ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

always patient and considerate, and will rectify all our grievances. To him we refer all dissatisfied souls, hoping they will trouble us as little as possible.

In conclusion, may we be favoured with the hearty sympathy and co-operation of the whole Connexion. To surpass our predecessors, and especially the worthy brother who has preceded us, we are not vain enough to hope, but such as we have we give with a willing mind, and we hope and pray that God himself will give the increase.

THE EDITOR.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

On the 7th of December we received from the Rev. S. Hulme, the mission secretary, a note containing the following statement :- "Under an arrangement between the book-room and the missionary committee, sanctioned by the last Conference, the Missionary Chronicle has been incorporated with the Magazine. The arrangement also includes the supply, at prime cost, of as many separate copies as the missionary committee may require for circulation amongst the subscribers to the mission. According to our order of publication, the next Chronicle should appear in the January Magazine." On referring to the minutes for 1870, we perceive that Mr. Hulme has correctly stated the facts as affecting this arrangement, but we did not understand these facts till he sent us this note; and we had proceeded with our arrangements for the January Magazine under the impression that the whole space was at our disposal. We cannot alter those arrangements now, and the result may be that the whole, or a considerable part of the Chronicle will have to be added to the usual matter of the Magazine, and thus the saving contemplated by this "arrangement," may not, for this month, be effected. We are not a member of the book-room committee

Since this was written we have concluded to abridge our matter.-Ed.

except that the brethren, out of courtesy, have invited us to attend, and at the last meeting placed our name on the list, on their own authority, which, of course, we are well aware, is a stretch of power on their part. The subject Mr. Hulme refers to has not come up at either of the meetings we have attended, and being ignorant of the arrangement, we have acted in ignorance, and the result, whatever it is, will have to be excused on that ground. We understand the business now, and shall in future conform ourselves to the arrangement. But having had no voice in this arrangement, and happening to be charged with the duty of carrying it out, in the interest of the Magazine, we feel bound to say a few words about it. We have stated in our address "to our readers " some of the difficulties with which we, in common with the editors of all religious periodicals in our day, have to contend in sustaining their circulation and making them acceptable to their readers. In addition to what we have there said, we may state that we have heard the opinion expressed, by subscribers to our Magazine, that it is too dear already, and, for the quantity of matter supplied, it ought to be sold for 4d. We have no means of knowing how far this opinion prevails in the Connexion; but we know this, that the arrangement under consideration will confiscate about five per cent. of our space, if it were averaged monthly; will displace five per cent. of matter which every subscriber to the Magazine pays for, and will give that matter to multitudes who do not pay for it at all; or if they do pay for it, they pay for it to another Connexional institution, which nearly all subscribers to the Magazine support as well as they. This is not fair, and it cannot in the long run work satisfactorily. It is robbing Peter to pay Paul; and the question is whether Peter will bear it. We do not in the incorporation" of least object to the " the matter of the Chronicle with the Magazine. That matter is generally very interesting-and its insertion in the Magazine would give additional interest to its columns. The unfairness of the arrangement, as it now stands, is, that the subscriber to the Magazine—while he pays for that matter has to wait till the end

