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Obituary.

MINISTERIAL CHANGES.--. Friends in connection | Suffolk, and his labours will terminate there on the with the Baptist denomination in Southport-a third Sanday in June ; after that date his address rising watering-place in Lancashire-have, for will be 9, Langham-place, Kingethorpe-road, nearly twelve months, worshipped in the Town

Northampton. Hall. The Rev. A. M. Stalker, having completed the term of his engagement with the church at Cirencester, and having declined their request to continue his ministry among them, has accepted an invitation to become tbe minister of the congregation of Southport, and entered upon his duties on Lord's-day, May 19th.-Mr. G. Pung, late of

The Rev. J. SIMxons, M.A. -On Satur. Wormingford, Essex, has accepted the unanimous day, the 27th of April, at Dartmouth, died the invitation of the Old Baptist Church at Glemsford, Rev. John Simmons, M.A., aged sevents, late to supply the pulpit for twelve months.- The Rev. minister of the Baptist Church at Olney. Mr. J. Jenkins, having resigned the pastorate of the Simmons was the son of the Rev. John Simmons, Baptist Church at Pwllheli, Carnarvonshire, has who formerly resided at Braunstone, Northampaccepted a cordial and unanimous invitation of the tonshire, and afterwards at Wigan. He purse Baptist Church at Llanfachreth, Anglesea, and bis theological studies at the Baptist Com commenced his labours there on the last Sabbath Bristol, under the presidency of Dr. Ryland; :5} in April.-The Rev. J. Cholerton, of Pinchbeck, on leaving that institution spent three session et having received an invitation from the church at the University of Edinburgh, attending the lectura Sutterton, intends commencing his labours at that of Professors Leslie, Dunbar, Christison, Drs. place the first Sunday in July.-The Rev. J. I Andrew and David Ritchie, and Thomas Br . Ewence, of Henley-in-Arden, has accepted an in With the exception of a hout seven years, dura vitation to the pastorate of the Baptist Church, which he was pastor of the Baptist Chureh * Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. --The Rev. John B. Charles Street, Leicester, his ministerial life 3$ Brasted having resigned the pastorate of the passed at Olney, a retired spot, admirably in barBaptist Church, Southsea, has accepted the cordial mony with his studious habits and meditative east and unanimous invitation to the Baptist Church at of mind, though bis acquirements and abilities Andover, and commenced his labours there on the were such as would have found scope in a far more first Sabbath in May.--Mr. R. H. Roberts, B.A., public and arduous position. As a preacher be of Bristol College, has accepted the pastorate of took a high standing; his discourses were repleta the Baptist Chapel, Bootle, near Liverpool, and with lucid statements of Christian truth, enforced intends to commence his duties there early in July. in a style of chaste and manly eloquence which The church and congregation have determined to never failed to gratify the most intelligent and erect galleries, and hope to have all completed in devout portion of every audience he addressed. Ia a few weeks.The Rev. W. E. Archer, of private life his conduct was uniformly marked it Spaldwick, Huntingdonshire, has accepted an in amenity and kindness, and his ample stores of vitation from the church at Sutton-in-Craven, knowledge, which he was ready to communicate Yorkshire, and entered upon his new sphere of without any effort at display, combined with the labour on the second Sabbath in May.-The Rev. equable cheerfulness of his disposition, rendered J. P. Williams, of Cwmtwrch, has accepted a bis society interesting and delightful. The uniform unanimous invitation from the Baptist Church at consistency of his character powerfully reinforced Soar, Rhymney, and intends commencing his his public ministrations, and his memory will be labours there June 16th.-The Rev. J.P. Williams, long cherisbed with affectionate regret, not ont of Blaenywaen, bas accepted a call to Carnarvon, by the people of his charge and his nearest you and the Rev. D. EIwards, of Beaufort, to Salem, nections, but by many others to whom he was ! Ystalyfera.-The Rev. J. E. Perriu has resigned intimately known, and, for that reason alone, Sea the pastorate of the Baptist Church in Walton, endeared.

Baptist chaving resicershire. The

THE BUNYAN LIBRARY.

