arms of England within one hundred years from the present time. The vast Australian regions have been acquired by discovery within that period, and the Cape of Good Hope has been obtained within the present century. At the time during which God was giving us these regions, a vast unexampled increase took place in the population of our own country. From 1700 to 1800 we did not increase above 2,000,000; but from 1800 to the present time, we have increased not less than 11,000,000. Connected with this, there has been a long period of peace and great want of employment. These ardent persons who in time of war are occupied in military pursuits, in peace have no scope for their energy. These colonies, however, draw off the surplus multitudes of the people; and God is doing with us, as he said, through Zechariah, he would do with the Jews: "I will hiss for them and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased. And I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember me in far countries." Colonization has often consisted in the migration of barbarous tribes from one region to another, carrying with them none of the arts of life, none of the advantages of civilization. Now, our people go highly civilized and intelligent, and possessed of the Christian religion, as we think, in its purest form. We must not, however, forget that civilized colonists carry with them the vices of civilization. It behoves, therefore, the Christian part of the public to leaven colonization with Christian principle, and, as the people spread, to spread the Holy Gospel with them. With regard to South Australia, the first and chief town of which is Adelaide, it has some eminent advantages. It is not quite twelve years since the first settlers landed on its shore; and by the time Mr. Strongman arrives, there will probably be a population of 40,000. It is now increasing at the rate of about 5,000 per annum. It is an exceedingly salubrious and beautiful region. What Moses said of Canaan is the best description that can be given of South Australia: "The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil, olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness-thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." The water in South Australia is not so abundant as it is here described; but the various ores are more so, and the only danger is that of the people getting too rich. There are some peculiar advantages about this colony. There never was a negro slave there; it has never been a convict colony; and there has never been any war with the native tribes. It was founded very much upon the voluntary introduction and support of religion; but that principle has recently been invaded. A very large majority of the people themselves repudiated any taxation for the purposes of religion; but their voices have been overborne by the Governor of the colony, sustained by the supreme Government in this country. Its extent is considerably larger than that of Great Britain. Eleven years ago we sent forth Mr. Stone, who has now a church with 200 members. Mr. Strongman did not

present himself to us as a candidate; but the Committee were looking out for a suitable brother, and we were guided-as we hope, by the providence of God-to make a proposal to him, to which he has seen it his duty to respond. I wish that our Christian colonists went out in considerable numbers. A body of Germans, amounting to 220, have just embarked, taking with them their minister and schoolmaster; and amongst them are persons of different trades, some of whom are capitalists. It is astonishing to me that we do not go banded in that manner. There are two places principally to which we recommend our brother. We do not appoint him, and say, "You are to settle here;" and to the people, "This is your minister." We send out our brother, leaving it to himself and to the people to say over which of the two vacant places he shall settle.

I regret to say that our friend, Dr. Campbell, who was to have addressed Mr. Strongman, and who would have done it with such warmth, wisdom, and vigour, is, from indisposition, which, we trust, will prove but temporary, unable to fulfil his engagement. It therefore devolves upon me to say a few words to our brother. I assure you, Mr. Strongman, that you go forth with the confidence of our brethren. We confide in you, that you will watch unto prayer; that you will maintain an irreproachable character; that you will preach the glorious Gospel of the blessed God; that you will maintain all our ecclesiastical views of religious liberty and purity of discipline in the church of God; that you will give your time and energy to this work; and that you will devote yourself to it with the most hearty consecration. We believe that of you, and therefore send you forth with no kind of misgiving whatever; you have a place in our hearts. While you are in Australia, you may believe that you still stand connected with your British brethren by the ties of strong regard. You will not want our prayers, both when you are on the deep and when you reach that land. We shall pray that you may be blessed and receive a blessing. We shall open and read your letters (and print portions of them) with deep interest. I doubt not many present, when they receive the CHRISTIAN WITNESS, will turn to the colonial proceedings, to see if there are any tidings of Mr. Strongman-how he labours, and how he prospers. Let me advise you, while on your voyage, to be studious and prayerful. When you arrive do the work of an evangelist-attend to the young, promote the distribution of Bibles and tracts, and the work of education. Lift up an honest voice in that country in favour of liberty against every form of superstition and bondage in the church of God. We hope you will be regarded as one of the founders of the colony; and that future generations will look back to Mr. Stone and Mr. Strongman as the fathers of the Congregational churches in that land.

