BARNSLEY.-The third year since the opening of the Congregational Chapel, Regentstreet, Barnsley, is just completed. The services in connexion with this anniversary were held on Sunday, October 9, and Wednesday, October 12.

EAST GRINSTEAD, SUSSEX.-A neat Gothic building has been erected at Ashurst Wood, under the auspices of the Rev. Benjamin Slight, formerly pastor of the Congregational Church at Tunbridge Wells. It was opened for public worship on Tuesday, the 11th ult. A devotional meeting was held at eleven a.m., when an address, founded on Psalm xc. 17, was delivered by Mr. Slight. In the afternoon a sermon was preached by the Rev. William Grigsby, Tabernacle, Moorfields, London. A public meeting was held in the evening, at which addresses suited to the occasion were given by the Revs. D. Davies, of East Grinstead, W. Grigsby, of London, and W. P. Lyon and G. Jones, of Tunbridge Wells.

GORLESTON, SUFFOLK. The ordination services of the Rev. George Firth took place at the Congregational Chapel of the above place on Thursday, the 13th ult. The Rev. A. Bourne, of Lowestoft, delivered the introductory discourse, upon the Nature and Constitution of a Christian Church. The Rev. A. T. Shelley, of Yarmouth, asked the usual questions, and offered the ordination prayer. The charge was given by the Rev. John Alexander, of Norwich. In the evening the Rev. W. Tritton, of Yarmouth, preached to the church and congregation. The Revs. Griffith, M.A., of Yarmouth, and Mr. Prout, of Norwich, also took part in the services.

GUILDFORD INDEPENDENT CHAPEL.—The Rev. S. Percy having in the forty-eighth of his pastorate retired, the Rev. John Jones was ordained to the pastoral office on the 26th of July. The Rev. J. Ketley began the service by reading the Scriptures and prayer; the Rev. T. G. Horton stated the nature of a Christian church; the Rev. C. H. Bateman offered the ordination prayer; Mr. Jones stated briefly his religious principles ; and in the evening, the minister was addressed by the Rev. J. Sherman, and the people by the Rev. J. S. Bright. The chapel was built by the munificence of the late T. Wilson, Esq., on the site of the old building, which, through great dilapidation, had become unfit to be used for Divine worship.

SMETHWICK.-The Rev. R. A. Davis, formerly minister of the Wesleyan Free Church, Moseley-street, Birmingham, has accepted

the invitation to the pastorate of Smethwick Independent Church, and will commence his labours there on the first Sabbath of November.

SOUTH-WEST MIDDLESEX CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION.-The autumnal meetings of this Association were held at Hanwell, on Thursday, September 29th. The proceedings commenced by a meeting for prayer. At the meeting for business, Apsley Pellatt, Esq., presided, and an encouraging statement was received concerning the labours of the students from New College, in connexion with the chapel recently opened at New Hampton, where also a Sunday school has been formed. Other prospects of usefulness appear to be opening before the Association. A liberal donation was presented by J. R. Mills, Esg. At the public meeting in the evening Mr. Pellatt again presided. The Secretary, the Rev. E. Morley, of West Brompton, read a short report, and Mr. Fountain presented the financial statement. Addresses were delivered by the Rev. Ebenezer Hunt, of Park Chapel, Brentford, on “Spiritual Husbandry,” and by the Rev. J. B. Catlow, of Hounslow, on “ Divine Sovereignty and Human Agency in Relation to Revivals of Religion;" and after a few appropriate remarks from the Chairman, the interesting exercises of the day were closed by prayer.

THORNBURY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. – The ordination services connected with the settlement of the Rev. J. Morgan to the pastorate of the Congregational church in this town were held on Wednesday, August 17th. The attendance was very large, and a most delightful and holy feeling pervaded the assemblies. The Rev. W. Lewis, of Frampton-onSevern, commenced the morning service by the reading of the Scriptures and prayer. The Rev. E. J. Hartland, of Bristol, delivered a most eloquent discourse on the nature of the Church of Christ. The Rev. W. Densham, of Chard, proposed the usual questions. The Rev. H. Quick, of Bristol, offered the ordination prayer, after which the Rev. A. M. Brown, LL.D., of Cheltenham, ascended the pulpit, and delivered a most touching and impressive charge to the minister, founded on i Tim. iv. 16. The Rev. V. P. Sells, of Newnham, concluded with prayer. In the evening the Rev. Quick preached a sermon to the people from 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. We trust these services will long be remembered by all who took part therein.

