perusal of this pamphlet is the very opposite of that which the author would desire. The probable evils of the proposed step assume a more palpable shape and form; and when to these are added some considerations, on which Mr. Brown has not touched, the amount of work, of hard work, which would devolve upon numbers, the absolute necessity that some means of obtaining refreshments at Sydenham should be provided-for how many would be willing, if able, to remain from noon till night without food?-the door which this would open for eatinghouses and coffee-rooms in the neighbourhood, with the amount of buying and selling which would result, we feel that no language we can use is adequate to express the mischief which would ensue. One of the chief distinctions between English and Continental Sabbaths would be obliterated, and we should have another illustration of the mournful truth that you may cultivate a man's taste, you may refine his habits, you may purge his vice of its grossness, and clothe him in the fair garments of high social civilization, and yet he shall be as far from God as ever-as much a stranger as before to all true blessedness and peace. In these remarks we have been actuated solely by the desire of counteracting views the spread of which we should deeply regret. We would not utter a word which Mr. Brown might regard as harsh or bigoted, and only grieve that there should be a difference of opinion on a subject so vitally important as this. If the social evils we mourn are to be remedied-if the great bulk of our population is to be raised in the scale of being-if our land is to be a Christian land in anything more than the name, it must be, so far as the church is concerned, not by expediency or compromise, but by a faithful and fearless declaration of " the whole counsel of God." Home Chronicle. NEXT MISSIONARY PRAYER MEETING. MONDAY, the 7th February, ought to be at all our Missionary Prayer Meetings, a season to be remembered. Madagascar is again, after the most extraordinary vicissitudes, open to the labours of our Society. Let there be one united burst of thanksgiving to God, connected with a thank-offering, from poor and rich, to aid in sending, without a moment's delay, four devoted Missionaries to this most deeply interesting field of labour; where there are, notwithstanding all the recent persecutions and martyrdoms, 5000 native Christians! At this Prayer Meeting, too, let the Jubilee of the Bible Society be earnestly remembered. That great and blessed Institution is the bulwark of Christian Missions. THE MOTHER'S FRIEND. We have watched, with unmingled satisfaction, the history of this little unpretending periodical, from its first issue to the present moment. Four annual volumes are now before the public, and the monthly sales have reached the surprising figure of more than FIFTEEN THOUSAND. The success has been almost unprecedented; and when we look at its object--which is to influence, for the highest possible good, the MOTHERS of Great Britain- and think how well that object has been prosecuted by its gifted and excellent EDITOR, we cannot but rejoice in the high standing it has reached. We KNOW it has been extensively useful; and we volunteer this favourable notice from a high sense of conscientious duty, praying that our excellent friend, "ANN JANE," may be long spared to conduct that momentous reformation at which she aims. NEW BROAD-STREET, CITY. ON Monday, September 27th, the Rev. J. Griffith Jukes, late of the Lancashire Independent College, was publicly set and congregation assembling in the above place of worship. apart to the Pastoral office over the church | encouragement, for the congregation has considerably increased, and we hope that soon his chapel may be filled as it was in former times, and that he may long be spared to preach with simplicity and fidelity the glorious gospel of the blessed God. The morning service commenced at eleven o'clock. The Rev. G. Wilkins, of Portland chapel, conducted the opening devotional exercises. The Rev. George Smith, of Poplar, delivered a very able discourse upon the constitution of a Christian church. The Rev. Samuel Martin, of Westminster, proposed the usual questions, and the Rev. John Jukes, of Bedford, (the father of the young minister,) offered the ordination prayer, accompanied with imposition of hands. The service was closed by the Rev. T. Binney. At two o'clock a numerous party dined at the White Hart hotel, Bishopsgatestreet, the Rev. J. G. Jukes presiding, when interesting speeches were