send them forth to labour, in obedience to the parting command of our dear Lord. For many years that Society has had my deepest sympathy. I have watched its work with lively interest, and have heartily thanked God for the manifest tokens of His blessing on it. This has been my experience as a member of the Society, necessarily viewing it as one outside the organization by which the work is carried on. Now, in God's Providence, I am called to look at the work from within that organization. And I feel constrained to give expression to the first impression produced by this closer acquaintance with the work. It is one of awe at the fuller realization of what is meant by Retrenchment in the mission fields, a retrenchment forced on us by the fact that the growth of the Society's means has been outstripped by the growth of the Society's work.

Do you at all realize what is meant by our inability to strengthen, perhaps even to maintain, Mission stations on which God's blessing rests? Our inability to utilize the services of men, some of them of lengthened experience, eager to go forth to lands whence the bitter cry of "Help!" reaches us in vain? Our inability to send a fellow-labourer to relieve the excessive burden which the very success of his work entails on the missionary? Our inability to render that aid which would foster the healthy development of Native agency? Our inability to afford that supervision of the Native Churches by Europeans which their early days appear to demand? Can you realize it? I thank God that I cannot half-realize what it means. I understand enough of it to fill my soul with deep sorrow-sorrow that any action of ours should cramp and confine the development and maturing of the Native Churches, for which we have so long hoped and prayed-sorrow and shame that such a necessity should be laid upon us, who represent a large body of the Christian people of wealthy England. There are hindrances now in our way which can be removed, and removed easily; which will be removed, I am satisfied, when once their existence is fully realized. These four men now to be ordained, added to the six already gone, from the band detained at home last summer for lack of funds, all go forth because God has put it into the hearts of some of His servants to make special gifts for their maintenance. This is sufficient evidence that where our difficulty is realized self-denying liberality is ready to flow. Only it should flow promptly, and with it the earnest prayer that the Lord will not allow the great work which He has committed to His Church to suffer from these obstacles. It may be that He will, by our very difficulties, stir up a wider and deeper interest at home in the missionary work of His Church, and draw out from the Native Churches themselves more independence and self-denial, and thus cause those things which seem to be against us to "fall out rather unto the futherance of the Gospel."

And now, brethren, I close with the aspiration, hope, and request to which St. Paul gave utterance at the close of this epistle: "The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us."

INSTRUCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE.

A special interest attaches itself, dear brethren in the Lord, to the Committee's taking leave of you to-day, from the circumstance that the means for sending you forth at an earlier period than the Committee would have otherwise been able have been specially supplied by the generous aid of a few

friends. One friend, interested in the advance of the Gospel to the regions beyond the present North-West Frontier of British India, has supplied the means for two of you to go to what we may call posts of observation in the Punjab. Another, impressed with the importance of retaining the services of a European missionary at Allahabad, the seat of government of the North-West Provinces, supplies the means for one of you to go to Benares to relieve a senior brother proceeding thence to Allahabad. And still another, realizing the great importance of succouring our expanding work in China, supplies the means for the fourth to go to Mid-China. It is our consolation to know that there are very many of God's people in this country who make much prayer to God for a blessing on the labours of our dear missionary brethren. We may well hope that those friends whose generosity enables the Committee at once to send you forth, will, in a very especial way, remember in their prayers the cause of Christ in the countries to which you go, and yourselves also. We would remind ourselves here of how deeply the great Apostle of the Gentiles felt the connexion between the success of his work and the prayers of God's believing people. "Brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified."

The Committee have appointed you, Brothers Knowles and Rountree, respectively, to Peshawar and Multan, there to prepare yourselves and to wait on the Providence of God with regard to a possible advance beyond the frontier. Our Mission in Peshawar, to which you, Brother Knowles, are proceeding, dates from the year 1855, and has received no few tokens of the Lord's blessing and favour. In the close of 1853, Sir Herbert Edwardes, Commissioner of Peshawar, a few months after his predecessor had been assassinated by a fanatic Mohammedan, had the Christian courage to preside over a public meeting, convened to invite the C.M.S. to occupy the place, and on that occasion used the memorable words, "We may be quite sure that we are much safer if we do our duty than if we neglect it, and that He who has brought us here with His own right hand will shield and bless us, if in simple reliance on Him we try to do His will." Since then there have been laid there the mortal remains of Roger Clark and Thomas Tuting and John Stevenson and John William Knott and Mrs. Wade. May you, dear brother, have the great honour put upon you of being a worthy follower of those gone before, and of the devoted brethren who are still labouring.

Much interest has recently gathered round the Multan Mission, to which you, Brother Rountree, are proceeding. It is important in itself as a great missionary centre, but the Committee have also recently been led to take steps to strengthen it, with a view to its forming the base for our southern frontier (and, if it may please God, trans-frontier) operations. It will, therefore, be a very suitable southern post of observation for you, as Peshawar will be a northern one for our Brother Knowles. In Multan, and all the out-posts connected with it, you will find the memory of the Society's late devoted missionary, Mr. Gordon, beloved and honoured. May the Lord give you much of the self-sacrificing, self-denying spirit which was so strong in that devoted servant of Christ.

