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VOL. V.]

[NO. 49.

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER.

THE BLESSED HOPE.

BY THE VEN. ARCHDEACON HONE.

Y Sinim's peopled streams,

O'er India's arid plain,

I know that soon the day will dawn
When God the Lord shall reign.

For Afric's swarthy sons,
Oppress'd by scourge and chain,
How bright with hope the stedfast word,
That God the Lord shall reign.

The red man, spoil'd, pursued,
Bemoans his brother slain,

But wars will cease and love prevail,
For God the Lord shall reign.
Thro' ocean's isles shall spread
The Gospel's joyful strain,
And myriad voices sweetly sing

That God the Lord shall reign.
For lands where holy truth
Has long been heard in vain,
Faith rests upon the promise sure
That God the Lord shall reign.
Speed on the day, good Lord!
And soon, from main to main,
The tuneful shout of joy shall rise,'
That God the Lord doth reign!

VINEYARD WORK.

JANUARY, 1878.

Thoughts for those Engaged in Christ's Service.
BY THE REV. G. EVERARD, Vicar of St. Mark's, Wolverhampton.
I. THE DIVINE CALL.

"Son, go work to-day in My vineyard."-Matt. xxi. 28.
ON!" It is a Father's voice, and I will gladly
obey it. He would not have me work as a bond-
slave, but as a child. It is love that calls me
forth. It is in love that I must labour. O my
Father, give me a filial, happy, loving spirit,
and teach me to know Thy will, and accomplish all Thou
wouldest have me to do.
"Go." I must arise from sloth and self-indulgence. I must
go whithersoever my Father bids me.
south, to the burning plains of India, to the snowy regions of
East or west, north or
North-west America, to the scattered isles of the ocean, or, it
may be, to the dens of vice and misery in some English town or
city; whithersoever the call of duty comes, thither I must go.
The command is no less:
"Go
into all the world and preach
the Gospel to every creature."
"Go, work." I must be ready for toil and self-denying effort.
I must be active and laborious. Whether at home or abroad,
whether by using my influence for Christ here in my own land,
or preaching the Word in some far-off clime, I must diligently
work for the Master.

ye

"Go work to-day." The command is urgent and immediate. Time is precious. Souls are perishing. The world is ready. Christ is yearning over the multitudes who are as sheep without a shepherd. My own life is quickly passing away, and my opportunity will be gone. Therefore I must act at once. I must not lose a moment. I will not say with the one son in

the parable, "I go, sir," and yet fail of my promise; nor will I say with the other, "I will not"; but I will accept the call, and without delay set about its fulfilment.

"Son, go work to-day in My vineyard." Here is my encouragement. It is God's vineyard, and His work shall be done. He will raise up the agents, and fit them for the work. He will work with them, and by them, and crown their labours with success. Yes, and more than this: "He buries His workmen and carries on his work." He takes away one, but He raises up another. Therefore I will trust His power and His grace. He will perfect His Church. He will fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness. To Him alone shall be all the glory!

SKETCHES OF THE PUNJAB MISSION.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "MORAVIAN LIFE IN THE BLACK FOREST," &c.

I.-Taking Possession..

HEN in October, 1836, Bishop Daniel Wilson was sailing down the River Sutlej, on his return from Simla to Calcutta, he rose up on the deck of the boat, and looking towards the territory of the Punjab, the great plain of the "five rivers," then scarcely known, exclaimed aloud and solemnly, with outstretched right arm, I take possession of this land in the name of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ!" His companions were struck, if not almost startled, for it seemed little likely at the time that we should have ance there to put our feet on. any inherit

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Two years later, in November, 1838, at Ferozepore, on the banks of the same River Sutlej, was enacted a scene of magnificence which has seldom been surpassed, on the occasion of the interview between Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India, and Runjeet Singh, the Maharajah of the Punjab.

