4 < < < ■ r d, 1860. if \ U.UC ADDEESS DELIVERED TO THE CANDIDATES, ON THE EVE OF THEIK ORDINATION, BY THE LORD BISHOP OF BARBADOS. In an Ordination it becomes the duty of the ordaining Bishop to endeavour to assist his younger brethren entering upon tho work of the ministry, or passing on from a lower to a higher office of ministration, with such exhortation and counsel as shall appear to him to be most needful or appropriate to their case. And if such assistance to candidates for Holy Orders is in every case desirable, how much more so, my dear young friends, in one like yours ! You are going forth to a work of no small difficulty, and danger, and trial ; and you may well expect from those who have promoted your going, and especially from the Bishop who ordains you for the work, not only sympathy and encouragemeiil, but such suggestions as his experience of the ministry, or acquaint- ance with the Mission with which you are about to connect yourselves, ought, under God's grace, to enable him to oiler. May that blessed Spirit, who is the abiding Comforter of the Church, enabling us to think, and to will, and to do that which is good, be with us on an occasion so important to us all ! — yes, important, brethren, to ourselves, and it may he not only to our- selves, but to thousands of our fellow-men, now groping their bewildered way in the darkness of African barbarism : whilst, per- haps, even the Church at home may be benefited by this distincl recognition and sanction in England's great metropolis of a Mission to the heathen, originated by one of her distant colonies Your work, the work of your ministry, for which you are about to be ordained, has this great peculiarity in it, that it is to be exercised not only in a foreign, but in a heathen and barbarous country. Ordinations generally, in England, are for the supply of the Church's own wants ; and our young Clergy go forth to labour in a field in some good measure already cultivated ; over- run, it may be, here and there, with thorns and briers, but still professedly under cultivation. There are churches and schools, and other valuable establishments or institutions, with laws, and rules, and precedents, and the example of elder brothers in the ministry to guide them, and the sympathies and assistance of many a good and holy Christian to encourage and support them. This will not be your case, dear brethren, in Africa. It is true (and God be praised that we are permitted to say it is true !) that even there, even in that part of Western Africa, the Pongas country, to which you are proceeding, the work has already been begun ; and that in one African village (Fallangia) we have our church and school, with our resident priest and deacon, who, besides setting up there the light of the Gospel in its candlestick, have been enabled to preach at various other places, and to give to the people a transient invitation into the Church of Christ. We cannot be too thankful that it has pleased God, within the short space of four years, and amidst some great trials, so far to prosper our work. Still of the Pongas region generally it is but too true, as yet, that it is a land of darkness and of death : and that its people, debased by slavery and the slave-trade, are among the lowest and least civilized of the human race— worshippers, not even of images, but of shapeless stones, and of the serpent — nay, worse, worshippers directly of the Devil himself ! and that with human sacrifices. It is among such poor deluded heathen savages that you may both have to labour, rather than among the new converts of Fal- langia. To one of you especially, my brethren, now to be ordained to the Priesthood, such is the work to be undertaken : more or less, indeed, it must for a long time be the work of the whole Mission : even at Fallangia, embracing, as that station does, many missionary outposts at the houses of different chiefs. Such, I repeat, is the work before you, to carry out, if presbyter, or to assist in carrying out, if deacon, the great commission given by Christ himself to his Apostles, and through them to the minis- try of his Church, to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." To the carrying out of this great work among heathens and savages, amid dangers and trials, you have, my young friends, deliberately devoted yourselves, and we, who are interested in the Mission, and desirous of doing something for poor injured Africa, as from her own children in the West Indies, or in tin- way of restitution, from us Europeans, for the great and grievous wrongs heretofore inflicted on her : in such a cause we have not refused your noble oilers of service, notwithstanding the risks, and privations, and it may be sufferings also, which you may have to encounter. To urge such a work individually upon any one is what we have scrupulously avoided ; but when, in reply to our general appeals, any individuals, inwardly moved, as far as we can judge, by the Holy Spirit, to seek in this way the glory of God and the good of souls, spontaneously come forward to oiler themselves, who are we that we should presume to say Xo in opposition to such influences, especially if they be such in cha- racter and attainments, with due regard to the work before them, as Holy Scripture and the Church call or invite to take upon them the ofhces of the ministry I Of your fitness, my brethren, for the work, as regards both your motive and your