You, Brother Walton, have been appointed to Benares-"the city of temples and the citadel of idolatry"-where Smith and Leupolt and Fuchs and others carried on for so many years the assault against Hinduism, having but little to cheer them as regards success, but never losing heart as to the ultimate victory of the cause of Christ. To take part in this difficult contest you are now sent forth. The citadel of Hinduism in Benares shows as yet but little signs of yielding; but our brethren there

are hopeful. Preach nothing short of the utter ruin of man by sin, and of the new life in Christ which starts from the forgiveness of sin through the blood of His cross. This is the one great weapon with which to deal with the strongholds of Satan in the world. In due course we shall arrange, in communication with the Calcutta Corresponding Committee, as to the special department of the work in which you are to be engaged.

The Committee have appointed you, Brother Nash, to the Mid-China Mission. They have recently placed the arrangements for the local administration of the Mission on a new footing, by the appointment of a Missionary Conference, with our beloved friend and long-tried missionary, Bishop Moule, as its chairman. In due course the precise department of the work in which you will engage will be settled for you by us in communication with the Missionary Conference. May the gracious Lord prosper your soul and give you a large blessing on your labours!

The Committee would desire to put before you a few words of practical advice in reference to the great and solemn work on which you are now entering. 1. They would first say, Lay yourselves out for the work as for a life-work. We doubt not that this is your deliberate purpose. That eminent missionary, Robert Noble, of Masulipatam, used to say that every true missionary ought to "burn his ships," to cut off the possibility of a retreat. True, it is not given to every one to do as he did, to remain for twenty-five years at his post, putting aside many an earnest invitation, even from this House, to visit England, and then to die at that post. Circumstances over which you may have absolutely no control may drive you home. But not the less is it the true course to go to it as to a great life-work, if the Lord permit.

2. The Committee would say to you another thing. Lay yourselves out for a thorough study of the language. Be persevering in this. You will often have the temptation to take up work which will not involve the acquiring a knowledge of the language. Resist this temptation. Do not be content until you are able to converse with the Natives and to preach with entire freedom. Without this we can have no guarantee that you will have an interest in the Natives, or in the country, or that you will ever be efficient missionaries. It is quite true that there have been eminent missionaries who have not studied the language, but these have been missionaries who have gone out for the work of English education. It is equally true that there has never been an eminent evangelist missionary who has not acquired a thorough mastery of the language.

3. It may seem a matter of comparatively small moment, but the Committee think it right to say a word to you upon it: Take care of your bodily health. Many a young missionary goes forth, and, with good intentions, and not listening to the advice of his seniors, neglects the precautions. necessary in climates like those of India and China, unduly exposes himself, weakens his nervous system, brings on a train of maladies, and at an early stage returns home. The Committee would therefore beseech you not to be neglectful on this point.

4. The Committee would also say-and to this they would attach a most special importance-Take great pains to cultivate a spirit of brotherly love towards the missionary brethren and others associated with you in the work. Cultivate the habit of longing to see their work prosper as well as your own. Make it a habit to pray for them. Try earnestly to rejoice when God has put honour on another brother, or that brother's work, which He may not have seen fit to accord to you or your work. This is the very spirit of the Great Master.

This is the spirit that breathes through that wonderful vision of

perfection which the Apostle Paul has penned for us in the great chapter on Charity. This spirit, if cultivated, will lift you above narrow and petty jealousies; and the more you are enabled by Divine grace to give up the seeking of self-in every phase of it-the more shall you receive back, even from men, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. And God who seeth in secret, shall Himself reward you openly.

There are many other things which the Committee might say to you, but they now refrain. You are going forth, brethren, on a great life-work, the greatest life-work which can be undertaken by mortal man. The Lord hath chosen you to be soldiers, and you are wholly His. The world may know little of you; but your way is not hid from the Lord, and every tear of yours will be in His bottle. Be assured that you, with all other true labourers, will receive from the Lord, when His day comes, the full meed of praise for a life of unselfish devotion to His cause.

How noble were the words of the great Apostle, when some would disparage him in comparison of another. Strong in the sense that he was going forward simply in the path of doing God's will, and acting in the spirit of that Master who at all times committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, he was able to say:

"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." (1 Cor. iv. 3, 4, 5.)

A NATIVE CHURCH GATHERING AT NASIK.

NOTES BY THE REV. RUTTONJI NOWROJI.

[THE following very interesting descriptive account of the first general gathering of the C.M.S. Native Christians in the Bombay Presidency, which took place last Christmas at Nasik, has been written by our excellent Native brother, the Rev. Ruttonji Nowroji, of Aurungabad. The gathering, which lasted three days, comprised several distinct meetings; among them, a Conference of the Society's missionaries; a meeting of all the Native agents in its employ, ordained and unordained; an inaugural meeting of the newlyformed Native Church Council; two or three general missionary meetingson which occasions the Bishop of Bombay presided; evangelistic services for the heathen; various social and devotional gatherings; and a remarkable public lecture delivered by Major G. A. Jacob to educated Hindus, on "Krishna and Christ." It is not often that our pages contain much about the Society's Western India Mission; and such a picture as is here presented of some of its features and results will be viewed with true thankfulness.] Some particulars of the Social and Devotional Meetings held in Sharanpur, Nasik, during the 28th, 29th, and 30th of December, 1880.

HE Christian settlement of Sharanpur presented a most interesting scene on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of December last, when the ordained and lay agents of the C.M.S. in Western India met to

gether for social and devotional purposes. There were seven Europeau missionaries, and five Native pastors

*

* Viz., the Revs. H. C. Squires, Secretary of the Mission; T. Cares, Principal of the

U