and to end the campaign. The volume is a most valuable contribution to Protestant literature. Sermons by the Rev. George Smith, Minister of Trinity Chapel, Poplar, London. Snow. We do not know a better specimen of popular instruction than is presented by these Sermons. It is generally known that Mr. Smith is one of the most efficient preachers and successful pastors of the present age; and this volume explains in part the secret of his success. If this beand we have reason to believe that such is the fact-an average specimen of his pulpit ministrations, nothing more is required to illustrate, instrumentally, his success. The curious and frivolous, the uselessly refined, or the mischievously speculative, has no place here. All is substantial, evangelical, and edifying. The preacher's aim and object is, clearly, the salvation of his hearers, and the building up of those that have believed the Divine testimony. Among the subjects discussed are, The Spirituality of God-The Exclusive Theme of the Christian Ministry-Justification by Faith-Angelic Studies-Religious Decision-Relative Obligations -The Fire on the Jewish Altar-The Father of Lights-Renovation of All Things- The Punishment of Luxury-The Comforter of the Downcast The Claims of the Saviour on the Young-Mutual Recognition in Heaven-Christian Assurance-and so forth; all topics ably and profitably discussed. We commend the volume to families, as a valuable addition to the best order of evangelical sermons. What shall we Answer? A Plain Address from a Protestant Minister to his People, on the subject of the Romish Invasion. By DIZNY ROBINSON, M.A. Wertheim and Co. MR. ROBINSON has done exceeding good service by this publication. We wish that every parish minister of the realm were led, like-minded, to lift up his voice against Rome and all that appertains to it. Few publications of the season, on this subject, are more adapted to be useful. Historical Memorials of Broad-street Chapel, Reading; being Sketches of its Pastors and its Progress. By WILLIAM LEGGE, B.A. milton. На WE greatly like this species of publication, which is eminently adapted to be useful. It narrates the progress of one of the trees of life from 1662 to 1850, closing with solid and valuable reflections. There is a great deal in this volume we could like to extract, were it not for a fear lest it might impede its circulation, since it must have been got up at a very considerable expense, and the outlay must be reimbursed. It is a remarkably interesting volume, and we shall be happy to hear that the edition is speedily out of print. The Origin and History of Baptism, deduced from Holy Scripture, and other Authentic Writings. By JACOB POST. Gilpin. MR. POST proposes neither Allopathy, nor Hydropathy, nor Homœopathy, as a cure for the Headache; but the Guillotine! Annie Fielding; or, Why not now? Ramsay. A FINE book for little ladies, which all will like and remember. Walter Thornton; or, Broken Vows. Ramsay. LET boys who want a good lesson upon a great subject, listen to Walter Thornton. The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, and the General Epistle of James, Practically and Historically Explained. By Dr. AUGUSTUS NEANDER. To which is added, A Discourse on the Coming of the Lord, and its Signs. NEANDER is a great name among the Church Historians of Europe; but it was not in history alone that he was eminent. He excelled as a Theologian, everywhere manifesting a deep acquaintance with the things of God. It is peculiarly interesting to find in what lights a Jew contemplates the Gospel and the Epistles. His cast of mind, his tastes and habits, are all favourable to originality, and to the striking out of new thoughts and views. They who desire an illustration on a large scale, beautifully perfected, may find it in the very interesting publication before us. It is no inconsiderable contribution to our Scriptural exposition. Alfred's Tracts. THESE Tracts are seven in number, abounding in fact, and exhibiting much of the marrow of the Gospel. By whom they are published, strangely enough, we are not told. Some of them, however, are re-publications from the Gospel Magazine. What is Popery? A Catechism on the Principles, Doctrines, and Practices of the Roman Catholic Church. By the Rev. JOHN HAYDEN. Jackson and Walford. A CAPITAL Catechism, for which we solicit a place in every Protestant family; and if every Papal one would give it admission, they could hardly do a better thing. Christianity as Applied to the Mind of a Child. By ALBERT BARNES. Green. AN exquisite performance, altogether such as is to be expected from the pen of the great Republican Commentator. Reasons of Protest against the Endowment of Maynooth. By THOMAS MACKLIN. Johnstone and Hunter. THIS is a Letter to Lord John Russell-incomparably the best piece of the same magnitude that has ever appeared on the subject of the Endowment of that College of Antichrist. It is to us utterly incomprehensible how any man, laying pretensions to a good conscience, common sense, and a respect for Protestant principles, having read this book, could be a party, either directly or indirectly, to the impious and infamous act of endowing this Popish seminary; nor do we conceive how any man can read this publication, and stand back from any movement the object of which is the withdrawment of the wicked endowment. The pamphlet is one of inexpressible value. We most earnestly commend it to all Protestants, as a complete, unanswerable, and most momentous argument on the question of the endowment of Popery. The Papal World; or, Small Tracts on Popery. THIS series of Tracts is greatly to our mind. We could wish that some millions