delivered by the Rev. T. Binney, G. Smith, G. Wilkins, R. Hamilton, J. Jukes, and Dr. Cooke. Tea was provided at five, by which time the number of attendants had considerably increased, and the most friendly feeling prevailed. The evening service commenced at six o'clock. The Rev. R. Hamilton, of Barbican, conducted the opening devotional exercises. The Rev. R. Vaughan, D.D., President of the Lancashire Independent College, delivered a most powerful and faithful charge from the words of Paul to Timothy, "Study to show thyself approved of God." The Rev. E. Mannering, of Holywell Mount, preached an excellent sermon to the people. The service was closed with prayer by the Rev. S. B. Bergne, of the Poultry. The engagements of the day will long be remembered by those who were present. Both morning and evening the chapel was crowded in every part, and many being unable to obtain admission, were compelled to go away. We do trust and believe that this old cause is again reviving. We rejoice to hear of the improvement that has taken place since the settlement of our young brother. We heartily wish him "God speed." He has not shrunk from entering upon an arduous undertaking, and we are sure he will have the sympathy and co-operation of his fathers and brethren around him. Already he has had much NEW EDITION OF DR. JOHN OWEN'S WORKS. WE are much gratified to find that Messrs. Johnstone and Hunter's splendid edition of Dr. Owen's works, under the correct and accomplished Editorship of the Rev. William Goold, is progressing rapidly towards its completion. We have already THIRTEEN BEAUTIFUL VOLUMES on our table; and we scarcely know whether more to admire the beauty of the typography, or the matchless, scholarly superintendence of the press. Both combined, together with the unprecedented cheapness of the edition, entitle the publishers to the heartfelt gratitude of the Christian public. No greater boon of its kind has been conferred on the church in modern times. Those who have not availed themselves of the publishers' spirited offer, should lose no time in purchasing the volumes now in print. variably addresses him as his "dear and excellent and worthy friend," and then the reader is referred to the letter as it appears in a "mangled form," Sept. 14, 1747. I have been engaged for some years in collecting materials for a continuous history of Nonconformist Churches, and this enables ine to supply a note which will render more complete the generally accurate notices of your correspondent; and having a large collection of original unpublished letters by Doddridge and his contemporaries, I have gleaned some particulars which may interest your readers. It is well known that the prosecution of Dr. Doddridge by the Ecclesiastical Court led to a riotous attack upon his house in Northampton, and the first communication that passed between himself and Mr. Wood, (subsequently such close and endeared friends,) was a letter from the latter as a stranger, congratulating Dr. Doddridge on his "happy deliverance from the fury of an ungovernable mob." This letter was dated Bishop Stortford, March 16, 1734, and relates that he, Mr. Wood, had “been twice in their (i.e. Ecclesiastical Court) clutches for (the same cause) keeping a school without a license." The next published letter is dated Rendham, Saxmundham, Feb. 21, 1745; | but there are several intermediate ones, unpublished, some of which I shall be glad to present to your readers on some future occasion. The one in question is addressed "To my dear friend and brother in affliction," alluding to Dr. Doddridge's dangerous sickness." I have other letters lying before me generally beginning, "My much honoured and beloved friend and brother." On Feb. 19, 1747, Dr. Doddridge, writing to Mr. Wood, advises him to accept the invitation "to Norwich, for," says he, "if your near neighbours in the ministry, whose personal interest is to keep you where you are, advise you to go, you are assuredly called." Mr. Wood accordingly accepts the charge at Norwich, and from that place wrote many letters to his friend, and once was privileged to receive him as his guest. VOL. XXXI. I am informed by a gentleman now living in Essex, at the advanced age of 80, that he remembers often hearing his mother speak of Dr. Doddridge's preaching at Norwich when she was a girl. One sermon in particular she remembered from the text, Rev. iii. 12, and afterwards that he gave out from the original manuscript the hymn now No. 354 in the Collection, "All hail, victorious Saviour, hail!" This