sion; Dr. Buchanan urges the last charge of our Lord to his apostles, "Go ye, and teach all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." But our Lord not only enjoined this as a duty, but he has clearly predicted its fulfilment. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all, for a witness to all nations."

From this prediction of Christ, from his positive injunction, and from the example of the apostolic church, we deduce satisfactory evidence of the truth of the following proposition: "It is the duty of a Christian nation to propagate Christianity as long as any nation shall be found upon earth which is ignorant of it."-P. 7.

Dr. Buchanan well observes, that the church of Rome obeyed but one part of the above injunction of our Lord: she " baptised," indeed, "the nations in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" but she did not "teach them to observe all things whatsoever Christ had commanded." She taught Christianity without the Bible.

But while we studiously shun her example in this respect, we shall do well to emulate it in another. The zeal and labour of the "Congregation and College de Propaganda Fide" in their numerous missionaries, their foreign seminaries, and their versions and illustrations of the sacred writings, are noble patterns of imitation to the protestants of the present time. That Great Britain is called to this high office, he infers from the purity of her church, the just maxims of her government, her literary pre-eminence, her multiplied connexions with the heathen world. That the time is auspicious, he infers from the distraction and dismay which the French revolution, and the consequent convulsion of Europe, has spread amongst the professors of the Romish faith. That mighty earthquake seems to have desolated the globe only to facilitate the erection of a grander temple, in which all mankind may join in the worship of the true God. The voice of the times, so clearly heard in the institution of Bible and missionary societies, seems to call to and cheer us in the labour. By neglect or opposition to this holy cause, in the solemn day of account, may we not be found to have fought against God?"

The means of extending Christianity, Dr. Buchanan considers as threefold: 1. To send missionaries: 2. To translate the Scriptures into new languages, and to print new editions in the languages already translated: and 3. To extend the national church. There are three missionary institutions in this country

VOL. IV. NO. VIII.

F F

supported by the voluntary contributions of members of the establishment.

1. The "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," incorporated by King William's charter in 1701. The labours of this society are almost exclusively directed to the British plantations in America. It has now in its lists forty-four missionaries, and forty catechists and schoolmasters in the colonies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Canada.

2. The "Society for promoting Christian Knowledge" was established in the year 1698. The foreign objects of this society are wholly in the East. Its missionaries are only Danish or German Lutherans. The state of the continent has reduced the number of missionaries to four Europeans, five native priests, and four native catechists in their establishment in Hindostan.

3. The "Church Missionary Society" is also a voluntary society, and was established in the first year of the present century. Its objects are the heathen world at large, but its labours have been chiefly directed to Africa. At this time eight Lutheran ministers, five lay settlers, five English students, and about one hundred and twenty African children, are dependent on its funds.

a

The actual state of existing missions of the British dominions will be seen from the following table.

Though from this table the number of missionaries supported by the dissenters appears to be double that of those which are

supported by the church, yet we are not to forget that the labours of the venerable society for "Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts," and for "Promoting Christian Knowledge," have been continued through considerably more than a century: their zeal, therefore, is of a more ascertained character than the incipient zeal of a new society. Neither, in justice, ought it to be forgotten, that to the institution of Sunday schools, and the improved method of education, which originated with the church, is to be traced that energy which establishments of this character at present display.

There is an obstacle to the supply of our settlements with missionaries ordained in this country, which Dr. Buchanan thinks can hardly be effectually removed but by the interference of the legislature.

6

"Our church would gladly supply its foreign missions with a sufficient number of proper instruments; that is, with ordained ministers from England; but hitherto the following difficulty has stood in the way. A person receiving ordination as a missionary may choose to alter his mind, and, instead of encountering the peril of foreign climes, seek preferment at home. To obviate this difficulty in time to come, it is humbly suggested that Parliament pass an Act, declaring, That no person, receiving ordination expressly as a missionary, should be eligible to any benefice or cure of souls in England or Ireland; unless, afterward, specially licensed thereto.' Such an Act would be perfectly just in its principle, in regard to the persons to whom it would refer: it could not possibly be attended with inconvenience to the church at home: and it would be of incalculable benefit to the interests of religion throughout the world. Under the operation of such an Act, any number of respectable missionaries, properly qualified by piety and competent learning for their peculiar work, and not inferior, in any respect, to the Lutheran ministers whom the church societies now employ, might be speedily obtained from among the members of the church *.”

