distress which existed amongst a large class of the labouring community. This emigration would furnish an additional reason why the coffers of the society would be diminished, and hence they must renew their appeal to the public for support. The annual report was then read. It stated that the total income of the society amounted to £93,326 5s. 6d. The total number of members of the church, according to the late census in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, was 47,744, the increase being considerably beyond the rate of increase in the population. In Frederickton, the bishop calculated that from the year 1795, the society had expended upwards of £200,000 in the support of missions in New Brunswick, and still urged upon the colonists the duty of relieving the society of the annual charge-still amounting, inclusive of pensions, to little less than £4,000. The number of church people was 42,000. The clergy, many of whom were very poor, most generously responded to this appeal, their subscriptions, including £300 from the bishop, being £1,260. In the diocese of Montreal, the number of clergymen and catechists, holding cures, had increased to 60 of the former, and 7 of the latter, and at the same time every effort had been made to render the church more self-supporting. In 1850, there were only 7 clergymen who were not receiving some assistance from funds raised in England; but of the 67 clergymen and catechists now engaged there were 30 wholly supported from within the diocese. There were now 64 consecrated churches, 13 others in use, but for various reasons not yet consecrated, making 77, and 5 still in course of erection. 30 of the above churches have been consecrated since September, 1850, and they had also 34 consecrated graveyards. There are 36 parsonage houses, of which 19 have been built or purchased since 1850, and two others are in course of erection, The general funds raised for all purposes within the diocese, during the year 1861, amounted very nearly to £12,000. In Ontario, Columbia, in the West Indies, in Borneo, and the Australian colonies, &c., similar efforts had been made, and with corresponding results. The report was adopted, as also were several resolutions in furtherance of the objects of the society.

COLONIAL AND CONTINENTAL
CHURCH SOCIETY.

THE anniversary meeting of this society was held at Exeter Hall, Lord H. CHOLMONDELEY in the chair. The report stated that the income for the year ending March 31, 1863, amounted to £16,974 17s. 5d., in addition to home funds for the fugitive slave mission, £744 14s. 5d.; making a total of £17,719 11s. 10d. To colonial funds raised and expended abroad, £9,671 6s. 8d.; and continental funds raised and expended abroad, £1,940; making a grand total of receipts of £29,350 18s. 6d., increased by a balance from the previous year of £421 1s. 4d.-in all making £390 3s. 7d. above the income of any preceding year. The expenditure for home amounted to £17,502 13s.; colonial, £9,671 6s. 8d.; and continental, £1,940,

leaving a balance of £638 0s. 2d. The report announced the appointment of the late secretary to the bishopric of Goulburn, in Australia, and detailed the good results of their efforts in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the West India Islands, Africa, as well as India, China, and Mauritius, and concluded by stating that the society's operations had extended to 7,000,000 of settlers abroad of British origin, 1,000,000 of Irish, and 1,000,000 of the African race in the West. The Bishop of Melbourne moved the adoption of the report, which was seconded by Mr. F. O'Malley, and carried unanimously. The Bishops of Goulburn and Mauritius having addressed the meeting, it was concluded with prayer.

THE ASYLUM FOR IDIOTS AT
EARLSWOOD.

THE annual general meeting was held at the London Tavern on Thursday, April 30th, to elect thirty applicants-viz., five for life and twenty-five for five years. The number of candidates was 160, of whom twenty-one were on the life-case list. Mr. Alderman ABBISS presided. There had been an increase in the income of £1,000. A charter had been obtained. The Prince of Wales had extended his patronage to the charity. The inmates of the asylum numbered 337. The gross income, including balance of £1,446 10s. 4d. on hand at the last audit, had been £21,675 14s. 3d The pupil's payments had amounted to £6,993 17s. 9d. The legacies had been £2,540 14s. 3d., among which had been £1,000 left by the Rev. Dr. Andrew Reed, and a like amount by Mrs. Ann Cutts. After meeting the necessary expenditure, a balance remained of £915 16s. 3d. Mr. J. D. Allcroft moved the adoption of the report. Mr. Sturge moved as an addition, " That, in future, the books and all the accounts of the charity be open to the inspection of every subscriber at the office, 29, Poultry, every Tuesday and Friday, from ten a.m. to four p.m." Mr. Barnet seconded the addition. The chairman criticised with some warmth the statements which Mr. Sturge had published, asserting that they were quite unfounded. He could not consent to the addition proposed by Mr Sturge. Mr. Jones advised the dissatisfied subscribers to withdraw their subscriptions for the benefit of the charity. On the vote being taken, five hands were held up for the amendment. The report was then adopted, after which the election was proceeded with.

ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE WELFARE OF THE BLIND.

