Observer, June 15, '76.

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METRICAL RENDERING OF THE GOSPEL BY JOHN. By GILBERT Y. TICKLE. The text carefully compared with the best translations, and rendered in blank verse. Bound in neat cloth, with bevelled edges and gilt lettering. Postfree 2s. 6d.

HORT ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE MILLEN NIUM; or Plain Proofs for Plain Christians that the Coming of Christ will not be Pre-millennial; that His reign on earth will not be personal. A book for the times, by B. C. YOUNG. Second thousand, post-free, 2s. 6d.

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Origin of the New Testament and Mistakes therein 197 The Priest and the Disciple of Christ

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Discussion on Baptism

The Gospel not Hid

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He that Believeth shall be Saved..

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Query

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Letter to the "Rev." W. Fountain..

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Family Room-An Allegory...

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The Blessed Name

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Intelligence of Churches, etc. Obituary

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ALL COMMUNICATIONS (Including those for the Committee of the Free Distribution Fund) to be addressed "Editor of the Ecclesiastical Observer, 30, Belgrave Read, Birmingham."

THE

HE National Secular Society Bubble has been pricked with little ceremony by Secularists who attended its recent Annual Meeting at Leeds. The society has existed years enough to have been ere this a powerful institution; but Mr. Bradlaugh is monarch, and the thing has been but an inflation for personal ends.

Here we have very little to say beyond giving a page of recent testimony from Secularists who understand this so-called National Secular imposition, and who appear able to estimate the work and worth of its President. A leading article in the Secularist, under heading "The Leeds Conference," says, 66 Mr. Foote charged that three or four persons in London could saddle the society with the responsibility of whatever they chose to do; and this was not denied. A balance-sheet is read, showing the society to have expended about twice its income, and to be heavily in debt to the President, who in his turn avowed himself indebted for the amount to the treasurer." Then we have information as to the strength of this National Society, showing that were its entire membership brought together they might fill a moderate-sized chapel :

"The President, not in his Report, incidentally stated the number of members at 1,192, a total so enormous

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that it must strike terror into the slaves of superstition -a total which would make a good audience at the Hall of Science, or a fair congregation for a Dissenting minister in a country town. It is true that I could by no means reconcile this total with the numbers of sub

If

scribers given in the balance-sheet; but the report in the President's paper tells us what I did not hear the President tell the meeting, that if all members paid up their subscriptions there would be money in hand.' this is correct, a large portion of the members must be in arrear, for the deficit is very large in proportion to the income. As non-paying members are but an incumbrance to the society, it would be interesting to know how many must be deducted from the formidable total of 1,192 in order to arrive at the efficient strength; and even this amount would include those who joined the society simply to attempt its re-construction, and who will resign if it remains as it is. So far as I could learn, no distinction was made in the voting between members who had paid and members in default. It was proposed to postpone the election of officers until the society had been re-constituted. The President boldly declared that the revision of the constitution had no more to do with the election of officers than the price of salt, in face of the obvious fact that the revised constitution might appoint an Executive very different in powers, and numbers, and organisation from the old. The President likewise, who tried hard to do everything himself, with the slightest and mere formal assistance of the rest of the meeting, proclaimed that the Executive appointed at one Conference had power to lay down a programme for the next Conference, from which it would have no power to swerve; and said that, if this were objected to, the Conference could vote that the Executive should not have such power in future; in other

words, he told the National Secular Society that it is absolutely governed by its own Executive, which means absolutely governed by himself.

The interlude of Mr. Foote's nomination and rejection followed. In this the President played brilliantly his part of infallible Pope and absolute Autocrat. Mr. Foote had been guilty of high treason in publishing criticisms on the acts, and speeches, and writings of Mr. Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant, and in proposing reforms in the constitution of the society. But Mr. Bradlaugh preferred not to meet him on these public grounds; it was much easier and more prudent to exaggerate certain petty personal details into monstrous dimensions. Instead of vacating the chair while engaged in personal conflict with Mr. Foote, so that an impartial person might have presided over the terrible fray, he stuck to his post, using and abusing all its advantages with the utmost violence. He was accuser, witness, inquisitor, judge, all in one. He was a king of France

of that ancien régime he denounces with pen and tongue, holding 'a bed of justice'; he was Judge Jefferies trying a rebel. He continually interrupted Mr. Foote with an insolence and an arrogance equally disgraceful and ludic

"Your malicious slander cast against my dearest friend I was blamed for not repudiating, but in truth I dared not trust myself to speak of it. It was characterised by some of your own supporters as "brutal," seeing that the mouth of the slandered man was stopped. My friend may be left to make his own defence, and to inflict upon you, as he assuredly will, condign retribution.

