America; as those by the Disciples of Christ and other bodies are not included.

MELBOURNE.-The church meeting at Unity Hall, Melbourne, has been cheered. On 2nd Nov., ten persons made the good confession and were baptized into Christ, most of them young children of members of the church, and connected with the Lord's-day school. Great encouragement to faithful work by parents and teachers in the family and in the school. G. G. S.

WEDDERBURN. (Victoria, Australia.)-We thank God and take courage, on account of peace and some measure of prosperity during the past year. Nineteen have been added to the church-five by immersion, two previously immersed, and ten by restoration. We number now about fifty. We have been greatly cheered by visits of brethren from a distance, including Brn. Illingworth, Smith, and M. W. Green, who have laboured with much earnestness. And as we had been so long without seeing any visitors, we were the more encouraged and stimulated thereby. J. H. BULWELL.-We are gathering in one by one. Our new meeting house is getting towards completion. The present high price of material and labour make it a very expensive affair. Several kind brethren have practically sympathized with us, should any other be so disposed, their gifts, great or small, will be thankfully received, addressed to W. J Dawson, Bulwell, Notts. W. J. D.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS.-We are happy to report four additions since our last, three by immersion and one formerly immersed. We have resolved to do our utmost to obtain a meeting place of our own, as our present room is at a very high rent for so small a place, not at all inviting, and we have no accommodation for baptisms. We intend to appeal to the churches, by circular, for help, praying the Lord to open their hearts to respond liberally. In the meantime we thus appeal to brethren whom the circular may not reach, to give in their names for this good work. Communications to be sent to H. Collyer, 8, Birling Cottages, Frant Road, Tunbridge Wells. J. DAVIDSON.

LEICESTER. For some time past the church here has been seeking a suitable room for gospel work in a part of the town distant from our chapel. A very eligible place has now been found, clean, light, cheerful, in a distinct neighbourhood, and the brethren residing in the locality have been dismissed from the church in Crafton Street, to form another in the new place, so that on Lord's day, Feb. 6, the table will be spread, and a second church of the primitive order will be planted in Leicester. Bro. Thompson is expected to devote considerable attention to evangelizing in the locality.

BIRMINGHAM.-At the instance of the Christian Evidence Society, a few days ago, the Editor of the E. O. delivered a lecture, to a crowded audience, in the new and commodious hall of the Young Men's Christian Institution. Subject:-"Spiritualism— Unreliable as to its alleged Spirit Communications, Physically and Morally injurious, and tending to Infidelity." Interesting facts, proving the indictment, were listened to with marked attention. There were active Spiritualists present, but, though invited to reply, they deemed silence the better way.

Observer, Feb. 15, '76.

The church in Charles Henry Street has increased the number of its deacons, by a unanimous election. Lord's day, Feb. 13, was appointed for ordination, by the laying on of hands.

The Baptistery in Geach Street Church has been again in requisition.

SOUTHPORT.-During the last four months of the old year, we have been permitted to add eleven to the church here, two of whom were formerly immersed. S. H. C.

Obituary.

ANNE EVANS, the mother of evangelist Evans, Blackburn, fell asleep in Jesus on Lord's day night, Dec. 20th, 1875, at Stelloe Farm, Montgomery. She was interred in her husband's vault in the Nonconformist Cemetery, Llanidloes. The funeral service was performed in the presence of many relatives and friends, by J. Nicholas, her old baptist pastor and constant friend. He also preached her funeral sermon in his chapel, the place where she first worshipped at the time of her conversion. Mrs. Evans, her husband, and two sons were brought up in the Church of England creed, and habitually attended the service of that church, but also regularly attended the afternoon and evening services of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church, which was a common practice in those days. In 1845 the eldest son, Mr. Evans, Blackburn, left those congregations; and on the confession of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was immersed in the river Severn. His mother at the same time followed his example, also his father in a few months after. They afterwards lived the life of Christian consistency, and shone as lights of the world, never did they forget "to entertain strangers." Their house became the Bethany of the friends of Christ as long as they lived, and a happy place it was to lodge in. He who writes this short biography is the Baptist minister, who lodged in their house at the time of their conversion. Their worthy son, now of Blackburn, commenced to preach the gospel in my pulpit, and lately, after many years, we had again the pleasure of hearing him preach in the same pulpit with much earnestness, clearness, and force. Caersws. J. NICHOLAS.

