408 Jubilee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. previous zeal. We can no longer doubt what England's mission is, or what the mission of the Church must be. In future ages one great note will be upon her past history, happen what may. It is most interesting to see the position which the Prelates of those distant dioceses have taken; their zeal, their entire harmony, their reverenced authority. They have boldly and nobly done that, which, had it been done amongst ourselves fifty years ago, might have saved us much sad discussion and misunderstanding, and have procured to the Church far more abundant seals to her ministry. It is delightful to see the Church taking up systematically not merely the conversion, but the civilization, not merely the civilization, but, we may almost add, the preservation of the natives. To preserve the natives from the demoralizing and wasting influence of the settlers, has been the object of several Protectorate Associations. But these Associations have failed. The Bishop of Melbourne confesses it. We cannot enter into the cause of this. But the Church has taken up the task; and whether it succeed or not (and we cannot be at all sure what the inscrutable purpose of God may be in regard to these tribes) yet now we may be satisfied that the most hopeful means for that end have been tried. For these reasons we may heartily bid God speed to this new effort to propagate the Gospel, and to the Prelates who have initiated it. As interested in this great Missionary work we may regard even with increased tender affection the sister Colonial Churches in Australia, and while we long to see them able to act with more independent and untrammelled freedom, still rejoice to labour with them in what is their work and ours. JUBILEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. THE rapid growth and continued progress of the Colonial Church is one of the most cheering signs of the life of the Church at home; and it is well, in this season of anxiety and trial, of divisions within, and of aggression from without, that the minds of Churchmen should be encouraged to dwell on the magnitude and importance of those Missionary operations which are day by day being multiplied among us. We learn, therefore, with much satisfaction, that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel contemplates celebrating, during the present year, with all possible solemnity, the completion of its third Jubilee. For, while such celebration will afford to all Christians in communion with the Church of England an opportunity of offering to Almighty God their united praise and thanksgiving for mercies past, it will serve to recall forcibly to their minds how abundant those mercies have been, and how signally the Divine blessing seems to have rested on the recent labours of the Reformed Church, for the extension of Christ's kingdom. In these labours that venerable Society has, for a century and a half, borne no inconsiderable share. And if, in the retrospect of the past, it has, like the Church of which it was the handmaid, to mourn over many years of torpor and neglect, it also may plead that it has long since awakened to a deeper sense of responsibility, and has spared no exertions to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation throughout the whole extent of that mighty empire on which the sun never sets. It is too true, that for 150 years after the Reformation, the spirit of Missionary enterprise appears to have languished in the Church at large. At the end of that period the Romanist could boast that Christianity as professed by us had lost its expansive power; and the poet, who had apostatized from the communion of our Church, could say of her, without very far exceeding the bounds of poetic licence,— "Thus, like a creature of a double kind, But the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, from the very day of its incorporation, has laboured, with more or less success, to remove this reproach from our Church. At the latter end of the seventeenth century there were not more than four clergymen of our communion in the whole continent of America. On the 16th of June, 1701, the royal charter granted to the Society was signed. From that day the Church of England commenced an organized system for the maintenance of religion among her own emigrant children, and for the propagation of the Gospel among the surrounding heathen. The Society entered on its labours forthwith; and, not content with sending out clergymen and schoolmasters, it was forward in pressing on the Government of the day the duty of at once constituting the Church in North America in its integrity, by planting the Episcopate in those Colonies. As early as 1709 we find it memorialising Queen Anne to that effect. By 1713 the Society appears to have matured a comprehensive plan for providing the Colonial Church with episcopal government, which obtained the royal sanction, but was unhappily frustrated by the death of the Queen. No time was lost in renewing the application to George I. after his accession; but the claims of the Church found little favour with the first two monarchs of the House of Hanover. The Society indeed repeated its remonstrances and 410 Jubilee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. petitions from time to time, but it was not until 1787, after the recognition of the independence of the United States, and the fnll constitution of the American Church, by the consecration of Bishop Seabury, in Scotland, and of Bishops White and Provoost, at Lambeth, that the Episcopate was actually planted in a dependency of the British crown, by the erection of the See of Nova Scotia. The eighteenth century witnessed the creation of only one more Diocese,-that of Quebec, in 1793; so that, for the first century of its existence, the Society, starting with royal favour, and apparently not forgetful of its high duties, could yet boast of a very limited measure of success. The seed had indeed been sown, which was to grow up to a mighty tree in the United States; the Churches of Nova Scotia and Canada had been founded on the apostolic model; a few clergymen were supported by the Society among the West Indian Islands, and a college had been established there. A single native Missionary, stationed on the Gold Coast, was the only evidence of the Church's desire for the conversion of heathen Africa. One Clergyman and three Lay-teachers were supported in the recently formed settlement of New South Wales; and among the millions of Hindostan, nine Danish Missionaries were indebted for a portion of their slender maintenance to the English Church, as represented by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The shore of New Zealand had not yet been trodden by the foot of a Christian Minister. Truly no great results had as yet been attained. It was reserved for the nineteenth century, and for the present generation, to witness a more striking manifestation of the vitality of the Church, and to exhibit more convincing proofs of the efficiency of the Society. The Church of England, in our day, has clearly shown that it lacks not expansive power. Her "sound is gone out into all lands, and her words into the ends of the world." God's