missionary-meeting night, charging them sixpence each, and handed me ten shillings as the result, towards the society's funds. I think you will conclude with me, that such instances as these are illustrations of practical Christianity. Such confessions and thanksgivings are highly commendable.

At Farnhurst, last week, a man and his wife decided for Christ. The husband decided on Sunday, and joined the church. On Tuesday evening both were present, having walked a mile-and-a-half after the day's toils. The wife decided for Christ, and gave her, hand to His people. May the good Lord establish their goings, for Christ's sake. Amen.

March 26th.

C. DENING.

BARNSTAPLE.

ON Sunday, April 10th, sermons in behalf of the Missionary society were preached in the Thorne Memorial Chapel, Bear-street; in the morning by the Rev. Cephas Barker (24 years a missionary in America), and in the afternoon and evening to crowded congregations, by the Rev. James Horwill (President of the Conference). The annual meeting was held on the following Tuesday under the presidency of Mr. J. Ley. After devotions, the chairman made a few appropriate remarks, and called upon the Rev. S. Allin to read the report, which recorded the position of the society in the fifty-ninth year of its existence. It was indeed a satisfactory report, and must have given pleasure to those who have subscribed towards the funds of the society. There was one part of the report, however-that which related to finance-which was not very encouraging, for it showed that there was a balance due to the treasurer of £1,511; but it was also announced that strenuous efforts were being made to liquidate that debt. During the past year, this circuit had contributed £33 7s., of which sum £5 35. came from Barnstaple.—The Rev. J. Horwill briefly expressed his sympathy with mission work, and his gratification that it was more popular and extensive to-day than it had ever before been; and the Rev. C. Barker then proceeded with his address, which lasted over an hour and-a-half. During that time he effectually kept the attention of his audience with an account of his experience of mission work in Canada, where he had laboured for 24 years. He gave a description of the country, and compared it with England-in some respects to the discredit of the latter. In Canada they had no Established Church, and therefore no tithes, although as they knew, there were several Church of England missionaries there. He also remarked that the public-houses were closed on Sundays, as also on Saturday nights-greatly to the benefit of the people. Mr. Barker varied his address with humorous anecdotes that had come under his own notice, and with stories of marvellous conversions through the teaching of the missionaries. In conclusion, he showed how prosperous the Bible Christian cause was in Canada, and mentioned that it had been self-supporting for a number of years; and therefore he did not ask them to help support the churches in that country, but to assist in sending the gospel to the heathen of other lands, and into the back lanes and alleys of the large towns of England.—After the usual votes of thanks, the interesting meeting closed with the doxology, a collection amounting to £8 4s. 2d., being £3 15s. more than last year's, having previously been made in aid of the funds of the Society. -North Devon Journal.

Will the pastors and their colleagues collect the promises due, and audit the books and cards in the hands of the collectors ?

C. HOBBS, Treasurer.
W. HIGMAN, Agent.

BRIEF NOTES.

We know of no Connexional event for the month more worthy of grateful recognition than the fact that the Annual Juvenile Missionary effort at Redcliff Crescent chapel, Bedminster, has this year reached the noble sum of £85!

THE Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society, Haddington Road Chapel, Morice Town, Devonport, appears from a report of its proceedings which we cannot find room for, to be worked with comfort and efficiency.

A SUCCESSFUL chapel anniversary was held at Clapham on Easter Sunday and Monday. Mr. J. C. Honey and two or three of the brethren in London, with Mr. H. W. Taylor, rendered valuable and valued aid. James Goodman, Esq., proved himself to be an efficient and liberal chairman. Profits of the anniversary about £13. The congregations and the school have of late increased, the divine influence is rich and powerful in the assemblies of God's people, and several interesting conversions have occurred.

THE anniversary of Chipstead Chapel, Sevenoaks Circuit, was held on Good Friday. The Preachers' and Quarterly meetings were held on the same day. Receipts continue to advance a little. Mr. Bourne preached in the afternoon, and lectured on " Billy Bray" in the evening. Tea, well attended, and collections liberal. Mr. Cann preached on the following Sunday.