ELLEN TURNER, relict of the late William Turner, of Leigh, departed this life Jan. 25, 1876, in the 69th year of her age, at Southport, having been confined to her bed about six weeks. She suffered intensely, but, so long as conscious, her confidence and patient faith were fully manifest. It was a joy to hear her repeat the promises of the Holy Word. Almost her last sensible words were :

Observer, Feb. 15, '76.

Family Room.

WHAT GOOD CAN I DO?

"Do SOME good every day, and be not willing for one day to pass without." So Mr. Worth said in his sermon last Sunday. I wish he had been a little more particular as to what such as I can do, without money and with little time. I think I'll go around by the factory this afternoon, as, for a wonder, I can be spared, and see if I can persuade any of the mothers to send their children to Sunday school."

So spake Linda Curtiss, the eldest child of a large family, with much to occupy her at home. She went, but, not being very successful, was returning home discouraged, when she met a loving friend, whose cheerful face she was glad to see.

"Ah, Linda, it is long since I have seen you, and this is a very pleasant meeting. You have not been to see us for some time."

"No, ma'am," replied Linda; "to tell the truth, I've been too busy to go anywhere. I can't find time to do any good. To-day I happened to have a little leisure, and thought I would hunt up Sunday scholars, but I have not succeeded."

"Ah, well; the very intention is something," said the lady.

Linda's face brightened, and Mrs. Worth continued

"The thought which you have bestowed upon this subject will be a benefit to you by bringing your mental powers into exercise to devise some way of serving others. And although you were not successful this afternoon you may be next time. Besides, God accepts a willing mind. This is more to Him than mere service, or than great service without the ready, cheerful will."

"Oh, those are nice thoughts for me,” replied Linda, "I have been thinking this over so long, what good I could do, and it really seems as if there were no way for me, I have to do my part towards earning money at home; for we're not as well off as before father died, and I have but little time."

"You do good at home, if I'm not mistaken." Linda looked up inquiringly, and her friend continued

"Would not mother miss the cheerful words and ready help which she finds in her eldest daughter? Would not grandmother miss the daily little attentions which seem nothing to you but which are everything to the lonely, aged heart which has buried nearly all its treasures. These little kind

nesses are more than great service, and I speak of them to encourage you, but not to prevent you from doing duty outside of home, if possible."

Mrs. Worth had seen and known enough of the girl's habits at home to warrant her speaking thus. "Oh, do you think God is pleased with those things?" asked Linda.

"To be sure, my child, everything of this kind tends to swell the sum of human happiness, and God delights in this. It is a part of the fulfillment of the 'new commandment.' Love one another.' Of what use are Sunday schools and churches if not to make people better and, consequently, happier? Too❘

many have a certain round of what they call religious duties, and seem to overlook entirely the spirit of their lives, forgetting that there are such precepts as, 'Be pitiful;' 'Be courteous;' 'Be kindly affectioned one to another.""

"I'm so glad I've met you to-day; it will be such a help for me," said the young girl, and her friend added

"See now, this little spot of greenness in this moist place, while all around it is parched, because of the long drought. Even the little wild flowers spring up here. So there are some homes where flowers of joy and love might just as well be scattered as not, were it not for strange forgetfulness, both on the part of parents and children."

Looking up towards the huge, towering rock, beneath which they sat, Linda said

"O, here is the cause of this moist, green spot. See, there are three tiny, trickling streams, so small you can hardly see them, and they all run down into the little hollow, and help to make the flowers grow. I'm sure I'll try to be like one of these small streams."

