tower upon tower, and mountain upon mountain; but it cannot touch the mountains, and they shall smoke; it cannot conquer souls for Christ; it cannot awaken the sympathies of faith and love; it cannot do Christ's work in man's conversion. It is dark in itself, and cannot diffuse light. It is cold at heart, and has no overflowing and subduing influences to pour out upon the lost. And with all its strength, that Church is weak, and for Christ's peculiar work, worthless. And with all its glitter of gorgeous array, it is a dark Church,

-it cannot shine. On the contrary, show me a Church, poor, illiterate, obscure, unknown, but composed of praying people. They shall be men of neither power nor wealth

nor

influence: they shall be families that do not know one day where they are to get their bread for the next; but with them is the hiding of God's power, and their influence is felt for eternity, and their light shines and is watched, and wherever they go there is a fountain of light, and Christ in them is glorified, and His kingdom advanced. They are His chosen vessels of salvation, and His luminaries to reflect His light.-Dr. Olin.

66

WHY should not a man, that would die at all, be as willing at thirty or forty, if God see fit, as at seventy or eighty? Length of time doth not conquer corruption; it never withers or decays through age. Except we receive an addition of grace as well as time, we naturally grow worse. "O my soul, depart in peace!" As thou wouldst not desire an unlimited estate in wealth or honour, so desire it not in point of time. How many of the precious servants of God, of all ages and places, have gone before thee! Thou art not to enter an untrodden path, nor appointed first to break the ice. Except Enoch or Elijah, which of the saints have escaped death? And

art thou better than they? There are many millions of saints dead,

more than now remain on the earth. What a number of thine own bosom friends and companions in duty are now gone; and why shouldst thou be so loath to follow? Nay, hath not Jesus Christ Himself gone the way? Hath He not sanctified the grave to us, and perfumed the dust with His own body? and art thou loath to follow Him too? Rather say, as Thomas, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."-Baxter.

WHAT is it to have "Christ in you ?" The Romanist hangs the cross on his bosom: the true Christian carries the cross in his heart; and a cross inside the heart is one of the sweetest cures for a cross on the back. If you have a cross in your heart,-Christ crucified in you, the hope of glory,—the cross of this world's trouble will seem to you light enough, and you will easily be able to sustain it. Christ in the heart, means Christ believed in, Christ beloved, Christ trusted, Christ espoused, Christ communed with, Christ as our daily food, and ourselves as the temple and palace wherein Jesus Christ daily walks. Ah! there are many who are total strangers to the meaning of this phrase. They do not know what it is to have Jesus Christ in them. Though they know a little about Christ on Calvary, they know nothing about Christ in the heart. Now, remember, that Christ on Calvary will save no man, unless Christ be in the heart. The Son of Mary, born in the manger, will not save you, unless He also be born in your heart, and live there,-your joy, your strength, and your consolation. -C. H. Spurgeon.

THERE is a place for anger as well as for love. We do not want fretful, passionate people; neither do we want unvarying softness. Let us have a man who loves good and hates evil. We want something with two sides; that is a solid, real character. The wisdom that is from above is

first pure, then peaceable. Knit your brows at the backbiter's approach, and he will soon sneak away. If you do not take the venom in, he will not long continue to give it out. Call up the angry countenance to chase the troubler from your presence, as you would unleash the gruff watch-dog to scare the robber from your garden. You may as well attempt to let light into a chamber without expelling the darkness, as to retain affection for the good without becoming a terror to the evil. You are cruel to your friend, and not kind, if by your softness you stimulate still further the growth of a thorn already choking the good seed in his heart. Give the devil that possesses your brother a blow, although your brother himself should feel the smart: when he comes to himself he will thank you. -Dr. Arnot.

IN general, I have no patience with people who talk about " 'the thoughtlessness of youth" indulgently; I had rather hear of thoughtless old age and the indulgence due to that. When a man has done his work, and nothing can any way be materially altered in his fate, let him forget his toil, and jest with faith, if he will; but what excuse can you find for wilfulness of thought at the very time when every crisis of future fortune hangs on your decisions ? A youth thoughtless! when all the happiness of his home depends on the chances or the passions of an hour! A youth thoughtless! when his every act is a foundation-stone of future conduct, and every imagination a fountain of life or death! Be

thoughtless in any after-years, rather than now— -though, indeed, there is only one place where a man may be nobly thoughtless-his death-bed. Nothing should be left to be done there.-Ruskin.

