1659.* Coincident with these meetings in the west, others took place in Lincolnshire, where the brethren made arrangements for sending ministers to preach the gospel into destitute parts of the land. In the year 1665, the Midland Association was formed - an act of courage on the part of the men who did it which deserves our admiration, inasmuch as the Restoration had brought back to this country the reign of terror, dispersed many of the nonconforming churches, and driven their pastors into exile or shut them up in prison. The baptists of the midland counties, however, fearing not the wrath of the king, or the plots of his prime minister, formed themselves into an association for the revival of religion and for the glory of God, although more than five persons assembling for public worship, contrary to the forms of the established church, were liable to fines, imprisonment, or banishment to the American plantations. A few years later similar meetings were held in the counties of Herts, Kent, Northampton, and Buckingham, at the last of which fifty-four messengers attended. Writing of the same period Thomas Grantham said, "The baptized churches of this age and nation have kept an assembly general for many years, for the better settlement of the churches to which they are related, and do hope to see a good issue thereof towards the better manifestation of such truths, as by reason of the corruption of former times have been neglected, and that by men who yet have done very worthily in many things pertaining to the restitution of Christianity.t

Soon after the revolution of 1688 the three estates of the realm agreed to TOLERATE the religious meetings of nonconformists, and as early as possible after the Toleration Act received the

Ivimey, vol. iv., 257-262. Christ. Prim., p. 137.

royal assent the baptist ministers of London convened a meeting of their brethren from all parts of the country to deliberate on the state of the churches. It was held in the metropolis, September 3, 1689, and attended by deputies from more than one hundred churches in England and Wales. Nine days were spent by the conference in prayer, in thanksgiving, in deliberation, and in forming plans for the spiritual good of the denomination. Such a gathering of friends, who saw eye to eye on articles of faith and modes of worship, must have been refreshing in no common degree after the dark and dismal scenes through which the providence of God had led them. More than once the conference re-assembled in London, with many advantages to the churches, but distance and expense rendered its continuance at first inconvenient, and in the end impracticable. When, therefore, the brethren met in London, A. D. 1692, they resolved,— "That whereas for some years past the churches have had several associate and county meetings, and one general one in London annually, it is now proposed to divide the general meeting into two, and to keep one in the west and the other in the east, that in the west to be at Bristol, and the other in London."* Within two or three years the metropolitan association was dissolved from causes not explained, but that in the west continued in existence a longer period; at length, however, the western union was broken up also, and superseded by local associations on a smaller scale. These minor assemblies of pastors and churches went on increasing in number until they embraced almost every county in the land, and the strength of the denomination. They have come down to our own times the same in substance, if not in form, and they still

* Ivimey, vol. i, 515–519.

include on their lists the majority of our churches. For two centuries, at least, these associations have existed, and during that time they have had in view objects of real importance-such as the purity and the welfare of churches, the spread of the gospel at home and abroad, the collection of denominational statistics, the erection of chapels in destitute places, the removal of chapel debts, the preservation of trustdeeds, watching over the ark of our liberties, and the communion of saints. Most of these associations hold their meetings in what is called Whitsunweek. In times gone by much larger numbers were in the habit of attending the services than at present, either in the agricultural or in the manufacturing districts. These religious festivals were the pulse of the churches, and many a pilgrim has travelled a long distance to attend them. The town or village in which the meeting was to be held was a scene of animation all the day, by the arrival of strangers in coaches, in gigs, or in carts; farmers rode on horseback, and peasants came on foot; and sometimes the numbers were so great that it was necessary to borrow an additional chapel, or to hold the service on the side of a mountain, or among the trees of an orchard. In the vast convocation new converts mingled with aged saints, children were present with their greyheaded parents, the youth sat on the same form with the old man who leaned on his staff, the venerable pastor was there for the last time, and at his feet sat the young minister learning wisdom and deriving encouragement from his example and success. With what emotions of love and joy the multitudes have sung the beautiful hymn,

"Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love,
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above."

In the Northamptonshire association the hope of hearing Fuller, Pearce,

Ryland, Hall, or Sutcliff, drew together crowds of people from all places within a convenient distance, and on one occasion the auditors were so numerous that the preacher stood in the window, from which the frame had been removed, that he might be heard within and without the chapel. In former times our people in Yorkshire and Lancashire were feasted upon a double lecture, generally preached by ministers who had gained influence by their age, talents, piety, or usefulness. Fawcett, Littlewood, Steadman, and Saunders, are names still cherished and venerated by many in those parts, who were accustomed to hear them preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. See that aged servant of God, wearing a velvet cap, ascending the pulpit to preach at one of those general assemblies in Yorkshire-a thousand eyes are fixed upon him in love and admiration, and all present express their conviction, by nods and smiles, that a spiritual feast has been prepared for them. As a good soldier of Jesus Christ he has endured hardness for half a century, his praise has been in all the churches, his ministry has been greatly prized through the whole of that populous district, and his usefulness has been acknowledged at home and abroad, in the cottage and in the palace itself. He has now come to bear his dying testimony to the doctrines of the cross, and to bid adieu to the ministers and friends with whom he has been so long associated. Many of them had a presentiment that they should see his face no more, and were prepared to receive his message as from the lips of a man who had finished his course, and now stood on the confines of heaven. As he rose up in the pulpit there was a death-like silence in the chapel, and all ears were open to catch the words of inspiration. With a tremulous voice and with deep emotion he read the text, "I am this day going

the way of all the earth," and before he had finished his discourse the place was a Bochim, and the house of God was the gate of heaven.*

