the persecuted Huguenots of France, who, driven from their own homes because they would not forsake the truth, found an asylum in England. I feel that this is an unspeakable honour, and I feel that thus my responsibility is greatly increased. In reference to the deeply interesting services of this evening, I may truly say that I rejoice in being the son of that honoured and beloved parent, who has attained his jubilee in the pastoral office amongst you, and, I may add, in being the grandson of another revered individual who passed the same time, within three short months, in his oversight of this church. What a mercy to look upon this assembly to-night, to think of this church increasing from seventy to more than 300 members. Well may we say, What hath God wrought? Truly grateful to my heart is it to witness this manifestation of affection and esteem towards my beloved father. I need not say what perfect and unruffled harmony has subsisted between us during the seventeen years of our co-pastorship. How could it be otherwise, when a son was associated with such a father? Grateful indeed do I feel if I have been at all able to relieve him in any measure of the burden of his pastoral care, and if I have been an instrument in at all prolonging a life so valuable and endeared. A solemn tone of feeling has happily pervaded the services of this interesting day. May it be an occasion of much spiritual profit. The increased prosperity of this church-the conversion of souls, will be its best memorial. Oh that to-night some of those who have so long listened to the Gospel in vain would surrender their hearts to the Lord! There are just two things which in conclusion I would ask of you, my dear friends, the members of this church. Pray for us, work with us; and oh let each of us unite in the supplication, O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity!" " The second hymn was now sung, after which The Rev. Mr. ADEY, of Leighton, offered prayer. The Rev. Mr. ELLIOTT, who had kindly come from Devizes to be present at the meeting, being then called upon by the Chairman, rose and said, "Dear Sir, and Christian friends,I cannot tell you with what mingled feelings I rise to say a few words. It was observed, before I entered this place, that there should be no formal speeches on this occasion, but that the addresses should be the utterances of the heart: it has been so, and it remains for me to touch upon the same chord. Why are we here?-It is to express our esteem, sympathy, and gratitude to our much beloved friend. You will readily suppose, when I entered this place, my thoughts were thrown back over the past fifty years. Almost all the persons here have been born since I first came to Newport; many of have been born again by the instrumentality you of the faithful and devoted labours of our dear friend. I love him to the core of my heart. We never bring personalities into the pulpit, but we often look round and see persons who are not converted, and our spirits are grieved. The end, the grand end of our labours is to pluck brands from the burning, and bring them into the fold of Christ. Will you allow a stranger, who sympathises with your pastor, and who cares for your souls, to entreat you not to let the appeals which have been made to you this evening pass away unheeded. Why not now lift up the prayer, God be merciful to me a sinner?' I know it is the earnest daily prayer of my friend that you wanderers may be brought back. This would gladden his heart,this would cheer his spirit. Many have gone to their eternal home, and are now around the throne of God, who have been saved through his instrumentality. I bless God when I reflect upon the manner in which he has carried on his work here. I fancy I see the old place: there was at that time a delightful revival,— not a spasm of religion,—and many were born again who are now around the throne of the Lamb. I am in my forty-eighth ministerial year. The church is eighty years of age, and has had only two pastors, of whom I am one. We have peace in our midst, and I feel it to be my greatest happiness. Now, under God, I owe the greater part of my success to the benefits I received here; and highly value the friendship you, Sir, have uniformly manifested towards me. I was present at your ordination, and a delightful time it was. And-(turning round to the Rev. Josiah Bull)-at your's, Sir. It is no small blessing to have an associate in the person of a son, to have faithful and affectionate deacons, a peaceful church, an increasing church; pastors, deacons, church-members, all desiring progression. Well, let us thank God for the past, and take courage for the future.". The Rev. Mr. BROOKS, of Ridgmount, and the Rev. Mr. ASHBY, of Stoney Stratford, next addressed the meeting; after which the Rev. Mr. ELLIOTT offered prayer; the congregation sung the Doxology, and the proceedings terminated. It seems almost needless to add, that the whole of the services were deeply interesting and satisfactory to all who were present. There was a serious and devout tone about the whole proceedings which abundantly proved the deep and affectionate feeling which pervaded the