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I am happy to report favourably of the attendance at public worship. It is, indeed, most encouraging; and I am doing what I can further to improve it. Here, perhaps more than in any other station in Ireland, this is the centre of action. At this point the cause must be consolidated, and from it our efforts must gradually extend themselves. feel this now more than ever; and I am resolved to act accordingly.

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"I ought to mention that we have just completed the re-flooring and reseating of our chapel. The entire work has cost us about £150, which amount, with the exception of a few pounds still to be gathered, we have raised among ourselves. It has been a considerable effort; but we are more than rewarded by the increased comfort and convenience of the place.

"Pray for us, dear brother, that the great Head of the Church may own and bless our labours.

"Rev. C. J. Middleditch."

A TALE OF IRISH LIFE. SECOND ᏢᎪᎡᎢ .

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

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In my last I gave you my recollections of your first and earliest agency in this country. Kindly now allow me to enter more into detail. No one travelling through Ireland, at least Connaught, at the present time could form any conception of the manners and habits of the peasantry fifty years ago. Then on the threshold of every door there was an 'ass's shoe' to keep 'fairies' and all evil spirits' outside; 'charms' for toothache; 'charms' to prevent the butter being taken from the dairy; stations for Pennance, numerous; devotional in the morning-in the evening drunkenness and fighting attended by thousands. The Reek Moyne, the Krese in the west witnessed these gatherings; the Reek or Croagh Patrick especially, where St. Patrick, with a hazel stick, was supposed to have entered into deadly conflict with the largest and last of Irish serpents, called, by way of distinction, the Devil's Mother.' In my last I referred to the state of society, but not fully have I described that state, for so low was order, that actually young men would assemble and play at cards for a wife; of course, often the most beautiful and worthy would be won by the lowest of

the gang, and carried off by night. Last Saturday I met at Rahue, Captain Judge and another gentleman, who requested me to accompany them on an errand of mercy to Durrow, some four miles from Rahue, just the locality where the Earl of Norbury was assassinated some years ago; when Mr. Judge told me that, in that very parish, himself and party rescued, in 1821, one of these fair damsels thus won at a game of cards by one she had never seen or heard. This state of things was aggravated by Ribbon and White Boy Societies. To this I may add, that the first missionaries preached, and slept in houses where cocks, Lens, geese, ducks, pigs, and cows, were present. I slept myself in one house where, in the room with me, there were a bull and several cows; add to this, damp beds, little or no tea, after wading through a bog, or half swimming across deep, and dangerous rivers. I had myself, up to my breast in a deep river, after preaching on the opposite side, to carry one of my congregation on my back. Now, thank God! all these things have passed away; no charms; no asses' shoes; no pilgrimages; few stations; no pigs or COWS in the congregation; well-aired beds; the social and comfortable cup of tea-security in one's lodging. One night, in the west, there was a fight where I slept, and the balls flew like hail about my ears a peaceful and peaceable and sober population! Who, remembering as I do, what was, and witnessing what is, can forbear exclaiming,, What hath God wrought!' and that our mission was blessed in aiding largely this social and moral change, I am sure, will be acknowledged by all the good and pious in these districts. The spiritual change is also apparent. do not wonder that brother Stokes, in his youth, should be desponding, but more mature age, will give him hope, for there is, indeed, a great change; for, by no means, have the priests the power, or the disposition to exercise the kind of power in exercise fifty years ago; but not only are the people generally better disposed, and more under the influence of the light of the day, but many of them have become true and decided Christians. know that some of your early missionaries can furnish you with more ample detail, and more abundant fruit, yet my recollections enable me to place before you no inconsiderable band."

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Mr. Berry gives a long list of con: verts whom he himself knew, and adds

"These with others, whose names I cannot recollect. All these, through your agents, have renounced sin, and accepted a free salvation through the blood of Christ. Others whom I have known, declared that, when they had arrived in America, they would openly profess the one Lord, the one faith and baptism. Surely I have cause of deep gratitude to God for all His mercies, and I trust I am grateful; grateful to your mission; just then having been, like all Irish lads, proud and ambitious. I lived on the bold, grand,

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Contributions received in behalf of the Baptist Irish Society, from February 18th, to

LONDON

A Dorsetshire Baptist

A Friend, by Rev. F. Trestrail

Colman, Jeremiah, Esq. .

Foster, R. S., E q..

March 17th, 1864.

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Hanson, Mrs., for Aged Agent

Heaton, W, Esq.

50 0

0

Esq.

10 0 0

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Markyate Street, by Rev. T. W. Wake

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0 10 6

1 0

0

0 10 6

Northampton, by Mr. W. Gray, for Aged Agent 1 0 0
Norwich-St. Clement's, by W. Blyth, Esq.
Penzance, by Rev. J. Wilshere

8 10 0

100

4 4 0

Pershore, by Rev. W. Symonds

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Ditto by Mrs. Risdon

Shrewton, by Rev. C. Light
Somerleyton, Daniell, Rev. C.
Southport, Craven, R., Esq., M.D.
Surbiton, Butterworth, Mr. W. A.
Walsall, Wilkinson, Mr., sen.