"Drawing your own refreshments and support from the Fountain of life,' replied Mrs. Worth. For, behold! the source whence these tiny streams spring is hidden-all out of sight of human gaze. So 'your life is hid with Christ in God,' and 'without Him you can do nothing.""

They parted, Linda saying to herself, "I'm going to try and scatter flowers of happiness, looking unto Jesus, for He is to me what the water springs are to the flowers. He that abideth in Him bringeth forth much fruit." S. S. T.

JESUS BLESSING THE CHILDREN.

SOME people take very little interest in children, regarding them as almost hindrances in the pathway of life. Not so with the Saviour. He loved little children deeply, took them in His arms, perhaps kissed them, certainly He blessed them. More than this, in the view of the Saviour, childhood presents to us the highest type of Christian life, for unless we are converted and become as little children we cannot see the kingdom of heaven. An eminent writer observes:-"You have the child's character in these four things-humility, faith, charity, and cheerfulness. That's what you've got to be converted to. You hear much of conversion now-a-days; but many people seem to think they have to be made wretched by conversion-to be converted to long faces. No. You have to be converted to short ones; you have to repent into childhood, to repent into delight and delightsomeness. It is among children, and as children only, that you will find medicine for your healing and true wisdom for your teaching." But doubtless the chief lesson which Christ meant to teach when He pointed mankind to little children as ideals to strive after, was the lesson of faith and simple trust. "My father says so, and I believe it," is the creed of the child, and should be the creed of the man. Then what lessons of simplicity and humility we learn from childhood. And if children be so precious in the eyes of the Saviour, shall we not, for His sake, love them, care for them, and bless them too?

SIX

Observer, Feb. 15, '76.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION,

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A

No. 5.-VOL. XXIX.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

67

The Name of Christ's Bride

The Church-Planting and Development...

68

The New Jerusalem.....

70

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

"THE THE Baser Sort." Hugh Stowell Brown,

the well-known pastor of the Baptist Church, Myrtle Street, Liverpool, has brought himself under rebuke by a recent sermon upon "Certain lewd fellows, of the baser sort," who set the city in an uproar to suppress the preaching of Paul. Mr. Brown intimated that lewd fellows of this sort had always existed in large towns, but that they would not generally act of their own accord, but were, as at Thessalonica, set on by others, and that, not uncommonly, they were set on by clergymen and pot-house politicians. The people, however, who complain of Mr. Brown for thus saying have not mended their case over-much. In another sermon he says-" Well, what he said was an assertion without a single statement of facts, and the remarks that had been called forth by it had led him to think that it was his duty either to substantiate what he said or to withdraw it and make an apology for having said it. He would, therefore, endeavour to lay before them some proofs and illustrations of the assertion he made, which assertion was this: that lewd fellows of the baser sort' had not uncommonly been set on by the clergy. If anyone was ignorant enough to understand by clergymen' only the ministers of one denomination,

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he could not help the ignorance of that one. He would wish the man to be better informed, and to understand the expression as it is commonly taken, as meaning all ministers of religion. He then proceeded to give in detail what he maintained were illustrations of clerical influence and priestly instigation in the case of the lewd fellows of the baser sort,' and in the course of a comprehensive historical review referred to the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the persecution of the Pilgrim Fathers, to the revoÎution of the seventeenth century, which he said overthrew both the Monarchy and the Church, and to various disturbances between the Catholics and Protestants in recent times. He quoted extracts from the diary of John Wesley to show the persecution he had been subjected to at the hands of the 'lewd fellows of the baser sort,' and referred to the history of Methodism generally to establish the charges he had made. The Gordon Riots were also amongst the disturbances he attributed to clerical influences, as well as those at Birmingham and other places, which are generally supposed to have arisen through political excitement, and the illustrations of clerical influence upon the lewd fellows of the baser sort' terminated with the Belfast Riots.

