THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND YOUNG MEN'S

SOCIETY,

FOR ALDING MISSIONS AT HOME AND ABROAD.

No. VII.

AN APPEAL FOR NEW BRANCHES.

IN visiting the birth-place or residence of a departed man of genius, a tree planted by his own hands is sometimes pointed out as an interesting relic. Milton and Shakspeare, for instance, both planted trees in this manner. It is easy to imagine the pleasure which these poets must have had in watching the tender seedling, and their satisfaction in after life in sitting down under its branches and partaking of fruit which had sprung from the labour of their own hands. There are some pleasures analogous to this in the spiritual world. How sweet to the benevolent Robert Raikes must have been the spectacle of Sunday-schools scattered over the length and breadth of the land, and the reflection that all this machinery for usefulness sprang from a humble experiment made by himself in an obscure school-room in Gloucester! How delightful must it have been to the late Josiah Pratt, at the age of fourscore, when reviewing the progress of the Church Missionary Society, to have recollected that he was honored of God to be one of the small committee which met, fifty years before, to found that noble institution! How thankful, too, must both the excellent men we have named have been, that they did not listen to those suggestions of ease and self-indulgence, which damp every new attempt at usefulness, and which, doubtless, tempted them, as they now do others, under some plausible disguise, to leave undone that work which God called upon them to do. In application of the illustration just given, we would earnestly and affectionately call on young men to assist in the formation of branches of the Church of England Young Men's Society. Twelve such branches are already formed, but openings for others exist in all parts of the country. Let our dear young friends be encouraged to put themselves in communication with the Secretaries of the Society, and they will learn that the steps necessary to be taken are of a very simple and easy character. Oh! at the end of a life devoted to the service of Christ, would it not make the heart leap for joy to find that some humble branch, small in its beginings, had yet, under the blessing of God, grown up to be a great tree, bringing forth fruit abundantly.

The youthful Napoleon encouraged his exhausted soldiers in his first campaign by telling them that, in after life, they would remember with joy that "they too were of the army of Italy." In a similar manner may it be the happiness of many a young man who reads this paper to say, in after years, with grateful humility "I, too, was one of the early friends of the Church of England Young Men's Society.'

THE ENGLISH ABROAD.

"Ships, Colonies, and Commerce," the possessions coveted by the ambitious Emperor of France, as he contemplated our heaven

protected shores, have made Englishmen everywhere at home, and familiarised the natives of all climes with the name and glory of our father land. If in this there is just cause for national gratulation, the dangers and responibilities it involves are, on the other hand, calculated to awaken the anxiety of Christian minds.

The English abroad comprise some of all the various classes into which the community is divided. A large number of British noblemen and gentlemen, with their families, have chosen temporary or permanent homes in Continental States, for health, pleasure, and other objects. Our merchants traverse the earth in the pursuit of trade, carrying with them a numerous body of clerks, assistants, and dependants. English artisans and laborers, attracted to distant shores by high wages, are found, in thousands, in the manufactories and on the railroads of nations which used to be regarded as our hereditary foes.

The great majority of our countrymen abroad are located in lands where religious and moral influences of a most baneful character predominate. In France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Austria, Roman Catholic superstition pollutes the springs of social life. In Protestant Germany, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark, neologian heresy, and other negations of the truth as it is in Jesus," are paramount. In Russia the Greek Church hides the Gospel with a cloud of error, and in Turkey the "false prophet" reigns with weakened but still pernicious sway.

In all these European countries, the English are, more or less, numerous. The British residents in France are computed at 60,000; of whom 28,000 are located in Paris, and 4,000 at Calais. One hundred English workmen, with their families, are to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of Constantinople, besides a number of residents belonging to the higher ranks. The port of that city is, moreover, annually visited by 3,000 or 4,000 British sailors. Looking, in a single instance, beyond the limits of Europe, we find the States of Central and South America more deeply sunk in Roman darkness than Italy itself; and yet 500 of our fellowcountrymen reside in Mexico alone and our nation is proportionably well represented, especially by the mercantile class, in the other republics of the South, and in the empire of Brazil.