call, it is difficult to speak fully except- ing in privacy and confidence. I may however venture to say, generally, — first, as to your motives for offering yourselves, that we cannot, either in wisdom or in charity, v< ature to doubl thai it is indeed the good Spirit of God who has inwardly moved your hearts towards the perishing heathen of Western Africa, to seek, in their salvation, the setting forth of the Divine glory. Any lower motive, in such a case, it is almost impossible to inline. At the same time, while it becomes not us to dispan 8 your motives by any the slightest suspicions, but, on the con- trary, to felicitate you on being so favoured from on high ; yet, as the best of human desires and intentions are mingled with some alloy, it becomes you to remember this our human frailty, and not to forget the wiles of the great enemy, ever intent to pervert what is holy to evil purposes, by mixing with our best designs some selfish consideration. iS r or can you wisely be unmindful, that in proportion to the elevation of your views and the devotedness of your intentions, men will naturally look for a higher tone of conduct and temper ; and expect the whole character of the Missionary to be in harmony with his great purpose, nay more, subsidiary to its attainment. Whilst appreciating your motives, and thankful to God for them, we are bound also to look to your qualifications, as required in the call to the ministry ; none being really invited in Scripture or by the Church to engage in the ministerial work but those who are fit for it, and, among ministers, none being expected to become Missionaries but those who are similarly qualified for that special ministration. With one of you I have had the satisfaction of being long acquainted ; and whatever warrant can be supplied by early diligence, by an exemplary academical career, by a zealous diaconate, and other similar proofs of zeal and conscientiousness as well as of ability in preparing for or in discharging the office of the ministry, including the formal examinations, undergone both now and before, that assurance we have, that in sending out such a Missionary we may reasonably look for God's blessing. In the other instance, whilst, in consequence of early disad- vantages, there is much to desiderate with reference to the full work of the ministry, which time will, we trust, supply ; there is much, on the other hand, to set against deficiencies of education, including, in some respects, a singular fitness for missionary labour, so as on the whole to constitute, with reference to the special work in view, a case of qualification for the diaconate. In the case of Missions, whilst rules and precedents excellent for an established Church in a highly civilized country, but inap- plieable to a barbarous people, cannot be insisted upon, real competence must still be strictly required: the standard of examination being not so much lowered, as varied, to meet the exigencies of the work proposed, and some qualifications required of a higher order, even intellectually, much more spiritually, than is generally thought necessary in a common parochial curt". I ought, on so peculiar an occasion as the present, to say a word or two on your call to the ministry in another view ; as regards, I mean, those from whom the call has come. The case of foreign Missions, beyond the dominions of the Crown, is one. of which our national law, as such, whether civil or ecclesiastical, could scarcely be expected to speak, except in the language of permission ; and that, only when expressly appealed to : nor has the question, that I am aware, ever been specially dealt with by our national Church as an ecclesiastical question, irrespectively of any civil rights or duties. In consequence, there arose at first some doubt as to the right course to be adopted, in a case like this, it being admitted on all hands that there must be some such course, and that it never could be the intention of the laws of England, civil or ecclesiastical, to restrict the Church of England, amid <>ur country's world-wide influence and intercourse, from carrying out that primary law of the Church, to which 1 have already adverted, embodied in our Saviour's last injunction, as He was leaving us for his throne in heaven — to go and Chris- tianize all nations — 1<> preach the Gospel to the whole creation — yea, to preach repentance and remission of sins in Christ's name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. This greal law of our religion, repeated in three of the Gospels and referred to in tin- Acts, with the practical commentaries upon it supplied by the lives and labours and deaths of the holy apostles and evangelists and martyrs, it was felt that no Christian state could think of setting aside, no national Church ever abrogate. A<- cordingly it was by competent authority carefully decided, that your ordination, though avowedly for a foreign country, should take place in this great metropolis : that the ordaining Bishop should be the Bishop of the diocese from which the Mission has a 2 10 emanated, acting by a commission from the Bishop of this diocese, and with the licence of our venerable Primate. You will thus enter upon your work at a threefold call ; and in Africa you will be placed under the oversight and, as far as may be, the jurisdiction and authority of the Bishop of Sierra Leone, to whom our Pongas Mission is committed as it were