Your fulsome fawning on Mr. Holyoake at the Conference was too transparent to deceive those gifted with sight. Methought your friendship did protest too much. You declared that you and he had knit hands till death; but I recollect that you said almost exactly the same thing fifteen years ago. Your threatening letters to Mr. Holyoake before his withdrawal from this paper, demanding an interview within forty-eight hours, are sufficient proof of the hollowness of this truce which is called friendship. Mr. Holyoake falls a victim to your machinations because age and infirmities have weakened his power of resistance. He has abdicated his former proud position, and accepted a lieutenancy under a general whose plans he disapproved and persistently deprecated in his days of mature strength.

Your twelve years' acknowledged leadership of the Secular party has proved your utter incapacity or unwillingness to organise it for practical purposes. Every small measure of organisation that we now possess has been achieved without your advice or instigation. What single scheme for the good of the whole cause, for its solidification, have you ever originated? What scheme have you ever assisted except so far and in such ways as ministered to your own profit and aggrandisement? Our party is less organised now than when you assumed its leadership. Mushroom societies are constantly springing up, but what account can you give of the old ones? The very Freethinkers' Benevolent Fund, of which you make such boast whenever occasion offers, was stronger in Joseph Barker's time than now. what has your great society done during the past twelve months? It has procured signatures for a petition against Royal grants, issued six tracts, and presented a testimonial to brave Mr. Washington in the form of a tea-pot, on which are conspicuously engraved your name and the names of two of your Vice-Presidents selected for immortalisation. This is all, and what an all for a great National Society!"

And

These results may take those of our readers by surprise who have not heard or read of the constant bluster of the head and chief of the National Secular Society. But Secularism cannot organise in much better fashion. Its members are the prey of some half-dozen vultures, whose principles are their pockets, who are the worst of priests, and whose trade is blasphemy. We have at hand other testimonies in keeping with the foregoing, from Secularists who were at the Leeds Conference, but those cited suffice to satisfy our readers that the bubble is pierced from the right quarter, by those who are in a position to know.

GENERAL ANNUAL MEETING.

THE Annual Meeting of Members and Delegates of Churches of the Apostolic Order will (D.V.) be held in Leeds, commencing Tuesday, August 8, at six o'clock p.m., in the Meeting House, Kelsall Street, Woodhouse Lane. Schedules will be duly forwarded to churches already on the list. Any such church failing to receive one by July 10 is requested to make known the omission. Churches planted since the last Annual, or not already co-operating, are not eligible to obtain the schedule until placed upon the list by the Annual Meeting. Churches desiring to be thus received, to address the meeting by letter. Information respecting lodgings may be obtained from G. W. Grinstead, 126, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, to whom all communications for the meeting are to be addressed.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL CONFERENCES will com mence on Tuesday morning, August 8, at ten o'clock.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN SCOTLAND.-The Annual Meeting of delegates and others from churches will be held in 41, Brown Street, Glasgow, on Friday, 14th July, at ten o'clock. Remittances to be sent to Mr. John Thomson, M.D., 8, Millerfield Place, and letters regarding business of meeting to Mr. James Nimmo, 2, Hope Park Crescent, Edinburgh. JAMES NIMMO, Secretary.

Editorial Notices.

M. E. P." He knoweth the Way" is sweet in thought, rich in trusting, but not equal in verse for publication.

G. SMITH.-Not able to write upon the "Rev." E. Parker's Address. Friends should have written the notice ready for insertion. If able, will briefly notice next issue.

AMERICAN Bоoks are now to hand. "Moses E. Lard on Romans," 12s. 6d., postage 11d. "Lard's Reply to Dr. Jeter," 6s. 6d., postage 6d. For others, see last page.