Wellington, by Rev. G. W Humphreys, B.A.
Westmancot, by Rev. R Morris

Worstead, by Rev. J. F Smythe

Yarmouth, by Rev. J. Green

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He burn, Frederick, Esq., 2 years

Marshman, J. C., Esq.

Micklen, John, Esq., by Rev. J. H. Blake

Pewtress, Thomas, Esq.

Rains, John, Esq., for Schools

Thompson, James, Esq., for Poor by Rev. J. H. Blake

Whitmee, J Esq, by Rev. J H. Blake.

By Mr. Gordelier.

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Broadstairs

Deal

Dover

Eynsford Gravesend Margate Meopham

KENT.

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026 0 18 0 2 18 8

212 32 6 050

1 12 5

026

0 10 0

0 11 3 440 214 0

Jeffreys, Esq,

Kelsey, G., Esq.

1 1 0

St. Peter's S.ndhu st Tenterden

Lowe, G., Esq., F.R.S.

1 1 0

Lush, R, Esq., Q.C.

1 1 0

Maliphant, G., Esq.

0 10 6

Mial, Mr. James.

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Moore, G., Esq.

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SOMERSET AND NORTH DEVON,

Pat ison, S. R., Esq.

1 0 0

Bristol.

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1 10 10

13 37

By Rev. T. Wilshere.

686

700

300

1 14 0

Rippon, Mrs.

1 1 0

Woolley, G. B., Esq.

1 1 0

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344

1 18 4 400

1 10 4

WILTS, SOMERSET, AND BERKS.

1 14 6

4 15 9 Beckington.

4 1 0 Bradford-on-Avon

By Rev. W. S. Eccles.

0 10 6 Calne-Less Expenses, by Mr. J.

1 18 0

Chappell

2 14 0 Chippenham

1 10 0 276

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29 15 6

Minehead

Stogumber

Weston Super Mare

0 5 0 Corsham

1 13 0 Devizes

18 1 8

Evesham, by Mr. Warmington
Exeter, Adams, Miss

Glasgow-North Frederick Street, by Mr. J. Irons
Ha denham-Cambridgeshire, by Rev. T. A.

Williams

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Harlow, by Miss E. Miller.
Haverfordwest, Rees, Mr. and Mrs.
Ilfracombe, by Rev. J. E. Taylor
Huntingdon, Philips, Mr. J. R.
Leeds, by J. B. Bilbrough, Esq.
Leicester-Belvoir Street, by J. Bedells, Esq.
Balance

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Liverpool-Pembroke Chapel, by J.Underhill, Esq.

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216 6

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The thanks of the Committee are presented to Mr. R. Hannam for a Parcel of Magazines, and also to Mrs. Risdon, of Pershore, and Mr. Scorey, sen., of Wokingham, for very valuable

packages of clothing.

THE

BAPTIST MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1864.

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL SESSION OF THE BAPTIST UNION, APRIL 25th, 1864.

BY THE REV. J. P. MURSELL,-LEICESTER.

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Some time ago, a volume known by the name of "Essays and Reviews" appeared, the production of men of distinction and position, which was widely circulated and read. This is not an occasion for pronouncing an opinion on the merits of these works, for criticizing their respective or comparative literary claims, otherwise than just to observe that they present us with the results of daring, rather than of profound thought, and tend to undermine the foundations of our faith, and to prejudice those views of Divine truth which are held sacred by the great evangelical school. These papers, written by gentlemen holding official stations in the En

The

dowed Church, occasioned, very naturally, much commotion among the members of that Institution. charge of heresy was preferred against one of the authors, and argued before the suitable judicial tribunal, and after a long and learned investigation, the writers of the objectionable works were acquitted of having published anything which legally disqualified them for holding official place in the communion they preferred.

The members of the Baptist body would be the last persons in her Majesty's dominions to abridge the right of private judgment, to limit the freest circulation of opinion, or to arraign the decision of the highest court in the realm. They are accustomed to regard the jurisprudence of the country, whether in its principles or its administration, as being, with all its defects, among the highest ornaments and strongest bulwarks of the land. They may, in their fanaticism, anticipate the arrival of a day in which lords spiritual and civil, grave lawyers, and graver divines, will not be required to sit in solemn conclave, and decide on the merits of Christian doctrine by prayerbooks, and articles, and homilies

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-the compilations of men-rather than by the unerring Word of God.

But what appears so strange to those of us who are not within the favoured pale, who stand outside the fence within which the great pugilists contend, is, that the opinions broached by the Essayists, and embraced by their admirers, should be received as though they were novel, -that notions as old as the Gnostics, gathered up and put into systematic form in a later age by Faustus Socinus, which have periodically bewildered the great dreamers of Germany and haunted like pale ghosts the purlieus of the Church of God in all times, should be treated as a vision, as the discovery of more than usually enlightened and puissant minds. It is recorded of the Gibeonites, in olden times, that "they put old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy."