THE ninth annual meeting of this society was held at St. James's Hall, the Archbishop of YORK in the chair, supported by Lord Ebury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Bishop of Chichester, the Bishop of St. Asaph, Professor Owen, &c. The Rev. Mr. Reid, the secretary, read the report, which stated that 170 blind persons were at the present time receiving the assistance of this society-61 being supplied with work at their own homes, at sums vary

public work became manifest. On one occasion an individual who was chiefly depended upon to assist in the service was prevented being present, and Mr. Ottee was induced to pray and expound a passage of Scripture, which he did so much to the satisfaction and admiration of the most intelligent persons present, that application was soon after made to Mr. Bridge, the pastor of the churches formed at Yarmouth and Norwich, with a request that he would encourage so promising a young man to devote himself to the ministry. But the young man was prudent for his years, and diffident as to his qualifications, while experience and observation had taught Mr. Bridge to exercise caution. He had known some who had been encouraged to devote themselves to the ministry in this way, that had disappointed the expectations of their friends. This case was not decided until Mr. Brindley, the exemplary and persecuted parish minister of Yarmouth, was consulted. He had repeated conversations with Mr. Ottee on the subject, and became so satisfied as to his knowledge of the Scriptures, his gifts, his seriousness of spirit, and exemplary conversation, as to join in cordially recommending him to apply himself to the great duties of the ministry of the Gospel. If this spirit of self-diffidence, united with fervent piety on the one hand, and sacred caution blended with Christian kindness on the other, more generally prevailed in introductions to the ministry of divine truth, how happy would be the results!

When Mr. Ottee had decided on this point, he had such a sense of the responsibility connected with it, that he could not allow himself to think of blending ministerial engagements with the pursuits of trade. Such was the settled convictions to which he had attained, that the work of the ministry was sufficient for one man, that he afterwards expressed himself on this subject in the following manner:-"There is nothing more plain in Scripture than this,—that those whom God hath set apart to the work of the ministry are exempted from

other worldly trades and callings. It hath been an abuse in this nation to think that men may trade, and buy and sell, and run into all worldly business, and yet undertake the preaching of the Gospel; yea, some there are, called the 'regular clergy,' yet give themselves too much to farming, buying, selling, and secular employments; this does come short of their calling, for mind what the Apostle says to Timothy, Till I come, give thyself to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.'"

Mr. Ottee appears to have been residing in Beccles when an Independent church was formed in that place during the days of the Commonwealth. In the year 1656 he accepted the pastoral charge of the people, with whom he had long "held sweet counsel." The cir cumstance is thus recorded in the church book:-"12 No. 56, Mr. Otty made pastor by the church." When the meetings of the Independents were held at the Savoy, September 29th, 1658, it was agreed by the church "that Mr. Ottee should go to that meeting on its behalf, and that the charge of the journey should be mutually borne by the brethren of the society."

The passing of the Act of Uniformity had, according to Dr. Calamy, the immediate effect of silencing two ministers of Beccles, Mr. John Clark and Mr. Ottee. Of the former no account has been handed down. The latter appears to have been enabled by his own prudence, and through the respect which a holy and benevolent character often receives from the worldly and narrowminded, to continue the more private exercise of his ministry.

Notwithstanding the passing of the "Conventicle Act" and the "Five Mile Act," designed more effectually to crush the dissenting congregations and separate their pastors from them, he appears to have gone on through the remaining years of the Stuart dynasty, preaching the Gospel to his people in Beccles. And God continued to bless his labours among them to the end of his days. He presided over his church

His preaching was as solid and useful as it was plain, and it met with approbation both from ministers and private Christians of all denominations.

Towards the close of his life he had many warnings of putting off his tabernacle. With a view to his own consolation under these circumstances, and to the edification of his flock, he preached in the mornings of the Lord's days a course of sermons upon the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. These were amongst his last discourses. They were heard with deep and affectionate interest; and having been taken down in short-hand from the lips of the preacher, were published soon after his decease. In these discourses, it is stated, there is ample evidence of the orthodox character of Mr. Ottee's views. "They indicate his belief in the doctrine of original sin, of the consequent moral inability of man to effect his own salvation, of the indispensable importance of the change called the new birth, of the Trinity, of the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ, of the atonement made by Him for sin, of the obligation resting upon all men to apply themselves to the exercise of prayer, and to lead a life of personal holiness, and the vanity of trusting to the mere mercy of God, irrespectively of the channel through which He has revealed His willingness to bestow it. Mr. Ottee closed his useful career about the end of April, 1689, a few days before the Toleration Act" laid a basis for the gradual attainment of religious liberty.

