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LORD BISHOP OF RUPEKT'S LAND. . LONDON: II ATGUARD AND CO. 187 PICCADILLY. 1860. R LONDON : Priated by 0. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq. TO THE RIGHT REV. G. J. MOUNTAIN, D.D. D.C.L. LORD BISHOP OF QUEBEC, AND NOW SENIOR COLONIAL BISHOP, THE FIRST WHO CONFIRMED AND ORDAINED IN THIS LAND, ®iis imxi\ Charge IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS FAITHFUL FRIEND AND BROTHER, DAVID RUPERT'S LAND. Red River, Jan, U. A CHARGE, My Reverend Brethren, It was not without some reluctance that I gave up the idea of meeting you, as usual, on St. John's Day. But from the almost additional solemnity connected with Christmas and New- year's Day, as falling each of them on a Sunday, it was found inconvenient and unadvisable to withdraw those from more distant spheres during any portion of that week. I deemed it best that you should enjoy both those hallowed seasons in the bosom of your flocks, and that you should come up with all the freshness of an opening year for mutual counsel and communion. Nor could I have much doubt in the choice of the Epiphany instead, as a bright and blessed season for all associated in any way in mis- sionary labour and in the ingathering of the Gentile Church. I have read somewhere of a celebration which takes place at Rome as al)out this time i — an exhibition of the various languages among which her emissaries are hibouring over tlie face of the earth. In something of a simihir spirit we miglit reckon up to-day the different tongues to which the ministrations of our Church are extended in this far-reaching land. The Cvees and the Sauteux, the two largest tribes, with their cognate dialects, have been long em- braced ; to these have been added during the past year a large body of the Chippewyans, and a very few of the Sioux ;* while in the eastern district, the Norwegians f have regularly, and the Eskimos occasionally, heard the message of the Gospel. These with the original settlers, and, as yet, a very small number of emigrants, form our care; and along with them will be associated, we trust, gradually, a remnant from other numerous tribes,^ as we penetrate yet farther to the mountain ridge of the west and the icy barrier of the north. Planted in the midst of these, accommodating itself to their * Three, who lisid intermarried, were baptized and con- firmed at Headingly. It seems not unlikely that more of the tribe may penetrate into this country. As the territory of Dacotah becomes settled, the Sioux (or Daeotahs) will in all probability be driven northwards. t It is not a little creditable to Mr. Horden, that in addition to preaching in the Indian tongue, he has also acquired the Norwegian, so as to be able to preach in it to the Norwegians in the Hudson's Bay Company's service at Moose factory. J Among these would be the Blackfeet, towards the plains; tlie Siecanees and Loucheux towards the extreme north. i varied tongues, '* the little one" may, in accord- ance with the Divine promise which we have just heard, *' become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation." With such a field of labour before us, it is an unspeakable pleasure to find our ranks still unbroken by death. Indeed, the healthiness of the land for the European may now be esta- blished upon grounds which place the matter beyond dispute. When I look around, and see one of you who has completed his thirty-fourth year in this country — when I take the average of the seven who have been the longest on this continent, and liud it seventeen years — when I remember that it is the eleventh year of my own episcopate, and think of the short period in that office of many most signally marked out by God as possessing every qualification for their high work,* I feel that no common gratitude ought to be ours for the amount of health and strength which God grants us here in His service. Now, if God, while mysteriously cutting short the thread of life elsewhere, prolongs so graciously the span of our existence. He has * Three more providential appointments cannot be imagined than the three first Bishops of Sierra Leone : Bishop Vidai, from his singular linguistic talent ; Bishop Weeks, from liis previous knowledge of the country, where he hud laboured for years; and Bishop Bowen, from his de- votcdness to missionary work, having given his gratuitous services to the cause in Abyssinia and Palestine. And yet these three were cut down within sevi.'n years ! 8 surely work for us to perforin ; and we are naturally called upon to review our position, and to ask how we stand at the point of time which we have now reached. Politically, no change has as yet passed over the land. Several social improvements have taken place, marking a new era, and betokening progress. The river communication has been opened up ; the road over the prairies has been traversed ; and the appliances of modern science have rendered more easy the production of some of the necessaries of life.