hymn, when they returned home, was given by the Doctor to the children to learn. It is not a little singular that there were living at the same time two other ministers of the same name, viz., the Rev. Samuel Wood, of Woodbridge, and his son, the Rev. Samuel Wood, of Framlingham. The Rev. Samuel Wood, of Woodbridge, went on probation to Woodbridge Quay Meeting in March, 1735, and after a service of thirteen years, was removed by death, Sept. 28, 1748, and his funeral sermon was preached by his son. He was constantly associated in public duties with his friend "Mr. Wood, of Rendham," as he always terms him. It appears from this diary, that “On the 5th of July, Dr. Doddridge preached at Woodbridge, from Rev. iii. 12, having abided at Mr. Wood's house," of which he (Mr. W.) says afterwards: "Aug. 4, 1741. Being Tuesday, I left my habitation in Key [Quay] Lane, where I had dwelt about six years, and went to board with Mr. Francis Rogers, in the Thoroughfare." Dr. Doddridge was engaged in a similar service at Denton, July 3, 1744, when he "preached from Isaiah lii. 7." The Diary records it thus, "Mr. [Samuel] Wood, of Rendham; Mr. [Samuel] Wood, of Framlingham, and myself, [Mr. Samuel Wood, of Woodbridge,] were present," showing that there were three ministers of the same name; and "the next day, being July the 4th, Dr. Doddridge preached again at Denton, from 2 Thess. i. 10, and that the young minister was ordained at Framlingham "by fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands." Mr. Wood, of Woodbridge, says, kinsman" [Wood of Rendham] "opened "my H the work." The charge was given by Dr. Doddridge. Mr. Wood, of Framlingham, married a daughter of the Rev. Jno. Meadows, of Needham, grandson of the venerable Nonconformist minister of the same name, who was ejected from Owsden, Suffolk, 1662. From some cause he relinquished the ministry, commenced the study of physic, and died of the smallpox in London. HOUNSLOW, MIDDLESEX. THE Rev. J. Dickinson, of Edinburgh University, pastor of the Independent Church here, having received and accepted a cordial and unanimous invitation, by the church and congregation, to Newroad Chapel, Bury, Lancashire, vacant by the appointment of Professor Falding to Rotherham College, a public tea-meeting, numerously attended, was held in the new school-room adjoining the chapel. Hoping these facts may not be unin- The chair was occupied by the senior deateresting to your readers, con, who bore willing testimony to the able and efficiently sustained ministry of the Rev. J. Dickinson, for the last seven years, the time he had been with them. He was surrounded by a number of ministers and gentlemen of the Episcopal, Independent, and Baptist denominations, all of whom bore similar testimony; and, while regretting his removal from the | neighbourhood, they rejoiced to feel that he went with the most cordial wishes of all around. An exquisitely chased silver inkstand, with an appropriate inscription, was presented to Mr. Dickinson; and also a purse, by the members of the church and congregation; and from the members of his Bible class, a handsome tablelamp. ON Wednesday, December 8, 1852, the Rev. John Baker, late of Lozells, Birmingham, was recognized as the pastor of the church and congregation assembling near Hollingshead-street Chapel, Chorley, Lancashire. The Rev. S. Lewin, of Chorley, commenced the afternoon service by reading the Scriptures and prayer; the Rev. Brewin Grant, B.A., delivered the introductory discourse, and asked the usual questions; the Rev. R. Slate offered the recognition prayer, with much earnestness and affection. Tea was provided in the school-room, which was beautifully decorated with evergreens and interspersed with appropriate mottos: opposite the entrance was placed in large let-the Established Church; Frederick Dew, ters, the word "welcome." About 400 persons assembled on the occasion; the Rev. Dr. Raffles occupied the chair, and addresses were delivered by the Revs. R. Slate, J. Baker, J. Lewin, A. Bateson, and Eastward, Primitive Methodist. In the evening of the same day, the Rev. Dr. Raffles delivered a powerful and impressive charge to the minister, and the Rev. R. M. Davis, of Oldham, preached an excellent sermon to the church and congregation. The Revs. J. R. Jones, of Bolton, A. Bateson, of Egerton, and J. G. Carpenter, of Kidderminster, engaged in the services of the day. The Rev. J. Baker enters upon his labours under very cheering circumstances. The meeting was addressed by J. Maitland, Esq., of the East India