It is, then, obvious that the English abroad are exposed to a measure of moral and religious contamination, which calls for peculiar watchfulness, whether we regard their own spiritual well-being, or the integrity of that Christian and Protestant name which is associated, in the minds of foreigners, with the national character.

Whilst, however, Englishmen carry with them, wherever they go, enterprise, industry, prudence, and the other virtues which distinguish them among the nations; religion, speaking generally, is left behind. They cherish many fond recollections of their native land, but they forget its Sabbaths: they reflect with wonder on the freedom of its institutions, in comparison with those of other countries, but they remember not that Reformed faith to which it owes its truest liberty: nay more, by their manifest neglect of all the outward forms of religion, they confirm the scornful accusations of the Romanist against that Protestantism with which they are nominally identified.

Need we proof of these mournful truths? Take the following examples:

1. The newspapers, not long since, gave an account of a Sunday steeple chase, at Chantilly, near Paris, in which the principal parties concerned were young English noblemen. A French pastor, reflecting on this painful scene, stated, "It has been a saying, in the country from which I come, owing to the visits of irreligious Englishmen, that the God of England cannot cross the channel.' ''

2. A Catechist of the Colonial Church Society, at Paris, describes his first reception by the poorer English, at their own homes, as follows: "Out of the families that I have visited, containing about 250 members, of a sufficient age to attend Divine Service, not more than one-seventh actually attend, and many of these only occasionally go to church; the remainder attend no place of worship, either Protestant or Popish, while nearly the whole seldom read the Bible, have no family worship, and very few even the form of private prayer. Many were very tenacious of their churchmanship, and wished it to be distinctly understood, that they had not always been neglectful of their church, for when in England, they used to go twice a-day; and many were brought up in Sunday-schools, but now the family cannot be neglected, business must be attended to, for the rich expect their dependants to work on the Sunday as on any other day. If the rich would set a better example, by attending to their duty, we, the poor, would be able to attend to ours.'

“ On explaining the object of my mission to those I visited, I re ceived some curious replies, a few of which I will give as specimens,-'Thank you, Sir,' said an elderly female, I have no occasion to attend your lectures, for I am not an adult; I have been well brought up.' 'My good woman, you are indeed an adult; I am one, yet I can read and write.' I endeavoured to explain what the word meant; she was silenced, but not satisfied. Another female remarked, 'We are very grateful to you for your kindness; but we have Bibles, Prayer-books, and other good books which we read; we do not require further instruction.' Another said, 'We are not heathen yet; for we know what is our duty, and have no need to be told it.' In fact, many had a strong disposition to be piqued at my presuming to think that they were not acting up to their required duties. It was very painful to witness the cold insensibility and lurking scepticism of many who listened to my remarks on the condition of the sinner, and the need of a Saviour, of repentance, and forsaking sin, faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ, and holiness of life."

3. That the snares of foreign life affect the commercial class, equally with others, may be seen from instances occurring in one of the large towns of the Levant. The machinations of the Greek and Romish priests, to win the English over to their corrupt communions, were there exemplified in the case of a family the head of which was a Protestant, who held his creed till near the period of his death, a short time prior to which he was taken from his bed and forcibly baptized by the Greek priests. His son, who sanctioned this, had two sons, one professing Protestantism, and the other paying no attention to religion at all. The head of another family brought up his children as Protestants; but, of his daughters, some entered the Romish, others the Greek Church, and one tried both. A granddaughter also became a Roman Catholic; and a grandson died, and was buried as a Papist, but under shameful circumstances. When the young man was ill, the priests, aided by

his mother, tried to induce him to declare himself a member of the Romish Church, but he was faithful to his religious convictions. Notwithstanding this, the priests, when he was expiring, administered to him extreme unction, and pronounced him a good Catholic. These details will be sufficient to make it apparent, that our countrymen abroad demand a large share of missionary sympathy from Christians at home. Their spiritual wants, though hitherto much neglected, and, indeed, almost forgotten, are beginning to have a place in the evangelizing operations of our day. The Colonial Church Society has labored, with happy success, in placing pious and enlightened chaplains and catechists at different places on the Continent and elsewhere. It desires to go forward largely in this encouraging sphere of Christian exertion, where small means, judiciously expended, may be productive of much permanent blessing. Three years ago, a grant from the Society enabled the Rev. S. H. Beresford to establish a British Chaplaincy at the Hague. The attention awakened by Mr. Beresford's ministrations, has led to the erection of a Church, which was opened in November last. Out of a congregation of about 150 persons, the very large proportion of 85 are stated communicants: not because of any overstrained views of the Lord's Supper preached by the minister, or entertained by the people, but in connection with that evangelical teaching which is, alone, calculated to lead sinners to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Mr. Winter, a Catechist of the same Society, has been laboring for the past eighteen months among 4,000 English in the Basse Ville of Calais. He found them in a state painful to contemplate; rejoicing in their very excision from the Christian privileges of their native land, and spending their increased gains in the inebriating cup. At the close of the past year he wrote:

