them.

resolve to go to Benares, if he could will." Next day, the missionaries obtain his father's consent, there to appeared in court with Kali Podo. be baptized. Shortly after this in The question turned on the age of terview he was taken ill. He begged the youth. In the face of the clearto see Mr. Dakin, or the native | est evidence, and his own previous preachers. This was not permitted statements, the father averred on him. Shortly before his death, he oath that his son was only fourteen told his father not to burn his body, years and nine months old. On the but to bury it, as he was not other hand, the missionaries were a Hindu. “I believe in Jesus | able to show that he was at least Christ," said he. And so he passed nineteen years of age, three years away. The testimony to Gour older than the age when minority Mohan's walk and conversation, ceases, which in Bengal is at sixfurnished by his heathen friends teen. The magistrate said under and relatives, is of the highest cha such circumstances Kali Podo was racter. “Though dead,” he still free to act on his own convictions : powerfully pleads for Christ among and the case was dismissed.

Every hindrance was now reThe name of the second youth re moved; and on the twentieth of June, ferred to is Kali Podo Şircar. For in the presence of about 400 persome time it appears that he has sons, young and old, Kali Podo was expressed a wish to be baptized. || baptized by Mr. Anderson in the Lately he summoned up courage, | tank in the college compound. and told his father that he was a “The service,” says Mr. Dakin, Christian. His father was incensed “ was a very pleasant one. It was at this, and placed him in the house conducted in Bengali. We sang a of his grandfather under strict hymn; then Mr. Anderson, after watch. From this he escaped, and reading the 16th chapter of the came to Mr. Dakin, to whom he ex Acts of the Apostles, addressed the pressed his resolve to be baptized. assembly and the candidate. Prayer In the afternoon, his father and and a part of another hymn fol. grandfather came, and for more lowed, and then the administration than three hours sought to induce of the ordinance. The remaining him to change his mind and return verses of the hymn were then sung, home with them. “If you will let and Mr. Martin concluded with the me live with you after my baptism," benediction. The spectators—there he said, “I will do so." But this were many present besides our they would not listen to.

pupils—conducted themselves with Next day, four native gentlemen the greatest propriety. of position came with the father, to “As yet I can perceive no decrease ascertain, as they said, whether in the attendance of the boys, and I Kali Podo understood the doctrines hope we shall not suffer, as some of Christianity. Their real object other institutions have done in this was to persuade or perplex Kali respect under similar circumstances, Podo, and shake his faith. Long in consequence of Kali Podo's bapdiscussion ensued. They even went tism. Some of the students are in so far as themselves to denounce high glee at the whole proceeding. idolatry. But after an hour and a | The example of our Native Chrishalf's disputation they withdrew. | tian youths, and especially of On the following day, the father Abdool, who is in Kali Podo's filed a petition in the magistrates' class, has had much to do with court, accusing Mr. Anderson of leading him (Kali Podo) to emdetaining his " minor son at Seram- | brace Christianity. pore College against his (the father's) | "I may mention that about three

months ago two of the junior boys | strengthen with their strength, so in the school also expressed a desire that when they come of age, and act to become Christians. May the de- for themselves, they too may put on sire grow with their growth, and Christ.'

NEWS OF THE CHURCHES. We are glad to announce that the opened at Eye, Suffolk, which has debt on the new Stockwell Orphan been built at a cost of £950. age has been cleared off, Mr. Spur

The Rev. J. Horn, late of Rawdon geon having received from three individuals £500 each, which exactly

College, has been ordained to the

pastorate of the Church at Idle, meets the amount of £1500 which re

Yorkshire.-The Rev. D. Davies, mained unprovided for. All that now

late of Dowlais, has been ordained remains to be done is to provide for the maintenance of the children; and

to the pastorate of the Church at this, Mr. Spurgeon calculates, will

Treforest.—The Rev. S. Mann has take from £5000 to £6000 a year,

been publicly recognised as the

pastor of the Church at Clarence which must be raised by voluntary subscription. We are sorry to have

