commencing, the spacious and beautiful place of public worship was filled in every part, by a highly respectable auditory, and profound attention characterized the congregation throughout the whole of the proceedings.

The Rev. James Pridie, of Halifax, conducted the opening devotional exercises. The Rev. Enoch Mellor, of Halifax, then proceeded to deliver the introductory discourse. He chose for his text, "Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even Christ." Never did we listen to a more masterly, logical, thorough exposition of the nature of a Christian Church. He showed, in a very forcible manner, and with great beauty of illustration, the scripturalness and general advantages of the Congregational polity. He combined very successfully what is but too rarely on such occasions combined -a most manly and decided assertion of our distinguishing principles, with an entire absence of anything in manner or matter that could be justly offensive to those who differ from us,

The Rev. Richard Skinner, the pastor of the sister church, assembling in Ramsdenstreet Chapel, asked the usual questions. "He asked those questions," he observed, "not from any authority of their own, but from his (Mr. Bruce's) desire, and that an opportunity might be afforded him of making those statements which might supply the development of his call for the work upon which he was about permanently to engage, his qualifications for it, and the way in which he purposed to discharge his duties."

These solemn inquiries having been mildly made, and modestly but very feelingly responded to by the young minister, and the querist having expressed the gratification of the congregation at these replies, the Rev. Henry Bean, of Heckmondwike, offered the designation prayer; after which the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, President of the Lancashire College, delivered the charge to the pastor, taking as his text, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. i. 1. The chief part of the discourse, which was throughout elaborate and full of weighty matter, had reference to the various dangers in doctrine to which young ministers are in the present day most exposed.

There were present about forty ministers and twenty students: amongst others, the Revs. J. Gregory, Thornton; Hoyle, Northowram; Jones, Booth; R. Hurley, F.R.A.S., Brigham; Ball, Stainland; Cuthbertson, Cleckheaton; Hodgson, Oldham; Scott, Brotherton; Dyson, Uppermill; Potter, Honley; Oddie, Ossett; Bell, Wortley; Cecil, Lightcliffe; Dixon, Springhead. Also, Revs. J. Hudston and Stokoe, Methodist New Connexion; and Newell, Primitive Methodist.

After the morning service upwards of 150 of the friends dined in the school-room. The dinner was got up in most excellent style by the ladies in the congregation.

At half-past six in the evening, the Rev. J. Gregory, of Thornton, conducted the preliminary services; after which, the Rev. James Spence, M.A., of Poultry Chapel, London, delivered the sermon to the people. His text was, "All things are yours, whether

Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas," 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. The main idea on which he insisted was that the minister is the people's property, and that, therefore, they are bound to appreciate him, improve him, take care of him. The discourse throughout was an eloquent and impressive delineation of the people's duties to their pastor. The congregation was again very large, and the greatest attention prevailed.

Altogether the day was spent very pleasantly and profitably. May our heavenly Father perpetuate the manifestations of his presence and favour which we that day enjoyed.

THE Rev.J.Barfitt, of Plymouth, has accepted a very cordial invitation to become the pastor of the New Congregational Church, in New Bexley, near London, and intends, D.V., commencing his stated labours the second Sabbath in January.

The Rev. W. R. Noble, of New Bexley, near London, having been compelled to relinquish his sphere of labour from ill-health, arising from unsuitableness of climate, has accepted the cordial and unanimous invitation of the Congregational Church assembling in Batter-street Chapel, Plymouth, to become their pastor; and hopes to enter upon his stated ministry there on the first Sabbath of the new year.

The Rev. William Moore, of Great Harwood, near Blackburn, has accepted a most cordial and unanimous invitation from the church and congregation assembling in Bethesda Chapel, Leigh, Lancashire, to become their pastor. Mr. Moore will commence his labours on the first Sabbath in the new year. The church at Leigh, owing to the resignation of the Rev. Daniel Atkin, who is now upwards of eighty-four years of age, has been without a pastor for upwards of five years. Mr. Moore enters upon his new sphere of labour under very encouraging circumstances, and with a prospect of considerable usefulness among the people.

TESTIMONIAL.

The church and congregation assembling at Ebenezer Chapel, Chatham, have presented their late highly-gifted and muchbeloved pastor, the Rev. P. Thomson, M.A., now of Grosvenor-street Chapel, Manchester, with a very handsome gold watch, chain, and stand, the stand bearing the following inscription: "Presented with a gold watch and chain, to the Rev. P. Thomson, M.A., by the church and congregation of Ebenezer Chapel, as a memento of the sincere affection and lasting attachment of those to whom he had endeared himself through a faithful ministry of twenty years. Chatham, Oct., 1854."-A copy, elegantly bound, of "Conybeare and Howden's Life and Epistles of St. Paul," had previously been presented by the Sunday-school Teachers' Preparation Class, as a token of their sincere regard and due appreciation of his piety and valuable services amongst them.