To our universities, which are the universities of the whole

* An Act of Parliament was passed, in the 24th year of his Majesty (1784), the direct object of which was the extension of our church throughout the world, in countries not belonging to Britain. By this Act, "the Bishop of London for the time being, or any other bishop by him to be appointed," was empowered to "admit to the order of deacon or priest, persons being subjects or citizens of countries out of his Majesty's dominions, without requiring them to take the oath of allegiance;" provided always, "that no person, so ordained, should be thereby enabled to exercise the office of deacon or priest within his Majesty's dominions."

This Act opens easy access to our church into every country. Why its ope ration has been hitherto confined to America, we cannot tell.

British empire, Dr. Buchanan observes, properly belongs the office of making accurate translations, and printing new editions of the sacred volume. At present they seem to have abdicated the trust which the constitution reposes in them, in favour of private individuals whose casual piety and learning may engage them to undertake it. We trust, however, they will shortly resume the task, and add to that celebrity to which their former labours, in this respect, have so justly entitled them.

“Britain has, in particular, a long arrear of duty to discharge to her native subjects in the western hemisphere. To this day we have not offered a translation of the Holy Scriptures to our faithful Indians in Canada, or to our slaves in the West Indies; although both look up to us with a veneration due only to superior beings, and would receive with humility whatever instruction it might please us to impart. And yet, what is the obstacle which prevents our offering them the inestimable gift? There is none. It is only necessary that his majesty's government should express their will, and translations would be prepared in a very short time. We ought to consider, that, until the Bible be translated into the vernacular language of a people, there can be no tracts circulated among that people, inculcating moral duties on Christian principles. Whereas the translation of the Bible becomes, in various ways, a fountain of instruction. Let the parables of the gospels alone be distributed among a barbarous people, and they will arrest their attention in a degree in which the fables of their own superstition never could, Where Christian preachers do not abound, tracts, containing extracts of Scripture, or rather " portions of Scripture, with a few words of explanation," are the obvious and legitimate means of instructing the people. But chiefly in our ample dominions in the East is an extensive field opened for the translation of the Scriptures. In continental Asia, and in our insular possessions, there are languages of which as yet we scarcely know more than the names. But Providence hath so ordered it, that at this day, almost every people, in this part of the world, can read and write, (which was not the case in the first ages of the church,) as if to prepare them to receive the instructions of Christianity."

The cause of Christianity cannot be better served than by the extension of the national church: For this purpose episcopal superintendance will be essential to ordain natives on the spot; to dispense the ordinance of confirmation; to direct the labours of the missionaries; to form and regulate the growing church; and finally, to preserve as much as may be the unity of religion within our dominions.

If there is to be an effective church at all in India, there must be a facility of ordination: without this inherent power of recruit

any

"To come,

and restoration establishment must languish. for instance, from India for ordination, and to return again, would consume one whole year of a man's life, and perhaps the best part of his property." It would be quite anomalous to adopt one system of church government in our colonies, and another in the mother country; besides its contradicting the belief we profess, as members of the establishment, that episcopacy is the kind of hierarchy established by the founders of our faith. Our church does not, indeed, agree with Rome in considering confirmation as a sacrament, but it agrees with Luther and Calvin in considering it as an institution which ought to be retained, as being in undoubted conformity to primitive use, and a most salutary ordinance, administered at that most critical and impressible period of life, which poets and philosophers unite in representing as big with our future destiny. It is then that the young Christians vow to go forth " as soldiers of Jesus Christ, to fight under his banner against the world, the flesh, and the devil. This sacred rite," says Dr. Buchanan, "is utterly unknown in our foreign dominions, and appears to be renounced by the church, as being an observance of slight import, compared with the trouble of appointing a person to administer it."

The chief objection which has perhaps operated against a colonial church establishment is its expense, and the increase of influence it may give to the administration. But to this Dr. Buchanan observes, that the episcopal dignity in the colonies may be made more conformable to the primitive pattern. "The church of Rome manifested a wisdom in this respect (derived from early ages) which is worthy of our imitation. Though her bishops at home (in Europe) were possessed of great temporalities, her bishops abroad were ordained generally on a very slender endowment. They were exhorted to look for further aid to the sanctity of personal character, and to its effects on the minds of the people among whom they exercised their spiritual office."

The establishment which he proposes is as follows:

That there should be bishops at the seven following stations. 1. The West Indies.

2. Bengal; or, North Hindostan.

3. Madras; or, South and East Hindostan.

4. Bombay; or, West Hindostan.

5. Ceylon; the Insular Diocese, including Java, &c.

6. South Africa.

7. New South Wales.

An archdeacon, or representative of the church, with a suitable clergy, at