THE MONTH. Entelligence. The news of the month has been both important and varied. Scarcely had our last number appeared before the electric telegraph began to bring us, day by day, information from the Crimea of the most exciting character. The first was the taking of Kertch, and subsequently of the whole Sea of Azoff, almost without a blow being struck, or a shot being fired. Afterwards came information of the renewed attack on Sebastopol, and of the taking of the Mamelon and the White Tower by the allies. At a later period came the less pleasing intelligence of the allies having been repulsed with great loss in an attack on the Malakhoff and the Redan; though the painfulness of this last intelligence is alleviated by the fact, that the armies appear to be far from discouraged by their failure, and that real progress is, day by day, being made towards the ultimate conquest of the citadel. Our readers have, doubtless, been long a ware that the Vienna Conferences are finally and formally closed, so that to the "chances of war," as they are called, the decision of the great questions at issue must now be left. The probabilities as to the future are certainly much complicated by the course which Austria has taken. She declared that on the failure of the Conferences she would be ready at once to draw the sword. The Conferences have failed; yet is the sword not drawn by her; unless, indeed, we except her drawing the sword against the poor defenceless Hungarians in the Principalities. We fear that the occupation of the Principalities by Austria will prove the greatest blunder of the war; and the consequences will not be the less provoking, because they will have been brought on us by our own folly in trusting to a power the most perjured and dishonest in Europe, and all whose sympathies are with a despotism, of which she is herself, even more than Russia, the vilest representative. In the Baltic little has yet been done, except to blockade Cronstadt and the other Russian ports. The Russians have indeed shown us "how they could fight" by murdering a hoat-load of sailors who had gone into Hango under a flag of truce for the purpose of liberating a number of Russian prisoners! The indignation excited by this act is deep and universal, though we cannot join in the cry for "revenge" which both the Parliament and the Press are at present uttering. The Report of the Sebastopol Committee has at last been presented. It is a long document, which occupied three hours in the reading; but the result of the enquiry is shown best in the resolution laid by the chairman of the committee on the table of the House, after the reading of the report, laying the blame of the calamities which befel the army on the "conduct of the administration," and visiting “with the severest reprehension every member of the cabinet, whose counsels led to such disastrous results." We do not know that such a resolution as this was necessary, nor that it can serve any good purpose now. ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM is, doubtless, the great lesson which the nation will learn from the report, every page of which teems with facts which show the stern need there is that such a reform should be speedily accomplished. The failure of Messrs. Strahan, Paul, and Co., the eminent London Bankers, has, perhaps, attracted more attention than any event of the month. The amount of the liabilities of the firm are variously estimated at from three to eight or nine hundred thousand pounds. Since the failure, circumstances have transpired which have led to the members of the firm being brought under a criminal charge before a London magistrate. Their course appears to have been indeed criminally reckless, and the suffering consequent on the failure will be too fearful to contemplate. The Newspaper Stamp abolition act, which has received the royal assent during the month, comes into operation immediately. The result of the abolition is already to be seen in the number of cheap newspapers which are appearing in all parts of the country. We rejoice that the restriction which has so long fettered the press of this country is thus at last removed, and that the "liberty of unlicensed printing" is thus given to Englishmen. The next movement ought to be for the removal of the Paper Duty, which now alone remains to prevent the press of England being as free as that of the United States. BAPTIST COLLEGE, PONTYPOOL. The forty-eighth annual meetings of the members and friends of this excellent institution were held on Wednesday and Thursday, the 23rd and 24th ult. There was a numerous attendance each day, and not the least gratifying feature of the proceedings was the numerous attendance of ministers, who had in early life enjoyed the advantages of the college. The examination of the students took place at the college, on Wednesday morning-that in theology was conducted by the Rev. Thomas Price, of Aberdare, and that in classics by the Rev. J. E. Butterworth, M.A., of Abergavenny. At seven o'clock in the evening, the Welsh service was held in Crane Street Chapel, when a very excellent essay, on the History of the Jews, was read by Mr. Lewis Lewis, student. An excellent sermon was also delivered by the Rev. W. Thomas, of Pisga, from 2 Chron. xxix. 31. On Thursday morning the Rev. David Rees, of Braintree, commenced the English service. Mr. Evan Jenkins, one of the students, read a wellwritten essay on Miracles. The Rev. John H. Hinton, M.A., had