“This little company of devoted men, who formed the nucleus of the church at Tottlebank, were soon joined by others like-minded; and, though severely persecuted, they rapidly increased."

The pamphlet before us then gives an abstract of the Confession of Faith of these few good people. And then we read, “At the time when these earnest men were meeting together for worship amongst the hills, of Furness, England was passing through one of the most eventful periods of its history, and some of the most wonderful men were living and acting that our country ever produced. John Bunyan was in Bedford jail, writing his 'Pilgrim's Progress.' John Milton, who held opinions similar to their own, was living in obscurity in London, writing his Paradise Regained,' having just before published his 'Paradise Lost,' Howe and Owen, and others, were preaching and suffering like themselves for conscience sake. Sir Isaac Newton had just made his great discovery, and was pursuing his favourite science. John Locke, the author of Essays on the Human Understanding,' was then in his 37th year; besides others whose writings have come down to this day; amongst whom might be mentioned Dryden, Herbert, Cudworth, Godwin, Poole, and Chief Justice Hale. Taking these names together, we have, perhaps, the most brilliant galaxy of illustrious men that this or any other country ever exhibited. It was a period characterised by great minds, and equally characterised by apostolic zeal, apostolic suffering, and apostolic religion in those who obeyed God rather than men. Christ had large and precious jewels then in England, and he so controlled events that those sharp and terrible tools, persecuting edicts, were only permitted to cut and polish such jewels, causing their heavenly hues to shine forth with additional glory."

The pamphlet then gives the history of the church down to 1864; but into this we need not enter.

The Coming of the Lord and the End of the World. Being Sermons preached in Port Adelaide, Australia. By Pastor J. W. Bamber.-The subjects treated of in these sermons are respectively, 1, The Return of the Jews to Palestine; 2, The Second Coming of the Lord; 3, 4, The Millennium; 5, The Day of Judgment; 6, The Eternal State of the Unbeliever; 7, The Eternal Bliss of the Righteous.

Mr. B. is a firm believer in the immortality of the soul,—the eternal misery of the wicked and blessedness of the righteous. But his ideas of what is called the Millennium are about the most extravagant we ever read. We should not have noticed the sermons, had they not been sent to us direct by our friend, Pastor Allen, Sydney. With them Mr. A. sent us copies of two letters which he wrote to Mr. B., in which he well shows the absurdity of Mr. B.'s views on these subjects. Mr. A. says to Mr. B., "I cannot circulate the sermons. I am fully persuaded they are contrary to the spirituality of the new covenant and arise from naturalizing the spiritual similitudes of that kingdom which is not in meat and drink. If you treated James v. 14 as you do texts about the universal reign of Christ, in grace and providence, you and your deacons should go with a bottle of salad oil to your sick members and rub them all over with it. I think it a very sad limitation of the infinite glory of the Son of God to suppose that heaven is to be emptied of his glorified humanity, to be located on earth for a thousand years. Spiritual, glorified bodies grovelling on earth again? Never. As you are literalizing,

let me ask you how yon are to find room for all the redeemed on the face of this earth, with all the olive and vineyards, and tamed lions, tigers, &c., which are spoken of? If there is to be a new earth how is it Satan is to be let loose upon it at the end of a thousand years, to make it as bad as it is now?

"We do not deny the personal reign of the Lord Jesus Christ; but we deny that his reign will be confined to an earthly locality; for this, in our apprehension, is a denial of his universal reign. The Lord has declared that at the second coming of the Lord Jesus, the risen and changed saints of God shall be taken up from the earth into the air, and so be ever with the Lord; not on the earth." "When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

Our space forbids more upon this subject. We may, however, add that we have not given half Pastor A.'s answer to Mr. B.

In the 7th sermon Mr. B. speaks well of the eternal bliss of the righteous. And then he asks," Have you the meetness for the kingdom of God? The meetness for this inheritance is regeneration; for except a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven! Have you ever experienced the requisite change of heart? Without it you cannot go to heaven. It is not your morality, &c. No self-made righteousness will do. You must be made a new creature through the grace and by the power of the Holy Ghost." This is, indeed, true; but it is just what a poor child of God wants to know,-Is he a new creature? Where are the evidences? And we look in vain for them in these

sermons.

"Dry doctrines will do us no good

While floating in the brain," &c.

Zion's Landmark. (Elder Gold, editor, Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina.)-This periodical is "devoted to the Primitive Baptists." So far as we have been able to read it, it is sound; but, to say the truth, the copy we have is so badly printed that the greater part is unreadable. There are in America Primitive Baptists, Regular Baptists, and Old School Baptists, all professing the doctrines of grace. Will some friend over there kindly tell us wherein they differ from each other?

