THE Baptists in CHATHAM having | for many years suffered by the smallness of their place of worship, a new chapel, that will contain 1000 persons, has been erected for the comparatively small sum of £1400, and was opened for the worship of God on Thursday, July 12. Mr. Jenkin Thomas of Oxford delivered two Sermons; one in the morning from Phil. ii. 15, 16; and a second in the afternoon from Psalm xxvi. 8. F. A. Cox, A.M. of Hackney ⚫ preached in the evening from Isa. lx. 7. The devotional exercises were performed by a pleasing union of Independents, Methodists, and Baptists; viz. Messrs. Slatterie of Chatham, Palmer of Westbury, Lancaster of Chatham, Groser of Maidstone, Hathaway of Sheerness, Puntis of Battle, and Acworth of Leeds. The day was peculiarly fine; the attendance numerous; and we believe all the services blessed by the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, and the presence and approbation of Him who is head over all things to the church. Since the opening, nineteen persons have been baptized, and the congregation has much increased. The members have subscribed among themselves £800, and they look with confidence to the religious public, to aid them in the liquidation of the remaining debt. Aug. 22, at LANCARVAN, Glamorganshire, the Rev. Thomas Jones (late student at Abergavenny, supported by T. Edwards, Esq.) was ordained to be an Itinerant in the Vale of Glamorgan, under the superintendence of "The Baptist Glamorgan Itinerant Society." The preceding evening the Rev. E. Jones (Felin-efanddu) read and prayed, and G.Jones(student at Abergavenny) and T. Davies (Argoed) preached from Mark ii. 10, and Acts ix. 31. At 9 the next morning, having assembled to organize a church, the Rev. G. Davies (Caerfilly) commenced with reading and prayer, and W. Jones (Cardiff) and T. Morris (Newport) stated the nature of a gospel church. At 11, the Rev. George Griffiths (Pontypridd) began with reading and prayer, and G. Davies received Mr. Jones's confession of faith. The Rev. J. Hier (Castletown) offered the ordination prayer, which was accompanied with imposition of hands; W. Jones gave an affectionate and impressive charge from 2 Tim. iv. 5; and T. Morris preached to the congregation from Mark x. 26, 27. At 2, the service commenced with reading and prayer by the Rev. J. Roberts (Cowbridge) and the Rev. J. Jones (Monmouth), and J. Hier preached from Isa. lv. 1. and Col. iii. 4. the former in English. At 6, the Rev. R. Thomas (Merthyr) read and prayed, and R. Pritchard (Cardiff) and George Griffiths preached from Rev. ii. 10. and Gal. iii. 20. The services were very interesting; and there are many encouraging prospects there, and in other places where our Itinerant preaches. The congregations in general are numerous and attentive, and some are heard to say, "We will go with you." May the Lord be with our young Brother, and bless him with prosperity. Oct. 2, the Rev. D. Nunnick was set apart to the pastoral office over the Baptist church at BLOXHAM, Oxon. The Rev. W. Bottomley of Middleton read and prayed; W. Clark of Weston explained the object of the meeting, and asked the questions; S. Taylor of Shipston offered up the ordination prayer; W. Gray of Chipping Norton delivered the charge from 2 Tim. iv. 5; and L. Butterworth of Evesham addressed the Church from Psalm cxxii. 7. and closed in prayer. In the evening the Rev. T. Beetham of Hook-Norton prayed, and T. Wright of Blockley preached from Ezekiel xxxvii. 2-4. The Rev. D. Nunnick has been under the care of Mr. Gray of Chipping Norton for two years, supported by the Stepney Institution; and it is mentioned with much pleasure that he has been chosen pastor with perfect unanimity, and that his labours are highly acceptable and useful. Large congregations attended, and nearly twenty ministers were present to witness the solemn and interesting transactions of the day. Chater of Kibworth concluded with prayer. In the evening Mr. Hillyard of Bedford preached. Oct. 23, a new Baptist chapel was opened for public worship, at DANE HILL, Sussex, 11 miles north of Battle. In the morning the Rev. Mr. Chapman read and prayed; the Rev. Mr. Keeble of London preached from 1 Cor. xvi. 13, 14; and the Rev. Mr. Mothum (Countess of Huntingdon's connection at East Grinstead) concluded in prayer. In the afternoon, the Rev. Mr. Tidd of Wadhurst read and prayed; and the Rev. Mr. Shirley of Seven Oaks preached from Psalm cxxxii. 