candidates then appeared at the table in the table-pew, to speak their experience before the church and congregation: this has been the order of the church here for nearly half a century; and God has owned the order, and blessed it to many souls. Some are now dead, some are living. The first that was called, after a few struggles, began by stating, that being brought up under godly parents, she often had had convictions for sin, and they had as often wore off again, until the present minister came; she then felt a new desire to attend the means. After the sermon one afternoon, I said I should be glad if as many as could would stop to witness the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. She ventured to stay; and from remarks made by me, some of which sunk into her heart, she was brought to see and to feel herself a sinner of the deepest die, and must sink down to hell for ever as an awful transgressor before God. In this state of mind she continued until I was led to speak from Gen. xxviii. 15, which was made a great blessing to her; also many other sermons she had heard to much profit; and now she was desirous to give herself up to the Lord and his people. While she was speaking, it was a time of weeping among the congregation. I had the pleasure some time before, to baptise one of her brothers, who is a godly man, and an active teacher in our school.

The next that had to speak was a very tall, stout young man, who has lived a profligate life, and who was not in the habit of attending any place of worship; but by the will of our gracious God was led to come to our meeting, and under a sermon I was preaching the Lord met with this proud sinner, and amidst floods of tears from his eyes, and from numbers present, he gave a very solemn, Scriptural, and profitable account of his call, and of the Spirit's work upon his heart. It took nearly two hours for them to speak their experience, and many have said such a scene was never witnessed in that place before. The ages of the six were from 22 to 28 years.

The morning service was closed by singing and prayer. Our afternoon service began at half-past 1; when, for some time, the people were seen coming from different parts; so that the meeting was filled with a large congregation.

After singing and prayer, and an address suited to the occasion, the six persons were baptized. During the whole service, greater stillness and deeper attention could not be paid; long will that day be remembered, both by minister and people. The evening was spent in our long school-room, with a prayermeeting, when the said place was filled to overflowing.

Thus, my good brother, and Editor of the VESSEL, I have given you a very plain and simple statement of what took place here on Christmas Day. Such a Christmas Day I never spent before. May the Lord smile on this testimony, and make it blessing. So prays thine, a poor charity child,

JOHN EVANS.

The next that came forward was the granddaughter of the late Rev. Charles Vorley; who, for forty years, lived, and laboured, and died among this people. She, with her sister, spake well, and with satisfaction, of their call by grace. The two granddaughters, at an early part of their life, were left without a mother, who was taken from them by death: their grandfather then took them: he, too, was soon removed from them: but the Lord spared the grandmother to bring them up, till the present year, when the Lord took her home to glory in the 82nd year of her age. She was a good woman; a labourer in the Sabbath-school; and a lover of the young. I SEVEN PROMISES IN ONE PORTION: FOUND had the mournful pleasure to commit her remains to the silent tomb.

The next that came to speak, was husband to the first female that spoke; who, although in the Sabbath-school as teacher, had not as yet given proof of a change of heart. As is my habit sometimes, I go into the school-room after tea, and give out a hymn, and comment upon the same : some things that I said, God carried home to his heart; and by the Lord's blessing brought him with a wounded Spirit to the throne of grace to seek the Lord; and though not, like some, able to speak and tell out his feelings, yet, in a plain and simple manner, shewed he was a brand taken out of the fire: he has lived a wicked life, but is consistent now.

The next was one of my sons who spake, and it was a pleasing, though cutting time, to me, as a father;-this is the second, if not a third, that God has given me out of twelve children. May the Lord call one, and all of them! this is my daily prayer. His testimony was not in vain. The Lord, I hope, made it a blessing on that day to some that were present.

Carlton, near Turvey, Beds. P.S. The six, with another person whose age is above eighty, was by me received into full communion, on the first Lord's-day in the present year.

ON THE ANNIVERSARY DAY AT

WEST END, TRING, MAY 8TH, 1855.

