children which were read by my reverend friend: to me they seem matter of anything rather than mirth. The most formidable, the most fearful feature in the combination against evangelical truth, now to such an extent prevailing in this city, is, that it is seizing upon the very springs of life, to infect and poison them. They are not content to poison the Thames as it passes London-bridge, but they go to the very spring and fountain, and endeavour to poison it there. These men, too, are persons of considerable ability and learning; and, on this account, their efforts must be more seductive; because, forgetting or despising all those branches of knowledge which men most value; overlooking all modern literature, and disregarding all that is solid in science or history; they direct all their interest, and concentrate all their attention, in what has been forgotten for ages; and, pouring out their stores, drawn from such fields, they produce, in the credulous minds of the young, the impression of profound learning, immense research; and, because they are not answered, they think them unanswerable. On this account, it seems to me necessary that there should be a combination to meet their influence. They are combined, steadfast, energetic, enterprising, and assiduous; they are animated, full of hope, the hope to make us recede more and more from the principles of the Reformation, their avowed object being to unprotestantize the Church of England. For this they vilify the names of our Reformers; for this they mutilate the doctrines we profess; for this they dishonour the sacred Scriptures, by making tradition a parallel authority; for this they circulate throughout the whole land their works, from the smallest tracts and little books for children, to their ponderous tomes : and if we are successfully to meet them, we must have a combination of our own.

If we had an organization in our Church that could afford an effectual check, we would appeal to it; but I can find no available combination of agency that we can employ for that purpose; and, in the absence of some public direct systematic effort, in order to repress their notions, I have been told they are triumphing in Oxford. There is wanted some power that shall concentrate the influence of the body, maintaining the truth as it is in Jesus. The parochial and other Ministers are devoted to their own duties; and it is impossible that they can follow these Anglo-Catholics throughout their whole tortuous literature. If the work be done at all, it must be by champions chosen specially for the work, and who will devote their energies to it. The Christian community may raise such an influence, by means of this Society, as shall grapple with and master the heresy which is daily spreading, and the power of which we have so much reason to deplore. By the strength of God this heresy must be overcome, and expelled from the land. God is with us, truth is with us, all Protestant associations are with us, the pulsations of every Christian heart are with us; and, if we have only courage and resolution, I believe the pestilence will be swept from the face of the country. If I am asked, What are the means we should take to accomplish this? some of them are most obvious and practicable. It is possible for this Society, if adequately sustained by the public, to have not only a course of lectures at Oxford, which I rejoice to hear is in progress, but to have a sufficient number of accomplished scholars in its employment, whose duty it shall be to undo what our Anglo-Catholic enemies have been accomplishing. We should have books and tracts written like their own. We should have a literature imbued with sound Christian principles, in every city, town, and parish.

Prayers, 16 German Selection of Prayers, and 7 Books of Homilies, had been purchased by the sailors; making an average of more than 100 Prayer-Books sold to sailors monthly. 652 books of Select Homilies, and 200 Homily-Tracts, had been supplied to crews of ships gratuitously. 744 of the ships visited had been spoken to particularly; and, with the exception of 498, they had divine service at sea occasionally or regularly. Owing to the financial embarrassments

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of the Society, no new Auxiliaries had been established last year; and the Committee urged upon the members of existing Associations to make prompt and vigorous endeavours to relieve the Society from its debt. The Report then spoke of the important results which had followed the circulation of the Homilies, and lectures upon them; and of the necessity of keeping up the distribution of Prayer-Books and Homilies, to fortify the humbler members of the Church against the insidious attempts of Roman Catholic Priests and Sisters of Mercy, so called, to delude and apostatize them. From the several Associations abroad, various remittances had been received, and supplies forwarded. During the year the Society had added only one to the number of its publications; the Committee having received a donation of £10, to enable them to publish the Homily on the Nativity in Hebrew; being the second in that tongue. former was the Homily on the Reading of the Scriptures. A lady had also placed at the disposal of the Committee £20, for the distribution of books in Syria, and £5 for the same purpose in Italy. The Committee had determined to print Dr. Pococke's Arabic version of part of the Liturgy, adding the Burial Service. A donation of 225 copies of the Liturgy, in French, had been presented to the Society by the noble President. The number of publications issued by the Society was 11,770 PrayerBooks, and 46,850 Homilies, &c.; making a total of 412,770, and 2,544,118 tracts. The Earl of Chichester and Lord Ashley had become Vice-Presidents of the Society. In appealing to their friends, to exert themselves to extricate the Society from debt, the Committee would remind them of various items which have chiefly tended to create that debt. Since 1836, grants of books to various institutions in and near the metropolis had been made, to the value of £420; gratuitously to seamen, £170; to Ireland, £210; for English emigrants at various places, and for foreign nations, £470; to North America, £164; South America, £50; Asia, £400: making nearly the amount of the Society's debt. The receipts for the past year were £2,496. 8s. 1d.; the disbursements, £2,632. 10s. The engagements of the Society amounted to £2,219. 7s. 2d., many of them being overdue, and the whole claimable before or at Midsummer next. The value of the stock of the Society was greater than the sum of its debts; and being much in the character of a trading Society,

great disadvantages and losses were experienced in consequence of not having fa capital at command.