MY DEAR BRETHREN,-Having been requested to prepare a brief paper to be read this afternoon, I have endeavoured to do so. I claim no right, and pretend to no special fitness to become your teacher. We are all brethren, and the bond of our union is simply that of fraternal affection. We are, at the same time, ministers of Christ, and to some extent at least stewards of the mysteries of God. And who is sufficient for these things? When we consider whose servants we are, what account we have to render, and the unspeakably momentous consequences to ourselves and others of fidelity or negligence, each of us, I am sure, would welcome any suggestions made by any one of his brethren by which he might hope to receive help in the duties of his high calling.

My remarks will be few and brief, and will be chiefly in the way of awakening our hearts to self-examination, and suggesting subjects for some profitable conversation and conference on the present occasion of our meeting together. Let us, then, inquire:

I. CONCERNING THE STATE OF OUR OWN HEARTS.

The quality and quantity of a stream will depend on the nature of the fountain; so our outward life, in all its manifestations, will depend on the state of our hearts.

1. What is the state of our hearts towards our Master? Do we love and reverence him in the manner and degree in which we tell others that he ought to be loved and reverenced by them? To many a minister he will say at last, "Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee, thou wicked servant.' Have not our consciences been ready sometimes to whisper to us, "You preach well enough to others how Christ ought to be loved, venerated, and obeyed. You have quoted the awful text, 'If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.' But how stands the matter with your own heart? Will the Lord be pleased with empty and hollow words from you? Does he not regard the coldness of professed friends and admirers as worse than that of strangers? If it be so with you, are you

VOL. XII.

not in danger of greater condemnation?" Conscience will at some moments speak to us on this wise. I trust that we have seasons when our experience is of a more satisfactory kind; but even in our best moments our feelings fall far short of what we know they ought to be. This can be remedied only by prayer, meditation, and the desire cherished and practically expressed of pleasing Christ. I fear that our private devotions are sometimes wanting in depth, fervency, and largeness; we do not meditate sufficiently; and the desire of pleasing Christ is not cherished with sufficient steadiness. But let us inquire:

With

2. What is the state of our hearts towards the churches of which we are pastors? We ourselves being judges, these churches are members of the body of Christ. They are living stones in that living temple in which God will dwell for ever. This is not somebody else's judgment, but our own. all their faults, we have taken charge of them as Christ's members, and we retain our offices among them with this acknowledgment. Are such feelings excited in our hearts towards them habitually as these views o what they are ought to produce? We may not be without love to them, we may not be altogether forgetful of our duty toward them; yet do not our feelings fall far below our theory in respect to them? Some of them are not all that we could desire; but neither are we all that they might reasonably desire. I fear that our hearts are very defective in this matter. us seek to be imitators of our Divine Master in this-let us feed his sheep and lambs, with love to them. They, and we too, will soon be added to the population of the unseen world; we hope to that part of it which is re deemed. Let us often think how the affairs of time will look in the retrospect, and let us now strive to feel, speak, and act in relation to our flocks as we think we shall approve when they and we reach heaven.

Let

3. What is the state of our hearts towards our hearers, who are not members of the church, and towards others to whom we sustain any relation but,

E

who are unconverted? There are many persons, both in our congregations and around us, who seem dependent, under God, on us for enlightenment and salvation. Do we compassionate the souls of such as we ought to do? It is but little that we can do in any personal effort with so many, but do we attempt to stir up our churches to help us in our endeavour to benefit those who are without? I fear that none of us in this come up to what we would confess to be right, and what we cannot say is impracticable.

II. OUR DOMESTIC LIFE ought to be a subject of self-examination with us. Some of us are husbands and fathers; all of us have those who form with us one household. The families of ministers have often been held up to reproach as being anything but good models of the Christian domestic life, and every one is aware that the children of many ministers have grievously disappointed the expectations of pious friends. Are we doing the very best that we can, and looking up daily for help from above, that such reproach may not be cast on our households, and that such folly, error, or impiety as we have seen in other cases may not disgrace and ruin our children?

