moting "the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa" was fairly organized in both its centres.

An event of such vast interest and significancy, so full of hopeful promise for that wide and uncultivated field of missionary labour, may well be thought to demand something more than a passing notice in a journal dedicated to the great cause of Christian Missions in connexion with the Reformed Church in this land; and we therefore proceed to offer a few remarks, suggested by a project which cannot fail, if carried out as its promoters desire, to mark an era in the missionary history of the English Church.

It would be a subject of sincere congratulation to find the two main bulwarks of the Christian faith in this country combining to originate a strictly missionary work under any circumstances; not only because the fact of their combining for such an object must needs indicate a juster appreciation of the importance of such a work than was formerly entertained within their precincts, and so furnishes satisfactory evidence of a deeper and larger sympathy with evangelical religion,-not in its sectarian, but in its true and proper signification ;-but because this large-hearted spirit of Christian charity, developed simultaneously in the two ancient Universities, cannot fail to react upon themselves in a variety of ways, and to awaken a lively interest in missionary work among those who may, under the teaching of Divine grace and the guidance of God's providence, prove best qualified to aid in the evangelization of the world. If it be true that missionary zeal is ever in proportion to the estimate we entertain of our own spiritual privileges-a maxim which no one will gainsay-then we say that any manifestation of increased zeal in the Universities is matter for devout thankfulness; and if the Colleges in our Universities furnish precisely the material out of which (according to all human calculation, as well as experience) the very ablest missionaries may be expected to be formed, together with such a training as may best serve to develop the mental and bodily faculties most requisite in a missionary, then any project which serves to bring this important subject more prominently before the notice of the students in the Universities, as this Association cannot but do, is so much real gain to the general cause of Missions.

These are some of the incidental advantages which may be expected to result from this combined action of the two Universities; and, if God prosper the undertaking, the direct blessing cannot be too highly estimated: the long-forgotten truths contained in their glorious mottoes may be realized in a sense far beyond any past experience. The "Dominus illuminatio mea" of Oxford will have its legitimate response and necessary consequence in the "Hinc lucem et pocula sacra" of Cam

bridge; until the fervent prayer of good old Fuller for these "two famous luminaries of learning and religion" shall be fulfilled in a wider meaning than he could have anticipated, by their light extending far beyond our own borders, and penetrating even to the interior of the benighted continent of Africa.

There is, too, a special propriety in the selection of the field towards which the combined efforts of our two Universities are being directed. It is, perhaps, somewhat fanciful to connect the centre of the southern portion of that vast continent with its northern sea-border, and assuredly this association of ideas has had nothing to do with giving a direction to the object; but it is at least a pardonable weakness to indulge in the notion of the Church of the nineteenth century taking up the work which, in earlier ages, appeared to be assigned, by the providence of God, to the flourishing Churches which once overspread the north of Africa, from Egypt to beyond the Pillars of Hercules. It is impossible to dissociate Africa from the recollections of Tertullian, "the master;" of his disciple, the blessed martyr, St. Cyprian; and of the greatest Father of the Western Church, to whom, perhaps, the Church of England is more largely indebted than to any other individual teacher for the theological training of her own divines. Nor can it be wrong to acknowledge a debt of gratitude due to that continent for its ancient services to the Church of Christ, and to desire to avenge the ravages which the powers of darkness have committed along the coast, by reprisals in the heart of the country. And who can tell whether a slip of that noble vine, wholly a right seed,-which once flourished in such wild luxuriance in Mauretania, Numidia, and Lybia,until it was first wasted by the heretical Vandals, and then devoured by the fanatical Saracens,-being planted on the banks of the Zambesi, may again take root downward and bear fruit upward, and send out "her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river," northward to the Mediterranean, eastward to the Indian Ocean, westward toward the Atlantic; there to be met by the tide of Christian civilization flowing in from the European settlements scattered at intervals along the coast? And, if such anticipations should appear extravagant, prompted rather by enthusiasm than by sober reason, let the success which has attended the attempts to propagate the religion of the Koran in the interior of Northern Africa, and the wide ramifications of the accursed slave-trade throughout that continent, reprove our languid faith; for what Christian can suppose that Satan's kingdom is to prove more powerful than His, to whom the heathen have been given for His inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for His possession? We do not underrate the difficulties which have been already surmounted by the Christian zeal and enterprise of one devoted

man, when we regard his success as an earnest of future triumphs of the Cross to be achieved in Africa, when the Church at home is fairly awakened to its duty in this respect: his simple faith in the promises of the Gospel, when Sechele, the chief of the Bakwains, defied him to carry the Gospel across the Ka-lahari desert, so marvellously rewarded, a few years later, when that very chief assisted him to cross it, and aided him to preach Christ in regions beyond, is a pattern worthy of all imitation in the inauguration of such a work as that which the two Universities are jointly undertaking; and the best human method of securing large results is to aim at them and expect them.

