the teacher, profess that we are of a more excellent spirit than the brethren who listen to us, or that we are more variously and highly endowed, or even that we are more usefully engaged? Are these the facts, or assumptions, on which we base our call? No, not these. We do not profess to be better than other Christian men; they are often of a more excellent spirit. Nor do we profess to have greater gifts or a more useful occupation. But we do profess, or we have no claim to speak for God to men, that in His sovereign mercy He has given us to see certain truths so clearly, and made us so sensible of their infinite importance, that we cannot in any wise refrain from publishing and enforcing them so long as we have any faculty of utterance or any opportunity of using it. We do profess that to proclaim these truths, to persuade men to receive and obey them, is a task so great, so dignified, and carries in itself so dear a reward, that we esteem it above all other tasks; and are content, so that we may give ourselves to it, to forego the honourable toils, the comforts and pleasures, the gains and ambitions which might otherwise lawfully engage our thoughts. This is our call: and I am bold to say that it is the authentic call of Heaven. This is the vocation which God has chosen for us, not we for ourselves, by revealing His truth to us with power and by moving us to proclaim it. Other Vocations may be and are equally honourable and may require higher and more various gifts-as, for example, that of the Christian statesman. But this is our vocation, the vocation to which we have been called of God; and therefore we cannot withdraw from it so long as we have strength for it and occasion serves. Through evil report and good report, through success and failure, in the temple or in the temple-stocks, whether men hear or forbear, we cannot forbear;

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the sacred impulse will have its will of us, and, if we cannot do what we would, we must still be doing all that we can. If we cannot rejoice in having won many souls to righteousness, we are or should be content to have discharged our conscience in the sight of God: if we cannot hope to shine as stars in the firmament for ever, we are or should be content to burn like candles, which waste while they burn, and yet shed a welcome light in the huts where poor men lie. It is the labour to which we are called, not to success in it; and so long as we are honest diligent workmen, we need be neither despondent nor ashamed. True teachers, authentic priests, like George Eliot's "Castilian gentle

Choose not their task-they choose to do it well.

One of our recent censors affirms that our 66 teaching, however good, too generally resembles the action of the sun on desert plains; it falls on unpropitious soil." Be it so: nevertheless the sun does shine even on the desert; and God meant it to shine there; and probably, were we wise enough, we should discover that the sun, even when it shines upon sand, subserves some useful purpose. Shall we, then, refuse to let our light shine because it falls as on desert plains? Let us rather shine on with our utmost heat-and the sun, you know, is hottest in the desert, content with the assurance that, if we are not turning the very sand into fertile soil, we are at least about our Father's business.

VI. And you, my brethren, whom God has called to serve Him in other modes, if you are in Christ, you also, in a very true and comfortable sense, are the elect of God. Or ever you were brought forth, He had chosen you; He had sanctified and ordained you to be His servants. Despite your manifold infirmities, and though

your consciousness of sin and defect at times obscures your better knowledge, you know that He has called you, "by patient continuance in well doing, to seek for glory, honour, and immortality." Your Christian vocation is not based on your aptitude for it, but on His word-a word that can make you fit ministers of His grace and truth. And the proof is, that, amid all the darknesses of defeat, in every night of failure and self-despair, the sacred fire burns on, illuminating the inward temple even when your eyes, blinded with bitter tears, cannot find the light, revealing its presence in the weariness which lays hold upon you if you cease from the work. Here lies your hope. If you are sometimes tempted to "stay," you cannot stay; if you would be glad to " forbear," you cannot forbear. So long as any love of truth stirs within you; so long as, despite past failures and present misgivings, you are constrained to seek and obey the truth, you have the witness in yourselves that you are called of One who is more to you than priest or prophet, or familiar; One who will never leave any good work which He has begun until He has made it perfect.

It is in this large, hopeful, patient temper that, I trust, we meet to

day and shall return to our work; not thinking much of our fitness for this office or that, but thinking with an infinite regard of Him who has graciously drawn us into His service and assigned to each his post; not unexpectant of frequent failure and discouragement, but resolved to endure whatever He may lay upon us, knowing in all and through all that He who has called us will perfect His strength in our weakness, and establish His work upon us, not because we are fit to do it, but because it is His work, and He has so greatly honoured us as to labour at it together with us.

"The obedient man," said the Wise King," speaketh victories:" and if we obey with meekness the pure word which God has engrafted in us, we shall speak victories someday, even though our victories, like the Master's, tarry long and arise from apparent defeats. He had "long patience:" let us also be patient, and stablish our hearts in Him.

*Proverbs xxi. 28.

