stated that a committee had been formed to raise funds for building a new chapel, and that already they had in cash and promises £800. The services were brought to a conclusion on the Thursday evening by the Rev. Charles Stovell preaching a truly eloquent and able sermon from Heb. iii. 6, "The rejoicing of the hope." PRICKWILLOW, NEAR ELY, CAMBRIDGESHIRE.-A series of deeply interesting and well-attended services have just been held to celebrate the jubilee of this church. On Sunday evening, July 2nd, the pastor, the Rev. S. Nash, preached a powerful sermon to an attentive audience on the year of jubilee. On Monday evening, the 3rd, a jubilee prayer-meeting was held and well attended. On Tuesday, July 4th, an excellent sermon was delivered to a good congregation by the Rev. J. Keed, of Cambridge; and at five o'clock the same evening, a large company filled both chapel and school-room, while others were waiting in the gallery, and partook of tea. Immediately after the removal of the tables, the company assembled in the chapel, where a public meeting was held. After singing and prayer, Mr. E. Claxton, of Ely, was called to preside. The pastor gave a brief history of the church for the fifty years. Afterwards, very earnest addresses were delivered by the Revs. T. Mee, of Isleham; J. B. Catton, of Soham (Independent); W. A. Claxton, of West Row; and J. Keed, of Cambridge. All present were profited and delighted. About £50 has been realized towards the erection of a house for the minister very much needed. OLD MEETING, LUTON.-On Tuesday, June 20th, a very interesting meeting was held at the Old Meeting, Luton, on occasion of the completion of the seventh year of his pastorate by the Rev. Thomas Hands. Tea was provided at five o'clock, the profits being devoted to the fund for the erection of a new chapel. At seven o'clock a public meeting was held in the large school-room. John Everitt, Esq., of London, presided, and, after a very able address, presented to the Rev. T. Hands, in the name of the church and congregation, a testimonial of confidence and esteem, consisting of thirty-four volumes of books. Addresses were delivered by Revs. H. Ashbery (Baptist); J. Little (Wesleyan), of Luton; G. H. Davies, of Houghton Regis; and D. Gould, of Dunstable. The work of God has been very successful in this place during the past year. More than fifty persons have been added to the church during that time; the congregations fill the place, scarcely a single sitting being unlet at any time. It is expected that in August at latest, the foundation-stone of a second chapel, to seat 1,200 persons, will be laid, with the prospect of its being completed and opened free of debt. GRAFTON, NEAR STRATFORD-ON-AVON.— On Wednesday, June 28th, a new Baptist chapel was opened at Temple Grafton, near Stratford-on-Avon: The Rev. J. W. Todd, of Sydenham, preached an impressive sermon in the afternoon from Rom. xiv. 7, 8. After tea a public meeting was held in a field near the chapel, which was addressed by the Revs. J. Reading (Wesleyan), of Bidford; S. Dunn, of Atch Lench; M. J. Evans, B.A. (Independent), of Stratford; T. H. Morgan, of Birmingham; J. W. Todd, of Sydenham; G. Robson, of Shipston-on-Stour; J. Hall (Primitive Methodist), of Stratford; R. Hall, J. Harwood, and Mr. W. Stephenson, also of Stratford. Devotional exercises were led by the Revs. J. Reading, J. Hall, and Mr. James Cox, sen., of Shottery, near Stratfordon-Avon. Additional services were held on the following Sabbath, when sermons were preached by the Revs. M. Philpin, of Alcester, and R. Hall, of Stratford. TRINITY ROAD, HALIFAX.-This chapel having undergone a thorough repair, internally and externally, including a new roof and various alterations, additions, decorations, and improvements, amongst which was the fitting up of a new organ, it was re-opened on Sunday, June 18th, when sermons were preached to crowded congregations, morning and evening by the Rev. W. Walters, of Newcastle (formerly minister at the chapel), and in the afternoon by the Rev. J. Drew. On the following Tuesday evening, the re-opening services were continued, and the Rev. E. Mellor, of Liverpool, preached to a crowded congregation, after which a collection was made, which, with those of Sunday, made up a total of £51 4s. The total amount of expenditure incurred, includ ing the organ, was stated to be upwards of £800, of which sum £400 had been promised by the members of the church and congre gation. MINISTERIAL CHANGES.-The Rev. W. C. Jones, of Warminster, has accepted the cordial and unanimous invitation of the church at Lymington, and commenced his ministry there on the first Sunday in July. -The Rev. T. A. Price, of Manorbier, has accepted a cordial and unanimous invitation to the pastorate of the English church at Aberdare.-The Rev. R. Stevens has resigned the pastorate of the Baptist church at Bridport, Dorset, and is prepared to accept a call to any other suitable sphere.-The Rev. C. Deavin, late pastor of the Baptist church at Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, has accepted the very cordial invitation of the church at Fakenham, Norfolk, and has entered upon his duties at that place.-The Rev. G. Taylor has resigned the pastorate of the Baptist church, Burnham, Essex, in consequence of protracted and severe affliction. VOL. VIII.-NEW SERIES. [SEPTEMBER 1, 1865. THE CHURCH. "Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." SEPTEMBER, 1865. THE SOUL'S PROSPERITY. BY THE REV. B. P. PRATTEN, B.A. 'Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."