the cross of CHRIST." MR. TOWNLEY concluded by moving,-" That the still benighted and wretched condition of the greater part of the world, together with the access to many millions of its pagan inhabitants which Divine Providence has given to Missionary Societies, as well as the good already effected by their collective exertions, strongly call upon the friends of Missions, generally, to persevere, not only with unabated, but with quickened seal, in the great work of diffusing the knowledge of Christ throughout all nations."

This Resolution was seconded by the REV. E. IRVING, Minister of the Caledonian Church, who addressed the meeting as follows:

"I wish I could say that I had seen with my own eyes what my worthy friend who preceded me has just stated in support of the Resolution I have in my hand; for then I likewise could speak with that calm assurance of truth which made his words tell with the conviction of undoubted facts to this audience. I wish also I possessed my natural strength, instead of being fatigued by the labours of the Sabbath, in order that I might bring whatever influence of mind, and feeling, and speech I possess to the support of a cause, than which there is none greater, and none more excellent, with reference to the soul of man. I wish, finally, and still more earnestly, that I had that unction, that present sense of the SPIRIT of GOD, which our blessed SAVIOUR encouraged his disciples to trust in, when they were called to testify in his name before the people. But with what strength I possess, with what knowledge I have acquired, and with what grace it may please the Almighty to confer on me, I most cheerfully offer to this Christian Meeting of brethren of every denomination whatever I am able to present. I feel that in speaking to you, the supporters of this Mission, and to this Committee who manage it, I am speaking in the radical and fundamental court of Christianity. It is by your endeayours, and the endeavours of your Missionaries, that the facts are to be made out, that the propositions are to be demonstrated, upon which statesmen can act, and without which it were improper that statesmen should act. I purpose to direct my attention especially to one quarter which has occupied the public mind of late; and to confine myself to this point, that it is by the labours of your Missionaries in the West Indies, that the people are to be made ripe for legislative consideration. You may depend upon it, that the Christians must work out the gold; they must take the

ore from the earth; they must clear it from the earthy substance, cast it into the furnace, and pour it forth; and then let the statesman and the politician of the world shape it to the convenience of the state. It has been so, and it will always be so ;-not that you will be able to make men of the world perceive that it is so. They, in every such instance, take the credit to themselves; but surely as CHRIST has spoken, and as his disciples, in the first instance, overthrew the thrones of darkness, you must, by the labours of your mean, and despised, and insignificant Missionaries, do the work. At long intervals will the fruit be manifested, in the alterations which are produced in the policy and legislation of Society. The first Christians laboured for three centuries, and shed their blood like water upon the earth; were spoiled of their goods, and continued patiently to labour, till, in the end, they brought the powers that were, to acknowledge their value, and to set up Christianity instead of the pagan superstitions which had been formerly practised; and then it began to colour the laws and affect the customs of society; and to bring men into that state of christian feeling throughout Europe, the value of which no one can estimate, unless, like the preceding Speaker, he have travelled into lands where heathenism still exists. Your Missionaries must be encouraged to labour, heedless of what opposition they meet with, and the persecutions they may endure; whereby in them the marks of an Apostle will be exhibited; and without which they would not bear them. The more wrath they encounter, the more honour they often deserve; the more you are honoured in having made choice of such men; and the more is the ALMIGHTY manifesting to the world that it is his cause in which you are engaged. The labours of your Missionaries have been most successful; for you have gone far to convince men that the African has a soul, as well as the European; you have convinced them that the African is capable of lettered instruction as well as the European; you have convinced them that the African can submit to the restraints, I should say, can feel the delights, of Christianity and domestic happiness. You have only to go on to show that the African can act under the fear of Gov, and can prefer the fear of GOD to the fear of man; you have only to make this apparent, to convince the legislator on this side of the ocean, that they are men in all points like as we are; that they are men who have the same heavenly Father; that they are

large mass of the colonists. With respect to the outrages at Barbadoes, your Committee has stated that not one of the emissaries from that island, who, little knowing the feelings of other Colonies, proceeded to them to endeavour to excite similar outrages, succeeded. They were repulsed from every place they visited, which proves the state of the public feeling in the majority of the West India Islands. Even the public press of every other island agrees in reprobating that outrage. With respect to Demerara, it affords to your Missionaries a most singular occasion of demonstrating what is the power of the Gospel in producing obedience to Government. I hesitate not to say, that the Missionaries of this Society are conferring great benefits on the islands which they occupy in that beautiful part of the world; and no man can witness this effect without feeling that the power of religion on the slaves is of the first importance, in promoting the best interests of the Colonies. There are some who are sanguine enough to believe that religion will ultimately cause the extinction of slavery; and if it did so in the Roman Empire, I know not why it is not to produce the same effect in the West Indies. No man of reflection, who has looked at the question at all, can help attributing great influence to the power of religion upon the issue of that question; but there is much to be done in the way of religious instruction, before that event can be accomplished, and the Report of the Committee again testifies to what extent that has been carried into effect. If Christianity is to triumph there, in whole or in part, it must be by increasing the population, and that the institution of marriage alone can effect; it must be by increasing the property of the slaves, and there is no religious slave who does not acquire a little property. The slave now cannot be admitted to give testimony; but a religious slave will be qua lified for this. The influence of Christianity will blend the races, and approximate the colours to each other; and thus it leads to that happy state of society which we wish to see established. The Committee have done great justice to themselves, and to the cause of the Society, by the Statement of the Plan and Objects of the Wesleyan Missions in the West Indies,' lately published; and from my own personal knowledge, and from what I have heard from others, I can say that that Statement' is so full, and fair, and explicit, as to system, pecuniary arrangements, and control, that I am persuaded you have by it rendered your cause and the cause of GOD the most

