[NO. 109. THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER. JANUARY, 1883. F.Qr.16, 12.48a.m. | F.M.23, 7.15a.m L. Q. 31st.. 10.27 a.m. 1st aft. Epiph. Before Abraham was, I am, John 8. 58. M. Is. 51. Matt. 4. 23 to 5. 13. E. Is. 52. 13, & 53, or 54. Acts 4. 1-32. 8 M The eternal God is thy refuge, Deu. 33. 27. 9T French and Knott sailed for. India, 1869. Underneath are the 10 W Thy years shall not fail, Heb. 1. 12. [everlasting arms, Deu.33.27. 11 T 1st Miss. Sermon at Lagos, 1852. The word of our God shall 12 F Eternal power and Godhead, Ro. 1.20. [stand for ever, Is. 40.8. 13 S H. Venn died, 1873. Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever, La. 5. 19. [ending, saith the Lord, Rev. 1. 8. 14 S 2nd aft. Epiph. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the M. Is. 55. Matt. 8. 18. E. Is. 57 or 61. Acts 8. 26. 15 M 1st Arrian baptisms, 1852. Called us unto His eternal glory, 16 T The living God, and stedfast for ever, Dan. 6. 26. (1 Pet. 5. 10. 17 W The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Is. 57. 15. 18 T The King eternal, immortal, invisible, 1 Tim. 1. 17. 19 F Who only hath immortality, 1 Tim. 6. 16. Lyears, 2 Pet. 3. 8. 20 S Tinnevelly Centenary, 1880. One day is with the Lord as 1000 [Thou art God, Ps. 90. 2. 21 S Septuagesima. Before the mountains were brought forth... M. Ge. I. & 2. to 4. Rev. 21. 1-9. E. Ge. 2. 4, or Job 38. Rev. 21. 9 to 22. 6. 22 M J. Vaughan d., 1882. Thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever, Ps. 102. 12.] [from of old, from everlasting, Mic. 5. 2. 23 THenry Venn' launched, 1878. Whose goings forth have been 24 W From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God, Ps. 90. 2. 25 T Conv. St. Paul. The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, Is. 26 F I am He that liveth, Rev. 1. 18. [60. 20. [ations, Ps. 90. 1. 28 S Sexagesima. Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all gener 27 S Behold, I am alive for evermore, Rev. 1. 18. M. Ge. 3. Matt. 15. 21. E. Ge. 6 or 8. Acts 17. 1-16. 29 M Nyanza reached, 1877. The counsel of the Lord standeth for [ever, Ps. 33. 11. 30 T The thoughts of His heart to all generations, Ps. 33. 11. 31 W Islington Coll. op., 1825. This God is our God for ever, Ps. 48. 14. MORE JERSEY BREEZES. I. Our Own God. "God, even our own God, shall bless us."-Ps. lxvii. 6. E are entering on a New Year. We stand on holy ground. The Hand of Mercy has drawn a veil over the future of life's wide, wild sea, and ere our frail bark sails onward, we crave an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. Here we find it, in three precious weighty words, "OUR OWN GOD." Is not this a fitting New Year's motto to cherish in our hearts until the day break, and we see Him as He is? Let us rest our anxious souls upon this sweet strong truth. Let us make it our spring carol, our summer shadow, our autumn jubilee, our winter cordial. joy or sorrow, peace or perplexity, all will blend in holy harmony, if accepted as the wise discipline of our own God. Come At a season like this, the GLEANER would fain reach out the warm hand of sympathy to all the faithful workers in its many harvest fields, and our motto seems to draw us very close with cords of Christian love. Though parted in seeming, we all look up to the same blue heavens; we all rejoice in the same bright Go forth, dear wondrous words, and cheer the desponding, comfort the weary, and give a glad impetus to the successful and the happy. Is He not God, and is He not our own? What a blessed union of earthly weakness with almighty strength! What is hidden within the hours of this New Year? each of us much joy; much sorrow also for most. We shall sun. For need again and again to stay ourselves on One that is mighty. We shall find rest in dwelling upon His attributes, as we severally need their re-assuring comfort; on His Omniscience, His Omnipotence, His Omnipresence. Are we looking this way and that way, eager for work, yet doubtful what to do? Our path is all marked out by One who cannot err; let us look up and listen to hear His sweet voice say, "This is the way, walk ye in it." He will never chill our ardour, nor repress our enthusiasm, for both are His gifts; but He will temper our zeal with prayerful patience, and then send us onward, rejoicing. Are we hedged about with difficulties, sowing much and reaping nothing? Ah, the Lord's mighty hand can extricate us from every seeming hindrance. Let us cling to the safe, sure refuge of faith in One who neither fails nor forsakes His own children. For if we can look up with clear and trusting eye, and call Him from the very depths of the heart "our own,' so will He look down with approval and whisper the assurance that He acknowledges us as His own also. We need no more than this, till time shall be lost in the bright ocean of eternity. And what can we say of His Omnipresence? It is this which makes us glad as we write, the feeling that He is everywhere, by night and by day, protecting His dear ones and ours, so that we need not mar the peace He loves to bestow by faithless broodings over what may be. Surely all the experience of past years has been only goodness and mercy. The woes we dreaded have never come; the menacing cloud has dropped on our path in a soft, refreshing shower. We have found Him all He has promised to be, and as we journey on, we would