two different occasions, addressed by their names, to Irish Roman Catholic tradesmen, farmers, and their like, which names had been furnished by the messengers first sent forth. Then, the itinerating, and from that time continuously to this day, of a number of ordained clergymen, now amounting to forty-four; of nineteen lay agents, and 242 Scripture readers, and the employment of several masters and mistresses, to the number now of ninety-eight -altogether 403 persons at present engaged, at the expense of above 30,000l. a-year, in controverting Romish error and propagating Evangelical truth.

All this peculiarly interesting aggressive agency has been so wonderfully blessed of the Lord, that thousands, in the West of Ireland especially, have renounced Papal error; and this transfer of precious souls from Papal to Protestant ranks, and we believe to real Christianity, has been so astounding as to extort the confession and rouse the bitter indignation of the priesthood of that land. "The history of the Reformation of the sixteenth century," says the opening paragraph of the last year's Report of these Irish Roman Catholic missions, "scarcely affords a record of a period in which so rapid a progress was made in one year, as that which it has pleased God to produce, in the course of events in Ireland, during the last twelve months." And, certainly, of all the experience of Evangelical effort in the Church of England, during the last half-century, this of these Irish Church Missions is so wonderful, and has so much of the onstamp of the Almighty grace of God, that with it, however imperfectly, we may well close up our feeble account of that Evangelical experience.

In conclusion, from what has been written, we may profitably deduce the following lessons:

First, That it is our bounden, as well as grateful duty to glorify our gracious God, and render praise to Him to whom alone it is due, for all that we have right to rejoice in connexion with our beloved Church.

Secondly, That as regards ourselves, humiliation becomes us for our grievous shortcomings and ill-doings throughout.

Thirdly, However, we should feel ourselves greatly

encouraged, while reflecting upon the foregoing Evangelical facts, fully satisfied, as we may be, that these facts are not alien from, but in perfect consistency with the Evangelical principles of our Church, which principles we know are those of the Word of God.

Anything that is Evangelical, we are well assured, is in despite of the principles of the Church of Rome, and of those who, although within our Protestant pale, imitate that apostate Church; but all such is in accordance with the accredited documents, Articles, and Liturgies of the Church of England.

Fourthly, Also, a lesson of instruction may be, hereby, wisely learnt, viz., that the most scripturally Evangelical organization is dead without Divinely imparted Evangelical life.

And that, however, we ought to be thankful for, and attached to our Church, and should aim, through her, at Evangelizing all mankind at home and abroad, heathen and Jews, we should also remember that the mission of our Church is nothing more than that of the whole Church universal in this present dispensation, which is to call out a people for the Lord, or accomplish his elect, and to witness Jesus to the rest-rather to people heaven with its own, than to transform our earth to heaven.

Fifthly, We are exhorted by these facts to prayerful, self-denying diligence in use of the unexampled opportunity we all have in the Church of England of extending the kingdom of our God and Saviour, and of doing good to our fellow-men.

And, lastly, we may sum up all, with the question, honestly but thankfully put, "Where and how better shall we like to be found at the hour, we believe, near at hand, of the coming of our Lord for the restitution of all things, than on the visible platform of the Church of England, and spiritually and savingly actuated by its Evangelical principles ?"

LECTURE X.

THE STATE AND PROSPECTS OF TURKEY AND MOHAMMEDANISM.

BY THE REV. H. CHRISTMAS, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A.,

MINISTER OF VERULAM CHAPEL, LAMBETH.