* But the greater change has not yet come. There is a general expectation that the present year may usher it in, and that during its course the southern portion of the land, or at least our own settle- ment, may become a direct colony of the Crown. The boon was granted with great promptitude by the late Colonial Secretary to British Co- lumbia, and I can scarcely doubt that the noble- man who has succeeded him in office, and whose attention has for so many years been directed to the subject, will be prepared ere long with a comprehensive measure bearing on the condition of this territory. For this, as a body, we have ourselves petitioned the two Houses of Par- liament, from the persuasion that the highest interests of the country may in this way be best promoted. Whenever the change shall take place, a new class of duties and responsibilities 1 n * Besides these might be specified the publication of this Charge on tlie spot for tlie first time. '^1 arise. It will be your part, l)retliren, to giiitle and direct the minds of the people in the new channel, so that there may be a healthy and hearty co-operation from all — so that they may exercise the privileges which may be com- mitted to them, to the good of their fellow-men and the glory of God. Ecclesiastically, we ought to feel in measure strengthened. Two new dioceses, the eighth and ninth in British North America, have been formed since wx last met; so that we have an additional one on either side of us — that of Huron on the east, and that of British Columbia on the west. The uncertainty regarding the extent of our own jurisdiction has been re- moved; our boundary is now marked and de- finite, and the Rocky Mountains would limit our view in looking towards the Pacific. We have, too, a third new diocese immediately ad- joining us to the south — that of Minnesota, in the Sister Church of the I'nited States. All this has a tendency to support us. And yet, in comparison of all the other dioceses, we are still of a very unwieldy shape, and, though small in population and number of clergy, our distances are almost as great as before. In each of the other eight dioceses the clergy can, on all such occasions as tliis, meet almost all of them to- gether — here we can scarcely ever expect to succeed in gathering more than a half. In this diocese alone can it be said that one is absent from us two thousand five hundred miles dis- 10 tant to the north-west;* that another is unable to be with us, being twelve hundred miles to the east.f Ungava Bay, the Rocky Mountains, and the Arctic Sea, our present limits, are limits rather for the eye and the imagination to rest upon, than possible to be overtaken by any amount of personal labour. J And at the heart and centre we remain very isolated — we are still the oasis in the wilderness. After repeated efforts, the difficulty is found to be great to bridge over the intervening distance on each side — to throw out branches which may connect us with our neighbours in Canada and Co- lumbia, and make us to be, in something more than name, the highway of the west. With this measure of apparent outward strength, there are some causes and hindrances which, I think you will agree with me, tend to cripple and retard our work. There is the very migratory character of our most settled population. This may, in the good 1 * The Rev. W. West Kirkby, at Fort Simpson, f The Rev. J. Hortlen, at Mouse, James' Bay. I The quotation at once suggests itself — " Intei'Talla vides humane commoda."— HoR. Much as I shoukl regret to give up the Moose missions, they would seem to fall more naturally under another diocese. The Roman Catholic priests who visit James' Bay are not under the Roman Catholic Bishop at Red River, but under the Roman Catholic Bishop at Bytown or Ottawa. They have also further subdivided this immense territory by planting another Bishop in the north-west, to be stationed at Isle a la Crosse. -■itfX^ilhiS^ u f providence of God, carry onward the tide of population, and scatter it over the w^ilderness. It may thus ultimately answer a good purpose; but its tendency at the time is felt by most of us very painfully. It weakens parishes, and very materia 11 V checks education, renderin<»; it more expensive and difficult to be extended to all. It keeps the mass in a state of greater poverty, and prevents their growth and rise. It lessens tlie amount of public spirit and local attach- ment, and perpetuates many of the habits of Indian life. It parts and separates, where, if united, all would be combination and strength. There is, too, the want of a deeper religious life, even amongst the more advanced Christ- ians. Here there is stagnation instead of move- ment. The Word is heard with joy and received with readiness ; but it is the development of the rich fruit which the minister looks for, and looks too often in