fulness, spiritual life, which, after all, is the only true, the only. abiding life. This gift of God to the world was made that the world, through Christ, might receive a Divine assurance of God's perfect willingness to forgive His erring, wandering, and guilty children; an assurance no man was ever yet able to find in the teachings of his own nature, or the manifold revelations of God in the external world. There was another object, too, to be served. God designed, by this gift of His Son, to put it within the reach of His children to have fellowship with Himself in a large measure, in an intenser form than they could otherwise realize it. And, as a matter of fact, the words of Paul and Peter have been verified in millions of cases since they were first of all written: "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." "Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." This He has done in every case in which the human soul has given itself up to the Divine leadings of its divinelyanointed Saviour.

The preciousness of this gift of God in the form of His Son was an unsolicited one, and certainly undeserved. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." It is true now, and ever has been, that "it is by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." While we were thoughtless about God, He was thoughtful about us; while we were alienating our hearts from Him by wicked works, He was always going after us, and drawing nigh to us, that He might redeem us; until at last, in order to put the reality and depth of His love beyond the possibility of reasonable suspicion, He gave what to Him was the greatest treasure He had in the Heavens above, or in the earth beneath; He gave One who was "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His character," to seek and to save poor lost sinners, and thus gladden the heart of the Universal Father, who must delight in the highest good of all His intelligent offspring.

Now if the Son of God be the gift of the Father, and if that gift is to be received as a manifestation of the Father's love, then Christ is to be looked upon as the outward and visible manifestation of the inward and invisible love of the heart of God. There is also this other truth to which the Apostle John refers. God's love towards us should be a motive constantly impelling us to manifest love towards our brethren. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." Yes, we ought. It is the very least return we can make to Him whose love has been shown in so manifest a manner. At the same time I have a deep and ever present conviction that

nothing short of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord will ever be sufficient to create, nourish, and send forth into the world pure and practical love for man as man. There may be, here and there, fine natures touched with an excess of benevolent feeling, and freely imparting their stores to others; but take man as man the world over, and only as he realizes the love of God, and especially that manifestation of it which He has given in His Son, will man's love for man be spontaneous, pure, constant, deep, and unconquerable. The philanthropy which is to last and do thorough work in the world, must find its hidden springs in the manger of Bethlehem, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Cross of Calvary, the empty tomb in Joseph's garden, and the Christ who, having overcome, has sat down on His throne, and now sways His sceptre over millions of redeemed spirits.

NOTES AND
AND GLEANING S.

DEBATE

AT MIDDLESBOROUGH

BETWEEN DR. SEXTON AND

MR. FOOTE ON SECULARISM AND CHRISTIANITY.

A DEBATE which created an unusual amount of interest and excitement in the town of Middlesborough-on-Tees, took place between Dr. Sexton and Mr. G. W. Foote, Editor of the Secularist, on the evenings of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, May 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th. The question discussed on the first two evenings was "Is Secularism sufficient to promote the Well-being of Mankind." Mr. Foote taking the affirmative and Dr. Sexton the negative, and on the last two evenings, "Is Christianity of Divine Origin and adapted to the Real Wants of Mankind." Dr. Sexton taking the affirmative and Mr. Foote the negative. The Odd Fellows', in which the debate took place was crowded to suffocation, the largest audience assembling on the last night. Both speakers were enthusiastically received by their respective supporters, and when Dr. Sexton sat down after concluding his final speech, which brought the debate to a close, the applause was deafening and was accompanied with the waving of hats and handkerchiefs by the vast assembly. The following article on the first two night's debate appeared in the Daily Exchange of May 19th:

The seemingly never-ending fight waged by the Middlesborough Secularists against the Middlesborough Theists has again seen a revival. This week has been one of almost unprecedented prominence in this respect, as a controversy of no mean importance is being carried on between Mr. G. W. Foote, a well