England already reigned supreme over the vast Indian territory extending from the Ganges to the Sutlej, and from the lay the Punjab, an independent kingdom of bold, brave men—the roots of the Himalaya to Cape Comorin; but beyond the Sutlej Sikhs. Their ruler was about to receive on his own territory the representative of England, and with much pomp and circumstance he did it.

Runjeet Singh's career. Breaking loose from the abstemiousness
This memorable interview was the termination of the great
fiery wine, stronger than brandy, distilled from the grapes of
enjoined by his medical attendants, he indulged too freely in the
followed the strange series of tragical events which ended in our
Cabul, and a severe fit of apoplexy was the result.
posession of the Punjab just ten years later.
On his death

But Runjeet Singh clung with tenacity to life. Pundits, fakirs,
shrine at Amritsar shared with that of Juggernaut in the spoil.
and devotees were paid to make prayers for him. The Sikh
jewelled saddles, cows with gilded horns, golden chairs and golden
Revenues were assigned to temples; elephants, horses with
bedsteads, pearls and gems, and even the jewels recently pre-
sented to him by the representative of the British nation, were
sent to propitiate the various deities. Had not his ministers and
itself for the chance of purchasing a few additional moments of
courtiers interposed, he would have sacrificed the Koh-i-noor
existence. By the violation of every right of hospitality he had
wrested this jewel from Shah Sujah, when a guest at the court
Shah, his wives, family, and servants, were deprived of food for
of Lahore, while a fugitive with his family from Cabul.
two days in order to induce its surrender; and after a temporary

The

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suspension, during which persuasion was vainly tried, these severities were again resumed, until the Shah, fearing that his life would be the sacrifice if he continued to refuse, surrendered the precious stone. Now the fast-sinking monarch would have sent it willingly as a gift to Juggernaut. Finding all prospect of recovery hopeless, he endeavoured to purchase peace and happiness hereafter, and a Brahmin was paid £40,000 sterling on his undertaking to eat a splinter of one of the Rajah's bones. after his death, that he might be secured a permanent place in heaven, and be relieved from the necessity of any further birth!

On the funeral pile of sandal-wood four queens and five Cashmerian slave girls were burnt alive with their dead lord and master, and thus ended the reign of Runjeet Singh.

Anarchy and confusion ensued. History gives no counterpart to the rapid succession of fearful murders, the terrible condition of

TOMB OF RUNJEET SINGH, LAHORE.

RUNJEET SINGH. (From a Native Portrait.)

discord, that marked the next six years. Runjeet had left his people no constitution, no laws either written or oral. He had governed as a despot. Crime was punished by fines, which augmented his revenue; disputes among the sirdars were fomented that there might be no combination against himself. The one thing that he had carefully organised and disciplined was the army, but on his death all subordination ceased, and in 1845 the Rani and her advisers decided to let loose this fierce soldiery on the plains of British India, in order to give scope to its impetuous license. Thus came about the Sikh war, and the annexation of the Punjab.

Just seven years had passed since the Field of Cloth of Gold at Ferozepore, where the Sikh and British troops had taken part in the exchange of ceremonial between the representatives of their respective nations. On the 18th December, 1845, they met again at Moodkee, in the neighbourhood of Ferozepore, not

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in peace, but in deadly warfare, the Sikhs intent on unjust aggression, the troops of England prepared to shield from desolation the fruitful plains of British India. The Sikh army is said to have consisted at this crisis of 110,000 men, formidable foes, fierce, brave, and well-trained. But the battle is the Lord's, and in His strength the bloody engagements of Ferozeshah, Sobraon, Chillianwallah, and other memorable fields were fought and won. The long series of conflicts, in which the Sikh soldiers had met the British force with a courage and discipline unequalled in the history of Oriental nations, ended with the battle of Goojerat, Jan. 21, 1849. The Sikh army surrendered, and the Punjab became a portion of the British Empire in India. A new and important opportunity was presented for the extension of Christian Missions. It is true that the American missionaries had already entered in, but English soldiers had conquered the Punjab, and the American missionaries themselves were amongst the foremost to invite the English missionaries to come with healing influences and words of peace to bind up the recently inflicted wounds, sow the seed of the everlasting Gospel, and win the population to the service of Christ.