of them might be distributed amongst the rising generation. They ought to be sold, or given, in countless showers, in every Sunday-school in the realm. Eight have appeared already, and we trust the series will go on till the whole subject be completed. Brief Notices of the Life and Ministerial Labours of John Dennant, Forty-four Years Pastor at Halesworth. AN interesting sketch of the ministerial career of an excellent man, with a solid and appropriate Funeral Sermon. The Country Sketch Book of Pastoral Scenes and Memorable Places. By JANUARY SEARLE. Partridge and Oakey. THIS book is a medley of prose and verse-the prose predominating. The subjects are varied, interesting, and, indeed, some of them romantic. Being thoroughly topographical, it has about it an individuality much adapted to strike and impress. It will prove a sort of short-hand help to visitors of the divers localities. Memoir of William Allen. By JAMES SHERMAN. Gilpin. THIS is the great work in three volumes, condensed, presenting the pith and marrow of that publication, and constituting a memoir of more than ordinary value. Roussell's Tracts. Ward and Co. ONE of the most interesting series of Tracts that ever crossed the Channel. Readings for Juvenile Abstinence Meetings. MOST excellent publications. Our Age and our Country: Thoughts on the Past, the Present, and the Probable Future of England and the World, suggested by the Great Exhibition. By A. E. PEARCE. Snow. THIS is a publication of great merit-emphatically multum in parvo. It cannot be too extensively circulated amongst all classes of the community. It comprises an unusual amount of wide survey and solid thinking, turning to account the events of the passing age, and the improvements and facilities for human intercourse and local transit. The book is, moreover, pervaded by a vein of evangelical sentiment, which beautifully adorns its social, economical, political, and commercial views. Funeral Address and Sermon on the occasion of the Death of the Rev. John Jerard. The former by the Rev. J. A. JAMES; the latter by the Rev. E. H. DELF. Theobald. MR. JAMES'S Address is in his own best stylesolemn, pathetic, and elevated; a fine specimen of that species of address. The Sermon of Mr. Delf does credit alike to its subject and its author, and will be read by the public at large with deep interest. Library for the Times-The Church of England in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. THIS is the best chapter on that great era. It is condensed to the utmost, and is pervaded by an intelligent spirit, by which, in proportion as truth is a gainer, Elizabeth is a loser. We recommend to those who have been accustomed to shout and sing "the golden days of good Queen Bess," to sing no more till they have read this history. For A Hand-Book for the Apocalypse; being an Explanation of its Symbols, deduced exclusively from their Use in other Scriptures. Bible-classes and Families. Nisbet and Co. We do not know that this is the most successful attempt of the kind, but it is certainly the briefest, and the most marked with common sense and a profound implicit regard to Scripture, that has yet appeared. It gives one view, and that view is full of impressive grandeur. Whether it be a correct one or not, it would be presumptuous to say; but as the last, and as the work of a man who has clearly a profound reverence for the truth of Inspiration, and who has availed himself of the diffuse and elaborate works of his predecessors, it has a chance of being as near the truth as any. While it has this rare merit, it is devoid of mysticism, and as simple as is compatible with the peculiar nature of the subject. The Jesuits: their Rise, Progress, Doctrines, and Morality. With numerous Extracts from their own Writings. By T. H. OSBORN, Esq. Partridge and Oakey. THE Pope has done something for the Jesuits, as well as for himself. The last twelve months have done more to disentomb them, with their evil doings, than had been done for the previous century. The present volume is one of the smallest that the occasion has brought forth, but it is decidedly one of the most effective. Its very brevity will considerably facilitate its circulation. It is a book that all may buy, and all may read. It consists largely of indisputable facts. Great Sights. A Discourse delivered at Kingsland Chapel, on the Sabbath Evening before the Opening of the Great Exhibition. By the Rev. THOMAS AVELING, Snow. A MOST valuable discourse-one of the best of the many that have been originated by the circumstances that called it forth. SMALL PAMPHLETS RECEIVED AND AP PROVED. A Lecture to the Working Classes. By the Rev. THOMAS AVELING. Snow. Rival Claims; or, The Teachings of Truth on Common Subjects. No. I. Reason. Green. A Letter from an Affectionate Friend to Sundayscholars Everywhere. Green. The Child of Faith; or, A Brief Memoir of Thomas The Cross and the Crucifix; or, Popery-What it A Popular Treatise on the Sacrifice of Christ-its Monthly Obituary. THE LATE REV. J. J. FREEMAN. LONG before this page shall have reached its destination, most of our readers will have heard that the Rev. Joseph John Freeman has breathed his last. He died at Homburg, Germany, on Monday, September 8th, at three o'clock in the afternoon, whither he had gone for the benefit of the waters. On leaving England his health was in an unsatisfactory state, but no danger whatever was apprehended. Rheumatic fever, however, ensued, by which he was rapidly prostrated, and at length, in a manner very unlooked for, he almost suddenly expired. A copious estimate of his character and services will be found in the BRITISH BANNER, of the 17th ult. The