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"First to Mary Magdalene."

all love Him. We are all His debtors for a thousand deliverances, and for 66 our own selves besides." Are our talents few, is our faith feeble, our knowledge dim, our courage and endurance frail? Let us by all means labour to have these improved; but do not let us despair so long as love is warm, and our hearts burn within us at the Saviour's name. Coldness of heart is in the Christian the unpardonable sin. Lack love, and you lack all. "Because thou art luke warm, I will spue thee out of my mouth." The loving, ardent disposition catches His notice and brings down His blessing. Love opens the door to every other grace. "If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him." “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much." "He appeared first to Mary Magdalene."

And, once more, we may see how love is our surest guide into the light. Dark to Mary, as to the rest of the disciples, that sorrowful Sabbath, and the morning of the day that followed. Hope lay dead; faith trembled in the balance against unbelief: it was love alone which patiently prepared its spices, and groped its way to the sepulchre.

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Charity never faileth." It was blind work; the stretching out of uncertain hands; the tottering through many obstacles of doubtful feet. But as love went to its work in the darkness, we know how the day suddenly broke, and all the shadows fled

away. We have to grope our way, sometimes, in the service of our Lord. We are plunged into gloom by some sore misfortune, some swift temptation, some sudden disappointment of dearest hopes. There rise round us doubts of Christ's presence, and of the truths in which we have trusted, and of the promises on which we have leaned, and of the end to which we are hastening. We cannot find

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our Lord. We cry with the disciples, "Master, carest thou not that we perish ?"

Let us hasten, at such times, to stir up the fire of love. That is not gone out. Have we not the recollections of mighty deliverances wrought for us in the past by Christ? Can we not remember the devils He has cast out of our souls, the sins He has forgiven, the tears He has dried? Does there not rise within us the memory of that hour when first He laid His hands on us and healed us? Have we not the vision of that cross on which He died for our sins? Let us meditate on these things. Let the gratitude which they kindle find appropriate expression in the selfdenying acts of Christian service. Tend the sick, teach the ignorant, minister to the Lord's brethren, as Mary sought to minister to Himself. And then the fire will burn; warmth will return to the chilled and trembling heart; we can surely steer by that light till morning dawns.

The morning will dawn. He will meet us, as He met her. We shall hear the voice which we love calling us by name; and answering with the joyful "Rabboni," we shall feel ourselves taken afresh into His confidence and care. It may come, before long; "early in the morning," as soon as His purposes make it possible. Or if your sorrow be a lifelong one, and in measure darken all your days unto the end, it is but a little while, and a yet brighter revelation shall be yours. You shall see Him as He is, in a garden where there is no sepulchre, in a communion which knows no end.

"O then shall the veil be removed,

And round me the brightness be poured; I shall meet Him whom absent I loved, I shall see whom unseen I adored." It cannot be otherwise. Love to Christ never goes unrecognised. It has its rewards here. It has them hereafter. "He appeared first to Mary Magdalene."

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A RETROSPECTIVE GOSSIP ABOUT MEN, BOOKS, &c.

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No. III.

BY THE REV. J. BURNS, D.D.

IN referring to the history and progress of our church, we must not forget a worthy brother lately deceased-Mr. Bissill, who had efficiently served the infant cause, and who removed from Commercial Road to reside in Paddington expressly to help the New Church Street interest. He had been very acceptable as a supply before the erection of the chapel, but the proprietor of the new place of worship concluded that it would not fill without additional or other talent than Mr. Bissill brought to it and it is not a very agreeable thing to remove a man who has done good and gratuitous service in his own comfortable way. But Mr. Wileman perceived that the entire labours of a minister must be given to the work, or the progress would be slow; and he, with his great energy, had no idea of waiting for years to secure the success he so earnestly desired. His own history had been the development and education of his mental powers under the gravest difficulties, and he had, by promptness and punctuality, and thorough devotedness, raised himself to great prosperity in business, and he desired for the newly established church similar rapid advancement. In many respects he was a wonderful man. His liberality was great, his readiness for self-sacrifice ever manifest, his effort to rise intellectually as well as secularly most laudable, his religious principles undoubted. But with these manifold excellencies there were naturally drawbacks that acted unfavourably. He brought his habits and spirit as an employer into the ecclesiastical domain, and seemed to expect the same subjection and entire obedience from all in the church, including the pastor, that

he enforced in his well regulated warehouse.

After Mr. Bissill's removal came his successor, a well educated student from College, whose usefulness, for the short time he occupied the pastorate, was very cheering; but again the course of action adopted produced friction and collision, so, as we previously intimated, the minister and three-fourths of the church withdrew, and formed the new interest in Edward Street, Boston Fields. The chapel which they hired was in a somewhat retired part, and where there was no thoroughfare, so that great success could scarcely be anticipated. But with the most self-sacrificing earnestness they laboured to sustain the pastor, and to secure for the church prosperity. The name of this new society formed in 1847 did not appear on our Minutes till 1837, and in 1841 Praed Street was substituted for it.

