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Such infidelity is not to be met by arguments or appeals, by sending missionaries or building chapels, but by giving clear proof that there is something nobler in religion than these professors exhibit. The objection must be refuted in the warehouse and the workshop, rather than in the pulpit and the bible-class; for the followers of Jesus may be sure that when a holiness which worldly rules could never attain begins to characterize their conduct, then, but not till then, the world, seeing their good works, will glorify their Father who is in heaven." -(Pp. 95, 96.)

But we have quoted at so much greater length than we had intended, that we must deny ourselves the pleasure of further extracts, as well as omit some remarks of our own; the whole chapter, however, though we might not venture accordance with every opinion in it, will be perceived to be worthy of earnest study; and we cannot but think that he would be a benefactor to the churches who would reprint it, and circulate it amongst ministers and members of every christian denomination.

The chapter on "The Press" is of course peculiarly attractive to us. Mr. Green quotes the fact, proved by Mr. Oakey, and which cannot be too often repeated, viz., that the grand total issue of publications whose influence is all on the side of moral corruption, is 28,162,000 per annum ; and that, on the other hand, adding together the issues of Bible Societies, the entire issues of the Tract Society, from hand-bill to volume, and the entire circulation of every religious periodical and denominational magazine, they amount to but 24,411,620. Add to these statistics, the important fact that the religious literature referred to circulates chiefly among professing christians of the middle classes, while that of a demoralizing character finds its way in a very large proportion to the houses and haunts of the poor; and then think of the great inadequacy of the vast majority of the religious publications to the wants and wishes of the working classes, and surely we have a loud call, which cannot but be heard, upon the earnestness and piety of christian men everywhere. "The children of this world are," indeed," in their generation, wiser than the children of light."

But we must forbear. We must not, however, forget to thank Mr. Green for his approval of our own little periodical, "The Appeal." The "Hints to the Working People" in the last chapter, are, though brief, very judicious. We commend the entire volume to the careful perusal of every class of our readers; and shall be glad to

meet our brother, who is already known as a rising young minister in our own denomination, and as the author of several excellent publications for Sunday School Teachers, whenever again he commits his thoughts to the press.

THE WORKING MAN'S FRIEND. Parts I to 8. London: John Cassell.

Though this Periodical may be supposed by some to interfere, in some degree, with our own publications, we have not, on that account, like a well-known contemporary, refused to advertise it on our cover, nor are we now in any degree reluctant to give it our hearty recommendation. It is, indeed, an admirable publication; conducted with great energy and judgment, written in generally forcible language, and altogether of an earnest, elevating tendency. The Monthly Supplementary Numbers, devoted to contributions from the Working Classes, are, of course, peculiarly interesting. A very pleasing feature is also being presented by the insertion of a Series of Tales and Sketches illustrative of the Condition of our Operative Population. We do not know the circulation which the periodical has attained; bát we hope it is such as will repay the exertions of the publisher, and enable him to sustain for the work the high character it has so soon gained.

Recent Publications.

Ministerial Support and Ministerial Efficiency; or, The Duty of Dissenting Congregations in Relation to the Pecuniary Support of the Ministry. (Pp. 36. London: B. L. Green.) A highly intelligent and well-reasoned tract, full of excellent and weighty truths. It is admirably adapted to put into the hands of those who, on the one hand, question the scripturalness or the desirableness of ministerial support, or, on the other, are grudging and ungenerous in their efforts for ministerial maintenance.

Baptismal Regeneration as maintained by the Church of England, a Letter to the Rev. J. Scholefield, M.A. (London: Benj. L. Green.)-A keen exposure, by a young Baptist minister, of a should-be evangelical Greek Professor's mystifications of the 'Anglican" baptismal service.

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What we should pray for as we oughtScriptural illustrations of the Lord's Prayer, designed especially for the assistance of brethren called upon to lead the devotions of the prayer-meeting, with a preface on extempore prayer, by D. Griffiths. (Pp. 28. London: A Hall & Co.)

A Page for the Young.

