1757-1857.

But

NIGHT is the emblem of ignorance, iniquity, and distress. At the end of a long and awful night, full of unutterable sorrow, the Sun of Righteousness arose upon our groaning world, diffusing light, life, and gladness. Again the glorious light was eclipsed, bringing on the heavy gloom of the Middle Ages, with all its wickedness and misery, which was mercifully followed by the bright morning of the Reformation from Popery. although Three Centuries have passed away since that happy era, we are yet only in an early hour: but the light is coming faster, perhaps, than, at first sight, most men would suppose. Progress in this momentous matter is to be measured, not by the revolution of suns, but by a series of events brought about by the Spirit of God through the instrumentality of the Christian Church. A creature like man, confined to a point of space and a moment of time, is incapable of dealing with more than a very little portion of so great a subject. Yet a careful survey of the events which have been transpiring throughout the last century will materially contribute to encourage and strengthen the hearts of the faithful. We shall, therefore, in attempting to answer the question of the prophet, confine ourselves to the century which has transpired since the close of 1757, the facts of which, on the whole, will be found to indicate unparalleled progress. The order of nature requires that we start with England, and look at it through the medium of the following points:

VOL. XV.

ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

The Universities.-Here the gains have been very great as compared with 1757. The state of those establishments, religiously viewed, is still far from satisfactory; but the substantial improvements are various and important. There is now among the professors, tutors, and students an amount of true piety incalculably superior to that which obtained in the days of Whitefield. More especially is this the case at Cambridge, where the labours of Charles Simeon have been attended with the most salutary results. This gain, however, has been attended with some measure of loss, more especially with regard to Oxford. In that great institution the element of Popery has mixed itself up with Protestantism to an extent which may well excite alarm, considering the influence of Oxford on the rising ministry of the Established Church. But bad as Popery is, there is even worse; Pantheism, and everything that leads to it, is to be held in still deeper abhorrence, as implying the extinction of everything inspired, uprooting the idea of a Creator, almighty, wise, just, true, and good, and, by consequence, setting utterly aside the doctrine of redemption. Sentiments have been broached in Oxford of a nature which ought to excite the deepest solicitude among all who love the truth as it is in Jesus, and are concerned for the spread of his kingdom and the salvation of mankind.

The Bishops. Here the gains are very great. The bishops of 1757 ad

B

mit not of a moment's comparison with those of our times. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, to say nothing of the other evangelical bishops, furnishes ample ground for the most sincere congratulations. Such a man alone serves to give an evangelical impulse to the whole of the mighty community which he so eminently adorns. Recent appointments, moreover, are of such a nature as exceedingly to brighten the prospects of the Established Church. Some of these, while ordinary ministers, were among the best, the most devoted, and the most efficient that can be named; and, now that they are elevated to positions of trust and power for good, there can be no doubt that they will use it in such a manner as to advance, on a large scale, the interests of Divine truth.

The Clergy. Here, again, we rejoice to say, that the gains are quite in an equal proportion with those arising from the bishops. In 1757 a small room would have held all that were, in the full sense of the term, evangelical. The land, so far as they were concerned, was almost covered with darkness. The clerical light of the entire metropolis would have furnished but a scanty supply for a small country town. How happily, how gloriously changed now!

Literature.-Here the Established Church displays the same improvement. During the last half century her bishops, clergy, and laymen have issued a vast amount of doctrinal, experimental, and practical divinity, of a thoroughly evangelical character. Had nothing else been produced than has issued from their pens, the contribution would have been very great. Some of the best evangelical commentaries in the world have sprung from the labours of the clergy. In periodical literature, too, great advances have been made. Both the quarterly and monthly publications of the Established Church are of a character, for talent and evangelism, to entitle them to a very high place. The newspaper press, also, has high claims to consideration.

The Record is a tower of strength to the evangelical clergy; and some others of less power, and less frequent issue, and less enlightened views of the Gospel, yet still are a great improvement on the state of things a century ago.