THE foundation stone of a new chapel at Grampound was laid on Easter Monday by Mr. A. Pendarves Vivian, M.P., for West Cornwall. In his address he said he did so with pleasure because, although an attached member of the Church of England, he knew they were working for the same end and for the same Master, and Cornwall owed much to Methodism in times past. He knew what it was in the far West to miss the little places of worship that dotted our land, and which, he believed, had much to do with the quiet English Sunday. He had known Sundays in the far West and on the Continent, and he opposed the opening of museums on Sundays because he dreaded anything that would tend to Continentalise the English Sunday. He did not believe people who now went to publichouses would go to museums if they were open, and he was of opinion that we should close the public-houses and notopen the museums.

THE Missionary receipts for the Holsworthy and Shebbear Circuits will be several pounds in advance in each case.

THORNHILLHEAD and Cookbury (Shebbear Circuit) chapel anniversary services on Good Friday were most successful.

OUR readers will be glad to hear that there has been a blessed revival at Bridge

water.

THE South Australian Conference began its Sessions on Wednesday, Feb. 23rd. Br. J. Rowe is President, aud J. Stoyel, Secretary. The Missionary accounts for the year are balanced, and about £350 for the reduction of the debt has come in. Bowden people have cleared off the debt on their Chapel of over £500. The increase of members is 96.

150 souls have been converted in the Weare Circuit since November. Allerton, Draycott, Weare, and South Brent are the places that have been specially visited.

Brief Notices of Books.

The Pulpit Commentary. Edited by the Rev. CANON SPENCE, M.A., and the Rev. JOSEPH S. EXELL. Joshua. Second Edition. C. Kegan Paul

and Co. (Frice 12s. 6d.)

THE fact that a second edition of this Commentary on Joshua has been so soon called for, is sufficient evidence that the work meets a felt want in an adequate manner. This it unquestionably does, and this is the highest praise that can be accorded it. All parts of it are not of equal merit, but slipshod work is conspicuous by its absence. The volume contains an elaborate introduction to the historical books, Joshua to Nehemiah, and another to the book of Joshua proper. The Rev. J. J. Lias, M.A., seems to have done his work very carefully, and some of the Homilies, notably those by the Rev. Dr. De Pressensé, and the Rev. R. Glover, seem to us of unusual excellence.

The King's Messenger; or, Lawrence Temple's Probation. By the Rev. W. H. WITHROW, M.A. Toronto: Methodist Book and Publishing House. THIS is a capital story. Its author says it has been received, he thinks, with greater favour than it deserves. But its readers generally will be of the opinion that it deserves all the favour it has received. There is much in it not only to please the imagination, but to touch the heart, and to stimulate to heroic effort in the Lord's work. We have seldom read a work of this kind with more interest, or one that we could recommend with greater confidence.

Robert Hall. By the Rev. E. PAXTON HOOD. Hodder and Stoughton. THIS is a notable addition to the "Men worth Remembering" series. Robert Hall as a pulpit orator, and as a conversationalist, has been but seldom equalled. We know from the testimony of a most intimate personal friend of his, confirmed by many incidents which the same friend has told us, that for humility, for spiritual fervour, and for unaffected simplicity, he deserves to be imitated as much as for his extraordinary mental powers he is to be admired. Mr. Hood has executed his task with much sympathy, and his pages are, we should say, sufficiently bright and sparkling to arrest the attention of the dullest reader.

The Tabernacle of Israel, and its Priests and Sacrifices. By WILLIAM BROWN. Fifth Edition. With numerous Illustrations. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier.

THIS cheap edition of a most valuable work will be hailed with delight by a wide constituency of readers. Mr. Brown has evidently mastered his subject, and he

writes with that due admixture of modesty and confidence which irresistibly carries conviction home to the understanding and heart.

The Old Miller and his Mill. By the Rev. MARK GUY PEARSE. Twelve Illustrations. Wesleyan Conference Office. (Price 1s.)

THIS little volume is another proof, if it were needed, of Mr. Pearse's skill to construct a parable that shall at the same time afford pleasure and instruction to all classes of readers. It is a grand gift to be able to teach important and serious lessons in so easy and delightful a manner.

Man: his Relation to the Unseen. By the Rev. J. WOOLCOCK. Bible Christian Book Room.

THIS is a very able lecture, and many an old argument is employed with singular freshness and vigour. Its wide circulation cannot fail to do good.

