"The most eminent philanthropist of modern times, John Howard. "The most eloquent preacher of our day, Robert Hall. "The founder of that noble institution the Bible Society, Joseph Hughes. "The most profound and original essayist of the present age, John Foster. "Were we to add any humbler names we should feel disposed to particularize those of Knibb, Burchell, and Phillippo, the benefactors of the West Indian slaves; Judson, the apostle of the Burman empire; Carey, Marshman, Thomas, and Ward, the indefatigable translators of the scriptures at Serampore." Flattering as this "list" is to our denominational pride, I confess it did "startle" me when I first saw it. Is it true that Newton, Milton, Whiston, and Howard," belonged to the baptist denomination ?” Will you, or some of your correspondents, be so kind as to answer this query? and oblige Yours respectfully, JOHN WILLIAMS. Glasgow, Oct. 21st, 1852. COLLECTIONS FOR DENOMINATIONAL OBJECTS. To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine. DEAR SIR,-In the report of the annual meeting at Stepney College, reference was made to the slender support afforded to that and kindred institutions by collections in baptist churches and congregations; and something like a reproach was intimated as attaching to the individuals constituting those bodies for their indifference to educational institutions. It is to be regretted that the absence of congregational collections should seem to justify the charge of want of sympathy and interest in the efforts made to provide educational machinery for the use of the rising ministry. It cannot be that the baptists are insensible to the value of learning: their efforts in acquiring knowledge may have been less ostentatious, but certainly have not been less successful than other classes of their fellow subjects. To maintain their distinguishing characteristic as a denomination, demands an amount of knowledge and mental power not required by those who are content to pin their faith and practice on the opinions of fallible men like themselves. The baptist has not only to satisfy himself from the fountain of all authority for faith and practice as to the proper subjects and mode of baptism, but has also, in addition, otten to meet and expose the sophisms by which the practice of infant sprinkling is represented as consistent with scripture authority. The baptists are friends to education and mental progress, and would more generally support our colleges, were their claims distinctly brought before them by their pastors. What probability is there of increased support being obtained for a college, when its annual meeting is announced from the pulpit in something like the following terms? Mr. for the six o'clock. will preach the annual sermon college on Tuesday evening at Not a word as to the present position or future prospects of the institution, nor even an explanation of the general objects. After such languid announcements, and evident want of personal interest in their success on the part of the pastor, is there any wonder that the people should not feel any particular desire to assist a society, about which they can learn nothing from their pastor, excepting that he considers a cold and languid announcement as a full discharge of all his obligation towards it. The practice of congregational collections for societies purely denominational, appears to me highly objectionable. We might with equal propriety appeal to every one who enters our dwelling-house and partakes of our hospitality, for a contribution in aid of our rent, or in discharging our tradesmen's bills. What is wanted is a clear and intelligible statement of the claims of the several societies, and a hearty commendation of them by our pastors, and then I am sure the people will respond as they ought, and our societies will receive the continuous support which they severally deserve at the hands of the denomination. I am, Sir, 28th, Sept, 1852. Yours truly, GEORGE BAYLEY. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUBSCRIPTIONS. To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine. MY DEAR SIR,- Having recently attended a missionary meeting, where they observed a practice, which, I regret to say, is becoming very general in our own churches, viz,: that of giving a public announcement at every annual meeting, of the names of those who subscribe to, and collect for, the missions, I am very anxious to know if such proceedings can be reconciled with the declaration of our Lord in Matthew vi. 2-4, for I think it verily would require no ordinary interpreter, to prove that it is not a direct prohibition from such injurious practices. injurious, because I believe— 1. It is unscriptural, and opposed to the true spirit of Christianity. I say 2. That it is calculated to create pride, and undue ambition. 