ther prove, most conclusively, the connexion between atheism and inordinate vanity. 1. The first anecdote is from a letter written by Sir Samuel in 1781, not long after returning from a visit which he had made to France. "I forget what it was I wrote to you from Ostend: I know I mentioned something of Diderot, but did I tell you how zealously he preaches his system of materialism? In the first visit I paid him, after we had talked a little on political topics, he turned the conversation to his favourite philosophy. He praised the English for having led the way to true philosophy; but the adventurous genius of the French, he said, had pushed them on before their guides. Vous autres, these were his words, vous mélez la théologie avec la philosophie; c'est gáter tout, c'est mêler le mensonge avec la vérité ; il faut sabrer la théologie. ('As to you, you mix up theology with your philosophy; that is the way to spoil all; it is mixing falsehood with truth ; we must sabre theology.') He spoke of his acquaintance with Hume. Je vous dirai un trait de lui, mais il vous sera un peu scandaleux peut-être, car vous Anglais vous croyez un peu en Dieu; pour nous autres nous n'y croyons guères. Hume dina avec une grande compagnie chez le Baron D'Holbach. Il était assis à côté du Baron; on parla de la religion naturelle: Pour les athées,' disait Hume, je ne crois pas qu'il en existe; je n'en ai jamais ru.' Vous avez été un peu malheureux,' répondit l'autre, vous voici à table avec dix-sept pour la première fois. (I will tell you a tale of him; but perhaps you will be a little scandalized; for you English do seem to have some belief in the being of a God: but as for us, we scarcely believe on the subject at all. Hume was dining with a large company at the house of the Baron D'Holbach. He was seated by the side of the Baron, and the conversation turned on natural religion. As to atheists, said Hume, I do not believe there are any: I have never seen one myself. You have been rather unlucky, replied the other; here you are at table with seventeen for the first time.")"-Memoirs, &c., 1st ed., vol. i., p. 179. 2. The second is taken from the "narrative of his early life," written by himself, and is found under the date of 1789. The philosophers had been sowing the seeds, and the plants were now in full bloom. It was not long before the fruit was gathered and that fruit was just what might have been expected. Sir Samuel says, "What struck me as most remarkable in the dispositions of the people that I saw, was the great desire that everybody had to act a great part, and the jealousy which, in consequence of this, was entertained of those who were really eminent. It seemed as if all persons, from the highest to the lowest, whether Deputies themselves, declaimers in the Palais Royal, orators in the coffee-houses, spectators in the gallery, or the populace about the door, looked upon themselves individually as of great consequence in the Revolution. The man who kept the hotel at which I lodged at Paris, a certain M. Villars, was a private in the National Guard. Upon my returning home, on the day of the benediction of their colours at Notre Dame, and telling him that I had been present at the ceremony, he said, 'You saw me, Sir?' I was obliged to say, that I really had not. He said, 'Is that possible, Sir? You did not see me! Why, I was in one of the first ranks,-all Paris saw me.' I have often since thought of my host's childish vanity. What he spoke was felt by thousands. The most important transactions were as nothing, but as they had relation to the figure which each little self-conceited hero acted in them. To attract the attention of all Paris, or of all France, was often the motive of conduct in matters which were attended with most momentous consequences. "The confidence which they felt in themselves, and their unwillingness to be informed by persons capable of giving them information, was not a little remarkable. I was dining one day at M. Necker's, at Ver sailles, at a great dinner, at which many of the Deputies were present; amongst others, M. Mallouet, a man of considerable eminence. It was a day in which great tumult had prevailed in the National Assembly; and the Bishop of Langres, who was then the President, had rung his bell, to command silence, till he had broken it; but all had been in vain. The conversation turned upon this. Mallouet observed, that in the English House of Commons the greatest order prevailed; and that this was accomplished by dint of the great authority vested in the Speaker, who had power, if any Member behaved disorderly, to impose silence on him, by way of punishment, for two months, or any other limited period of time. M. Necker turned round to me, as the only Englishman present, and asked me if this was so. M. Mallouet had been so positive and bold in his assertion, that I thought the most polite way in which I could contradict him was, to say that I had never heard of it. But this only served to give that gentleman an opportunity of showing his great superiority over me. I might not, he said, have heard of it; but of the fact there was not the least doubt."—Ibid., pp. 107, 108. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. RELIGIOUS ANNIVERSARIES LATELY HELD IN LONDON. In supplying our readers, in this and the succeeding Number, with an account of the important Meetings which have recently been held, according to what is now become an established custom,-and a custom of great value, our object will be to collect from the different reports, first, what may be termed the statistics of the several Societies holding their Annual Meetings at this season; and, in connexion with these, such facts, statements, and arguments from the speeches that have been delivered, as shall appear most likely to be interesting to those who have not had the opportunity of coming up to London, and being personally present on these delightful occasions. I. THE WESLEYAN-METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Or the Annual Meeting of this Society (which was held in Exeter-Hall, as usual, Monday, May 2d, Colonel Conolly, M. P., in the chair) we do not here give any account, as the Missionary Notices for the current month, appended to the present Number, will faithfully report the proceedings. In referring our readers to this official record, we trust they will allow us to recommend it to their very particular attention. Such Meetings are not to be regarded as if they were, though interesting, yet