AFFECTING DEATH OF A SUNDAY

SCHOLAR.

Although children are often assured by their parents or teachers, that the young are exposed to calamity and death as much, or more, than those who are advanced in life, the admonition is too often disregarded, and they are slow to believe that "the flower may fade before 'tis noon," and youthful gaity and hope be extinguished in the darkness of the grave. The truth of this is confirmed by the following affecting

event.

Elizabeth Attwood, late of Canterbury, was a good little girl, and though only in her sixth year, belonged to the Sabbath school connected with the Baptist chapel in that city. Both to her school and teachers, she was much attached, and delighted to impart to her sisters the knowledge she had acquired. One Saturday afternoon, having been playing without doors for some time, she came in with her sisters, and after warming herself, stepped on a chair, and, unasked, requested her mother to hear her repeat her favourite hymn, which she had committed to memory from Rippon's Selection:

Lord, teach a little child,

Thy grace betimes impart;
And grant thy Holy Spirit may
Renew my infant heart.

Having gone through the hymn, she, of her own accord, repeated a second time

these verses:

To Him let little children come,

For He has said they may;

His bosom then shall be their home,

Their tears He'll wipe away.

For all that early seek His face,

Shall surely taste His love;
Jesus shall guide them by his grace,
To dwell with Him above.

Having paused a moment, she entreated her mother to hear her go through the whole yet once more, but engagements prevented; and she acceded to her fond parent's request in again going to play, her mother little supposing, however, that this was to prove the final act of her brief career. Shortly after this, having ventured too near a brickkiln in an adjoining field, her clothes caught fire. Immediately she was enveloped in flames, her playmates fled in dismay,-and

before aid could be rendered, poor Elizabeth had sustained such injury, that death terminated her sufferings the following day. A few hours before her decease, it being Sabbath morning, she remarked, "I think I am strong enough to get up, and should like to go to Sunday school, and be there in time." Dear child, she had taken her last lesson, and it is hoped had learnt it at the feet of Jesus.

To the youthful reader we would say, while you drop a tear over the fate of Elizabeth Attwood, remember you are alike liable to accident and death; and that nought will avail you then, but the favour of Him who has graciously declared, "I love them that love me, and those who seek me early shall find me."

THE FIVE PEACHES.

A peasant, returning from the city, brought with him five peaches, the most beautiful ones he could find. It was the first time his children had ever seen this fruit; therefore they admired them, and were delighted with their red cheeks and delicate down. The father then divided them among his four children, reserving one for their mother.

At evening, before the father went into their sleeping room, he asked them, "Well, how have the peaches tasted ?"

"Deliciously, dear father," said the eldest. "They are fine fruit, so juicy and sweet. I have carefully kept the stone, and I will plant it, and rear a tree."

"Good," replied the father; "that is acting prudently, and caring for the future, as becomes a farmer."

"I ate mine up at once, and threw away the stone," said the youngest, "and mother gave me half of hers." "Well," said the father, "you have not acted very wisely, but still naturally, and like a child. Wisdom will come by and by." The second son then said, "I picked up the stone which little brother threw away, and cracked it. There was a kernel in it just like a nut. But I sold my peach, and received for it money enough to buy twelve when I go to the city."

The father shook his head, and said, "It was wisely done, indeed, but it was not

natural or childlike. I think you are destined to be a merchant."

"And you, Edmund ?" asked the father. Edmund answered frankly and carelessly, "I carried my peach to our neighbour's son, the sick George, who is ill of fever. He refused to take it. Then I laid it upon

his bed and came home.'

"Well," said the father, "and who has made the best use of his peach ?"

Then all three cried out, "Brother Edmund!"

But Edmund was silent, and his mother embraced him with tears in her eyes.

Miscellaneous.