The REV. DR. MARSH moved,"That this Meeting, viewing with concern the attempts made in the present day to repudiate the principles of Protestantism, considers that the PrayerBook and Homily Society, which brings so prominently forward, in the circulation of the formularies of the Church of England, and other publications set forth by authority, the uncompromising principles of our Reformers, has a strong claim on the affectionate and cordial support of all who truly love the established Church." He observed, that they had been told, in modern times, that there were but few shades of difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome. A few shades, indeed! Why, they were Alps! If they ascended those Alps, it would not be to be refreshed, like Hannibal, when he looked along the plains of Italy; but they would be disgusted and displeased. They had been called upon to approach the Church of Rome, under an assurance that she would approach them. He had no doubt of it; but he trusted that they never would consent to realize any such union; that Protestant England would never again submit to a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels; to the adoration of the Virgin; to the invocation of saints; to the merit of works; to the sacrifice of the mass; to the transubstantiation of the wafer; to the denial of the cup; to the supremacy of the Pope; to the sole power of the Priests; to extreme unction; to purgatorial flames; to seven sacraments, half an one being denied: for to these they must submit, if they would approach the Church of Rome.

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The REV. H. STOWELL said,-For any man to sit down gravely, for the purpose of proving that the Church of England was not a Protestant Church, argued, either that his mind was SO wholly perverted, that he almost deserved a place in Bedlam; or that his judgment was so fearfully distorted on this simple truth, that it was impossible to give him credit for integrity of motive. might just as well say, that the Rubric of the Church of England was not scriptural, as say, that the Church was not a Protestant Church. If not Protestant, what was it? Did our Reformers die as anti-Protestants? Did our martyrs suffer because they were friends of the Church of Rome? Did they witness an unequivocal adherence to the Thirtynine Articles, because they foresaw that

The Missionaries on the Lambeth Marsh, Broadwall, Field-lane, and Holywell-mount districts, had each formed a school for the ragged and neglected children found in the streets. The Missionaries in the last-named district had brought no less than 345 children under instruction during the year, closed 17 houses devoted to public vice, introduced 4 females to asylums; and 1 house, the worst upon the district, which was a den of thieves, is now converted into a place of prayer, and is used as the infant-school. Altogether,

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2,516 children had been sent to various schools during the year. 22,037 visits have been made to the sick and dying; and 1,087 have died upon the districts during the year. Of 253 of these, the Missionaries had, in the judgment of charity, a good hope of their unfeigned sorrow for sin, and of their faith in Christ; and out of the 1,087 persons who died, 490 were visited exclusively, in their afflicted and dying hours, by the Missionaries of this institution. 303,616 religious tracts had been given away. 6,577 meetings had been held for prayer and expounding the Scriptures. copies of the Scriptures had been distributed, and 1,536 persons induced to attend public worship. During the year the total number of visits and calls amounted to 289,924. Details were given of some of the results of them; and the Report stated, that, besides the 253 hopeful cases in death, there are 80 other instances of the power of religion on those who were in affliction, and have recovered, and are now living consistently with the Gospel and there are 215 instances of persons who have been met with in health, during the past year, all of whom are giving evidence of the power of divine truth upon their consciences and their hearts; and 81 of them have publicly given themselves up to God, by becoming members and communicants of the church of Christ.

The funds last year reached £4,831, being an increase of £934 over the preceding year. This year they have reached £5,534, being an increase over last year of £712. The increase has been devoted to new Missionaries, and the balance in hand is not enough for the current month's expenditure; and for the support of about 22 of the 61 Missionaries, (or for about £1,500 a year,) the Committee are dependent on occasional contributions.