THREE brethren from London to preach three sermons in one day, to make up what they call an anniversary! Now what does this mean? It seems to me to mean one of three things. Either that neither of these men are of sufficient weight to answer the ends of an anniversary; or, that the people have such a variety of tastes that they must have the gospel off three different dishes; or that the people have so much money to spare that they can afford to have, and therefore they will have three men to preach to them the glorious gospel of the blessed God. We consider such a course to be unwise. Let the pastor himself preach at least one sermon; and then “a man from London" might surely do the rest; and there are enough "pastors" in London now to choose from, we think.

But the good people at West End, Tring, have, for years, given three of us the treat to speak to them; and we wish not to interfere; but these are times when minister's wives have to study economy, while their husbands

study divinity; and if our churches were to economise a little, it would be quite as well. The Baptist churches in Tring are not in a very flourishing condition. Akeman-street wants a good, full-weight, upright, first-rate pastor; brethren from the different churches are supplying them; but the seeds of Woodism, and Fullerism, are secretly waiting for an opportunity to arise, and break forth; the speedy settlement of a fruitful and faithful father in Christ over the people at Akemanstreet, would, under God, be a very great blessing. And is England so poor, that she cannot produce a man valiant and virtuous enough to work under the auspices of a Glover, a Butcher, and a host of truth-loving folk ?-a man of sufficient gospel metal to gather up and to feed the scattered tribes? We hope that England, in a gospel sense, is not so sunk in poverty and weakness; but our many widowed churches tell a fearful tale.

not you think that your pastor is a poor,
stale, dry, dead preacher ?"" "Yes," says the
aspirant for the pulpit, "I am sure I could
preach better than him." This leaven once
infused, ofttimes produces division, rends the
church, scatters the people; and seriously dis
turbs its peace. Is there not, after all, a
period yet to come, in the church's history,
when a glorious spring-time shall dawn-
when her blossom shall precede a blessed fruit-
bearing-when, without a jarring note, the
Bride and Bridegroom shall "rejoice with joy
and singing"-when all the mighty cedars,
(the giant-minds in gospel mystery), shall be
gathered together. When "the excellency of
Carmel and Sharon," (the fulness of Christ's
mediatorial work), shall be richly enjoyed-
when JEHOVAH-JESUS will, with his bride, be
seen;-when the amazing and unsearchable
perfections in the wisdom, love, and power
of our covenant God, shall all be trans-
parent unto the wondering view of millions
of happy souls, who have in Jesus Christ
believed? Yes! Such a harvest of immor-
tal bliss. such a Jubilee of full release-
such a possession of every predestinated mercy,
is in reserve. The Welch scholar beautifully
reads that golden saying of Christ: "In the
home of my Father, there are mansions within
mansions"-yet a little while, and he that
shall come, will come, and will not tarry.
Forgive me, for thus intruding: but a taste of
these ravishing delights make me long to see
my brethren more deeply baptized into the
Spirit and fulness of our beloved JOSHUA
who soon will lead us home. Farewell.

C. W. B.

Our brother William Skelton is still at West End. The church in that place has had a severe winter to wade through; and the breaking up of the frost has not added much to their strength; but we hope the rains of heaven will descend; and the rays of a Righteous Sun will yet bestow upon them many a blessing. Mr. Wyard, and Mr. Bidder, preached to them, this year, two sermons full of gospel truth. The evening fell to my lot. We had the chapel full of people; and I had a portion full of matter; but I was ill in body, and low in mind, and found it rather hard work to get through. I hope a very brief glance at my Tring portion may be useful to some who read the VESSEL. It was Isaiah xxxv. 2-"It shall blossom abundantly; yea, it shall rejoice with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon MR. J. P. EDGECOMBE'S RESIGNATION OF THE shall be given unto it: the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." I remember Murray calls this "one of the sweetest portions in Isaiah." It is called, "A description of Christ's kingdom." Here are seven distinct promises: promises that shall, in some measure, be realised in the experience of every section of the true church; and in the soul-spiritual exercises of every true believer in our blessed Lord. Let us simply look at these promises as they stand.