1. What of our domestic worship? Do we meet morning and evening, with punctuality and with delight, to read the holy writings, and to address our Father in heaven? Do we feel refreshed, soothed, sanctified, and quickened by these engagements? Or do we allow sloth, visits, visitors, or anything else, so to affect the time and manner of our family worship, as to leave the impression upon our children, servants, or others, that we deem it after all a matter of no very great moment? Whatever may be said of labouring men, or even of men of business, ministers, at least, have generally their own time largely at their own command; and to let anything, save physical incapacity, drive domestic worship into a corner, or drive it out sometimes altogether, is a bad sign as to the minister's own spiritual health, and the impression which will be produced by such a defect on his part on his household will be of a most blighting description.

2. What of our habitual deportment towards those who are with us in the house? Are we careful so to speak and act as that our families may have

no ground in anything to suspect our sincerity? Children, servants, and others are sharp to discern the true state of the case, and to discern if religious duties have been performed by us in only an official manner, or whether we really do fear God, and believe the things which we preach. If we strive rightly to fulfil our duty towards those who constitute our households, we shall faithfully reprove what is wrong, encourage what is right, and present their cases to God in prayer individually, that he may accomplish for them all they need for time and eternity.

Next to our domestic life, let us reflect upon

III. OUR PUBLIC LIFE OUT OF THE PULPIT.

There is a good deal of public life during the days of each week, in which we are continually exercising an influence for good or for evil. We come into contact with many of our own people, who hear us on the Lord's day, and who listen to us with reverence as the servants of God, and who are often impressed by the truths which we utter; but let us meet them on a week-day, and appear quite different, and by our folly or frivolity awaken suspicion in their minds of our sincerity, our influence to do them good is destroyed. It behoves us to take much heed what we do and say before our hearers. If we play the fool before them on Monday, we might as well have been silent on the Sabbath as to any permanent good which we shall have been likely to have effected.

We come into contact with other persons besides the members of our own congregations. It is desirable, if possible, that we should have a good report of them. For this end, we must strive to give no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed, and the cause of Christ be not reproached through any fault of ours. The thought that we are Christ's servants ought to be present to us continually, that we may be on our guard against any and everything that might grieve the Holy Spirit, and give Satan an advantage.

If on these heads it would be well that we should frequently examine ourselves, it is at least as important that we should do so in respect to

IV. OUR LIFE ON THE SABBATH. The Sabbath is our day of greatest activity, and yet it may be a day of

holy rest, if we will exercise self-denial and watchfulness. As every day is more like a Sabbath to us than to people in general, so we are more in danger of losing that feeling of special sanctity which belongs to the holy day than the pious labourer or mechanic. This feeling, however, is of immense use to us in preparing our minds for sacred duties in public. When we awake on the Sabbath morning, let us thus commune with our own hearts: "This is the day which the Lord sets apart for himself. He invites us to rest to-day from all the cares and distractions of time. I will rest today from things which I may lawfully and dutifully be active about on other days. I will not occupy my thoughts to-day with the worldly affairs of myself or of others. I will not converse about them, nor write about them. I will strive to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day." If we can thus resolve, and thus do, we shall have much comfort and unction in our public duties, which we shall certainly otherwise be without.

When engaged in preaching, if we can but always remember that God is one of our hearers, and that we profess to be speaking for him, we shall be greatly helped to keep clear of what we had better not say, and to utter what we cannot with faithfulness omit. Our improvement of the Sabbath is the great thing. It is but little that we can do with the people on other days. One is at his farm, and another at his merchandise; and if we can sometimes withdraw them from these occupations for an hour, their speedy return to them does not give the impression which we make time to strengthen, and to become durable. The Sabbath, with its holy stillness, from the time of rising in the morning to the time of evening repose, is our great opportunity, and we must avail ourselves of it to the uttermost if we would fulfil our ministry with efficiency to the people and with acceptance to Christ. It would be well to inquire,

V. WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESULT OF OUR LABOURS HITHERTO ?

This is a question which we must answer variously, according to the different periods during which we have been in the ministry, and according to the different degree of success which has been vouchsafed to each of us. Looking, however, at the matter in

general, we must, I fear, mourn over the smallness and unsatisfactoriness of these results. Some of us have had seasons of encouragement, but there have been other seasons of depressing unfruitfulness. We are not absolutely responsible for the result of our ministry, but it behoves us to examine ourselves whether we be to any extent to blame that we have accomplished so little. We cannot doubt but that, with more piety, more wisdom and consistency, we should have been, at least to some extent, more useful. The degree in which we are to blame may be very different in each case, but I fear that none of us are blameless as to the limitedness of our success. We should be very grateful for any amount of success with which we have been favoured. It is an infinite honour to have been made the instrument of bringing even one soul to God; but shame and confusion of face belong to us, that by our sins, follies, and many faults, we have been of so little use to the cause of Christ, and been, to so large a degree, unprofitable servants.

