ANNIVERSARIES OF RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. years occupied with great devotedness | and zeal by Mr. Eccles. The chapel, and dwelling-house adjoining, had been purchased, and nearly the whole amount of its cost collected by him. This property he had generously put in trust for the society. A highly respected minister in that town, the Rev. R. M. Henry, who had laboured with much success as the pastor of a church belonging to the Covenanters, a branch of the Presbyterian body, having adopted the principles of the Baptist denomination, Mr. Eccles, with great disinterestedness, and at the sacrifice of much personal and family advantage, proposed to vacate the post which he had so long and honourably occupied, in order that Mr. Henry might be invited to continue his ministry in a town where he was so well and favourably know. This proposal was submitted to the Church in Belfast, and to the Committee of the society, and Mr. Henry, in compliance with their united request, entered on his duties as pastor of the Church, and agent to the society, in June last. The arrangement thus made has been very successful. The congregation has considerably increased; seventeen members have been added to the church in the course of seven months; other persons are applying for membership, and more are expected soon to follow. The Sunday school now contains 160 children; the staff of teachers has been largely augmented; a system of house to house visitation is being vigorously carried out; more than 400 families are constantly visited; so that the gospel is now made known to many persons who before were living in heedlessness and utter neglect of the claims and privileges of religious worship." Revs. W. Walters, of Halifax, C. M. 'Birrel, of Liverpool, and D. Katterns addressed the meeting. THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY held its annual meeting in Exeter Hall, on Thursday, April 28th, the Earl of Carlisle in the chair. After an admirable address by the chairman, showing familiar acquaintance with the history of the mission, and breathing a thoroughly liberal and christian spirit, the secretary read the report, of which the following is an abstract:-The missionary events of the year in India might be briefly told. Over the whole of the north-western mission the evangelising work has been resumed. For many months the missionaries in Agra have renewed their visits to the bazaars and ghats of the city. Muttra has again echoed with the sounds of life. And Delhi,-the scene of the Christian devotedness of Mackay and 227 Walayat Ali,-has received within its walls, not merely the conquering hosts of the armies of Britain, but the peaceful messenger of the cross, the preacher of pardon through the blood of the Lamb. Our highly esteemed brother, the Rev. James Smith, has taken up his atode in Delhi, and crowds already listen with deep attention to the words of peace which drop from his lips. The native church of Chittoura, and its pastor, are transferred to Agra, where nearly all the native brethren have obtained highly remunerative employment under the Government. At the request of the Committee, the Rev. R. Williams has tarried for a time at Allahabad, where many of our christian friends, living formerly in Agra, have settled, through the transfer of Government offices to that place. Whether the Committee will eventually resume Allahabad as a station, vacated ever since the departure from it, through debility and age, of their lately deceased brother, Mr. Macintosh, will be determined by the course of events. Gya and Patna, in the troubled districts of Behar, have also again been occupied. Thus, throughout the entire scene of the revolt, missionary work has been resumed. In Bengal, notwithstanding the excitement attending the progress of the war, the additions to the churches have been more than usually numerous. The present incomplete returns give 124 baptisms,-nearly one half more than the ordinary average. Two new stations have been formed in Jessore, and one at the important town of Comillah, between Dacca and Chittagong. In Jessore numerous villages have invited the visits of the missionary, and in Backergunge the native churches are adding largely to their numbers. Educational labours at Serampore College and elsewhere have gone on as usual, only interrupted by occasional failure of health. With regard to the resumption of missionary labour throughout the country, the brethren speak in highly encouraging terms. The financial position of the society did not require any very lengthened report. A small debt of £286 0s. 11d. in 1857 had accumulated to £932 18s. 3d. in 1858. This year there is a balance on the account in favour of the society of £540 16s The total receipts for 1858 were £22,946 158. For the present year they are £26,513 1s. 3d., being an increase of £3,566 5s. 5d. But this year £4,371 9s. 2d have been donations towards the "Indian