Christ, it will be better than all the riches of the world. This is what my heart most wishes; therefore I expressly write this letter to you; should you be pleased to employ me in Christ, there is no labour which I will refuse; if I shall find favour in your sight, give me an answer, in order to console my thirsty desires. At present, I learn Hebrew, Greek, and English literatures at the feet of Mr. Legge. “I am, yours in the love of Christ, CHIN SEEN." The following encouraging communication has also been recently received from the Rev. James Legge : "Amidst all the difficulties which I have had to encounter since my arrival in this place, I am cheered by the confidence that both the Mission and the College are becoming decidedly more efficient. On the first Sabbath of this month I administered the Lord's supper. It was with no common feelings I presented to them the emblems of our Saviour's dying love. At such a time only may one realise the glory of the Gospel, the wide scheme of mercy, worthy of the "blessed God," adapted to every kindred, and people, and tongue, and clime. Others are seeking admission into the Church, and will I trust, soon be received. Chin-Seen is going on most hopefully. So is also a cripple baptized by Mr. Kidd: he is eminently enlightened in the truth; and, I might add, a Chinaman baptized three years ago. with. "I hardly venture to tell you that one man has applied to me for baptism, who attributes his full enlightenment in the truth, and decision for God, to my ministry. After Chin-Seen, he is decidedly the most intelligent Chinaman I have yet met Ten years ago he heard something of the Gospel in Malacca, but went away and forgot all about it, till he heard it again last year. When I met him first, he had the precise belief of a quiet Unitarian. The doctrine of the cross he could not receive; it was foolishness unto him. I was delighted with his acuteness in argument, and went often to his house for an hour to converse with him. Now he declares that he distinctly perceives and cordially embraces the message of reconciliation, and wishes to confess Jesus Christ before men. Oh that he may prove indeed a seal to my labours, the first-fruits of a large harvest that God may honour me to gather in, in this land of darkness and of the shadow of death. THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. ITS TITLE. "But I cannot, with your permission, withhold a few remarks respecting the general character, purpose, and principle of this institution. The very name it bears, seems to me to denote the purpose, and to bespeak the pretension which it puts forth. The London Missionary Society! Here you have the locality and the object, this ancient and immense capital, the central seat of wealth and commerce, the head and heart of the empire. But I wish you to invest it with a yet higher and brighter title. London may pass to and fro upon its wharfs and through its warehouses the produce of the world; it may have piled in its marts, or crowded in its harbours, more than all the merchandise of Tyre, and all the fleets of Carthage; but I want you to make it circulate through the world, across every sea, and along every shore, that treasure of greater price which Tyre never knew, and which Carthage would not retain. What then is the object which appeals to the wealth of this metropolis; and through this metropolis to every corner and every congregation of our land? It is to the Missionary cause that the existence and exertions of this Institution are pledged and dedicated; and I ask whether this is not pre-eminently the cause of our age, of our country, of the faith which we profess, and of the Master whom we serve? Checks, discouragements, hardships, failures, for a time, there may be-there will be-there must be. Small beginnings, inadequate preludes, long, long twilight of the day-spring yet hid behind the mountains, there must be; such is the law and the condition of the religion of the manger and the cross. But miracles of healing will accompany the toilsome course of the devoted Missionary, and awakenings from the dead will attest his heavenly work. He is a soldier of that standard which must go forth to conquer-he is a herald of the triumph against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. And it may be again, as it has but too lately been, that the testimony will require even the seal of blood. But I venture to ask you whether, among the many who remain, there are not few indeed who feel deterred even by the fate of your slaughtered agent, Mr Williams. You have recognized in the untimely and bloody end of that devoted servant, the truth, the depth, the earnestness of those feelings and energies which your undertaking calls forth, and you remember that, in the very first days of the Church, it was not till after the martyrdom of Stephen, that it hailed the conversion of Saul."-Lord Morpeth at Anniversary. ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE PAST."There are persons who think little of the advancement of the world to this state, and it is only those who can compare the two states who can duly estimate the value and importance of the change. We are now ready to say, the worst is over, the way clear, the future comparatively easy, and we have nothing to do but steadily to prose. cute our labours. In this I find a sufficient answer to those who taunt us with the question, "What have you done?" Done! we have not done. We have been making preparation for doing. We have been levelling mountains, filling up valleys, mak. ing crooked things strait, and rough places smooth, to prepare in the desert a high way for our God. The preparation is effected -the way is made-the chariot of the Gospel is going forth in every direction through the length and breadth of the heathen world, and the Saviour is going forth in it to proclaim salvation to the nations, to claim the fulfilment of the promise which his Almighty Father made to him when he gave the hea. then for his inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, and to say to the nations, "Behold your God." If we had done nothing more than this, I for one would rejoice, and I do rejoice in the preparation thus made. But the actual results of the labours of our missionaries, as you have heard this day, are such as to deserve the most grateful acknowledge. ments, and to warrant the most sanguine anticipations. Some instalments of the grant have been already paid; some parts of the heathen have been won by the missionaries to the faith of Christ in all lands. There is scarcely a tribe but has lent some warriors to the standard of the Son of Jesse. We see the groups of converts in all directions-sound in Christian knowledge and practice-setting even to us an example in the simplicity of their worship, and the devotedness of their hearts and lives. We see their children around them being trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We see native teachers rising up amongst them, and going forth with all the ardour of new converts, and yet with all the steadfastness and fortitude of veterans. We see these groups in Africa, in the West Indies, in the teeming islands of the Southern Seas, in the East, and in the far North. These spectacles greet our eyes wherever we turn our view. And is this a state of things from which we are to go back? Are men who have been brought out of the ignorance of heathenism to the knowledge of the true God to go back again to darkness? Are women who have been elevated by Christianity to the rights of their sex to go back again to deg. radation? Are slaves released from their fetters, and partaking of the freedom of the Gospel of Christ to go back again to their chains? Go back! Is the sun to go back! Who does not see in this state of things the promise and the pledge of continuance and advance even to the consummation? As Noah, when he sat upon Mount Ararat with the divine promise of the subsidence of the waters, saw the top of one green mountain appearing after another, could not doubt but that he should see the whole earth again vivid with the beams of the sun, and blossoming with fertility greater than before the flood: so we, looking at these spots of moral beauty and cultivation, with the divine promise on our side, cannot doubt that there will be a universal spread of fertility in knowledge and in piety. I shall not suspend my joy to the consummation. As I can fetch matter for joy out of the past by faith in the page of history, so I would find matter for joy in the future by faith in the page of prophecy, now confirmed by actual appearances. I know there may be much labour to be performed, much tribulation to be undergone, some dark days and conflicting scenes to be passed through, but let those who are of a more melancholy temperament dwell upon them, let them go and linger amid the war trumpets, and vials, and plagues of the Apocalypse, I shall encourage my hopes by listening to the silvery sounds of that trumpet which seems now to be floating on the distant breeze, Hallelujah, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnip. otent reigneth. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”—Rev. Dr. Leifchild at Ditto. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.