A CONTRAST. (From the Morning Chronicle, Nov. 2.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 292, 17 March 1849, Page 3

A CONTRAST. (From the Morning Chronicle, Nov. 2.)

It is impossible not to be struck — if the comparison cornea to the mind at all*— with the prodigious difference which appears to exist at the present moment betwten the state, condition, and employments, of England on the one hand, and the vunous nations of the Continent on the other." Never, we apprehend, since the dissolution of the Western empire, ha§ Europe generally exhibited such a state of confusion, disorder, weakness, and diiorg*niztionai at* the present moment. The south and thenortht indeed, Spain and Scandinavia, are, as yet, but |ilighily affected by the earthquake ; but all the central kingdoms " reel to and ffo, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end." Why, e»en the Papacy totters. Its hold on the pu!>He mind in Italy is gone. Not long since it vras mid in Florence, that on hearing the news from Milan, " Pope Pius wept bitterly." On which fact a Florentine journal, II Popolano, thus commented, in an article which was soon reprinted, and circulated by thousands in Tuscany and Lorabardy :— " < II Papa Piange !' •• The Pope weeps ! Weep, ill-counselled Pontiff, weep for your vanished glory — acquired at so light » price, and lost at so costly a sacrifice of the blood o{ men, who idolized a vain mtia, au image of clay— the shadow of a man. •• Weep, Pontiff— weep for the nations you have betrayed , for the destinies of Italy wh:ch your fearful, timid, paltry mind could not grasp ; bheltering yourself under the sublime mantle of a religion which you might have led back to its pure fountain heads, but to which, on the • contrary, following the old custom of your predecesiors, you have added your own contribution of shame and defilement ! " Weep, 0 Pontiff!— Thou sceptred and living Anti-Chiust (scethato c vivnile anli-Chnsto), weep foi your dearly beloved Germans, and huvl at the heads of their slau^titerura before proud Mil-in and unconquered Bologna— hurl all your thunderbolts— they have no weight nor edge. "The Pope weeps. • Weep Count Mastai, weep that the p nmdence thou trustest in has not yet granted the results aimed at in the destinies of Italy: for it is plain that the providence to which thou hast committed the people moans nothing more than thine ancient ally, the empire— that ever faithless prop of the Simoniacal Papacy. " In order that Rome might lie tranquil under the double yoke of thine own demoralizing policy and of northern despotism, thou bait, in yam, commended thyself to all thy saints— and to it should be. Hast thou not, in thy delirium of fear, reached to very blasphemy? Hast thou not dethroned tbe Eternal, and placed in his stead the Virgin, with the chief of the apostles for responsible minister! ? Haat thou not, to these, rather than to Him, committed the guardianship ot Rome, hoping, perhaps that this Provisional Government in heaven, like Provisional Governments on earth, would be weaker and less watchful th in that of the God of Vengeance, the terrible God, who stands for the defence of peoples, as thou dost for kings " Weep, weep Father— no longer 'holy'— weep that your orders to desist from figlumj were treated h!se

a light brealb : and, at the idle wind, your orders of blind obedience to the compacts with the enemies of Italy concluded in the lilent and uinistcr depths of the Vatican. " Weep, thou favoured of Loyola, for even if the followers of freedom fall by the German sword, the followers of Ignatius will not go scathless. " Weep, Pope — weep burning teari over the tomb thou hast dug for thyself; weep, for Italy wiH yet be a great and glorious fact, while the Popedom becomei a polluted name ; weep, for while Italy rises more beauteous from the stake to which thou condemned her, the Popedom will sink into putrefaction and decay, amidst the joyous shout of emancipated nations." France, Austria, Prussia, Italy, Sicily, Naples, are all in turmoil, without prospect of amendment, or hope of rescue. But what of Britain ? Why, much might be said of crimet and follie«, much of talenti abused or waited. But there are some hopeful symptoms among in ; and looking at the occupations of Vienna, of Berlin, of Paris, of Naples, and of Rome, on these fiist days of the coming winter, we could not help being struck with one remarkable point of contrait. Yesterday, a commemoration lermon was preached in London, by the Archbishop of Canterbury ; and another in York, by the Archbishop of York. The Bishop of London preached in Bloomsbury Church,— The Bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, Oxford, Norwich, St. Asaph, &c, in the cathedrals of the respective cities. In Manchester, last evening, twenty-one churches were open, and twenty-one sermons preached by as many different clergymen. The number preached in London, yeiterday, we cannot arrive at ; infthe parish of Pancras alone there weie nine. In Cambridge, and many other towns, every pulpit was occubied with the subject hot Sunday. Mr. Dale preached on the subject at St. Puul's Cathed«l, last Sunday afternoon, to nearly 3,000 people. m And what was the occasion for this religious celebration ? It was the commemoration of the fiftieth year of the Church Missionary Society. It was in the year 1799 that a little band of clergy and laity met together, to form a society for tins purpose, and, in 1804. the first missionaries went forth, to Sierra Leone. In a few years, others were sent t 0 New Zealand, then to India, and to other fields. At the preient hour, the Church Missionary Society not only It actvely engaged on the rocky and wooded peninsula of Sierra Leone, among the liberated Africans, but has travelled a thousand miles to the eastward, to Badagry nnd AbbeokouU. It has been driven from Abyisinia ; but its missionaries have clang to the east coast of Africa, near Mombas, and have' made good their footing there. In Cairo, that ancient leat of bigotry, the society is at work both among the Coptic population— the descendants of the ancient Egyptians— and among the Mahomedans. India has many mis•iom of the society. The sand plains of palm-girt Tinnevelly; the rich woodi of Travaucore, clothed with all the splendour of tropical luxuriance ; the great cities of Madras and Bombay ; the long-neglected nation of the Toloogoos ; the dome* and minarets of Agra ; the rolling stream of the Ganges ; and the highlands of the snowy Himalayai ; have all witnessed the love of God in sending his servants to preach the Gospel and the converting power of the Holy Ghost. The opened door of China has been entered by the society. In British Guiana, in South America, amid the swamps and tangled jungles of the banks of the Esiequibo, tribes before unknown to Europeans, and living like the wild beasts of the forest, have been evangelised, and are now " sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right mind." In New Zealand the leafy glens and mountains, the lovely lakes and their rocky isles, have resounded with the prayers and praises of believers in Christ, who in their childhood •were wholly ignorant of God, but who have heard of the living Saviour from the misiionaries of the society. The negroes of the West Indies have also been the subject of our exertions. And far back in the prairies and woods of North-weit America, amid the burning heats of summer, and the piercing frost i of winter, do our missionaries continue to win souls to Christ, and to gather large congregations of the Red Indian tribes to hear of his love, and to join in prayer to him.' The general results of its operations are thus summarily given :—: — ( Missionary Stations .. •• «• 102 European Clergymen 125 Native and Eait Indian Clergymen .. 14 European Lay Teachers .. .. 43 Native and East Indian Lay Teachers 1,299 Communicants .. .. ... .. 13,010 Besides tens of thousands of children, in its many different stations, under regular Christian instruction. The object of the celebratian of this week, as one part of which a general meeting will be held in Exeter Hall this day, is, " to thank God, and take courage." To look with gratitude at the past, and with new resolve at the future. It is proposed by one'simultaneous effort, to raise a special fund of £100,000 in the present year, to be employed in effecting several great objects. Two donations of £1000 each, from individuals in the middle walk of life, were announced la<»t week. Such is the principal feature visible in English society, in the first week of this month of November, 1848. And, certainly, no one will deny, that it presents a singular contrast to the occupations of most of the continental nations and cities, s at the same moment of time.