We have pleasure in announcing that the first volume of The Banyan Library" is norf: ready, and in cour-e of delivery to the subscribers. It consists, as has been already stater', of Dr. Wayland's “Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches,” edited by the Rev. J. H. Hinton. We give but the opinion of all who have seen the volume when we say, that it is R beautifully “got up,” and that it is an admirable commencement of what, it is hoped, will be a valuable and attractive series. The next volume, which will be publisked on the 1st of September, will be “The Select Works of the Rev. Robert Robinson, of Cambridge ; edited, with a Memoir, by the Rev. William Robinson.” We have no doubt that the appearance & the first volume will led many, who have not hitherto done so, to send their names to the publishers as subscribers,

THE CHURCH.

“Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the

chief corner-stone.”

JULY, 1861.

IMMEDIATE HELP FOR CHINA.

BY THE REV. B. P. PRATTEN, B.A. Nor long ago China was hardly mentioned on our missionary platforms, or was adverted to only as the theme of eloquent lamentation and almost of despondency. We were reminded that this land, with its multitudinous popu. lation, was all but closed to the missionary ; that only a few ports on the coast were opened, whilst access to the interior was forbidden under the severest penalties. We were told of the exclusive character of the Government, and of the strong attachment of the people to Buddhism, a religion hoary with the years of more centuries than Christianity can boast. We were led to believe that no tangible success must be looked for by missions there for a period of indefinite duration.

How different is the state of things now! Instead of one Chinese empire, we hear of two. Of the younger of them, the sovereign, all the leading men, and a great number of the inferior subjects, are Christians—some of them nominally, but not a few really, such. Their religious views are, to a considerable extent, coincident with those of the New Testament. The king, for instance, “teaches his subjects the unity of God, the Sonship of Christ, believes in his atoning sacrifice, and affirms the necessity of repentance and faith to salvation.” Great real is shown in the destruction of idols and idol-temples. In Nankin, their apital, only one temple remains, but that is converted into a Christian church; Thilst in that city alone there are eighteen places of Christian worship. The fovernment is, in the most urgent terms, inviting the Christians of the West to end missionaries to instruct them. It is very affecting to find one of the chiefs iving to our missionary, Mr. Kloekers, recently, “ You foreign brethren have id the Gospel for 1800 years, but we have had it as it were for only eight days. our knowledge must be correct and extensive ; ours must necessarily be imrfect and limited. You must bear with us for a season, and gradually we shall prove." And such is the extent to which the new doctrine is spreading, that Š. Taylor, of Ningpo, declares it probable that the whole of this new empire, rathör kingdom, comprising more than a population of thirty millions, will in renty years have become nominally Christian. Nor is this the whole. The her empire, whose population is probably equal to about a third of the existing man race. is now, as one result of the recent war with the allies, fully open

The sum is this : China is everywhere open to the missionary; the Revoionista (the Tae-pings) invite our labours, the Imperialists suffer them. Mhe remarkable way in which the chief of these results have been brought mt although it is not essentially connected with the object of this paper, banda however, a passing notice. About fourteen years ago, a Baptist mis

or labouring in Canton, met with a poor Chinese student, whom he mited in the doctrines of Christianity. Whether or not he regarded the young man at that time as having become a Christian in heart, does not appear. But little, certainly, did he anticipate the results of the instruction he was then giving, probably amidst much misgiving and many tears. That poor student, however, is now the Christian sovereign of the new empire; and it is to his teaching that the chiefs and people attribute their knowledge and practice of Christianity. Surely, “the finger of God” is in this !

And now we come to the topic indicated by our title. Help must be sent to China without delay. The people are rapidly receiving Christianity : what sort of Christianity it shall be, remains to be seen. Shall it be pure, or corrupted? Is it certain that it will not become mingled with the worst errors of the old religion they are reliquishing, so that history will have to point to the religion of China as a compound of the religions of Christ and Buddha ?

The past is prolific in warning. “ Hath a nation changed their gods?However truly they may do so in name, we cannot be surprised if they still, and even unconsciously, retain the leaven of the old reverence for false gods. One instance will suffice. When Christianity became established in the Roman empire, it soon became combined with Paganism; and such it continues to be, in the form in which we see it over a large portion of Christendom-the form of Popery. And, of all the obstacles, religious or secular, speculative or moral, that have arisen to hinder the Gospel of Christ, probably none is comparable to this. Are we sure that something similar will not take place in China ?

