utmost in the name of Christ to secure the freedom of the Anglican Churches from the shackles of the State.-Members of congregations, who already maintain your ministers fettered, release them, and recover your own sacred rights, by declaring that you will be free! A few such instances in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Birmingham, would awaken the whole nation to their duty. With greater confidence I address my brethren of the free churches. There should be no longer disunion or sloth. Independents and Baptists, Wesleyans and members of the Free Churches of Scotland, let us all, with united voices, from Caithness to Cornwall, claim, in the name of Christ, the Christian liberty of the British Churches; and this generation may yet see accomplished a second Reformation more spiritual, and not less extensive, than the first.-Above all, let us take care to fulfil this duty in a Christian spirit. No religious cause requires irreligious means for its advancement. Let us disgrace ourselves by no railing, condemn all personal invective, and be guilty of no exaggeration, for these are the weapons of the weak and the unprincipled; but uniting with all those who love the Redeemer, let us recognise with gratitude every work of the Spirit within the Establishment as well as without it. And with much prayer, with constant dependence on the Holy Spirit, with a supreme desire to glorify God, and with an abundant exercise of faith, hope, and love, which are our appropriate armour in every conflict, let us persevere in our efforts till the blessing of God renders our triumph a decisive step towards the evangelization of the world.-Noel on Church and State.

THE MISSIONARY'S FAREwell. My heart is heavy with sorrow. The cup at my lips is very bitter. Heaven help me! White hairs are bending in submissive grief, and age-dimmed eyes are dimmer with tears. Young spirits have lost their joyousness, young lips forget to smile, and bounding hearts and bounding feet are stilled. Oh, the rending of ties, knitted at the first opening of the infant eye, and strengthened by numberless acts of love, is a sorrowful thing! To make the grave the only door to a meeting with those in whose bosoms we nestled, in whose hearts we trusted long before we knew how precious was such love and trust, brings with it an overpowering weight of solemnity. But a grave is yawning for each one of us; and is it much to choose whether we sever the tie that binds us here to-day, or lie down on the morrow? Ah, the 'weaver's shuttle' is flying; the 'flower of the grass' is withering; the space is almost measured; the tale nearly told; the dark valley is close before us-tread we with care! My mother, we may neither of us close the other's darkened eyes, and fold the cold hands upon the bosom; we may neither of us watch the sod greening and withering above the other's ashes; but there are duties for us even more sacred than these. But a few steps, mother-difficult the path may be, but very bright-and

then we put on the robe of immortality, and meet to part never more. And we shall not be apart even on earth. There is an electric chain passing from heart to heart through the throne of the Eternal; and we may keep its links all brightly burnished by the breath of prayer. Still pray for me, mother, as in days gone by. Thou bidst me go. The smile comes again to thy lip, and the light to thine eye, for thou hast pleasure in the sacrifice. Thy blessing! Farewell, my mother, and ye loved ones of the same hearth-stone !"-Mrs. S. B. Judson. From her Memoir, by Fanny Forester.

IT IS WELL.-That is, God is WISER than I am. He knoweth the way that I take, and when I am tried I shall come forth as gold. He knows how to bring good out of evil. What can he take away that he cannot make up to me? Pain, loss, solitude--what are ye? The way home! He knows the way:

that is enough. He has promised to be with me in the way: that is more than enough. It is well: that is, God is MIGHTIER than I am. He can make this dying and painful way the way of life-the way of comfort-the way of joy, as well as holiness. He has done it ten thousand times: I have seen it done. What child is he whom his Father chasteneth not? I would be a son, but not scourged. I am a fool, whom even experience can scarce make wise. I see

and

who are sinking under their troubles, and going to Satan for comfort, because they are not sons. It is well: that is, he is BETTER than I am. He has thoughts of peace, while I indulge thoughts of evil. He means better than I can give him credit for. He asks me for nothing but time and trust, in order to make the whole plain and gracious to my eye. "No," say I; "shew it to me Now, and it sufficeth." "What!" saith he. "Am I alone not to be trusted? How many of my creatures have you trusted for what you could not see! How often have you rested on dust and ashes as on a sure foundation! Go-go, and learn your horn-book, and then you will say, without stammering, It is well!" It is well: God is more HOLY than I, and will burn up the dross. He is more FAITHFUL, and does not forget his promise, to purify the sons of Levi, that they may first present a pure offering, and then be offered up themselves. -Cecil.