During some part of the services it is customary for one of the ministers to read what is called "The Circular Letter." This is the official document of the association, and generally treats on doctrinal, practical, or experimental religion. After it has been adopted by the ministers and messengers assembled for the purpose of taking it into consideration, it is published under their authority, and circulated among the churches. Some of these letters contain discussions on the most difficult questions in theology; others turn upon moral duties and positive institutions; not a few are upon the constitution and discipline of the Christian church, and many are explanatory of the trials and privileges of the children of God. These letters extend over a period of about two centuries, and many of them bear honoured and illustrious names; they have historical connexions with all parts of the kingdom, they have done much "for the perfecting of the saints and for the edifying of the body of Christ;” and if the best of them were selected and arranged in chronological order they would form a body of divinity equal to anything of the kind in the English language.

Many advantages and pleasures have resulted from these associations. Plans of usefulness for home and for the world constitute a part of their history. The "Help to Zion's Travellers" originated in a sermon which Mr. Hall preached, A. D. 1799, to the churches of the Northamptonshire association. Among the same churches monthly prayer-meetings were commenced for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and these contained the germ of our missionary meetings for prayer now SO

*The allusion is to Dr. Fawcett.

common in England and in America. To the same churches belongs the honour of setting on foot the Baptist Missionary Society towards the end of the eighteenth century, and of sending the first missionaries to the idolaters of Bengal. Other associations have not been equally honoured by the providence and grace of God, though they have had their share of usefulness, and deserve their meed of praise. Chapels built at home, churches planted abroad, and missions formed for the world, are some of the fruits already gathered. Amongst the great and good men who delighted in these annual convocations the interests of humanity never wanted advocates, nor civil and religious liberty able and eloquent defenders. On all occasions they have taken a lively interest in the measures of government, in the amelioration of our criminal code, in the education of the people, in the progress of religion, and in the real welfare of their country. Whether the baptists of future times will perpetuate these associations must be left with them to determine, but, whatever may be their decision on this point, we can look forward with no ordinary satisfaction to the final assembly of the redeemed in heaven, where they will meet with no bar to communion, no cause of separation, and no denominational sections, for God will "gather together in ONE all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him." This heavenly association will absorb all minor ones into which the church is now divided, and in the new Jerusalem "the general assembly and church of the First born" will meet amidst "a fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore."

"Thus heavenward all things tend. For all were

once

Perfect, and all must be at length restored.
So God has greatly purposed; who would else
In his dishonoured works himself endure
Dishonour, and be wronged without redress."

Surely never was

ity with human nature as it is, without any serious attempt really to improve it. In holy contrast with this, a characteristic of protestantism, as developed in her teaching, is antagonism to human nature as it is, with the high and determined aim to renew it to conformity with God.-Hugh McNeile, D.D.

THERE are no trifles in the biography of man. It is drops that make up the sea: it is acorns that cover the earth with oaks, and the ocean with glorious navies. Sands make up the bar in the harbour's mouth, on which rich argosies are wrecked; and little things in youth accumulate into character in age, and destiny in eternity. All the links in that glorious chain, which is in all and around all, we can see and admire or at least admit; but the staple to which all is fastened, and to which it is the conductor of all, is the throne of Deity.-J. Cumming, D.D.

THE port of London alone, in the year 1842, had belonging to it upwards of 3000 merchant vessels; the aggregate number of the crews of those vessels amounting to above 35,000 men and boys. The custom's duty in the port of London alone, in 1844, was above £11,000,000. So great an amount of shipping and commerce was probably never before concentrated in any single port in the world. Then look, further, at the colonies of the British empire. The aggregate population of our colonies is estimated at above 4,000,000. The official value of the imports from the colonies into the united kingdoms, in 1842, was between £3,000,000 and £4,000,000. One-sixth part of the inhabitants of the whole world are beneath the British sceptre and bow to

evangelizing the world.-R. Bickersteth.

As the master spirits of the age are carrying on their investigations, at one another within the bowels of the earth, time up amidst the milky way, and at and at another among the hieroglyphics of old Egypt and its older schools; sparing no labour, reverencing no opinions, caring for no consequences which may be entailed upon any theory of morals, or upon the most ancient of our theological creeds;-as they are doing and daring all this, you, the believers in revelation, may remain perfectly undisturbed. In dignified composure and lofty anticipation you may possess your souls, assured that

ultimately, by what it proves, and by

what it leaves unproved, every science will do its homage to revelation, as to the great harbinger of its sublimest discoveries-the venerable, everlasting oracle of universal truth.-W. Brock.

WHAT are the laws of nature but God's ordinary methods of working in creation? What an outrage then on philosophy, yea, on common sense, to suppose that laws have any force without an administrator, or that machinery can act without a power to keep it in motion. If, therefore, the Creator were not also the preserver-if the arm that built the universe did not ever uphold and govern it-if the hand that framed the complicated, exquisite, harmonious mechanism of nature were not always invisibly, but omnipotently working and regulating the whole-creation would fall into chaos again, and death and desolation universally ensue. The universe is no more self-sustained than self-created: it owes its preservation as