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ARCHBISHOP TAIT AND THE CHURCH

T

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.

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. Tait, 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

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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.

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.

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In

It has been the custom for the Archbishop of Canterbury, on his first appearance as VicePatron at the Annual

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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.

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One day my wife and I had to go there, at the same time that a new convert and his wife from Mathavanayakkanur, friends of mine, had also 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 acknowledge herself a Christian. Palappa Nadan one day went to Virdupatti, and knowing this read to her Matt. x. 32, 33. From that day 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.

A MISSIONARY READING UNION.

E are grateful to the writer of the following letter, the Rev. J. T. Kingsmill, Vice-Principal of St. Aidan's College, Birkenhead, and a local Hon. Sec. for the C.M.S., for the very valuable suggestion offered by him. He is quite right in saying that very few even of those who are really interested in missionary work, and warmly support it for the Master's sake, have any clear knowledge of the history, surroundings, trials and triumphs, of Foreign Missions. If they read the C.M. Intelligencer or Gleaner, they get glimpses of what is now going on; but a great part of it does not interest them deeply, because they do not know what went before. Mr. Kingsmill's plan is designed to remedy this. But he shall speak for himself:

THE LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. DEAR MR. EDITOR,-I have often thought that the cause of Foreign Missions might be greatly helped forward, and at the same time much spiritual good done to the Church at home, by the systematic and consecutive study of missionary literature. At present many are dependent for information on the annual sermon or meeting in their immediate neighbourhood, or the occasional glancing over a report or periodical. There is no foundation whereon to set these loose stones and bricks of information, and consequently there is nothing but a confused heap of ideas in the mind, instead of a temple of missionary knowledge, with its centre court for India, its great side aisles for China and Africa, its porch for America; one transept for Palestine and Persia, and another for Japan and New Zealand, all adorned with statues of famous and devoted missionaries, and enriched with records of their lives and labours.

I do not altogether blame readers and hearers for this lack of knowledge and order. Many of them would gladly read more and to better purpose if they knew how to set about it. I think the GLEANER might help in this matter, if the editor would kindly suggest from time to time suitable books. We have our Shakspeare Societies, our Ruskin Societies, our Browning Societies, pledged to the study of the works of these writers. There are also reading societies, the members of which are bound to read a certain number of hours in the week. Could we not also have a Missionary Reading Society which all renders of the GLEANER might join? I would suggest that three lists of twelve books each should be drawn up, adapted for senior readers (including clergymen, who need this information as much as any one), younger persons, and children; that one set should be mentioned in the GLEANER every three months, and so the "course," like a college course, would last three years. The list should be so selected as to carry the reader in the three years over all the principal mission fields, not excluding notices of other Societies than the C.M.S.

Were this plan adopted, I am sure that our parochial and general missionary meetings would soon show more point, aim, and earnestness, the spiritual progress of all Church work would be quickened, and, what is a point of incalculable importance, a constant supply of attractive and profitable reading for Sundays would be provided, and hours would be devoted to it which are now wasted in idle and unprofitable conversation, or spent in secular reading. To illustrate my plan I shall give an example, taking India as the subject:Senior Readers Middle Readers ...

Junior Readers ...

The Trident, the Crescent, and the Cross. By the
Rev. J. Vaughan. Price 9s. 6d. Longmans.
Life of the Rev. Henry Martyn. New Edition, 5s.
Seeley, Jackson & Halliday.
Far Off. Part II.-Asia. Hatchards.

I have been recommending such a course of reading to Sunday-school teachers in this neighbourhood, and have been endeavouring to increase the circulation of the GLEANER amongst them. I have been trying to secure promises to take the GLEANER, and have secured about 200 readers.

As in other book clubs, to save expense the one set of books could be ordered every three months for each Sunday-school by the Sunday-school teachers who wished to read them. J. T. K.

Birkenhead, October, 1882.

We do not think it is possible to carry out Mr. Kingsmill's plan exactly as he suggests, because the choice of books is a great difficulty. There are plenty of them, but they would not always fit in to the grades of readers proposed. Thus in the case of India, which he gives as an illustration, no book could be better than Mr. Vaughan's Trident, Crescent, and Cross as an introduction to Indian Missions; and for children the chapters in Far Off are of course admirable; but the Life of H. Martyn, although a book which every one should read, would not at all

prepare its readers to understand current reports of missionary work. And as India would not come round again for a year or two, the purpose of the plan would not be attained. But we propose, every three months, as suggested, to take a subject, to recommend two or three books upon it for senior and junior readers, and also to name any others that may also be referred to if accessible. This will enable us to mention some old books which cannot now be purchased, but which are in many parochial and clerical libraries. We can also indicate particular volumes or numbers of the Intelligencer and Gleaner.

We suggest, therefore, as a subject for January, February, and March, "Missions to Mohammedans in Palestine, Persia, Egypt, &c.," which are of such pre-eminent interest to us all just now. No one book for any grade of readers can be specially named; but the following are all valuable in their different ways:— Mission Life in Greece and Palestine. Memorials of Mary Baldwin. By Mrs. Pitman. (With an Appendix on Missions in Palestine generally.) The Daughters of Syria. Seeleys, 1874.