vain. Measuring themselves rather by that from which God hath saved them — the condition of tlie heathen who know not God — than by the standard of by-gone generations and of other countries, they are satisfied with smaller attainments — thev rest contented with a lower level, and do not press forward to the measure of the stature of a perfect man. Their con- dition is a matter of rejoicing to the minister of God, at first, as they are eager to hear. It is in their after course that he suffers disappoint- ment. Tlie building stops before he is pre- pared : the growth terminates suddenly, after 12 advancing for a time with rapidity ; and there is not the higher experience of tlie Divine life. There is, moreover, an additional check in the Indian work. It is a transition period ; change is anticipated. An excitement has seized the Indian mind, and he is little inclined to give a caUn and patient attention to the claims of the Gospel. A wider competition is afloat ; and baits are held out by the un- scrupulous which the poor Indian is too weak to resist. A greater difficulty has thus been found in selecting and planting new stations, while at the old-established missions the stead- fastness of the convert has been very sorely tried, if not in some cases too successfully shaken. Direct conversions have, in conse- quence, been less numercus during the last two years, and I much fear that the next two or three may continue to teD the same tale. At all events the Indian is less hopeful and more difficult to act upon than lie was found to be five } ears ago. With these and other causes impeding the progress of our work, and mateiialiy affecting its character, the testimony of all of us would, if I mistake not, be somewhat similar to-day, — our common acknowledgment would be, that the interval since we last met has not been marked with such distinct success as previous periods — that some of our more sanguine ex- pectations have only been faintly realised. Now, if sucli be your feelings, brethren, is there no i i 13 deeper agency to which we may trace this? is the condition peculiar to ourselves, or may we throw it under a wider classification ana identify it with what we notice elsewhere on a wider scale? The answer to my own mind is suffi- ciently clear ; the explanation which alone ap- pears to me to account for it, is a greater measure of power put forth by Satan in the days in which we live, not only here but over the whole earth. Can we then substantiate this in the world, so as to prove it more than an idle dream? He has surely convulsed nations, and kin- dled the flames of war, so as to multiply deso- lation, and misery, and mourning. A sanguinary war had been brought to a close at the period of our last Visitation — the tidings of peace had just reached our ears. How quickly was another kindled at a distant spot, if not more sanguinary, yet in all its features more fiendish — laying low not only the warrior whose profession was arms, but massacring with untold atrocity the mother and daughter, and the helpless babe ! Did any question the power of Satan here? Was it not talked of, and on the lips of all ? * And when the carnage was over, and the records of the * As in the passag(% " The cunning Spirit of Evil may- fear that his time is short ; and assuredly, if he walked abroad, and, in some visible, unsiglitly I'orm, tempted men to evil, wo could hardly bo more certain that he has possessed the perpetrators of these foul enormities, and hurried them 14 whole committed to the page of history — except what history would blush to mention — did Satan cease from "going to and fro on the earth," stirring up war and death ? The scene only was changed, and the heart of civilised Europe was next convulsed. Bloody battles were again fought in rapid succession on a very ancient battle-field : and when the loss has been told in thousands of slain, and the sword is once more sheathed, the question is asked — to which none seem able to reply — Has aught been gained? who has reaped any solid and enduring advantage ? Satan, we fear, alone ; and the volcano only slumbers to break forth afresh in deadlier fury. He has troubled, too, the Church of God, by unsettling the faith* and ruffling the peace of many. He has approached the bulwarks, the towers which protect the Zion of the living God, and tried to weaken the foundations ; his efforts into excesses which seem almost to require an infernal prompter." And again, " Atrocities which make one shud- der, and ask whether hell be worse than earth when thus polluted and defiled." — The Moral of a Sad Story, by the Rev. J. Hampden Gurney. *' " A small amount of reading of the literature of the day, a slight attention to passing events, a little intercourse with general society, will be enough to convince us that there is much unsettledness upon the most essential truths of religion, and that the agents of Romanism, Rationalism, and Infidelity are openly and deliberately at work, in under- mining the foundations of our country's faith." — Bishop of Gloucefatcr's Primary Charge. 