be cordial and vigorous, and the stated income would enable an increased band of faithful messengers of truth to wage with greater spirit energy, and success, aggressive warfare upon the dominions of the man of sin.

A brighter picture gladdens the heart, and more encouraging fields of labour engage the operations of the Colonial Missionary Society. In the spheres of labour of its Agents, old and long-established prejudices, or deeply set forms of error, do not constitute the elements of opposition. It is, to a considerable extent, a conflict between truth and error, the Gospel and superstition, liberty and bondage, as to which shall first go up and possess the land; which shall gain the first victories, and maintain the first advantages. Our countrymen have gone out to

the Colonial Dependencies of this great Empire, and these are founding towns, cities, kingdoms, empires. These quickly rise from out the wilderness, and in a few years the soil which was rarely pressed by human feet, becomes the home of families, the seat of commerce. A busy, bustling, industrial population ply their various avocations; wealth is gained; social honours and distinctions created; and all the pleasures and advantages of civilized society are fostered and encouraged. The beginnings of those things which may hereafter become great and always important. The Agents of a corrupt Church are as well aware of this fact, as the friends of the pure and true. As is the stripling, so is the man. And as are the early preferences and prejudices of a new State, so, in all likelihood, will be its future developments. It is, therefore, of immense importance that the seeds of pure Christianity, of Civil and Religious Liberty, should not only be early sown, but watched, nourished, fostered, prayed over, until they spring up and grow, and become as trees of life, and the people flock beneath their spreading branches, and rest under their pleasant shade in peaceful harmony and Christian brotherhood.

The Society has been in existence but fifteen years, and can, consequently, report no very large results. But the spheres of labour are so important, the aspect they present so inviting, and the encouragement which the past supplies so abundant, that if the Christian Church would strive to revel more in the luxury of doing good, and practice more the words of our Saviour when he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," the Society might widely extend its operations, and comply with many pressing calls which cannot now be met for want of funds.

"When the Society commenced its labours in Canada, there were but four or five Churches of our Faith and Order in both Provinces, and they were in so feeble a state that the things which remained were ready to die. There are now 63 Churches, comprising 4,000 Members in communion, and congregations numbering, it is supposed, 15,000 persons. More than 60 Chapels have been erected, chiefly by the Colonists themselves, who have refused, in every instance, Government assistance. A Collegiate Institution for training young men for the Christian Ministry has been established. Twenty-eight young brethren have been educated in the Institution; nineteen of whom have gone forth to labour in the Gospel, principally in the Canadian field. A Mission to the North American Indians has been commenced; and an Indian chief preaches the Gospel to his countrymen; God is prospering the labours of his servants. In Australasia the operations of the Society afford peculiar satisfaction. At Sydney, Dr. Ross and his friends are labouring with preeminent zeal and devotedness. From his arrival in the Colony to the present time, a period of ten years, the Church there has raised for objects connected with the cause of God, no less a sum than £12,000. Not satisfied with this, they have recently formed a Home Migsionary Society for the Colony, for the threefold object of sustaining City Missionaries for Sydney itself, Ministers in the minor towns of the

Colony, and Bush Missionaries for the scattered population of the interior."

Thus the Stations of this Society become not only self-sustaining, but centres of influence and usefulness, from which other places receive light, knowledge, and benefit.

"There are thirty-six agents and nine students wholly or in part dependent upon the funds of the Society; whilst others once its respected agents, are now sustained by the congregations they have gathered around them. The finances of the Society are in a more satisfactory state than they have been for many years. The income for the past year has been from all sources £3,120 18. 3d. The expenditure has been £2,714 4s. 7d. Excess of income over expenditure, £405 16s. 8d."

But the Colonial Society has sustained a heavy loss; first in the retirement, and then in the death of its invaluable Secretary. His wise, kind, prudent, gentle spirit, which had guided its operations in quiet, unobtrusive progress, gained the universal love and generous confidence of the Churches of our land. The name of Algernon Wells will ever be associated with all that is noble, generous, affectionate, prudent, progressive. May his mantle and a double portion of his spirit rest upon his successor!

The commercial prosperity with which Sheffield has been favoured, especially during the past year, is a strong argument and inducement for increased effort for the support of British Missions. Pressing local claims have in several instances, retarded the proper and intended exercise of benevolence in this direction. These claims are now decreasing in number and urgency and we trust the gratitude to the Giver of all Good, which Sheffield should cherish, will be manifested in liberal contributions, and in the formation of Congregational Associations.

Thus in widely differing, but highly interesting and important spheres, the operations of British Missions are sustained. The pressing claims of Home call loudly and unceasingly upon the Christian patriot. The truest, highest glory of England is in her humanity, virtue, and religion. The deep and harrowing misery of Ireland still pleads with tearful earnestness, and calls to England to break her fetters and get her free. The Colonies smile in youthful vigour, hope, and promise, and invite to further enterprise.

These are appeals eminently British; and wherever British patriotism and British philanthropy find a home in British hearts, they cannot go unanswered. The Missionary labɔurs in faith; the Church sympathizes with, prays for, and supports him. And, as the experience of the past bids fear and unbelief be cast to the winds, let the Church patiently, fervently, believingly pray and labour; and the Spirit, like some Heavenly wind, shall breathe upon the sons of flesh, and in his own good time the Kingdom of God shall come, and "His name shall be known upon earth, and his saving health among all people, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

*This paper was read at a large meeting of the Sheffield Auxiliary, on October 27th, 1851, in Queen-street Chapel, by Mr. A. Allott, Secretary; Mr. R. Waterhouse in the Chair.