Street, Penzance. to add to the above, that the houses

The following reports of MINISwhich the Baptist Churches of Eng

TERIAL CHANGES have reached us since land undertook to build as a testi

our last issue :—The Rev. A. Bow. monial of esteem to Mr. Spurgeon,

den, of Driffield, Yorkshire, to Hartare not yet paid for. The total cost

lepool, Durham; the Rev. G. of these houses is £1678; and to

Phillips, of Evenjobb, Radnor, to wards this, as the Treasurer and

King's Hill, Bucks; the Rev. C. M. Secretary announce, a considerable

Longhurst, of Bristol College, to sum remains to be provided. We

West Street, Reading; the Rev. J. E. trust we shall be enabled to an

Sargent, late of Burslem, to Madeley, nounce in our next issue that this

Salop; the Rev. J. L. Spence, of the debt also has been cleared off. Metropolitan Tabernacle College, A new church has been formed

to Falkirk, Scotland; the Rev. J. at Cliff Road, Woodhouse-moor,

Johnson, of the same College, to Leeds, under the pastorate of the

Alford, Leicestershire. The Rev. Rev. W. H. Brigg.

D. T. Phillips has resigned the

pastorate of the Church in Park The foundation stone of a new

Street, Bristol. The Rev. W. E. chapel for the congregation now

Prichard has resigned the pastorate assembling in Spencer Place, Gos of the Church at Chiswick. The well Road, London, under the pas Rev. J. R. Chamberlain has, on actorate of the Rev. P. Gast, was laid

count of ill health, been compelled on the 11th of November. The cost

to resign the pastorate of the Church of the erection will be about £4000,

in Bath Street, Glasgow. towards which aid is earnestly solicited. — The Baptist chapel, We regret to announce the death Romsey, has been re-opened, after of the Rev. T. W. Wake, for twenty. considerable alterations and im eight years the pastor of the Church provements. The cost of the altera- at Markyate Street, Herts. “He tions has amounted to upwards of rests from his labours, and his £300.-A new chapel has been works do follow him."

THE CHURCH.

Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself

being the chief corner-stone."

FEBRUARY, 1869.

THE STRENGTH OF DIVINE JOY.

BY THE LATE REV. E. L. HULL, B.A. “ The joy of the Lord is your strength.”—Neh. viii. 10. In order to perceive the meaning which that truth had for the people to whom it was spoken, we must consider the scene described in the previous verse. For if we contemplate for a moment their position, we shall see that, surrounded as they were by memorials of their national desolation, it was most natural that they should lament; and at first sight it may seem strange that Nehemiah should at once -quiet their weeping, and tell them of the power of joy. The re-establishment of the Jews in their own city had just been completed by the erection of the walls that had lain in ruin since the great Babylonian invasion. Gradually they had been permitted to return to their own land ; and now, secured by their towers and bulwarks from the assaults of neighbouring tribes, they had assembled to listen to the public proclamation of the law. As for the first time for 150 years those old words were heard again in desolate Jerusalem, a thousand mournful thoughts must have crowded upon their memories. The city, so silent and so forlorn, would tell them of the ancient days when the prophets' voices were heard in its streets foretelling ruin, and were heard in vain. The denunciation of the law, too, on national sin, speaking yet in the same clear and sweeping tones in which it had spoken ere Jerusalem was made desolate, would link them with the past, and make them feel the reality of the retribution they were receiving for the idolatry of a former generation. It is no marvel, therefore, that with these solemn associations round them the people wept aloud, and it was well that they should weep. It was well that they should look into the awful teachings of the past, and under the clear, stern condemnation of the Eternal words, give way to the rush of sorrow. But it was not well that they should sorrow long. They had other work to do demanding the strength of joy. The scattered tribes were to be gathered into a nation—the ancient order was to be restored. They

were not to mourn over the irrevocable past; but learning its lesson to begin a nobler national life, as the people of God. And, therefor Nehemiah and the Levites turned the people's thoughts from the sai dening years that were gone, to the heavenly mercy that was shinin in the present. “Go your way; , . . this day is holy unto tł Lord; ... be ye not sorry; . . . for the joy of the Lord your strength.”