Rev. John Blackburn, his early and intimate friend, has supplied us with the following statement of facts, not generally known, and which will prove interesting to his many friends, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Our much-lamented brother was born in London in 1794, and enjoyed the advantages of maternal piety. He was early connected with the Silver-street Chapel Sunday-school, where, as a teacher, he first indicated the possession of those talents for usefulness which, in his after life, have been so largely developed for the benefit of mankind. Having devoted himself to the work of the ministry, he was admitted to Hoxton Academy in 1812, and formed one of a remarkable group of able and public-spirited students, who adorned that Seminary at that period. He was diligent in his studies, and devout in his spirit, though possessing remarkable sweetness and vivacity of temper, which made him a general favourite with his academical associates. In 1816, he was invited by the Congregational Church at Chelmsford, Essex, to become their co-pastor, with the venerable and Rev. Samuel Douglas, which he accepted, and was ordained to that office on the 21st of May in that year. There opened before him at this station a fine prospect of great and most extensive usefulness; but two years had not elapsed before he found himself physically incapable of fulfilling the duties of his office, and, with very distressed feelings, resigned his charge and returned to the metropolis. The state of his health, together with some painful exercises of mind, led him to imagine that he ought to relinquish the ministry; and an opening for his entrance on secular life presenting itself,—as he at the moment thought most providentially, he engaged in business in the borough of Southwark. He, however, did not feel quite in his own element, and it pleased God to visit him with a dangerous sickness, in which he suffered extreme pain and exhaustion, and in the course of which he was taught lessons such as he had never learned in the whole preceding course of his life and experience. Like the fugitive prophet, he was made willing to return to his Master's work, and, though in but feeble health, to resume the exercise of those gifts with which he had been entrusted. He therefore went, in the autumn of 1818, to supply a small congregation at Dawlish, in Devonshire. Its mild and salubrious air, beautiful scenery, and good seabathing, were adapted to soothe and strengthen both his body and his mind, and to prepare him, in a few months, to become the minister of a Church at Westbury, in Wiltshire. That manufacturing district was reduced, in 1819, to the deepest distress, so that many godly families were on the verge of famine. Those who possessed wealth were sorely taxed to meet the urgent wants of the poor, and the sensitive mind of our dear brother could not endure to obtain his support from persons who were already so heavily burdened. He therefore removed to Kidderminster, to undertake the charge at the Old Meeting-house in that important manufacturing town. This was the most useful period of his pastoral life, and his labours amongst the operatives to counteract the poison of infidelity amongst them, were effective and zealous. One of our most esteemed pastors and tutors was brought to believe in Christ, and to devote himself to his service, by these efforts. At the close of 1826, our friend felt constrained to offer himself to the Directors of the London Missionary Society, to go to the island of Madagascar as a Missionary, on the principle they had then propounded, of accepting the services of ministers for a limited period. This offer having been approved, he reached Madagascar in 1827, and for nine years he prosecuted the work to which he had consecrated himself with all his characteristic energy, and with great success. The share he had in translating the Holy Scriptures, in preparing schoolbooks, and in superintending the Mission-schools, cannot be recited in this brief sketch, but was such as greatly facilitated the progress of the Gospel, till, in 1835, the demon of persecution took possession of the Queen of that noble people, who proscribed Christianity, and virtually expelled our Missionary brethren. Mr. Freeman and his lady, therefore, left that island for the Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope, where they arrived in the spring of 1836, and where our friend occupied the pulpit of Union Chapel, Cape Town, Dr. Philip being then on a visit to England. Here he first became acquainted with the minute affairs of our South African Missions, and which led on towards his more intimate connection with that now desolated field of Christian labour. health of Mrs. Freeman having been greatly impaired by so long a residence within the tropics, they embarked for England, where they arrived, in greatly improved health, at the close of that year. The New duties and labours now awaited him: he had to confer with the Directors, and to visit the constituents of the London Missionary Society in all parts of the kingdom. The want of an institution for the education of the Daughters of Missionaries having been strongly felt, he took a leading part in the establishment of a school for that purpose in the village of Walthamstow, where he had become connected with the Congregational Church that had long enjoyed the ministrations of the late Rev. George Collison. In 1841, the loss of health having obliged the Rev. William Ellis to relinquish his official connection with the London Missionary Society, Mr. Freeman was appointed to the Foreign Secretariat, and appeared at the Annual Meeting of that year in