them. AND WHY? Our funds are scarcely adequate to sustain our present limited operations. And will you not help us? You will soon have an opportunity of telling us. The appeal will be put to you personally. One of our agents is about to be dispatched on this business. Let this be his herald. Receive him kindly. Encourage him. Send him on with substantial tokens of your good will. Convince him and us that your good wishes are sincere and hearty, by those practical proofs, which cannot be mistaken or denied! Then will "the blessing of him that was ready to perish" come upon you. The correspondence of the last month gives the two following extracts, which will be read with pleasure: "I have had opportunity of making known the Saviour's name at nine meetings, which were attended by not less than four hundred individuals. I had not been at some of the stations where the greater part of these meetings were held for more than three months, in consequence of my late term of affliction. I have now, however, got all my stations visited this month, and I see many marks of the divine blessing on my former labours. C station is reviving with greater life and devotedness than I expected. It is a very wicked village, and I trust the divine arm will rescue many from the grasp of Satan. B is more than coming up to my most sanguine expectations. My last visit, which was on Wednesday the 29th ult., was the most pleasing I have had yet. The congregation is increasing, and the people are progressing rapidly in their scriptural attainments, and in their thirst for spiritual improvement." people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, when I tell you that I visited, in the neighbourhood of G- -, a place about four miles distant from this town, a protestant man, whom I visited for the first time, who told me he had not a single visit from his minister these seventeen years; he said they might famish, for all their shepherd cared about them; and the man's wife told me that her father's family had not been visited by a minister these thirty years. I just mention this to show in what a deplorable condition the people of this neighbourhood must be, and how needful it is for some of the Lord's people to go among them, to speak to them about the unsearchable riches of Christ. I find this sort of work very general in the country parishes I visit. I shall say no more on this subject at present; but I pray that the Lord of the harvest may send faithful labourers into his vineyard. I have distributed during the last month a hundred and sixtynine tracts, visited eighty-five families (sixtyseven protestants and eighteen Roman catholics), and preached the word to a hundred and eighty persons (a hundred and thirtythree protestants and forty-seven catholics.)" Contributions have been received from Mr. Bowser-Mr. Herne-A Village Friend, Somersetshire-Mrs. Goodman, Flitwick-Mrs. Burrow, Ramsgate-and other friends, of which the particulars will be given in a future number. Subscriptions and Donations thankfully received by the Secretary, Rev. Samuel Green, 61, Queen's Row, Walworth; by the Rev. JOSEPH ANGUS, at the Baptist Mission Rooms, 6, Fen Court, Fenchurch-street; and the Rev. STEPHEN DAVIS, 92, St. John-street-road, Islington; by ROBERT STOCK, Esq., 1, Maddox-street, Regent-street, Treasurer; Mr. J. SANDERS, 104, Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury; at the Union Bank, Argyle Place; by the Rev. C. ANDERSON, Edinburgh; the Rev. Mr. INNES, Frederick-street, Edinburgh; by the Rev. C. HARDCASTLE, Waterford; Rev. F. TRESTRAIL, Rock Grove Terrace, Strand-road, Cork; by Mr. J. HOPKINS, Cambridge Crescent, Birmingham; Rev. GEORGE GOULD, 1, Seville Place, Dublin; Rev. W. S. ECCLES, Coleraine; Rev. R. WILSON, Belfast; Rev. G. NEWENHAM WATSON, Limerick; and by any Baptist Minister, in any of our principal towns. QUARTERLY REGISTER OF THE BAPTIST HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. OUR review of the year just closed is calculated to awaken gratitude and hope. The majority of the agents of the society have given a cheering report of the success of their labours. Many souls have been converted; several feeble churches have been invigorated; and the gospel has been preached in some places where it was previously unknown. We say nothing about deficient resources, and the necessity of increased contribution-not because we cannot show that ours is "a pressing case"-but because we are persuaded that encouraging facts are amongst the best incentives to liberality. It has been thought better, upon the whole, to give the letter of our worthy missionary, Mr. ALCOCK, of Berwick, near Shaftsbury, without any of the omissions or modifications which a fastidious taste might dictate. Many of our readers are not fully aware of the extreme poverty which prevails in several districts in which our missionaries labour, or of its effect in hindering the progress of the gospel. Last year, in consequence of his success, Mr. ALCOCK was denied by a persecuting neighbour, the use of a well on which he depended for a supply of water, not only for baptizing, but domestic purposes. Having adverted to this circumstance, an account of which appears in the last report, he says: Notwithstanding all this, the Lord has been graciously pleased to bless and prosper his own word among us. He has disappointed our enemies, and caused them to see that they have defeated their own object. He has raised us up kind friends, by whose assistance we have been enabled to sink a well on our own premises near the chapel; we now have a good supply