merely evanescent transactions, supplying some hours of true, rational, religious enjoy ment, and then taking their place among the many things that have been, and now not only are not, but are forgotten. The churches of Christ are coming up to their right position, regarding Missionary operations as an essential portion of Christian duty, and engaging in them under a deep conviction of Christian VOL. XXI. Third Series. JUNE, 1842, obligation. And this gives an elevated and hallowed character to the public Meetings. They are becoming increasingly Meetings for the transaction of holy business; and though the feelings which they awaken naturally calm down to the average level of ordinary life, yet it is found, more and more, that the feeling leaves behind it principles of great and sacred power, permanently influ encing the mind. The great work to be done among the Wesleyan societies and congregations, as among the other branches of Christ's church in this country, is, to bring ALL under the full influence of principle. What is already done shows plainly what would be done, were the principle brought to bear, with comparatively few exceptions. The funds raised for Missionary purposes proceed from a generosity and self-denial which, when every person belonging to a Christian congregation shall feel it to be a duty to 2 L cherish and exercise them, will produce by a very blessed and hallowing influ sums far beyond any that have yet been contributed. As yet, we have no doubt, there are many persons who have not so attentively considered the question, as to be induced to go beyond their universal contribution to some annual collection; and could they be brought to see it in the light in which it is seen by those who already contribute, according to their means, liberally, sources of augmentation, as yet comparatively unopened, would be secured. In proportion as Missionary principle is strengthened, will they who are under its influence endeavour to ascertain where such sources exist, and to render them available. A careful home perusal of the apecches at the recent Anniversary will, we do think, contribute to this desirable result; and therefore it is that we recommend it. The Meeting itself was an excellent one, and the various religious services connected with it were marked ence. While worldly wisdom is seeking to promote the public welfare by such means as are within its own range, and wondering at its repeated disappointments, the devoted members of Christian churches are labouring to spread the Redeemer's kingdom, and to bring glory to their God and Saviour; and the work in which they are engaged has now proceeded quite far enough to make it plain, that it is by bringing men under the influence of the light, and joy, and hope, and purity of the Gospel, that they alone can be made individually and socially happy and prosperous. As religion advances, human happiness is augmented, human improvement is quickened; social evils diminish as men become evangelically wiser and holier; and thus shall the blessedness of Christ's universal reign be known, even before it is so, by the antepasts which its victorious progress shall supply. II. THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. THE Fiftieth Anniversary of this institution was held at Exeter-Hall, on Thursday, April 28th. An additional interest was given to the proceedings by its being the jubilee year. H. Kelsall, Esq., having taken the chair, the proceedings were commenced by singing and prayer. The REV. J. ANGUS read the Report. It commenced by stating, that, among the painful occurrences of the past year, the Committee had to deplore the decease of the senior Secretary of the Society. Their hopes had been disappointed by the unavoidable return of several devoted Missionaries, and three labourers had fallen in the morning of life; but, while they had to regret the return or death of twelve individuals, they had to report that, during the year, seventeen, including their wives, had gone forth to the work of the Lord. The Report then reviewed the Society's operations in the East Indies, and stated, that the conversions consequent upon its labours were, in most parts of India, not very numerous. Including Ceylon, however, 358 members had been received; making a clear increase, during the year, of 192 members: the total number being 1,288. It then referred to the Mission recently established in Africa, where the encouragements of the Society were represented as very great. With reference to the West Indies, it stated, that, at the last Association of the Baptist Churches, held at Kingston, in January last, the brethren unanimously resolved to withdraw from the funds of the parent Society after the 1st of August, 1842. The total number of members in Jamaica was about 30,000, of whom 3,000 had been added during the year. There were 67 day-schools, with 7,000 children; and in the Sunday-schools about 12,000 more. In the Bahama Islands the population were generally Baptists in name, and were most willing to receive the Gospel at the hands of their brethren. The total receipts of the year, for the general purposes of the Mission, amounted to £18,221. 10s. 6d. ; being an increase above the preceding year of £124. 10s. 10d. There had also been received, for various objects, £4,505. 11s. 8d., including £500 from the Calcutta printingpress: making a total of £22,727. 2s. 2d. On the other hand, the expenditure of the Society had been £24,712: the excess, added to the balance against the Society at the beginning of the year, left due to the Treasurer £3,943. 