to him, "Now you are going off, and I have not five minutes to spare, and yet I want to talk to you. Alas! alas! my dear man, you can't preach at all, and you can't pray either. What did you mean by that word 'intellect' in your prayer? It will never do, my dear man; it's no good at all to send such a man as you to the negroes. Did Dr. Ryland ever hear you preach? Do tell him you can't

preach at all; you are not fit for it. Well! I am pleased with you, and am glad you have taken it so well. I am sure I did not expect it. Fare you well! every blessing attend you; do write to me.' James intermingled this with his grave and witty remarks, which rendered it truly admirable. W. R.

THERE are ten Baptist Churches in the city and suburbs of Bristol. Eight of these churches have originated during the present century; the other two are much older; the church at Broadmead having been established as far back as the year 1650, and the church in King-street about the same time. Interesting records exist of the sorrows and successes of these two venerable Christian societies, from which we should much like to make copious quotations; but as our space is limited, and we wish, moreover, to speak of present rather than past workers, a few words upon the matter must suffice. Concerning the church in King-street, we may mention that one of its first pastors preached in Ireland for some time "under the patronage of Cromwell and the Parliament;" and that another of its pastors, the Rev. Andrew Gifford, was "deeply engaged in the affair of the Duke of Monmouth." We need not wonder, therefore, that Mr. Gifford was often in "hot water" during the remuant of James the Second's reign. The glorious Revolution of 1688 brought in better times, which Mr. Gifford lived

"He

to enjoy for more than thirty years, and died in the year 1721. This Bristol Baptist was undoubtedly a very good and useful man, and probably the minister who preached his funeral sermon did not much exceed the truth when he said he was "fearful lest he should eclipse the glory of his character while he illustrated it." He must have been a large-souled man, for these three reasons :-" He was an active promoter of a general union of the Baptist Churches in England and Wales, and attended all the meetings in London." was also a zealous patron of the education of young ministers, and in 1690 carried £50 from his church to London for that purpose." Some of us have read of the monk, in the days of Luther, who warned his hearers against Greek and Hebrew, because the former, if they studied it, would be sure to turn them into pagans, and the latter into Jews. A Bristol brother, sympathising somewhat in the sentiments of the monk, once asked Mr. Gifford "Why he was so solicitous to procure a learned education for his grandson, seeing that neither he nor his son possessed

any literary attainments ?" "For that very reason," was the smart and sufficient reply. Last, but not least, Mr. Gifford could carry on a baptismal controversy with a PædoBaptist minister, deserving the following record in the Church book:"Many letters passed between them, manifesting the greatest affection, goodwill, and brotherly love, as well became fellow-labourers and fellowsufferers for the same Lord and Master." Truly, Mr. Gifford was a good man. We must refrain from reference to the ancient history of the church at Broadmead, with the remark that the book which contains it, called "The Broadmead Records," is intensely interesting, full of historical information, and deserving of the widest circulation.

Let us now proceed to speak concerning the present work which is being done by the Bristol Baptists. We have already stated that there are ten churches of our denomination there. These ten churches contain about 2,500 members-that is, an average of 250 each-more than double the average of the whole denomination; two of the ten containing more than 400, and one more than 600 members. The average increase during the past year has been much beyond the denominational average, which we are very sorry to say only amounted to about 1 per church; "the lowest average increase that has been reported for the last eight years." The number of children in the Sabbath-schools of these ten churches amount to more than 2,000, yielding the high average of 200 for each school, the largest number in any one school being 632, and the lowest number 166. As it respects the average attendance upon divine worship, we can only speak approximately. If we reckon, however, 4,500 at the best attended service, i.e., 450 for each sanctuary, we shall probably

not be very far from the mark. As there are somewhere about half a million worshippers in the Baptist chapels of Great Britain and Ireland

reckoning twice as many worshippers as members of churches-the worshippers in the Baptist chapels at Bristol being 4,500, are about 1 per cent. of the whole denomination. The denominational differences of opinion as to "high and low doctrine" are very little known in Bristol. The much and deservedlydreaded antinomianism of some few Baptists is almost a thing of the past, so far as Bristol is concerned. That foul product of the marshes of a corrupted Christianity, which Mr. Jay termed "the bloodhound of orthodoxy," and which Mr. Hall compares to Job's Leviathan, "that no weapon could pierce, and no discipline tame," is almost as extinct at Bristol as any megatherium of the antediluvian world.