of water, and are just on the eve of using some of it for baptizing. One poor sinner, who says himself that he has been guilty of every sin but murder, is about to follow his divine Lord through the liquid grave. At Bower Chalk, one of our out stations, the Lord has done and is still doing great things for us. Our place of worship has been enlarged twice within five years, and it will not hold above half the people now who are anxious to attend. Every sabbath persons are complaining that they cannot get in, nor many of them near enough to hear my voice. We very much need a new chapel in this place. I most sincerely hope that the Lord will be pleased to find out a way to help us in this work of need and mercy. The people are the poorest of the poor, nearly all farm labourers, working for seven shillings per week, and some of them with five and even more children to support. One poor man, some time ago, who had been paying to a benefit club for nearly twenty years, found that with his increasing family and his low wages, he could not continue to pay his three 46 As I was returning home late at night from a village six miles distant, after preaching, some time since, as I passed the cottage of a poor man with a large family, I thought I heard the voice as of a person in prayer. I stayed some minutes, and at last found it was so. I was very pleasingly surprised, and on the morrow I went to the poor man's house to I ask if I was correct in what I thought. I said, "John, did I hear you in prayer last night with your family, as I was passing by about eleven o'clock." John said, "I don't know, sir; but God forbid that I should live without prayer ;" and his wife answered, and said he did pray with his family every night. I asked how long he had been in the habit of doing so. He said, ever since he had read the tract my daughter left there. I said, "But, how is it, then, John, that I don't see you at our chapel." "I have no clothes to put on," was the answer. I said, "The Almighty does not look at the clothes, but at the heart." He said he had nothing to put on but the smock frock he worked in, and when he could not come home soon enough on the Saturday to have it washed, he did not like to come out, as he thought every person would be looking at him; and his wife had so much to do with six small children, that she could not always do it. I said, " And should you always attend with us if you had a coat and waistcoat." He said, "Yes, sir, and glad to do so." I went home, and took off the coat and waistcoat I had on, which I could very ill spare, and sent my son with it to his house. This poor man was baptized last Christmas. He prays with us in public, and has hope of his poor wife. This man was sent to prison a few years ago for stealing ducks. This one circumstance is worth all the money that our church ever cost its friends. Another poor man has been led to seek mercy from a gracious God in Christ, through reading a tract I placed in a hedge by the way-side; he has become a member with us. I attended a prayer-meeting in one of the villages some time ago, where two poor men engaged in prayer, and then I gave a short address from 1 Peter ii. 7, "Unto you who believe he is precious." A poor man at the close of the meeting came to me with tears of joy in his eyes, and said, “I would wish to feel thankful that I have known something of the preciousness of Christ for many years." He added, "I have been for three years at a time with only one shirt to my back, and obliged to go to bed on a Saturday evening, that my wife might wash it for the Sunday; and even then," said he "I felt Christ precious, for I knew that all the coats and shirts in the world belonged to my Father, and when he pleases he will give me one; but if it is not till I deserve it, I shall never have it." How many of the friends of Christ have in their wardrobes old things doing nothing, that would be a great boon to some of these poor pious saints. We cannot but rejoice and feel thankful when we read from month to month of the kindness of Christian friends, in sending so many necessary and useful presents to our foreign missionaries; but should there not be some encouragement given to our home missionaries. Such old things as no person would think of sending for the foreign mission, would be a great blessing to the poor cottagers in the villages. Pray, sir, do you know of any kind friend of whom you could beg a bible for the pulpit in one of our villages. I wish some kind friend would feel disposed to bestow such a boon upon us. We are in great want of one, and the people all so poor that I don't know when they will be able to buy one. My daughter is fast in her work, for want of tracts. I wish the Lord would be pleased to dispose some kind friend to help us to some, even if it was such as were done with in other places. The following account from Mr. WHITLOCK respecting the infant church at Belton, will be particularly gratifying to our friends at Dunstable, at whose expense principally, the mission in Rutlandshire was undertaken: Our anniversary went off very well, considering the unfavourable weather, and that we were disappointed of three of the ministers announced for the Monday evening. We had Messrs. Stevenson and Green of Leicester, and Daniel, then at Oakham. The chapel was crowded, and the service was very interesting. Before the public meeting about 140 took tea, provided gratuitously by several friends. The whole proceeds amounted to about £20, and upwards of £20 we raised among ourselves during the year, making above £40 for the