New Church Street had a respectable chapel, though small, in a new and good street, and close to the Edgware Road, but it was comparatively empty, affected as it had been by the two unhappy disruptions within the space of four years, so that now the work was both difficult and onerous.

Mr. Wileman, realizing the exigencies of the case, gave after a princely sort, or else even the hundred and twenty pounds of pastor's stipend, with more than twenty pounds ground rent, and above forty pounds incidentals, could not have been raised. But the pew proceeds rapidly increased, and the few members were growingly liberal. get home shelter in our respectable part of London, in a decent neighbourhood, was no easy task; but at

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A Retrospective Gossip about Men, Books, &c.

length, by paying one-third of my salary, I got a miserable house in that very creditable part, Paddington Green. And now came the question of the lads, and what to do with them. The eldest in his eleventh year, and the other in his eighth, both to be educated and pushed into the world for future employment.

My writing had now to be pursued with no lazy hand. It was really indispensable that the pen should do as much as the tongue, and the press as the pulpit. Rising early, before six, I was at my desk, and the morning and forenoon saw me hard at work; and very fortunately readers multiplied as the books were produced, and these as a rule made their appearance at the rate of three and four volumes in the year, besides lesser publications.

In this way education was secured for my sons, debt avoided, and in the meanwhile the members and friends were multiplied. My sons were sent for some time to a worthy man at Wendover, Mr. Talbot. His house was a real home to his pupils, and they all revered and loved him. In our College report it is still stated that this most excellent brother resigned; the fact is, he died, and of necessity resignation of every undertaking in this world followed. Perhaps this mistake might as well now be rectified. The progress of our church for the first ten years was to this effect: we baptized 485, and our receptions and dismissals from and to other churches were about equal. From time to time, besides paying off debt, we had made sundry improvements in our chapel, as enclosure of lobbies and stairs, erection of upper galleries, &c. But unfortunately the area of the building was limited, and we were packed in with houses and shops, &c.; but in 1849 we bought a cottage at the rear, and extended the chapel to the utmost possible point, at an expense of some £740, and enlarged our ground rent £10 per annum.

This

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afforded us considerable relief, and enabled us to give an increase of sitting accommodation to the poor.

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One of the most influential friends we had up to 1850 was Thomas Gwennap, Esq., the son of a distinguished minister, once pastor of the Baptist chapel, Saffron Walden, and intimate friend of Robert Robinson, of Cambridge. He was well educated, and one of the best informed men I ever met with; and having moved in the higher circles of life in his profession as dealer in paintings and articles of vertú generally, was a most charming friend and companion. During my first year's pastorate he united with us, his daughter taking charge of the Bible class, and he ever willing with expanded heart and liberal hand to help on the cause. He had no idea that his minister should receive less salary than he had given to his clerk, and thus my income was very soon substantially improved. For some years he was one of our unbaptized members, but when between seventy and eighty years of age he felt it his duty to put on the Lord Jesus by baptism. On the same occasion a Christian lady, upwards of seventy years of age, was baptized. His daily companion was Scott's Commentary, and often till midnight did he humbly and earnestly meditate on God's statutes. When he was far on towards eighty years old he began his total abstinence career, and though he was told by his physician that he could not digest food or live without the aid of brandy and water, he broke the fetter thus fastened on him, and did not die until he had attained his eighty-third year-so ignorant and foolish are many medical men on this question. Mr. Gwennap not only saved his brandy, but did not require one medical visit for ten he had formerly needed. I fancy the wheels of doctors' carriages are kept largely in motion by alcoholic prescriptions. Towards

the end of 1840, Mr. Wileman, and a number of friends, together with the members of the Edward Street church, took possession of a chapel that had been occupied by an Independent minister in Praed Street. The building was bought by Mr. Wileman, and thus a second General Baptist church in our immediate district was permanently established.

Mr. Underwood was invited, and accepted the pastorate. The usual liberality of the purchaser of the chapel was largely shared by the people, and they proceeded energetically to secure the building for the church by rapidly paying off the debt that had been incurred. Mr. Sarjant succeeded Dr. Underwood; and then Mr. J. J. Owen; and now for several years Mr. Clifford has been the minister of this church.

At the reopening of our chapel in 1849 we were assisted with the services of the late memorable Dr. Andrew Reed. My esteemed father in Christ, Rev. A. E. Farrar, Wesleyan minister, was also to have preached, but was then on his deathbed, and Rev. Mr. Brailsford supplied his place.

Among our other efforts the Foreign Mission drew largely on the sympathies of our people, and great sums were annually collected. Our Sabbath school produced a very considerable amount every year. But I felt it my duty, as I have stated, in the second year of my pastorate, to unite with the Temperance Society, and do our utmost, not only to rescue drunkards, but to preserve those around us from the deadly snares of intoxicating drinks. Our success was most cheering-a thousand persons signed the pledge at our meetings in one year.