in commendam, just as, in the West Indies, the Danish Colonies of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz have for more than thirty years been under the episcopal care of an English Colonial Bishop ; at first of the Bishop of Barbados and the Leeward Islands, and now of the Bishop of Antigua. I have spoken of your work, of your motives for seeking it, and of your call to it, including the qualifications required in a called Missionary. That work, as we have said, is a most arduous and, humanty speaking, perilous one ; and the motive to it should be holy and high ; and the qualifications for it of no ordinary kind. What, then, are your encouragements in such an undertaking % They, too, blessed be God, are great and many. To some, indeed, it may seem that you are simply going out to a very dreary and dismal work, in isolation and exile, amidst degraded and dangerous savages, where you will find neither civilization nor sympathy. And doubtless you have, by God ; s grace, made up your minds to give up much that is dear and valuable to you, as well as to encounter much that will be most unwelcome and painful to you as men and as Christians : but you know who it is that has said : " Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions ; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last ; and the last first." (St. Mark x. 29, 30.) And let me draw your attention to some special considerations of an encouraging and consolatory character, which, no doubt, have already, in some measure, at least, engaged your thoughts. 11 Chief among these stands the divine commission, under the sanction of which you will be sent forth ; that commission, to which I have more than once adverted, by which the Church < >1 Christ is not only authorized, but solemnly required to Chris- tianize the nations, and preacli to them all remission of sins in the name of the Lord Jesus, with the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. For man, any man, to go forth and announce such blessings in his own name, or upon any mere human authority, would be an act of the highest presumption. Justly would such preaching be exposed to the serious objection, ignorantly raised by the Pharisees against the declaration of our Lord to the bed-ridden paralytic, " "Who can forgive sin but God only?" But the Son of Man, being also the Son of God, and Himself the Propitiation for our sins, " hath power upon earth to forgive sins." And this mysterious power He exercises through the ministry of his Church : saying to his Priests or Presbyters by the voice of His Church, as once directly to His Apostles : — " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." (St. John xx. 23.) In other words it is by them, as His ministers, that remission of sins is authoritatively preached in His Name, so long as it is offered by them upon the terms prescribed in His Gospel. All religions profess, in some way or other, to secure to man- kind the forgiveness of sins ; some by unparalleled penances and austerities, others by sacrifices, even human sacrifices, as in ancient times some offered the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul; while others again, ignorant of their own great sin- fulness, or of the evil of sin altogether, Buppose that their faults may easily be atoned for by their virtues, and that their own merit will open a way for them to Paradise. Such arc the assur- ances of false religion: but in vain. Remission of sins can be preached with effect in One Name only, the name of the crucified Jesus. Of His Priests alone can it be said : " Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted." What an advantage, my brethren, is this which the missionary 12 Presbyter enjoys, among his heathen hearers and Mahometan opponents, that he can offer to them authoritatively, in the name of the Son of God, the forgiveness of their sins, on their being baptized in that blessed Name with repentance and faith ! If we look to accounts of real missionary success, we shall find this, the authoritative preaching of forgiveness as from Christ, to be the great secret of such success. It is so remarkably in regard to the accounts received from our own Mission on the banks of the Pongas. When the heathen are told of their sins, their hearts re-echo the charge, and they feel such preaching to be true, but no more perhaps than what they knew already ; when however they are told that their sins may be forgiven, that Christ died for them, that He lives to intercede for them, the glad tidings strike them as new and Avonderful and gracious beyond expectation, and they long to hear more of them : and so a door is opened for the reception of the Gospel. Heathenism and Mahometanism have nothing like this to offer : no mercy and grace for the returning sinner ; no love like that which Christ displayed in his incarnation and death ; no actual message of forgiveness and hope, conveyed to them by men of God expressly commissioned for that purpose. Such, my brethren, is the first great advantage and consolation of the Christian Missionary; that however difficult and trying his work, he proceeds to it, not unauthorized, in dependence upon himself only or men like himself, but in the name of Christ j with His authority for what he does, under His pro- tection too, and also, let me add, with the help and guidance of His heavenly grace. For Christ has promised to be ever with His ministers in fulfilling