Special Fund," which, added to the sums received in 1858, has slightly exceeded the £5,000 originally asked for by the Com mittee. De lucting the special contributions, however, there will be a diminution of income, as compared with last year, of £804 14s. 9d. The receipts on legacy account have been smaller this year than last, which leaves the contributions for general purposes much the same. The Committee have not to lament over a serious falling off, nor have have they to rejoice in a large increase. It is, however, worthy of notice, that the extra effort made on behalf of the Indian Special Fund has not materially interfered with the ordinary income. Meanwhile, the Committee are taking steps, in concurrence with the pastors, to carry out the system of organisation in the churches far more effectively. It is intended to divide the country into districts, and appoint some one whose duty it shall be to foster existing organisations, revive those which have fallen into decay, and form new ones where none had previously existed. The experience they have had is but brief and limited; but so far it is very encouraging. It must take some time ere such efforts can visibly affect the Society's income. The Committee are glad to report a considerable increase in the contributions to the work of translating the Scriptures, From the Treasurer of the Bible Translation Society. It is gratifying to observe that the churches are manifesting an increasing attachment to that Institution, on the success of which this Society is mainly dependent for funds to carry on a department of labour in which its missionaries have, especially in the East, been enabled to take a leading part. They urgently repeat the appeal of previous years. The Committee cannot allow the contributions to the Widows and Orphans' Fund to pass without special notice. This is the third year in which they have appealed to the church to remember the widows and orphans of their missionaries, and also their honoured brethren who have been obliged for a time to leave their stations, and seek renewed health in their native land. The first year the amount was somewhat under £500. The second year it was a little over that sum. This year it has reached £724 9s. 10d. It is a little singular that very few of our wealthy churches contribute proportionably, some, indeed, not all. Revs. T. Morgan, of Howrah; W. M. Punshon; J. Mullens, of Calcutta ; and C. Stovel, addressed the meetings. Rev. W. M. Punshon in closing his eloquent address said: There is not a reviewer in the land, my lord, who dares write an article like that Sydney Smith wrote in The Edinburgh Review, many years ago. Not that the world likes us any better than it did, not that the enmity of the carnal mind is a whit subdued, but there is a distant respect even for the hated thing. Men are beginning to find out that we are consistent in our evangelism, that aggression and progress are integral parts of Christianity. The infidel rails yet-of course, it is his right and his trade; but men draw off from him-they give him ample room and verge enough." He continues in his railing and in his ribaldry alone. There are no Christian objectors to missionary enterprise now. And then, if you come out into the external world, you find that persecution has ceased-that is, to a great extent, and in a large measure. Persecution, they say, is a capital thing to brace individual piety. I suppose it is, but it frowns upon confederate and organised endeavour; hence in the missionary era of the Church persecution ceased, that the Church might do uninterruptedly her work of love. God hath given us rest, hath stilled the noise round about, and the tumult of the people. We do not worship in catacombs, but in the day. No bay of the sleuth-hound breaks hoarsely upon our hymn of praise. We have no baptism of fire now except that of the Holy Ghost, and that is a lambent and a cleausing flame. Then the invention of printing has diminished our difficulties greatly, multiplied for us the copies of the Word of God, so that men can read in their own tongues of his wonderful works among themselves. Then, again, natural and political difficulties for awhile dismayed us. The monsoon was one obstacle; the whirling gulf impeded navigation; the rock-bound coast was a perpetual terror. Now, the monsoon is mastered; fair havens indent every shore: there is hardly an interior that is not open to us; there is hardly a boundary that we may not pass. Formerly, the populations were untamable, indignant, adverse; the governments haughty, exclusive, hostile. Now, the governments are for most the part friendly; now, the people implore missionaries to be sent to them, and if a friendly tempest drifts a missionary to a station where he was not intended to abide, they keep him there by force, and put sentinels that he should not get away. Then the position of our country ought not to be forgotten. She is the anointed