A statement was put into circulation throughout India, soliciting subscriptions, with a view to the establishment of a Christian Mission in the Punjab, under the auspices of the C.M.S. The Army gave £1,000 as a commencement. The money flowed in, but where were the men?

The Rev. Robert Clark was the first to offer. He was the pioneer of the Punjab Mission. The Rev. Thomas H. Fitzpatrick quickly followed. Working laboriously as a young curate in a large parish in the town of Birmingham, he happened to be one evening enjoying some relaxation from his duties in congenial society at a friend's house. Some one mentioned that the Army had given £1,000 to commence a Mission in the Punjab, but that men

BISHOP FRENCH.

ITH much thankfulness was the announcement received by the friends of the Church Missionary Society that the Rev. T. Valpy French was to be the first Bishop of Lahore. That a missionary, for the first time, should be appointed to a territorial see in India-that he should be selected from the ranks of the C.M.S.-and that Mr. French should be the man, were all causes of satisfaction. We hope one day to see a Native Bishop for the growing Native Church of the Punjab; and meanwhile, it is good that so devoted an evangelist should preside over the English Church in the province.

Mr. French's episcopate will be the appropriate crown of his dis

tinguished career. He was educated at Rugby under Dr. Tait (the present Archbishop), and proceeding thence to Oxford, he took his degree (1st class in classics) in 1846, soon after which he was elected Fellow of University College. In Sept., 1850, he sailed for India with the Rev. E. C. Stuart (who has just been elected Bishop of Waiapu), commissioned with. him to establish a high-class educational institution at Agra. The result was St. John's College, which has proved a most important agency for bringing Christianity before young Hindus of the higher classes. One of the earlier students is now the Rev. Madho Ram.

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At Agra Mr. French laboured for eight years. Adding to his college duties the study of several Native languages and frequent preaching expeditions in the surrounding country, Mr. French laboured incessantly. He is known in India as the man with seven tongues, owing to his knowledge of Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Pushtu, Persian, Arabic, and Sanscrit. In 1857 the Mutiny broke up the Mission for a while. Mr. French's noble refusal to take refuge in the Fort unless he might bring his Native Christians in with him, will be remembered as one of the many heroic acts of that fearful" hour of temptation." The year after, his health failed, and he had to return home.

THOMAS VALPY FRENCH, FIRST BISHOP OF LAHORE. (Photographed for the Missionary Leaves Association.)

were needed. "Fitzpatrick," said a venerable old man, laying his hand on the young curate's shoulder, "you are wanted there!" The words went home, and he responded at once, saying, "Here am I; send me."

Early in 1852 a meeting was held at Lahore, presided over by Archdeacon Pratt, when a local Church Missionary Association was formed, having as its president Sir Henry Lawrence; and steps were taken for the expenditure of the money which had been raised on the spot, amounting to £3,000, on such objects as were necessary to the prompt and due prosecution of the work. Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs, about thirty miles from Lahore, was selected as the missionary centre and first place of occupation, and here the foundation stone of the first church was laid in 1852.

(To be continued.)

In 1861 a fresh call came to him. He was about returning to Agra, when the C.M.S. Committee, earnestly invited by Sir Herbert Edwardes, Sir R. Montgomery (then Lieut. -Governor of the Punjab), and Colonel (now General) Reynell Taylor, resolved to begin a new Mission in the Derajat, the long strip of wild and rugged frontier lying between the Indus and the mountains of Afghanistan. Colonel Taylor, himself the commissioner of the district, offered £1,000 to start the Mission, which promised to be one of great importance in its influence on the fierce frontier tribes, and on the merchants from Central Asia who yearly descend the mountain passes on to the plains of India. To this

work, one of great difficulty and no little danger, Mr. French was appointed; but his very energy in throwing himself into it brought on fresh serious illness, and drove him home again.