"I now see a congregation of not less than 150 people, assembled together for the purpose of hearing the glad tidings of salvation, who before devoted themselves, and God's holy day, to the worst of purposes. I see, also, 200 children hailing with delight the dawn of each returning Sabbath, and I hear, with feelings of ecstacy, their infant voices lisping the name of Jesus,-children who formerly knew not that it was their duty to keep holy the Sabbath-day, and who, apart from so valuable a means of grace, were exposed to examples of the most powerful and prejudicial character. And I see, likewise, some few devoting themselves to the service of God who in past days devoted themselves to the service of the world. Surely this delightful state of things, this pleasing change, is marvellous in our eyes, and is a clear demonstration both of the power and the goodness of God, who would have all men to be saved, and brought to the knowledge of the truth."

Missionary exertions in behalf of the English abroad have an important bearing on the evangelization of foreign churches and nations. In many European kingdoms, efforts to diffuse Protestant truth, or even to circulate Bibles, would be met with instant imprisonment; but the respect commanded by our flag secures to British subjects the right of exercising their religion under the very walls of the Vatican itself. Hence, light can only be introduced into these nations of darkness, through the English. Where they are consistent and, blessed be God! some are-it must and will radiate upon the degraded and enthralled natives, among whom they mix. By this very means, a silent, but effectual work is now going for

ward in Italy. The bands of superstition are loosening: many a student in that fair land-where humanity alone is withered, all besides is beautiful and good-sees "men as trees, walking." How invaluable to such may be the "word in season" of a British Protestant, directed by God's all-guiding hand to some secluded convent, unconscious of his high and holy mission!

Whether then we view this subject in relation to our own fellowcountrymen, or in the aspect which it presents to foreign nations, it alike claims our sympathies, our prayers, and our Christian liberality. May it never be said, in regard to either of these demands, "This ought ye to have done, and not have left the other undone."

RESULTS OF MISSIONARY LABOUR

AMONG THE HEATHEN.

The following brief summary of what has been accomplished by Missionary labor is abridged from "Travels in South Eastern Asia," by the Rev. Howard Malcolm, of Boston, U.S., 1839.*

Numerous and formidable impediments have been removed. A great body of Missionaries and native preachers are in actual service. It will not be far from the truth to say, that there are one thousand ordained Missionaries, fifty printers, three hundred schoolmasters and assistants, and some hundreds of native preachers.

A considerable number of languages have been reduced to writing. The word of God, in whole or in part, has been translated by modern Missionaries into nearly one hundred languages; the languages of more than half the human family, and some of them among the most difficult in the world.

Missionaries have given to the heathen nearly all the useful literature they now enjoy.

In nearly every Mission a Grammar, Vocabulary, and Dictionary have been prepared.

An amount, literally incalculable, of Bibles and Tracts have been put in circulation.

Schools of various grades are established, and a multitude of youth have received a Christian education.

The blessings of Christian morality have been widely diffused.
In some places the entire fabric of idolatry is shaken.

The beneficial effect of Missions on the European population abroad is great.

LASTLY AND CHIEFLY, SOULS HAVE BEEN CONVERTED TO GOD.

Converted heathens are already numbered by tens of thousands. Two thousand have been baptized by Missionaries connected with Serampore, of whom 600 are now alive, and in good standing. In the West Indies, connected with the Methodist and Baptist Missions, there are 69,000 communicants. The number connected with the London Missionary Society is 5,439; with the Church Missionary

* As this work was written some years since, due allowance must be made for subsequent additions.