of the quarter, and does not see the Chronicle one hour sooner than he who does not subscribe to the Magazine, or pay for the matter at all-or only pays for it in the way the Magazine subscriber pays for it as well as he. Let us have the matter monthly, inserted under the head of "Missionary Department," or "Missionary Chronicle," for we will not insist upon a title; the subscriber to the Magazine would then be the first to see it, as he has a right to be, for he pays for it. The subscriber to the mission fund, but who does not take the Magazine, would be driven to the Magazine if he wants to get the earliest information, and in this case the "arrangement" would work well all round. The type could be kept standing till the end of the quarter, when it could be put up in the present form of the Chronicle, and issued as proposed. The object of economy would be realized; friends to our missions would have prompter and more continuous information; the Magazine would have the advantage of becoming the medium of the earliest news; and we believe every one would hail this arrangement as a change every way for the better. For the sake of the mission cause itself, and apart altogether from the interests of the Magazine, three months are too long to wait for information about our missions. We need, if it were possible, weekly information; and certainly monthly information, at the very latest, on this most vital subject. Our worthy brother who is at the head of this department, and who can write so well, would have a chance of waking us up and warming us up every month; and keeping us in a blaze of missionary zeal all the time by this monthly approach to our judgments and hearts; and, for our part, we shall rejoice to aid him all we can by arranging for space proportionate each month to a full Chronicle in three months. We hope this suggestion will meet the case; and at all events that what we have said will not be attributed to a spirit of needless fault-finding. The Connexion cannot have profits from the Magazine only as it is popular and commands a good circulation. If anything is done to make the subscribers dissatisfied, they will cease to take it, and thereby the profits will decline. The Conference has virtually contracted with every sub

scriber to the Magazine to give him sixty-four pages of matter each month, such as has been supplied before this arrangement took effect. By this arrangement, two pages and nearly three quarters of a page per month-or what amounts to the same thing, eight pages per quarter-are taken from the Magazine and appropriated 'to the service of the mission fund; from which matter the Magazine not only derives no profit, but has to pay for the setting up of the type for the mission fund and omit the matter which the Magazine subscribers have a right to. We shall carry out the arrangement till Conference-but only under protest. We only ask the same chance as our predecessors have had of satisfying our subscribers and earning profits. If the Conference says we cannot have the same chance we cannot help it, and shall submit with as good a grace as possible, disclaiming responsibility in the premises.

-

We have received from an old friend at Halifax a note containing the following suggestion -"I would take the liberty to suggest to you what I have long thought desirable to be inserted in our Magazine every month; namely, the deaths, age, and late residence of every member in our community, whether male or female, who has been called away from us. I only propose to occupy one line for each member. For instance, under the heading "Recent Deaths," December 2nd, 1870, A.B., of the Circuit, aged

- years." We think the suggestion a good one. There were about 500 deaths in the Home Connexion last year. The announcement of these in the way suggested by our correspondent would occupy a space equal to about four pages of the small type matter in the year, which, when divided into twelve parts, would not require much space each month. It would gratify the friends of the departed to have these notices inserted. It would be the sounding of the Bridegroom's voice to us all to be ready. It would add force to the current of sympathy which runs, or should run, through the whole spiritual family. It would occasion and invite much profitable correspondence with bereaved families-whose losses we might not know, except by such notification as

is now proposed, and so far as it could, and ought to be so, it would be honouring the righteous dead. Let us have the items, brief as we have stated, and we will find room for them.

The Rev. Dr. Cooke, our worthy pre-decessor, has handed to us a bundle of, we will not say "rejected addresses," but remanents, some of which are more than a year old-and one or two which have evidently perplexed him, for we see this note "To be re-examined" on the outside. A very suggestive note, as if he had determined to reject, but would try again and see whether any unction could be got out of the dry bones. There is considerable poetry-much of which is simply poe-try-which he could not use any more than we can. For the rest we will look them over and use what is suitable. There is a criticism or lecture on Kirk White, pretty well written, but unsuitable to our pages, and which deals out rather hard measure to the general favourite. All the citizens of Nottingham would be sure to resent the strictures, and we shall be obliged to omit it. The Lecture on Martin Luther we will try to use as soon as possible. There are several sermons which, while they indicate promise on the part of the brother who has furnished them, possess no special features entitling them to insertion to the exclusion of other matter. There are some obituaries-one badly written, we mean as to penmanship-on small paper, with close lines, and on both sides of the leaf, and there is no room left for the corrections which would have to be made. We have not time to rewrite it, but will see what we can do with it and the rest. To all correspondents we would earnestly say-write legibly, allow room between lines, never write on both sides of your sheet, write short pieces, and write often. Variety, freshness, and brevity are the life and soul of magazine articles. Some editor said, "Consider well, write well, and then strike out one half of your words." Of course this is good sense exaggerated, but it is good sense after all. Some will say, "We shall never have anything thorough on this principle." Why, for that matter, there is nothing thorough in this world. If you write a volume on any subject,

you might write another on the same. Human life is only sections of lifehourly, daily sections-never ended till death calls us away. The longest treatises are only paragraphs repeated-or at best continued. Give us plenty of paragraphs, a few at a time, and we shall have the folio in the end, and the best of all is we should read the folio through on this principle, whereas if the whole folio were placed before us at once we should never read it.