-" There is one thing which I beg to mention in this connexion. The operations of this Society have all been the effect of the voluntary principle. This is the principle you must inculcate on your converts abroad. You must teach them this diligently, that as they have freely received, they must freely give.' They must maintain the means among themselves, and send those means to others; without that the work cannot go on. We may begin it, and we ought to begin it; but they must carry it on, and they must be taught to do so. In the West Indies, however, they do not seem to want teaching. A congregation of 800 persons, some of them receiving assistance, and all of them field labourers on the lowest wages, have raised, during the last year, 8001., besides supporting Sunday schools and day-schools, and the preaching of the Gospel on twelve plantations, to upwards of 3000 negroes. Methinks they might come and teach us." Ditto, at Ditto. OUR excellent friend Mr. Hobbs was ordained over the Church assembling in Water-lane, Berkhampstead, on Thursday, December 2nd, 1803, with pleasing prospects of usefulness. This solemn service was held in the meeting-house at Chesham, on which occasion Mr. Paul, minister of lady Huntingdon's chapel, Berkhampstead, commenced the morning service by reading and prayer; Mr. Morris, of Amersham, prayed; Mr. Dan Taylor delivered an introductory discourse, proposed suitable questions to the Church, to Mr. Hobbs, and to four deacons, who were then ordained, after which Mr. Taylor gave a charge to the minister, founded on Acts xx. 28, and concluded with prayer. In the afternoon Mr. Surman, minister of the Independent chapel, Chesham, began with prayer, and Mr. Taylor delivered a charge to the deacons from 1 Peter iv. 11, and concluded with prayer. In the evening Mr. Perkins, of Amersham, prayed, and Mr. Taylor preached to the Church from 1 Thes. v. 13, and concluded the solemn work of the day with prayer. Upon this interesting service Mr. Hobbs remarks in his journal, "It was truly a day of great solemnity: I found it peculiarly so when requested to give an account of my removal from Chatham : it almost overpowered my feelings. Lord provide for that little flock." From the manner in which our friend in several parts of his journal refers to his leaving his charge at Chatham, it is plain that the separation was to him a very heavy trial. He was in the habit of making a particular record of his birth-day, and of the beginning and close of every year, together with the feelings of his mind on those occasions, on one of which he writes as follows," This day I have attained the age of forty-three years. I have to lament that so small a portion of my life has been employed for God. Lord enable me to walk more circumspectly, redeeming the time that remains to the best purposes. Surely I have cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies I am not consumed. O how great is thy goodness, O Lord, in preserving me from outward backsliding, and bringing a reproach on thy cause. Hold thou me up and I shall be safe, for without thee I can do nothing." In the new sphere of labour to which he was now called his ministerial and pastoral services soon became increasingly acceptable and useful, whilst he gained fast upon the affections of his people, and upon unfeigned respect of persons of every class who became acquainted with his VOL. 1.-N. S 2 P the worth. Very rarely can it be said of any man, with greater truth, that he was "ready to every good work;" and few men have enjoyed a larger share of general esteem. Shortly after his removal to Berkhampstead he proposed a plan to his worthy colleagues of preaching a sermon at their monthly Church meetings, each in his turn, with a view to instruct their members and others in the nature and importance of Church fellowship, the duties of Church members, &c., and after the service to point out to each other in a friendly way any impropriety which might appear in matter or manner, to which they mutually agreed. It appears that in consequence of our friend's very limited income, and his having an increasing family, he was under the necessity of keeping a day and evening school; the former of these, however, although it was making a considerable temporal sacrifice, he cheerfully gave up that he might have more time for reading and study, and visiting his people. To this step he was led chiefly by reading Baxter's Reformed Pastor. In August, 1806, he was summoned to London in consequence of the dangerous illness of his sister, for whom he cherished the most tender regard. Referring some time afterwards to her dying experience, which it seems was particularly interesting, he remarks, "Her subsequent experience and sufferings are recorded in my diary: the remembrance of what I was an eye and ear witness of so affects me, that I must forbear to transcribe it." For some time before he could accomplish the object to his mind, he had a great desire to establish a Sabbath-school in his meeting-house; this, however, was done on June 24th, 1810, when seventy-three children were admitted for instruction. In the welfare of these lambs of his flock he felt a deep interest, (as he did in that of his young people generally,) and would often appear among them, and give them a word of seasonable exhortation. The writer of this part of the memoir well remembers with strong emotions of gratitude for his great kindness, and ardent love for his memory, how that he, whom he had the honour to call his father in the faith, affectionately took him by the hand when an ignorant lad, and on the brink of ruin, and guided him to the cross of Christ; and he feels that by his