SECRET BACKSLIDING.-We live in a day when too many professors have a name to live and are dead. Too many who, though we would hope they are not destitute of some spiritual truth and grace in their hearts, yet are drawn, through an attachment to present things, to live sadly below their privileges and callings. They have but little of the comforts of the gospel in their own souls, and bring in but a small revenue of glory to God. If we were to ask them the cause, and they would speak. out, they could tell us that there was a time when they, likewise, were warm and lively in their souls,-when they little expected such a change as they had lived to see.

They did not grow cold all at once, but by imperceptible degrees. Worldly attachments stole upon them; they became remiss in secret duties, content in being found in a round of outward appointments, entangled more and more by the temptations which they neglected to shake off in time, and now that blessedness which they once spoke of is gone. They have lost the savour and relish of spiritual things; their strength is departed; and though at times they cry out, "Oh, that it was with me as in times past!" they find themselves unable to recover what they have lost, and unable to set heartily about seeking the Lord for deliverance. Instances of this sort should be warnings to us. As rumoured robberies endear our gold, so when we hear what subtlety Satan employs, and what advantages he gains over others, it should make us redouble our diligence and guard, lest we, likewise, should be stript and spoiled of our best things, grieve the Holy Spirit, and be appointed to walk in darkness. It is a mercy to be kept from backsliding in life, from bringing an open reproach upon our profession; but there is a backsliding in heart, likewise, which is exceedingly uncomfortable, and often proves an inlet and occasion to the other.-John Newton.

GOD OUR GUARDIAN.-The eye of God is upon every hour of my existence. The Spirit of God is intimately present with every thought of my heart. His inspiration gives birth to every purpose within me. His hand impresses a direction on every footstep of my goings. Every breath I inhale is drawn by an energy which God deals out to me. This body which, upon the slightest derangement, would become the prey of death or of woful suffering, is now at ease, because He, at this moment, is warding off from me a thousand dangers, and upholding the thousand movements of its complex and delicate machinery. His presiding influence keeps by me through the whole current of my restless and everchanging history. When I walk by the wayside, He is along with me; when I enter into company, amid all my forgetfulness of him, He never forgets me. In the silent watches of the night, when my eyelids have closed, and my spirit sunk into unconsciousness, the observant eye of Him who never slumbers is upon me. I cannot fly from his presence. Go where I will, He tends me, and watches me, and cares for me; and the same Being who is now at work in the remotest dominions of Nature and Providence, is also at my right hand, to eke out to me every moment of my being, and to uphold me in all the exercise of all my feelings, and of all my faculties.Dr. Chalmers.

GOD IS RICH IN MERCY.-It is because God is rich in mercy, that he forgives so readily and so freely. He does not upbraid the returning sinner with his aggravated offences; but is merciful to his unrighteousness, and remembers his sins and iniquities no more. He pardons the sins of the whole life, however great their number, and how

And

ever heinous their nature. He pardons them unreservedly, and in such a way as to free for ever from all exposure to condemnation. The least of your sins is worthy of death; and yours may, in mountainous height, reach to heaven, and so completely darken the prospect before you, as to leave you only a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery and devouring indignation. far be from me the wish to diminish their guilt, or to lessen the misery to which they lead, in your estimation. Every single act of transgression is an under-valuing of God, -a dishonour done to his attributes,-an attack on his government and throne,-and spreads misery over that workmanship of God which was pronounced to be very good. But though your lives have been full of such acts, and accompanied, in their commission, with circumstances of deep aggravation, I can scripturally hold up to you the mercy of God, as infinitely surpassing, in fullness, the measure of your guilt; as having already, in innumerable instances, displayed its richness in saving those who have been foremost in disobedience and impenitence; and as being capable of pardoning, through the sacrifice of the cross, far beyond what you are able either to ask or think. Is it not God himself who hath said, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth; so are my ways than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."-Dr. Dewar.

A FATHER'S LOVE. God has not forgotten us in the far country of our banishment. He has devised means whereby his banished be not expelled from him (2 Šam. xiv. 14). He pities, nay yearns over us. Distance has not made him forget us, or cease to care for us. Nay, our exiled condition is one of the things that calls forth his compassion. The Father sees his prodigals in the land of famine. His eye follows them. They may have lost sight of him but not He of them. He sends out his grace in search of them. He shrinks not from entering the place of exile. He becomes a banished man for them. He lives an exile's life; He endures an exile's shame; He dies an exile's death; He is buried in an exile's tomb. All for us, the outcasts, the exiles. He takes our place of banishment, that we may take his place in his Father's many mansions. He stoops to our place of shame, that we may rise to his place of honour and glory. All that kept us in banishment, and that made it needful for God to banish us, he takes upon himself; and thus it becomes a righteous thing in God to repeat the sentence of exile, and re-admit us to his favour and presence,-to put us in the place of children,-nay, even in His place who came to seek that which was lost. For "He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. v. 21.)-H. Bonar.