year. We should have raised more; but we are beginning to feel pretty severely the descending motion of the sliding scale. On the sabbath evening of our anniversary the church people had for the first time service in the church, which they intend to continue; but I think it makes but little difference to our congregations. On the Monday evening, the charity-school master got up a ball in the schoolroom, designing to draw off the people from the chapel. Indeed, the church party are getting very bitter here and at Ridlington; but thanks be to the great Head of the church, we still hold on our way, and I hope grow stronger and stronger. We are now about 35 members, dwelling in peace. The sabbath morning congregations considerably increase. I have established a bible class, which promises usefulness. I have some service or other to attend every evening of the week, except Saturday, and generally three on the sabbath. We have re-organized the sabbath-school, which is increasing. The following extract of a letter from Mr. KIRTLAND to Mr. Pulsford, dated Retford, will show that the success of the society's efforts at Newark has no been temporary. In receiving benefit our friend has learned to communicate it. We wish many of our brethren could be persuaded to act in a similar way, the part of evangelists :— We received during the last year forty-six into the church. Our congregations have kept up very well, and considerable good is doing; but want of room has done us much harm. 1 came here last sabbath week to preach the school sermons, and the church invited me to remain and hold revival meetings. I have been here ever since, and remain until Thursday or Friday. Congregations have been large, and a good feeling produced. In a little more than a week we have sixty inquirers, and the feeling is spreading. We meet in the morning at five, and in the evening at seven. Mr. Fogg, the pastor, has supplied for me the two sabbaths, and his visit has been made a blessing. He has requested me to write and invite you to visit Retford, and carry on the work, which request I most cheerfully comply with. Could I remain here three or four weeks great good would result. The following letters report the progress of the evangelist at Stockport, and Chowbent, Lancashire. Stockport.-The committee of the Home Missionary Society conferred a signal favour upon us when they consented to allow brother Pulsford to pay us a visit at Stockport. We had formed large expect ations as to the result, and we are happy in having to say that in no respect have we been disappointed. Some local peculiarities seemed for a time to render the issue doubtful; but only for a time. We have no congregational Sunday-school, because there is a very large one in Stockport, conducted by all evangelical denominations. Ours is a factory town, and a factory congregation; and as the people work from half-past five to half-past seven o'clock, many of the opportunities of doing good which occur in other places could not be obtained here. We could hold no morning meetings, nor any afternoon prayer-meetings. One single service, beginning at eight o'clock at night, was all that could be held. And then we have no persons of influence to give eclat to the movement, nor did we print a single placard. We wished our brother to work his way in a gradual and unostentatious manner. We soon saw reason to believe that the Lord was about to bless us. The earnest, simple, and appropriate addresses of brother Pulsford produced a good effect upon the church. The sympathies, the prayers, and the activities of the people were called into exercise. The congregation began to increase, and the hearts of many became deeply im pressed under the ministry of the word. Many backsliders (once members of other churches, and most of them of other denominations) were reclaimed; some notorious sinners were persuaded to come to the house of God, and were pricked to the heart; very many of the wavering became decided; and persons of all ages, classes, and characters appear to have partaken of the showers of mercy God has favoured us with. Since the beginning of August sixty-two have been baptized. On the first Sabbath in December we expect to baptize twenty at least; and we have still a goodly number who will soon, no doubt, come out and declare themselves on the Lord's side. Our congregations are good; indeed on Sabbath nights the chapel is nearly full. We hope, by assiduous exertions, aided by the adoption of the class system, to be able to maintain our position. Thus far we have done so. I conceive that the revival system has had a rather peculiar trial in Stockport. The ordinary routine of labours could not be carried out; we knew it could not when we agreed to invite brother Pulsford. But then we believed that the success of revival efforts did not depend upon that. From all I have seen I must say, that I am not at all at a loss to account for the success which attends brother Pulsford's labours; I do not conceive it is at all disproportionate to the efforts put forth. What other results could be expected to follow upon steady, well-directed, prayerful efforts on his part, accompanied, as he takes care it shall be, by constant exertions and prayers on the part of the churches where he labours. He gains the hearts of the people, and then it is not difficult to get their feet to run, their hands to work, and their lips to pray. We are hoping you will favour us with a visit from brother Burton when we shall be prepared to make our collection for the society, or if that will be better we will