THE CHURCH AND THE WORKING CLASSES. -I have spoken of the ordinary strain of evangelical preaching, and I do not think the accuracy of my delineation will be questioned. It may, indeed, be doubted whether the evils referred to are of a kind especially to operate upon the working classes. Are they likelier, it may be said, than others more highly educated and superior in station, to crave a manly, thoughtful, and free exposition of religious truth? I believe that they are. The middle and higher ranks are now, in scarcely any measure, dependent upon the pulpit for intellectual food. This they find amply provided in books. They have therefore ceased, very generally, to look for instruction in the house of God. Nowhere can they less endure the being called to think. A little mental stimulus is all they wish. Hence the fact, at first sight so anomalous, that many of our most gifted laymen select and enjoy the ministry of preachers, whose chief characteristic is an elegant destitution of thought. The position of the_labouring classes is widely different. The pulpit is still their chief instructor. Such, at least, is its theoretical position; if forfeited, the fault is in itself. The Sabbath is often the only day, the sermon the only means, by which the intellectual activity, fostered, but unregulated, all the week, can be guided and controlled. Let this power be inactive or misused, and the Sunday newspaper, with influences even worse, will usurp the preacher's place. We may depend upon it, that the natural depravity of the unrenewed heart is not the only, nor the greatest, reason why the "Hall of Science," on a Sabbath evening, is crowded with eager listeners, while the neighbouring chapel is almost empty.-The great want of our age is simply a full and free exposition of the whole counsel of God. The fundamentals of the christian faith may be duly regarded, without being the theme of every sermon. There is a glorious superstructure too. Let christianity be inculcated as the all-regulating, all-controlling spirit of life. Its connexion with everything true and wise, generous and holy, lovely and of good report, should be the preacher's frequent theme. It should be proclaimed as the only source of freedom, the only bond of brotherhood. While it claims the right and the power to regene

rate the world, it should be seen girding itself for its mission. It should speak of common life, its duties and its evils, its trials and its cares, declaring that honest labour and patient endurance are themselves parts of religion, that the distinction between things secular and sacred is false, and that, in words which a modern thinker has caught from a kindred spirit in ancient time, and urged with eloquent comment, "Work is worship." Laborare est orare. It should remind the complacent loungers of the sanctuary, that their religion is not there, in the cushioned pew, in the melodious hymn, but out away in the stirring work of life, among their brother men, to be exemplified in high-principled integrity, equal justice, free-hearted benevolence. The glorious, yet most solemn declaration, "Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price," should demand other response than a pious sigh, or a liberal subscription. Boldly should the minister speak of every relation which man sustains to man, of business, service, or affection; setting forth its duties in the light of New Testament teaching, and as earnestly denouncing its perversions and deceits. Nay, why should political duty be omitted? Is it not a branch of morality as clear and defined as any other? Are not the principles of the gospel here most clearly applicable? Does not the exercise of political power contain the most fearful misconception and abuse of things spiritual? Wherefore, then, with delicate fastidiousness, pass it by? The celebrated apology of Leighton to his brethren, who reproached him for paying no regard in his preaching to the marvellous signs of the times in which he lived, seems little better than an unworthy evasion. "When so many," he said, "are preaching for the times, may not one poor brother preach for eternity?" It is a sonorous sentiment, but it will not bear analysis. A true regard to the interests and duties of the life that now is, is an essential preparation for the life that is to come. The man best fitted for earth is precisely the man best fitted for heaven. "Good people in our prayer-meetings often implore that their pastor may preach as a dying man to dying men; we would fain sometimes hear the petition, that he may preach as a living man to living men."-The Working Classes, by the Rev. S. G. Green.

Entelligence.

BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONS.

We have received the following letter from a correspondent in Sheffield. The remarks it includes are very appropriate and important, and we have much pleasure in commending it to our readers' attention:

Dear Sir,

Will you permit me, through the medium of your much-esteemed periodical, "The Church," to make a few remarks relative to our missions, and the interest manifested in them by the members of our churches?