15 here have been covert and disguised : * making choice of a fresh point of attack as each assault v/as in turn repulsed, he has endeavoured to shake the pedestal on which the truth of the Gospel is placed. The effect is seen in a few of the unstable, who have never had a firm grasp of vital doctrine. Without a sure anchor themselves, they are driven about with each fresh wave, and at last seek a haven where they may be saved the trouble of thought. Such perversions have latterly been much less fre- quent. Some, however, still stand on the brink, trifling with the ceremonies and sophis- tries of Rome, and seeming almost to make it a question how much of Romanism they may bring in among us before they take the final step. An effort has been made to re-introduce the debasing evils of the confessional, from which it had been hoped that the Reformation had for ever delivered us. We cannot, surely, my reverend brethren, feel too grateful to the Bishop of London for the boldness with which he at once met the subject, nor to the venerable Primate for his unequivocal decision that the innovation was " not only not in accordance with the rubric or doctrine of the Church of * " Our adversary, who never sleeps, has recently put forth his wiliest wiles, and strained his mightiest might. Long -settled verities have been disturbed. Some have upraised a hand to dim the principles of Reformation light ; others, with philosophy not wiser than a heathen dream, have touched tiio keystone of the Gospel arch." — Arch- deacon Law's Chargcy 1857. 16 England, but most dangerous, and likely to produce most serious mischief to the cause of morality and religion." In other and very opposite quarters — in much of the popular literature, and it is to be feared in some of the writings of a very plausible religious school — there is a large amount of a vague Ilniver- salism,* which would throw a cloud on the doctrines of grace, and seem well-nigh to con- found the God of providence with the God of grace, and almost entirely to deny that sin, imcancelled and unrepented of, will imprint any indelible mark on the soul beyond the grave. So opposite are the poles of error — the super- stition which seeks relief from sin by the con- fession to a fellow-creature, and that rationalistic spirit of overweening pride which will scarce believe that sin's shadow can darken man's path- way here, or involve him in unending misery hereafter ! Meanwhile controversy increases and rages around the most sacred subjects. The age has, with some truth, been characterised fas one of "the most tremendous conflict of opinion." The intellectual and spiritual trials of life are thus added to : the Tempter has cast fresh snares across the path to beguile souls. If, then, we turn to heathenism, has he stirred and aroused it in like manner? No : here, and here alone, his object is to rivet the * See the Rev. C. J. Ellicott's Sermons on the Destiny of the Creature f p. 7-5. t Bishop Trower. 17 soul in its chains — to lull with the opiate of a false security — to prevent inquiry, and seal up in darkness. Fearing lest the light should shine into their prison-house, he would stay the hand of Christian charity, and silence the voice of the preacher. No interference with the svs- ft/ terns of idolatry and superstition — neutrality W( uld be the watchword which he would seek to instil into the minds of all. How clear his unwillingness to allow any soul to escape from his bondage and thraldom — how plain the cry of the spirits which "work in the children of disobedience," anxious to retain them a little longer in their grasp, " Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Is there, then, this growing power in the world, the Church, and heathendom? If there be, then, judging by the analogy of God's pro- vidence and the promises of His word, we might expect to find that there would be a correspond- ing outpouring of the Spirit. Can we then, brethren, discern side by side anything of this ? And surely here we may place first among the phenomena which force themselves upon our notice the symptoms of revival in so many difibrent spots — in the United States, in Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere. Whatever there may be of physical or nervous excitement connected with it (as there will often be when the masses are concerned in a religious awakening), I can- not doubt that there is beneath a work of God. This on our own continent is attested bv two B 18 Bishops of the highest character,* and is made by one of them the subject of his annual Charge ; while in the North of Ireland it is fully recog- nised by the Bishop in whose diocese tlie occur- rences have chiefly taken place,f who has him- self taken part in many of these devotional meetings. Visitors to the spot, and