He was emphatically a Protestant Nonconformist. With him, personal piety was the first consideration. But Protestantism held scarcely an inferior place in his esteem. On this subject his style rises to animation. "What prophet or what apostle," he exclaims, " said anything for the worshipping of images? Or what apostle or what prophet said anything to warrant the praying in an unknown tongue? What prophet, or

said anything of the sacrifice of the mass for the living and the dead? Ob, filthy trash! What prophet, or apostle, or penman of the Scripture, hath said anything concerning praying of souls out of purgatory, or of having mass read for them? What prophet, or apostle, or Christ himself, said anything of purgatory, or crossing themselves, or their childish crosses and beads? Of these popish superstitions God had said nothing in all His word. And therefore the people of God must never meddle with these things, and if you be tempted or solicited to any ceremony, ask the question, Have Moses or the prophets, or Christ or His apostles, said anything to this matter that you are so zealous for? O search the Scriptures, and what you find there you are to practise in faith and in the fear of God."

Nor did he hesitate to avow his objections to a church which retained any traces of the superstitions of Popery. "As for us that have the reformed religion, how many amongst us delight to worship God after the law of a carnal commandment? Are there not too many amongst us which are more for old abrogated ceremonies than they are for a Gospel worship! Bewail and lament the apostacy of this generation. Are their priestly vestments profitable, their crossings and cringings profitable? What profit is there in bowing the knee at the name Jesus? These painted and carnal ceremonies do shut out the light of the Gospel, for the light of the Gospel shines out more pure and clear in the plain administration of the Gospel, and therefore all these things, which carnal men so magnify, are unprofitable."

Such were the decided views of this devoted servant of God, and the more fully the Nonconformist churches of our land adhere to such principles, the higher will be their standing, and the greater their prosperity.

THOMAS COLEMAN.
Ashley, near Harborough,
May 7th, 1863.

A Morning beside the Lake of Galilee. By JAMES HAMILTON, D.D., F.L.S. Nisbet and Co.

THIS little volnme is worthy of its loveable and loving author. It is radiant with such beauties as only genius, sanctified by the Gospel, can produce. The themes and the author given, the public will be at no loss to infer the result. In the present case, the title comes very short of the matter of the book. It is rich in the extreme. Peter and John are made to do noble service.

The Works of Thomas Goodwin, D.D. Vol. VI. Containing the Work of the Holy Ghost in our Salvation. Nichol; and Nisbet & Co. Of all that Mr. Nichol has yet sent forth, there has been nothing better than this: of Goodwin's own golden productions this is, in some respects, the most precious. At any time it would have been a priceless boon to the churches of Christ; at the present moment it is peculiarly so. Had the work now appeared for the first time it would have been the work of the age. This is theology of the first water. Would that all who are concerned in teaching their fellow-men would but make it a manual. It is worth a mountain of the stuff, the garbage, on which millions are ravenously feeding.

The Literary Characteristics and Achievements of the Bible. By W. TRAIL, A.M. A. and C. Black.

THIS is a task of equal difficulty and importance. It is the only complete view of the subject in our language; some of the parts had been elaborated before, but it was reserved for Mr. Trail to exhibit the whole. aspect, it is a book of evidence, and in every view a book of instruction. It is a work alike suited for the humble saint and for the man of science. Its intellectual

In one

qualities are very high, and they cannot fail to be appreciated. The fame of the writer is established, and, which he will value far more, he has performed a very distinguished service to the interests of religion. It is worthy to take rank with the best works of the century. It is crammed with matter, well-reasoned, and admirably written.

Christmas Evans: a Memoir. By the Rev. D. M. Evans.

THIS is a choice book, a masterly exhibition of the rare powers and mighty services of the distinguished man its subject. We set great store by it, and feel assured it will take a powerful hold on the mind of the churches. We never before had a full view of the claims of this renowned preacher, a prince in his order. The selections from his sermons will greatly enhance the value of the work, and so will the sketches of his contemporaries. The glimpses into the religious life of Wales, too, will be greatly prized. To Christian men and Christian orators, the book will alike and greatly commend itself. In every view it is both a curiosity and a treasure.

Homilies and Communion Discourses. By JAMES SMITH, A.M. A. and C. Black. THESE Homilies and Discourses have the merit of soundness and solidity: they are fair samples of a clear and manly ministration of the Gospel. With nothing to dazzle, there is much to instruct, strengthen, and edify.

Standard Readers. By J. S. LAURIE. Longman and Co.

THESE Volumes, six in number, possess every excellence appropriate to such publications. They have special claims to the attention of the higher, and the highest order of academic institutions.

Ir will be in the recollection of a portion of the readers of the Christian Witness, that some years ago there was an American student, a Mr. Hammond, in the University of Edinburgh, who, while carrying on his studies, was exceedingly useful in occasional efforts for the salvation of men. The effects which attended his endeavours were surprising. He was the undoubted instrument of extensive conversion amongst all classes

of society, and exercised an especial influence over children. His labours were generally approved, and he received co-operation from all denominations of Christians.

On returning to America, Mr. Hammond at once betook himself to his old work of evangelising, and his endeavours were everywhere followed by the same results as in Scotland, both in the States and in Canada. The following is a