His commission among all nations, even to the end of the world. He will be with you in Africa ; as He was once with Philip the evangelist when expounding the Gospel to the " man of Ethiopia " mentioned in the Acts. And in these consolations the Deacon may in a measure partake together with the Priest, So far as he may share in the work, he may share also in its encouragements ; and even in to those particulars hi which he cannot directly minister himself, he has still the duty and the satisfaction of assisting in bringing men under the fuller ministrations of the Church. We know that in the early Church deacons like Philip and Stephen were employed as evangelists and also in baptizing : they must, there- fore, have called upon the people to repent and be baptized in the faith of Jesus, though they could not admit them into the full communion of the Church. These, then, are the great advantages and supports on which, my brethren, you will have to depend : the conviction that your work is the work which Christ has commanded to be done, which you yourselves are connnissioned to do in behalf of His Church ; and that in the prosecution of it He will be with you in His favour, and help you by His Spirit ; giving you, it may be, a degree of success beyond what we could venture now to anticipate ; or if not success, yet, if you be faithful in our great Master's service, true to His cause, a great reward in some way or other of your labours, perhaps on earth, certainly in heaven. "Perhaps," I say, "on earth." A man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. In the midst of all the civilization of this great metropolis, and all the refinements of the best English society; nay more, in the midst of the luxuries, so to speak, of a richly embodied religious service, and the exuberance, if not the superfluities, of gorgeous ecclesiastical ornamentation, a man may be miserable : while, on the other hand, on the banks of the Pongas, surrounded by savages, in a mud-walled cottage, or even a mud-walled house of prayer (so long as no other is attainable), and the very necessaries of life difficult to procure, a may may be happy. Such has been, in a remarkable degree, the experience of our present chief Mis- sionary, the devoted Latimer Neville. Repeatedly d< iea he speak of the happiness which he has found in his missionary work, as of something quite new to him, and exceeding anything winch he had ever known before, till he seems to wonder why clergymen in England are not impatient to join him in Africa, and share a3 14 with him the peace, and satisfaction, and joy, which have awaited him there. And why is this, brethren ? Partly, no doubt, that happiness is really within, and not without us ; something in ourselves, not in our circumstances : and that even heathen philosophy was theoretically right when it taught that happiness was to be secured by the practice of virtue, and the highest happiness by the highest virtue. But there is something more than philosophy or nature here. It is, doubtless, the work of grace ; and it is thus in part that our gracious Lord fulfils to His faithful servants that wonderful promise, to which I have already referred you, of compensation, even in the midst of persecutions, for any sacrifices which they have made for His sake and the Gospel's. Poorer without, they shall become richer within : richer in peace, and holy affections, and joy like that of angels over returning sinners, and a hope full of glory. I had intended, my brethren, to offer to you a few suggestions on some of the details of your work or duty; but I have already nearly exceeded my proper limits ; so that what I would still add must be said briefly. Let me urge upon you, then, in conclusion, as a duty which you owe not to yourselves only but to the Mission and to the Church which sends you forth, a prudent, not timid, but prudent care of your health, by a reasonable attention to diet and clothing, and medicine, and house accommodation, with the occasional change of climate ; and the avoiding as much as may be ex- posure by night to the dews and damps which abound on the Pongas rivers. In the division of your work into separate Missionary Stations, which will now become desirable, I trust it will be found prac- ticable to have two Missionaries, two clergymen I mean, a priest and a deacon, at each post, to be to each other both companions and fellow -labourers ; lightening their work by division or inter- change, relieving and promoting it by mutual converse and counsel. The importance of study I need hardly remind you of, even in 15 the midst of your greatest labours. You will yourselves feel tin' need of it. Not only the deacon in preparing for the priesthood, but both in keeping up and extending your store of Christian learning, new and old, for your own and your people's use. There is one study in particular which will occupy you much, that of the S/?s>/ language, in which it is obviously important not only that the Gospel should be preached, but that we should have, as soon as may be, and as good as may be, translations from the Holy Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer, in continuation of what has already been done by the Deacon Duport, and of other suitable publications, to accompany, if not to precede and prepare the way for the preaching of the Gospel among all the Susu tribes. Monometallism, especially in its "West African