essential benefit. That Statement, as well as the General Reports, do great honour to the Committee. There is but another topic on which I shall speak: the sending out of Bishops to the West Indies. I can very well understand that a new arrangement of that sort might create a certain degree of alarm, lest new men going out, and being invested with authority, might interfere with the labours of your Missionaries. I have felt it my duty, as far as I could, to consult special authority on the subject; and my best hopes are completely realized. There is nothing in their orders or instructions which would not be completely approved by you; and that being so, there is not a person present here, who will not feel that considerable advantage must arise to the general cause of Christianity from those arrangements. The truth is, the State did not do its duty before to the West Indian Church; for what is any church without a head? Though Christianity is a pillar that rises from earth, and towers to heaven, and its course is from below upwards; (the principle on which it rests can follow no other direction;) yet we cannot doubt but that great benefit must result eventually to the lower classes from a higher tone of morals being introduced into that country among the superior classes. The Clergy also must be much benefited by the presence of superiors; and the society in which these dignitaries must mix, as far as they can mix, will be thereby greatly divested of its licentiousness, and assume a more moral tone; and thus the cause of religion in general is likely to be much benefited."

This Resolution was seconded, in a very cordial manner, by GEORGE SANDFORD, ESQ.

W. WILLIAMS, ESQ., M. P., moved the Fourth Resolution, which he prefaced as follows:

"When I entered this place a few hours ago, I had not the least idea of having the honour of addressing you. I say honour, because I cannot but think it an honour to be engaged, though in an humble degree, in promoting that great cause of truth and happiness, which you are now met to advance. We know that if the ALMIGHTY were so to ordain, he would be able at once to establish his spiritual kingdom, as he brought the world into existence, by his word. He might again say, 'Let there be light,' and the darkness of savage ignorance would be dispelled; the rites and superstitions of the heathen world would be destroyed; and every creature would bow in obedience to

GOD. But this is the plan on which he acts. He accomplishes his purposes by the agency of his word, and for that reason we should be constantly desirous to send it forth, cultivate an anxiety for its success, and raise our hands in its support. Every one must be convinced that it is an honour to save one human soul; but the design we have in view, is to lead thousands and millions of human souls from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to GOD; and, as at the foundation of that magnificent earthly sanctuary, which was raised under the immediate superintendence of the Most HIGH, there was not the sound of an axe or a hammer to be heard, so the spiritual temple will be raised, not by the great and mighty of this world, but by humble means; and will be erected, before those who are not daily witnesses of its progress are aware of it.

"The humble individuals who first founded the British and Foreign Bible Society, could not anticipate its amazing success; but it affords us a striking and encouraging lesson, that that Society has now caused the holy word of GOD to be sent almost to every nation, and has put into the hands of Missionaries that ingrafted word of GOD, which cannot return void, but shall accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto he sends it. Without this book, all the labours of men, wherever they work, would be comparatively weak and powerless; but going, as our Missionaries do, with that sacred book, they are teaching thousands and millions the knowledge of the MOST HIGH. It is indeed astonishing to contemplate the effect produced. This has been already alluded to; but I must for a moment again call your attention to it; for whether we look to the East or to the West, it is in progress. In these latter days it is visiting that land which once beheld that morning splendour of the Gospel, which has since been eclipsed; and it seems that the prophecy of JEREMIAII is again verifying, that there shall be heard in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness; the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his mercy endureth for ever; and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD.' I do hope and trust, that this gracious outpouring of the SPIRIT will prevail, till all creatures shall know the power of GOD and of his CHRIST;

and be like the waters which, in the vision of EZEKIEL, came from the threshold of the house of GOD; which, when he had measured a thousand feet, were up to the ancles, afterward to the knees and the loins; but proceeding another thousand feet, they became a mighty river, through which a man could not swim; and on the right and on the left, and from west to east were trees for meat, and their leaves for medicine. We have lived to see the beginning of these things; and they are hastening on to a joyful close. But I am to call upon you for cordial thanks to your worthy Chairman and Treasurer, of whom I should feel a difficulty in speaking, if I did not speak to persons who have witnessed his conduct in times that are past, and to whom it has given so much satisfaction and I have to call upon you to give your thanks also to your other Treasurer, to the Committee, and to the Secretarics; and these likewise you will cheerfully render.-You have seen the mighty effects produced by the Society committed to their management: you have seen how the Gospel has spread itself among barbarous nations, and among the slaves of our Colonies; and the prilence and discretion which have marked its progress. Unless the heads at home had learned to restrain their passions, and to keep silence when excited by unreasonable opposition and obloquy, it would have been impossible that their management, and the instructions given to their Missionaries, could have been accompanied with such success as that by which they have been honoured and crowned."

This Resolution was seconded by JOSEFU CARNE, Esq., of Penzance.

The Fifth Resolution, containing Thanks to the Auxiliary and Brauch Societies, &c., &c., was moved and seconded by the REV. JOHN ANDERSON, of Manchester, and EDWARD PHILLIPS, Esq., of Bath, in eloquent and impressive Addresses, which we regret that our limits do not allow us to report.

Thanks to the Chairman were moved by the REV. HENRY MOORE, and seconded by JAMES WOOD, Esq., of Manchester.

The REV. H. F. BURDER concluded the Meeting with prayer.

Thus closed an Anniversary, all the Services of which were attended with an evidently increasing interest in the great cause of Missions, and were marked by a liberality in the Public Collections and Donations considerably exceeding that of any former occasion the amount being £1370.