-3 JOHN 2. THE writer of this congratulates his friend that his soul is prosperous, and expresses his desire, or rather prayer, that he may enjoy a like prosperity in respect to all that concerns his welfare. The soul's prosperity will denote its progress in Religion-in religion considered as an inward principle, a spiritual power. When this acquires a growing ascendency, when that for which the soul was chiefly made, and by which it is allied most closely to God, and goodness, and happiness, and heaven, is giving signs of strength, then surely may it be said that the soul prospers. And nothing short of this will justify the expression. Original endowments however rich, acquisitions however rare; the clearest intellect, the warmest sensibilities; the profoundest judgment, the most resplendent imagination; the keenest susceptibility of enjoyment, the most ample power to give pleasure to others--all will not suffice. Nothing, in short, which would still leave the soul unfurnished for its high relations and solemn destinies can deserve the name of a prosperity for the soul. This must be estimated by its godliness. The present inquiry therefore is, How may we measure the advancement we have made in spiritual religion? or, How may we determine the degree of our soul's prosperity? There are several ways in which this may be tested. One criterion is furnished by a man's outward behaviour. Another by the happiness he enjoys in connection with religion. And it cannot be doubted that some stress should be laid on both these. It may be expected that those who have been brought "out of darkness into light" would "walk as children of light;" and if it were found that a man's religion made him no happier in this world, there would be but a poor presumption that it was going to make him happy in the next. And yet, important as these two things are in themselves, they cannot be quite relied on as tests of character. They can easily be counterfeited. There are things which look much like them, but which are not they. In regard to both, others may R be deceived; and, as to the latter in particular, a man may deceive himself. He may think that he is partaking of the Christian experience in a high degree, whilst his enjoyment is derived to but a small extent from Christian sources. Perhaps it is not possible to propose any test of character which shall be absolutely free from danger of mistake; which will not, at least, require great discernment and delicacy in the application. But, probably, the safest that can be named is that which concerns our motives. If we can discover what these are, the degree in which they govern us, and by which of them we are principally moved, we shall be in a position to determine the question before us. The motives may be difficult, in some cases, to detect, but they are not so difficult as some other things; and, when detected, they manifestly afford a very certain clue to the solution of the question with which we have to deal. The motives which regulate the spiritual life appear to be fourconcern for one's safety, conscience, gratitude, the love of holiness. These are here named, not in the order of any supposed necessary sequence, but in the order of value, beginning from the lowest. I. We are moved in religion by a Concern for our Safety. This is indeed beginning very low, and some may question whether this be a religious motive at all. And yet we know that some things of transcendent importance appear, at least begin, under forms of extreme insignificance. What a grand thing is Life! the life of a superior brute, of a rational man, of an angel, of God. And yet there are forms of life scarcely distinguishable from no-life. The animal shades off into the vegetable, the organic into the inorganic, by gradations so nice, that the most practised eye and the most powerful instruments hardly avail to show where in the scale of life the object has its place, or whether it belong to the class of living things at all. And, as regards the beginning of life, who would ever believe, antecedently to experience, that a tiny withered seed, which has been buried possibly thousands of years in the earth, contained a life, which could unfold itself into the form of "the greatest among trees"? And in such a poor, suspicious, selfish-looking, seemingly unspiritual element as a desire for our safety, the eye of God can see the traces of a Divine life, and out of it He can bring to view the noblest and loveliest forms which that life is capable of taking. In grace, as well as in nature, He can begin very low. No need, for Him, of the thriving plant, or even of the tender shoot. He can begin with the buried seed, where no eye but His can detect life. Some have contended that our religion must be entirely disinterested: that we must be drawn to God solely by the thought of what He is in Himself, apart from any consideration of what He is to us. The sentiment is a noble one, and reflects honour on minds capable of entertaining it. Yet may we be permitted to doubt whether it represents the religion of manwhether it will ever do, at any stage of his eternal progress. We may certainly without any hesitation affirm, that it fails to represent that religion in its ordinary commencement. For what do we usually see? A soul awaking to its danger; then looking around for help; then committing itself to Him who is "mighty to save." In this way the Great Life begins in the bulk of instances which come to our notice; in the other way seldom, probably never. Nor need we be at any loss to discern