aspect, will call for your especial consideration. Not that I would have you preach controversially, whatever you may be called upon to do occasionally in private conversation. No. Let your pleaching be simple, and, amongst such a people, almost entirely didactic or declaratory, rather than argumentative ; as that of servants sent on their master's errand; as that of heralds, having a message to proclaim ; the message of forgiveness to the sinner in the name of Christ, and not of forgiveness only, remember, but the Gospel in all the fulness of its blessing, even Christ made unto us of God wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctincation, and redemption. Let not your work be either desultory or partial, but solid and complete ; that some at least of your converts may in their turn become Missionaries, and so meet the distant wants to which you are unable to attend, or enable you to meet them by taking up your work. The improvement of the social condition of our converts will not fail to be an object of concern to you ; and it will be to us here in the Western islands an object of much interest to know if we can in anyway, with our limited means, assist in promoting directly the advancement of civilization as the handmaid of ( -hristianity. Finally, my dear brethren, think of your friends in England 16 {' 18 that prophecy comprehended and illustrated by Him who was at once its author and its object, we behold, at the same time, a grand evidence of our religion, and a sublime manifestation of the self-sacrificing character of that Prince of Missionaries, who came into this world to seek and save that which was lost The time of our Lord's last Passover on earth drew nigh. Then it was, that, according to the determinate counsel of God, Messiah was to be cut off, but not for Himself, and to make His soul an offering for sin. At that Passover, the true Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, was to be slain and offered, and his blood poured out for the deliverance of the mystical Israel. Accordingly, our Eedeemer now set His face stedfastly to go up to Jerusalem. He himself led the way, and His disciples followed Him. He went on foot, day after day travelling onward to a destination of a most awful nature, to the place where He was to save a world by His own bitter sufferings and death. As He thus went forward, His companions were amazed at the spirit and resolution which He showed. They knew the fury of the priests, the malicious enmity of the Scribes and Pharisees. They feared for Him, and they feared for themselves. And now He plainly unfolded the purposes which He had in view. He foresaw what was coming, and He distinctly announced the particular's. He knew that He was going to endure His agony and bloody sweat ; that He would be apprehended by the officers of the high-priest; that Judas would give Him the traitorous kiss ; that He would be taken to prison and to judgment ; that He would then undergo the cross and passion. " Behold," He said, " we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on : and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death : and the third day He shall rise again."* Here was indeed a conspicuous instance of the prophetic spirit which dwelt in our Lord. It was no doubt very probable, * St. Luke xviii. 31. 19 that if He should show Himself in Jerusalem at that time, the rulers of the Jews would attempt something severe against Him, since they had already decided that He ought to be destroyed. But the likelihood was that He would be suddenly assassinated, stoned, or cast from a precipice. It was by no means probable that He would be crucified, which was a Eoman, not a Jewish mode of punishment. It was not likely that He would be delivered to the Gentiles, nor that time would be allowed for mocking, scourging, and spitting. Still less was there any human probability that He would rise again the third day. Yet our Lord knew that all these unlikely things would infallibly come to pass. All these things were already written in the law of Moses, and in the Psalms, and in the Prophets j and although the prophecies in question were differently understood by many Jews of that age, and perverted in many respects, even by learned men, from their true meaning, the Lord Jesus knew their exact scope and signification. He knew who was the real " Man of Sorrows," — healing men with His stripes, and hiding not His face from shame and spitting. He knew the name of that "familiar friend" that did "eat of His bread," and that should "lift up his heel against Him." He knew the fearful application of the Psalmist's words, " My God, my God, why hast Thou for- saken me % " " They stand staring and looking upon me." " They pierced my hands and my feet." The complete design of the ancient types was open to His mind ; the Lamb slain at the passover ; the daily sacrifice ; the veil of the temple ; the high- priest, not without blood, entering alone into the holy of holies. This consideration serves to exalt to the highest degree our estimate of the divine love exhibited in our text. Our Lord knew that all the doings of man without charity are nothing worth. He determined, therefore, to lay a firm foundation for charity among Christians, and for Christian zeal for the salvation of men, by giving them the greatest possible proof of His own loving zeal for them. He set Himself to go to Jeru- salem, with a perfect knowledge of