PAYMENTS RECEIVED to June 22.-A. Forsyth, W. Gilman, W. Norton, C. Muirhead, J. Evans, S. Jackson, G. Shutt, W. Smith (Kent), R. Williams, W. Balding, R. Mear, M. Jackson, J. Evans, R. Rickell, T. Bates, R. Metcalf, H. Booth, J. Beale, J. Murray, A. Muir, T. Winder, R. Mumby, Hall and Co., T. S. Lyle, J. B. Carr. Free Distribution Fund.-J. Evans.

Observer, July 1, '76.

I

THE SILVER SPRING.

AM sitting on this March day under a warm, golden sunshine, by the banks of the Silver Spring, in Florida. For several hours our little steamer threaded its tortuous way up the Ocklawahaw, amid dense forests of cypress and palmetto. The venerable cypresses, with their flowing grey beards of moss, gave a sombre gloom to the scenery. Suddenly our boat turned off into the bright and Silver Creek, where the water is so perfectly transparent that we seemed to be floating on air. Eight miles of this translucent navigation brought us to the fountain-head of the crystal creek in this marvellous Silver Spring. It is not only the gem of Florida, but one of the wonders of American scenery. I bend over the side of our little boat and look sheer down forty feet, and the shellcovered bottom seems only an arm's length off. A penny lying at the bottom is distinctly visible, and the hand-writing on the envelope of a letter is plainly seen. Not one particle of gross earth sullies the pellucid purity of this deep, cool spring, which is itself the birth-place of yonder fast flowing little river.

As I look down into the magic mirror that reflects the tree tops, I begin to repeat to myself these words: "He showeth me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' These words set me upon a meditation. If our Master were beside this bright fountain to-day, with His disciples, what a parable He would draw out of these pearly depths. He found his texts everywhere. Looking at the golden pitcher which the priest used in the temple, he cried aloud, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink! He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." No emblem was more often employed by the Great Teacher, and in the descriptions of heaven itself we are led beside the living waters.

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The first thing that strikes me here to-day is the fulness of the fountain. This Silver Spring sends forth a body of water that amounts to more than an hundred hogsheads in a minute. The issuing creek is always full to the brim. Midsummer heats never diminish it. Beautiful emblem of that fulness of mercy in God that furnishes redemption for all sinners who seek it; and of that fulness of grace in Christ Jesus for the myriads of His disciples. We run dry when we cut off our heart connection with Jesus. This is the secret of the spiritual declension of many a church member. He is out of communion with Christ. He no longer draws by prayer, and by the activities of faith, from the

Great Reservoir. "Because I live, ye shall live also." As soon as a Christian finds himself growing dull and dry, as soon as he loses his relish for his Bible and his closet, his prayermeeting, and the active duties to which he pledged himself, let him take the alarm. He has "forsaken the living fountain, and is hewing out for himself a broken cistern that holds no water." He is attempting to live on the mire and the dregs of a dried up experience. The water is not there. The recovery of such a backslider is not to be secured by the prayers of the church, nor by the advent of a "revivalist," but by the return of his own soul to his own Saviour. He must go back to Christ in humble confession, and establish a new connection with Jesus, as the one only Fountain of all grace and strength. A genuine and powerful revival in a church is simply the outwelling of a Silver Spring from the hearts and lives of Christ's brotherhood, and the outflow makes a blessed irrigation of the surrounding community. If Christians kept in constant communion with their Fountain-head, there would be no necessity for a revival. Oh! my soul, may thy every vein be filled with this quickening flow, so that my leaf be ever green, and my life be like yonder orange tree, laden with golden fruit.

The next truth that bubbles up from this crystal spring is that the purity of the stream comes from the purity of the fountain. As we sailed up the Silver Creek, we observed that the whole stream was transparent as glass until it mingled with the more turbid waters of the Ochlawahaw. So the life of a true child of God is pure and holy as long as it flows out of Christ. This is the only "higher life." As soon as a Christian runs into conformity with the world, his conduct becomes riled and muddy. His

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whole life is discoloured. He has ceased to be "peculiar and separate from sinners." The sand and slime of a sinful world are too much for the crystalline character which grace begets, and he becomes polluted. The word "sincere signifies transparent. His clear honesty of purpose and purity of aim, and singleness of heart for Christ's glory, are all muddled with a new and unclean contamination. He is no longer holy. No body comes thither to draw" from him, as I see the people come and fill their buckets from this sweet, cool spring. He cannot purify and refresh others, for he is not clean. himself. He has not the crystal quality of that stream that floweth out of God and the Lamb. It is a suggestive fact that in proportion as Christians ally themselves to sin and the sinful, in the same degree do sinners draw away from them when they want help and spiritual good. "Keep thyself pure !"-T. Cuyler.