1. "It shall blossom abundantly." In the spring-time of many a church's history, what lots of blossom has ofttimes been seen; and when souls are first espoused to Christ, what blossom! They are then all zeal, all love, all peace, all joy. O, the closeness of my communion, the feasting of my soul in those days! How sweet the remembrance still! And when I first was settled in Canterbury with my loving flock; also during the first seven years in Crosby Row, London, what blossom did appear; but blighting winds did blow. I think when satan sees a gospel church, like a tree full of blossom, his malice burns; and he watches close to see by whom, and by what means, he can get at it, to shake its apparent beauty off. Not unfrequently does he get into the heart of some young professor, and to him he says, "Could not you preach better than your pastor?

PATORATE AT

PENT SIDE, DOVER.

LAST Good Friday, a peaceful and interesting meeting was holden at Pent Side, Dover, it being the seventh anniversary of Mr. Edgecombe's ministry in that place. We are sorry to learn that his medical advisers considered it absolutely necessary that he should instantly remove from the sea-side. We are favored with a copy of the address he delivered on the occasion referred to. It is too long to give entire. We take a small portion: and hope another sphere of labor will speedily be opened up for our Christian brother. following extract is from the address:

The

"I have been with you, going in and out before you, during the past seven years of my pastorate, and I have always strove to seek your prosperity, both spiritual and temporal, and to keep the church in peace one with another; and this I have attempted to do both by my ministry and example among you; and I am sure that your minutes in the Church Book, and your annual letters to the Kent and Sussex Association, will be a witness for me in this matter, when I am laid beneath the silent tomb. We have had our troubles and our difficulties, and many afflictions, since I have been among you; (for God's people are said to be a poor and an Do afflicted people, by God himself; and we are

affliction, to remove me from Dover to my present residence, No. 2, Temple Street, Queen's Road, Dalston, I have sent you a copy of my last and farewell report, as read to the church on Good Friday last, the 6th of

a very blessed evening we spent together after tea, when my old friend and brother Anderson, and brother James, addressed the meeting, when some very solemn and precious truths were delivered."

I desire to say, in the name and fear of the Lord, that I am ready to serve any destitute church who is seeking the honour of their risen Lord and King, and who is praying for the peace of Jerusalem. Wishing you every covenant blessing, I remain your's, in Christ, J. P. EDGECOMBE.

ranked among the poor and despised, and are placed among the outcasts, and in the minority by the professors of the present day among whom we dwell); but I trust He who has been our Jehovah-Jireh to provide; our Jehovah-Nisi, to defend, and our Jehovah-April, when about one hundred took tea, and Shallum, to give peace, will provide, defend, and give you all, as a church and congregation, that peace which passeth all understanding! Had I conferred with flesh and blood, and taken the advice of my medical adviser in 1835, relative to my bodily infirmities, I should not have come to Dover, nor any other place on the sea-side; and had I consulted my own feeling two years ago, I should have left Dover then; but I did not believe my work was done at Pent Side; and I believe, and you know, there are many witnesses to confirm this statement. I therefore laid my case before the Lord as his servant, requesting and earnestly beseeching him to make my path clear before me, by taking up the cloud, and going before me; and although it has been by terrible things in righteousness, even in the severe affliction of my poor body with that never-to-be-forgotten complaint sciatica and rheumatism in my right side, from the shoulder to the toes and the effects of this affliction you have been eye witnesses of for these last twelve months, and more; and now, being fully persuaded in my own mind, and the way the Lord is going before me, I sent in my letter of resignation to you as a church, that my pastoral office would cease in three months, which will end on the last Lord's-day in this month; and I trust I can leave the whole affair in his all-loving heart and powerful arm, and to commit you to his Fatherly care and keeping."

In a subsequent part of the same address, the retiring pastor said:

"Many of you have been the living epistles, and I have had dying testimonies to my min istry that I am sent here by the Lord; and the Holy Spirit has borne testimony again and again within these walls; and I believe up to this day that my labour has not been in vain among you; for since I have been among you 58 have been added to the church-44 by baptism, 14 by letter and experience. Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy great name' do we give praise and power.