This Sermon will be published in a few days, in a separate form. As only a small edition will be printed, the price will be sixpence per copy, and those who wish to have it in this form must be kind enough to apply for it at once. Orders may be sent to Messrs. Winks & Son, Leicester, direct, or through any bookseller.

tution of the simple name of Free Baptists for the compound name of Freewill Baptists, on the ground that the former term includes more than the latter, and applies not only to their theological views but to their church practices. Being free in their communion, as well as in their faith, it is contended that the epithet "Free" will the better distinguish them from any other order of existing Baptists. Re cently, however, they have ascertained the existence of a religious body in the States bearing our designation General Baptists. These are said to be numerous in southern Illinois, Indiana,

and other parts; and at a convention of these brethren in Indiana some delegates were present from the Freewill Baptists. Proposals for a formal union have been made, and seem likely to be accepted with much cordiality. By the General Baptists, and the Freewill Baptists in the South, the old name of Freewill is preferred; and the Rev. A. H. Chase, who attended the Convention by appointment, expresses the conviction that, on account of the coloured people and the whites in the south, it would be a dangerous experiment to change the denominational name at present. The General Baptists are supposed to number already from 8,000 to 10,000 members. The

following is their" Confession of Faith," which is interesting for its simplicity, and valuable for its thorough scripturalness:

"1. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the infallible Word of God, and the only safe rule of faith and practice.

"2. That there is only one true and living God, and in the Godhead or divine essence, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

"3. That we are fallen and depraved creatures, and cannot extricate ourselves from our fallen situation by any ability we possess by nature.

"4. That Salvation, Regeneration, Sanctification, Justification, and Redemption, are by life, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

"5. We believe that he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.

"6. That the joys of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked shall be eternal.

"7. We believe that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Jesus Christ appointed in the church, and none but true believers are proper subjects, and the only proper mode of baptism is by immersion.

"8. We believe in the sanctity of the first day in the week (or Lord'sday), and that it ought to be observed and spent in the public or private worship of God, and on it we should abstain from our worldly concerns, except in cases of necessity or mercy.

9. We believe in the Resurrection of the Body, both of the just and un

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just, but every one in his own order; those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation, and that God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ.

"10. That it is our duty to be tender and affectionate to one another, and to study the happiness of the people of God in general, and to be singly engaged to promote the honour and glory of God.

"11. We believe that Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man, yet none can partake of His divine benefits only by repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, (infants and idiots excepted, they being included in the covenant of God's grace)."

At the Michigan yearly meeting of the Freewill Baptist Churches, it was resolved to appointed a man to visit the leading churches of the General Baptists with a view to secure the union of the two. A similar appointment for the same object was made last month by the Illinois yearly meeting. On the side of the General Baptists it is testified by a leading minister that all are in favour of the union.

We hope to discover, sometime, what we are at present unable to ascertain the origin of a class of Baptists in the United States bearing our own name, and who are so truly one with ourselves in regard to Christian belief. And were we among the Freewillers, we should advise them to settle their discussions about a change of name by adopting that of their newlyfound brethren, one of whom says, "We prefer the name General Baptist to all names."

But leaving this comparatively trivial question, we proceed to notice the present condition and prospects of the Freewill body. And instead of presenting bare statistics to our readers, we prefer to transcribe a vigorous article from one of the last numbers of the "Christian Freeman," written by one of its Editors, and entitled, "A Groundless Apprehension." We have the greater inducement to reprint this article from its adaptation, in some parts, to the state of thought and feeling which has lately been traceable among our ministers and churches.

"Not unfrequently of late we have had occasion to hear from various quarters and in different ways, expressions of great apprehension that we, as a denomination, are in danger of retrograding instead of advancing. Indeed the lugubriousness with which our supposed weaknesses are enumerated would be very likely to lead one unacquainted with the facts to expect us soon to go into bankruptcy at least. What seems a little remarkable, too, these gloomy apprehensions have come from our own ranks, and if others have expressed fears of our untimely dissolution we are unaware of the fact. Doubtless, however, if we persist long enough in heralding our poverty to the world, our good brethern of other denominations may considerately tender in advance their condoling sympathy for the surviving friends of the deceased.

"These expressions of anxious solicitude seem to come mainly from two different classes among us, the apprehension arising from very different causes. A certain class is always to be found connected with every interest in life who by constitution and habit seem fitted to manifest that mental condition of gloominess aptly denominated the blues.'

"Such people are in a state of chronic discomfort over the imaginary difficulties which, like the lions Bunyan mentioned as so formidable to the Christian pilgrim, prove formidable only at a distance. The crops are going to fail annually with these good people, the world is growing wicked very fast, the country is just on the verge of ruin, or the Church at home is in a low cold state, and so it is not strange that the denomination which they love should seem to be going the downhill road in common with everything else.