even judges on the bench, all concur in the same testimony ; and surer almost than all these is the proof from the changed life, the wonderful disappear- ance from districts of sin and vice — the wide- spread prevalence of prayer. The very scorner can scarcely deny that the hand of God is here. But the believer, turning aside to behold the sight, recognises in it something of an effusion of that same Spirit which was poured out on the day of Pentecost : he looks hopefully for times of refreshment from these premonitory tokens ; he sees from the droppings the proof of the willingness of God to give the more plen- teous shower ; he hears almost the very voice of God, saying to him, " Prove me now herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Connected with this spirit of awakened seriousness there is the ever- widening spirit of zeal for the souls of others, whether at home or * Bishops M'llvaine and Eastburn.— See Charge of the latter : " The Signal Work of the Holy Spirit in the United States." t The Bishop of Down and Connor. 19 abroad. How manifest this in the special ser- vices at Exeter Hall and elsewhere, designed to bring all within the sound of the Gospel — how manifest in the opening of cathedrals, where thousands listen together to the glad sound, and fill the lofty dome with choral praise — how manifest where, under the open canopy of hea- ven, the ambassador of God declares the same message, wher'^ver he can assemble hearers — on the steps of the seat of commerce, or in the neighbourhood of the densely -peopled alley! Nor has this in the least tended to weaken the activity of Christian charity for dying souls abroad. We had all, perhaps, thought with anxiety regarding the future, when we heard of the efforts made to succour the Indian sufferers — the large sums raised for their temporal relief. We thought it must necessarily curtail and lessen the receipts of the various Christian societies on which v/e were so largely dependent, and we were prepared to find it so. But we hear of no diminution. Many seem to have acted on the conviction, that whatever their previous contributions to the cause may have been, they must now be doubled.* The inse- curity of the past has been felt ; it has taught the necessity of building on a surer foundation, and proved, with a force clearer than that of * The Church Missionary Society has its Special Indian Fund. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has determined to double the number of its European mission- aries in India. 20 lengthened argument, that the open avowal of the Christian faith must ever be the surest defence of a professedly Christian nation. And already the power of the Spirit is mani- festing itself in those very portions of the earth where Satan had erected his trophies, and from which he thought he had gathered in his tri- umphs. We noticed, on a previous occasion, that war had given us noble and cheering speci- mens of the beauty of holiness — convincing proofs of the efficacy of Divine grace. It has been so again, brethren, and on a wider scale. Some of the names most conspicuous recently in military prowess are to be lianded down as very memorable examples of a living faith. Religion has been seen to be the brightest orna- ment on the brow of the victorious general ; it has been seen giving energy and decision to the civilian, investing him with a power and influ- ence greater than that of the sword;* and elevating, with the bright hope of heaven, the patient and enduring female as she bends under the stroke, willing either to suffer or to die. Already we receive from the land tidings which speak encouragingly of the future, and tell of a greater wiUingness to entertain the message. It * The names of Lawrence, Montgomery, and Edwardes will readily occur as instances of great personal influence, as well as the singular fact that, when all means of getting supplies failed, the Rev. C. B. Leupolt was sent out from Benares as the one most trusted hy the natives, and suc- ceeded. 21 is as if the darkest hour had come, and God were now ready to bless. Seeds of light have been sown on the very spots bedewed with blood, and the names of places associated with fierce and foul deeds seem likely to be hereafter connected with tho records of grace. And in that other land, since rendered desolate — the land of poetry and song — is a similar dawn of hope. The older superstitions ^^ Italy, under which she has so long groaned, seem fast decaying. Many, unwilling to dwell longer in darkness, seem calling for the light. There is a growing demand for God's blessed word ; and, while seeking to cast off their shackles and assert their nationality and independence, they appear in some quarters to manifest an anxiety for that liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free. The slumbering truth may revive, the hidden witnesses who have long prophesied in sackcloth may awake as from the dead, and the pure Gospel of Christ may carry healing and cure to the wounds of that stricken people. Thus have we taken a rapid glance at the growing power of Satan, as seen at present in the world, and the yet mightier power of the Spirit which God shows himself so willing to exert on the side of His people, in answer to their prayers. May we not, brethren, learn something ourselves from this double view ? May we not, on the one hand, do well to re- member that our very calling is to make inroads on the kingdom of Satan, that " niys- 22 terious, ever- working power, which is en- trenched in heathenism as in a stronghold."