In 1869 he once more sailed for India, accompanied by the devoted and lamented Knott, to establish the Lahore Divinity School. This great work was fully described in the GLEANER of August, 1875, and we need only notice, as an evidence of the general appreciation with which it has been regarded, that at the S.P.G. anniversary of 1873 Canon Lightfoot referred to "those noble letters from Lahore, so zealous, so thoughtful, and so bold, which Mr. French has written to the Church Missionary Society." In 1874, for the third time, weakened health brought him to England; but for some time past he has been contemplating a fourth campaign in India, and he had already made arrangements to resign his parish of St. Ebbe's, Oxford, and go out again forthwith, when the offer of the Bishopric of Lahore came to him.

He will go forth, we know, borne up by many prayers; and we look forward with sanguine hope to his being permitted of God to do, by His grace, a great work in the Punjab for Christ and Christ's Church.

LEAVES FROM THE HISTORY OF A MISSIONARY AUXILIARY.

BY MISS E. J. WHATELY.

(Continued from page 125 of our last volume.)

CHAPTER IX.

PROLONGED absence on the Continent prevented my hearing any details of the Southbridge Auxiliary for a considerable time. When at last I alighted once more at the Rectory garden gate, where Mrs. Weston and her young friend Rose met me, I was surprised to find that my questions as to the welfare of the Missionary Association were answered in a tone which showed that both the ladies were considerably dispirited.

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Why, what has happened, dear friends?" I said; "I left you all in the best of spirits, and your work going on as smoothly as could be." "A blight has come on us," said Rose, "a nipping frost,' and how, I can hardly tell; but there has been a combination of disasters."

"Come into the dining-room, where lunch is awaiting you," said Mrs. Weston; " you must be refreshed after your journey, and I will tell you the while all our troubles."

"In the first place," said Rose, when we were comfortably seated, "I must tell you that our Rectory working-party is nearly melted away." "Whose fault is that?"

"No one's fault," said Mrs. Weston, "unless you will blame our good Annie Parker for marrying. It is a great loss to the place in every way, for we have no worker like her at the Sunday-school, or anywhere; but it is a very suitable marriage, just what one could desire, and it would be very selfish to grudge her where she will be useful and happy. But it has made, practically, more blanks than one. The other sister cannot now be spared from home at all. We have no one to act as district Secretary, except Miss Williams, who must try and undertake the work of two, and with the best will possible, finds her efforts must be limited."

"Then Mdlle. Duval has had to go to her own country to attend to her sick mother, and my sisters are gone to school," said Rose; "and one or two others who had joined us have dropped off; so except what those good young dressmakers, the Longs, and Miss Christian, can do for us at their homes, we have hardly any helpers."

"What of your boxes? How did they succeed ?"

"In the first place, Mrs. Manton's, which she would persist in sending to her cousin Mrs. Black, proved, as we had warned her it would be, a complete failure."

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She might have expected that."

"Yes," said Rose; "but the worst of it is, she will not believe that the fault lay in sending it to that station. Mrs. Black writes to her, judging from her own experience, that it is utterly impossible to sell work in India.' Then, as Mrs. Manton will not believe that it lies within the range of possibilities, that Mrs. Black could make a mistake, she has endorsed this opinion of her cousin's and lays it down as a 'universal proposition,' as the wise men call it."

66

More than that," rejoined Mrs. Weston, "she has extended Mrs. Black's taboo to Africa, China, and in short all places that come under

the general head of foreign Missions,' so that what she affirms now everywhere is, that she has proved by experience that all work sent abroad to sell for missions is a failure!"

"Rather hasty generalising, certainly!