Nay, the corruption to be dreaded is already appearing. With all his belief of the Christian truth, the king professes to have received a direct communication from heaven, to have seen Christ, to have immediate communion with God, and claims God for his Father in an extraordinary sense. These superstitions are gaining general credence among his adherents. The very chiefs who invite missionaries to come express fear lest, by their teaching, the popular mind should become unsettled in regard to the visions and the Divine origin of the Celestial King. Here we have Popery already, and in more than its elements. The sovereign claims to be Pope, with attributes similar to those claimed by the Roman Pontiff, and even exceeding his in extravagance. And, as indicating the tendency which has already appeared to make a profession of Christianity which is only nominal, we may refer to the general impression left on the mind of Mr. Kloekers by the numerous conversations held by him last November with chiefs, that “they had had a vast amount of vital religion and pure Christianity, among them at one time; and that even now the spark is not entirely quenched in the hearts of not a few of them”-words suggestive of hope, and fear, and caution, and zealous effort.

It is evident that no time is to be lost. Should the Christianity of China once be permitted to assume a settled form, leavened with the corruption of which the elements have already shown themselves, with an order of priesthood and with vast revenues, it is impossible to say where or when the mischief may terminate, or to conjecture what an amount of blindness, or of persecution, may be superinduced, to the detriment and hindrance of the truth. Centuries may be needed to remove the obstacle; and thus the labours from which the present promising indications have flowed may prove to have been a curse, rather than a blessing to China. And perhaps, when we consider the largeness of the popu; lation, and the probability that the Christian China will go on to absorb and assimilate the Pagan China, it is not too much to say that the Christianity of the world has not been in circumstances similarly critical since the breaking up of the Roman empire. There is, then, no time to be lost.

We are, moreover, in this matter greatly responsible as Baptists, not to say as Christians. It was a missionary of our own denomination who was the instru. ment of this change in the state of things. It is a very serious matter to deprive a man or a people of their religion. No one may dare to do so, unless he ca

offer another and a better religion in its place. The very success we have had calls upon us, therefore, to do much more than we have yet done.

Nor is it to be urged that the difficulties of the Chinese mission are peculiar; that to learn the language, for instance, is a work of such magnitude, that we must wait long before the missionaries we may delegate can acquire it, On the contrary, Chinese, as a spoken language, is now declared to be not difficult; indeed, Mr. Taylor asserts that in some of its dialects it is positively easy, having the constructional simplicity of the speech of children.

It is to be hoped that the Baptist churches of Britain, more than 2,000, will awake to their task, and enable the Committee of our Society to send at least the six additional men for whom they ask.

Guilsborough.

" THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT."*"
BY THE REV. E. L. FORSTER.

Colossians iv. 5. THERE are two classes of persons 1 large class of persons that are without. spoken of in the word of God those that They are spiritually ignorant, impenitent, are within the Church of Christ, and those i unconverted, unholy, unhappy, and unthat are without. The Apostle Paul refers prepared for eternity. These persons live to them in the 5th chapter of the 1st Co around us, near to us, before our very eyes. rinthians, and the 12th and 13th verses. He We are acquainted with many of them ; says to those Christians who went to law we meet them daily; we converse with with one another before heathen magis them ; we exchange with them the offices trates, “What have I to do to judge them of friendship; we transact business with also that are without ? do ye not judge them; nay, some of them live in our them that are within ? But them that are houses, sit at our firesides, eat from our without God judgeth.” Those that are tables, and sleep at our sides. They are rewithin the pale of the Christian Church lated to us by the dearest ties of affinity are regarded as believers, as saints, or con and blood, and yet they are without; they verted persons. They have been awakened don't belong to the Church of Christ'; they and convinced of their sinfulness and dan don't bear the marks of his disciples; they ger; they have been stripped of self don't exercise faith in him; they don't love righteousness; they have been induced by him ; they don't hope in him; they don't the Spirit of God to exercise faith in the resemble him; they don't live for him ; Gospel; they have found peace through they don't long to be with him. They are believing; they live in joyous and purifying dark, sinful, corrupt, lost. ellowship with the Father ; they use all Now here an important question suggests livinely-appointed means and appliances itself, which demands to be faithfully and hat the work of progressive sanctification scripturally answered. If we are amongst may be accomplished in them; they are those that are within the Church, what are nspired with heavenly motives and aims ; | our obligations towards those that are withhey seek to glorify God in what they do ; , out? or, in other words, what is the conduct hey prize the exceeding great and precious | which we should display with regard to them ? promises of the new Covenant ; and they We trust there are none here who suppose tre animated by the sublime hope of ever that they have nothing to do with those Casting life. They are in the Church of that are without, and who are ready to ask, Jhrist, and possess all the advantages to be as Cain did, “ Am I my brother's keeper?" ujoyed there. They resemble the ancient | Scarcely can we imagine that there are any sraelites in Goshen, who had light in their in this sacred gathering who say that it is (wellings while the Egyptians were | God's exclusive and sovereign prerogative hrouded in a darkness deeper and denser 1 to look after those that are without, and han that of midnight. But there is a very l that they have nothing to do but to secure * The following sermon was preached at the Annual Meeting of the Northamptonshire Association of Japtist Churches, held at Guilsborough, May 21st and 22nd, 1861. It is published in The Church” by 4e earnest request of many of the ministers and messengers assembled.