death he has lost his best earthly friend and adviser. The school thus formed, as stated above, has been much blest by God, it having proved an important nursery to the Church late under the care of our lamented friend: many of its scholars have received their first permanent religious impressions in the school, and are now consistent and useful members of the Church of Christ, whilst others are gone to join the redeemed in glory. Mr. Hobbs was always fond of village preaching, and was frequently engaged in that exercise in the villages in his neighbourhood. On January 9th, 1811, he commenced preaching in a house at Fritherden, about two miles from Berkhampstead, which has been continued ever since, on a Sabbath evening, by Mr. Hobbs, and his friends here. A Sabbath-school also has for some years been established, and a commodius place of worship erected, by the indefatigable exertions of our friend, and which was opened October 6th, 1835. On October 21st, 1812, he had the pleasure of witnessing the formation of a Bible Society in his own house, which originated chiefly with himself, and his friend the late Rev. Legh Richmond, and which is called the Tring and Berkhampstead branch, it being an auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Of this our friend became a most devoted Secretary, and so continued as long as he was able to attend to business. Few men have felt a greater interest in the Bible Society than he did. He was Secretary also to several other religious and benevolent institutions. In the month of September, 1818, he was called to experience a double bereavement, in the death of his mother, and one of his daughters, which he bore with the resignation becoming a christian, being supported with an unshaken belief that his loss was their gain. His happiness in his own domestic circle was great, whilst his natural cheerfulness and sweetness of disposition endeared him to all the branches of his family. He was deeply sensible of God's goodness to him in his beloved children, and has often expressed the same in his conversation, and devotional exercises at the family altar. On the evening that he baptized his youngest daughter he thus records his feelings, "What shall I render to the Lord for his great mercy to me and mine? How highly am I favoured to see my six daughters all follow their Saviour, I trust from a principle of holy love." As his days and infirmities increased, the Lord appeared to increase his usefulness and happiness. During the last few years of his ministry his success was greater than it had been in former years. It became necessary to build a school-room over the vestry for the Sabbath-school children, that there might be more accommodation for the people in the meeting-house, which, being found insufficient, the meeting-house itself was considerably enlarged, the completion of which Mr. Hobbs lived to see. In March, 1834, he was heavily afflicted with an inflammation on the lungs, accompanied by a general weakness of the whole system, which was brought on by anxiety, and much exertion. His medical attendants pronounced his case at this time highly dangerous; but special prayer was offered for him to the Great Head of the Church by his own congregation, and other christian friends in the town, and the Lord was pleased to rebuke the disorder. During this affliction, which lasted some weeks, his mind was fully resigned to the will of God, and he enjoyed tokens of his favour. It is due to the Rev. Mr. Hodge, the worthy pastor of the Independent Church at Berkhampstead, to say, that as on all occasions, so in this affliction in particular, he acted the part of a christian brother towards our friend, who repeatedly mentioned it to the writer with feelings of the warmest gratitude. Mr. Hobbs was a great reader; the loss of his sight, therefore, (which calamity commenced by the formation of a cataract several years before his death,) must have been to him a heavy trial; and yet his pleasant cheerfulness continued to a surprising degree. His last illness, which was but of a few days duration, was occasioned by his attending at the opening of a small place of worship at Northchurch. The morning was wet. Mr. Hobbs walked to the place, and sat in his wet clothes. When walking home in the evening he was very cheerful, and remarked, that he "never enjoyed a day more in his life.' On going to bed he complained of feeling chilly: the next morning he was worse. His medical attendant was called in, who pronounced his case very dangerous, it being a violent inflammation in the chest; and although every means was used, he sunk fast under the disease, but was fully resigned to the will of God. When asked if he felt any anxiety respecting his family, he replied, "None at all: I believe that that God who has never left me will take care of them." He expressed his fears lest his beloved partner in life (to whom he had been very happily united for nearly half a century) should become too much |