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No. 2. NEW SERIES.]

THE

[MAY, 1850.

CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER.

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VOL. I

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JAMES GERBER AND HIS COMPANIONS PRAYING FOR DELIVERANCE.-Vide p. 22.

ADDRESS OF THE REV. W. JOWETT, AT THE OPENING OF THE MISSIONARIES' CHILDREN'S HOME, ISLINGTON.

THE children of our Missionaries have strong claims upon us. Some are orphans: they have neither father nor mother living, both having died in the service of the Gospel. The parents of others are in distant lands: they have been sent home, not only on account of their bodily health-which must have suffered had they been kept in the hot climates of Africa and the East-but also because the sinful examples of the heathen would have been injurious to their souls. Thus, far distant from a father's watchful eye and a mother's tender care, they are, in a certain sense, orphans even during their parents' lifetime. These lambs of His flock the good Shepherd, "who gathers the lambs in His arms, and carries them in His bosom," would have us "feed" and cherish.

At the Jubilee, the Missionaries' children were not forgotten. It was then resolved, with the blessing of God, to provide a Home for them. An excellent Clergyman and his wife, the Rev. S. H. Unwin and Mrs. Unwin, have been placed over it; and they will endeavour to be in every possible way as parents to the children. We are now enabled to present to our readers the truly paternal address of the Rev. W. Jowett on the opening of the Children's Home in March last. The portion of Scripture read on this occasion was Colossians iii. 14 to iv. 4. After a few remarks of a preliminary nature, Mr. Jowett proceeded to say

I will first beg to throw out a few general suggestions on the position occupied by our brother and sister in Christ, Mr. and Mrs. Unwin; and then show how these suggestions are supported and strengthened by the passage of Scripture which I have just read.

1. With regard to YOUR TWO SELVES, let me briefly observe, that it is because you are one in the Lord, that the Committee have confided to you this important and interesting charge. And it is their earnest prayer, that, through the supply of the Spirit, you may be enabled to conduct the affairs of this House, as those who are perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

2. Next, in reference to YOUR ADOPTION OF THESE CHILDREN, let me offer a remark or two. Our desire is, that you should adopt them with a kind of parental affection. You are the Father and the Mother of this whole house. The children in it are, for the time, committed to you as your children. We are not ignorant of the difficulty of your maintaining this kind of affection, especially as it will sometimes be put to severe trials. There is in the heart of parents a natural affection toward their offspring, implanted by the Divine Parent of all things: and when this is violated or cast off, we deem it something perfectly unnatural. Now it is the glory of the Gospel-dispensation to have fully revealed to us, that corresponding to this instinct there may be, and there often has been, a kind of spiritual instinct, infused into the soul by the abundant influences of the Holy Spirit, leading persons to adopt others with the fulness of parental affection. Such, pre-eminently, was the

ADDRESS OF THE REV. W. JOWETT.

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case with the Apostle Paul. He cared for the Thessalonians, as “a nurse cherisheth her children." He speaks of the Galatian converts as his "little children:" and, standing in doubt of them, he declares that he a second time travailed in birth of them. He speaks of Onesimus as a son, whom he had begotten in his bonds. And still more remarkable is his language concerning Timothy; to whom he writes (1 Tim. i. 2), calling him his own son in the faith, "a genuine son:" and more than this, he alludes to this same Timothy as being "likeminded" with himself in his love for the saints at Philippi (Phil. ii. 20), caring "naturally" (with a genuine, own love) for their state. Perhaps we may apprehend the idea more distinctly, if we take an instance in contrast-the case, namely, of Moses, the great legislator of Israel; who, under the temporary influence of impatience and irritation, even deemed that office an affliction, which was his highest honour: "Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant? . . . Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that Thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child?" "How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance and your burden, and your strife?" (Numbers xi. 11, 12. Deut. i. 12.) Thus, by contrast as well as example, you may perceive the nature of that spiritual affection, with which we trust your hearts are now adopting and embracing the young Missionary children of this Home.