that capacity, and shared with Dr. Tidman the labour of reading the Report. How faithfully he fulfilled the duties of that office at home, and at what risk of health and life he sought, in his late voyage to the Mauritius, and journey throughout Southern Africa to inform himself and the Society of the true state of affairs, both in Madagascar and Caffraria, his recent Work and published Letters afford abundant evidence. His removal, so suddenly, and at such a most anxious crisis, is, indeed, an inscrutable and astounding Providence. Greatly is the cause of Missions weakened by his death; but the God of Missions must still be our strength and confidence. The writer of this brief memorial has known, honoured, and loved him from his first collegiate years, and is compelled to exclaim: "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been unto me." J. B. The Union Chronicle. CHRONICLE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES: OF THE BOARD FOR GENERAL EDUCATION: AND OF THE THREE SOCIETIES FOR BRITISH MISSIONS, IN CONNECTION WITH THE UNION. THE ORGAN OF THE UNION AND THE SOCIETIES. To the Pastors and Churches associated in the DEAR BRETHREN,-A period of twenty-one years has passed away since our beloved and venerated brethren and fathers,-who had long and earnestly desired the visible union and intercommunity of our churches,-laid the foundation of the Congregational Union, hopefully, and in faith that God would prosper the work of their hands. Many of those who were engaged in this work have passed into the world of spirits, and have received from our Great Master the plaudit graciously bestowed by him on faithful labourers, who toil with a view to promote his glory in the salvation of the souls he purchased with his blood. We think they had an important work to do, and they did it wisely and well. They had to meet reasonable and unreasonable fears; to oppose the conscientious resistance of those who were unfriendly to their design, and to urge on the timid and doubting to the accomplishment of noble deeds. Their aims were from the first intelligible and feasible, and they addressed themselves to their undertaking as men who understood the responsibilities of their position; while their prudence and energy were the footsteps of wisdom, in which they indicated the wish that their successors should walk. Gradually the Union silenced all objections, by attending to its own acknowledged and appropriate work; by carefully abstaining from every act which could be regarded as an infringement of the independency of our churches, and by promoting, in the way it originally proposed, the unity and efficiency of the Congregational body. This A few years after the establishment of the Union it was deemed desirable to hold Autumnal Meetings in the chief provincial towns. measure was, from the beginning, most acceptable, as giving to the churches of the localities in which the meetings have been held a deeper interest in the proceedings of the body, and dif Congregational Union of England and Wales. fusing a hallowed influence over vast assemblies in the public meetings held for the exposition of our distinctive principles as Congregational Dissenters, or for the advancement of our Christian Missions at home, in Ireland, and in the Colonies. These meetings, successively held in Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Norwich, Manchester, Plymouth, York, Leicester, Sheffield, and Southampton, have proved seasons of gracious refreshing from the presence of the Lord. On all these assemblies a large amount of holy peace and fraternal love has rested. Whatever diversity of judgment or keenness of discussion may have marked the conferences of the brethren on some vexatious questions, now happily set at rest, a manly independence has been exhibited in connection with mutual forbearance, which would have done credit to any assemblage of Christian men. Few of the pastors or delegates of our churches have attended these gatherings without delight and profit. The Thirteenth Autumnal Meeting of the Assembly will be held on Monday, the 13th of October next, and the three following days, in the town of Northampton. That place must be dear to us all, associated as it is with the name and labours of the gifted and devoted Doddridge, whose endeavours to revive evangelical religion in our churches, and to extend the Gospel to heathen lands, are unspent in their hallowed influence at the present day. The month of October will bring round the centenary of his death, as he fell asleep on Saturday, the 26th of that month, 1751, at Lisbon; "his soul mounting," as Job Orton says, "to that felicity to which he had been long aspiring, and the prospect of which had given him such strong consolation during his illness and decay." It will be delightful to visit the scenes of his labours, and to find, as we shall, that error does not pollute the sanctuary in which he and his flock worshipped, and that another gospel is not preached in the pulpit in which he delighted to exalt the crucified Saviour. We could not repair to the chapels in which Oliver Heywood, Henry Newcombe, Timothy Jollie, Matthew Henry, and a number of other distinguished Nonconformist ministers laboured, without being pained at the fact that men of another spirit and another doctrine have acted like "the princes of Zeba and Zalmunna, who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession;" in which their successors now teach sentiments subversive of the glorious Gospel. No such affliction, however, awaits us at Northampton. We shall find there three congregations, with their pastors, united in faith and piety, prepared to give us a