The return of our Annual Mission Services favoured us with a visit from one of our devoted missionaries, the Rev. J. Makepeace. His clear, powerful, energetic elucidation of the effects of missionary labour, in the conversion of vast numbers of Europeans, as well as Hindoos, to the Saviour's cause, made a powerful impression on the audience; which was still increased by his relation of the almost insuperable difficulties they have to encounter from the various languages of the people, the vast extent of country to be traversed, and the tens of thousands of human beings sought to be rescued from debasing superstition by so small a band of veteran soldiers of the Cross, whose number is continually lessened by the hand of death. How deep and poignant was his feeling, when, after contrasting the amount of good effected there under all these difficulties, with what is done in our country with our numerous facilities, instead of the voice of encouragement and continued assurance of being sustained by the earnest prayers and liberal contributions of our churches, they are repeatedly urged to reduce their expenditure, to lessen the number of their stations, schools, &c. God has bestowed upon us, of late, abundance of cheap bread, plenty of trade and work for the lower classes, whereby all may, by honest industry and frugality, give to this great cause "as the Lord has prospered them." It becomes us, then, to enquire, why is it that the work of missions is not supported as formerly; or, rather, why our liberality does not bear some proportion to our increased benefits? Are our churches become callous to the object, or the great subject brought before them in all its force, so as to enlist the warmest sympathies of the renewed heart? I think not. Let us

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towns; but if they are conducted upon the same principle as they are with us, I much doubt their efficiency for sustaining the flame of missionary zeal amongst us. When these services were first commenced, they were hailed with delight, and the crowded assemblies shewed the warm interest they excited. Now, the body of one of our smallest places of worship, is more than sufficient to contain all, out of five or six churches, who feel any interest in the subject. This may be, partly, because the novelty has ceased. But if, instead of three long, dull, prosy prayers, and as equally dull an address from ministers, only the people were permitted to unite their supplications with their pastor, all thus pleading together for a blessing, a healthy vigour would reanimate the service, alike beneficial to all.

How seldom is the cause of missions made the great subject of our supplication at our weekly prayer-meetings. That it is not wholly omitted, is true; but it is only introduced incidentally, and generally clothed in a few thread - bare expressions. Why can we not have a Missionary Meeting every month, when the ministers might read from our Missionary Herald some of the most striking facts, and speak to the people in strains calculated to excite their interests and warm their affections? Or, why might not those who are able, and who feel deeply on these subjects (for we have many such among us), exhort their brethren to greater diligence and self-sacrifice for this noble object?

Surely nothing would be so calculated to inflame our hearts with love and concern for the souls of those who are perishing around us, as thus pleading with God and each other, on behalf of the heathen abroad.

Mr. M. asked if the very small sum of one halfpenny per week could not be raised by each member throughout our churches? No doubt it might, and more, if the duty of such an effort was urged upon them. But I am inclined to think very few, comparatively, of the humbler class of our church members ever see the Herald, and but very seldom hear extracts from it, consequently, are as ignorant of what is doing abroad, as they are of their own duty towards them at home. As an instance of this, a female servant was so struck with Mr. M.'s powerful address, that she exclaimed, with tears. "How is it? I have never heard these statements before. I am resolved, so long as the Lord gives me strength to work, I will give twopence a week for so glorious a cause." Rather than these men of God should be curtailed in their work and labour of love, let the committees in every town urge on each of their fellow-members to relinquish some personal enjoyment,-some costly gratification at home. Is it a time

to indulge in any fondness for display in our persons, our houses, or our churches, while our band of missionaries are contemplating the fearful consequences resulting from deserted stations, and forsaken converts? What kind of gratification can we derive from painted windows, and splendid decorations, with fine-toned music from the organ, while they are toiling, and struggling, and dying, in the midst of unheard of difficulties, for want of that aid it is in the churches' power to supply.

Allow me to suggest the propriety of our ministers urging on the attention of all classes of our Societies, the interesting details narrated in "The Herald;" making it a text-book from whence to arouse our sluggish zeal, and excite to deeds of selfdenial and consecration, to the cause of Him who has redeemed us from death by his blood.

I am, dear Sir,

A FRIEND OF MISSIONS.