The Rev. J. WOODWARK then offered an appropriate valedictory prayer; and, after singing,

The Rev. J. M. STRONGMAN, in responding to Mr. Wells's address, said: The place in which we are assembled is the one in which I first drew my spiritual breath. All who have heard the statements made to-night must be conscious of the importance of the work I am about to undertake. Nothing but a conviction that God

was leading me in the path of duty, could have induced me to separate from a devoted and attached people, from whom I, last Monday night, received a token of their affection and esteem. I am sustained by the thought, that there are large and growing spheres of usefulness in the far-distant country to which I am going. I am persuaded that I shall have your sympathies and prayers. The Australian colonies will eventually be the means of spreading the Gospel of Christ through the vast continents of India and China. I feel that I am, in some measure, connected with our Puritan forefathers, who left this country 200 years ago, and landed at New Plymouth; and when I think of what was accomplished by their instrumentality, I am encouraged by the hope, that God will bless me and make me a blessing. The people amongst whom I have been labouring for four years, have been acquainted with all the steps that have led to the meeting of this evening. As soon as I received the letter of Mr. Wells, I laid it before one of my deacons, and sought his advice and counsel upon it. I determined that I would not resolve anything in my own mind, but commend the whole subject to God in prayer. I sought more information, and laid that before two or three of the deacons. They saw that there were openings for increased usefulness, and said that it would not be proper for them to retain me amongst them. I again commended the subject to God, and took counsel from the older brethren in the association, who advised me to respond to the appeal of the secretary. The result is, that I am now about to go forth to preach the tidings of redeeming mercy in Australia. Most of you know the great ecclesiastical principles I hold. I go forth a lover of the Voluntary principle, independent of all Government influence and control, and doubt not that I shall be sustained by the prayers and the liberality of that people to whom I minister the words of eternal life. Conscious of my own weakness, I would again ask an interest in your supplications, that God would pour down his Spirit to water the seed which I scatter. I trust that, as you hear in the CHRISTIAN WITNESS of what I am endeavouring to accomplish, you will feel it your duty to send up a devout aspiration to God, that he would hasten that period when the whole earth shall be filled with his glory. Another hymn having been sung,

The Rev. T. BINNEY spoke to the following effect: The special and more important business for which we assembled this evening is now concluded. The service, properly so called, which brought us together is now over, and I have only to close by saying two or three words, commending to your affection, and prayer, and support, that Society in connection with which our friend and brother is going forth. I have had my mind stirred up by Mr. Wells' observations. They called forth old recollections, for I was greatly mixed up with some of those that originated the colony of South Australia, and was privy to the steps that were taken in conjunction with the Government at that time, and the principles upon which they wanted and did proceed. I endeavoured to get a minister to go with them, and the Government was willing to appoint him at once to be the protector of the Aborigines. I thought that a man might have gone forth and done that very well in connection with his ministry. I inserted an advertise

ment in the papers, but we could not get such a man. I went on board the first ship destined for that colony, and saw some of our friends. We had the pleasure afterwards, in the Weighhouse, of commending to God our brother, Mr. Stone, whom we sent as our representative to that land. A year or two after the first consultations about that colony, the Colonial Missionary Society was formed; and the first thing we did was to send out a missionary to Adelaide. I confess, therefore, that the service of this evening has been exceedingly interesting and exciting to my mind. God has blessed our friends who first stepped on the Australian shore; he has increased and is increasing them, and much has been done for which we have reason to be thankful before God, both with respect to civil and religious matters. I quite agree with Mr. Wells about God's great idea. Before the hills were brought forth, or ever he had formed the earth and the world; in the abysses of the past eternity, when he was looking forward and knew what he would do, even then he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights were with the sons of men. He rejoiced, I doubt not, in the habitable parts of the earth, not merely as such, but he wanted them to be filled; and when he created male and female, he gave them a command to increase and multiply, and to replenish the earth; for he wanted his world to be full,-aye, and he wanted it to be full of worshippers, those who should be in harmony with himself and all the principles of his government and law. God's idea is not yet realized in relation to the world being full of people. Wishing to see that, we want to add to it that which will perfect the idea. We wish to fill the world with religion, with the true faith, and with all those holy principles which, through the Gospel of Christ, shall make man everywhere what God meant him to be-a worshipper and a son. There is at present a great deal of excitement about colonization. Lord Ashley, and some who are associated with him, are endeavouring to raise, by ragged schools, and by benevolent agency of that kind-and the ignorant and degraded in our own country are also feeling very anxious about it-some political machinery that may help them to transplant these persons and send them abroad; that there may be a regular system of emigration for those whom they thus take out of the mire and the filth of this their native land, that they may raise them into men. I spent about three hours, two or three days ago, with a great number of very degraded, miserable, and vicious creatures of both sexes, that were all anxious to emigrate. A City Missionary, a friend of mine, in one of his addresses, threw out an idea, that if a number of persons without employment, and many of whom had been in prison and lost their characters, would unite together and express a desire to be assisted to emigrate, perhaps he might be able to do something for them; at least, he said, he could consult Lord Ashley about it. The thing spread like wildfire amongst these persons, and I went, not knowing what had occurred, but wanting to know something more about his movements and doings. I believe that some of these persons felt an earnest desire to endeavour to regain their lost character. But, that is not the sort of people that we must depend upon for colonization, that we must send forth to be the basis of new nations.