blessing has rested on the abundant labours of the Society and its missionaries. It is needless to expatiate on the details of the mighty work which is going on around us. The gratifying result is, that in the lands which are or have been within the limits of the Society's charter, where, 150 years ago, not a dozen clergymen of the Church of England could be found, there are now about 3,000,000 members of our communion, to whom the Word of God and the sacraments are ministered by 2,750 clergymen, under the superintendence of 57 bishops. And a review of the operations of the last twelve years will exhibit in a still more striking point of view the impulse lately given to missionary enterprise in our Church. In 1839 there were only eight Colonial Bishops in all. Two were added in that year. In 1841 the Declaration of the Arch bishops and Bishops proclaimed the importance of extending the Colonial Episcopate. In 1850 the number of Colonial Dioceses had been augmented to twenty-four; while, as an immediate consequence upon the appointment of a chief pastor, the clergy in many of their dioceses had multiplied in some instances more than fourfold. Nor is this all. The Church abroad is already beginning to exhibit signs of that life which has quickened the Church at home. Our last number' contained the details of a scheme for a mission from the West Indian Church to the Western coast of Africa. More lately still, we have received the tidings that one result of the conference of the Australasian Bishops at Sydney, has been the organization of a Board of Missions for the propagation of the Gospel amongst the aboriginal inhabitants of the Australian continent, and in the islands of the Western Pacific. And the infant Church at the Cape of Good Hope is already preparing to begin its missionary labours among the Kaffirs and Zoolus. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel is therefore well entitled to celebrate with humble joy and thanksgiving this its third Jubilee. And we rejoice that the celebration is to be something more than a matter of imperial interest; that it is an occasion, on which all Bishops in communion with our Church are invited to unite with her in a simultaneous offering of prayer and praise. We would fain hope that the wishes of the Society may be realized, and that while the roof of the old abbey of Westminster shall resound with the thanksgivings of the assembled prelates, and priests, and faithful members of the Church at home, the voice of joy and melody may be heard on the banks of the Ganges, and along the iron-bound coasts of Labrador, at Hong Kong and New Zealand, in the Bornean Archipelago and the plains of Southern Africa, at Washington and New York, as well as at Sydney and Adelaide. But the Society, while it recalls thankfully to the minds of the British nation the abundant measure of success which has been vouchsafed to its past labours, will not, we are assured, fail to stimulate the zeal and piety of the Church to still greater exertions. A very small beginning has as yet been made in the vast work which Providence seems to have designed for the Anglican Church. No one who estimates aright the deep responsibilities which attach to this nation, from the enormous extent of its Colonial empire, can fail to see that we are in an especial manner called upon to take our share in the mighty task of evangelizing the world. All the contributions which have as yet been placed at the disposal of the two great Missionary 1 P. 390. Societies among us, are miserably disproportionate to the wealth of the people, and inadequate to the wants of the Societies. Recent events have given a stimulus to the cause of Church extension at home. They may not unreasonably be expected to have an influence likewise on the same work abroad. Let us hope that the Jubilee Fund of this noble Society may reach such an amount as may attest the Christian liberality of the nation, and its deep interest in the work of the Propagation of the Gospel.' 1 For the convenience of many of our readers, we place on record the general plan for the celebration of the Jubilee as published by the Society : "THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL having, through the mercy of Almighty God, been permitted to complete the labours of One Hundred and Fifty Years with no small measure of success, earnestly invites all who feel an interest in the Missionary operations of the Church of England, to join in celebrating, with thanksgiving and prayer, its THIRD JUBILEE. "To this end, the Society recommends, That the time of celebration extend through an entire year, commencing June 16th, 1851, being the Anniversary of the day on which the Charter was signed. 66 That, by permission of the Dean and Chapter, the opening of the Jubilee year be celebrated in Westminster Abbey, on Monday, June 16th, 1851, by Divine Service, with Holy Communion, and that the Members and friends of the Society be specially invited to attend. "That a Public Meeting of the Society be held in London on the following day (Tuesday), with a view to increase the interest of all classes in the religious condition of the British Colonies, and the Missionary work of the Church. "That the District Secretaries in connexion with the Society be invited to attend a Special Meeting, at 79, Pall Mall, on Wednesday, June 18th, at 11 A. M., to make arrangements for forming local Jubilee Committees. "That the Anniversary Festival of the Society be held at St. Paul's Cathedral, on Wednesday, June 18th, at Three o'Clock, P. M. "That endeavours be made to procure as many of the London churches as possible for Sunday, June 22d, in order that Jubilee Sermons may be preached in various parts of the Metropolis on that day; and that Preachers for such churches be specially provided by the Society, if so desired by the Incumbents. "That the Deans and Chapters of the several Cathedrals in Great Britain and Ireland be requested to allow Jubilee Sermons to be preached in their Cathedral Churches, on such day, during the present year, as they may deem most suitable for a Diocesan Celebration of the Society's Jubilee. "That on the First Sunday in Advent (Nov. 30th), or on any other convenient Sunday, the Jubilee be celebrated in every Parish Church where the permission of the Incumbent may be obtained. "That the Bishops of the various Colonial Dioceses, and all other Bishops in communion with the Church of England, be informed forthwith of the contemplated arrangements for the celebration of the Jubilee at home; and that they be respectfully invited to unite with the Society in celebrating the same in their several dioceses, in such way as they shall deem expedient. "That a brief historical account of the Society's past operations be prepared, and that a series of Colonial and Missionary publications, together with some devotional tracts suitable to the occasion, be drawn up, under the superintendence of the Secretary. "That a Special Jubilee Fund be opened, which shall be appropriated, at the option of the contributors, to one or more of the following objects: a. Extension of the Episcopate abroad. b. Education of Missionary Candic. Emigrants' Spiritual Aid Fund. d. General Purposes of the Society. dates. |