House; William Lee Bailey, Esq., surgeon, of Esq., builder; and Mr. Pickard. Also by the Rev. Messrs. Yonge, Smith, and Cane, of Brentford; Newbury, of Hampton; and Whiting, of Isleworth; and the Rev. G. J. Adney, of Ealing, in the name of the ministers and delegates of the Third District of the West Middlesex County Association, read an affectionate memorial, addressed to Mr. Dickinson, and presented to him an elegant timepiece, not only as a testimonial for his valued services as secretary of the district, but also as a token of their fraternal esteem and best wishes for his future welfare and prosperity. REMOVAL. THE REV. William Creed, late of Wakefield, Yorkshire, having received and ac cepted a unanimous call from the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, assembling for Divine worship in Mayer's Green Independent Chapel, West Bromwich, Staffordshire, to become their pastor, entered on his spiritual duties with pleasing prospects of usefulness, on the first Sabbath in December, 1852. THE NORTHERN CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOL, We have just received the twenty-first Report of this important institution, and are happy to avail ourselves of the opportunity of Congratulating its managers and constituents, as well as the ministers and churches of the congregational order, on the retrospect of its past history, and of the great and inestimable benefits it has been the means of conferring during a period of twenty-one years. We learn from this document that more than two hundred and sixty of the sons of ministers and missionaries have been admitted to its privileges, being an average of twelve or thirteen per annum. Many of the pupils on leaving the institution, have devoted themselves to the Christian ministry, have taken a high position in our colleges, and won for themselves high literary honours. The number of pupils during the year ending in July last, was thirty-five, several of whom then completed the term of their education, and left to enter upon spheres of professional or commercial occupation in London and the provinces. The quarterly examinations have been conducted by two neighbouring ministers, eminently qualified for the office,--the Rev. D. Fraser, M.A., classical tutor of the Airedaile College, and the Rev. A. M'Millan, of Gomersal. These gentlemen, after enumerating the subjects and authors in which they had from time to time carefully and strictly examined the pupils, thus report their judgment to the annual meeting: "The facility and correctness with which they read and translated the dif ferent passages selected at pleasure, and their prompt and accurate replies to questions upon the elements and principles of the languages, were very satisfactory, and reflect credit upon the diligence of the pupils and ability of the master. Your examiners deem it just to state, that at no former period within their knowledge of the Institution have the pupils exhibited higher literary attainments than at the present time. A report equally favourable was given respecting the French classes; and it must have been especially gratifying, not only to the officers of the Institution, but also to its assembled friends, to receive the grateful testimony of a parent-the Rev. J. Glanville, of Kingswood-in a note which arrived on the morning of the anniversary, and was read to the public meeting : "I cannot," he says, "allow my boys to leave Silcoates without expressing to the Committee my great obligations to them, and my deep sense of the value and efficiency of the Institution. For twelve or thirteen years my sons have enjoyed the benefits of instruction and training at Silcoates, and whatever they become at a future day, they will owe everything to their school advantages. The religious instruction, and the large amount of domestic comfort afforded to my children, demand my thankfulness." The Rev. G. W. Conder, of Leeds, presided at the public examination; he spoke highly of the attainments and exercises of the pupils, and after distributing prizes to those who had been most diligent and successful during the session, he concluded that part of the proceedings with a very able and appropriate address. The financial affairs of the Institution appear to be in a very satisfactory state, the income of the year having not only met the expenditure, but paid off a part of the balance due to the worthy Treasurer, R. Milligan, Esq., M.P. We learn from the Secretary, that there will be vacancies for additional pupils in the ensuing half-year. |