He did not wish to

say more; but he thought that, if it was demanded, proof could be given of clerical influence which had been used for bad purposes in Liverpool within recent years-testimony might be given in rather unwelcome abundance.

He thought he had laid before them sufficient proof of the general statement he had made. He had shown that, beginning with the priests who had murdered Jesus Christ, from age to age it was the clergy who had instigated the 'fellows of the baser sort' to deeds of injustice and violence. His hope was this: that, through the progress of a liberal and non-sectarian education, the fellows of the baser sort' might in due time be raised to a higher level of intellifor it was only thus that the gence, which game had been played with such materials for 1800 years would be effectually played out."

We do not understand Mr. Brown to mean that all preachers and pastors do, or should, call themselves clergymen, but that in a general use of the term no one is entitled to apply it solely to the priests of the State Church. There can be no doubt but that he understands that the whole Church of Christ are the clergy of Christ, and that man-made clergymen and priests are, as Luther put it, masks and shams.

That clergymen of the Roman and Anglican Churches do largely use publicans and sinners of the baser sort in the interest of their own craft is undeniable; even the last few weeks give instances enough to cover them, as a class, with shame, notwithstanding that there are among them some honourable exceptions.

THE NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY, VOL. IX.— Epistle to the Hebrews. By R. Milligan, late President of the College of the Bible in Kentucky University.

Both on account of its intrinsic worth and of the fact that its lamented author died before his work was published, this volume of the New Testament Commentary possesses peculiar interest. No one among us, perhaps, was so well fitted by previous study and by fervent piety to write a Commentary on this wonderful book as Bro. Milligan. In the "Introduction" the author discusses the questions of Authorship, Canonicity, to whom written, for what purpose written, and when and where written, and in what language written, in a very thorough and satisfactory manner.

The book is divided into sections, without reference to chapters, and each section is preceded by a careful analysis. After this comes the text and comment. These are followed by "Reflections," designed, as the author expresses it, "to lead and incline the reader to reflect on the infinite riches, beauties, and perfections of the inspired word; help him to look into it as a mirror, where he may see reflected in their true colours and proportions the

to

wants of his own character, and also God's own appointed means of supplying them."

Pres. Milligan had given much attention to the subject of typology; and his treatment of the typical significance of the tabernacle furniture, with the excellent illustrations of the various articles of the same, forms a valuable part of the work.

On the whole, this volume is just such a book as every student of the Bible should have in his library. If the other volumes of the New Testament Commentary prove as good as the two already issued, we will have a Commeutary on the N. T. that will compare favourably with any ever produced.

A SOLEMN subject: the need of inward cleansing. Who does not feel it? Yet, who truly desires and adequately seeks it? This is the gospel offer: "I will write my law in their hearts." This is the gospel experience: "The law of the spirit in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Too few go deep enough. They never get to the heart. They are busy about the conduct. They judge justly the word and the act; but think not enough of the inward cleansing-that casting of the healing salt at "the spring of the waters," so that "there shall not be from thence any more death or barrenness," which alone secures, alone changes, alone transforms, and makes the creature of accident and of circumstance an independent or rather a divinely upheld being, whose life is clean and pure, because the heart is sanctified. If you would have a clean heart, pray much. One five minutes of heartdeep prayer is worth whole days and years of battling with manifestations of evil. C. J. V.

Editorial Notices.

T. B.-The Serials were posted each month in 1875, to Mrs. N-'s. The address sent with the order was not so full as that now given in your letter. "Hawkes Bay" was not in the former. Perhaps that may be the cause of non-arrival. The Inquire of postal authorities. order has not been renewed for 1876, and therefore it is not sent.

J. HOULT.-On Discussions, as the result of considerable observation and experience, we have arrived at very clear and decided conclusions, which we desire to submit to our Christian readers so soon as pressing demands upon our space permit. In the case put all depends upon the special circumstances-neither Yes nor No could be given as a rule.

AMERICAN BOOKS will be advertised so soon as they arrive.

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