We have received two pamphlets, being reprints of letters regarding the Tientsin Massacre, from the North China Daily News. It was a horrible affair, and will have a wide-spread bearing upon European commercial and ecclesiastical interests for years to come. We scarcely see what use we can make of these pamphlets at present. We have read all the articles recently published on China and this foul massacre that we could lay our hands on; but we are not quite satisfied-for the evidence is con. flicting-whether this massacre was instigated or connived at by the Government, or was a fanatical outbreak of the mob. A correct view on this point is indispensable to understand what course our Government ought to pursue, and how the occurrence may affect the operations of the various missionary societies established in China for the future. If the Government instigated or connived, there is a very serious business on hand for England, for in all likelihood it would not be settled without war, and war with China would mean something very different from what it did in 1859. During this war all missionary operations would be stopped, and the whole work have to be begun again. If the mob only are concerned, the remedy is more obvious and easy for China and for England. If the Government will of itself administer justice in the case, we must all desire that they should have reasonable opportunity to do so. If not, France and England must compel them to do it. In any case it is an hour of darkness for us, and we can but wait and pray till the day dawns and happier times arrive.

A correspondent wishes us to give the prices of all the books we notice or

D

review. We should be glad to do so if we knew what these prices were, but the books are sent to us without any notification of price, and we have not time to go through all the booksellers' advertisements to ascertain it. We will do what we can in the matter, but we fear we can give prices only in a few instances.

Just as we had penned the remarks on the arrangement for publishing the Missionary Chronicle, there comes to hand an illustration in point. Mr. Butterworth sends us an interesting account of the opening of our new chapel at Fenton, with the request that it be published this month. Our reply is that we have

not space for it, and it will have to lie over another month.

Thanks are due, and are hereby tendered to those brethren who have sent us kind words and promises of help, on our accession to our new office. We hope the brain of the Connexion will set to work and help us to make our literature increasingly a power in the Connexion. We have glorious opportunities, and if we do not improve them we deserve whipping with scorpions, and shall get it, either in this world or the next. We shall not rule (editorially) with a high hand except as to quality, but it is for the general good, and therefore an imperative duty to keep the standard high.

BOOK NOTICES.

ONE THOUSAND GEMS FROM THE Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER. Edited and Compiled by the Rev. G. D. EVANS, of Victoria Park. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 27, Paternoster Row.-This volume will be very acceptable to many who would like to have

some

acquaintance with Mr. Beecher's utterances, but who cannot afford to purchase the whole of his works, which, indeed, are not accessible in this country. Mr. Beecher is one of the best preachers that the Head of the Church ever sent into the vineyard. He has acquired a fame unsurpassed by any pulpit orator of our time, and his utterances are worthy of being read and pondered. He is one of those vehement thinkers whose words are not always sober-as how could they be in a nature like his ?-but this we can guarantee, that those who hear him or read him will find something in what he says to excite to noble aims and a higher spiritual life. The editor has made his selections with care and judgment. The volume is well printed and got up, and its readers will derive from its perusal both pleasure and spiritual profit.