what was t<> take place, when He might have escaped Jerusalem altogether. He set Himself to 20 go to Jerusalem, because for this very purpose He, the sent of the Father, had come into the world. He set Himself to go to Jerusalem, where the prophets before Him had been slain, that He might save and redeem His people, not by silver and gold, but by His own agony, His own blood, His own burial, His own resurrection. Thus an example of, and a motive to, disinterested zeal would be supplied to His people, so long as it should be the duty of the ministers of the Word to go into all nations and preach the Gospel to every creature. Yes, my brethren, in the willing offering of Himself, our Lord has supplied the true foundation of all efficient missionary exertion, whether among the midtitudes in nominally Christian lands or amid the yet darker regions of distant heathendom. It was this which prompted the great Apostle of the Gentiles to go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that should befal hini there, save that the Holy Ghost witnessed in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions awaited him. But none of these things moved him ; neither counted he his life dear unto himself, so that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. It was this which, in after ages, rilled up the ranks of the noble army of martyrs — men like ourselves, who yet considering Him that endured such contra- dictions of sinners against Himself, resisted, like Him, unto blood, striving against sin. It is this which, even now, through the power of the Holy Ghost, imparts to the Christian Mis- sionary a strength not his own, enables him manfully to take up his cross, and to go forth from the comforts and refinements of home into the midst of the habitations of cruelty. As Christ set Himself stedfastly to go to Jerusalem, so, blessed be God, have not a few of the sons of the Church of England set them- selves to go among Hindoo or Chinese idolators, and African savages and devil- worshippers, with hardly a thought of return- ing to their native land, but with the simple intention of doing their Master's work, and then laying their bodies down to rest in the dust until the morning of the joyful resurrection. 21 This spirit of self-sacrifice is, perhaps, the highest qualification required for the true Missionary. True it is, that he should be a man of established piety and of devout habits — hopeful, disin- terested, cheerful, gentle, and patient. True it is, that he should possess that zeal which is guided by discretion ; that- he should be able to command himself, as well as to influence others. But, above all, he must be prepared to deny himself indulgences, — to do painful and unpleasant things from a principle of duty, — to be, in a manner, superior to suffering, — prepared for want, peril, sickness, and all varieties of trial. Paradoxical as it may appear, the habit of self-sacrifice is the certain way to the highest hap- piness of which our nature is capable. The Missionary who is a Missionary indeed, is an eminently happy man, whose work continually brings its own sweet and delightful reward ; and they who help him, in a spirit like his own, are sharers, more or less, in his blessings. A sure way to encourage a really prac- tical, earnest, and happy tone of religion in an individual, or in a community, is by establishing an interest in behalf of Missions. The Church in England and the sister Church in America have been quickened in their energies, have greatly increased their means of usefulness, their stability, and their general prosperity, since the period when they first heartily espoused this holy cause. Of a like nature has been the experience of the diocese of Barbados, and, we may add, of every diocese, parish, or con- gregation which has learned to work and pray for the extension of God's kingdom upon earth. The very sight of nun going forth as heralds of salvation to the dark, savage, and dangerous parts of the world, exercises an elevating effect on the minds of others. It raises their ideas respecting the nature ami require- ments of the Christian faith, it scatters to the winds their cor- rupt notions of the sacred ministry as a merely genteel and easy profession, and helps them to form some conception of the • liaracter of a confessor, a martyr, and an apostle. The Mission of the West Indian Church to the Pongas country in Western Africa has had an existence of less than five years, and yet it is difficult to estimate the amount of Christian 22 interest which, in various ways, has been called forth by its almost romantic history. Founded by Colonial Churchmen with the object of repaying to Africa the debt due to her on account of the slave trade, it may be ranked (together with the successful efforts of the American Church) among the fruits which have grown out of the early labours of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. It has exhibited, on a considerable scale, the working of those principles which are truly denomi- nated Catholic. Black people and white people have been found among its supporters, Englishmen and Americans, Africans and West Indians, persons in slavery and persons in freedom, Churchmen of one class of opinion and Churchmen of another class. Our Episcopate and ministry at home, and in the colonies, in Africa and in the United States, have concurred and co-operated in this effort in a manner which