cherub that covereth, and God hath set her so. And although she has in some respects grievously sinned, although Italy would hardly give her credit for patriotism, although China is not likely to call hold their own, Mohammedan empire her in as umpire in any question of selfrespecting morality, although India can tell of base idolatry encouraged by her, and of the revenues of heathen temples farmed for the incomes of a Christian throne, it would be unjust in this'estimate of advantage not to enumerate how often, and how very often, how increasingly often, thank God, a plain path has been open for the missionary by British influence how often he has had encourage-made for the gospel chariot down the ment in labour, and redress from injury, by the prestige and power of the British name. Then, chiefest in this enumeration of advantages, there is not anywhere in the world a healthy superstition Wherever the light has gone, if it has not dissipated, it has relieved the darkness. There is less cruelty than there used to be. Priests are less of princes and more of conjurors than they were awhile ago. They are maintaining their power by sleight of hand rather than by the potent influence which superstition used to have upon the mind. The religion of China, if one can understand it at all, absurdly gay, as it has been well described, and as dead at heart as some Egyptian mummy, preserves, as long as its mummy life is continued to it, some remnant of its fantastic beauty; but chip the lid off, and let the air breathe upon it, and like other mummies it crumbles into rottenness and dust. Then, the gorgeous superstitions of India have, on the confession of their votaries, ceased to aggress, and can hardly broadest street of the mystic Babylon. Everywhere in the ranks of the enemy decrepitude and dismay! Everywhere in the army of Emanuel the renewal of youth and the immortality of hope! Men begin to walk with firm tread, as if they were in a world whose restitution had already begun. The Redeemer is at hand. The world is full of the significant and deepening foretokens of his approach. Nothing can shake us from this majestic reliance. Though the heavens darken above us, though the earth rock beneath us, though there be a shattering among thrones of power, though the world should be desolated successively by famine, and plague, and sword, this hope remaineth, and to its clear and crystal vision every portent is a prophecy, and every omen a pledge of blessing, as it sings, "Whatever ills the world befal A pledge of endless good we call, His chariot will not long delay; BRIEF NOTICE. THE GOOD TIME COMING. A Lecture by THOMAS ROBERTS STEVENSON. Il keston: J. Poole. During the last winter, Mr. T. R. Stevenson, with the praiseworthy desire of benefitting the working men of Ilkeston, has been giving fortnightly lectures on general subjects. The numbers that gathered to hear them, showed how highly the people appreciated these efforts. The lecture before us is the third of the series, and has been published by request. It is popular, humourous, moral, and practical. The poetical citations show the leaning of the author's mind. To our taste this is a better mode of meeting the working-class-s, and securing in them a regard for your teaching, than by seriocomic lectures on the Lord's-day. Correspondence. ACADEMY COMMITTEE MEETING, AND THE LATE REV. J. GOADBY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE. DEAR SIR,-I request the favour of an insertion in your next number of a copy of a minute unanimously passed at a meeting of the committee of our college, held at Broad-street Vestry, on Tuesday morning, May 3rd. JOHN HEARD, Esq., in the Chair. Resolved, "That the committee hereby leave on record their high appreciation of the character and services of the late Rev. J. Goadby, who fortwenty-eight years gratuitously and zealously filled the office of united with the church at Isleham on the 5th of June, 1845, and thus for nearly fourteen years she has walked worthy of the high vocation wherewith she was called, in all lowliness and meekness in long suffering and love. Her death was improved by her pastor, the Rev. T. Mee, to an overwhelming congregation, on Lord's-day afternoon from 1. Corinthians, xv., 6, Fallen asleep," &c. WITH deep sorrow of heart, we record the MARY ANN REYNOLDS.