say to each and all, Only trust Him; trust our own God. ance. Thoughts such as these will bear us onward in happy assurIf the New Year is to bring us accumulated work and responsibility, His secret support will make us a wonder unto many. If we are to be laid aside, He will give us songs in the night of affliction; and if we are to be called home, what will that be to those who have leaned upon and loved Him? Oh, let us be up and doing through all this glad New Year, trusting ever, doubting never, certain that all must prosper, according to the will and the rich blessing of "our own God." A. M. V. OUR NEW YEAR PRAYER. "Ask of Me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance." AVIOUR, plead on! our hearts are sorely yearning, Soul-gems to jewel Thine eternal crown. Strange stones of beauty, dug from midnight darkness, EVA TRAVERS POOLE. ARCHBISHOP TAIT AND THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. T is not necessary for the GLEANER to commemorate the general work and life of the good Archbishop of Canterbury whose death on Advent Sunday has been so universally mourned. But it will interest our readers to know something of his connection with the Church Missionary Society, more especially as this is a subject not touched upon in the newspaper notices. he was one of the speakers at the C.M.S. Anniversary at Exeter Hall, when he moved the 2nd Resolution, which, curiously enough, was seconded by the Rev. Francis Close, who afterwards succeeded him in the Deanery of Carlisle. It was in 1856 that Dr. Tait was appointed to the see of London, and in the next twenty years he spoke nine times for the Society at Exeter Hall, five times as Bishop and four times as Archbishop of Canterbury. Eight of these were anniversary meetings; the other was a great meeting in connection with the Indian Mutiny, held on Jan. 12th, 1858, on which occasion the Bishop referred to General Havelock, and added, "There was a day in England when psalm-singing soldiers showed that they were not to be despised "-an allusion which elicited one of the loudest bursts of cheering we ever heard in the Hall. No. 2 of the Fundamental Laws of the Society says, "The office of PATRON of the Society shall be reserved for members of the Royal Family; and that of VICE-PATRON for His Grace the Primate of all England, if, being a member of the Society, he shall accept the office;" and the last four Archbishops of Canterbury have filled this office of Vice-Patron in succession. Dr. Tait, however, did not wait for his Primacy, nor even for his elevation to the Episcopate, to be associated with the Society. His name can be traced in the Annual Reports for forty-five years back. From 1837 to 1842, in the contribution list of the Oxford Association, "the Rev. A. C. Fellow of Balliol," appears as a subscriber. In the latter year he became Head Master of Rugby School, and at once accepted the office of Vice-President of the Rugby C.M. Association, which his great predecessor Arnold had held before him. On the C.M.S. Jubilee Day, Nov. 1st, 1848, he preached in Rug 66 Tait, by School Chapel; and every year since then what is called the "Fox Sermon" has been preached there, in memory of H. W. Fox, a Rugby boy who was one of the founders of the C.M.S. Telugu Mission, the offertory being given to a fund for supporting a Rugby-Fox Master" in the C.M.S. "Noble High School" at Masulipatam. On that very occasion when Dr. Tait preached, there was a boy present in the chapel who afterwards became a C.M.S. missionary, and actually held that very mastership, the Rev. John Sharp, now Secretary of the Bible Society. When Dr. Tait went to Carlisle as Dean in 1850, he at once became Vice-President of the Carlisle C.M. Association, being the first Dean of Carlisle to take the office. In the following year he opened the cathedral for the first time to the Society, and himself preached the sermon; and its claims have from that time been annually set forth from that pulpit. In 1855 in 1859, the Bishop of London preached the Annual Sermon at St. Bride's. His text was Ps. ii. 8-"Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Dr. Tait was not great as a preacher in comparison with what he was as a speaker; but this sermon reads at the present day very impressively. after years it was his habit, when he was not coming to the Tuesday's meeting, to be present at the Monday's sermon; and the last time he attended was when the present Bishop of Rochester preached, in 1880. In It has been the custom for the Archbishop of Canterbury, on his first appearance as VicePatron at the Annual Meeting, to take the chair instead of the President. Dr. Tait did so in 1869, only a few months after he became Primate. In 1872, 1874, and 1877, he sat on Lord Chichester's right hand. His speeches on all these three occasions were important. That of 1874 was noteworthy for a memorable passage which has often been quoted since : In my particular position, I have communications weekly from almost every part of the earth. The Churches throughout the world which are in communion with the Church of England are continually applying to the centre, and their applications generally come through myself; and I can testify that wherever the sun shines upon the miseries of the human race, there this Society is at work, and not only at work, but at work in the best