make it ourselves. I am requested by the church to express their cordial thanks to the committee, for complying so promptly with our request. Chowbent. It is with the greatest pleasure I send you a statement respecting the results of your evangelist's labours in this village. Although we cannot boast of as large an accession to our number as at many other places, yet, considering everything, we have much, very much, cause for thankfulness. The people here are so deplorably immoral and ignorant, and great numbers of them so completely incased in Socinian and infidel principles, that, humanly speaking, we have little hope of success, but amongst the young. I have often thought, that hundreds of them are given up to judicial blindness; for, notwithstanding the many efforts for their recovery, they still pursue the road to death. My much respected friend, Mr. Pulsford, will bear me out when I say, that there are few, if any, places that can equal this for darkness, impiety, and a love of caste. He declared, that of all the towns and villages he had ever visited, Chowbent seemed at the greatest remove from truth and piety. However, be this as it may, God has not left us without witness. The gospel has been the power of God in the salvation of souls. The truth, as affectionately and powerfully declared by Mr. Pulsford, has conquered and saved. Within the last two months we have added to the church twentyfour; besides, we have many inquirers, some of whom are most promising. This number, I feel assured, would have been greatly increased but for two causes :-1st. The wakes -a scene of sensual pleasure and riot, happened on the third week of the series of protracted services, when many who, previous to this, seemed in an inquiring and anxious state, by mingling in the giddy enjoyments of the day, had their impressions entirely effaced. 2nd. Opposition from parties of influence, at a time when truth was only beginning to enter the soul. That you may have an idea of our difficulties, I give the following:-A young female, a dress-maker, a member of a Roman catholic family, was brought to experience the power of religion, applied for church-membership, was received, and added to our number; but since the mother and aunt came to know of her baptism, they have either kept a strict watch over her, or have locked her up in a room, declaring that whatever are the consequences they will not allow her to worship with us; they have even threatened to bind her hand and foot. I hope she will continue sted fast, and glorify God even in the fires. In other cases, parents, seeing their children concerned about their souls, have strictly prohibited their attendance at any of the meetings. Thus earth and hell are at work, plotting the overthrow of truth and righteousness; but he who sits in the heavens laughs, and has pledged himself to give Christ "the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." We are thankful to the society for allowing Mr. Pulsford to visit this place; and only wish you could employ a hundred men possessed of the same spirit of burning anxiety for God and souls. If evangelists were increased fifty-fold, and protracted services were more general, the results would be glorious. The work of conversion would not move at her present slow pace, but hundreds, yea, thousands, would be yielding to divine influence. To me, such a series of meetings are strictly rational, philosophical, and scriptural. I have no idea, with the present low standard of piety, that divine truth will ever universally spread, unless extra means are adopted by the churches generally. God grant that we may all awake, and put forth one united, agonizing effort for the world's subjugation to Christ. I am, &c. DAVID THOMPSON. Mr. PULSFORD paid a second visit to Lewes immediately after the opening of the new chapel, which is double the size of the former building. His object was to assist the pastor in deepening the conviction of the church as to its responsibility, that by the united efforts of minister and people, their new meeting-house might with the divine blessing, be speedily and effectually filled. This object it is hoped has been secured. The labours of the pastor continue to be very successful, and his prospects are decidedly encouraging. This is just what is wanted in similar cases. It is desirable to gather in large numbers as the immediate fruit of revival movements; but the most important result of these movements is the origination or improvement of such a healthy, vigorous condition of the church, as shall be the means of securing continuous success. Mr. Davis says, "while Mr. Pulsford was with us I baptized ten persons, several of whom had been awakened at our first meetings. This month I hope to receive eight or ten more, chiefly the fruits of my own ministry. I have reason to hope that others will soon follow. During your evangelist's second visit, we had evening meetings regularly, but no morning services. The attendance was as large as during his first visit, although we have few from other churches. The sabbath congregations were very good. Our new place was well filled, and a good impression was produced both on the church and congregation. The former, I believe, in consequence of his visit, feels the deep obligation laid upon her to seek by direct and persevering efforts, the conversion of sinners. Our revival union classes are much revived. Our prayermeetings and week-night lectures are more numerously attended. The people have a mind to work. We have had collections every Lord's day in pence-baskets held at |