Scholastic Establishments.-What advancement has been made in this direction! The Diocesan Education Societies, the parochial and other establishments for educational purposes, are, many of them, of a very superior character, and the effects on the intellect of the nation of so vast a machinery, conducted with skill and power, cannot be other than very great and very happy.

Missionary Institutions. Here, too, there is the same progress. In 1757 the missionary spirit was at the lowest point in the Established Church. There were, indeed, some flickering embers to be seen, but they were scattered and feeble, and in danger of extinction. One or two societies existed whose object was the diffusion of what was deemed the truth; and if there was a want of the evangelical element in their publications and in their preachers, still they were a great improvement upon nothing at all. Since that period, however, the spirit of Missions has broken forth, and now not a few of the most efficient missionaries in the foreign field are those of the Church of England, principally connected with the Church Missionary Society. For a season, even after this valuable institution was created, there was a lack of agents, which led to the employment of pious men from Germany; but the spirit of evangelism has of late been breaking forth in the Established community, and I believe, at present, there is no want of proper agency.

PROTESTANT DISSENTERS.

Great as has been the progress of the Established Church during the century, that of Protestant Dissent has been still greater. Proofs of this meet us at every turn, and wherever the eye falls. Among the chief points which exemplify it are the following:

Colleges. How striking the contrast presented by the colleges of the present day to those at the distance of one hundred years! The few humble institutions of that period, however, are not to be despised. They served their purpose, and were a blessing to the people of that period; but, as compared with the present, it was a day of small things. In architecture, in professorship, in the course of education, vast advances have been made. The provision now furnished for high

scholarship, and ample furniture for the preparation of the ministry, is such as wholly to eclipse that of 1757. The most gratifying circumstance of the whole is the fact, that in all these colleges the theological chairs are filled by men who know, love, and teach the truth as it was taught by the Puritan forefathers, and as taught by Holy Scripture.

The Ministry.-Here the most noticeable circumstance is the great increase in point of number which the century has brought. Truly may it now be said, that the little one has become a thousand, and the small one a strong body. Nor is the number the only thing demanding consideration. A very large proportion of them are more apt to teach, and valiant for the truth as it is in Jesus"-men in no respect inferior to equal numbers in any other denomination. Again, they are now far more equally distributed throughout the land. There are no towns of importance in which they may not be found either leading or joining with the ministers of other denominations in works of faith and labours of love for England, the Colonies, and the world.

Places of Worship.-As it respects places of worship, the same advance is everywhere apparent. The ecclesiastical architecture of the two periods is so unlike, that comparison would be preposterous. The whole land testifies to the zeal and liberality of the body in this matter; but as these edifices must be viewed only as a means to an end, they must be viewed in relation to churches; and then, as to increase in numbers and wealth, the new meeting-houses may be considered as a fair and truthful expression. The individual fellowships of a former day were small, and their aggregate a handful. Greater still is the advance in the way of Christian institutions for the amelioration of human misery and the salvation of men.

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Religious Literature.-Here the tacle presented is highly imposing. Were the entire religious literature of the Nonconformists of England, Independents, Baptists, and others, produced in the course of the century, to be collected, it would furnish a library at which not only they themselves, but the public generally, would stand amazed. It would unspeakably redound to the credit of the intellect and

the heart of the community. They, too, have achieved such works in the way of exposition of the Sacred Scriptures as to admit of comparison with the clergy of the Established Church. Periodical Literature.-The progress in this is in keeping with every other portion of its development. Here, however, there is this peculiarity, periodical literature among the Nonconformists may be viewed as a creationan element, entirely the fruit of the zeal of the last half century, that is, the fifty years now expired. Here the Pædo-Baptist portion of the Nonconformists-that is, the Independentsfar outstrips every other portion of the Christian Church, whether Dissenting or Established. The Independents can present such a body of magazines, reviews, and newspapers, as

none

other can make forthcoming. The catalogue of these would, perhaps, take most of them, as well as of other denominations, by surprise. They are not generally aware of their own opulence in this respect.