3. That it is an unjust and unnecessary intrusion upon public time that might. be more profitably employed. Pardon the liberty I have taken in troubling | and returned to London much worse than you with this; upon returning home from the meeting it became a matter of discussion, and it was at last proposed that the question should be decided by replies in the Magazine; the remarks of any Christian friend would be thankfully received, and carefully perused. Should an apology be required for the insertion of the two articles with which this number opens, it may be pleaded that the editor is not accustomed to obtrude upon his readers his own personal concerns or those of his family. But he has been called to follow to the grave his three eldest sons. The first died in 1819, when he was four years old. The second died in 1843, when he was in his twenty-first year, a student for the ministry at Stepney. The third was remarkable for strength, activity, and resolution. When he was a boy, he was bent on excelling his associates both in physical and intellectual exercises, and he was so often successful that it became common for many who were his seniors to yield to him the first place. He was apprenticed to Mr. Haddon, and long before he was out of his time the management of this magazine in the printingoffice was devolved upon him; and it was never done better than while it was under his care. Having determined to give himself to the ministry, he saved enough by diligence and self-denial to place himself at University College. When he had been there one session, the trustees of Ward's Fund became acquainted with his case, and kindly offered to send him to the University of Edinburgh. At the commencement of the fourth year there his health failed, and before the close of the session it became absolutely necessary that instead of taking his degree he should return to the south. Before this however his energy had finally left him, and his voice was materially affected by his malady. No just estimate of him can be formed by any one whose acquaintance with him did not commence till after his return from Scotland. He was engaged to assist his father during the first twelve-month of the Irish Secretaryship; but in the early part of the present year his physician advised him to seek a warmer climate, and mentioned the Cove of Cork as eligible. He undertook to supply Mr. Young's place for a few weeks in his absence, but became unable to preach, when he left it. He was no longer able to labour in any way, and since that time though every thing that it was possible for human aid to do for him was done by his wife and her relatives in a healthy part of Surrey, the only conclusion of the scenes that could be expected was that which took place on the thirteenth of October. The readers of the Baptist Magazine may now be apprised without impropriety that we have frequently been indebted to his pen. He supplied the essay department with pieces which have appeared under the signature of Philos, in and since the year 1845. In the last two years he has written also several reviews, particularly those of a work published in Edinburgh anonymously but now well known, on the Theory of Human Progression, of several books on Nineveh, and of Mr. Hinton's Test of Experience respecting the Voluntary Principle in the United States. The first article in our number for December will be a Memoir of the late Rev. John Green, well known as pastor successively at Norwich, at Leicester, and at Newcastle-onTyne. In our number for January our friends may expect an excellent portrait of Samuel Morton Peto, Esq. M.P. for Norwich, and one of the Treasurers of the Baptist Missionary Society. An exquisite miniature belonging to Mrs. Peto has been kindly lent to us for the purpose, and it is in the hands of the engraver, whose previous performances lead us to expect that he will do it justice. We are informed that the Youth's Magazine, with which many of our readers who are now parents cultivated a pleasing acquaintance in early life, has recently passed into the hands of new proprietors, who have determined to commence a new series on the first of January, into which they hope to infuse additional vigour, while they promise that its unsectarian character shall be strictly preserved. We are much obliged by letters received from many correspondents containing additions to last December's list of Baptist Ministers, and alterations which ought to be made. We cannot help regarding with respect the desire which they express that a revised list should be furnished next month, and we shall be glad to receive within the next week any communications which may aid in its completion. Let it be remembered, however, that it includes only residents in England, and that the names of all baptist ministers residing in England are eligible, whether they happen to be pastors at the present time or not. IRISH CHRONICLE. NOVEMBER, 1852. The following sentences were written | stands a Roman catholic chapel. It in Ireland, and, had space sufficient for their admission remained, would have formed the conclusion of the Secretary's letter to the Treasurer and Committee in our last. "This I have great pleasure in saying respecting all our ministering brethren in the province of Ulster: every man seems to be in his proper place. There is not one of them who could be removed without detriment. They have wives, too, with the exception of Mr. Carson who is unmarried, who seem to be well adapted to aid them in their work. There is much in them and in the congregations under their care which in my view is eminently encouraging, and warrants you to believe that your deliberations and labours are not in vain. I do not expect, indeed, any very rapid successes, calling forth astonishment, but I think that the work is progressing, and likely to progress gradually, quietly, perseveringly, like a little leaven, silently but effectively leavening the lump. "Yet Ulster is not the part of Ireland to which I think that you should devote your principal efforts. The stations in it which you now occupy you must not think of abandoning; they ought rather to be strengthened and sustained in greater efficiency. But scenes are exhibited to view in Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, which are unspeakably more deplorable than any in Ulster; the condition of their inhabitants is far more helpless, and the conflict there between the messengers of salvation and the powers of darkness is far more close and terrible." The following sketch is from the pen of our brother Eccles of Belfast, who was personally acquainted with the facts. It exhibits scenes that are thoroughly Irish, and will be read, we doubt not, with lively interest. In a rural district of the north of Ireland, quite near the public road, But is the Lord's day. Ave Marias and Paternosters are repeated by the assembled throng, with a zeal which would do honour to a system in strict accordance with holy scripture. there is one who, though in that crowd, is not of it. He too is intently engaged; but it is with a book. That book is the New Testament. To some circumstances connected with the history of this man attention is now solicited. He was by birth and education a Roman catholic. When a boy he had learned, at a school in the neighbourhood, to read with considerable propriety. His mind, naturally strong and inquiring, was thus, to some extent, cultivated. While therefore he received the doctrines of his church with unhesitating and unqualified submission, he felt himself under a reasonable obligation to state the grounds of them, when asked to do so by those Protestants with whom he occasionally came into contact. He presently became bolder. He was not content with merely stating his conscientious convictions as a Romanist; he became the assailant, denouncing the doctrines of protestantism as heretical and consequently destructive to the soul. In all this Paul (for so was he called) was perfectly sincere. He was satisfied that Romanism and the truth were equivalent terms, that his church was infallible, and that all those who were without her pale were rushing, with all the rapidity of time, into everlasting ruin. So he was taught; so he thought he read in the scriptures; so he believed. Paul was a man of strong passions. In all his debates he was thoroughly in earnest. Thus the doctrines for which he contended became rooted in his heart, engrossing and directing not only his waking thoughts but his sleeping fancies. Many a hard-fought field had there been to decide the truth or falsehood of a purgatory, and the prospects of such as died protestants. The proof from scripture was not, it seems, so strong as to preclude additional evidence. Visions and revelations, therefore, came to Paul's assistance. In a state, whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell, he felt himself borne into the unseen world. Purgatory and hell were alike unveiled to his view. The Catholics of his acquaintance who had died he saw in the former place, some of them suffering severely enough, others on the very point of deliverance. All the protestants who, known to him, had departed this life, he saw in the unquenchable fire, plunged deep in proportion to the extent of their opportunities of knowing and embracing Romanism, and all bitterly bewailing the fatal prejudices by which such a step had been hindered. To the arguments from the bible Paul was thus able to add additional proof from his own experience-proof of which doubtless he was himself satisfied, but the cogency of which was lost on the private judgment of his opponents. of the New Testament was the only peculiarity of his worship as he knelt amid the others. By and by he becomes satisfied that the church he thought infallible is in error. Then he moves out of the crowd, and draws between it and him a slight line of demarcation. That line becomes more and more marked as his conviction of the extent of error increases. Removed at length to a considerable distance from the other worshippers, this man, completely by himself in the chapelyard engaged on his knees in the diligent perusal of the divine word, presents to the passengers on the public road, according to their respective characters, matter either of merriment or of deep and solemn interest. It was in this way that this eccentric secker after truth supposed he was to come out, and to be separate. The space which separated him from the other worshippers he intended as a protest against their unscriptural doctrines and practices. Paul now gave his testimony loudly and strongly against the errors of his And thus, notwith-church. As soon as he had learnt for standing the apparent vantage ground himself the truth which saves the soul, on which he now stood, he still required he laboured incessantly, as opportunity to argue from the written word. "The offered, in the chapel yard, and on the bible, and the bible only," was received way side, on Lord's days and weekas conclusive evidence by those with days, to make it known to his fellow whom he had to do. A close and con- worshippers. He was laughed at for tinual searching of scripture is thus his pains, which he felt painfully; but necessitated, and a ray from the lamp he could not desist. He was in bodily of God pierces even the self-satisfied danger; but he committed himself unto mind of Paul. He who had been so Him who preserved his servant in safety full of confidence, begins to doubt. in the lion's den. The true nature of the supposed vision he begins to understand. Tradition, as an authority in matters of faith, he finds he must surrender. He is persuaded that God's word should be the rule even to Romanists. A scriptural worship should be according to scripture, he now proclaims as a self-evident truth. And accordingly when the great congregation is engaged in vain repetitious of prayers, Paul, on his bare and bended knees is diligently inquiring after "a better way. " The