indications of life here. How comes it that sin has assumed to the mind such a serious aspect? How is it that the interests of the great futurity are now preferred to those of the present, in spite of natural tendencies, strong habits, and almost universal example, to the contrary? How is it that the one deep cry of the soul is now, "What must I do to be saved?" Call it by what name we will, ascribe it to what source we please, there is a change, and a great one. There is sensibility-that is life. There is sensibility to the presence of spiritual realities that is spiritual life. We may indeed, and we ought to, look for more than this. Yet are we warranted in seeing the elements of the Divine Life even where we can find in a man nothing beyond a desire for his safety. But, whatever we may be able to see, it is to the purpose to remark that God can see life there. He aims to awaken that desire when He is seeking to quicken a man's spiritual life. His first approach to a sinner is with the words, "Why wilt thou die?" "Flee from the wrath to come. And when the man is constrained, by the sight of his peril, to cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" He never refuses him an answer; but, from that moment, He takes him by the hand, and leads him onward; from that utterance of the soul, as the germ of its life, the first indication that it is alive, He proceeds to call forth the newly-awakened vitality into forms of growing strength and beauty. Ought we not to see in this procedure the Divine condescension and mercy? We are suspicious of a man when we deem him moved by a regard to his own interest; and this tendency we are too ready to carry into the sphere of religion. But He, who is more tender, as well as more wise, than we, regards the feeling with the deepest interest; encourages it; disdains not to use it for the accomplishment of His highest ends. He quiets the trembling heart; strengthens whatever of hope is in it; fans the spark of goodness. "The bruised reed He does not break; the smoking flax He does not quench;" but He conducts the soul's cause for it until He has "brought it forth to victory." II. A higher motive than the one we have treated of is Conscience. At this stage we suppose a person to pursue his course chiefly from the conviction that it is right. He may begin with the persuasion that it is for his interest. But we should not augur much for him if that feeling did not soon combine with, or merge into, a higher one-that which we have named. That it is a higher one, we cannot doubt. If it is some evidence of spiritual life that a man has begun to consider seriously his relation to eternity, it is surely a greater when he pursues his course from the supreme conviction that it is right in itself, apart from consequences; when the silent thought is, not What will come of it by-and-bye? but What is its essential quality now? This feeling, which, with correctness enough for our present purpose, we denominate Conscience, has indeed reference to a Law-the law of God, of whose voice it is, in some sense, the echo in the soul. But it is not therefore to be put on a level with that inferior principle which looks only to personal interest. The law, thus speaking in conscience, is obeyed not because it is Law-some awful power from which there is no escape but by submission-but because it is a righteous law, "holy and just and good"-deserving the obedience it claims. This principle we are supposing not simply to exist in the soul, or to have some degree of authority there-for we might predicato as much perhaps of man as man, not as renewed man-but to have a practical supremacy in the soul, to be the guiding principle, to have power to get its mandates habitually recognised and obeyed. And, where this is the case, we often see some very fine displays of the Holy Life. It is a noble sight-a man inquiring day by day, What is the right thing? What, apart from consequences, ought I to do? resolving that he will not transgress the law of right knowingly, come what may; exclaiming, with righteous anger, "Depart from me, ye wicked men, for I will keep the commandments of my God;" a man with a conscience whose voice is never drowned by the clamours of sinful inclination-a conscience which by cultivation has been trained, and by submission encouraged, to speak out, and which does speak out, and is uniformly heard;--to see, in fact, the Supreme Faculty of our nature enthroned in the soul. There is surely something grand and beautiful in such a spectacle. Conscience is not, indeed, the highest motive in man, nor is this the brightest manifestation of the renewed life. But it is immensely valuable, a great advance upon our first motive, and promising of better things to come. (To be continued.) AN OLD PROVERB ILLUSTRATED. routine in a third or fourth-rate style. They are good hands at bad workmanship. Perhaps one of this pitiable class writes you a letter. What a blundering document it is! The spelling is often defective, and the compo sition always loose. The paper 15 dirty-white instead of being neat and clean. It is folded most grotesquely the envelope is either so large that the epistle is almost lost in it, or so small as to have rendered a vigorous effort needful before the sheet could be forced in. The pen used was evidently a bad one, but the penmanship is worse. If you meet a member of this easy-going fraternity, his very appearance will most likely indicate his character. While he thinks the duties of the toilette "worth doing," his aspect shows that he does not think |