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3. To this let me add a remark on YOUR MANAGEMENT OF THEIR DISPOSITIONS. You will soon find that tempers, habits, and inclinations of every kind, are here collected together under your notice. among children of the same parents we often see dispositions wonderfully diverse. How much more may this be expected in the offspring of so many parents! I might delineate many varieties of temper; but I will notice only that some of them you will probably find so violent, that it will be no easy matter to curb them; while others will be so torpid, inert, and weakly, that it will be a difficult task to rouse them, or to have patience with them. Besides which, as they have all come into the world inheritors of our common nature, with hearts "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," you will often have to deal with that most inconvenient and unhappy temper of all, a cunning one. And all these dispositions you will find further aggravated by the circumstances through which the children have previously passed. Foreign climate will have affected them; so that you would almost be able to tell the geography of their birth from their temperament. And foreign false religions will probably have affected their minds: they will have seen and heard sights and words that do harm; sometimes infecting the tender mind with a taint or a stain, which years of education scarcely suffice effectually to remove. I can never forget the anxiety of a Missionary mother at Bombay, when, with her little boy in palanquin with her, they passed the heathen temples; and the little fellow's inquisitive mind must needs be informed, "Whose temple is this? who is in it? let me look at those figures on the wall." And then he would clap his little hands, in imitation of the cymbals; repeating, in an under tone, the name of the heathen deity, "Narayunu! Narayunu!" Add to all this, that the parents of these children

* Vide page 30 of the "Church Missionary Record" for February 1835.

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SWINGING-FESTIVAL AT peddana, NEAR MASULIPATAM.

will, in some instances at least, have furnished you with a charge somewhat neglected. The fathers abroad have been too deeply absorbed in their work, or separated from the family by their journeys; the mothers may have been delicate, and too much overpowered by the climate to give due attention to the house: these various circumstances, you, dear brother and sister, will take into your view. We are persuaded that you have well studied the subject, and counted the cost of feeling which you must expend.

4. This brings me to a fourth remark, which must be touched very briefly; the necessity of your being PREPARED FOR DISCONTENTS. I allude more particularly to what the parents of these children may feel. Some may possibly be expecting that you are to make their children Missionaries: a fallacious idea, this; for grace, in general, and Missionary grace in particular, is not an inheritance. But, usually, all parents view their own offspring with partiality; and are prone to fancy that their children, if not successful, have not had their due share of attention. On this point it may suffice, by way of encouragement, to say-Use your own best judgment: serve God in truth and simplicity: consult with the Committee: and when you have satisfied your own consciences, leave consequences with God. You cannot please every body: the attempt would be vain: but you may be blameless. And it will be for your comfort, viewing the work as a whole, to fall back on that general principle, "Wisdom is justified of all her children."

5. I might here very properly add a few remarks on the duty and privilege of your constantly committing this House to the blessing and protection of Almighty God. He is a Father! With peculiar condescension, He calls Himself the Father of the fatherless and such, in a sense, are the children of this Home. So that you are standing, not only in the place of their natural parents, but in God's stead for them. May He pour out abundantly His Spirit upon you all! Then shall these children spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One

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shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel" (Isaiah xliv. 4, 5). (To be concluded in our next.)

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SWINGING-FESTIVAL AT PEDDANA, NEAR MASULIPATAM. THROUGH the kindness of Messrs. Seeley we are enabled to introduce an engraving of this scene, from the recently-published Memoir of the Rev. H. W. Fox. The description of it has been forwarded to us by the Rev. G. T. Fox, of Durham, from amongst the unpublished papers of his brother.

On the 26th of December 1844 I left Masulipatam, and rode over to a village called Peddana, distant about five miles, for the purpose of witnessing a swinging festival which was going on there in honour of Paidamma, the Ammavaru, or village goddess.

As soon as our tent was pitched, just outside the village, my companion, Mr. B and I went to look at the pagoda of the goddess, which was to be the scene of the festival. It lay about 600 yards off the village,

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