* Let us never forget his personality, his power, his wiles, as now more than ever necessary to be borne in mind.f Let us remember, that at the basis of all missionary effort lies the de- claration, "the whole world lieth in wicked- ness," or rather in the wicked one. From it, that is from his grasp, we are to win souls for Christ, bringing them to the foot of His cross and the knowledge of His salvation now, that we might present them to Him hereafter, to receive from His hands their crown. And, on the other hand, let us seek more of the power of the Spirit. We cannot, it is true, look for it in ^he mightier gatherings of the saints, where numbers add a quickening energy to prayer ; but let us look for it where the promise is still sure of fulfilment, where two or three are met together. You have felt the profit as well as the pleasure of those monthly clerical meetings for prayer and the study of God's word, and conference on ministerial duties and trials, at most of which I have been able to be present and take part with you. * Rev. J. Hiimpden Gurney. t My intention was to have taken, as the more especial subject of this Charge, " Mission-work an inroad into the kingdom of Satan;" but I found almost all that could bo said anticipated in the very able Charge of Dr. Burgess, bishop of Maine, in July last, on " The Personality, King- dom, and Power of Satan." 88 Their object is to remind of ordiuation vows, to plead for a pentecostal blessing, to give point and unity and purpose to separate and scattered effort. You felt, too, the advantage of the social meetings with your parishioners during the last winter — the cottage or family lecture from house to house. Now, at all such seasons, whether meeting ministerially, as bre- tlu'en whose toil is for souls ; or parocliially, as the sliepherd with a portion of his flock, let us witli yet deeper fervency pray that the agency of the Spirit, felt elsewhere, may be more and more felt among ourselves ; that while re- freshing other spots, it may also " drop upon the pastures of the wilderness." And now I might almost pass to the reca- pitulation of our own work, were it not that there are two subjects which have of late been much before the public mind, which seem to call for a passing notice and some expression of opinion. The one concerns all the Churches of the Reformation, which speak our tongue ; the other is connected with our own branch of the Church of Christ, and limited to it. The first is a question regarding the Bible, which is the guide and manual of the redeemed people of God, to whatever earthly communion they may belong ; the second is concerning the form of prayer in which we worship our Heavenly Father, as we trust, in spirit and in truth. The first question, then, is chat of the re- vision of the authorised version of the Bible, 24 1 1' I :| or rather, in a narrower shape than this, the authorised version of the New Testament. We have not seen in any discussion of the subject the Old Testament brought prominently forward. It is to the New Testament that the attention has been almost entirely confined. Now it is a matter of very grave responsi- bility, and, it must be allowed, of no little hazard, to interfere in any way with a transla- tion consecrated by all the recollections of childhood, treasured up in our memories fi^om early youth, and quoted since from week to week in the recurring ministrations of the pulpit. We remember, of course, that it is a translation ; but a translation how marvellously made ! How wonderful and providential the time — before separation and division had crept in — when England and Scotland were united under one sovereign — before colonization had spread its branches over the globe. Issued at this singular and fortunate season, it became the charter of the Reformed Church — the one bond uniting its separate parts, and its echoes still seem to linger in and haunt tlie minds of those who have left her and gone over to wor- ship in a corrupt church.* It has passed, too, with the settler and emigrant to the remotest shores, so that " its sound has indeed gone out * Sec the admissions in a pas.-sii:2;o of extreme pathos and beauty quoted from the Dublin lievicw, June lHo3, in Trcndi's EmjUsh, Past and Present, pag(.' 32. 