It appears to us an anomaly that such opinions should be promulgated within the precincts of a church whose creed, services, and sacraments are prepared for it, stereotyped and imposed by authority,-within which no one who ministers at its altars can legally change a petition or introduce a collect. Such a deviation from recognized standards would not be tolerated in the free churches of the land. Any pulpit among Dissenting communities, which should be the seat and centre of contradictory tenets, of doctrines as varied in their import as human fickleness could render them, would soon be purified from its inconsistency, or the preacher would become as one crying in the wilderness. Is the Established Church, as it is sometimes vauntingly called, to be the most unstable and equivocal preceptress in the realm ?

But the strangeness of the spec

tacle grows upon us, as we observe those who hold the tenets so openly avowed, retaining their connection with the Church. If the thunders of the law cannot disturb, the whispers of conscience might admonish. Secession from any community is open to us all, and moreover is eminently graceful when our sympathies with it are impaired. But division is a vice, and one we have been accustomed to associate with vulgar or envenomed minds. We have a right to think as we please, but we have no right to sow discord in the bosom of an associated community. It is easy to frame palliatives for such a course, and to dress them in plausible guise, but sensitive honour and true nobility of nature recoil alike from the sin and its excuse. It is the obvious duty of those who conscientiously imbibe opinions at variance with those retained by the body, they may for a season have approved and served, to leave that body in uninterrupted possession of the doctrines and practice it prefers.. Dissenters from the English Church have been denounced as schismatics, but this is the name proper to those, whatever their rank or pretensions, who renouncing her leading tenets, still continue within her pale. Attempts are made to cover this policy under the veil of independency of thought. None of us would interfere with the entire freedom which this phrase implieswe claim it for ourselves, and courteously and heartily concede it to others; but let us take the penalty with the privilege. Others exercise their thoughts as well as we. If the great majority of those with whom I have been accustomed to unite in the way of instituted fellowship, see that my ideas on matters vital to its healthful and harmonious continuance are utterly at variance with theirs, and I readily admit it, and yet

Icleave to the fellowship-if Icease to sustain those views and truths which I was solemnly sworn to build up, but yet I remain in the communion, I am doing my utmost to destroy; this is not independency, but licentiousness of thought. When men take to thinking through the medium of their desires, they are in danger of leaving the bracing region of independency, and of straying into the relaxing precincts of expediency.

Like all other innovators, these gentlemen give us nothing in return for that which they take away. Treading in the footsteps of their school, they follow the path of negative theology, a course which, when once entered, it is not usual to forsake, and which opens out into wide but most dreary wastes. They quietly, moreover, ignore the thinkers and writers who have preceded them. Grotius, Lardner, Warburton, Whitby, Howe, Owen, with the galaxy to which they belong, are left in the oblivion which awaits all who reject the philosophy of a progressive Christianity, who believe that as a scheme of truth it is perfect, sufficient and divine. Yet, strange to say, these enlightened instructors who would be the guides of others, do not agree among themselves, but indicate varying attainments in their new researches, so that it is difficult to choose among them, or to decide at whose feet to sit. They agree only in removing the ancient landmarks, and indulging in conjectures of their own. The state of affairs is rendered the more complex by the presence of a large and exemplary body of evangelical labourers in the bosom of the Church. It is not for us as lookerson to dictate to these gentlemen the path they should pursue. They can best appreciate the difficulties as well as the responsibilities of their position. Should the voice summoning them to separation wax louder and

become increasingly distinct, we have too high an opinion of the great body of them to suppose that the endowments they inherit would render them deaf to its appeal. The selfsacrifice involved in such a course would meet with an ample reward, and the material benefits relinquished be more than compensated by those which would be speedily created. The hope of amendment may lead them to hesitate to rend themselves from the Institution they adorn, a hope, however, which, since the memorable decision of the Privy Council, rests, in our opinion, on very slender grounds. When the Queen, as its Head, decides through her highest Court that every variety of religious opinion may be held by those who take orders in the Episcopal Church, the door is thrown open by a hand which no inferior power can paralyze, and it needs no great sagacity to see that less regard than ever will be had to doctrinal tenets by those who seek admission to its pulpits. If the latitudinarian ground taken in the "Essays and Reviews" be pronounced legally consistent with the subscription, oaths and solemn asseverations which meet the novice on the very threshold of the Church-if Episcopal ordination, with the prestige of apostolical descent, can be enjoyed by those who hold doctrines of which the Apostles never dreamt, and deny those which these inspired teachers conveyed, he must be sanguine indeed, who sees notwithstanding all this a prospect of improvement. No, there is in it the presage of increasing spiritual decay-"a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand." The light of example bright and strong is not wanting to guide thoughtful and conscientious men amidst their embarrassments. Who among them can forget the early Reformers?-or affect to ignore the Puritan Fathers?

-or fail to call to mind a Whitfield

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