hearts of all who were gathered together. JUBILEE SERVICES. On the 17th of September last, the following services were held at Ruardean Independent chapel, in her Majesty's Forest of Dean, in the county of Gloucester, to celebrate the jubilee of the ministry of the Rev. John Horlick, who for fifty years has sustained the pastoral office of the above place, and at Mitcheldean. In the afternoon a public service took place, at which the Rev. Thomas Gillman, of Newport, Monmouthshire, presided. A hymn having been sung, the Rev. Thomas Young, of Blakeney, prayed. Mr. Graham, of Rayland, secretary to the Jubilee Fund Committee, then handed to the Chairman a purse, containing fifty-eight Sovereigns, the subscriptions of the friends of Ruardean, and a purse containing seventeen sovereigns, the subscriptions of the Mitcheldean friends, which the Chairman, with a few appropriate remarks, presented to Mr. Horlick, who, in a feeling manner, thanked his friends for such a valuable token of esteem and attachment. After the presentation, the meeting was addressed by the Rev. W. F. Bucks, of Ross; Rev. Joseph Hyatt, of Gloucester; Rev. T. Lander, Mitcheldean; Rev. D. Thomas, Coleford; Rev. B. Jenkyn, Littledean; Rev. W. Pim, Whit church; Rev. J. Davies, Little London; and Mr. Graham. The Chairman pronounced the benediction, and the meeting separated, astonished and delighted at what they saw and heard. The chapel was filled in every part, and numbers were unable to gain admittance, who had come to testify their love and esteem for him who had so long and so faithfully proclaimed to them salvation through the blood of the cross. In the evening, at six o'clock, the chapel was again crowded in every part. After the Rev. W. Hall had prayed, the Rev. J. Hyatt, of Gloucester, preached a most appropriate and impressive sermon from Psalm xciv. 13-15. Thus terminated a series of services of a most interesting and impressive character. Many hearty good wishes were expressed towards the aged servant of Christ by his numerous friends then assembled. British Missions. HOME MISSIONARY AND IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETIES. IRELAND has been designated the English statesman's difficulty; she threatens now to become England's retribution. It has been often, but comparatively in vain, pleaded with Christians of all persuasions, that the millions of Ireland were subject to papal superstitions and priestly rule; and with but little success have the claims of evangelical missions in that country been pressed on the consideration of English churches. The multitudes have swarmed in their migrations from that land, and settled down among the homes of England, carrying their superstitions and ignorance with them, attracting their priesthood, and furnishing pretexts for liberal concessions in educational arrangements, until Irish Popery has given character to Anglican religion. Retribution is no longer a thing impending, or a threatening calamity; the evil day has already come. Romish population of England is the cause assigned for papal prelacy and a pseudo-Catholic hierarchy. The Cardinal of Westminster and his suffragans point with exultation to the residence of Irish Catholics, as warranting the policy by which Pio Nono has restored England to his Catholic world. The Devout men of every evangelical party have been moved to consideration, and alarmed as with fearful prognostics, by the re-introduction of Romish bishoprics into Britain. It is regarded by not a few as a calamity of solemn import, that so many dignified stations should have been created by a foreign bishop, and so effective an organization should be prepared for the service of an idolatrous church in England. But is it forgotten, that twice the number of bishops have been assiduously working and plotting in Ireland, with all the fearful machinery of parochial priests, monastic establishments, and collegiate seminaries? It is no exaggerated calculation, to estimate the papal priesthood in Ireland at 4,000, and 1,000 monks, whose influence and stratagems are unresisted, in many parts, by Nonconformist zeal or evangelical ministrations. The priests bear rule, and the besotted multitudes bow down to their behests, as if they were doomed to spiritual slavery. The Irish Evangelical Society has but feeble means to cope with the giant evil in Ireland. Its agents are engaged in a conflict for which, in themselves, they are insufficient. They are few and scattered, and as individuals have been left to act without concert. The Gospel which they preach is alone sufficient for the country, but it should be administered so as to reach the people. The Society is most solicitous to strengthen and consolidate their agencies, and to bring to bear upon the people the truths of Scripture, which are able to make men wise unto salvation. They plead with British churches to rouse themselves and meet the monster in his cradle; to nip the error in its bud-carry the war into the enemy's country, while defending the bulwarks of the land which he has invaded. The Board of British Missions do not, indeed, desire that all the resources placed at their disposal should be thus