way. In that same speech he referred to the fact that he had recently consecrated five C.M.S. missionaries to be Colonial or (Continued on page 4.) ARCHBISHOP TAIT ADDRESSING THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY AT EXETER HALL, MAY 1ST, 1877. The front figures represent the principal persons actually present that day, and in most cases in the very seats they occupied. The Earl of Chichester is in the chair. On his right (our left) are the Archbishop, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Bishop Perry, Bishop Ryan, and Prebendary Daniel Wilson. Behind the Bishops are the Rev. Henry Wright and Canon (now Bishop) Ryle. On the President's left (our right) are Lord Northbrook (who spoke next after the Archbishop), the Dean of Ripon (Dr. Fremantle), Bishop Crowther, Canon Hoare, and Sir W. Muir. Behind the Dean will be seen Captain Maude and the Rev. G. E. (now Bishop) Moule. The Archbishop said: "We have reason to be thankful to Almighty God for the progress which this Society has made and is still making. It is always refreshing to hear the Report of this Society-not an imaginary picture of imaginary triumphs, but a real business-like statement of the exact degree of progress which is made year by year." Missionary Bishops, and said, "From personal acquaintance with them, I believe no men adorn that office anywhere more convinced of the greatness of its responsibilities, or more able to answer to those responsibilities, from a thorough understanding of the business which in God's name they have undertaken." These five were Bishops Royston of Mauritius, Russell of North China, Horden of Moosonee, Bompas of Athabasca, and Burdon of Victoria, Hong Kong. In after years the Archbishop consecrated three more C.M.S. men, viz., Bishops Speechly of Travancore, Ridley of Caledonia, and Moule of Mid-China. He also ordained a great many of the Society's missionaries, both as Bishop of London and as Archbishop of Canterbury. But all this refers only to his public work. In private he was always the Society's cordial friend and wise counsellor. In the Memoir of Henry Venn there is a very interesting passage respecting a conversation Mr. Venn had with him, when he had only just been nominated to the see of London : October 30th, 1856.-To Addington at 1 o'clock. At 2 the party assembled for luncheon, and afterwards the Archbishop [Sumner] proposed that Dr. Tait and I should walk with him in the park. We remained out for more than two hours, sauntered about the grounds, and sat on the benches, and I was permitted to join in a deeply-interesting conversation upon a variety of points connected with the future duties of the Bishop-elect. On many matters more immediately connected with the C.M.S., such as the ordination of candidates, the principles upon which Missions must be conducted, &c., I received the most cordial and satisfactory assurances. We also discussed the questions connected with City Missions-open air preaching-lay assistance, &c., and I felt very thankful for the prospects of the diocese under its new superintendence. In later years, Mr. Wright, who had the deepest respect and affection for the Archbishop, and great confidence in his judgment, was in very frequent personal communication with him; and in particular, the Society must ever be grateful for his wise and well-timed interposition in the Ceylon difficulties. And only shortly before his death, communications were received from his bedside regarding the Sierra Leone Bishopric. In his last speech at a C.M.S. anniversary, in 1877, there were words which may fitly be quoted in conclusion. The meeting that year was held in the midst of the Ceylon controversies. The Archbishop naturally refrained from giving any direct opinion upon them; but he spoke these solemn words :-" You are right in maintaining that you will not flinch from those great principles which you have announced, and from those doctrines which have not only been your watchword ever since this Society was founded, but which, throughout the world, wherever there are pious souls, are the comfort and sustaining power that bear those souls through great emergencies, and enable them to face death with calmness.” Yes the great truths which the Church Missionary Society proclaims are exactly those on which the dying can rest their faith and hope, and which give them a peace that passeth understanding. And upon them, we are persuaded, the Archbishop himself reposed as he passed through the dark valley into the light of everlasting life. "THE GOOD NEWS IN AFRICA." WE do not systematically review books in the GLEANER. That duty is left to the Intelligencer. But we wish specially to recommend a book lately published by Messrs. Seeley," The Good News in Africa," and any who purchase it on our recommendation will certainly thank us for naming it. It is a series of sketches of missionary enterprise in Africa; and of seventeen chapters, ten are occupied with C.M.S. work-Sierra Leone, Yoruba, the Niger, East Africa, the Nyanza Mission. authoress is that "sister of the Rev. E. H. Bickersteth" who wrote the Children's Edition of "Half as Much Again," and it is she who is now writing the story of the New Zealand Mission for our own pages. The PLANTS FOR SALE FOR C.M.S.