But let us leave those ancient days, and take the truth contained i these words—the strengthening power of joy-into the full light Christianity; and at once it receives a greater confirmation and a large meaning. The Christian gospel entered the world heralded by angel who announced it as “glad tidings of great joy.” Jesus, the Man sorrows, with the shadow of Gethsemane already darkening on Hi spirit, spoke, in His last prayer for the disciples, of His joy, as th means by which they would be kept from falling: “ Those whom Tho gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, and now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” The Saviour, when about to ascend to heaven, connects His ascension with the fulfilment of His great com mission: “ Peace I leave with you: as the Father hath sent me, so sen I you.” Paul the aged, writing from his Roman dungeon to th troubled church at Philippi, speaks of this joy as the power that shoul preserve their faith: “ The peace of God keep your hearts and minds ; and what he meant by peace he shows by adding immediately, “Rejoic in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." Thus Christianity assert with great emphasis, and illustrates with all its light, the old doctrin of Nehemiah and the priests, that Divine gladness is power.

But yet that doctrine is most hard to be believed. Men can believe that sorrow is strengthening, that difficulties clothe the soul with might and nerve it for endurance; but gladness is regarded almost with suspicion, as though it weakened man. Still more, this teaching is most hard to be realized. It is easy to look on the darker side of life, and be harassed with difficulties. It is easier still to close the eyesto refuse to see doubts, and wile away existence with pleasant dream, ing. But to attain a joy that is not merely a hope but a realityjoy that shall deepen through sorrow-a joy that shall make the heart strong to do and to suffer, that seems a task utterly impracticable. shall try to show that it is practicable; that sorrow is only strength ening as it rises into joy. In showing this, we must first inquire into the nature of this "joy of the Lord,” and then illustrate the elements of its power.

I. ITS NATURE. We begin by laying down a broad distinction between mere gladness and spiritual joy. Spiritual joy rises from within the soul, and does not depend on the outward circumstances of its life. Familiar though that thought may be, we dwell upon it at the outset emphatically, because men forget this, and fancy that spiritual life is pre-eminently sorrowful, and that joy enervates man. We hear of the cross and the conflict: we are awe-stricken at the sublime de

mand for the sacrifice of all things, and the noble yet apparently stern picture of the ceaseless struggle of Christian life. That picture is true : all aspirations begin in sadness; all spiritual aspirations are cradled in tears. All true life is a battle, and the battle of the spiritual man ceases only in heaven. But because this joy springs from the soul, and not from circumstances, there is a kind of joy that may deepen into blessedness by the bearing of the cross and the endurance of the conflicts of life. From forgetfulness of this truth there springs the idea that gladness is opposed to the attainment of spiritual power. We see that when God would make a human soul a harp for Divine song, He often baptizes it, as He did David and Isaiah, with difficulties, and smites it with afflictions. We know that when God would make a strong man, He frequently sends him disappointments-imprisonments—desolate days of loneliness—grim battle with slander and care, until the soul grows mighty with the shock, and is clothed with celestial armour by the struggle, and stands up in its strength to fling temptation aside. Hence men conclude that great or lasting joy does not bring out the strength of a soul. It is true that mere gladness, the gladness produced by success and friendship, the buoyant bounding of the heart in life's sunshine, is by no means necessarily strengthgiving. It is a blessed and merciful thing. I pity the man into whose life it never comes, and who cannot sometimes give way to its exultation; but if perpetual, this does weaken the soul, hides from it the invisible, and withers high purpose in life. But if spiritual joy springs from within the soul, then so far from loosening the power of the spirit, it girds it for endurance; and, as I shall try to show presently, it is the joy in difficulty and struggle that makes men strong. Let us farefully and emphatically mark this distinction : spiritual joy depends in no outward circumstances or passing state, it wells like a fountain rom the inner soul. It is confined to no place. It is bounded by no time. It may grow where earthly gladness would perish; it may shine in prisons; grow radiant in poverty ; fill with celestial peace the heart of suffering; and dawn like the first light of heaven in the dying martyr's soul. It is a joy springing from the inner communion of the spirit with its God.

Now taking spiritual joy thus defined, we have to ask how it arises. The question meets us,-How can there be an inner gladness undis. urbed by outward sorrow? Is not that mystical and dreamy? Can t remain permanently in man? In order to test this, let me observe that this spiritual joy is twofold in nature.

1. It is the joy of self-surrender to God. Until man has surrendered himself joy is impossible. There may be gleams of happiness, or wild futbursts of pleasure, but true joy can only begin when the self-life las been surrendered. For men know that to live only in themselves 8 misery, and yet they cannot escape from themselves, because the consciousness of a guilty past hangs like a burden on the heart. I an find no words to tell how that source of misery seems to me to be broadly manifest in the world. Men know that their gleams of joy