employed, for England has her claims, as well as her duties. Home Missions are now more required than ever, and are doubtless the best instrumentality for withstanding the attempts of the man of sin in our rural districts, and among the population of our smaller towns. The state of England is at this moment deeply interesting to the evangelical Christian, not so much for the open assumptions of the Papacy, as for the occult operations of disguised teachers of error. What is the proportion of the episcopal clergy occupying the English pulpit, with all the leanings of Oxford, and all the subtlety of Puseyism? Lord John Russell complains, "Clergymen of our own church have been the most forward in leading their flocks, step by step, to the very verge of the precipice. The honour paid to saints, the claim of infallibility for the church, the superstitious use of the sign of the cross, the muttering of the liturgy, so as to disguise the language in which it is written, the recommendation of auricular confession, and the administration of penance and absolution,-all these things are pointed out by clergymen of the Church of England as worthy of adoption." The Dean of Bristol is no less explicit and direct in his charge, and confesses the same sad truth: And "Now, let it be remembered, with burning shame before man, and with deep sorrow and humiliation before God, that it is from the Church of England that Popery has mainly derived the converts of which it boasts. let no one be so wilfully blind as not to see that this is so, because the Church of England has not been willing, or has not had strength, to repudiate and cast from it the Tractarian leaven. "If we think it time and our duty to oppose Rome, how better oppose it than by opposing that which takes of our people and hands them over to Rome? Remember, it is not from dissent that Rome gains its victims, it is princi pally from the Church of England; and it is from the Church of England simply because its authorities, and not itself, recognise and countenance a teaching which is either identical with that of Rome, or so close to it as to find its more perfect consummation in that communion." Our Home Missionaries have for years uttered the same fact, and made it appear that the greatest antagonists to evangelical teaching in the rural and remote districts in England have been the Puseyite and yet parochial clergy. The following Extracts are made from Journals which were written before Cardinal Wiseman arrived in England, and with no view to political agitation. No. I. Since I last wrote I have had much opportunity of learning the state of the district around, having preached and attended meetings at almost all the chapels within some miles of the place. The chapels I refer to chiefly belong to the Baptists, but few of them are in a really prosperous condition. Their numbers are kept down by a dominant clergy and a lordly pride of aristocracy, and their ranks are (like our own) continually thinned by two circumstances, which I wish you would urge upon our city populations, as the strongest, or among the strongest proofs of the necessity which exists for Home Missions. I refer, 1, To the tide of emigration, which drains off the superfluous population of such districts; and, 2, To the removal of young men and young women to larger towns, when they have acquired so much knowledge or skill as raises them above their fellows. This is of perpetual recurrence; and while it explains to some extent the reason why such churches as ours are never large, it affords a powerful argument for our encouragement by city churches. It explains why such churches are never large, because many who remove to populous and thriving towns are the very flower of our churches. We expect then to go off almost as a matter of course, and have to write five letters of commendation to every one which we receive. Thus our churches are the feeders of the large churches of large towns. As such, we claim their sympathies, prayers, and aid. Then, even supposing they are not members with us, how important that they should be well trained before they go out from among us, and so not be added to the masses of feculent population to be found in great cities. But I will not pursue my observations; you will have often observed the facts for yourselves, and have traced out their consequences. Our village congregations keep up well, and also our audience here; but perhaps owing to the number of classes, &c., our week services are none of them numerously attended. We have the sympathies of the people with us, and our day-schools-the infant department of which is now in full operation-as well as our Sundayschools, by the increase of numbers, testify also to the fact. The amount of contributions raised for home purposes is good; the £90 referred to in April as having been raised for Loughborough New Chapel has had almost £50 added to it, and now we owe only £70. We must now have breathing time. Contributions for foreign objects have not been quite so much, owing to the continued strain for L., our day-schools, &c. we had more instances of positive usefulness we If should rejoice, and yet our