15, and concluded in prayer. In the evening, the Rev. Mr. Keeble prayed, and preached from Jer. xxvi. 4; and the Rev. Mr. Roberts, pastor of the church at Dane Hill, concluded in prayer. The services of the day were truly delightful, and I believe will not soon be forgotten. The congregation having greatly increased, and the old room for worship having become too small, with the help of friends a house and garden have been purchased, and a chapel built on the ground. The whole expense (through the kindness of friends) is only £310, £70 of which have been subscribed amongst ourselves, and £22 collected at the opening, leaving a debt of £220, for which an appeal must be made to the friends of religion, and it is hoped, considering the situation of the place, it will not be in vain. Nov. 27, the Rev. Mr. Dovey was ordained over the Baptist church in SHORT'S GARDENS, London, the meeting-house in Oxford-street being lent for the occasion. Mr. Herbert commenced with reading and prayer; Mr. Upton, Sen. asked the usual questions; Mr. Paice prayed the ordination prayer; Mr. Pritchard addressed the minister from John xiii. 15, “For I have given you an example;" Mr. Belcher addressed the church from Rom. xv. 30-33; and Mr. House concluded the service, Nov. 28, a Baptist church was formed at NEWPORT, Isle of Wight. Mr, Tilly of Portsea preached from Col. i, 19. after which, 11 persons were united in church-fellowship, and addressed on the subject of their solemn engage. ments by Mr. Saffery of Salisbury. The next morning, Mr. Clay of Portsea preached at 7 o'clock; and at 11 a meeting was held for the ordination of Mr. Franks, as pastor of this infant society. Mr. Tilly read suitable scriptures, and prayed. Mr. Mileham of Portsea delivered an appropriate discourse on the reasons for dissent, proposed the usual questions, and received Mr. Franks's confession of faith. Mr. Saffery prayed the ordination prayer, with the laying on of hands; and delivered the charge from Mark xi. 22, "Have faith in God."-In the evening Mr. Mileham read and prayed. Mr. Draper of Southampton preached to the church and congregation, from Phil. i. 27; and Mr. Wheeler, minister of Oct. 24, the Rev. F. A. Waldron the Methodist chapel in which the ordiwas ordained over the Baptist church nation services were conducted, conat BISHOP'S STORTFORD, Herts. cluded the pleasing solemnities of the Mr. Brawn of Loughton stated in a day. Mr. Franks has preached more very judicious manner the nature and than six years in Newport. Under his constitution of a christian church, ask- ministry the church and congregation, ed the usual questions, and received which were previously very low, have the confession of faith. Mr. Bain of increased. He received several unani, Potter-street prayed the ordination mous invitations to become their pasprayer. Mr. Ragsdell addressed the tor; but there were circumstances pastor from 1 Peter v. 2-4. Mr. W. which prevented his acceding to their Shenston of London addressed the request. He has therefore, though rechurch from 2 Thess. iii. 1. The other luctantly, withdrawn to preside over a devotional services were conducted by new interest. His brethren in the mithe Rev. Messrs. Pettit of Old Sand- nistry consider him, and the few peoford, Wilkinson of Walden, and Finchple with whom he is united, justified of Harlow. Mr. Shenston preached in the separation, which they hope will the preceding evening, and Mr. Rags- turn out to the furtherance of the gosdell the same evening. The church pel. at Bishop's Stortford, recently formed, deserves the assistance of the religious public. There is a pleasing prospect of success and prosperity, and the pas tor, sanctioned by the neighbouring Baptist ministers, will shortly apply to the denomination for their kind contributions. THE REV. James Hargreaves, of Ogden in Lancashire, has accepted the unanimous invitation of the church in Little Wild-street, to become their pas tor. He is expected in London about the latter end of January, Foreign Intelligence. Moravians. They have above 12,000 Negro Converts in Antigua; above 400 have joined their church there within 12 months. Above 200 Hottentots reside at their new Settlement on the Witte Revier, which is very prosperous. The Greenland New Testament is about to be printed: the congregations there are very flourishing. The Brethren's congregations contain above 31,000 persons, formerly idolators. The annual expenditure, though rigidly economical, is nearly £9,000: certain income not above £1,300. Total deficiency in 1819 and 1820, £4,600. New stations, from favourable appearances, are indispensable. The patronage of the public is earnestly solicited. Subscriptions are received by J. G. Lockett, Esq. 1, Upper Conway Street, Fitzroy Square, the Rev. Messrs. W. Gurney, Hawtrey, D. Wilson, R. Hill, Ivimey, &c. Bible Societies.