The following burning words occur in a charge delivered by Bishop Wilson: What can exceed the inviting prospects which India presents? The fields white for the harvest and awaiting the hand of the reaper! nations bursting the intellectual sleep of thirty centuries! superstitions no longer in the giant strength of youth, but doting to their fall. Britain placed at the head of the most extensive empire ever consigned to a Western sceptre Oh, where are the first propagators and professors of Christianity? Where are our martyrs and reformers? Where are the ingenuous, devoted, pious sons of our universities? Where are our younger devoted clergy? Are they studying their ease? Are they resolved on a ministry tame, ordinary, agreeable to the flesh? Are they drivelling after minute literature, poetry, fame? Do they shrink from that toil and labour which, as Augustine says, our Commander, Noster Imperator, accounts most blessed?'

Already, in a previous chapter, have we given a few sentences from the last charge delivered by Bishop Cotton; we here furnish in extenso the passage from which those sentences were taken. That calm, scholarly, and holy prelate says:-'When every other English influence of this nineteenth century is brought to bear on the educated natives of Bengal, it will be a shame and scandal to the Church, if the highest and purest of all is wanting. They adopt our manners, they share our education, they obtain the title of Bachelor of Arts by a course of study, which, in extent, is actually greater than is required for a degree without honours at Oxford or Cambridge, they enter our learned and scientific professions, they even press into our

missionary zeal and by love for the people of the land. Bishop Heber delighted in calling himself, the chief missionary in India.' Speaking of the people he says, They are a nation, with whom, whatever are their faults, I for one, should think it impossible to live long among without loving them-a race of gentle and temperate habits, with a natural talent and acuteness beyond the ordinary level. of mankind, and with a thirst for general knowledge which even the renowned and inquisitive Athenians can hardly have surpassed or equalled.'

civil service, they not only may, but actually do, occupy seats in our councils and on our highest bench of justice, so that in everything except Christianity they are fast becoming European. We do not under-value these means of enlightenment. Doubtless the tree of knowledge round which they eagerly gather bears bitter as well as wholesome fruit: there is much, alas! in modern literature to lower rather than to elevate their standard of morality, much to lead the inquirer away from Christ rather than to bring him, as a humble penitent, to the footstool of His grace. Still, viewing their present condition as a whole, we see that it is in accordance with the laws by which God's Providence has guided other nations; our Bengali fellow-subjects are walking in the path by which men of the Western world have walked before them; civilisation, refinement, learning, political activity, material improvement, law and order, above all the sight of Government conducted with scrupulous integrity, and with a most real and conscientious intention to promote the welfare of the governed, are, I fully believe, the appointed preparations for the Gospel; messengers to go before the face of the Lord and to prepare His way, to sweep away from India's past all that is vile and polluting, and to absorb into a happier and holier future whatever remains of beauty and greatness. But that the people of India may realise this vision of coming glory, by the humble and adoring recognition of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, the merely negative and destructive period through which they are passing must be brought to an end.. Upon such a

condition of society, my brethren, the Church of Christ should bring to bear all its hallowing influences just as in the days of Origen and Clement its power was felt in the centre of Greek civilisation at Alexandria. It should be our aim to purify the whole moral and social atmosphere by faith in the Redeemer, and to surround the educated classes of India with a power of Christian evidence, Christian example, and Christian influence,

which at last, we cannot doubt, will be "mighty through God to the casting down of strongholds.""

The last Metropolitan of India, Bishop Milman, has but recently fallen asleep. This devout and earnest man yearned with all the intensity of fervent desire for India's regeneration; his latest official acts were in connection with the missions of the Church Missionary Society. The Rev. W. Hooper, officiating principal of the Lahore Divinity College, thus describes the last visit of the bishop to that institution:-The college was visited by the Bishop of Calcutta, who preached a touching sermon to the students from I Thess. ii. 7, 8, on the tenderness which is required in work for God; and afterwards expressed himself greatly pleased with his visit, and bade us God speed. He went over the garden, and shook hands and spoke a word with each of the students.'

After this visit the Bishop pushed on to other mission stations, and, even when the hand of death was upon him, insisted upon conducting mission services for which he had been announced, but for which he had no strength left. The following extract is well worth preserving as a record of the last week's work of the dying prelate:- He arrived there (at Peshawar) on the 22nd February last. On the 25th, he confirmed thirteen native Christians, delivered two Hindustani addresses in the mission church, visited the native cemetery, was present at the bazaarpreaching of the missionaries, and attended evening service in the mission church, On Sunday, the 27th, he administered the Holy Communion at the mission church, and in the evening, notwithstanding that his illness was now gaining upon him, he preached on behalf of the Church Missionary Society at the station church, which was filled with troops and civil and military officers, and spoke with great earnestness, alluding to the many missionaries who had died at Peshawar. Next day he attended the distribution of prizes at the mission school, and delivered an address in Hindustani, though suffering greatly from bodily

weakness. All that week he was very ill; and on the following Sunday, at his request, our missionaries, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Jukes, received the Communion with him at the hands of his chaplain. On March 15th, he died at Rawul Pindi, whither he had been removed, and next morning his body was committed to the grave, the service being read by his chaplain, the chaplain of the station, and Mr. Hughes.' There is not the least doubt,' writes Mr. Hughes, that he died in the service of the Church Missionary Society. He was essentially a missionary bishop. Nothing in mission work was too small or insignificant for him to seek to encourage. He had a word and a shake of the hand for every Christian.'

Perhaps few persons who were familiar with the bluff and rugged face, and the blunt, masculine bearing of the late bishop, would say that tenderness strongly marked him; yet, it did; beneath the brusque exterior there was a hidden power of deep and genuine sympathy. We say what we know, for our last communication from himself showed full well that he knew how to 'weep with them that weep,' and how to comfort those whom God had chastened. His letter, full of tender consolation, lies before us. True to himself, he could not conclude that epistle without a reference to India's wants; his concluding sentence shall be ours, and, O! gracious God, do Thou grant that his words may so strike the heart of many a reader, that the response may clearly show that, he being dead yet speaketh!' The Bishop's last words are-The cry for Men, Men, Men, seems as strong and agonising as ever. I trust it may meet a response in God's good time. Yours affectionately in Christ,

R. Calcutta.'

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APPENDIX.

No apology can be needed for reproducing in the form of an appendix the following solemn, earnest and affectionate address from three Bishops of India. The Pastoral speaks directly to the Church in India, but few readers will deny that its appeals have also a special bearing on the Church at home. It is a solemnising thought, and may add weight to these fervid counsels, to reflect that, though little more than two years have elapsed since the Pastoral was issued, only one of the Bishops who signed it now survives!

'PASTORAL.

To the Clergy and Laity of the three dioceses of India.

The 16th March 1874.

DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN IN CHRIST Jesus.

Grace be to you and peace from GOD OUR FATHER

and OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Two Resolutions at the Nagpore Conference.

'WHEN We took counsel together, in our late Conference at Nagpore, by what further efforts the Church of Christ in this land might be edified and enlarged, we resolved not only to appeal to the Church at home for the continuance and increase of her sympathy and help, and chiefly for the gift of some of the ablest and most devout among her sons and daughters to come over and help us; but also to address unitedly all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has here made us overseers, and beseech them one and all to take that holy interest in the work, which its vastness, its importance, and the glory of the Saviour Who gave His life for its accomplishment, demand.