Scholastic Establishments.-Here Nonconformity has made less progress. The subject, indeed, has never taken a very strong hold of them. They have been, and been properly, much more concerned about the culture of the heart of the land than its intellect. They have never, generally, viewed it as their business to diffuse popular education. The commission given by the ascending Saviour, to go and make disciples of all nations, by preaching the Gospel to every creature-the spirit of this injunction they carry into education, desiring that the religious should everywhere pervade and sanctify the secular. Acting on that principle, they have been especially concerned to spread the knowledge that maketh wise unto salvation; and hence they have been ever foremost in the ranks of those who zealously betake themselves to Sabbath-school instruction. This is an important element in the history of the century; and happily it is not confined to the Nonconformists, but alike distinguishes every other section of the Church of Christ. Could the hundreds and thousands of Sunday-school teachers, and the millions of Sabbath-scholars that adorn our land, be brought together in some of England's spacious plains, they would be seen to constitute a very considerable nation. By that

vast multitude no small portion of the future ministers, officers, and members of churches will be supplied.

Religious and Missionary Institutions. -No aspect of the subject is brighter than that presented by those institutions. The Bible and the Tract Society form a sublime and glorious spectacle. The sight of the disciples on the day of Pentecost was, in some respects, less interesting than the sight of the Bible Society's warehouses in Earl-street, Blackfriars. There we see no collection of men from out of every nation under heaven, with cloven tongues of fire on their heads, prepared to go forth and preach the Gospel to the people of their several lands; but we see what is better, and, for practical purposes, far more valuable -the Holy Scriptures translated into nearly all the tongues of men, so that they may severally read for themselves the wonderful works of God by his Son Jesus Christ. To the Bible Society must be added the Religious Tract Society-an institution in point of importance only second to it. That institution is exerting a power for good on the churches of the Protestant world, which it is impossible to estimate. Who can tell the advantage to the kingdom of Christ arising from these two instrumentalities alone? But to those we must add all the missionary societies of the time, and then the aggregate will be augmented to an extent which baffles calculation. The thoughtful observer is overwhelmedhe stands in mute amazement at the progress of this eventful century: while admiring and adoring, he exclaims, with grateful joy, "What hath God wrought!"

Thus much for England. Let us now look at

SCOTLAND.

If, in some respects, Scotland may seem to lose by comparison with England, it is only because, in 1757, she was so much in advance of her. In the following particulars, however, there has been substantial and glorious progress.

Established Church.-The Established Church of Scotland, at the present hour, even after the exit of the Free Church, is, in all respects, incomparably superior to the Church of 1757. For personal religion, for ecclesiastical education, and for preaching power, the

Scottish ministry of the present day are incalculably superior to the men who filled the parish pulpits in 1757. Even here, therefore, is a substantial gain to the cause of Christianity. But when to this we add that modern marvel, the Free Church, all comparison is at an end. Had that wonderful community alone been the product of one hundred years, there would have been no parallel.

The United Presbyterian Church.— But if so great are the gains from the Free Church alone, what shall be said of the addition of that great community, the United Presbyterian Church and the Independents? What trophies are these to the truth of the Gospel! These, with some other small bodies, amount to nearly 1,000 congregations. All hold the truth, and present advanced views on the subject of religious freedom.

Universities. Here, too, in the course of the century, much has been realised on the score both of learning and piety. In 1757, all the four universities might be said to be in darkness. They were all strangers to the evangelical element. They wanted not for men of great power, learning, and genius; but the gospel of Christ was among them, generally, an object of contempt. How great and happy the change which has taken place!—Evangelism is respected among them all, and to a considerable extent it is in the ascendant.

Religious Literature.-The amount of this which, in Scotland, has been produced by all denominations, in the course of the century, is very great; and, I rejoice to say, generally evangelical. The entire change in this, as in the general preaching of the nation, has been an advance on the side of orthodoxy. No land has produced so little, within the period, of an infidel or anti-Christian character.

Periodical Literature.-In this department, Scotland has made less show than might have been expected from the reading character of the people. Something considerable, however, has been realised, and that in a very superior manner. There is another circumstance deserving of special notice: the secular press, if but slightly tinged with religion, is remarkable for its purity and respect for Christianity. On these points the gains are considerable.

School Establishments.At the com