visibly exhibits our common Church as much more than a mere island " establish- ment." Moreover, God has prepared the way for this Mission by wonderful dispensations and providences. The rites of sacrifice, and of sprinkling of blood, though perverted in their appli- cation, have been found so interwoven with the habits of the people of Western Africa that, as among the Jews, it is compara- tively easy to establish the great position that " without shedding of blood is no remission." Mahomedanism, though denying an atonement, has familiarised the minds of many with the idea of one God. The resources and power of the British nation, as exhibited on that coast, have increased the general tendency of the negro mind to the adoption of European customs. For twenty years or more, before the arrival of the first Missionary in the Pongas, earnest prayers, we are told, had been offered even in that dark land for the introduction of Christianity, and finally premonitions seem to have been received and credited that the day of grace was about to dawn. Then, when all was ready, the mind of a venerable servant of God* in the West Indies was powerfully moved towards Africa; he obeyed the * The Rev. H. J. Leacock. See the " Martyr of the Pongas." Rivingtons. 23 call, he crossed the ocean with a companion* of African race, and was finally guided to the very spot which had been peculiarly made ready for him. And great has been the success which God has given to this Mission, especially since the appointment of its present venerable superintendent, f It is not a small thing that in the village of Fallangia a congregation of seventy or eighty should be found willing to attend with regularity daily morning and evening sendees, and that on Sundays four hundred persons, of whom more than two hundred have lately been bap- tized, should worship the true God in a church which their own hands have erected. It is not a small thing that in many other villages of the Pongas the heathen should have heard the Gospel patiently and attentively, and requested additional Missionaries. J It is not a small thing that a school should be well sustained, containing above a hundred pupils, in which the future chiefs of a great country are trained up in the ways of Christian truth, and from which a native ministry may eventually be supplied. Xor is it a small thing that the Prayer Book should have been trans- lated by a Missionary of African descent into a language extend- ing far into the mysterious interior of the continent, and spoken probably by millions of the human race. Nor is it, finally, a small thing that the West Indian Mission should already have had its martyrs, § one especially, who, in the spirit of our Lord going up to Jerusalem to die, went out (as he said before leaving his native Barbados) " to lay his bones in the dust of Africa." If it be permitted to departed saints to behold what takes place on earth, we may feel confident that the soul of that holy and humble man of heart rejoices, even in Paradise, at every new blessing granted to the Pongas Mission, and especially now regards with more than earthly delight the occasion which brings us together to-day, — the ordination of new Missionaries for the work for which he renounced all things. * The Rev. J. H. Duport, the translator of the Prayer Book. t The Rev. W. L. Neville, late of Queen's College, Oxford. X See Mr. Neville's Journal. " Missions to the Heathen," No. 37. Bell and Daldy. § Mr. Leacock and Mr. Higgs, both natives of the West Indies. 24 We have before us two young men who now devote themselves in the prime of their days to one of the noblest undertakings which it is possible to imagine. They know perfectly well the nature of the country to which they are going, and are fully aware that it has been called, with good reason, " The White Man's Grave." They know the trials through which their pre- decessors have gone, and which they must expect for themselves. Theirs, is no easy task. Beneath a burning sun, and surrounded with malaria, they must wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places, and often exert themselves to the utmost when even the least exertion appears all but insupportable. We know that they will have to encounter perils by sea and land, and river and forest ; perils from the heathen, perils from Mahomedans, perils from false brethren, and, above all, perils from disease. Some- times, probably, the African fever will prostrate their bodies, depress their spirits, and bring on that fearful heaviness of soul, under which poor human nature bows down with a sense of dis- couragement, and fondly turns its thoughts to distant homes and absent friends. All these things they have weighed, with the minds not of children, but of full-grown men. They have counted the cost, and they are about to receive their great com- mission from a chief shepherd of our IsraeL A few more days, and they will be on the deep ; the hills of England will disappear, and again a few more days will pass, and they will behold the mountains of Africa and the scene of their future labours. They go to preach and teach the Gospel, which contains the principles of all that is good for man. They go, consequently, to civilize their converts, to develop industry, to educate the young, to teach habits of obedience, to put down polygamy, witchcraft, and the incessant fear of witchcraft under which the African heathen spend their