-A great number of Testaments have been distributed among the Pilgrims to a celebrated place in GERMANY. "I cannot find words," says the writer, "to describe the gratitude and exultation with which most of them received the word of God-how they pressed our hands, imploring blessings upon us, and promising to remember us in their prayers. : A few days afterwards, a woman came and requested me to give her such a book as the pilgrims had obtained. I asked her how she came to hear of it. "Ah!" replied she, "I saw them resting in the shade, by the road-side, reading their books. This strange sight astonished me: I sat down also; and having desired one of them to let me look at his book, the contents so pleased me, that I resolved to do my utmost to procure another like it." On inquiring who had directed her to my house, she told me that she had walked up and down the town for an hour till she found it. In order to put her desire still more to the test, I said, You have very probably heard that these people obtained their books gratis, and therefore expect—' No, my good Sir,' she interrupted, putting her hand into her pocket, 'poor as I am, I shall willingly pay for it: what is the price?' I then gave her a copy for the price of the binding; and she left me with the joy of one who has found a treasure." ' 6 -In RUSSIA depôts of Bibles. have been established in the extensive ca verns, containing the relies of Saints, near the Grand Monastery on the right bank of the Borysthenes, to which pilgrims resort from all parts of the empire, to the number of 50,000 yearly, some of whom come even from Kamtschatka, and other remote parts of Siberia. The Borysthenes, now called the Dnieper, runs into the Black Sea near Oczakow, and is navigable 800 miles. Karaim or Caraite Jews." Having learnt that there was a settlement of Karaim Jews in the town of Lutsk, Dr. Henderson visited that place from Ostrog, in order to ascertain what facilities might exist for the distribution of the Scriptures among them, In their appearance, their manners, and mode of worship, these people form a striking contrast to the other Jews. Unshackled by the trammels of the Talmud, their minds are not circumscribed by the puerile sophistries of the Rabbies; but are more open to conviction, and better able to judge of the truth of what is proposed for their belief. We had entertained the hope that some of the Hebrew New Testaments might be advantageously disposed of among them; but, to our no small joy and surprise, we found that they were already in possession of that book, and seemed to be perusing it without prejudice. The Rabbi himself produced a copy from his library, in the course of our conversation relative to the fulfilment of ancient prophecy; and spoke of its contents in high terms of respect, before a large company who had collected at his house in order to listen to our communications. That the Messiah is already come, they are not convinced; but their minds seem to be interested, in no ordinary degree, by the subject; and were proper measures adopted for directing their attention to the true meaning of their own Scriptures, the paramount authority of which forms one of the most distinguishing parts of their creed, it cannot be doubted but many of them, at least, would be brought to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. It deserves to be recorded, to the honour of the Karaim of Lutsk, that, for the space of 200 years, no instance of law-suit or prosecution against them is to be found in the public documents of the place. They still retain the use of the Tartar language, both in their daily intercourse, and in the Synagogue for the purpose of explaining the Hebrew Text of the Law." their brethren to follow them. This, in the present day, is almost wholly impracticable: a certain degree of pre Comparative View of Translations and Missionaries.-Relative to the LIVING MESSENGER of the gospel and the WRITTEN WORD, things at present are pre-paration is generally necessary; and, cisely the reverse of what they were in the days of the Apostles. While the extension of knowledge is such almost throughout the whole world, or at least through that part of it which is under European influence, that, compared with the state of things in the days of the Apostles, the ABILITY TO READ is increased more than a hundred-fold, the expense of furnishing a hundred copies of the sacred Scriptures, at the present day, must be far less than that of preparing ONE in the Apostolic days. Then, after the Canon of Scripture was completed, when each manuscript copy (for such alone existed) was the labour of years, what must have been the expense of preparing, for any country, one hundred copies of the New Testament alone! Surely, to furnish even ten thousand copies, at the presént time, occupies less time, and involves a less portion of labour, than preparing only one hundred in manuscript, although each copy is read with such superior ease.. This seems to point out the path of duty relative to evangelizing every nation which possesses a written language: God is pleased to suit His gifts to the various periods of His Church: the present age He has not favoured with the gift of working miracles, nor with that of tongues; but the sacred Scriptures may be made to speak in every tongue; and so multiplied as to find their way to every town and village, and almost to every house: they may even exercise a kind of UBIQUITY, and speak in ten thousand places at the same moment. from the distance of India, both from Europe and America, before Missionaries can reach the scene of operation, the expense of a long voyage is unavoidable: when they have arrived there, the unfriendly nature of the climate renders it impossible for the foreign Missionary to travel from place to place without an accumulated degree of expense: when we add to this, the disadvantage of speaking a strange tongue acquired when the organs of speech have ceased to be flexible, and the enfeebling effect of a burning clime on every exertion made to convey the Word of Life to others; it will appear, that, even when life is spared, and the expense of preparation and the voyage is not rendered abortive by death, still the difficulty and expense of furnishing a living preacher must be nearly TEN TIMES greater than that which lay on the churches in Apostolic times. Contrast this with the superior facility of imparting copies of the WRITTEN WORD at the present period; and, while the necessity for Living Instructors is fully acknowledged, it will still strike the mind, that, since the difficulty and expense with which the one is furnished in the present age, compared with the other, is AS A THOUSAND TO ONE, the widest extent of operation should be given to the Written Word in aiding the exertions of Living Instruc tors. If the Great Head of the Church, suiting His gifts to the present state of mankind in their increasing attention to letters, has rendered the diffusion of the Written Word so easy and inexpensive, compared with that of sending This peculiar feature, in the present forth and supporting the Living Mesage, will strike the mind still more sengers of the gospel, wisdom itself strongly, when we also consider the dictates that the Messengers should be vast disparity between the expense of employed chiefly with the view of givsending forth LIVING MESSENGERS of the ing efficiency to the Word; and that gospel at the present day, and that of they should be occupied principally in their going forth in Apostolic times. the work of circulating the Written Then, as long as the gift of tongues was Word through the various countries continued, a man often went forth with now without the gospel, till the whole little or no previous preparation; a earth, being filled with the Word of heart filled with the knowledge and God, this disposition of them be no the love of the gospel, enabled multi- longer necessary: and we may reasontudes to go forth at their own charges, ably expect, that, while they are thus into countries and climates little differ- employed, God will, by their means, ent from their own; recommended to raise up numerous Native Preachers, the grace of God, indeed, by the believ-in various countries, to whom the scriping brethren with whom they were, connected, and followed by their ardent prayers, but, from the age, and the nature of the work in those days, expecting no pecuniary supplies from tures will be absolutely necessary; and who, with them in their hands, will be able to assist in the work in a most extensive degree, as was the case even in Apostolic times. LINES Poetry. ON THE REV. CHRISTMAS EVANS, IN Anglesey a CHRISTMAS EVANS woke, And here the chains which bound his soul were broke. Forgive, great man, if I présume to trace How vast the change! Now clad in arms divine, He lost one eye while fighting, being a feted boxer before his conversion. THE RETROSPECT. Oн it is wise at times to stand, And view the backward scene of life, To gaze o'er all the trodden land, And mark each pyramid of strife; Since he who brought us hitherto, Will guide us all our journey through. What though fresh changes may await, And mark our pilgrimage below? Past recollections should abate, And guard us from surprising woe; Since he who brought us hitherto, Will guide us all our journey through. Then let our souls fresh courage take, And press toward the heavenly prize, Implore new strength, for Jesus' sake, And urge our passage to the skies; Since he who brought us hitherto, Will guide us all our journey through. Jan. 1, 1822. E. DERMER. Kalendar. JAN. 1, Jupiter 10 40" from Saturn. 1. Moon passes Jupiter and Saturn. 7. Full Moon III. 46 aft. 11. Moon passes Mars. JAN. 23. New Moon V. 25 morn. 23. Moon passes Mercury. 26. Moon passes Venus. 27. Moon passes Jupiter and Satur 28. Moon passes Saturn. *. 29. Moon passes Jupiter. |