-"E. H.," Vicarage, Corbridge-on-Tyne, has "fine seedling plants of wall-flower, ready now to forward at 1s. per dozen, postage paid." [In November we inserted a similar notice from "M. G., Post Office, Biggleswade, Beds." Letters sent there have been returned by the Post Office, as contrary to regulations. "M. G." must name his residence.] STORY OF A HINDU WIDOW. By her Nephew. HE accompanying letter, which I have translated, illustrates several points: (1) that all widows among the heathen are not badly treated; (2) that all women among them are not illiterate; (3) that Native Christians are many of them most exemplary evangelists. See the earnestness of that woman seizing her feet. They would never do such a thing except under very urgent pressure of feeling. R. R. MEADOWS. Most Reverend Sir,-In obedience to your order I am giving below a short history of Gnana Pakkiam Ammal. She is one of my father's three sisters. She was married at 15, but ten years afterwards, at the age of 25, she lost her lord. As she had no child she came back, according to our Indian custom, to live at her father's house. As she was so young a widow, her father and mother, brothers and sisters, loved her exceedingly. At that time my father, who is now dead, sold her jewels for her, and with the money at one time carried on trade, at another time put it out to interest, increasing and spending it for her benefit. A house was also built for her at Virdupatti. As she had no child she adopted her sister's daughter and gave her in marriage to me, managing my house for me, and in every respect being a mother to me. A long time afterwards my stepfather brought her from Virdupatti and established her in my house in Sivagasi. As my father was one of her three brothers, I became an inheritor of a third part of the property. She was, naturally, a worshipper of the Hindu gods, but she had a strong will and a passionate disposition. Through her my stepfather and I put our trust in the same gods. When by the grace of God I became a Christian she suffered intense grief. She took back her money which I had on interest and went back to Virdupatti. On the day that I and my wife and children were baptized she was so overwhelmed with grief that she attempted at Virdupatti to commit suicide. But my God did not permit it, this we are quite sure of. Afterwards, whenever we went to Virdupatti, we behaved ourselves with great patience and submission towards her, and got nearer and nearer to her in love. Her younger brother, my father, and my mother, had been a long time before dead. These she looked upon as gods; offered to them food, cakes, clothes, &c., thought of and worshipped them, and supplied their supposed wants. But whenever I went to see her I used by the help of God to tell her of the Lord Jesus Christ. convert and his wife from Mathavanayakkanur, friends of mine, had also One day my wife and I had to go there, at the same time that a new come. His wife spoke to her very earnestly about salvation, saying, "You must repent and turn to the Lord," and attempting to seize her by the feet. To her entreaties she replied, "You must not seize me by the feet, I will repent." "If so, then," said she, "you must now join with me in prayer." "No," she replied, "I will pray when I wish, do you pray now." Immediately she and my wife went inside her house and prayed for her. It was five in the evening when they prayed. At nine o'clock, when she brought my food, she said, "How could I pray, clothed in a garment which I had consecrated to the devil?" I replied, "The Lord looks at your heart; say, Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner." I pointed out to her Matt. vi. 5, 6, exhorted her to much private prayer, and gave her a gospel, for she could read. When she got to her own house she had it constantly read to her. She would frequently send for Abraham, the schoolmaster, and ask him to read it to her, and began to pray in private. But she was ashamed to come to our church and dupatti, and knowing this read to her Matt. x. 32, 33. From that day acknowledge herself a Christian. Palappa Nadan one day went to Vir forward she went to church. At that time she came to Sivagasi and was baptized by Mr. Horsley in 1877, and continued to walk in the fear of the Lord, controlling her temper and her tongue, and living in the peace of God and comfort. Then she returned to Virdupatti, collected all her property, and came back to Sivagasi to my house. Knowing how ill instructed she was herself, and what an advantage it would be if girls were from early youth taught in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, she resolved to establish a girls' school. For this purpose she has given over three bazaars of hers worth 1,200 rupees. At present she pays monthly 2 rupees to the mistress, reserving the remainder for her own support. After her death the whole of it will go to the school. She is anxious to build a schoolroom, and has bought a piece of ground at 150 rupees for it. This grace of God to our town is like a great miracle. The heathen think well of Christianity, and now see that there is after all nothing injurious in teaching girls to read. May the gracious God bless these poor efforts, and make our fellow-townsmen acknowledge Jesus as their Saviour. I humbly beg of you to pray to our Heavenly Father for this thing. Gnana Pakkiam Ammal is 76 years old. She cannot do more than walk to church. VELLEIAPPA NADAN. |