BAPTISMS.

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discourse by the Rev. J. Stevenson, of Derby, five friends were baptized. Tears of joy were shed by some on this solemn occasion.

ANNIVERSARIES.

NORTHALLERTON, Yorkshire. Services in connexion with the seventh anniversary of the introduction of the General Baptist cause into Northallerton and Brompton, were held on May 18 and 19, 1862. On Lord's-day, Rev. B. Wood, of Bradford, preached four sermons: morning, afternoon, and at five o'clock in the open air at Northallerton; and at six in the chapel at Brompton. On the 19th, we held our annual tea meeting in the Independent schoolroom, kindly lent for the occasion. Addresses were delivered by_the Revs. B. Wood; P. W. Grant, Darlington; M. Dawson, Bedale; H. Le Fevre, Masham; W. Stubbings, Baptists; T. Yeo, and Mr. Thompson, Independents; Mr. Atty, and Mr. Weldon, Wesleyans. It was the most interesting meeting we ever

The collections, with the proceeds of the tea, were applied to the liquidation of the debt on Brompton chapel. On Tuesday, the 20th, the Rev. B. Wood preached in Brompton chapel.

BIRCHCLIFFE. On Lord's day, May 25, after a sermon from 1 Kings xx. 11, eight young men were baptized; and in the afternoon were received into the church at the Lord's table.

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On

LONDON, Commercial - road. Thursday, the 29th, our minister baptized nine persons,

NOTTINGHAM, Broad - street. — On the first Sabbath in June, we baptized fourteen friends, thirteen of whom were scholars from our school. C. T. B.

NOTTINGHAM, Stoney street.-On Whit Tuesday, June 10, at the conclusion of the evening service, we baptized twenty-nine friends. There are still ten or eleven candidates waiting admission_to_ the church. B. Y.

DUFFIELD.-On June 12, after a

BIRCHCLIFFE, School Anniversary.— Our school sermons were preached on the first Sabbath in June, by Rev. J. B. Lockwood. The day being very fine, the attendance was large; and notwithstanding the bad trade, the collections were upwards of £42. Our school is in a more prosperous state than it has been for some time.

On Whit-Monday, the children had their annual treat; and in the evening every scholar had a book presented. It was a time of great interest.

SUTTON, Warwickshire.-The anniversary sermons connected with the Baptist chapel, were preached on Lord's-day, June 1, 1862, by the Rev. J. Harrison, of Birmingham, this being our brothers first visit, which together with the ordinance of baptism, attracted a large

concourse of people, and the chapel being rather small, both services were conducted in the open air. On the following Monday, about 350 persons took tea. A large marquee was kindly lent for the occasion by the neighbouring farmers. At the meeting afterwards Rev. G. Cheatle presided. Addresses were delivered by the Revs. J. Harrison, J. Davis, and others. A poem was read by Orlando Wright, author of A Wreath of Leisure Hours,' and a choice selection of sacred music was performed by a company of amateurs. Conductor, Mr. W. Johnson. H. J.

HOSE.-On Whit-Sunday, June 8, sermons were preached by Mr. Orchard, of the Chilwell College, on behalf of the Sunday-school, and on the following day, the annual tea meeting was held, after which several addresses were delivered by the friends of the school.

REMOVAL.

Rev. J. C. SMITH, late of Alford, Lincolnshire, has removed to the church, Carley street, Leicester, and commenced his labours on Lord's-day, May 18.

MISCELLANEOUS.

FLEET.-On Lord's-day, May 18, two very impressive sermons were preached to large congregations on behalf of the General Baptist Mission, by the Rev. I Stubbins, in the General Baptist chapel, Fleet. As it was expected this would be the last visit Mr. Stubbins would pay the friends at Fleet before his return to India, arrangements were made to make those services as interesting as possible. The ordinance of baptism was administered before the evening service, when three friends put on Christ. At the close of the evening service the Lord's supper was administered, when the newly baptized were re

ceived into the church by our pastor. Mr. Stubbins addressed the church. He stated that itwas twenty-nine years since he had the privilege of meeting at the table of the Lord at Fleet, and very tenderly referred to the changes that had taken place in that time, also urging the friends to continue their earnestness and zeal in the cause of Christ both at home and abroad, and watch, not knowing when the Lord would call us hence. Our pastor addressed the spectators. We hope the hallowed feeling produced will not soon be forgotten. On the following Tuesday, the Rev. Watson Dyson, of Long Sutton, preached at three o'clock in the afternoon. At five o'clock a public tea meeting was held. At seven the Missionary meeting was held. The chair was taken by our pastor. Addresses were delivered by the Revs. J. Cotton, W. Dyson, I. Stubbins, and Mr. C. Lowath, Wesleyan.

PRESENTATION AT NEW LENTON.On June 15, the Rev. J. J. Goadby, for five years minister of the Baptist chapel, New Lenton, Nottingham, Dean Alford's Greek Testament as was presented by his friends with

a token of their esteem for his ministry, and regret at his approaching removal from them, and with earnest prayers for his future welfare. A suitable present was also presented to Mrs. Goadby.

GENERAL BAPTIST Prize for a CateCHISM ON NONCONFORMITY.-The prize of £5 offered by the General Baptist Association for a Catechism on Nonconformity, for the use of Sunday scholars and other young persons, has been awarded to the Rev. Thomas Goadby, B.A., minister of the Commercial-road chapel, London. The adjudicators are the Revs. W. Underwood, E. Stevenson, and G. Hester. The catechism will be published at the low price of one penny.