PREACHING-WHAT?

PREACHING in order to the conversion of sinners should, in general, be elementary. I say in general because there are exceptions to the rule. There are many persons of culture, whose minds have been turned by scientific and philosophic thinking into wrong directions, that cannot be reached by elementary points of doctrine. We must deal with them as Paul dealt with their ancient prototypes at Athens. We must seek to place ourselves on their ground, close by their sides, not in the spirit of the athlete in the arena, who struggles only for the victory. The spirit of true science, of true philosophy, however widely that of "science falsely so called" may differ from it, is one of patient, honest investigation. If a man, of an inquiring disposition, who seeks to penetrate beneath the mere surface of things, has wandered where the cold winds of unbelief sweeps down upon him, he can only be recovered by one who has patiently and prayerfully explored the wide fields in which he is straying, who can take him affectionately by the hand and tenderly lead him where the light of God's truth and the life-giving power of God's love may find access to his heart. Surface discussions will do him no good. Denunciation will drive him further away. Some one must come to his side that can grapple with his questions, that can look honestly into the face of his difficulties, that can clear up the tangled skein of his thoughts, and lead him safely out of the labyrinth of mingled fact and speculation in which he has lost his way. Of course I refer not now to the mere pretenders to science and philosophy, to conceited smatterers, that delight in the shallow commonplaces of scepticism, and profess unbelief only for the notoriety it gives them in a Christian community. This description includes a well-known type, individuals of which the preacher often encounters, and for whom, it must be regretfully said, he cannot hope to do anything. Only the honest heart, so the Great Teacher decides, receives the Word of God in a way to bring forth the fruits thereof.

As already suggested, the cases here contemplated may be considered, in a measure, exceptional. The great masses that need salvation do not belong to this class; and for them the simple elements of the Gospel meet every need. What, then, do we mean by elementary preaching?

1. Men must be taught "the exceeding sinfulness of sin.” There is need for great faith fulness at this point. There is, in our modern thought, a strong tendency to unbiblical notions

Observer, July 1, '76.

of this subject. Pantheistic ideas of God, and similarly false theories of man--theories which seek the explanation of moral evil in the necessities of the outward environment--are steadily undermining the consciousness of accountability in the souls of many cultivated people. In steering clear of one extreme, the human mind has ever been prone to go too far in the opposite direction. There is no reaching a man with the message of salvation until he realizes the need of it. If one feels himself well, he will not send for a physician. Men need to be awakened. They must comprehend their condition as sinners before they will listen with real interest to the question, "What shall I do to be saved?" Do we not spend too much time expounding the way of salvation to persons who are not concerned to understand it? And does not our preaching, in such cases, degenerate into idle theorizing? Is it not very much like lecturing well men on the philosophy of the healing art? We tell men how they can be saved, but what is that to them if they realize not that they are lost? I do not affirm there is no good done in this way. There is, no doubt, much useful information imparted, but our hearers are not conscious of any very great need of it. We must begin further back. The consciousness of sin-its deep guilt, the ruin of its works, the damnation it finally incurs-must be distinctly formed in the soul. There can be no sure foundation for a religious life without this. Logically this is clear, and all scripture asserts or implies it. If confirmation were needed, all human experience confirms it.

The "dead point" with many denominations, in their evangelizing efforts, is found in their inability to show the way of salvation to intelligent men who feel their need of it. The inquiring soul is led away into a dark region, peopled with spectres. Vainly he gropes in quest of light, where light other than that of some misleading ignis fatuus never comes. is a religion for ignorant people, or for visionary enthusiasts. It does not satisfy the hungerings of the more thoughtful in their own fellowships. I do not speak unadvisedly when I say this. But I am not speaking for the benefit of the denominations to-day. I now say, that we have

our

This

"dead point" too. They succeed best where we are aptest to fail, while they fail utterly where we should always succeed. They make people feel their need of a Saviour, but cannot point their way to Him. I know they have a few stereotyped Scripture quotations about "Coming to Jesus," " "Believing, only believing," and more of the same sort. We have no trouble in showing the way, but fail too often in creating a consciousness of the need.