cordial greeting, and to assist in promoting the objects of our assembling in that town. May the spirit which influenced the seraphic Doddridge when he penned his free thoughts on the most probable means of reviving the Dissenting interest, graciously guide the deliberations of the assembly, and overrule them to the accomplishment of important ends ! Questions of the gravest interest will occupy the attention of the assembly at its morning sittings. Subjects connected with the indifference and scepticism of the age,-the best means of promoting the spiritual life in our churches, the duty of our denomination in the work of chapel extension, not only in the metropolis, but in the large towns of the kingdom,are subjects intended to be presented for the most free and thorough discussion by the brethren who may assemble. A considerable part of one morning will be devoted to a conference on the affairs of the Educational Board, an organization now rising into the highest importance, amidst the various schemes of compulsory secular or religious education which are now claiming attention. Let us come to these meetings, dear brethren, and give to each other the benefit of the wisest, the most mature, and the most earnest thought of which we are capable, that the Great Head of the Church may smile upon our various endeavours as a witnessing, praying, and working people, anxious to take our fair share in the task of evangelising the world, and of attempting it on principles and in a spirit which we believe are in perfect harmony with the revealed will of our adorable Saviour and Lord. For several years a meeting was held in connection with the autumnal gatherings, for the exposition of our principles as Congregationalists. This has been omitted for the last few years, to make way for an educational public meeting. By a mutual arrangement of the Board of Education and the Committee of our Union, we revert this year to our former practice, and such a meeting as that now named will be publicly held. We think the time most opportune for the dispassionate avowal of our peculiar and distinguishing tenets; now that Popery is girding itself afresh for a conflict with Protestant truth; now that the dominant ecclesiastical establishment of the country is seeking to subdue all things unto itself; and now that even voluntary Protestant combinations are showing themselves arbitrary and intolerantsurely, in such a state of things around us, there is reason to believe that our churches con tain the germs of holy scriptural truth, which may assist in deciding what are the true relations of the Church and the State, and what the bearing of Christianity on the future destinies of our country and the world. Some of our brethren, well qualified for the work, will assist to expound our views, and place in attractive forms to our Christian neighbours of other denominations those holy and spiritual principles which we regard as intimately connected with the progress and eventual triumph of the Gospel. But no theoretical exhibition of Scriptural truth will serve to convince the world that we are right, if it be dissociated from those systematic and combined efforts which the guilty and perishing condition of mankind imperatively demand from us. Our British Missions must be supported more extensively by the churches than they are, if we mean to keep pace with the times. The Mission to Ireland must not be left in its present languishing and diminished form. Our Home Mission must have the means supplied to it of entering on many inviting fields of labour, in the midst of large populations. forty-four colonies, already containing between four and five millions of the Anglo-Saxon race, must be cared for more generously than we have hitherto cared for them, if we would assist in laying securely the foundations of future kingdoms or empires to bless the world. Everything in the character of the age and the signs of the times calls for the earnest, faithful advocacy of New Testament principles, at home and abroad. Our The friends at Northampton stand prepared to offer cordial greetings and hospitable reception to the pastors and delegates who will visit their town at the appointed time. The central situation of the place of meeting is favourable to a large gathering, while the facilities afforded for travelling invite attendance from the re moter parts of the kingdom. Let the principality of Wales, actually forming a part of the Union, though furnishing little aid by counsel or pecuniary contribution, be, to some fair extent, represented on this occasion; and with warmhearted brethren from the English counties, we shall meet in holy concert and devout determination to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." It would be well if our pastors would, at the next meeting of their churches, seek to interest them in the concerns of the Union, and obtain the appointment of one or more brethren from each community, with the pastor, to attend the meetings; and it would be but an act of simple justice if the churches were to supply the means to the pastors of travelling to and from the assembly. Let prayer be made in our churches on the previous Lord's-day for an abundant supply of Divine influence to rest on the assembled brethren; and in answer to this, "God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear before him." Apologising for the length and freeness of this address, which is dictated by an earnest desire for the prosperity and growing influence of the Union, which for a time I have undertaken to serve, I remain, dear and honoured Brethren, GEORGE SMITH, Secretary. Congregational Library, London, Sept. 12th, 1851. |