As those who have no guide,

Nor know the way to take,
Or venture on in pride,

Risking their highest stake.
For thou didst follow One,

Met first at Mercy's gate,
God's well-beloved Šon,

Whose way was ever straight;
And like the shining light,

More clear, more strong, as on
You passed, till open sight

Revealed the Eternal Throne.
Rest there, thou happy saint,

Freed from all mortal care,
From bodily restraint,

And Time's corrupting air.
Nay, rest not, but renew

Thy industry of love,
For there, as here, to do,

Is God's good will to prove.
Here shall thy good name rest,

Embalmed in loving thought,
*For we may yet be blest

By influences caught
From thy remembered deeds,

As fragrance from dead flowers,
Or as a spell proceeds

From life's most hallowed hours.
Yet, no; thou art not dead,

E'en to our mortal sense;
Thy spirit, ere it sped,

Bequeathed fond evidence
Of an undying zeal

For truth and righteousness,
For man's best social weal,

And heavenly blessedness.
In these rich gifts we trace

All that was most of worth,
All but the form and face

Committed to the earth;
And, having these, we'll deem

Thy voice is with us still,
To urge the Gospel scheme,
And testify God's will.

WILLIAM HARDEN. St. John's Grove, Croydon.

Who hath made it the work of his life to bless
Our world in its woe and wickedness :
Still guiding the few which were wont to stray
In paths of sin, to the narrow way.
With a kindly heart, through the lapsing years,
He hath shared your joys, he hath wiped your

tears, He hath bound the wreath on the brow of the

bride, He hath stood by the couch when loved ones

died; Pointing the soul to a glorious heaven, As the ties which bound it to earth were riven. Methinks ye'll weep another day, When the good old man has passed away, When the last of his fleeting sands have run, When his labour is o'er and his work is done; Who will care for the flock and keep the fold, When his pulse is still and his heart is cold! We'll miss him then; every look and tone So familiar now, for ever gone, Will fill the heart with inward pain, And ye'll long and listen for them in vain; When a stranger form and a stranger face Shall stand in your honoured pastor's place.

THE AGED PASTOR. He stands in his desk, that grave old man, With an eye still bright though his cheek is

wan, And his long white locks are backward rolled From his noble brow of classic mould, And his form, though bent by weight of years, Somewhat of his primal beauty wears. He opens the page of the Sacred WordNot a whisper, nor low nor loud, is heard ; Every folly assumes a serious look, As he readeth the words of the Holy Book ; But the thoughtless and gay grow reverent

there, As he opens his lips in fervent prayer. He stands as the grave old prophet stood, Proclaiming the truth and the living God Pouring reproof on the ears of menWhose hearts are at ease in their folly and sin, With a challenge of guilt still unforgiven, To the soul unfitted, unmeet for Heaven. Oh, who can but honour that good old man, As he neareth his threescore years and ten

LIGHT! ALL sovereign was the word that spoke,–

“Let there be Light,” it said; And forthwith, without pause or stay, Creation heard-heard to obey.

The darkness at that instant fled,
Rich streams of lovely morning broke.
And when the universe, so lit,

Beamed out in loveliness,
All pure and spotless in its light,
Angels looked on with sweet delight,

Awoke new songs God's work to bless, And laid fresh homage at His feet. Conversion is the morning dawn

Of grace upon the heart; 'Tis then God sheds His Spirit's ray, Turns the dark mind from night to day !

The sinner feels His woe depart,
His midnight, and his mourning gone.
Nor were it ever possible

For us on earth to know
That joy which, in the world above,
Fills angel minds with happy love,

As they behold one soul below,
By grace brought from the paths of hell!
Oh glorious morn, ere yet to shed

Upon the grave its light !
Calling its holy ones to wake,
Gird on their morning dress, and take

Their flight upward to regions bright,
Nor longer stay among the dead.
Oh may such sacred bliss be mine!-

Mine to awake and rise
In likeness of my Saviour God,
And soar away to His abode.

His own bright home above the skies,
There in His light to ever shine.
The nights of woe and tears here known

Shall there be never more;
But one eternal, happy day,
Where troubles have all passed away,

Time's sorrows, aye, and death be o'er; Life, love, and heaven, all—all mine own. Heavitree.

E. BOWDEN.