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known Secularist, and Dr. Sexton, a man of evidently deep learning, and one who rejoices in believing, not in nature alone, but in what all her aspects point to, her Creator. For some time the Atheists-pardon, messieurs-the Secularists, of our town seemed to have the best of the arguments, as they had, as a general rule, none but ordinary work-a-day thinkers to oppose them. They produced the greatest stars of their order, and we had Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, with his continuous stream of sarcasm and fiery sputterings; Mr. Charles Watts, his obedient echo; Mr. Foote, with his clever, though sometimes slightly ungrammatical, elocutionary declamations; Mrs. Harriett Law, with her revolting pictures and street-corner harangues of virtue and morals; and last, but not least among them, Mrs. Annie Besant, who was, perhaps, the most tolerable of the whole series. After such brilliants had lectured, exhorted, and taunted, until the townspeople were beginning to be tired out with their nonsense, the last back-breaking straw to patience was laid on by Mrs. Law, stating in the course of a lecture, that there was to be a campaign in Middlesborough against the Christian religion; she stated that as long as the winter lasted meetings would be held under sheltering roofs, and when fine weather came there were to be open-air demonstrations! This no doubt pleased those of her own party, as did also the wonderful victories which were obtained on platforms over sometimes not very qualified persons who had the audacity to go forward and discuss and argue questions of great moment, and requiring deep thought and study, with those whose lives had been spent in finding means to discompose rather than convince such troublesome customers. At last comes the debate first mentioned. Dr. Sexton places himself before a Middlesborough audience not for the first time. He has visited us before, and has given convincing proof of his capacity. In his first two nights' debate with Mr. Foote, he showed himself to be a complete master of his position, and by the way he treated the so-called Secularism, showed conclusively that it was not a system of morals nor a religion, and was totally unworthy of comparison with the advantages of religion. He showed that it possessed no positive principles, with the exception of those it borrowed from existing systems of morals, and which were in existence and advocated long before Secularism was called into being. Without going further into the subject matter introduced in attack and defence of Atheism, we may refer to the relative positions taken by the debaters. Mr. Foote has probably spent the most of his life in the study of Secularism "under the best masters,' and holds at his finger ends all the little "points" and "dodges" calculated to take with the generality of audiences, and is so far confident (as he looks to be) that he is in a fit position to take part with credit in a public debate. But in Dr. Sexton he has no ordinary man to deal with. Dr. Sexton has seen both sides of the question under dispute, and has had such extensive experiences, both in advocacy and repudiation of Secularism, that he is fairly entitled to take upon himself some share of responsibility for the doctrines which he now, in his maturest thought, considers to be most satisfying to his mental and moral wants, and which he has come to the conclusion are best calculated to promote the welfare of men in all ages. His life has doubtless been a study of the relative merits of the two systems under debate, and when on the platform he shows himself ready at any moment to point to particular passages in the works of Secularistic writers, which works, he humorously observes, are not numerous— his carpet bag containing them all. He throws a dart of particular keenness at such men as Mr. Foote, who are continually spouting about "Science, the only providence," "Science, the only redeemer of mankind," when he says the last thing taught or even mentioned, in a practical sense, in the much-paraded "Halls of Science," is that very "science" which seems to rest so heavily on their brains. Indeed, he showed that some of the greatest leaders of the party are lamentably ignorant of some of the simplest scientific facts, and quoted an instance in which Mr. Bradlaugh made a mistake of which the veriest schoolboy, knowing anything at all of science, would be ashamed. Dr. Sexton has acquitted himself in the present debate with great credit to himself, and, let us hope, permanent benefit to his hearers.

DEBATE AT RUSHDEN BETWEEN DR. SEXTON AND DR. COLLETTE ON SPIRITUALISM.