25 into all the earth, and its words unto the ends of the world." For the same wide diffusion, the same universal acceptance of any new version, we can scarcely look, rent and divided as the Church of God now is. But God may mark an era yet to come, with tokens of as providential suitableness. In proportion as the Spirit is more largely poured out, there may be a greater union among the people of God — they nmy be drawn closer to each other and to His word, and one fruit may be their willing- ness to co-operate in this blessed work, so as to remove every known imperfection from that record in which is conveyed to us the word of eternal life. How wonderful, too, the form in which the version appeared — the rhythm and majestic dignity of the language, unequalled since, and still the standard, to which all turn with re- verence and awe. But here we are at all events making some progress. The very study and contemplation of it has in our own time led gradually to something of a purer style, and the latest attempt made, has been generally acknowledged to approach very nearly 'o its tone — to have struck tlie key-note,* and to maintain it very successfully throughout. How wonderful, too, the accuracy, even as tested by modern scholarship, at a distance of two centuries and a half. Here every suc- * Tliis is tlicii' own expression. Sec " Prctaeo to the Revision of Epi.-tle lo tlie Uoinan^ by tin.' Five." 26 ■I a ■ 'I cessive eftbrt deepens the confidence felt in trie faitlifulness of that which we all respect. Take a Gospel or an Epistle with all the emendations of the late Regius Professor at Cambridge,* and how few and unimportant they appear. Still it is in this department that the greatest advance has been made. The sifting of God's word, the collation of manuscripts, and the minute ana- lysis of the text when established, has done much to secure a more perfect comprehension of the whole. During the last ten years, the exegetical labours of Alford and Ellicott, and the recent translations of the Five, have borne good fruit. The present age is thus makhig large contriljutions — preparing the way for what the next generation may carry out. I would not, then, speak, as I do not feel, despondingly on the subject. Many are at work in the precious mine, *' seeking for the truth as for silver and searchinG; for her as for hid treasure." The letters of the manuscript are minutely scanned,f the meaning of each word and passage weighed, and the whole then transferred from the language in which "holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy * Trofessor Scholcfickl. See his Hints for some Im- provements in the Autkorised Version of the New Testa- ment, edited by Professor Sehvyn. t TIius, in Rum. v. 1, the diirerenco between a long and short vowel woiikl lead to the rendering, *< Let us have peaee with God ;" the preponderance of authority being in favour of this readinji. 27 Ghost," as nearly as circumstances will permit, into our own tongue. Book after book of the New Testament is so handled with reverence and prayer and every appliance of scholarship. When its several books are finished and the whole completed and subjected to yet another revision, reducing the changes to the smallest number possible ; the result may then be sub- mitted to the Church of God at large. We rejoice that those of our own Church are fore- most in the laborious toil — that most men seem to look to them for the accomplishment of the detail : the judgment to be pronounced will rest with others besides. Should that judg- ment be generally favourable, we are not with- out hopes that a voice almost unanimous may ask to have the changes embodied in the text — that the Churches which unite with us in re- ceiving the present, may agree to accept the new version. We feel with him* who has written with liis usual attractiveness upon the subject, that " a revision will come," though, perhaps, not in our day. Our task may be only the gathering of the material ; the com- l)letion may mark the close of the century, or may even be reserved for the Tercentenary of our present Bible. Let us, however, turn from this revision, in which otlier branches of the Church of Christ * Ur. Trench, Dean of Westminster. 