THE METHODIST QUARTERLY. Dec., 1870. Elliot Stock. - The

contents of this number are: Recent Church Struggles; Preaching; The Church and the Age; The Tientsin Massacre; The Quakers; Denominationalism and New Testament Teaching; The Effect of the Elementary Education Act on Sunday-school Work; and Notices of Books. All the articles exhibit ability-ability which we are glad to recognize on the part of brethren who take prominent rank in our community. Comparing this

64

Quarterly" with its compeers, we cheerfully accord to it an equal place with the best of them. The article on preaching, to our taste, is the best in this number-not the best as a merely literary composition, but the best in tone and tendency. We wish there had been more of it. Mr. Innocent's article on the Tientsin massacre is interesting. "Recent Church Struggles

and The Church and the Age," travel over much the same ground. It is a dry, rather painful subject, ably treated, and leading us to the conclusion that we are favourably situated, as members of a voluntary church, having no such "struggles." The article on Denominationalism and New Testament Teaching," re-echoes some sentiments presented in the recent union dis

[ocr errors]

cussion, which we leave as we find them, begging to be excused from all participation pro or con, and the Elementary Education Act we do not yet understand, having been in England so short a time since it was passed. Altogether, this number of the" Quarterly" is creditable to its conductors, containing as it does a large amount of interesting and profitable reading matter.

CLARK'S FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. Two Vols. T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh. The two volumes before us are Schmid's "Biblical Theology of the New Testament," and the second volume of Delitzsch's "Commentary on the Hebrews," completing the work. In the first of these volumes Schmid professes to examine the New Testament with a view to ascertain what the theology is which is therein taught, and to state this in a scientific and systematic form. There is much to approve of and but little to object to in the volume. We make this latter remark because theological works coming from Germany, even from the Evangelical party, very often make concessions to the Rationalistic party which we in England should repudiate. For instance, in the volume before us, the writer observes:-"The other side is that the Scriptures are composed by men under certain historical conditions. They must therefore be regarded as affected by the time of their appearance, and therefore not as possessing absolute unity, but a unity subject to a variety in historical development." Any one can this idea would lead us to; namely, that the sacred writers stated the truth as they spectively saw it, and that absolute unity does not exist among them-a very wide-reaching assertion, which would cover and allow many modern errors on the question of inspiration and Scriptural oneness of teaching. Delitzsch's Commentary is exhaustive, as all German commentaries are. It will be valuable to students and those engaged in critical investigations.

see what

re

AD CLERUM, one vol. 12mo

(Hodder and Stoughton), consists of articles published by Dr. Parker, in the Pulpit Analyst, under the title of " Advice to Young Preachers." Dr. Parker always writes vigorously, mixing sarcasm and some drollery-too much so, sometimes with his discussions. The volume before us is full of good advice to those for whom it is intended, and we could wish every preacher would read it.

HINTS AND HELPS FOR TEACHERS

AND PARENTS. By J. GREEN. Hamilton, Adams, and Co. Fifth Thousand.-An unpretending volume, but adapted to be very useful to Sunday-school teachers and Christian parents.

TRACT SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS. -This Society, which has done so much for children, and for us all, sends some beautiful publications suitable to the season. These are "Christmastide" (6d.); "The Picture Gallery of the Nations" (price unknown), a beautiful book; "The Cottager and Artizan" (1s. 6d.), full of superb cuts and valuable reading matter; "The Scripture Pocket Book" for 1871, and the

[ocr errors]

Young People's Pocket Book" for 1871, both attractively got up, and well arranged for the purposes of a diary.

SYMBOLS OF CHRIST. BY CHAS. STANFORD. One Vol. 12mo. Second Thousand. Hodder and Stoughton.-The title of this book does not fully represent its contents. The contents are discourses

preached by the author at various times (one has the date January 10, 1864, attached to it) and on various subjects. The sermons are sound, instructive, and in some places eloquent.

THE WESLEYAN METHODIST YEAR BOOK, 1871. Elliot Stock. Price is.-Full of valuable information on all departments of the Wesleyan Methodist work in various parts of the world.

We have received also the following, which require no special notice :- "The Scattered Nation" (4d.); "The Methodist Family," No. 13 (ld.); "The Christian”

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »