ment to do so; How many will accept their position under God's providence as only one out of fifty other denominations, treating with all respect and charity others who follow not with you, and yet become the more earnest and devout churchmen in proportion as State and legal endowment become things of the past?" These are pertinent inquiries, which it behoves churchmen to put to themselves now, before the time comes when they will be put to them by others in the rough voice of necessity and by the forcible logic of facts. MINISTERIAL INCOMES have been laid open to the public view during the past month in the daily and weekly press in a way which shows, that however some may use the subject to depreciate the ministry of the gospel altogether, others regard it as a grave question for the advocates of congregational independence to solve in a satisfactory manner. The Presbyterian organs do not hesitate to say that the Free Church of Scotland has shown in her Sustentation Fund the only way of maintaining an efficient ministry apart from State endowment. We think, however, we could point out a more excellent way. MADAGASCAR.-The news from Madagascar is certainly most remarkable. The new Queen and her Government have publicly renounced idolatry, and put away the great national idol. In a letter to her subjects the Queen virtually says, "What have I to do any more with idols?" and adds, "I trust in the true living God for peace and happiness during my reign." The Prime Minister's sister, together with his son, are candidates for church fellowship. The consequence of this religious profession in high places is, that the chapels of the British missionaries are thronged by masses of the people, some among them having been violent persecutors under the late reign. Of course, some of this may be mere fashion; but it is a fashion in the right direction when the rulers of a nation set the example of leading the people in attendance on the worship of God. It is simply in accordance with Scripture precept and Scripture prophecy. THE REV. C. STOVEL has received a testimonial from his Church and numerous friends in the substantial form of a purse, containing £574. A meeting was held on September 7, at Commercial Street Chapel, Whitechapel, of a very interesting character, and Mr. Stovel acknowledged the gift in a very characteristic speech. He has been pastor of the same church for thirty-six years, which, in these days of frequent movements and rapid changes, should count for something; besides which, he has taken a not uninfluential part in the leading questions of past days, such as the emancipation of the slaves, &c.,-while his ministerial and private character have always been without reproach. May his last days be his best. MR. DISRAELI has at last been cleared of the terrible reproach of being an unbaptized Hebrew. Some enterprising explorer has found the entry of his baptism in the church books of St. Andrew's, Holborn, as having taken place when he was twelve years old, on July 31, 1817. MISCELLANEOUS.-A day of fasting and prayer was observed by the Baptist churches in South London On Monday, August 31. Mr. Howieson's chapel, in the Walworth Road, being occupied by 600 to 700 hundred persons from seven in the morning to six in the evening.The Baptist Mission House is to be erected in Castle Street, Holborn. Plans are being prepared.- -At a recent Wesleyan bazaar at High Wycombe, the drum used by the Mayor of the town in 1777 to drum Mr. Wesley out of the town was exhibited.--Archbishop Manning, of England, and the Archbishop of Paris are to be raised to the dignity of cardinals. 66 -Mr. Ernest Noel, eldest son of the Rev. Baptist Noel, is contesting Dumfries for a seat in Parliament, with every prospect of success. -The Church of St. Mary-le-Strand, the scene of a parochial contest on the subject of Ritualism, is to have a daily choral evensong for city people on their return from business, and Gregorian music" is to be introduced. -Dr. Mc.Neile (and not Mr. Gregory, as stated in our last) is to be the new Dean of Ripon. Much good may it do a good man at the age of 73 to accept the honour that comes from a political Premier for political purposes. -Mr. Spurgeon has in the press a series of lectures delivered to his students, on "Ministerial Work." -The memorial stone of a new chapel, to be erected on the site of the Old Tabernacle in Finsbury, built by George Whitfield, was laid on September 11, by Remington Mills, Esq., M.P. Dr. Norman Macleod has been engaged to write a description of Scottish scenery for the illustrated edition of the Queen's forthcoming book, entitled "Mountain, Loch, and Glen," which will contain reminiscences of her Highland life with Prince Albert. Essays and Expositions. "FRUITFUL IN EVERY GOOD WORK.” THE abundance of religious activity of all kinds is a very striking feature of the present day. Calls for assistance in labours of Christian love reach us continually and from all quarters. Our time, our money, our influence, our faculties of every description, would have more work cut out for them than could be accomplished in a long and laborious lifetime, did we endeavour to respond to even half of the many claims made upon them. In proportion to the sincerity of our desire to serve our generation according to the will of God, is the pressure of these claims upon us. Unable to satisfy all, individual Christians generally select certain objects and interests that best answer to their ideas of love and duty, and best accord with their several powers, positions, and circumstances. These they pursue earnestly, with varying success, and often with very changeful and mixed feeling. Now ardent and hopeful, now discouraged and dissatisfied; now going forward in their work as if it were a chosen joy and delight, now plodding on as if it were an imposed task; now wishing they could only conscientiously stop and rest from the routine of service, now fretting impatiently when obliged to be still and cease a while from their labours. Service, like all else in the Christian life, has its own peculiar joys and peculiar sorrows; and not to miss those joys, not to increase those sorrows, requires much watchfulness, much humility, much simplicity of faith. In this age of hard work, when a sense of hurry seems to have entered into every circle of activity, as if some mysterious voice had whispered to every heart, "Work while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work," making the workers gird themselves anew to heavier tasks and swifter toil, we meet in the circle of religious activity with many labourers carrying other burdens than those which the Master has given them to bear, and fainting under weariness whose hidden cause is inward weakness rather than outward toil; therefore it surely behoves us to set ourselves steadfastly to consider religious work, or work for God, as it is frequently termed. In so doing we may learn sundry truths and first principles concerning the service of God that may greatly help us against growing weary in well-doing, and so establish us in the house of the Lord that we may still "bring forth fruit in old age." In the first place, have we enough pondered the significant fact, that while Christians are permitted to work for the Lord, they are commanded to wait upon Him? Working is set before us in the Scripture in the light of a privilege, waiting in that of a duty. Great and wise is the love that hath ordered us thus, for in working we give, in waiting we receive; and the Most High knoweth that in Himself and for Himself he hath no need of us or of our works, while we have all need of Him and of His gifts. Therefore it is, that while every member of the household of faith may have the daily and constant happiness of waiting on the Lord, only at such times and for such uses as the Lord hath need of them can they have the added joy of going on his errands, or doing somewhat for His sake for the good of their fellow-men. The outward cry of the religious world, "Go and work for God," so often drowns the gentle inward voice of the Holy Spirit, bidding us "wait on the Lord," that it requires an opened ear and a humble heart to discern the due relation and proportion between the working and the waiting. We have indeed much need of patience to keep ourselves from being hurried on unadvisedly by the rush of religious effort around us. Waiting on God will indeed lead to the working, for the Great King owns no idle labourers, no superflous servants, but appointeth to every man his work; but the waiting must have the first place, for it can never be too urgently insisted upon, that, being by nature completely bankrupt in all heavenly things, we can never give out more than we have received, and that the receiving must precede the giving. Working expends grace, waiting receives it, and surely it is because, in this matter, Christians are often not sufficiently careful to keep as it were, the receipts in advance of the expenditure, that we find so much toil, so little profit; so much sowing, so little reaping; so many weary and disappointed labourers, and so few rejoicing singers in the vineyard of the Lord. The desire to work for God is one that generally takes early possession of the renewed heart; and Satan, who knows this, often contrives to weave his subtlest snares out of this very desire, for his kingdom in a man's heart stands and depends upon the strength of the natural or carnal mind in that man. So long as the natural mind is uncrucified, Satan keepeth his goods therein in peace; therefore when the heart is first directed into the love of God, and the life of the carnal mind is threatened, the Deceiver often turns the blow by getting the powers of the natural mind to enlist themselves in the service of God. In this way the old self escapes spiritual crucifixion, and spiritual resurrection is retarded, for the old nature, however apparently busied in the service of God, is the old nature still, and his death, and not his service, is that which God requireth. There is, perhaps, no greater hindrance to the true service of God, either by the Church as a body, or by individual Christians, than the enlisting therein of the powers and activities of the unrenewed, natural man. Its best powers, its highest feelings, its noblest impulses, are but as the "flower of the grass; no increase in their amount, their strength, or their beauty, can alter their nature, or turn the flower of the grass that withereth into wheat for the Master's garner. Every seed must produce after its kind: the seed must come from God that produces fruit for God; for heavenly fruit there must be heavenly seed; for immortal fruit there must be immortal seed; for spiritual work there must be spiritual workers. Deeply has the Church of Christ suffered in her labours of love, from the mingling together in her fields of toil, of labourers who live and work after the flesh, with those who live and work after the Spirit. In the visible Church such a mixture is, in a great measure, unavoidable. Only He to whom all hearts are open, could authoritatively and justly divide the wheat from the tares; and since His present verdict is, "Let both grow together until the time of harvest," our part is, not to attempt to separate them, but rather simply and earnestly to uphold the principle that lies at the root of the true, though as yet unmanifested, distinction between them, namely the principle, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit."-From "Oakfield Papers." DEARLY BELOVED, EARNEST WORDS FROM CANADA. Although you are lost to sight, to memory you are dear. "We walk by faith, not by sight." My daily and earnest desire on your behalf is, that the Lord Jesus himself may so perfect that which concerneth you that, when he shall appear, you may also appear with him in glory. Allow me affectionately (just as if I were present with you) to exhort you to give all diligence to make your calling and election sure-to work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling. For the accomplishment of this desirable, this glorious end, the Lord hath appointed means. As in nature and in providence the careful and faithful use of means are blessed by God to the accom plishment of ends- -as the painstaking and labour of study is rewarded with the enlargement and enlightenment of the mind, and as the toils of ploughing and the expenditure of sowing and planting are the natural means, divine providence richly rewards with an abundant harvest; so, in spiritual things, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, but he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully-he that feeds well shall grow fat and strong, while he that goes from his meals shall grow lean and weak. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhort one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching," saith the apostle. And I would affectionately repeat his exhortation to you. I. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." 1. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, because man is a gregarious animal; and that philosophy which would inculcate or encourage a religion of individualism does violence to the very constitution of human nature. "Like draws to like." "Birds of a feather flock together." There is a power in meetings which cannot be evoked if the several units of which those meetings are composed remain separate. There is a mighty power in animal magnetism, which the religion of Jesus has ever employed as a means for the best and the noblest ends. While the scattering of a few live embers will extinguish the fire that is in them altogether, the assembling of the embers together will, almost instantly, re-kindle the flame and restore the fervour. The religion of isolation or individualism is one of Satan's most ancient and successful devices against the Church. He scatters-weakens-destroys. He scatterscools-extinguishes. So ancient is this Satanic device that it dates from the primitive, apostolic age; and so successful, that an apostle raised the voice of his authoritative warning against it: "As the manner of some is," sadly sounds the apostolic complaint. "As the manner of many is," sadly must we echo the complaint. 2. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together; because, being christians, ye are of the general assembly and church of the first-born; ye are destined to dwell together for ever. When our gracious and glorious Head appears, we are not only to be "gathered unto him," but 66 As the 'gathered together unto him." members of his mystical body - as the limbs and features of his bride, we must be gathered TOGETHER unto Him." Is such a destiny sure? Shall we spend eternity in a ONE-ness so homogeneous and harmonious and indivisible, and is it possible that we can bear to be long separated now? Is our nature one-our hope oneour home one; do we rejoice to declare that we have, "One faith-one Lord-one baptism;" is the dearest desire of our hearts the realization of our Redeemer's wish, when he prayed (John xvii. 21), "That his people all may be ONE; as thou, father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me?" And, oh! is it possible that we prefer to forsake the assembling of ourselves together now? The apostle John assures us that, "Hereby we do know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." And this love (like all love) must manifest itself by a growing desire for, and delight in, the company of the Object beloved. If the children of the King bear a likeness to the elder brother of the family, then we must love them. If their conversation and ours be in heaven, then we must enjoy association with them. If their tastes and ours run in the same channel-if their hopes and ours sail in the same good ship-if their home and ours be under the same Father's roof-if their name and ours follow one another on the same family register-then we should delight in frequent social intercourse. In the light of these considerations, if we still prefer shunning the assembling of ourselves with our brethren, there are but two inferences fairly deducible from our conduct. 1. That the members of the church to which we belong are not genuine members of Jesus' body; or,— 2. That we do not love Jesus' company. II. The end of our assembling is to "exhort one another." Without making, at present, any reference to meetings specially set apart for the preaching of the gospel, I do think that the apostle's direction can be best carried out in the simpler, smaller, humbler, and homelier meetings of believers. To these, indeed, the text bears special 1eference. Assembling together, in a comparatively small apartment, there are opportunities of social intercourse and easy conversation which cannot be found in the larger, promiscuous meetings. The warm shake of the hand-the kind inquiry after health and relations-the personal advice which the old disciple has then an opportunity of giving to the young-and a thousand other little, tender tokens of fellowship which can be interchanged at the commencement and close of such simple meetings may be regarded as the very soul and substance of christian exhortation The variety of sentiment that is poured forth in the prayers of the brethren-the frequent singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs-may be regarded as the marrow and fat of exhortation. Nay, the apostle exhorts the churches to "teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in the heart to the Lord." Around the camp-fire, the night before the battle, soldiers cheer and comfort one another with their national songs. On ship-board I have heard, above the howling of the storm, the loud, hearty song of the seamen, encouraging one another in their dangerous toil. Out on the hot harvest field, the golden grain may be seen falling to the reaper's song. In the ancient days of Israel's glory, myriads might have been beheld wending their way from Galilee and Samaria along the dusty roads of Judea, to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem's fane at the annual feasts, and as they go, cheering one another with the sweet psalms of David. In the days of primitive, persecuted Christianity, the dreary dungeons of the Cæsars might be heard ringing all night with the song of those who were to wear the martyr's crown on the morrow. In the condemned cell of the Philippian gaol, with their backs bleeding from the scourge and their feet fast in the stocks, Paul and Silas comforted and exhorted one another with song. In the dark days of prelatic persecution, on the heathery hills of old Scotland, often has been heard the melody of the psalmthe mutual exhortation to deeds of holy daring and patient endurance-sung by that remnant which Claverhouse and his troopers were labouring to scatter. Be exhorted, then, my dearly beloved, to assemble together frequently to cheer and encourage one another in your pilgrimage homeward with the sweet service of song: "Exhort one another; and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." "The I would like to say something about the Soon, and for ever, our work shall be done; His sword for a harp, and his cross for a crown." O how fondly do I wish-how earnestly Smith's Falls, Ontario. No. VIII. OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.—(Concluded from page 222.) IV. It has been urged with no little confidence by the opponents of verbal Inspiration that, seeing the large majority who read the Scriptures can only do so in translated versions, the inspiration of the very words of the original Greek and Hebrew is without purpose or value, since but few can gain access to them, and the many are dependent on human renderings of them into other tongues. "Is it likely," it is said, "that the Holy Ghost would have inspired the very words of the original Scriptures, when to so many in all future ages the benefit would be neutralized by their being dependent on translations of those words made by fallible men ?" This objection is plausible, but of no real force against the doctrine contended for. It does not, in fact, bear upon the fact of the verbal Inspiration of the Scriptures at all, but only contests its uses and advantages. But no person is entitled to dispute a fact, established by sufficient |