their own salvation, to make their own fully watch against everything that would calling and election sure, and to enjoy as drive them further from the Gospel of much as possible of the blessings of the Christ. Brethren, suffer the word of exGospel, and leave others to themselves and hortation; at home, as well as abroad, act a to God. No, we will not insult you by the Christian, manly, and generous part. Let bare supposition that there are any among others see that you are above everything you with such perverted views, such selfish that is mean, false, dishonest, and unkind. dispositions, such hard hearts. We take it Let them be satisfied that you are to be for granted that you do believe that you are trusted, esteemed, and loved, and that the under obligation to those that are without, religion of Christ which you profess, and and that you are sincerely anxious to know by which you have been made what you what your duty is with regard to them. are, is worthy of their acceptation. Lend me, then, an attentive ear, and an But we observe further, that you ought open mind, while I point out to you the | to take a deep interest in all that appertains appropriate conduct you should display to to the temporal welfare of those that are wards those that are without.

without Some Christians suppose that Obviously you ought scrupulously and they have discharged all their obligations constantly to avoid everything that would when they have sought the salvation of prejudice the minds of those that are with. those that are perishing. They don't trouout against the Gospel of Christ. Paul, in ble themselves about their present physical, the context, exhorts the members of the worldly, or social welfare. Now this is Church at Colosse to walk in wisdom, to wrong. Our duty extends not only to the wards them that are without. He meant soul, but also to the body; not only to that they should be prudent in their con eternity, but also to time : not only to that versation and deportment, so as not to give which relates to salvation, but also to that needless offence, and not excite within them which belongs to the general wellbeing of feelings of opposition to the truth, and man. Many of those who are without are thereby render their salvation less proba | poor, afflicted, oppressed, and bereaved. ble. Those that are without are already They are struggling hard with the difficult. indisposed to embrace the Gospel. They ies of their position. The burden of life are generally glad to seize hold of any pre presses heavily upon their shoulders. They text to justify them in their neglect of the are destitute of those supports and consolareligion of Jesus Christ. They are Argus tions we enjoy through faith in the Gospel. eyed, and are keen to detect any defect or | They need, greatly need, our sympathy and flaw in the religious character and conduct help. We are under a solemn obligation of those that are within the Church. If to take a part in all those institutions which we are inconsistent in our behaviour, if our are formed for their relief and improve conversation does not become the Gospel of ment. Christians ought to he patriots and; Christ, if we don't walk worthy of the vo philanthropists. We ought to seek by cation wherewith we are called, we furnish every legitimate means the political rights them with a stronghold of prejudice in and immunities of the people; we ought to which they may entrench themselves, and help to lift them out of their present de from which they may oppose and attack the gradation. We ought to take an interest truth. In all our intercourse with them, in all sanitary regulations and plans. If in our business transactions with them, in | we are able, we ought to afford pecuniary our conduct one towards the other, we aid to those that are destitute. We ought should let them see that we are governed to visit the widow, the fatherless, and the not by selfishness but by principle, and aged, and pour into their hearts the balm that we are truthful, upright, transparent, of heavenly consolation. We ought to be and generous in all our actions. How fre found at the side of the sick-bed to wipe quently does it happen that those who pro away the tears of those that are afflicted. fess to be Christians are stumbling-blocks We ought to weep with those that weep, as to others. They are rude, unkind, and well as rejoice with those that rejoice. We selfish. They repel those that are without | ought to give counsel to those that are in rather than attract them to the cross of 1 perplexity, and thus let them have the bem Christ. This ought not to be. If we nefit of our knowledge and experience. We would fully discharge the obligation under | ought likewise to aid in the education of which we are laid towards those that are | those that are ignorant, who have not the without, we must sedulously and prayer. | means of providing themselves with that

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