labour is not in vain in the Lord. If you were in circumstances for it, I should point you to B., a large village in Warwickshire, with a considerable population around it, as moɛt necessitous, and an admirable opening for your Society. It is in the extreme south of the county, about ten miles from here. I have preached there to a large audience, and the people long for the Gospel. They have a Sunday-school, but no chapel for worship but a small one belonging to the Primitive Methodists, miserably supplied. I preached in a barn. No. II. Our library for the congregation is increasing. With the quarterly subscriptions of its members useful books continue to be purchased, which I believe are read. The Sunday school was never better attended. We have full 120 scholars; but we want more teachers. May the Lord raise up some pious, faithful, and persevering labourers for this great work. The meetings in the villages on week nights are pretty well attended. Tracts are thankfully received, and the Word is heard with attention. Persecution.-One of the A-friends, who has long been in the habit of speaking in the villages, removed some time since with his family to O, where he has made himself useful in the Primitive Methodist Sabbath-school (no other place of worship but the church in the village), and in occasionally addressing the people on sabbath evenings. The clergyman of the parish went the other day to his employer, and threatened to take his work from him if he continued to have this preacher in his service. The master, fearful of losing the parson's custom and influence, has ordered him to leave; but evidently with great reluctance, as he was much esteemed, being a man of good conduct, and an excellent workman. I am happy to say, that at Awe are not molested by the only authorized teachers of religion, but are allowed to do as we please. No. III. Another peaceful and happy death has taken place a member who was admitted to churchfellowship about two years ago. She has adorned her profession of the Gospel by a very consistent life, and greatly endeared herself to those Christian friends who knew her. Many could weep at her grave, having lost a very sincere and sympathizing friend; but she has gone to her reward, and her memory will be very precious to a large cirlce of friends. Our vicar has lately returned from a tour on the Continent, clothed with new zeal in opposing dissent. It is rather amusing to see him bustling about the village, in full canonicals, on the Sunday, seeking to prevent persons attending the chapel, expostulating or threatening, as the case may seem to require. Some are told if they go to chapel, they must not expect burial at the church when they die. One family were told, that if they allowed their children to attend the chapel school, he would see that they, the parents, should not attend the church; but finding this did not move them, he went to their employer, who desired them to remove their children from our school, and all of them to attend the church. This plan he has adopted pretty generally, and many at present are afraid to attend the chapel. Several parents have called to express their regret at being compelled to remove their children, and some of the children wept much on leaving. This is no new thing at B-W-. One gentleman is reported to have said to the vicar, when requested to compel his workpeople to attend the church, "that he had enough trouble with them through the week, without looking after them on Sundays." Alas for the vicar! with all his care to prevent, the people will occasionally steal into the chapel on Sunday evenings, and our Sundayschool is still the largest. "Great is the truth, and it must prevail." No. IV. Doubtless you have long since heard of that notorious personage, Mr. Prince, whose doings, together with those of his followers, have filled the columns of newspapers from time to time. You are aware that he has assumed the character of the third person in the Trinity, and has propagated the most awful heresies. Many are his deluded followers, not a few of whom, I regret to say, are found in this neighbourhood. It is about five years since Prince visited this village, predicting the second advent of Christ, "ere the present generation shall find a grave," -declaming against all classes of professing Christians, and setting up an entirely "new light." Many of the poor simple-minded villagers, as might have been expected, were led astray, and became perfectly enslaved by him. Having imposed on their credulity, he led them on from one thing to another, till at last they actually pay homage at his feet! and which he accepts with all complacency, at the same time pronouncing on them a solemn benediction! As they profess to believe that the dispensation of mercy has closed, and that their Lord and King has ascended the throne of judgment, they are only waiting for the consummation of their bliss. Consequently they would consider prayer now to be an insult to the Deity. The Bible is thrown aside-the sabbath-day totally disregarded. I could give you illustrations sufficient to fill a volume. Their natural affection, instead of being purified, exalted, and