"Yes, but it takes effect; as Henry says, a thing however absurd, if repeated frequently and confidently, makes at last some impression, and Mrs. Manton has friends who listen to her, as she does to her cousin, as to an infallible oracle; and the consequence is that several ladies who either worked for us or supported working parties, have turned their energies into other channels. Miss Christian and Miss Jenkins are faithful to us, but very few more."

"But have not you good accounts of your own boxes? What of the one you sent to that North Indian station while I was with you?

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That box sold capitally, and the accounts ought to have satisfied any one; but several of the ladies complained of the want of details. They wanted to know precisely, each what was gained by her particular child's frock, or box of pincushions; and this, as I told them, was impossible. It was very unreasonable, but I think that would have been got over had the next box sent proved successful; but, unfortunately, it also met with some hindrance. The box we sent to Africa was very thankfully received; but that, as you know, was almost entirely composed of clothing for children; there was little or nothing for sale in it." "But the general collections ? "

"They have suffered seriously in consequence of the very earnest appeals for the relief of distress in the East-end of London. I am sure there could not be a stronger claim; don't think for a moment I would draw off a penny from such a call! We have been trying to do what we could in this parish to send help; but the worst of it is that several of our contributors have dropped their subscriptions to us on the ground that this East-end distress absorbed all they were able to do."

"The claims of home distress must of course be the strongest," I said; "but, unfortunately, many of us can remember cases in which home charities have suffered quite as severely from a strong call from abroad as vice versa. In the Franco-German war, and other similar cases, local claims were very much thrown into the background; and this makes one fear that it is rather the new against the old, than home against foreign work, which really carries the attraction."

"I cannot see that it can be right to throw up an old charity for a new one except in very peculiar circumstances," said Rose, "and one would have thought most of the well-to-do people in this populous neighbourhood could have helped both without any extra self-denial.”

"They say they cannot afford it," said Mrs. Weston, "and of course we have no right to judge; but certainly those who make the excuse are among the wealthiest in the neighbourhood. It is wrong, perhaps, to let one's mind dwell on it, and yet when one sees them constantly giving the most costly and elaborate entertainments, it is difficult to check the thought, that if but one or two of these in a season were omitted, the outlay saved would more than cover all they have ever given either to East London or the missions."

"I hope you have kept up the orphan collections, at least."

"They have fared nearly as ill as the rest, though from other causes. Two of the children chosen-little Aurora, the one supported by the Beech Park Working party, and Motee, the one we had collected forboth died a few months ago. Their health seemed to have been too much broken by early hardship to admit of their rallying, and I fancy it was a merciful release when the poor little ones were taken. Mrs. Jackson, in her letter announcing their death, said that if we would continue to send our contributions, she would gladly devote them to the support of two more of the children already in the orphanage, as she finds it very hard to meet the needful outlay. Our Sunday scholars' union, which, with my help and Rose's, had supported Motee, willingly agreed to leave Mrs. Jackson to find an object for the money they would continue to send; but the others would not consent to this; they had been utterly discouraged by the death of their protégée, and by hearing of another lady's adopted one who had turned out unsatisfactory (a thing which does occasionally happen at home too!); so these young ladies said they had adopted' one child, and now she was dead they did not care to collect for one they knew nothing about, it would be so uninteresting!'"

"I have often seen this spirit-it seems to me of selfish benevolence, if such a term could be permitted," said I. "The fact is a great number give more from impulse and the desire of being interested,' than from principle, and then they soon tire. Has Mrs. Lambert given up?"

"Not yet; but I fear she will, and Mrs. Elwood too, as both complain bitterly of having no details about Edith Violetta' and 'Jessie Graham.' Mrs. Elwood indeed goes further, and declares that by this time she expected to have heard of Jessie's conversion; and if she is not decidedly converted in two or three years, she will certainly give up supporting her.'" "If the subject were not so solemn an one and connected with so grave an error, we should be tempted to look on it as almost laughable," I said; "but really the error is one which should sadden rather than amuse us; for little as those who say these things mean it, it is in fact nothing less than dictating to God how He is to work in a soul. How

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