I OBSERVE that the whole of the course of Lectures to be delivered on this occasion are designated, "The Signs of the Times ;" and it has fallen to my lot to speak to you of the state and prospects of Turkey and Mohammedanism. There are many reasons why anything connected with the Turks is peculiarly interesting to me. I have been called on various occasions to speak concerning the Turkish empire, and the present state and prospects of Turkey; and having visited that country myself, at no very distant period, and taken a particular interest in all that I there saw,—having also been introduced to some of the highest persons in the Ottoman empire, from the Sultan himself, and the Grand Vizier, to the lowest classes, the most uneducated, and, as we would suppose, the most ill-prepared to receive Christianity,—I have ever since felt that any information which could be spread abroad in this country touching the real character of Mohammedanism, as a system, as to its effects upon the nations where it is professed, and as to the chances which we have of spreading the knowledge of Christianity in those countries where it is dominant-that any information on these topics becomes really valuable when we consider what the signs of the times now are, and what are the political events which are now agitating the Eastern world, and what is the manner in which the Turks and other Mohammedans regard Christianity.

In considering this subject, it will be necessary for me from time to time, perhaps, to enliven the matter by some anecdotes of those persons of whom I speak, and their feelings towards Christianity. I shall have also to speak concerning the prospects of our missions there, and what I, myself, have seen as to their effects. We are much in the habit of supposing, here, that a missionary in a Mohammedan country, has nothing more to do, than to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, and to expect that a great number of persons whose eyes are opened to the consequences of sin, who feel the distress in which they are placed, and who have some practical information and knowledge of the workings of their fallen nature, will come around him, accept the information which he gives them, and receive those glad tidings which it is his privilege to preach; but, after labouring long, and looking for some seals to this, his ministry, some effects of this, his constant labour, and finding that the labour itself appears to be almost unacknowledged, and that little or no benefit is derived from it, the Missionary is, at last, induced to turn his attention to some other subjects; he is induced to consider what kind of Christianity it is that prevails there, and to make a comparison between that which Mohammedans are in the habit of calling and understanding as Christianity, and that which he himself, with his greater knowledge, and higher education, and more perfect spiritual attainments, calls by that sacred name. Very few persons who ever visit those countries, leave them without entertaining, and entertaining justly, a high idea of the Turkish character. They perceive that they are eminently a religious people. We may talk, and sometimes do talk, as though Mohammedanism were merely an effête superstition; but, we have only to make a little tour in any Mohammedan country to find that this is very far from being the case. The Turks, whatever may be said concerning the errors of their religion, are, at all events, sincere believers in it.

To them it speaks a truth. Mohammedanism came at a period when not only was Christianity in a most corrupt state in those parts of the world where it arose, but when, also, there was a great deal of gross idolatry. Mohammedanism arose among those nations, as a religion

calling them to the worship of one God, the Maker of heaven and earth-giving them a moral law far higher and purer than any which they had before, and teaching them to cast away their idols to the moles and to the bats-assuming, as the great doctrine by which they were henceforth to be guided, that there was but one God, who would call them into judgment for all the deeds done in the body, and that Mohammed was his prophet. In process of time, as the elements of truth in this religion began to make their way, Mohammed himself appears to have changed very much in character, and he who, at first, would seem to have been merely an honest enthusiast for the great truth of the Unity of the Godhead, became, afterwards, there is much reason to believe (although I admit that this has been called in question) a voluntary impostor. The consequence of this was, that, finding it necessary to establish a dynasty for himself, in order to establish his religion, he announced the doctrine, that this religion was to be propagated by the sword; and hence, Mohammedanism, for many centuries after its first enunciation, became a warlike and conquering religion.

But it also maintained one principle which we should do well to bear in mind when we think of it,-it was always a tolerant religion. It was so far tolerant, that it never allowed of persecutions on any religious ground whatever. If those who maintained the Mohammedan religion conquered any adjacent countries, which they very speedily did, and spread their conquests far and wide, they regarded those countries as tributaries to their sword, and gave the people the option of the Koran or death. Those were the conditions which were imposed, not so much by the worshippers of a new religion as by the votaries of a conquering prophet. The successors of Mohammed took the same line wherever they went; they carried the power of their religion by the sword, and declared that, whosoever would be saved, must embrace the faith of Islâm, and that, if they would not, they would be condemned to everlasting destruction; in this life, they had the choice of servitude or faith. These two principles must not be confounded-persecu