consented, and was fully expected, to preach on the occasion, but owing to an accident that gentleman met with at Cheltenham, the meeting was deprived of his services. Mr. Aitcheson, of Newport, consequently, in compliance with the urgent request of the committee, consented to supply his place. The meeting, however, passed a resolution expressing its sympathy with Mr. Hinton, and that he should be requested to preach at the next annual meeting. There are sixteen students now in the college, and there are nine applicants anxiously waiting for admission, but we regret to say these cannot be admitted at present for want of funds. The general public meeting of the subscribers and friends for the transaction of business, was held in the afternoon. W. W. Phillips, Esq, presided, and the feeling evinced on behalf of the institution was truly cheering. HUSBANDS BOSWORTH, LEICESTERSHIRE. On Thursday, the 14th inst., services were held in the Baptist Chapel, in this village, for the purpose of liquidating a debt which had been incurred in repairing and beautifying that place of worship, and also for the fraternal recognition, by the ministers and friends of the surrounding churches, of Mr. A. Ibberson, late of Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, who has recently accepted the invitation of the church to become its pastor, under the auspices of the Leicestershire Association. In the afternoon of the above day, the Rev. T. Lomas, of Charles Street, Leicester, preached a suitable discourse from Acts xiv. 17; the Rev. S. Evans, of Arnsby, conducted the devotional part of the service; after which, tea was provided, of which about one hundred partook the dubious state of the weather prevented the attendance of many whose sympathies were with the object if the meeting. In the evening a public meeting was held, Richard Harris, Esq., Mayor of Leicester, presiding; prayer was offered by the Rev. Thomas Morgan, of Theddingwarth, and addresses delivered by the Rev. G. Miall, of Ullesthorpe, S. Evans, of Arnsby, T. T. Gough, of Clipstone, J. P. Mursell, of Leicester, and several others. The pecuniary results of the meeting realised upwards of £30. The tea was provided gratuitously by friends belonging to four denominations of christians, viz., Episcopalians, Wesleyans, Independents, and Baptists. The cause here has been in a declining state for some years, but since the accession of Mr. Ibberson to the pastorate, there are many indications of prosperity. REOPENING OF THE BAPTIST CHAPEL, During the last eight weeks this place of worship has been undergoing repairs, improvement, and enlargement. It was reopened for divine worship on Lord's-day, May 27th. The Rev. J. W. Lance, of New Brentford (the former pastor of the church), preached in the morning from Rom. xii. 1, and in the evening from Heb. xii. 28. The congregation were very large, and the services of the day most impressive. On the following Wednesday, at half-past two, p.m., after reading and prayer by the Rev. J. Andrews, of Woburn, the Rev. J. W. Lance again preached, from John ii. 21; at five o'clock, 200 persons partook of tea, coffee, and other refreshments, given by the ladies of the chapel; after which, a public meeting was held. The Rev. John Lewis, pastor of the church, in a few preliminary remarks stated the cost of the alterations to be nearly £130; addresses were then delivered by the Revs. J. Andrews, of Woburn, Daniel Gould and J. Robertson, of Dunstable, James Harcourt, of Luton, and J. W. Lance, of Brentford. The meeting was closed with prayer by the Rev. J. Lyon, of Dunstable. It was ascertained that the subscriptions, collections, and results of the tea, amounted to £105,-which, with the proceeds of the cards that are out, it is hoped will meet the entire cost. NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL. New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, formerly connected with the ministry of the celebrated and venerable Dr. Rippon, which has been for some time closed for the purpose of enlargement, was reopened lately for the first time since the alterations. The north-east end of the chapel has been extended about thirty feet, and accommodation thus afforded for upwards of three hundred additional sittings; in addition to which a large and commodious vestry and school-room have been erected. A sermon was preached in the morning by the Rev. James Sherman, formerly minister of Surrey Chapel, and in the evening by the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, the pastor. NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. On Thursday, 14th, June, the young people connected with the Baptist congregation, Berwick Street, Newcastle-onTyne, presented their beloved pastor, the Rev. Thomas Pottenger, with a handsome electro-plated tea service and moderator lamp, to mark their estimation of his character and high moral worth, and as a small but grateful acknowledgment of his efforts to promote their religious and intellectual advancement. The testimonial was presented by Mr Robert Armstrong, late secretary to the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society, who read an appropriate address, and Mr. Pottenger replied in an affectionate and feeling manner. BRIXHAM, DEVON. On Wednesday, May 30th, the members of the Baptist church, Brixton, Devon, had a social tea meeting, for the purpose of presenting a testimonial to their pastor, Mr. Saunders, in order to commemorate the eighth year of his pastorate among them. The testimonial consisted of a good portrait of the minister, which was handsomely framed, and presented to him in the name of the members by Mr. John Smith, the senior deacon, in a short speech. Mr. Saunders appropriately replied, and the evening was spent in a very agreeable and becoming manner. SOUTH PARADE, LEEDS. The Rev. Clement Bailhache, late of Stepney College, London, has accepted the cordial invitation to the pastorate of the church in South Parade, Leeds, and commences his labours there the first Lord's-day in July. THE CHURCH. "Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."