The REV. DR. BYRTH, Rector of Wallasey, moved a vote of thanks to the office-bearers, and said,-We have heard

of the danger lest our union should be attended with the concession of some vital principle. He that unites with us may miss uniformity; but, if he be really united with us in the great object of the salvation of sinners by the free preaching of the doctrine of justification by faith in a crucified Redeemer, I say boldly, that that man can sacrifice no vital principle. And, therefore, I feel it a privilege to advocate the cause of the London City Mission; especially as I share it with comparatively few of the Ministers of that Church to which it is my honour to belong. But I do not believe that this will last long at no distant period, we shall have the whole nation with us: we shall no longer be the minority; a Clergyman will not be frowned upon for standing upon our platform; and so many will press forward, that the humble individual who now addresses you will ask in vain for a Resolution. I call your Society great even now. It has been said to be in its infant state. Be it so one of the most beautiful productions of ancient art was the infant Hercules. I see it (if it be in its cradle) using its infant hands already, to strangle the kindred snakes of bigotry and priestcraft; and shall I not see it go forth against the many-headed monster of superstition, and strike head after head from the hydra to the ground, and, anon, divert the stream of Christian charity into the proper channel, until it has actually cleansed the Augean stable of this vast metropolis of its uncleanness, its filth, and its impurity? I knew, when I stood before this Society on a previous occasion, that there was some sacrifice to be made; I was not ignorant that whispers would be circulated, throwing suspicion upon my churchmanship. No; but I should despise myself,-no; but I should fear for the Church of which I am a Minister,-no; but I could not bear the daily selfexamination in the evening,-if any such motives as these could hold me back from duty. I do not believe, that all you do will keep one member away from the Church of England; because none whom you visit would have joined her, if you had not gone. But suppose it otherwise; suppose it said, "This City Mission does a vast deal of good: it has converted the profligate; reclaimed the wretched feinale; brought home the backslider; made people think about their souls. But, alas! you must not join it, for not one of these has ever found his way to an Episcopal Church; they do not reverence Bishops; they

care nothing about you in your white surplice; they do not mind about orders." Well, I should say, will they go to heaven? Should we have gone to them, if these Missionaries had not? And I will not listen to objections about irregularity, and sacerdotal order, and vested spiritual right, until my questions are answered, and my argument overthrown. Dr. Byrth, after a few other remarks, said,-My next axiom is one sadly forgotten; and it would make one ashamed of many an elaborate treatise, written to prove some church-order to be true, when, perhaps, we should in vain look for the rudiments correctly drawn of any church-order in the pages of infallible truth. It is, that there is but one Priest in the Christian church; and He is the High Priest, Christ Jesus. No right that ever man could exercise is invaded when they who have received no official or sacerdotal appointment go and call their fellow-sinners to look to Him who died for them. But to my last axiom it is this: The work of the conversion of a sinner is the work of the Holy Ghost, and his work alone. Now, he that could hear that Report read, and then go away doubting if your Missionaries have been the instruments of converting sinners to God, is a man with whom I should think it hopeless to reason, though he possessed all the learning of the schools, and all the ingenuity of concentrated scepticism. But permit me here to advert to that heresy which has been referred to, and which I count infinitely more dangerous than Popery; I mean, that which is called Puseyism, but which really ought to be called Newmanism, because embodying (for he is public property) the insincere, the ungenerous, the misrepresenting spirit of that unhappy man. I believe the cloud is passing away. I think a reaction is taking place; I think they are getting weary of their trammels. Asceticism may live in the desert; but in the world it must soon die, or change its

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character. But I think a preceding speaker called it the Oxford heresy. I take shame to myself, that it did arise in Oxford. I should have thought there had been there some iron heel, to trample it to death as soon as it crept forth. And yet it ought not to be called the Oxford heresy. Not the most learned, distinguished, prudent, not even the majority in number, as we showed them at the last contest, have embraced it: they have but a small portion of the real learning, and sound logic, and deep piety, of that my alma mater. They pretend to great learning: other men are learned, as well as they. Long before they dared to stamp their novelties with what they call the seal of antiquity, there were at least a few of us who had given days and nights to the Greek and the Latin fathers. "Are they Hebrews? So are we." Do they delight in the depths of a remote antiquity? We have been there before them. suppose they go forth, or suppose they send me forth; I meet your Missionary in his labour, and I say to him, "My friend, you are quite out of your province; you are invading mine. I have been a Priest for many years; I received degrees from the most learned University in Europe; I have actually the authority of several Bishops, one after another: do give place." The humble man would give way, no doubt. I go, then: and what do they tell me to proclaim? A self-justifying system; a catalogue of penances and macerations; that the sinner is to repent himself into a good man. I suppose I might talk long enough to little purpose to those of whom we have heard to-day about the apostolical succession, and the untainted character of my priesthood; and I might have gone through all the mummery (for it is nothing else) that leads to despair and death, but has not-what the simple doctrine of your Missionaries has the life-giving energy from above accompanying it.

Australia, Van-Diemen's Land, NewZealand, the South Sea Islands, Western Africa, South Africa, Spanish America, West Indies, British North America, North-west America, Greenland, Labrador, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Portuguese Islands, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Lower Saxony, Wirtemberg, Denmark, Sweden, Po