DIOCESE OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 677, 9 October 1852, Page 4

DIOCESE OF NEW ZEALAND.

The (London) Record has published the following letter which the Bishop of New Zealand addressed to the Secretary for the Propagation of the Go&pel in Foreign Parts upon the Missionary enterprise in which he is engaged :—: — > Schooner Border Maid, At sea, Sept. 17, 1851. My dear Mr, Hawkins, — I think that I cannot acknowledge the Society's Jubilee letter from a more appropriate place than the bosom of the Avide sea, over which, in its length and breadth, it has pleased God that the work of his Church should be extended. The vessel, on board of which I Avrite, -will also attest the blessing granted to the Society's labours ; for it is the gift of the diocese of Sydney and Newcastle, where the good seed has been sown and nurtured under Divine protection, mainly by your efforts. It has pleased God in a remarkable manner to verify the words which I wrote in an early letter; that those Avho thought that our venerable Society Avas doing little for the conversion of the heathen, might Avell consider whether there could be any surer Avay of spreading the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, than by building up the Colonial Churches as missionary centres. The movement at Sydney last year, of Avhich I am noAV enjoying the fruits, in company with my dear brother of Newcastle, is a signal proof of the diffusive and fructifying character of your work. Your contributions to Australia and New Zealand have awakened a zeal, and established a precedent by Avhieh the Gospel has iioav been carried over a range of 4,000 miles, to islands of which even the names are almost unknown in London. We have with us in the mission vessel thirteen youths, from six different islands, besides two of our own New Zealanders, who are going Avith us to St. John's (now recognised as the Central Missionary I College), for such instruction as Aye hope Avill qualify them, in due time, to return as teachers to their own countrymen. Our little flock is as follows : — | £SS OneorMaw } Loyalty Idands. 2 Futuna \ 2 Erromango > New Hebrides. 1 Anaiteum ) 1 Solomon Islands. 2 NeAV Zealanders, 15 speaking seven languages. This is the choicest offering Avhich I can make on the occasion of your Jubilee ; for there is no treasure dearer to my OAvn heart than these youths; not for themselves only, but for the incohate and potential good which faith and hope represent as now concentrated in them, and to be propagated by them hereafter. Silver and gold we have none, for what we have Aye receive from you and your kindred Society (avoulc! that it Avere still more united ) ; but avc offer to you these treasures of our Missionary field, as proofs that your efforts have not been unblessed, and that your prayers do not return to you void. You may affirm aa ith perfect truth that in our College, mainly promoted and encouraged by your support, you are educating the children of the mobt distant races of the earth. There is no inhabited spot so near to the actual antipodes of Greenwich as the Chatham Islands, from Avhich avc have six youths now under education at the College. And it is mainly owing to the efforts of the Society, under God's blessing, that I have been enabled, during the last nine months, to visit, Avith ca&e and comfort, inhabited countries .stretching over thirty-three degrees of latitude, or one-eleventh part of the circumference of the globe. The range of our native scholars is over thirty-four degrees of latitude ; from the Solomon Islands, in ten degrees south latitude, to the Chatham Islands, in forty-four degrees south. These distances may serve as a lively type of the length and breadth of the love of Christ ; for surely it is not the work of the Church itself, much less of Societies or individuals, but His free love, and ll is all-sufficient sacrifice, Avhich is bringing these

tilings to pass. How gladty then shall we join in your special prayers and thanksgivings, ascribing all glory to him to horn it is due, and counting all past successes only as proofs of his presence with his Church always, even to the ends of the earth. On my return to Auckland I shall hope to find your second letter (promised in the Circular of Nov. 7), with instructions as to the mode in which it is wished that the Jubilee should he observed. Trusting to the blessing of the Almighty that your year of Jubilee will be one in which many slaves of Satan will he set free, I remain, your grateful and faithful friend, G. A. New Zealand.