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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, Esq. 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 66 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.

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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 1 Tim. iv. 16. The Rev. V. P. Sells, of Newnham, concluded with prayer. In the evening the Rev. H. 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.

Poetry.

TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

FAREWELL! thou saint of God,

Gone to thy rest in peace,
We mark the path you trod,
With all the rich increase
Of truth, and love, and light
Up-springing on your way,
And 'mid "fond nature's strife,"
Joy has triumphant sway.
We mourn but for the dead,

Of whom no hope can be,

For those whose souls have fled, Leaving to memory

No records bright and fair,

No reliques prized and pure, Nought that may soothe despair, As destined to endure.

But life with thee was hope,
And death enduring gain;
Not darkly didst thou grope
In terror, doubt, or pain,

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 Son,

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.

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 Word-
Not 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 men-
Whose 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-

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.

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.

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JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW.

MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.

Price Threepence.

J. UNWIN, GRESHAM STEAM PRESS, BUCKLERSBURY, LONDON.

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1

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BLIGHT

Theology.

LEAVEN A TYPE OF THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF

CHRISTIANITY.

"Another parable spake He unto them: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."-MATT. xiii. 33.

LEAVEN is frequently used by our Lord and the Apostle Paul as a symbol, or type, and generally denotes that which is evil. Luke xii. 1; 1 Cor. v. 6-8; Gal. v. 9. The smallness of the leaven compared with the mass of the dough, and the rapidity with which it diffuses itself through the whole mass of meal, imparting its own nature to it, indicates its subtile and powerful nature, and renders it a very fit symbol of evil. Evil, like leaven, however small it may seem, has in it a penetrating, diffusing, and assimilating power. It cannot be admitted into the heart without tainting and corrupting it; and if allowed to remain there, it will not rest till it has penetrated every fibre, and infused into the whole mass its own foul

nature.

Although leaven is most commonly used by sacred writers as an emblem of that which is evil, it does not follow that it may not be used as a symbol of that which is good. The properties which it possesses-the mode of their operation--and its effects on meal-making it lighter, more tasteful, and generally more nutritious and wholesome, render it a fitter emblem or type of that which is good, than of that which is evil.

Our Lord, in this parable, employs it as a type of the transforming power of Christianity. Christianity is designed to work in us a wonderful change-to infuse into our hearts principles that will not only modify our outward actions, but work in us a thorough change of nature. There will not only be a difference in our doing, but also in our being. Under its influence and power we shall become "new creatures"—"new men." We shall notice :

I. THE NATURE OF THAT CHANGE WHICH CHRISTIANITY EFFECTS. The change which Christianity produces in human nature, is in the parable represented by the change which the leaven produces in the dough. The change which the leaven effects in the dough is a great change-a thorough change; it imparts to the whole mass of meal properties which it did not possess before. I might here observe, with regard to the change which Christianity effects in human nature, that we can form but a very imperfect idea of the greatness of it, because we have been born in a Christian country, where the influence of the Gospel has long been felt. For ages Christianity has been exerting a mighty influence on the nation to which we belong. From our very childhood we have directly or indirectly been living under the influence of the Gospel. To it, more than to anything else, we owe our civil liberties and social comforts. We cannot, therefore, by a contemplation of what Christianity has wrought in us or in those around us, form anything like an adequate and full conception of what Christianity has done for man; because, as I have already observed, we are introduced into a society in the very heart of which Christianity has long been hid, and into which it has infused much of its own nature and spirit, on which it has visibly impressed its own image, of which we all have in some measure partaken. In order that we might have a full and perfect idea of the greatness of the change which Christianity effects where its influence has at all for

VOL. XVI.

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