DEUT. xxxiii. 12.-This is the only place in the Bible in which the term "beloved of the Lord" occurs. Benjamin was the youngest of the sons of Jacob, and was, therefore, spoken of as a child, or as the child. Keeping this in view, we shall see the beauty of Moses's blessing. We will give it literally, as it appears in the Samaritan and other translations: "The hand, even the hand of Jehovah, shall abide for safety over him, shall cover him all the day; and he shall dwell, or be carried, between his shoulders." That is, as a mother (an Eastern one) carries her child.

ISA. XLIX. 18.—The Septuagint renders this, "and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth her jewels." There is a similar expression in Isa. lxi. 10, which seems to confirm the correctness of the Septuagint rendering. It is well known how a bride in the East does bind on her ornaments,exhibiting them to the beholders in great profusion. So the people referred to in the passage shall come to Zion and be made manifest to all observers.

LETTERS RECEIVED.

My dear Friend in Him who is our Life (Christ),-Everything here below is but death without Him. I can always sing with the poet,

“Give me Christ, or else I die."

Yes, my beloved friend, I feel more than ever, as I step on towards the grave, the need of Christ in my heart, the hope of glory; and I can endorse the Master's saying, "Without ME ye can do nothing." I cannot live without him; for all is death without him. And sure I am that it is only God the Holy Ghost that can reveal him to our souls.

Dear Friend, I do feel the need of the mercies, blessings, and comforts of a Three-One God to my immortal soul. I am a Trinitarian. I remember one of the late Mr. J. C. Philpot's sayings; and I think that no minister of the gospel could ever love the Bible more than he did. He asked the question," What is the Bible?" And he answered it himself: "It is but paper and ink of itself." I have long found it to be so, and that power belongeth unto God, and God only.

You will be, I believe, my dear friend, if I am right, on Friday next, 72 years of age; and I am sure you can say, in the face of the enemy, "The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad." May it please him to give you a birthday blessing, saying to your precious soul, "I am thy SALVATION."

Yours sincerely, Worcester, Nov. 16th, 1880.

H. N. HOPEWELL.

My dear Friend,-Through mercy, we are spared nearly through another year, and one less for us to live before we make a solemn step from time into eternity. And as there is a Judge to appear before, our religion, our motives, our desires, will all be before him; and that Judge will make no mistake as to where to bestow the crown; for Paul saith, "which the righteous Judge shall give in that day unto all that love his appearing."

I know it is over 10 years since I read when you saw Him appear to your soul, the Chief of ten thousand, whilst meditating upon the spot where Christ died for you; and whatever may come against you I believe the Lord is for you; and I believe, too, the love you have for him is manifested by the kindness you have shown to his causes of truth and his poor, and those who are enabled to uphold the truth.

I have suffered from those I have done good to, and many whose interest I have studied before my own would, if they could, have starved me to death. It is 13 years since the time when my soul sank so low that I thought I must die of a broken heart; but, just as I was coming through Didcot, these words came with divine power to my soul, "O thou man of God, flee these things." "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." And I can say, since that time I have not wanted for a shilling, and I have not robbed the mammon of this world of a shilling. Yet many tried to hinder me from preaching the gospel; and this made me to fret. But God spake these words to my soul: "Thou shalt speak to all that I send thee to." And from that day to this it has never been any trouble to me what any say, whether good or bad.

I write this to encourage you to go on amidst all opposition; for if God be for you, it matters not who is against you. I felt it good to

read the sermon in the "Record" this month. I am pleased you are going to bring it out in the shape of a book.

I was glad to find last week that God has opened a way for the friends at Oxford to begin to build a chapel where God's truth can be faithfully preached amongst the people where there are so many Jesuits and Puseyites. I have undertaken to try and get a little for them. If you know of any who can give them a help, I should be happy to receive it for them. My Christian love to you and Mrs. Gadsby.

London, Dec. 10th, 1880.

CALEB.

At the monthly meeting of the Church and Stage Guild, in London, Nov. 4th, "the Rev." F. J. Ponsonby, vicar, read a paper on the duties of a playgoer. He said all playgoers ought to be punctual in their attendance, and not disturb others; &c. &c. Other clergymen, as well as some actors and actresses, took part in a discussion; all, of course, approving of plays. And this in religious England! Is this the religion that was established by our forefathers? How different was the language of Mr. Hugh Mason, M.P. He said, "If there be a curse on the face of the earth, it is the theatres of our cities, the tone of which is becoming year by year more depraved. Some persons talked about purifying the theatres, but they might as well attempt to wash white the Ethiopian."