-On Thursday, April 21st, 1859, Mary Ann Reynolds, the beloved wife of Wm. Reynolds, of Chippenham, one of the deacons at Isleham, was very suddenly called away from our fellowship and communion, to join the general assembly and church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven. Our departed sister was baptized, and WILLIAM DARKEN-On Sunday, April 24th, 1859, William Darken, another member of the Isleham church, departed this life, in the hope of the glory of God. His death was improved by his pastor, on Lord's-day evening, from 1. Peter ii., and part of the 7th verse, a passage of his own selecting, "Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious," &c. Thus have we been deprived of two members in the short space of four days. Thank God we have a good hope that our loss is their gain, and now that they are uniting in nobler worship, where neither sin nor sorrow can mar their devotion, in that land of light and blessedness prepared for all that love the Saviour. May we be followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Intelligence. CONFERENCES. smaller than usual. Mr. J. Holroyd, of Barton, opened the morning service, and the secretary preached. At the afternoon meeting, Mr. Kelly, of Measham, presided, and Mr. Malcolm, of Leicester, prayed. One hundred and forty-one were reported as baptized since the last Conference, and one hundred and seventythree remain as candidates. The minutes of the December meeting were read. THE NORTH DERBYSHIRE CONFERENCE | and other causes, made the attendance assembled at Ripley, on Good Friday, April 22nd, 1859. Brother Needham, minister of the place, presided. From the reports received, it appeared that thirty-two had been baptized since the last Conference, and that twenty-nine remained as candidates. These were Belper, four baptized, and two candidates; Crich, two baptized, and two candidates; Kirkby, four candidates; Langley Mill, five baptized; Ripley, six baptized, and three candidates; Wirksworth, fifteen baptized, and eighteen candidates. The attendance was more numerous than at recent Conferences; business however, was not extensive or important. 1. The resolution of last Conference recommending that some ministerial or lay member of the Conference should be constituted a life member of the "The Widows' Fund" was the subject of somewhat extended conversation; and it was eventually agreed,-That Brother Yates, of Wirksworth, be appointed to collect the required sum. 2.The gathering together of a fund for the maintenance of a Home Missionary, to make an effort for which several friends voluntarily engaged at the last Good Friday Conference, was again introduced; and it was stated that the project might be considered as relinquished. 3.-Four of the churches-Duffield, Hucknall, Sutton-Ashfield, Milford having sent neither reports nor delegates; this was regretted: and it was resolved, -That this Conference express its earnest request that all the churches on the list would endeavour to send to its meetings either delegates or written reports. 4-As the present list of places for the meetings of this Conference extends only to the next autumnal gathering, the secretary was appointed to prepare a new list by that time. 5. The next Conference will be held at Smalley, on Monday, August 1st, 1859 It was agreed that there should be a revival meeting in the evening. 6-The Secretary preached in the evening on the subject appointed at the last Conference, "The Way of Salvation," from Eph. ii., 8-10. The service was opened by the Rev. W. Grey, of Ashby-dela-Zouch. W. SHAKSPEARE, Secretary. THE MIDLAND CONFERENCE met at Measham, on Easter Tuesday, April 26th, 1859. The excitement of a general election, the inclement state of the weather, 1. Northampton.-The secretary read the note received from Mr. Taylor. Agreed: That Mr. C. Harding, of Leicester, and the secretary be requested to visit Northampton, examine the trust deed, and converse with Mr. Taylor as to the best means of securing the chapel property for the General Baptist Connexion." 2.-Market Harborough. The letter received from this church was read. The friends had engaged the services of a young man from Leicester, Mr. Searson, and were hoping for better days. 3.-Australian Missions. Mr. Lockwood's reply was read. It appeared that the Calvinists had re-opened the chapel in Tasmania, about which Mr. Speak made an offer to the Connexion; that Mr. Speak was helping, and would help them; and that there was no opening for a minister from our body, unless for some time after his arrival, he could sustain himself. 4. Churches not Reporting to the Conference.-The secretary had complied with the wish of the last Conference, had written specially to those churches from which for more than twelve months no report had been received, and had obtained several replies. 5. The Yorkshire Conference, and the Republication of Dan Taylor's Works.After some discussion on the fourth resolution of the last Yorkshire Conference, to which special attention was called by the secretary, Mr. C. Springthorpe, it was agreed,--That this Conference, while holding in great esteem the memory of Dan Taylor, does not consider the publication of his works likely to succeed as a commercial speculation, and deems it undesirable in our day to resuscitate the controversy between Andrew Fuller and Dan Taylor. 6. National Society for aged and infim Baptist Ministers.-After some exposition of the constitution and character of this society, it was agreed,-That this Conference recommend the society to the |