-Eph. ii. 20. AUGUST, 1855. THE HEAVENLY COUNSELLOR. BY THE REV. EDWARD WHITE. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; I COUNSEL THEE to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed."-Rev. iii. 17, 18. That which the human race chiefly wants is moral guidance, advice, good counsel. To be well advised, and well commanded, is the principal blessing of life. In the view of this necessity, God has mercifully appointed Christ to be the thought-guide, counsellor, adviser of the whole world, and of every man in it, the person through whom the human mind shall come into communication with the Infinite Wisdom unseen. "His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God." "He hath given Him to be a Leader and Commander to the people." to Unhappily for mankind, it requires almost as much wisdom to distinguish, accept, and act upon good advice, as to give it. A man must have become already in some degree wise, before he can become wiser; and since the majority have not attained even to this beginning of wisdom, to discern a good counsellor, their case is sad and hopeless indeed. The "folly which is bound up in their hearts" leads them to look upon the "only wise God," the universal intelligence, as their everpresent enemy. Whether, however, the world will "hear him" or not, Christ is constituted the adviser of every man on the most important subject, the right direction of life with a view to the "resurrection of judgment." For this world may be compared to a vast porch or vestibule, leading, by the dark door of death, into the judgment-hall of Eternity. Through that door every man is to pass into the immediate presence of his Judge, "give an account of himself unto God." There "God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or bad." There the tremendous sentence shall be passed on every man, which shall fix his doom to life or death eternal, by Him whose decision is final, and his decree irrevocable. In the vestibule, crowded by the human population, here on this earth, Christ reveals himself as the Counsellor and allpowerful Advocate of debtors and criminals; offering to furnish them with the means of giving a satisfactory account within the vail. counsel thee," these are his words, "to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness and beggary do not appear." These are words of true kindness. They breathe all the love that died for us. But they are also words of warning. As in Italy there is a rich deep soil covered with sunshine, beauty, and fertility upon the surface, but underneath there runs a subterranean sea of fire; so in these words there is first a frank VOL. IX. "I and loving offer of effectual help to ensure salvation, but beneath a deep tone of menace and alarm. As if He said, Yield to my guidance, and all will be well: judgment will be safe for you, and eternal life secure. But if you will not listen to me, prepare for the consequences! Every man, as a moral being, stands in a necessary relation to the Infinite Mind and Will; in a fixed relation to the awful government of God. If not reconciled to that government here, you will fall hereafter into its hands. If you will not listen to my counsel, so as to enter into the presence of God, as your Friend, and my Father, you must, and you will, encounter Him, in the invisible, as a blinding Light, and consuming Fire. All the burning indignation which men have ever felt against wrong done on earth, all the terrible instincts of avenging justice which have swayed the movements of nations and kingdoms, are but faint types of the reality of JUSTICE IN THE OMNIPOTENT. "His hand shall find out all his enemies." "He shall make them as a fiery oven in the day of his wrath, and his anger shall devour them." It was the intolerable fear of this judgment which drove Judas to self-murder; which caused Felix to tremble on the judgment-seat; and of which the apostle says, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The more we consider these piercing words, the more deeply they seem to enter into the soul. "I cOUNSEL THEE!" We attach weight to the words of men, in proportion to the depth of their intelligence, and the breadth of their knowledge of the world. These are the words of One who knows both worlds; who has lived on earth, and known by experience the infirmities which encompass us, the temptations which assail us, the labours which harass us; who, through the participation of a common nature, the endurance of most poignant anguish, and the pleadings of a compassionate heart, is able and willing to make every lawful allowance for the weakness of man. But, also, they are the words of One who has passed within the vail, and who knows, by a participation of the Divine Nature, God as well as man; who knows the reality of all God's attri butes, of his justice no less than of his mercy; who