BAPTIST UNION OF SCOTLAND. The Annual Meetings of the Baptist Union of Scotland, and of the Theological Academy connected with it, were held in Glasgow, July 30th and 31st, and Aug. 1st, the Rev. J. Taylor presiding. The annual sermon was preached on the evening of July 30th, by the Rev. F. Johnston of Edinburgh; and the report, which was read on the following day, shewed a considerable amount of good effected, and a considerable increase in the number both of churches and members. On the 1st of August the annual public breakfast and meeting of the Theological Academy was held. The report stated that nine students had attended during the last session, and that those previously in the academy were successfully employed in various important fields of labour.

NAUNTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

The opening of the new Baptist Chapel, recently erected in the above village, took place on Friday, August 2nd, 1850. The weather was remarkably fine, the attendance unusually and unexpectedly large, and the entire engagements of the day were of the most interesting and sacred character. The services of the opening commenced by a prayer-meeting at nine o'clock, a.m., when the Rev. J. Acock, of Stow-on-the-Wold, presided; at half-past ten the introductory prayer was offered by Mr. Acock, after which the Rev. J. Statham, of Bourton-onthe-Water, read and prayed, and the Rev. J. Aldis, of London, delivered a powerful and impressive sermon, from the last clause of 1 Cor. xi. 26. About 500 persons afterwards dined together in spacious tents which had been erected for the purpose, and at half-past two, p.m., a public meeting was held. Over this meeting Thos. Nicholson, Esq. of Lydney, presided, and prayer was offered by the Rev. J. Jackson of Coate. The Rev. J. Teall, the pastor of the church at Naunton, then read the report; Mr. Comely, of Notgrove, one of the deacons, gave a statement of the cash ac

count; and addresses were delivered by the Revs. J. Statham, J. Acock, J. Jackson, E. Hull, J. Hockin, N. Haycroft, and J. Aldis. At the close of this meeting 1300 friends drank tea together; and at six o'clock, so large was the assembly, it was found necessary to divide the congregation, and to have preaching in the open air, as well as within the chapel. Mr. Aldis kindly and readily consented to take this additional service, and preached from Isaiah Iv. 3. At the same time the chapel, vestries, and schoolroom were crowded in every part, and the Rev. N. Haycroft, M. A. from Bristol, delivered an eloquent and appropriate discourse from 2 Cor. xii. 2-4. The services connected with the opening were continued over Lord's-day, August 4th, when Mr. Haycroft preached morning and evening.

RYDE.

The foundation stone of the Schools and Vestries in connexion with the intended Baptist Chapel, was laid on Monday evening, September 2nd, when the Rev. Samuel Lillycrop, of Windsor, addressed the spectators on the necessity for more places of Nonconformist Worship in this fast increasing and important watering place, the Rev. Dr. Ferguson (Independent) offered a most appropriate prayer, and the pastor of the infant cause, the Rev. W. Newell, after singing, concluded this part of the service by prayer. The members of the church and friends then adjourned to their temporary preaching room, when the remainder of the evening was spent in suitable addresses, prayer, and praise.

ASTWOOD BANK, WORCESTERSHIRE.

The Rev. John Phillips, for nearly thirteen years pastor of the Baptist church, Southwell, Notts, has accepted a cordial and unanimous invitation from the church at Astwood Bank, near Redditch, Worcestershire, which for fifty-five years enjoyed the ministrations of the late Rev. James Smith, and intends to enter upon the duties of the pastorate the first Sabbath in October.

WHITESTONE, NEAR HEREFORD.

The Rev. J. Ramsey, late of Gloucester, having accepted the unanimous and cordial invitation of the Baptist church meeting at Whitestone Chapel, near Hereford, commenced his labours among them on Lord's-day, August 25th.

HUNSLET, NEAR LEEDS.

Mr. John Bamber, of Oswaldtwisle, having received an unanimous invitation to the pastorate of the Baptist Church at Hunslet, commenced his stated labours there on the first Lord's-day in Septem

ber.

STANNINGLEY, Yorkshire.

Mr. Hilyard, of Shiffnall, Shropshire, having received an unanimous and cordial invitation to the pastorate of the Baptist church, Stanningley, commenced his stated labours there on Lord's-day, August 18th.

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