SANDING THE AXLES.-A person who can help but little is sometimes able to hinder a great deal. It requires but very little talent to stand in the way of others' usefulness. It would require but small ability for a roguish boy standing by a machine, to sprinkle a little sand upon the oiled and polished axles on which the wheels revolved. It might be done easily and quickly, and remain unobserved; but that sand, mingling with the lubricating oil, and being carried around on the axles, would decrease the speed, consume the power, cut the axles, injure the box, hinder the work, and derange and ruin the machine. If the boy was trying to introduce pebbles or rocks into the machine, he would do less damage, for they would be observed and could be easily removed; but the mischief would come from introducing the sand, so fine that it makes its way everywhere, so small that no one would notice it. There are men in the church of Christ who never have shown great ability to plan or execute anything of importance. Their main force seems to be sanding axles. They can get in the way of others; they can hinder, find fault, pervert, and sow jealousy, dissension, and suspicion, as invisibly and as effectually as a boy can sand the journals of a machine. No one suspects what they are doing; nor can any one fasten their misdeeds upon them; but the air grows thick with distrust, and work is hindered by secret contrivances and combinations; good men are burdened, disheartened, and worn out; noble enterprises falter, fail, and are abandoned. Every one notices that things go hard, and that something hinders their progress; but no one seems to know what the trouble is, until that day comes for a general cleaning up, and then, lo and behold, the axles are found covered with sand.-Australian Christian Pioneer.Our contemporary is right. And just so may men of gifts get into churches and pulpits, and quietly, and apparently lovingly, introduce new ideas and slyly sand the axles until the whole machine is clogged. It has been officially announced that the Revised Edition of the New Testament will be published next month.

FREED AT LAST.-A minister of the Society of Friends, in a letter addressed to his wife, from the State of Virginia, says: A physician, a man of a tender spirit, who attended one or two of the meetings for worship held by my brother in that land, and with whose company he was pleased, said that he was sent for by an old slave-holder to visit one of his negroes. He found the poor patient stretched on a little straw placed on a plank, and covered with a blanket; his pulse seemed throbbing its last, and he was too much exhausted to utter any complaint. The master had followed the physician, and began to curse and swear at the dying man, telling him that as soon as he recovered he should be severely flogged for having, by his own folly, caught his sickness by attending night meetings. He was proceeding in his violent language, when the physician checked his rage, by informing him that the poor fellow could not live many minutes. The master was silent, when the dying slave, collecting the small remains of his strength, by a last effort, said, "Glory be to Thee, O my God, who art now taking my soul to Thyself, having redeemed it!" and instantly expired.

The Duke of Richmond promised to give some land for the enlargement of the churchyard of Singleton, Sussex; but, in consequence of the Burials Act, he has withdrawn the promise, but will give some land to trustees for Church people only, and will do the same for Dissenters, if they will not infect the churchyard. Churchmen and Dissenters must, of course, be kept separate, even in death. The Bishop of Rochester, on the contrary, has expressed his willingness to consecrate all the ground of a cemetery; so that all can be laid quietly together indiscriminately. On leaving a church in London, last month, after preaching, he was "mobbed " and hooted because he told the people that their Ritualistic practices should be put an end to.

A New York paper says that the marked attentions of the Princess Beatrice to the Empress of the French strengthens the belief that she was to have been married to the Prince Imperial, had he not been killed in Zululand. Now, though we deeply regret that the queen and the princess should so often visit the empress, who is a bigoted Romanist, yet we cannot for a moment believe there was ever any such idea as a marriage. On Dec. 6th, however, the queen and the princess visited the empress, and, we regret to say, went to the Romanist church of St. Mary, which contains the tombs of the emperor and his son! Alas! Alas! Whither are we going?

Parliament is to meet on the 6th of the present month, "for the despatch of business." Some warm work is expected, in consequence of the state of Ireland and the measures respecting landlord and tenant which the Government will bring forward.

PARENTS, BEWARE!-Twelve men in Brussels have been sent to prison for terms varying from twelve months to six years, for inveigling English young ladies, under pretence of giving them situations as governesses, &c.

The weather here is very winterly; 55 degrees of frost.-W. HUNTINGTON, Evans, Colorado, Nov. 19.-800 ships laden with potatoes, fruit, and grain for Europe, are frozen up in the Hudson, near and higher up than New York On Dec. 12th four men were frozen to death in New York; while in England the weather has been so mild. A gun weighing 100 tons, belonging to the Italian navy, burst a few