"I trust I can say before God, that my love for you has not abated; and although I am now about to leave you, many, yea, very many names and kindnesses will still live in my heart and in my memory at the footstool of Divine love and mercy; therefore I pray that the prayer-inditing, hearing and answering God, will soon send you a pastor after his own heart, one on whom all your eyes and hearts may rest; one that will go in and out before you as a father and an undershepherd with more efficiency, and be more useful in his ministerial labors in the ingathering of souls to Christ, and in building you up on the only Foundation laid by God in Zion, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

(To the Editor of the Earthen Vessel.) MY DEAR BROTHER IN A LIVING CHRIST.It hath pleased my heavenly Father, through

THE

BAPTIST CAUSE AT CHELMSFORD,

UNDER THE

PASTORAL CARE OF MR. JOHN CORBITT.

DEAR MR. EDITOR.-You will much oblige many of your constant readers by inserting the subjoined in your next VESSEL.

The following account of the Lord's dealings with the baptist cause under the pastoral charge of Mr. John Corbitt, at Chelmsford, was publicly read after the morning service on their anniversary day, May 2, 1855:

"Dearly beloved Friends-On the present occasion the deacons of this cause deem it just for the encouragement of Zion, and the honor and prudent to make the following statement, and glory of God; for his very gracious dealings with us during brother Corbitt's ministry amongst us; previous to which we had been for fourteen months without a constant ministry; and finding it a very difficult matter to obtain suitable supplies constantly, we were constrained to pray earnestly that the Lord would send us a man after his own heart, when our minds were directed to our present highly esteemed pastor, from reading some of his writings which appeared in the EARTHEN VESSEL. Two years this day have run their course since he first entered this pulpit, from which day we have felt a firm and increasing union and attachment to him. The Lord has indeed been with us to bless and encourage us : our congregation has much increased; the church formerly worshipping at Cowland's Court are united with us; thirty-one persons have been added to the church, nine of whom have been baptised; peace and union is in a goodly measure enjoyed in our midst, we know of only one dissenting voice in the church which now numbers fifty-seven members; and we bless the Lord, that others are pressing on to join our ranks in the Redeemer's name.

66

By the Lord's goodness and the liberality of friends, we have been enabled, during the past year, to pay off upwards of £50 of the debt on the chapel; £90 still remains to be paid; but in consequence of the severity of the winter, the dearness of provisions, and our friends being generally poor, we stand in need of pecuniary help, and make this appeal to

those present for aid on this occasion-know-lished for the benefit of the cause at Wooburn ing that the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, and Green, I shall not intrude. We had in the that which is lent to his cause he will repay evening a good full congregation, and I hope with the best interest. the labours of the day were not in vain. The good-natured pastor, William Wilson, is much discouraged because of the roughness of the way if he is compelled to visit the sister churches, to obtain help for his chapel debt, I hope he will be warmly received.

—a happy distinction for Jesse Gwinnell indeed, if the Lord shall be pleased to make him the instrument of raising up to influence and stability that long tottering cause. We trust such will be the case. Yes-we say, we hope that the pastor and the people will, under God, unite in fervent prayer-and in a laborious and Christ-like perseverance, to gather, to unite, to feed, and to nourish with holy gospel nutriment, the separated and diversified members of the mystic body, in that crowded, and immensely populous city-the metropolis of the north.

DEPARTURE OF MR. POTTER FROM BOSTON.

granted for the occasion, when addresses were delivered by their much esteemed pastor, Mr. W. B. Withington, Mr. R. Offer, and other friends, on the advantages derived from Sunday-school instruction. The evening was spent in a most agreeable manner, and will long be remembered by many friends present.

SHORT REVIEWS.

"The History and Conversion of a British Soldier. By SHADRACH BYFIELD. London: J. Briscoe, Banner Street."