knows that, if man is weak, he is strong enough to sin, and strong enough to disobey God, who will judge him for his sin; that if passion is powerful, and the devil stronger still, yet that the one may be "crucified," and the other "resisted;" who, when "the spirit" was "willing," was the first to say that the "flesh was weak," and to forget and forgive the night of falsehood, in consideration of the years of faithfulness and truth; yet who, when the spirit was not willing, but wicked, had no words of mercy for the thief and the traitor, but branded him in the forehead as the son of perdition, and consigned him to his own place. They are the words of One who knows the limits set to the exercise of "the forbearance of God," and the preparations made in the unseen world for executing "righteous vengeance" upon the careless and the disobedient; of One who knows what the penalties will be of neglecting "so great a salvation;" of One who knows all, and sees all, and worketh all in all; and He says, "I COUNSEL THEE!" And whom does He thus advise? "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, I counsel thee." Thou sayest. It is not very probable that the church of Laodicea ever did literally say these words in expressing their view of their own condition. But this may teach us that that vast amount of unspoken thought which dwells in the minds of men, which would not bear plain and open utterance, but which, notwithstanding, directs and impels their practical conduct, all that vast amount of unuttered thought goes up to heaven as SPEECH, and is translated by the divine voice into the abominable propositions which it signifies. "God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart;" and every man shall be dealt with by the Almighty, according to "the hidden things of darkness," the "evil treasure of his heart." Much of the manifestation of evil is restrained by God. Bad as is the outward life of men, that evil treasure of thought, unacted or unspoken, is far worse, and it is by that that they shall be judged. "As a man thinketh, so is he." There is many a silent thought of sin on earth, which, like the sin of Sodom, reaches as a cry into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth, and many a secret whisper of rebellion, which rolls as thunder through the courts of heaven. Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. This is just natural religion, the expression of a hardened man's estimate of his own condition. The Jewish Pharisaism was but one of a thousand similar expressions of man's natural coarseness of thought in relation to God. It was human nature in its mortal deformity, a mere corpse, its ghastly countenance livid in corruption, going up into the temple, clad in the long robes and phylacteries of spiritual death, and lifting its glassy eyes up to heaven, with, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are! I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing!" Oh, how surpassingly hateful to heaven must be, as Augustine says, this piece of "proud putrefaction!" How must heaven delight to gather and condense all its awful powers of scorn, to abase the phantom of pharisaic self-conceit. That salvation, which truly is exclusively the work of God towards man, humanity delights to conceive of as either unnecessary, or as the work of man towards God. MAN, the conqueror of nature, victorious over the elements, who transmits his thoughts around the globe along the electric wire in the twinkling of an eye, who flies in his fiery chariot over the tempestuous ocean,-clothed in self-sufficiency, and pluming himself in defiances, stands upon the pole, exclaiming, while his eye sweeps the firmament, "I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing!" Forgetful of Him, who is higher than the highest, the faint train of whose glory is seen in the starry sky, as He rideth upon his spangled chariot of "the everlasting heavens," through infinite space and endless duration; from whom, as He passeth by, there comes to this child of clay only this one word, THOU FOOL! And straightway the grave opens at his feet; he giveth up the ghost, and where is he? Saying to the worm, the crawling worm, Thou art my sister; and to foul corruption, Thou art my mother! Now, how is it possible for a rational creature to be so far deluded as to be insensible to its own deepest needs? A moment's consideration on the nature of sin will explain it, so far as sin, the most irrational thing in creation, is capable of receiving any explanation; for it is "hatred without a cause." Sin is the overbalance of the selfish principle in man. The soul was not made for itself alone. A large sphere within it was designed for its Maker's will; and another for the claims of its fellow-beings. The selfish principle has expelled both God and mankind from the spirit, and taken complete possession of the whole domain of thought, passion, and will. This is sin. Sometimes it takes the form of violence, sometimes of reckless concupiscence, sometimes of covetousness, sometimes of arrogance, and sometimes of vanity. So that the more wicked or selfish any man is, the vainer and prouder he becomes. That is, the less he has to glory in, the more stolid and confident he becomes in his bearing, both towards God and man; the more blind he is in his spirit, the less is his sense of danger; and the more completely he is shut up within the minute circle of himself, the less is his sense of want from Him who |