Nothing can be more promising than the circumstances under which the scheme has been started, and the progress which it has thus far made. The direct appeal made by Dr. Livingstone to the Universities, not to allow the door which he had been instrumental in opening to become closed to the influences of civilization and Christianity, has been well responded to, in no spirit of sectarian rivalry, from which he was so entirely exempt. The continent of Africa, even that part of it explored by Dr. Livingstone, presents a sphere amply large enough for the Christian energies of all existing Missionary Societies, and the two Committees have done wisely to lay it down as a principle of action, that "the field of labour shall be selected so as not to interfere with existing missionary operations." Dr. Livingstone himself is to be consulted concerning the most hopeful field for this enterprise; and the Bishop of Capetown, who has thrown himself into the project with his accustomed liberality, has already written to him on the subject. Meanwhile, the two Committees will be actively engaged in settling the details of the scheme, in raising funds for the outfit and maintenance of a Bishop and six associates, and in finding duly qualified men for missionaries; for it is justly considered an indispensable condition of a Mission organized by the Universities, that it should be complete in all its parts-a model Mission, framed after the pattern of the early Church. A meeting is to be held at Oxford on the 17th of this month, and another at Cambridge in the course of the term, for the purpose of making the objects of the Association more widely known. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, we cannot doubt, will co-operate to the utmost of its ability; and may God grant that this "handful of corn," planted in the soil of Africa, may yield a blessed and abundant harvest.1

1 We have received from a B. A. of Dublin a suggestion that his University also should be invi'ed to co-operate in the scheme; a suggestion which, we cannot doubt, will be favourably considered by the Oxford and Cambridge Committees NO. CXLIII.

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178

Correspondence, Documents, &c.

MEMORIAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.

To the Right Hon. LORD STANLEY, Secretary of State for India. THE Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, having been long engaged in efforts for the education and conversion of her Majesty's heathen and Mahometan subjects in the East Indies, think themselves called upon at the present crisis to submit to your Lordship their views on the principles and policy which in their judgment ought to be maintained by the Imperial Government, in relation to education and Christianity in India.

They conceive,

1. That toleration-the most full and absolute—of all religions, and of all religious teachers, should be maintained, without regard to creed or caste.

2. That the profession of Christianity by natives should not operate as an objection to their employment in the public service.

3. That no public servant should ever hereafter be restrained from helping forward, in his private capacity, the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian faith, either by pecuniary contributions or personal exertions.

4. That caste is one of the greatest obstacles to all improvement in the character of the people, while it operates as a system of cruel bondage and oppression to the humbler classes; and that while the Government should, therefore, be most careful in future to do nothing which can add strength to the system, special care should be taken that the institution of caste be not allowed to interfere with the equal administration of justice.

5. That considering how much the native officials have it in their power to oppress and persecute Christian converts, it should be made quite clear by the Government that any such persecution or oppression will not go unpunished.

6. That parts of her Majesty's gracious proclamation having created misconceptions in the native mind, both with respect to the freedom conceded to individual Christians, whether European or native, of recommending and propagating their own religious doctrines, and also as to the equal right of every class and order of her Majesty's native subjects to hold and follow their own tenets and practices, without molestation or interference, her Majesty's Government should take the necessary steps to remove such erroneous impressions.

7. That a liberal secular education should be provided for the children of the natives; and that means and opportunities of hearing and reading the Word of God should be furnished, as far as may be, to all who may be willing to avail themselves thereof.

8. That the system adopted by the Government in the year 1854, of making grants in aid to all schools, without distinction, which come

up to a certain prescribed standard of merit and efficiency, offers the most valuable encouragement to native education, and should be steadfastly maintained.

9. That, although it is a duty acknowledged by the Government, to make adequate provision for the spiritual wants of their European servants, the members of the Church of England are in many stations destitute of the means of grace and of the ordinances of their Church; and the Society, therefore, respectfully submit to her Majesty's Government the obligation which rests upon them of extending the ecclesiastical establishment, by the endowment of additional bishoprics, and the appointment of more chaplains in India.

MISSIONARY UNION OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

DEAR SIR,-Having, in your March number, given favourable insertion to the Rules of the proposed "Missionary Union of St. Augustine," and the Address appended to it, you will allow me, I hope, to make some further observations relative to the subject. I will not pretend to be very systematic, yet I will endeavour to arrange what I have to say about the proposal under the following heads-1st, Its occasion; 2d, Its principles; 3d, Its details.

To begin with St. Augustine's itself. One of the observations made to me, on my first entrance within the college walls, was, "The college has no one to work for it, or to take up its cause in the country; that is no one's business." And so I soon found it. Ignorance of our existence, indifference to our interests, misconceptions of our system, disappointment, suspicion, and (I must add) some slander,-these, on the one hand, were our portion; and what Christian man or Christian college would complain of it? On the other hand, there have been given us, just admiration of the munificence of our first foundation, high predictions of its future expansion, encouraging words, abundance of kind wishes, and a generous confidence in our government of the college. One thing we had not; and that was co-operation. How could we create a body of fellow-labourers throughout the country? This question, often present to my mind, was as often postponed, from the difficulty of solving it. A list of honorary names in the pages of our calendar (like that at Durham, only without degrees) would have been a barren measure, both to others and to ourselves. Missionary Societies had their own proper functions, which engaged all the time and energies of their agents. Isolated exertions of friendly persons soon failed, and yielded little fruit. At length the excellent plan of Mr. Hayne (then) of Barnstaple supplied the true method of doing anything for us effectually: a "Missionary Studentships' Association" was a body of men engaged, in combination, to seek out missionary candidates, as well as to collect funds where necessary, for their maintenance in a missionary college. Other associations, subsequently formed after a similar model, proved by their fruits the excellence and value of its principle; and led, by their increasing numbers, to the proximate occasion of the "Missionary