CHRIST IS ALL.-Christ is all with God, he is all to God, and he is all from God; we have no acceptance but in him, we only come to God by him, and receive all from God through him; he is all in redemption, all in satisfaction, reconciliation, justification, union, and communion, and in regeneration and sanctification, in pardon, peace, and glorification. Christ is the foundation on which we are built, the fountain in which

we are washed, the bread of life with which we are fed, and the water of life of which we drink. In a word, he is our life, our light, our strength; he is made everything to our souls that we need; he is the power of God, and the wisdom of God; Christ is the great repository of all sacred truth, and of all grace; and Christ is the great outlet or conduit-pipe of all that grace and goodness we receive from God also.-Keach.

BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONS. AFRICA.

We have just been favoured by Mr. Neal, of Liverpool, with a letter from Mr. Merrick, from which the following is an extract:

I am now engaged with my book of selections from the Old and New Testament, and the Gospel by St. John. When I next write, I shall send you a part of the latter and a continuation of the former. King William has lately made a law to prohibit Sabbath-breaking, since which time our Lord's-day morning services have generally been well attended.

"Moindu is a real Christian; and my old interpreter and his wife, if not real Christians, are enquiring the way to Zion, with a steady determined will. I cannot say that Moindu's husband is converted, but he comes regularly for instruction, and wishes to know the truth, A woman called Dimmigge is a sincere enquirer, and comes regularly for private instruction. Another female called Inboti comes with the other enquirers for instruction, and is I think awakened, but not yet convinced of sin. She was with me this morning, and I did all I could to rouse her conscience. All these meet together in each others' houses, from day to day, for social prayer. A few days ago I met them by appointment at Moindu's house, and there spent a pleasant season in prayer with them. For the first time I heard Moindu pray, and was delighted with the manner in which she expressed her dependence on the atoning merits of Christ. May she be faithful until death.

But while we have a little to cheer, we have much, very much to depress. One of the Bimbian chiefs, named Dick Merchant, lately hanged a man and a poor woman on the charge of witchcraft. A canoe from Dick Merchant's town, in returning from market, upset, and a young man was killed by a shark. The celebrated necromancer Esonga Pa was immediately consulted, and the consequence was the murder of two innocent persons. I heard of Dick's determination too late to arrest the evil. When

I arrived at Dickolu the poor old woman was a corpse, and laid shrouded in her house. The man was cut down before he

died, and his skull broken and arms mangled in a most barbarous manner. I met him breathing strong, and offered to take him away, but they would not listen to me. When I ordered some water to be put on the fire in order to endeavour to resuscitate him, they broke the pot, and ordered his grave to be dug as quickly as possible. Next day I learned that the poor fellow was actually buried alive. Only a few months ago this same Dick Merchant entered into a treaty with the Queen of England, through Captain Eden, of H.M. frigate Amphitrite, never again to offer human sacrifices. Not satisfied with having imbrued his hand in the blood of two of his own people, Dick Merchant left his town a few days ago with a large body of men, to make war with an inland chief called Mofe-mo-Kenia, on account of a canoe. King William sent off two large canoes filled with men, to Mofe's assistance. We must begin to pray more earnestly than we have yet done" Have respect unto thy covenant, O Lord, for the dark places of the earth are filled with the habitations of cruelty." I am glad that the school-room at Dick Merchant's town is nearly finished, and that we shall soon be able to carry on more vigorous operations than we have yet done. Nothing but the gospel will reform the natives. May the Lord make us wise to win souls to Christ!

PRIZE ESSAYS ON THE SABBATH. During the last week in December, several very interesting meetings were held in London to award the original 3 prizes, and 50 additional £5 prizes, for the Working Men's Essays on the Sabbath. The meetings were crowded and enthusiastic, At the one for the distribution of the prizes, Lord Ashley presided; at another, of the working men themselves, S. M. Peto, Esq., one of the largest employers of labour in the country, and one of the best masters. The essays amounted in number to 1,045! all written by operatives, all good, and some spoken of in the highest terms, of course the successful ones will soon be published, --all advocating the claims of the Lord'sday, and the claims of working men to have that day unimpaired; all appealing to the Bible as the great authority, but also shewing the immense advantage to working men themselves of using the day worthily. Two