"Another class reach their conclusions from a state of mind widely different from this. They are the impetuous, periodically sanguine, wideawake, enterprising men and women who, in their enthusiasm for the success of principles they love so well, would reach results at a single bound. They are the Murats and Phil. Sheridans of the church, who cannot brook the wise delay of regular siege work in the trenches, but would express their favourite mode of action in the one

word-dash. These good people in their white heat of zeal for great results and speedy ones, chafe at the necessary delays, and scold at the unnecessary ones, and unwittingly, in their disappointment, surprise themselves into gloomy expressions of despondency, and hastily prophecy failures, even when the foundations of a real success are being securely though perhaps tardily laid."

Against all this expression of distrust, against all these thoughtless prophecies of impending failure, coming from whatever source, we desire to enter our emphatic protest. We do this because such complaints have no adequate foundation in fact, and such apprehensions are entirely groundless. It is a gratifying fact, which ought to be apparent to every one, that the Free Baptist denomination was never in a condition of such real prosperity, and never gave such promising tokens of a vigorous growth in the future as now. That there are many weak points which ought to be strengthened; that we are not yet perfect in polity, or always wise in practice; that we are sometimes over-confident in untried expedients, or too modest in asserting our just claims, may be and is doubtless but too true. That radical changes are demanded in some of the methods of our work, and that more comprehensive plans and a larger liberality in both faith and money are needed, we believe; but we as firmly believe the tide of a true progress is bringing these needed changes to a speedy consummation.

"It will seem strange to our neighbours' ears to hear talk about 'dying out,' 'feebleness,' &c., when every month of the past year has pulsated with a bounding life not surpassed, and scarcely equalled, by the largest denomination in the land! The register shows, in plain figures, that our numerical increase has been at the rate of about five and a half per cent. during the past year, and we confidently predict a much larger increase the present year. But numerical increase very inadequately expresses the true measure of our prosperity, for in those essential elements of substantial growth, the press and the schools, we have additional reason for encouragement. Men seem sometimes to over

look the fact that in the building up of a distinct denomination resting on a vital principle, its first years must be largely devoted to the laying of foundations. That industrious, discreet hands have been patiently toiling these past eighty years we think the future will show. Already the influence of our schools and our press is being felt in the land.

"During the past year no less than four institutions of learning of different grades in different States have been put in successful operation, the new enterprise of Storer College fairly inaugurated, schools and churches for the freedmen built, and new mission fields of much promise opened at home and in the foreign field. Beside this our old time-honoured Morning Star, always radiant, has wheeled into line with the best of the quartos; the Myrtle has shaken off its childhood timidity and asserts a vigorous youth, presenting an attractive face and beaming with kindly smiles; the Free

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man has been born of toil and hopeful weariness to utter its voice for truth and progress, how well or ill others must judge; and all along the line the word has been advance.

"Nor should we fail to take note of the fact that the distinctive principles of our denomination are being embraced by not a few who have been stimulated to honest inquiry by our position, and who, recognizing a free salvation and a free communion table as the doctrine of divine appointment, accept the situation' with willing joy. "We do not advocate a profusion of self-adulation, nor the offensive manifestation of an inflated self-esteem in asserting ourselves before the world; neither do we think it wise or dignified to tell the world that we are a great people; but, if we are to speak of ourselves at all, let us do it in the light of simple facts, and not mislead the world to believe us on the verge of bankruptcy."

As our Colleges are now the principal sources from which churches procure their pastors, the necessity for these institutions is placed, by Providence, beyond the pale of controversy; and the duty of sustaining them is no longer a subject of doubt. All who desire the welfare of the churches must, for consistency's sake, be anxious for the prosperity of the Colleges. Unfriendliness to the latter is now become, if not intentionally, yet in effect, unfriendliness to the former.

This we assert in the face of the fact that many of our church members, and some of our church officers, still cherish the old antipathy against collegiate training for the Christian ministry. This antipathy is often avowed in strong verbal phrase, and nearly as often in refusals to render the smallest pecuniary support, when subscriptions are sought, or collections made, in their behalf. But, like every other species of inconsiderate aversion to what is good, this dislike will gradually disappear amidst the advancing intelligence, the expanding views, and the more spontaneous liberality of a more thoroughly christianized age.

In a recent number of this periodical we gave a cursory account of some of the " We Religious Anniversaries." now devote a little space to the Dissenting Colleges whose sessions have just closed, and whose present condition is officially reported.

THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON'S COLLEGE AT CHESHUNT has celebrated its Centenary, and the celebration was worthy of the occasion. The services commenced, after the reading of the Church Liturgy, by a sermon from the Rev. Thos. Binney. A cold collation in a tent followed, at which more than six hundred guests sat down. Among these were several members of Parliament, and as many Episcopal clergymen, including Archdeacon Sandford, and Dr. Alford, Dean of Canterbury, who presided. In proposing the toast of the day, "Prosperity to Cheshunt College," the Chairman observed that this College represents a sacred principle, that of hearty mutual recognition of one another, as servants of our common Lord. He said, we have been long endeavouring, in England, to make our Christianity stand on its narrowest and finest point-that the in