BELIEVE, and you shall love. Believe much, and you shall love much. Labour for strong and deep persuasion of the glorious things which are spoken of Christ, and this will command love. Certainly, did men indeed believe His worth, they would accordingly love Him; for the reason cannot but love that which it firmly believes to be worthiest of affection. Oh! this mischievous unbelief is that which makes the heart cold and dead towards God. Seek, then, to believe Christ's excellency in Himself, and His love to us, and our interest in Him, and this will kindle such a fire in the heart as will make it ascend in a sacrifice of love to Him.-Jeremy Taylor.

Ir one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it, and how would it draw to itself the most invisible particles by the mere power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessings; only the iron in God's sand is gold.-O. W. Holmes.

cost of nearly £1200.-A new chapel has been opened at Cornwall Road, Brixton, London, for the ministry of the Rev. D. Asquith.—The memorial-stone of a new chapel has been laid at Prince's End, Tipton, Staffordshire, to be erected for the ministry of the Rev. J. C. Whitaker. -A new chapel has been opened at Dewsbury, Yorkshire, for the ministry of the Rev. N. H. Shaw.

The Rev. R. Green, late of Shipley, has been recognised as the pastor of the church meeting in Townhead Street Chapel, Sheffield.-The Rev. J. Toll has been recognised as the pastor of the church at Great Ellingham, Norfolk.-The Rev. J. M'Lean has been recognised as the pastor of the church in Yates Street, Birmingham. The Rev. C. W. Skemp, late of Rhyl, has been recognised as the pastor of the church at Brierley Hill, Worcestershire.

The following reports of MINISTERIAL CHANGES have reached us since our last issue:-The Rev. G. R. Tanswell, of Arlington, Gloucestershire, to Woodchester, in the same county; the Rev. A. K. Davidson, of the Metropolitan Tabernacle College, to Bardwell, Suffolk; the Rev. S. D. Thomas, of Cork, to Melsome, Glamorganshire; the Rev. J. Allen, B.A., of Hook Norton, to Olney, Bucks; the Rev. E. K. Everett, of Nantwich, Cheshire, to Wakefield Road, Stalybridge; the Rev. S. D. Rees, of Evenjobb, Radnor, to Great Missenden, Bucks; the Rev. M. H. Jones, of Haverfordwest College, to Cossey, Norfolk; the Rev. A. Rollason, of Rawdon College, to Ebenezer Chapel, Scarborough; the Rev. B. Dickins, of Edenbridge, Kent, to

to

Naunton and Guiting, Gloucestershire; the Rev. J. C. Powell, of Norton Skenfrith, to Llanfihangel, Monmouthshire; the Rev. W. Salter, of Coalville, Leicestershire, Netherton, Dudley, Staffordshire; the Rev. J. F. Frewin, formerly of the Metropolitan Tabernacle College, to Surrey Lane, Battersea, London. The Rev. J. G. Gregson has resigned the pastorate of the church at Portsea, and has sailed for India, to resume missionary work there. The Rev. J. Robinson has resigned the pastorate of the church at Landbeach, Cambridgeshire, after a pastorate of a little over four years. The Rev. R. Bayne has resigned the pastorate of the church at Rickmansworth, Herts. The Rev. A. Ibberson has, after twelve years' labour, resigned the pastorate of the church at Dover, and has received from his people a handsome testimonial. The Rev. T. Crabtree has resigned the pastorate of the church at Montague Street, Blackburn, having found it necessary, on account of ill health, to leave for Australia. His people presented him, on leaving, with a purse of £37, as a token of gratitude and

esteem.

We regret to announce the death of the Rev. C. Drawbridge, formerly of Succoth Chapel, Rushden, Northamptonshire, at the age of sixty-six; also of the Rev. J. Cooper, for many years pastor of the church assembling in the Lower Meeting-house, Amersham, at the age of seventyeight; also of the Rev. R. Tubbs, late pastor of the church at Addlestone, Weybridge, at the age of sixty-five. They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

66