VI. THE PRESENT STATE OF OUR FLOCKS is a subject of too much interest to be forgotten on this occasion. I fear that it is anything out satisfactory. I hope that none of us are without pious and zealous members of our churches, who are ready to help us, and in some respects even to do more in some departments of usefulness than we can do ourselves. There are, I trust, in all our congregations not a few hopeful persons who have not as yet become church-members. But do these two classes put together constitute nearly all our flocks? Do they even constitute a majority? Have we not some members whom nobody would discover to be members if they did not learn it in some other way than from any holy fruit in their lives? Have we not hearers to whom we have preached as long as we have been pastors of our present flocks, and who seem to be no nearer the kingdom of God than ever they were? Some, indeed, have become more hardened by length of time. We have many who, if they were to die, could leave us no satisfaction, but the contrary, concerning their eternal state.

Nothing that we can do can wholly alter this state of things, yet ought we not on this account to fail to do what we can to arouse the careless and

slothful, whether in the church or out of it, to bring to decision the wavering and double-minded, and to induce all to prepare to meet God.

VII. OUR PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE should be dwelt upon for a moment. We are preaching to men and women, who, as certainly as our doctrine is true, will soon be-some of them in hell. Hitherto many of our hearers have been dying, month by month, and year by year, without leaving any evidence that they have been saved. So it will be for the future. Death will strike down one aged hearer on one occasion; another day one of the young will be taken, both unprepared. This is a fearful thing to contemplate. We cannot help it in every instance, yet surely it behoves us to leave nothing untried, at least to deliver our own souls, that their blood be not required at our hand.

Many of our fellow-travellers to heaven will, from time to time, be parted from us. Let us, in the meanwhile, so commune with them as that the thought of meeting again when we, too, have departed, may be delightful. Our fellow Christians and we have never yet been so helpful to each other as we might be. The time of departure draws nigh to them and to us. Let us improve the short period that remains more to our mutual edification than we have yet done, as we see the day approaching.

But after all, we must die individually. What are our own prospects for eternity? Have we the bright anticipation of which we sometimes speak as the saint's privilege and peculiar felicity? Or do we ever tremble at the thought of eternity ourselves? I fear that most of us live far below what is attainable in this respect. We ourselves live on in a state which we exhort others to get out of. We hope to be saved, yet our confidence in our Master's approbation is by no means complete. Improvement in this respect, I doubt not, would be attended with more usefulness to others. Let us strive to reach at least what we believe to be attainable. Let us not have to reproach ourselves with the thought, that we teach others, but cannot teach ourselves; that the good advice we give to others we fail to benefit by ourselves. The truth is that we need more piety than other people. We

cannot be so happy in religion, nor nearly so, as private Christians in humble life, unless our attainments in love to God and love to man be greater than theirs. We have more light to detect our own defects, and so much familiarity with truth as not to be so impressible as many of our hearers. We have also heavier responsibilities, and an unspeakably higher order of duties to perform; we must therefore be holier than others, more loving, more devoted and self-denying; else we shall be less happy than others, and less honoured of God in his work than we might be.

I would finish this paper by just suggesting a few rules especially suited to ourselves, in my judgment, for aiding us to arrive at a higher standing of faith and joy in the Holy Ghost.

1. Let us read the Scriptures in the morning, as an exercise of private worship, and as a source of personal improvement. I say in the morning, because not much is to be done in this way to profit late in the evening, when body and mind are both tired, and sleep has already begun to cast forward its shadow upon our minds. The reading in our family, and reading in preparation for our public duties, may be gone through to our own edification; but it is not enough. To read, in the freshness of the morning, with the feeling that it is God's word addressed to me, at the time alone, will produce an effect which no amount of reading to others will accomplish.

2. Thus also should our morning private prayer secure a full and undisturbed season for its exercise. We are not tempted, perhaps, to substitute our family and other prayers for private prayer, so as wholly to neglect the latter; yet we may be tempted so to abridge it because we have been praying in the family, or are going to pray with some of our people, as seriously to fail to obey the spirit of our Lord's directions on this head, and so also to fail in receiving the open reward from our Father who seeth in secret. We have much to pray about, or ought to have, which even our own families cannot fully enter into, much less people in general, though belonging to our congregations. Meditation and ejaculatory prayer ought to be more blended with our holy engagements than they ordinarily are; and if we availed ourselves more of these great