THIS work is a bundle of curiosities connected with Shadrach's life as a soldier and as a Christian. It is a wonderful exhibition of the trials and sufferings to which soldiers and suffering Christians are subjected, in this dark vale of tears. We really believe the author to be a good man; could we have found any savoury detail of a divine experience, we should have quoted it: but the horrible externals of a man's life, are seldom of much soul profit to Zion's seeking saints.

EBENEZER CHAPEL, LIQUORPOND ST.
AN interesting prayer-meeting was held in
the above chapel on Thursday evening, April
12th, on the eve of Mr. Henry Potter's de-
parture after twelve year's ministration
amongst the friends, at which time the church
and congregation presented him with a neat
gold watch and chain, (value £25), as a token
of their esteem of him as a Christian, and
grateful remembrance of him as a faithful"
testifier of the unearthly verities of the gospel.
The officers of the church, with others,
earnestly implored the blessing of God to rest
upon their withdrawing pastor; and a re-
ciprocal feeling was manifested by brother
Potter, who left Boston the following day for
Huntingdonshire. J. H. W., AND F. L.

[It must be painful for a powerful and profitable ministry to be taken from a people: but for a faithful man to feel compelled to leave his flock, must, we think, be a very severe trial. Mr. Potter has left behind him, a people that will ever esteem and love him for his work's sake; and we have tidings brought to us, signifying that his occasional labours among our bereaved churches, have been much blessed. No doubt, many churches will be glad to be favored with his testimony.-ED.]

BECCLES.

On the evening of Wednesday, April 25, the thirty-third anniversary of the ministry and pastorate of our much esteemed brother Wright was commemorated. About 350 took tea together in the Assembly Room, which was crowded to excess. Congratulatory addresses were delivered by brother Collins, of Grundisburgh, and other brethren, to the church and congregation, on the goodness of a gracious God in preserving his servant, their much beloved pastor, so long amongst them; and that while other churches have had to mourn their widowed condition, and have been lacerated by strife and discord, this church has been kept in peace and harmony, there not having been a single division during the period the present pastor has been among them.

SUNDAY SCHOOL, OLD BAPTIST CHAPEL,
DEVIZES.

THE teachers and friends in connection with
the above old established place of worship,
held a tea meeting on Tuesday, May 8th, at
the infant school room, Market Place, kindly

The Gospel Atlas: an Exhibition of Ancient and Modern Divines. With Life-like Likeness, Memoir, Trial, and Martyrdom of the late Christopher Love." Part I. London: Houlston and Stoneman.

THIS is the first part of a new work very beautifully printed in foolscap quarto; and containing some precious matter expressive of a heart deeply in fellowship with the Friend of Sinners. We should like to make extracts, Mr. Love and his friends are equal to some of but have no room. The Letters between Rutherford's. We hope the work will be useful. "The Life of John Bradford." London: Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday.

THE Rector of St. Giles's has furnished us with a beautiful Memoir of that truly godly martyr, John Bradford.

In the June number of "CHEERING WORDS," which may be had of Houlston and Stoneman for one half-penny, we have given an epitome of John Bradford's labours and sufferings, under the heading "THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO." John Bradford was a Christian indeed, and no mistake. We had almost said, we wish we had some Bradford's now; but if we had, the people would not receive them. No: they would not. Say what you please of this enlightened age, let a man live Christ, and contend earnestly for a living Christ WITHIN; and a manifest CHRIST WITHOUT; and he would be cast away.

"Justification: A Sermon preached at Stoke Ash, Suffolk, by CHARLES HILL." Harleston: Benjamin Taylor.

THIS is a real Suffolk sermon-“ as sound as a bell," as our old deacon used to say. We wish in the printed and published sermons of the present day we could find more originality, and a deeper vein of spirituality. It matters little who preaches, or what the subject is, the sermons are stereotype reprints of what has been issued thousands of times before. Charles Hill's sermon is sound; and calculated to instruct the awakened and the seeking soul.