Our Miscellany.

THE LATE EARL OF BEACONsfield.

THE death of this distinguished man has been received throughout the world, by both high and low, by political foes as well as friends, with feelings of profound sympathy and regret. His career certainly furnishes the most wonderful example that the century has produced, of the possibility, in a great and free country, of a man, while owing nothing to birth or fortune, but possessing brilliant gifts of oratory, and the still nobler endowments of a sublime patience, r high courage, amounting almost to audacity, and indomitable perseverance, reaching the very highest distinction, and exercising the most potent influence. With the political opinions of the deceased statesman it would be affectation on our part to profess, even at this moment, the slightest sympathy; many portions of his political conduct are open, in our view, to the gravest censure; but he has written, by sheer force of character, his name large in the "History of our own Times," and it may be, to some appreciable degree, he has shaped and determined the future of our country. There are but two or three names in the whole world, and only one Englishman, whose removal would leave so large a gap as does that of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield.

DR. W. MORLEY PUNSHON.

THE announcement of the death of Dr. Punshon will be received everywhere with profoundest sorrow. It is not simply the Wesleyans, but the whole church, that will feel his loss. He might have achieved distinction, so rich and rare were his talents, in almost any sphere; but happily for others, and probably also for himself, he was fully content to be an “ambassador for Christ," and to employ all his powers in "beseeching men to be reconciled to God." He was “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures." There are but few pulpit orators of equal eminence; in his own church he had no compeer, and has left no successor. It is mainly by the reputation of such as he that many are first drawn to places of worship, to listen to the preaching of "Christ and Him crucified," and these often become enough interested in the Gospel itself as to hear it afterwards from the lips of others. The influence for good, therefore, of such leaders as Dr. Punshon must be measured by another standard than that which is applied to

ordinary men, though in his ministry there was much fruit of the kind that every godly minister most rejoices in. Dr. Punshon's delight in his work was such that it was a "rapture to live;" and his faith in the Invisible was so strong, that in death the Saviour was to him "a bright_reality." The removal in one year of Dr. Jobson, Samuel Coley, Sir Francis Lycett, and now Dr. Punshon, must be an almost irreparable loss to the Wesleyan Church; and our only relief as an outsider, deeply sympathizing with it in its trials and successes, is that when our Heavenly Father is thus pruning it, it is that it may bear even yet more abundant fruit.

EARTHQUAKES AT CHIO.

THE destruction of life and property through these visitations has been enormous The vivid yet painful details, with which our readers must be familiar, will we hope move them to join others in sending relief to the numerous sufferers, who in many instances have lost their friends and their property, besides being themselves much injured.

THE IRISH LAND BILL

HAS been introduced into the House of Commons by the Prime Minister. It has been received by moderate men of all parties with much satisfaction. We possess not a sufficient knowledge of the details of the measure to be able to pronounce an opinion on its merits, but its principles seem to us just and comprehensive, and we hope that it may, after it has been in part simplified and amended, speedily become law, and work a great and beneficent change in the spirit and temper of the great bulk of the Irish people.

CONNEXIONAL DEBTS: CONGRATULATION AND

EXHORTATION.

WE heartily congratulate our friends in Canada on the near completion of their graad effort to free themselves from that incubus of debt which has pressed so heavily on them for several years past. If this is to be the year of their release, we fervently hope that its reflex influence on our friends in this country will be such that they will respond heartily to any well conceived scheme to secure the same result, and that a very early Conference, the next if possible, may devise such a scheme. It was not perhaps wise, though it seemed unavoidable, to become so deeply involved; it certainly is not consistent to continue to be thus involved. Meanwhile, much may be done by meeting every kind of expense as far as possible locally, and by using the most strenuous efforts to increase the receipts. Let the friends in every place be determined to well sustain the funds, especially those of the Missionary society, and do something special besides, for some object. Let that special effort be put forth on behalf of the object for which it can be worked most effectually, as more benefit may be derived indirectly from a great effort say, to remove all the chapel debts in a circuit, than from a small and insignificant one made directly in behalf of the Missionary society. The gracious revivals of the year must, we think, tell favourably on the receipts, and the revival of trade when it comes, as come it must soon, in our opinion, will accelerate our progress.