10s. 3d. The total number of persons added to the church during the past year, as shown by the tables of each District, was 5,654; the total number of members in all the churches being 32,899. There were also 15,510 inquirers, 167 stations, 77 Missionaries, 47 female Missionaries, and 70 native Preachers. The number of day-schools was 148; Schoolmasters, 170; children taught in day-schools, 10,298; and of those taught in the Sabbath-schools, about 15,000: the number of volumes of the Scriptures printed was 85,000. The REV. W. A. BowEs, in the course of his speech, said,-We are permitted this morning, and called upon, to review the past with adoring astonishment, and to witness the present with thanksgiving; but let it be with deep humiliation. We are also to anticipate the future with that confidence which the word of God inspires. And if I refer to the days that were, it is only that we may gather a holy freshness of spirit in the prosecution of the work of the Lord, by a discovery of the power, faithfulness, love, and mercy that evidently rested on the heads, hearts, and labours of our fathers; and that, feeling a high responsibility to Jehovah, we may be concerned zealously to maintain the vantage ground which they have left us to occupy. The founders of this Mission not only had to endure the scowl of the world, and to brave the jeer of the infidel, but they were called upon to enforce the claims of Christian Missions on the professors of Christianity themselves; they had to argue with individuals who admitted the authority of revelation, and yet seemed to stand short of its grand design; who, granting the ultimate triumphs of the cross, seemed to have forgotten the means presented for its advancement. Those were the individuals who perhaps denounced, certainly suspected, the fathers of this Mission as enthusiasts; and that because they expected success in simple obedience to the divine command; and yet, with the most extraordinary inconsistency, these very individuals sat down, quietly to wait for indefinite signs and tokens. The time had not yet come, they were told; and, if God were to open the windows of heaven, then what they desired would be accomplished. I am no chronologist. I never have made, nor do I think I shall ever attempt to make, any calculation as to the times and seasons which the Father has put in his own power. Of this I am assured, upon the highest possible authority, that the secret things belong to the Lord our God; but such things as are revealed, to us and to our children. I suppose it is always time to obey a positive command: it is always time, I think, for the church of Jesus Christ to labour for Him who toiled and died for her; but I begin to think, that it is now high time that we should all awake out of our sleep; and that, with redoubled energy, and holy zeal, we should prosecute that work which was commenced in simple, but strong, faith, that has risen superior to the many difficulties with which it has been encumbered, and which has evidently the impress of the broad seal of the divine favour on it. III. THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. the concluding sentences of the Report The Report was read by the REV. R. DAVIES and the REV. JOHN VENN. Its statements, in reference to the operations of the Society, were very cheering, and entered largely into detail; but for want of a general summary in the account now before us, we are not able to give any particular information. The prospects of the Society were likewise represented as very encouraging; and the only painful statements that had to be made were in relation to matters of fact. Success has rendered necessary an extension of plan, and an increase in the number of labourers; and this has produced a great augmentation of expendi ture. The receipts for the past year were £90,821. 2s. 6d. ; the payments, £110,808. 16s. 1d.; showing an excess of expenditure above income to the amount of £19,987. 13s. 7d. Some of Christian friends, entreating them to consider whether they might not either contribute more liberally themselves, or stir up others to a more liberal contribu tion; and they thus speak, not reproachfully or in despair, but in grateful recollection of the success of former appeals, and in the blessed assurance that God is able to make all grace abound towards his people, that they, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound in every good work. But let not this appeal of the Committee be mistaken. Let it not be supposed that it is on gold, or silver, or patronage, that they found their hopes of success. God forbid! It is the faithful, plain, and full maintenance of those great principles of the truth as it is in Jesus, by all the Agents and Missionaries of this Society, without compromise and without reserve. It is the sustentation of that scriptural, Protestant, and evangelical tone throughout all their ministrations. It is the upholding of the Bible, and the Bible alone, as the foundation and rule of faith, upon which the blessing of God has rested, does rest, and ever will rest. If there be one living witness entitled to speak on this subject, with more weight than another, it is he who was one of the early fathers of the Church Missionary Society, who laboured from its infancy to estab lish its great principles; who, by the signal providence of God, has been raised to the chief post both of observation and authority in the Missions of the Church; and whose life, by a no less signal providence, has been preserved, while thousands have fallen at his side, that he might speak with the additional authority of long experience, and at the very crisis when his voice was most needed. That voice has given no uncertain sound. "If," says the Bishop of Calcutta, in his last ordination sermon, "the spirituality of our Missions be gone; if a scheme which substitutes self, and form, and authority of office, for weight of doctrine, and activity of love, be imbibed; 'Ichabod, the glory is departed,' may be inscribed upon our church in India; all real advances in the conversion of the Heathen will stop; our scattered Christian flocks will miss the sound and wholesome nourishment for their souls; our converts will quickly dwindle away to a nominal profession; our native Catechists and Missionaries will be bewildered and nothing in the whole world is so graceless, as the eminent Gericke once observed, as a Mission without the Spirit of Christ." : IV. THE CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION SOCIETY. THE subscribers and friends to this institution held their Seventeenth Annual Meeting, at Finsbury chapel, Tuesday, May 3d: Sir C. E. Smith, Bart., in the chair. The services having been commenced by singing and prayer, The REV. J. BLACKBURN, at the request of the Chairman, then read the Report. It stated, that the little band of not a hundred gratuitous visiters who first associated to promote the objects of this Society had increased to 2,354, who were systematically employed in their benevolent operations. The gratuitous visiters were divided into 103 Associations. The following tabular view of the efforts of these local Associations during the past year, for the visitation of the poor, the maintenance of local stations for prayer-meetings and preaching, and for the support of stipendiary Missionaries, in aid of the gratuitous Visiters, presented a result that was highly encouraging : |