We are happy also to state that the most cordial fraternal feeling exists between the Baptists and our brethren of the Congregational body. We do not speak now of mere parlour or platform amenities, which very often are "voice and nothing more," but of positive and practical union. For example, every missionary meeting in Bristol, whether Baptist or Congregational, is attended by ministers of both denominations; united services of both are held each November, and are unusually well attended; and even "the chapel cases" of both bodies are relieved according to arrangements mutually agreed upon. This very praiseworthy harmony, while it certainly exists without any sacrifice of principle, is as certainly productive of results of the most welcome nature. Neither is this kindly feeling confined by any means to the two denominations to which we have just referred; but it has, so to speak, created an atmosphere of

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fraternal affection which more or less pervades all sections of the Christian Church there. Many of our readers are aware that the present Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol is Dr. Ellicott, a prelate of unusual learning and piety. We are very pleased to be able to state that the Bishop visits at least one dissenting minister of the city; and, moreover, during last year, addressed a kind letter to the editor of the Baptist Magazine, in reference to a review of some of the Bishop's expository works, which appeared in our denominational organ, and when we add that the Dean of Bristol gave plumper" to Sir Morton Peto, at the last general election, we have said enough, we think, to show that religious bigotry is not unusually rampant among the inhabitants of this prosperous city of the west. We are able also to speak favourably of the efforts which the Bristol Baptists are making for the evangelization of the dark parts of England, of Europe, and the world. "The Bristol City "The Bristol City Mission Society" is a valuable evangelical effort, which raises at least £800 per annum, and has upon its committee all the Baptist ministers of the place. The Baptist churches in the country places around Bristol are comparatively weak, but the good city, which is also a "county of itself," most willingly lends them a helping hand; while "The Bristol Baptist Itinerant Society," which has existed for more than forty years, expended during the past year about £150 in sending lay preachers among the villages around. We are accustomed to test the spiritual life of our churches by their contribution to the funds of the Foreign Missionary Society, and the Baptists of Bristol need not be afraid of that mode of probation; for the average contributions last year of the ten churches were £70; a sum which

will bear a favourable comparison, ceteris paribus, with any cluster of churches in the land. While our brethren have been thus liberal in their contribution for the erection of Christian sanctuaries in foreign lands, they have not been unmindful of the enlargement and improvement of their own; having expended under this item during the last eight or ten years at least ten thousand pounds. We should do an act of injustice to our Bristol brethren if we did not refer to the hearty support which they render to the well-known Baptist College which their city contains. This valuable institution has existed nearly 100 years; it has numbered among its tutors and students many of the very foremost men of our body; Dr. Gotch, one of its present professors, is a profound scholar; its efficiency increases with the increase of its years; and it has no more hearty supporters than the ministers and members of the Bristol Baptist churches. A few items of miscellaneous information will bring this slight sketch to a close. Many of our readers are well-acquainted with the fact that the Rev. Robert Hall was formerly pastor of "the Broadmead" Church, and that he wrote in favour of " open communion." It appears that of the ten Bristol churches eight practise what Robert Hall defended, and that four of the ten also admit Pædobaptists to the full fellowship of the Church; of whom there are about ninety in the four churches. On the other hand, there are many more than ninety Baptists in full fellowship with the twelve Congregational churches which the city and suburbs of Bristol contains. The mention of the twelve Congregational churches suggests the remark that, as the Congregational body is more that twice as large as the Baptist denomination, the twelve should

be nearer thirty; so that, comparitively speaking, the Baptists are more numerous than their brethren of the other body, though undoubtedly below them in wealth and social influence. Those who take an interest in ecclesiastical architecture will be glad to learn that the Baptists of Bristol are probably not behind their brethren elsewhere in the study of that popular branch of æsthetics. The old Chapel of Broadmead has been much modernised and much improved. The new Chapel in City Road is a vast improvement upon the sanctuaries in which our fathers worshipped; and the Baptist Chapel at Clifton is pronounced by competent judges "quite a gem of a place; indeed, so much so, that the daughters of a late Bishop of London once entered it for divine worship, feeling certain that it could not be a conventicle; but of course they soon beat a retreat, when the sad truth forced itself upon them, that it did not belong to the established church. As respects the mode of worship adopted by the Bristol Baptists, it seems about as simple-plus the chants as that which their forefathers followed. In this respect the Congregationalists are before them, or behind them, according to the view taken of the matter. In one Congregational church we heard "the psalms for the day" chanted and on a week-evening, after the service, we saw the choir-master from the cathedral instructing about a hundred young people in the art of Psalmody. This church is of recent erection; and is about to have an organ placed in it, worth £700. More over, it has lately been so altered, that the communion table is quite at the east end; and altogether it would have taken the bishop's daughters, to whom we have just referred, a longer time to discover that it was a dissenting place of worship than they