of the writers furnished us with pieces for our January "Appeal:" The Labourer's Daughter, and John Gaze, Brighton. There seemed to be in the meetings a general feeling that the true and best way to get the Sabbath observed, was not by prohibitory Acts of Parliament, but by diffusing amongst all classes, the working classes especially, right views of the value of the day, of the purposes to which it should be applied, and of the injury done to his class by every working man who misuses the Sabbath, or consents to do unnecessary work in its hours. We shall give extracts from the Essays soon. One remark to Christian masters and mistresses. We have always held that you who regard the day as the Lord's-day should scrupulously give your servants equal spiritual privileges with yourselves on the day which belongs to neither of you. Indeed, servants generally need more instruction than those who have enjoyed better education, and it is easier to the latter to profit at home. Hearing the Word is most valuable proportionally to the least educated. Let us consider that so far as necessity allows, our servants claim at least equal opportunities of public worship with ourselves.

THE REV. JAMES HERVEY AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

All our readers must be acquainted with the works of the Rev. James Hervey, the excellent author of the MEDITATIONS. The following extract from his Life by Dr. Ryland may not be uninteresting:

"With respect to the glorious ordinance of Christian Baptism, Hervey was no sour bigot on the one side or on the other. I never observed in him the least prejudice against what is called Believers' Baptism. He was not so happy as to be led into it for himself. This was one of the disadvantages of his education, and to the connections he had formed in all the first parts of his life. I used to represent to him the sentiments of the most rigid Dissenters concerning him. I told him that they wondered he should continue in a Church that had so many marks of imperfection, and so many blemishes from human invention. He freely replied with his usual frankness and candour, which hid nothing from me, nor ever denied or disguised one sentiment of his soul, My dear friend, I had not the forming of the constitution of the Church of England. I had not the establishing and instituting of the modes of worship. Divine Providence brought me forth in the Church. I am in great weakness of constitution, and have no health and spirits to make any great exertions. If I was to omit reading the prayers they would suspend me; if they did I would come amongst YOU, for I love you dearly. With respect to the errors and blemishes of the Church of England, as I was not the author of them, so I can neither correct or remove them. In truth, I strive nover to think of them, but to fix all my attention on the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.'"

THE ENGLISH CAUSE ON THE WELSH HILLS.

In the year 1844, three or four friends began to raise an English cause at Blaenavon Iron Works, Monmouthshire. "We rented a room until it became too small to hold the congregation. In the latter end of the year 1847, we erected a neat little chapel, 40 feet by 34, with a gallery in front; the cost, including a house adjoining thereto, was £400. In May, 1848, at the association held in this place, our number of members given in was 44. Out of this number (in consequence of the stoppage of the Works) 8 emigrated to America, and others went off in search of employment, so that we were reduced to but few; and many said we should be obliged to close up the chapel, as we should not be able to pay the interest of the debt on the chapel. But the few that remained cried mightily to God for help to revive His work, and for the conversion of souls; and He that said 'call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you, and he shall glorify me,' came to our help, so that we have not only our year's interest ready, but have it in contemplation of calling out a pastor. Our list contains 69 members, exclusive of 7 candidates for admission. The church appointed the 10th January for our general thanksgiving to God for the in-gathering of precious souls amongst us. The Lord heard the spontaneous effusions of grateful hearts, honoured us with His presence, glorified the house of His glory.' Truly it was a melting time; we could experimentally say, it was no other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven,' to our souls. We are constrained to say, 'What hath God wrought?' Unto God be all the praise, honour, and glory.!"

CRICKHOWELL.

In the year 1840, a few friends residing in Crickhowell, feeling the urgent necessity of a place of worship in that locality, erected a commodious chapel. The sum of

£339 was contributed by the movers in this cause, when and after it was set on foot. A church, consisting of about forty members, has been formed, and an increasing congregation gathered. But a debt of somewhat above £425, bears heavily on the limited resources of the people. Sometime since, the friends made their case known by means of circulars, in which the case was strongly recommended by several ministers of high standing. To their circulars very few replies have yet been received. friends wish to bring their case again before the attention of their brethren, and earnestly to request their kind sympathy and assistance. Donatious may be forwarded to the Rev. John Evans, Baptist minister, Brecon.

TOWCESTER.

The

The Rev. J. P. Campbell, late student of the Baptist Theological Institution, Clipstone, having accepted a unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the Baptist Church, Towcester, Northamptonshire, commenced his stated labours there on the first Lord's-day of the new year.