INTERESTING DISCOVERY BY SIK HENRY RAWLINSON.-A communication from Sir Henry Rawlinson to

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teresting to students of classical or Jewish history. It contains an announcement of the discovery of a Cuneiform document, which promises to be useful in determining the dates of all great events which occurred in Western Asia between the beginning of the ninth and the latter half of the seventh century B.C. Sir Henry briefly states the history of his discovery:It has long been known that amid the many thousand crumbling tablets of "terra cotta rescued from the debris of the Royal Library, at Nineveh, and now in the British Museum, there were a considerable number of fragments bearing lists of names and having the appearance of official documents. These fragments have been often alluded to both by myself and by other Cuneiform students. When I first examined them and recognized several royal names in the series, I thought it probable that the tablets in the original state exhibited complete dynastic lists of the Assyrian kings, such as Berosus must have consulted in compiling his annals, and I reported to that effect at the time to the Royal Asiatic Society. Subsequently, I found that the majority of the names were merely those of officers of the Assyrian crown, and my interest in the discovery abated. The fragments, too, proved, on examination, to be so minute and heterogeneous that, after expending much time and labour in a fruitless attempt to arrange them, I gave up in despair the hope of extracting from them any chronological or historical information of any value. Lately, I have resumed the work, and this time my patience has been amply rewarded. I have found, indeed, that the fragments belong to four different tablets, each of which must have exhibited, when complete, the copy of a sort of Assyrian "Canon;" that is, a list of the annual high priests for about 264 years, divided in compartments according to the reigns of the different kings who occupied this period of history. No

tion of the several sets of fragments, about 224 names in a more or less perfect state have been recovered by me out of the entire list, and the order and duration of at least thirteen reigns have been ascertained without the possibility of any considerable amount of error. A certain chance of error there must inevitably be from the necessity of filling up the vacant gaps by counting the number of lines required to supply the intervals, as well as from the discrepancies in the lists themselves; which discrepancies, however, are at the same time in the highest degree instructive and suggestive, as will appear when I give an abstract of the canon. It has been long well known that the ordinary method of dating Assyrian documents is by the name of the chief priest of the year, and it will thus be understood that I have had abundant means of testing the accuracy of the canon by comparing such nominal dates on the many cylinders and tablets, the year of which on any king's reign is pretty accurately known, with the position of the same name in the list of chief priests under that king's reign. The only other observation I need make is, that in counting the number of years belonging to each reign, I have supposed the king, where his name heads the list, as is usually the case, to have himself exercised the functions of chief priest for the first year of his reign.' Added to the above, Sir Henry furnishes to The Athenæum an abstract of the Assyrian canon.' A facsimile of the original will, of course, be ere long published.

THE POST OFFICE. The annual report of the Postmaster-General states that the whole number of post-offices, including the pillarboxes, of which 476 have been added during the year, is 14,354, as compared with 13,914 last year, and about 4,500 before the introduction of the penny postage. The number of letters transmitted in England

average of 29 to each person of the entire population. In Scotland the average was 18, and in Ireland only 9. The increase of letters as compared with 1860 is about 29,000,000, and, as contrasted with the last year pre-penny era, reaches the enormous figure of 517,000,000. That the public appreciate the extension of the postal system to books is shown by the fact that considerably more than 12,000,000 book parcels passed through the Post-office during the year. We may be doing a service to those who will persist in not availing themselves of the money order system, in stating that for the future, in a London office, all letters that bear unmistakable evidence of containing coin will be treated as registered letters, and charged with a double registration fee. As an inducement to register valuable letters, the charge will be reduced to fourpence. The Post office Savings Banks have worked well and smoothly from the beginning; there are now above 2,500 opened in the United Kingdom, and the deposits have amounted to more

£40,000 have been withdrawn. The revenue derived from the Postoffice 1861 was £1,161,985, showing an increase of 5 per cent. on the previous year, which precisely coincides with the increase in the number of letters.

THE SAFEST POSITION IN A THUNDERSTORM.-Men are often struck by lightning in the middle of open plains. Many facts show that the danger is still greater under trees: from this double remark, Dr Winthrop inferred that when surprised by a thunderstorm in the open country, the best thing to be done to avoid lightning is to place oneself at a little distance from some large tree; by 'a little distance,' he meant anything from sixteen to forty feet. A still more favourable station would be one intermediate between two trees, at the prescribed distance from both.__Franklin approved these precepts. Henley, who also thought them confirmed both by theory and experience, recommended in the case of a single tree, five or six yards between the extremity of the longest branches.

ECCLESIASTICAL.

THE Japanese martyrs have been duly canonized in the Basilica of the Vatican. Two score cardinals, 200 bishops, and 50,000 worshippers are reported as being present. The lighting of the 10,000 tapers round the dome seems to have been a paltry affair as a stage trick. The sacred comedy has failed to arouse any enthusiasm in the breasts of Italian Catholics, and Spanish and

Irish adherents of the Papacy are almost alone in their infatuation. The Papists at Brighton have made no small stir by spiriting away a young girl in her teens. The mother has been running from priest to priest, but has not yet discovered where her daughter is secreted. The sentence of deprivation in the case of Rev. I. Heath, the heretical clergyman of the Isle of Wight, has been confirmed by Privy Council. His heresy is altogether eccentric.