spent in making the same discovery in the case of the Baptist chapel at Clifton. In another Congregational church we saw two very beautiful painted windows, and heard the worship conducted in so tasteful a mode, that the bishop himself could not have wished for any alteration, except, of course, in the subject matter of the service. Perhaps we may as well add, that the other day, in London, we heard the Te Deum chanted in a Congregational church as well as we have heard it in more than one cathedral. We enter into no criticism upon these modes of worship, our duty at present being merely that of an honest recorder of

facts. Some of our readers will exclaim, "Popery!" the younger portion of our readers will probably smile approval; but both must please distinctly to understand that the Bristol Baptists neither cantilate the Psalms for the Day nor chant the Te Deum,-their mode of worship being just what it is among the Baptists of Bradford, Birmingham, or any other large town. It is our pleasant duty to say that all sections of Evangelical Christians are well represented at Bristol. The Episcopalians are favoured with the oversight of a bishop who, for learning and piety, will bear comparison with any of his mitred peers; the Wesleyans rejoice in the presence among them of their gifted minister, Mr. Morley Punshon; the Congregationalists have with them the Rev.

David Thomas, the Chairman this year of the Congregational Unionaround whom in that capacity more than eight hundred ministerial brethren delighted to gather-who materially and mentally is "a king of men," and who in several respects is, in our opinion, one of the most interesting preachers of the Gospel, to whom it has been our privilege to listen; and while, for obvious reasons,

we single out no one Bristol Baptist minister for emphatic eulogy, our readers will know how to judge of the workmen by their successful work-not forgetting the fact that two of them, beside Dr. Gotch, are members of the Committee of the Foreign Missionary Society; which fact is an undoubted proof of the esteem in which they are held by their brethren throughout the land. We must now begin to bring our somewhat rambling record to a close. We should like to have written a few words concerning the antiquities, the natural beauties, the commercial prosperity, the public spirit and kindly hospitality," which do renown this city." We would fain have gossiped a little concerning its cathedral, which probably the Ironsides of Cromwell treated with no excess of reverential affection; and which we are glad to see in a progressive state of restoration, if it were only for the fact that one of the greatest of all bishops, the author of "The Analogy," once presided there, and there lies buried. How natural, also, to speak concerning the church of St. Mary Redcliff, and Canynge's coffre, so inseparably blended with the melancholy history of Chatterton

Right pleasant would it be to us also to speak of Colston, whose abundant charities, living and dying, are, perhaps, almost without a parallel in the records of benevolence; and of Mr. Müller-probably not second to Colston-who at this moment is tenderly and piously rearing nearly two thousand orphans, without one farthing of endowment or government aid. Truly, Bristol is a thrice blessed place." Here Bishop Butler thought, Robert Hall preached, and Edmund Burke declaimed. Here the beauties of nature combine with "the beauties of holiness," to produce results upon which angels must be glad to gaze; and though doubtless there are many imperfections and evils there now, as there certainly were when the citizens filled their coffers from the proceeds of the accursed slave trade, and when they tried to help on the passing of the Reform Bill by making a bonfire of the place, yet it is a city of which any nation might well be proud, and certainly has done its full share of the heroic work which has made England the Goshen of the earth.

THOUGH filling one of the most important spheres in the early history of our body, and aiding by his wise counsels and devoted labour in its enlargement and consolidation, yet comparatively little is known of his inner and social life. I doubt the competency of any man now to fill

up this void. We catch occasional glimpses of him in the busy throng, sometimes in the tented field, at others pleading the claims of conscience against the insolent claims of Presbyterian bigots; at others moving through the eastern portions of the island, proclaiming with power