ennobled, is completely annihilated. They look upon all without their pale, as those from whom they must separate. Intelligence has just now reached us of another person, of some substance, who has been received into the "Agapemone," his property secured, and his wife and five children cast out upon the world! While, on the one hand, it is a matter for rejoicing, that many have left them and returned to their former places of worship; on the other, it is painful to know, that numbers have sunk back into a state of scepticism and indifference. To these things I may add, the strenuous proselyting efforts of the state-clergy. On Monday last I was informed of one who supplies six of the church Sunday-scholars with a breakfast every morning-going through the school in rotation. I saw a very delicious plum-cake which was then being prepared for them. In another village, containing only 213 inhabitants, the clergyman has just celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his curacy among them by giving charities to the amount of about £60! By these statements the Society will perceive my position. I feel that I am "set for the defence of the Gospel," and that the present is no time for indolence and sloth. There is a mighty struggle between error and truth, darkness and light, and your agents are called to a share in the conflict. I am happy to say that we are enabled to sustain 24 services a week, and tract-distributors are visiting every corner of the station with upwards of 500 of these publications. We have lately added one new preaching-place, and in another village commenced a Sabbath-evening service in a house belonging to a magistrate. He has expressed his approval, and says, "the village is much more quiet and orderly than before we commenced the service." No. V. When I commenced my labours at this station at the end of last May, the state of things could not well be more depressed, or prospects more discouraging; all the chapels were well-nigh forsaken, and the few people that were left I found in a most desponding state of mind. I went among them, did what I could to encourage them, and bring them together; for they were scattered, and as sheep having no shepherd. The first time I preached at Bon the morning of the 26th of May, only nine persons were present, and one of these had accompanied me from F. The attendance had gradually increased here to about thirty at the beginning of the month. It is pleasing to see the wonderful improvement that has taken place (by having two services) On the mornings of the last three sabbaths we have had congregations of about sixty adults, with more than that number of children, so that our little chapel is now nearly filled, on this part of the day, by those who felt, before this arrangement was made, that they had no religious home on the morning of the Lord's day. I trust this may be the beginning of good days here. I am sure it will cheer the hearts of directors to learn that this almost forsaken place is now filled with a deeply serious congregation twice every Lord's day. At BI preach in the afternoon of the sabbath. Here the attendance has more than doubled since June last. B is now supplied in the afternoon of the Lord's day by brethren from B and other places, except on the first sabbath of the month, when I supply it, and one of them takes my place at B- At F and B- I preach weekly, on the Wednesday and Friday night, and at F- and B- fortnightly; so that I preach six times in the week, and conduct the prayer-meeting on the Monday night. Thank God, I am happy in my work. One circumstance has just occurred here which has deeply affected me in connection with my labours here. An elderly man, named M—, came to hear me soon after I commenced my ministry here. He became deeply impressed and interested, soon took sittings for himself and wife, who appeared to sympathise with him in his views and feelings. His attendance was most regular, and his conduct most exemplary; his mind gradually opened to the light, and his soul bowed to the power of truth. He sought admittance to the fellowship of the church, and at our last church-meeting, October 2nd proposed for membership. We were all looking forward with deep interest to our next church. meeting, when he would have been admitted into communion with the visible body of Christ. But these hopes and expectations were not to be realized. He has been unexpectedly summoned home. On Thursday, October 24th, he was taken ill; medical aid was sought; his complaint was inflammation of the liver. All efforts to relieve him proved ineffectual. I visited him in his affliction, found him in a very pleasing state of mind, deeply humbled by a sense of sin and unworthiness, but at the foot of the "Cross, where God the Saviour loved, and died" for sinners. In this state he died, after a few days' sickness. Thus has our friend been called to unite with the church of the first-born in heaven while standing on the threshhold of the church on earth. How deeply mysterious are the ways of God! Was I sent to F for this? Let God have all the glory. COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY. THE