Our

teachers and collectors for the Mission were amongst our most devoted teetotallers. But unhappily owing to the indiscretion of certain persons from whom better things might have been expected, the subscribers and collectors to the Mission who sym

pathized with the Temperance movement received such a check to their missionary zeal, that our collections went down seventy per cent., and have never rallied to this day. I believe in doing all we can, and much more than we do, for our Foreign Mission, but I equally believe that the souls of drunkards at home are quite as precious, and imperatively demand every sacrifice and exertion we can make for their rescue and salvation. Our own congregation has supplied us with the most startling reasons for zeal in this home temperance work. A tradesman's wife who had worshipped with us for years, maddened by drink, committed suicide on the Lord's-day. Another hearer, a woman, died raving mad on her shop floor of delirium tremens. And yet a third one, who had experienced in early life a rich enjoyment of Christian grace, died under physical horrors that I am utterly unable to describe. Surely these things ought to arouse us to devoted action, to do all we can to prevent such instances of hopeless ruin. And what has afflicted us is not exceptional. Who can think of beloved and honoured brethren in the ministerial work, and take a retrospect of some places in the denomination, and not feel convinced that the " serpent of the still" is one of the most deadly enemies alike to professors and profane, to pulpit and pew. No marvel that we find it written, "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink," &c. (Hab. ii. 15.) Happy will be the day for our exalted land when the curse of intemperance shall be wiped away from our nation. Against the charge of making temperance everything, and putting it in the place of the gospel, and dragging it offensively before people-having now had thirty-four years of intercourse with nearly all our churches, I can appeal and plead that no such indictment will stand against me. I

A Retrospective Gossip about Men, Books, &c.

only know of "one gospel ;" and that I must preach, or incur divine malediction, but I know of many means and agencies by which that gospel may be helped on its glorious course of triumph and salvation; and I do know that no worse stumbling block can be found to impede it than the drinking customs and habits of the people. Many of our friends will remember that extraordinary trophy of the temperance cause, John Plato, of Chesham: how that twenty-nine years ago he was the most degraded man in the county where he lived; how he had been in prison times beyond reckoning; how he had been made a spectacle often in the stocks of the town; how he and his miserable wife lived in a place not fit for well-cared-for swine; how he was the nuisance of the district, the ringleader in drunkenness and riot; and how, by God's gracious Providence, he was snatched by teetotalism from the horrid quagmire of wretchedness; lived for twenty-eight years a sober life; how he erected his freehold house, caused the building of the temperance hall and saw it out of debt; how he became a good and useful townsman, an elector in two or three counties, a contributor to every religious sect in the place, and how he had probably by his labours induced thousands to follow in his sober wake; and how he died, leaving behind him a respectable maintenance for his bereaved widow. As

the humble instrument of his deliverance, I have ever felt that he alone was an ample recompense for any toil or inconvenience my teetotal life and labours may have involved.

I had the privilege and pleasure, in 1847, of travelling over 2,500 miles of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, as one of the deputation from our Connexion to the Free-Will Baptist Convention in Sutton, Vermont, and was brought in direct contact with the leading

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ministers and lay elders of that noble-minded people. It should not be forgotten how they stood forth as the friends of the slave and of the coloured people amidst the general obloquy of other sects; and I never can efface from my memory and heart the joy experienced in a fortnight's intercommunion with them. There is not on earth a more zealous, self-sacrificing ministry than that of our Transatlantic Free-Will Baptist brethren. We have been favoured since then with the reciprocated visits of brethren Noyes, Woodman, Graham, Day, Fairfield, Dunn, and all will confess that to know them is to revere and love them.

I have spent my chief seasons of autumnal recreation in tours through France, Switzerland, Holland, Bavaria, Prussia, Austria, and Italy; ventured on Rome in Passion Week; have visited the four quarters of the globe-recently having made the tour of the Grecian Isles, parts of Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria; and can attest, that for all purposes of health, comfort, and safety, for physical and mental enjoyment, for labours somewhat abundant and continuous, that the avoidance of stimulants is both wise, and safe, and good. A small amount of drink money laid by would enable many of our dear brethren to have the same enjoyment of travel, and it is for this purpose mainly that I mention it. My income has never been great, and my book buying tendencies always most exhaustive; but I have kept to my pastoral duties, and have done no small amount of other labours, and have seen a pretty good part of the world by the aids of economy, diligence, and teetotal sobriety. Some day, if spared, and the needful is forthcoming, I purpose to visit the United States again, and to pass over the Union Railway to the Pacific, glancing at Utah en route; and if there be time, I may go and peep at the folks in Canton and Pekin, and visit brother

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