8co his work on the licvision of the \- ceivetl from England and India. D 2 54 quarter of the globe, how quickly the storm may sweep over, and the negk^cted heathen become a scourge and instrument of vengeance. May we receive the warning, and be wise in time! We labour in a land of difficulty and paradox. Our double trial is its vastnesi^^ and its smallness — its vastness, so that ^ve often strain the eye until lost in the contemplation of the untrodden soil to which no messenger of peace has yet penetrated, and for which we are in a measure accountable. The bold and darins; mariner braves the peril of the Polar Sea in search of those who have perished ; and there, from time to time, he meets with some living men. How emphatically may such say, '' No man careth for my soul ! " Its smallness, too, so that we often ponder over the thinness of its population and our inability to produce mighty results, or work on a large scale, until we are almost tempted to relax our energy and cry, "By what shall Jacob rise, for he is small?" We cannot traverse the land in its length and breadth ; and if we could do so, over hundreds of miles we should not meet a fellow-creature. We cannot plant the wilderness with settlers and thriving villages, for this is not our voca- tion, and would require far mightier resources. Our best support would l)e found in t-. j ever- present recollection that each single soul saved is a gem in the Redeemer's crown, and that each such soul effectually rescued from Satan's grasp is a magnet to draw other souls, to in- 00 'S s crease the ever-widening circle on earth, and add to the number of the redeemed in heaven. Besides this, the condition and daily duties of those who are not with us to-day are almost as different from our own as if they dwelt in another country. But little of what is addressed to you has direct application to them ; and our voice, at such seasons as this, cannot reach to counsel or comfort them. Thou2:h holdino; our fourth Visitation, there are those who have never yet been present at one. For them I would ask a large portion of your sympathy and prayer. While your own domestic comfort and happiness increase, as I think they have done the last few years — while the ties of brotherly love draw you closer to each other, forget not to think of those wiio labour, and labour alone — who look out, from week to week, on the same scene — tlie snowy waste, the ice-bound river or bay in winter, and the unvaried landscape in sunnner, and on a very few souls, and those, it may be, very dead and dry, like the bones in the valley of vision. While you have derived some encouragement and refreshment I'roni the social and ministerial intercourse of this happy season, think of the comparatively cheerless monotony which may be their lot. Something of a sadder, at least a soberer tone, may have pervaded this Charge. But let not anything of despondency paralyse our 5G efforts. Consider, brethren, our blessings — how many, compared witli those of other lands ! — how many, compared with India, where we have heard lately of a chaplain asking for a few moments to read to those around him from his pocket Bible, and offer up prayer, before he and they should meet a cruel and bloody death ! — how many, compared with China, where a naval chaplain was among the sufferers Iii the recent treachery, and where the minister and missionary are so often exposed to the violence of popular outbreak ! — how many, compared with the AVest Indies, where the yellow fever cuts down the strou"; and vii^orous in the midst of their zeal and usefulness ! — how many, com- pared with Africa, where Sierra Leone seems again to vindicate for itself the title of "the white man's grave ! " How great the blessing — a healthy land, and " peace in all our borders ! " How many, also, our privileges ! What a privilege to be witnesses for God's truth, until the Gospel shall have run its mighty round, and shall have been heard by every nation — to declare a Saviour's blood to souls weighed down under the burden of sin — to seek to wean from a perishing world by pointing to a better and brighter one — to comfort under the sharp- est pang of sorrow by revealing an exceeding and eternal weight of glory! How shall we wonder through eternity that we could unfold 57 do ! May such a message so coldly as v feel more and more that we are li^vangelists — that we but carry on what angels began — that we bear glad tidings of great joy to all people;* and whensoever we open our mouths, may the Lord give unto each one of us " the tongue of the learned, that we may know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary!" May we be, as especially a missionary body, " mes- sengers of the ChurcheSjf and the glory of Christ ! " A peculiar privilege, too, to be witnesses, it may be, in the latter days of the world's history. Who shall lift the veil and foretell the events which may transpire in the decade of years on which we have just entered? Into it some of our best expositors of prophecy have thrown the termination of the 1260 years, J and, with- out pronouncing, we can only say that the signs deepening and thickening around Rome * How close the angelic announcement, ivxyyiXi?^ofteci vfu» ;^«g«i' |Mey«A»)y, and the universal term, ivxyyiXt^ofciietf applied throughout the Acts and Epistles to the different apostles and teachers of the truth. Cf. Acts, xiii. 32 ; xiv. 7, 15 ; xvi. 10 ; Gal. i. 8 ; 1 Pet. i. 12. f Messengers of the churches, a-roa-ToXoi UicXvia-iuv, i.e. " Thej are of the churches, what the apostles are of the Lord." — Alford, in loc. X Counting from the Decree of the Emperor Phoeas, A.D. 606. See Elliott's Hor