The Medium gives the following account of the debate that took place at Rushden, last month, between Drs. Sexton and Collette :-"For some time past the Spiritualists of Rushden have been much annoyed by the abuse of their cause on the part of the Rev. Dr. Collette, a Baptist minister from Ringstead. Dr. Collette has given two or three lectures in Rushden, and on one occasion held a sort of debate with Mr. Mahoney of Birmingham, and he declared his intention of confronting any champion the Spiritualists might produce. This piece of boasting the Doctor has had to pay dearly for, since we venture to say that his own friends must have been heartily ashamed of him on the occasion of his recent encounter with Dr. Sexton. This last debate took place on Tuesday evening, the 2nd of May, in the Temperance Hall, Rushden, Dr. Sexton having lectured in the same place on the previous evening on 'How I became a Spiritualist.' Dr. Collette had previously pretended to expose Spiritualism from a scientific standpoint, and to explain the whole thing by odic force, but his utter ignorance of science was speedily laid bare by Dr. Sexton, who convicted him of using terms, the very meaning of which he did not understand. Dr. Sexton opened the debate in an elaborate and eloquent speech of thirty-five minutes. The chairman (Dr. Blunt of Northampton) then stated that as Dr. Sexton had taken up five minutes more than his time Dr. Collette would also be allowed thirty-five minutes. Dr. Collette then rambled on about all sorts of subjects for just fifteen minutes, and ultimately sat down, leaving twenty minutes of his time unoccupied. The chairman expressed his surprise at this, which gave rise to a good deal of uproar. Dr. Sexton good-naturedly remarked, 'Never mind, I can use the time if he can't.' Thereupon the champion of Spiritualism delivered another telling speech. Dr. Collette took up his next quarter of an hour by reading a small tract issued by the Birmingham Spiritualists, with what object it was difficult to see. Dr. Sexton's next reply was a crushing one. He told the audience they had been trifled with, that Dr. Collete had failed to advance a single argument against Spiritualism, and that in point of fact he was as ignorant of the subject as he was of logic and the rules of debate. The meeting was a very large one, the Temperance Hall being crammed to suffocation. Dr. Collette's friends were occasionally noisy, especially two Baptist ministers, who were found constantly interrupting. Dr. Sexton, however, did not spare them, for in one of his speeches he pointed to them, referred to their ill manners, and said they had done more to disturb the

meeting than all the rest put together. The discussion may be considered a glorious triumph for Spiritualism. Even Dr. Collette's own friends must have been disgusted with him; and it is said that although he once boasted that he had buried Spiritualism in Rushden, its resurrection has been such that he is not likely to confront it again.'

DR. SEXTON AT BRIXTON.

On Thursday evening, April 27th, Dr. Sexton delivered a third Lecture on behalf of the Brixton Psychological Society at the Angell Institute. The subject taken up by the Doctor on this occasion was "The Mission of Spiritualism." All present seemed greatly interested, and at the close of the Lecture several questions were asked and satisfactorily answered.

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THE ENGLISHIMAN" ON THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE." The Englishman of April 15th contains the following notice of the Spiritual Magazine:

What is Spiritism? Is it real? Is it a delusion? Is it a trick? These are questions that must have suggested themselves to many. Some of the highest in the land-we believe the Queen herself is said to be a Spiritist. Some of the most intellectual in England, in France, in Russia, in the United States, are believers in Spiritism. Are all these people fools? We think not. The periodical whose title heads this paragraph lets a great deal of light, montbly, in upon this at present abstruse subject. Those who desire to know cannot do better than to seek out the truth within its pages.

SPIRITUALISM IN LIVERPOOL.

Our old and much esteemed friend Dr. Hitchman has issued the following notice in reference to future Spiritualistic work in Liverpool :-

TO MY SISTER AND BROTHER SPIRITUALISTS, IN TOWN AND COUNTRY.

May it please you! I beg to notify, herewith, that (God willing) Meyerbeer Hall, 5, Hardman Street, in the centre of this Town, will be inaugurated as a new Temple of Truth, or Spiritual Church of the Future,-on Whit Sunday next, June 4th, when it is hoped that all friends of THE CAUSE DIVINE (to whom it may not be inconvenient, or disagreeable) will lend the favour of their countenance, either by personal attendance, or sympathy of soul, i.e. if separated in body not disunited in spirit. Mrs. Nosworthy has kindly consented to give an Address in the evening, at 7 o'clock, on " Alleged Experiences of The Future Life," and I hope to make some introductory observations on "The Vocation of The Truthseeker" in this our age and nation, at 3 o'clock in the Afternoon, John Priest, Esq., will preside.

Fraternally ever,

The Editor of The Spiritual Magazine, &c.

WILLIAM HITCHMAN, M.D.