agents of the Colonial Missionary Society are labouring with varied success in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Canadas, New South Wales, the Australias, and Van Dieman's Land. Letters from most of the stations have been recently received, which encourage the Committee to believe that the ministers aided by the Society are assiduously pursuing their course amidst many difficulties, but with evident tokens of the Divine presence and blessing. The greatest source of discouragement the Committee feel, is the want of sufficient funds to increase the number of agents, and to occupy the many fields of missionary enterprise which present themselves in every direction. It is impossible adequately to estimate the importance of the Society's operations. During the year 1849, nearly 300,000 persons left the British shores, to find a shelter and a home in the distant dependencies of the crown. Before the present year closes, a still greater number will have followed them. Every breeze that blows wafts thousands of our countrymen from the land of their fathers' sepulchres. Constrained by circumstances, or influenced by a spirit of enterprise, they have separated themɛelves from all the endeared associations of home, and are entering on a new life amidst the forests of Canada or on the plains of Australia. Our colonies are thus growing into empires with a rapidity unparalleled in the history of any bygone age; it is therefore of unspeakable importance that the principles of truth and freedom should be widely disseminated amongst them. In no way can this be more effectually accomplished, than by sending to them able and faithful ministers of the Gospel,-men of talent and enterprise, of piety and zeal, worthy of the principles they profess, and the work to which they are devoted. One agent in Australia writes: "With a few faithful ministers, and but a little additional income, we could congregationalize the entire district." Can our British churches hear this, and not be willing to aid in so promising an undertaking? Will not those with whom God has entrusted a large portion of the wealth of this world, avail themselves with gladness of heart of such an opportunity of evincing the gratitude they cannot but feel to Him who has caused their comforts so greatly to abound? If the income of the Society could be permanently raised £1,000 beyond the limits it has hitherto reached, other colonies, as yet unvisited by the agents of the Society, might at once be occupied, and our brethren at present in the wilderness as "sheep without a shepherd," be gathered into the fold of the Gospel, and nourished by its verdant pastures. The Committee would earnestly commend this subject to the prayerful consideration of all who peruse these lines. an A letter has recently been received from the Rev. Mr. D., who has been labouring for a few years in Canada West, from which the following extract will be read with interest by all the friends of the Society:-"I think no field has more need of missionary labour, and few, if any, have more richly repaid the time and money which have been expended on them. A little more than twenty years ago, our existence as a denomination was scarcely known in this country; since then we have formed twenty-five churches, and settled nearly as many pastors. Supposing these churches to contain on average fifty members (which number is below the truth,) then we have in communion 1,250 persons. One-half of these may be considered as the fruit of our own labours, the other half consisting of immigrants from the churches in England or the United States. Some of these persons, now in communion, had not sat down at the Lord's table for five-and-twenty years, and had but seldom, during that period, heard a gospel sermon. In connection with each of these churches, we have a chief station, with a congregation of 130 to 150 persons, and two or more inferior Sabbath stations, with several others visited on week-days. We have also Bible-classes and Sabbath-schools, wherever practicable. Every minister of our body is an entire abstainer from intoxicating drinks, and a zealous and successful advocate of temperance. There is expended in this province £100,000 in common school education, and there are but few townships where our brethren are not chairmen of the corporation of School Commissioners. Whilst this necessarily occasions a large amount of work, it is a most useful employment, and gives them an influence with the people which nothing else could command." This account of the labours of the agents will, the Committee feel confident, gratify the friends of the Society, and show that contributions are well expended. Similar results might be anticipated in other colonies, were the funds placed at the disposal of the Committee sufficient to justify them in sending ministers to Occupy them. But the present income of the Society compels them to refuse, which they do with the deepest sorrow, the urgent appeals for help which they are constantly receiving. How long will our brethren in those distant regions have to complain, "No man careth for our souls ?" London: Printed by William Tyler, Bolt court. |