days. They go beyond the limits of British juris- diction, and consequently beyond the immediate protection of British power : but they go in the firm expectation of the pro- tection of that God who has given the entire world to His Christ. If they have weighed the trials of missionary life, they have also weighed its consolations and rewards. They look 25 forward to the joy with which they will behold the attentive looks of conviction, or hear the deep sighing of the penitent heart. They look forward to the delight of seeing large congre- gations turned from the worship of devils, worshipping God in their own Susu Liturgy, and joining in Christian chants ami hymns and Holy Communion. Above all, they look forward, with humble hope, to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Of the final success of the efforts of Christ's Church among the heathen we are not permitted to doubt. Is it true that the prophecies have been fulfilled which pointed to the death and resurrection of our Saviour ? Then we may also be assured that those prophecies will be fulfilled which speak with equal clear- ness of the future extent and glory of His kingdom upon earth. All things must be fulfilled which are written concerning Him in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. " Unto Him," (as Jacob said,) "the gathering of the people shall be." The Father will give Him (as David wrote) " the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession." " They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him : all nations shall serve Him." The mustard-seed shall become a great tree and overshadow the whole earth. The leaven shall pervade the lump until all is leavened. However dis- couraging particular events may appear at particular times and to particular persons ; however the servants of God may at times be tempted to despond and to weep sore in the night while tears are on their cheeks, we may depend upon it that they who are on the side of Christ, they who take up the cross manfully, and follow Him who set Himself so steadfastly to go to His agony and death at Jerusalem, arc engaged in a cause which will not fail to triumph. Yet a few years, and the enemies of that cause will be overthrown; the walls of Jericho will lie fiat upon the ground — yea, Babylon herself will have fallen: church hells shall ring in Constantino] tie, and native Bishops shall rule in Africa. Men will ask : — Where are the great powers of Paganism 26 and Mahoniedanism, which but lately overshadowed the world with their deadly influence — are they too passed away and gone 1 Are they too become like Nineveh, and Tyre, and Egypt, and imperial Rome % Is their strength broken for evermore % And as for you, dear brethren, who are about to be advanced to different but equally necessary degrees in the Christian ministry, we trust and believe you are prepared, if required, to drink of Christ's cup, and to be baptized with His baptism.* But you will also be prepared to attempt great things, and to expect great things. You know Who has said (as in the Gospel for this day), " Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king- dom of heaven." You will carry no idle tales, no baseless legends, no senseless superstitions, but His Word " who maketh the wilderness a standing water, and water-springs of a dry ground."^ You will find many souls prepared for that Word — guilty sinners awaiting pardon, sorrowful persons seek- ing consolation, many who are conscious of their darkness and desire light, many who are weary of this world and desire better things hereafter, many who fear death, and will rejoice in Him who can deprive death of its sting and the grave of its victory. Christ hath much people in that Pongas country, and it will be your duty to seek out His sheep which are scattered abroad. Go forth to your work in the firm expectation that He will give you strength sufficient for your day. In your experience, as in that of your predecessors, there will doubtless be wonderful coin- cidences, marvellous preservations, which, to the believing mind, immediately suggest the idea of Divine interposition. And be well assured that there are many here, and in the West Indies and in America, who will pray for you, will interest themselves in your favour, will supply your necessities, and, as far as lies in them, will not suffer your labours to be thrown away for want of practical sympathy. We hope and believe, that within the sphere of your Mission you will see, to a considerable extent, * Matt. xx. (second Lesson for the day.) t Ps. cvii. 35 (in the Psalm* for the day.) 27 a fulfilment of the prophecy contained in one of the Lessons for this day: " Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir-tree ; and instead of the brier, shall come up the myrtle-tree." * Churches of God shall supplant the temples of Satan, and Christian truth shall arise in the place of horrid idolatry. Then will belong to you a prophecy, as true as any respecting Christ in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms : " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." f * Is. lv. 13. t Dan. xii. 3. Lately Published {price 3 > » ">> > > > >, > > X, »> > « >> > k $? Si » > 1> >> > > > > ->> •» ^ ^ ^ > 5 ^ -It DO* ;*X >?* ~ t> > > »»> >0) v ■••» 1 !> 3>> TffJ -*^» ^--3* »•» '-> , 2* i-^l£ jm^2» >o ■pB9>> m > » > -• SS^*^ fm£M ^^> > > * uwo ~> sHtjg?* ,*' j_>w> • > > "W.» • _j " > ■ ■* ■ -s 1 ^ ^