I wish, however, that the best of such people could be taken by the hand and assisted to go. If they will go with renovated and good purposes in their souls to recover themselves again and become men, good men they may become there. There are two great movements at the present time for colonization. There is the colony of Canterbury. That is, a plan to take a million of acres in New Zealand, and to send out none but Church of England people, and to make a provision in the price that is to be put on the land for a complete religious Episcopal Establishment. I do not find any fault with this, or with anybody. It is quite right to act out their own principles. They are trying to do just the very thing that Mr. Wells expressed a wish people would do; that is, go and congregate together, take their ministers with them, and do the thing in such a way that they might be a confederation, a basis laid for Christianity to raise them up to perfection. I do not know whether the scheme will answer; I am afraid not, because it will be exceedingly expensive to those who are to go forth. Three pounds an acre is to be paid for the land, which is a very large sum compared with the price at which land can be obtained in our colonies generally. The way in which it is to be disposed of is the following:-The price to be paid for the land to the New Zealand Company, to whom it belongs, is 10s. per acre; it having been procured by them at a much lower amount. Another 10s. is to be appropriated to the making of surveys and roads, and the erection of certain buildings. Then £1 per acre is to form a fund for sending out emigrant labourers, and the third pound is to be for the purpose of sustaining ecclesiastical institutions. Supposing that 200,000 acres are thus disposed of in the first instance, there will be £200,000 with which to commence their Colonial Missionary Institution; and it will be disbursed in this way-20 churches, assuming the district to require them, built of wood, with a stone foundation, at £1,000 each; 20 parsonage-houses and glebes, at £500 each; 20 schools at £100 each, which, with residences for a bishop, principal of a college, an archdeacon, and other ecclesiastical buildings, will make a total of £41,000, leaving a surplus of £159,000. It is proposed, that of this sum £80,000 shall be invested in the British funds at 3 per cent, and £79,000 in colonial securities at 6 per cent., the interest of which will produce an annual income of £7,540, so that there will be no necessity, as in our Society, for annual appeals, collections, and subscriptions. The interest is to be thus applied-salary of a bishop, £1,000; an archdeacon, £600; twenty clergymen, at £200 each, £4,000; twenty schoolmasters, at £70 each, £1,400: making a total of £7,000, and leaving a surplus of £540. Our friends are quite right, according to their principles, in laying down this plan; in having a committee of ecclesiastical and political men; in corresponding with the Government, and making a beginning. I do not know whether the project will be realized. I do not know whether the first emigrants will generally be in those circumstances-for that is a very important point-which will enable them to pay so largely for the land, and especially to set apart one-third of what they pay as a perpetual endowment for ecclesiastical purposes. There is, however, one evil which pervades the entire plan. It does not leave the power of life

and growth to manifest itself in the population." There is no appeal afterwards to principle, and feeling, and affection, to the men doing the work for themselves. I fear that it is like the old continental custom of artificially cutting all the trees into a particular form of houses and bogs, instead of having trees with life in them, throwing out their branches with all their freedom. Then there is another plan-that of getting a colonial establishment in Cooksland, a very beautiful region in Australia, respecting which Dr. Lang is now visiting this country. That will be conducted on entirely different principles. The land will be very much cheaper, and the people will, in the first instance, have to look to us, and ultimately to themselves, for ministers, chapels, and schools. This will do them good, and we must keep the subject in view. With respect to the Colonial Missionary Society, whose last Report I now hold in my hand, it is now twelve years old; and with a small annual income, has done a very large amount of good. We have sent missionaries to Canada East and Canada West, to Australia and to Van Diemen's Land. Hear what Mr. Wilkes says with respect to Canada East:"Twelve years ago, when our Society commenced its operations in this province, we had in it five churches, now we have twenty-four. We have expended £1,900 in erecting our places of worship. Our hearers at any one service on a Lord's-day must number 4,000; our church members must reach, at a low estimate, about 1,300; schools, temperance, sabbath-keeping, and general morals, have all been greatly promoted; Scriptural principles on all ecclesiastical questions, have been nobly sustained." Anything approaching this could not have been done without the assistance of this Society. When the Society was formed we first sent out Mr. Stone to Adelaide, because to that we felt pledged. Mr. Wilkes, one of our most efficient men, then went to Canada, and several others have gone out since. We have not spent the £1,900 to which Mr. Wilkes refers: but by sending out ministers we have given an impetus to the people; they have exerted their powers, and have done this for themselves. Much has also been effected in Canada West. I have visited that country, seen the churches, and know how much has been done. So in Australia, in Van Diemen's Land, and in Adelaide, much has been achieved through the medium of this Society, although its income has seldom been more than from £1,500 to £2,000 per annum, until last year, when it reached £3,000. Through a committee, however, who carefully husband their resources, and who are vigorous in counsel, God has produced these results. I hope the Society will be supported both by your prayers and your purses. Perhaps some of you are the parents of colonists, and some of you will one day be there-it is certain that your children will. Some of those young men and young women that I see around me will, doubtless, go to these colonies, and, when there, will remember the engagements of this evening. How thankful will they be to God for the Colonial Missionary Society, when they find its agents in every place they visit, and that something has been done to prepare for them the green pastures and the still waters of their fatherland.

The Rev. J. W. RICHARDSON concluded the engagements of the evening by prayer.