Memorials of Bishop Bowen. Nisbet & Co., 1862.

Far Off Part II. Asia. (For Children.) Hatchards.
Ragged Life in Egypt. By Miss M. L. Whately. Seeleys.
More about Ragged Life in Egypt. By the same. Seeleys.
Christian Researches. By the Rev. W. Jowett. (Published in 1824.)
Narrative of Islam. S.P.C.K.

Notes on Mohammedanism. By Rev. T. P. Hughes.

The Faith of Islam. By the Rev. E. Sell. Trübner & Co. Articles on Missions to Mohammedans, in the C.M. Intelligencer, Jan., 1876; Feb., March, Oct., 1877; Dec., 1881; Jan., 1882.

Canon Tristram's Report on the Palestine Mission, C.M. Intelligencer, Sept., 1881.

Articles on Persia and the Persia Mission, in the C.M. Intelligencer, Nov. and Dec., 1881, and Jan, and Feb., 1882. By the Rev. Dr. R. Bruce. Articles on Missionary Life in Palestine, in the C.M. Gleaner, Jan, to July, 1882. By Miss L. H. H. Tristram.

Damascus and its People. By Mrs. Mackintosh. Seeleys, 1882.

We earnestly pray that it may please God to bless this plan; to multiply the readers of missionary books and periodicals; and to deepen in many hearts a sense of responsibility to send the Gospel to those still lying in darkness and the shadow of death.

MEN'S WORKING PARTIES.
To the Editor.

IR, I think every lady whose heart is in Mission work ought either to have a working party on its behalf, or to be a member of one; but the idea of a men's working party was new to me until last week, when I heard there was a very successful one at Worthing. I mentioned the subject on Sunday evening to my men's Bible-class, and they took it up immediately. I said to the blacksmith, " I fear your work must be done at home; what do you think you could do?" "Oh! I could make tools for the rest." I looked at a former soldier and said, "I daresay you used to work while you were in the army; what can you do? 'I can knit rugs, but I have no cloth now." Oh," said the tailor, "I can give you some strips for that." I said to the baker, "We all know what you can do-you can bake a loaf of bread." "Oh yes, certainly I can do that." I believe all will try to do something.

"Saviour, Thy dying love Thou gavest me,

Nor should I aught withhold, my Lord, from Thee.
In love my soul would bow,

My heart fulfil its vow,

Some offering bring Thee now,

Something for Thee."

S. C. E.

DEAR SIR,-In case none of your subscribers have tried a Men's Working Party for the C.M.S., let me tell you how well the plan is prospering here. A lady who has a Bible-class of married men and lads proposed to them to meet her every Tuesday evening during the winter for two hours' work. They took to the idea at once, and threw all their hearts into it, and are quite as quick in learning as women are. The men knit, net, do wool-work-some are making a hearth-rug of snips of cloth begged from the tailors and friends, who turn out their drawers, and another is doing Macrama lace for a chimney-piece. The idea has been copied by a lady with a similar class in a Bucks village, and I trust this account may encourage other teachers to do the same. Worthing. M. A. B. [This is a happy idea. We trust it will be widely adopted.-ED.]

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EGYPTIAN WOMEN DRAWING WATER.

WHAT EGYPT
WANTS.

"I am come into this world,
that they which see not might
see."-John ix. 39.

"If any man thirst, let him
come unto Me and drink."-
John vii. 37.

GYPT is still in all our
thoughts, as English-
men; and Egypt should
be much in our thoughts as
Christians. We need not apo-
logise, therefore, for again giv-
ing pictures of Egyptian life
a prominent place in the
GLEANER. We do so this
month, and we shall do so
again, with the express object
of reminding our readers that
the Church Missionary Society
has, for reasons explained in
former numbers, re-established
its old Mission at Cairo, and
has opened a Special Fund for
the purpose, to which are invited
thank-offerings for the rapid
and complete success granted to
the British arms in restoring
peace to Egypt.

Our pictures this month are
surely most suggestive. "Egyp-
tian women drawing water"-
do we not at once think of the
woman of Samaria, and of what
Jesus said to her? "Whoso-
ever shall drink of this water
shall thirst again; but whoso-
ever drinketh of the water that
I shall give him shall never
thirst; but the water that I
shall give him shall be in him
a well of water springing up
into everlasting life." Do we
not see at once that what Egypt
wants is a stream nobler and
more beneficent than the Nile
-the river of life-the living
water of Divine Grace?

"Egypt: A Blind Beggar "do we not think of Bartimæus and the other blind beggars of the Gospel ?-remembering that Jesus gave them sight by a word or a touch, not merely that their bodily eyes might see, but that they might be types and figures of the spiritual sight He gives to the blind in heart and understanding. "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light"-that was St. Paul's commission when he was sent to the Gentiles, and that is what we pray the Great Healer to do in Egypt by the instrumentality of our mission

aries.

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