light increases. Paul's understanding opens gradually to the wide discrepancy between popery and the bible. The extent of this discrepancy, according to his conviction for the time being, he marks by the distance at which he kneels from the assembled throng. At first the prayerful perusal It is the Lord's day. The attention of a military gentleman, on horseback, is attracted by a considerable crowd on the wayside. Warmer still was the strife of tongues. As he approaches his ear is caught by these words pronounced in a strong, distinct voice;" No, no, friends; be not deceived; Christ will never be a patch." Satisfied as to the nature of the assemblage, the gentleman pursued his journey. He arrives in London. A few years pass; he is laid upon a sick bed, and feels he is dying, He has lived a dissolute and thoughtless life, but is now truly concerned about his soul. More than one clergyman waited upon him with instruction and consolation; but they seemed to the sufferer not to understand his case, or not to know the appropriate remedy. The admonitions of one, however, ob memory; tained the confidence of the dying man, and showed him that at length his case was understood. To him he felt he might speak all that was in his heart. He told him of the journey in Ireland, of the crowd by the road-side, and the strange language of the peasant, which, said he, remains unaccountably rooted in my a strange association, is it not-Christ and a patch?" The minister proceeded at once, in connexion with these words, to preach Christ as "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4); and that this righteousness, described as a wedding garment (Matt. xxii. 11, 12; Isa. lxi. 10), is a complete covering, before God, for the guilty soul; that this work of the Lord, which, ere he died, he declared "finished," does not need the aid of man's performances, but is, of itself, infallibly sufficient for the salvation of all who are willing to have life in the way appointed by God (1 Cor. iii. 11; Gal. ii. 16; Phil. iii. 9; Heb. i. 3). By means of this testimony, He "who commmanded the light to shine out of darkness, shined into the heart of the dying man, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Joy and peace were his in the final struggle, through the truth which he had heard the Irish peasant preach. Paul continued to witness to small and great, and to testify the gospel of the grace of God. The whole amount of good which followed from his disinterested labours eternity only shall reveal. How little of it did he himself know! He has already entered into his rest. Owing, it may be, in part to his great poverty, to his eccentricities, and his never entirely amalgamating with any particular body of protestants, he was too much overlooked during his last illness. His latter end, however, was eminently peace. The truth which, under every disadvantage he had maintained so long, was his support in death. From these particulars we should learn the value of the bible in the evangelization of the world. It alone, in the demonstration of the Spirit," was the means of turning Paul to the "wisdom of the just." Let us circulate, then, this blessed book in thousands and tens of thousands. Popery in Ireland is strong; the word of God is stronger still. "My word shall not return to me void. It shall accomplish that which I please, and prosper in the thing whereunto I send it." Every Christian also may be useful. Paul never was idle. The word of God was his constant companion; and meet whom he would in conversation, he had always a portion of it at command appropriate to their particular circumstances. Reader, go thou and do likewise. Up, and be doing, and the Lord shall be with thee. "Be thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt receive a crown of life." "The Lord is at hand.', A schoolmaster in the centre of Ireland, in the employment of the Society, gives the following account of exertions to enlighten his neighbours: "Our sabbath school, which I conduct on every Lord's day, from ten to twelve o'clock, is not large, there being two others held on the same day. I commence by singing and prayer, and exercise the children in a chapter from the New Testament, suited to their age and capacity. I feel great pleasure in this delightful work, in which I have been engaged for nearly thirty years, and hesitate not to say, that I know of no instrumentality so likely, under the Divine teaching, to impress the heart and enlighten the understanding of the young and rising generation, in this truly dark and benighted country. "Even here, I do not 'despise the day of small things,' but earnestly implore the blessing of him who hath said, ' Cast thy bread upon the waters, and it shall be seen after many days;' 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." If I had any encouragement in reward books, tickets, &c., the attendance would be much better than it is. "Among the various protestant families with whom I have become acquainted, I have met several who, from destitution, old age, and illness, are unable to attend any place of worship, and who are seldom visited by any minister. These, I consider, have a strong claim on the sympathy and attention of the followers of the Redeemer who continually went about doing good.' On such occasions I read and expound a passage in the Psalms, Gospels, or Epistles, which appears adapted to their trying situation; always endeavouring to justify the apparently mysterious dispensation of Divine providence, showing that God doth not willingly afflict, but for our profit, and that all human suf |