Road, Derby, to become their pastor. Mr. Pulsford has been labouring in this sphere for the last three months, with many tokens of divine favour; many souls have been brought to God, and a larger chapel is greatly needed for the numbers who flock to hear the "glad tidings" from his lips. PENYVAI, NEAR BRIDGEND. On Tuesday, the 4th of May, Mr. Rees Davies of the baptist college, Pontypool, was ordained pastor of the baptist church at Penyvai, Glamorgan. Brother T. Davies, Wauntrodan, read the scriptures and prayed; brother J. Evans, Cowbridge, delivered an argumentative discourse upon the nature of a Christian church, &c.; brother J. James, Bridgend, put the usual questions to the young man, and offered the ordination prayer, with the laying on of hands; brother J. Morgan, Talgrin, gave the charge to the young minister; and brother' E. Evans, Penygardn, Pontypool, preached to the church. HIGH WYCOMBE. The Rev. Jesse Hobson, late of Barton Mills, Suffolk, has accepted the unanimous invitation of the church and congregation assembling in Union Chapel, Wycombe, commencing his pastoral duties on the fourth sabbath in May. EVESHAM. The Rev. Andrew G. Fuller has accepted the unanimous and cordial invitation of the church at Mill Street, Evesham, to the pastoral office, and enters on his labours on the first Lord's day in June. RECENT DEATHS. MR. CHARLES BARTON, JUN. On the 25th of March, at Great Missenden, Bucks, Mr. Charles Barton, jun., in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after an illness of four weeks, which he bore with striking patience and resignation. To a deeply mourning circle the loss is truly severe. In the neighbourhood, where he laboured as super intendent of the sabbath-school, and in other works of usefulness, his early removal is sincerely deplored; but to him has doubtless been given the approving welcome of his Lord and Master," Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." MR. JOHN GREEN. Died in the faith and hope of the gospel at Speen, April 14th, 1847, in the 59th year of his age, Mr. John Green, one of the first members of the Baptist church formed in that place, January 3rd, 1813. He had honourably sustained the deacon's office for thirty-one years. MR. JOSEPH ASHFORD. Died at Welshpool, April the 16th, at the senior deacon of the baptist church in that age of eighty-three, Mr. Joseph Ashford, town, and for many years one of its principal ornaments. J. CHANNING PEARCE, ESQ., F.G.S. This most estimable gentleman died of consumption, at his residence near Bath, on Tuesday, May 11, in the thirty-fifth year of his age. He was formerly in medical prac tice at Bradford, Wilts, where he became a member of the baptist community. Two years since he retired to Bath, intending to occupy his time chiefly in geological studies, which he had pursued with passionate zest and eminent success from early boyhood. His valuable museum has long been an object of attraction in the west of England. It has been repeatedly visited by the chiefs of geological science, who have uniformly expressed their admiration, alike of the specimens themselves, and of the masterly skill and unwearied patience with which Mr. Pearce had developed them from the clay or stone in which they were found imbedded. The editor of the Geological Journal, in recent comments on a letter from Mr. Pearce, pronounces his collection to be one of the Mr. Murchison, many years since, designated best in the kingdom, and states, further, that Mr. Pearce "the Mantell of the West of England." Professor Sedgewick, within the last month, while inspecting the specimens, declared there were no others in existence comparable with some of these. Mr. Pearce was a man of much general information, but his habit was to read few books, except within by no means an indiscriminate reader. Indeed, the range of his favourite science. Yet was this not so much the result of an exclusive taste, as of necessary decision; for his mind was so tenacious of whatever it grasped, that he found exceeding difficulty in disengaging his thoughts from the topics of even a casual down to in earnest, he would fairly approvolume. Any work which he set himself priate the whole of. Mr. Pearce's health had friends were willing to believe him past been declining for many months before his recovery. His own mind from first to last, excepting a brief period of hallucination, incident to the disease, was sweetly resigned to the will of God. To the fear of death he appears to have been a stranger; nor did his usual cheerful interest in the concerns of his family and friends at all subside. He rebuked | every temptation to murmur by referring to the wisdom and benevolence of Jehovah, and every temptation to distrust the salvation of his soul by appealing to the virtue of the cross. His entire and most happy reliance on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus was conspicuous throughout his affliction, and his last words were such as these, "Christ is with me. He is always with me.-Christ is all in all." So he fell asleep in Jesus. By his premature decease his excellent parents are left childless, and his beloved wife and children widowed and fatherless; while numerous relatives and friends tenderly sympathize with these chief mourners in sorrowing that they shall see his face no more. MRS. DAVIS. The maiden name of the widow of the late Rev. R. Davis having been illegible in the manuscript from which the account of her decease given in page 310 was taken, we are requested to say that it was not Somersett, as there printed, but Tamsett. MRS. MARSHMAN. Information has been received of the death of the widow of Dr. Joshua Marshman, long known as the colleague of Carey and Ward, at Serampore. Mrs. Marshman had for some time been looking forward calmly to the change which has now taken place, for which she seemed to be eminently prepared. Messrs. Thomas, Leslie, and Denham officiated at the funeral, which was attended by many of the European residents at Serampore, and an immense crowd of natives. MISCELLANEA. MEMORIALS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT GRANT TO JUGGERNAUT'S TEMPLE. A Committee Meeting of the General Baptist Missionary Society was held at Nottingham on the 6th of May, at which various statements were made by the missionaries in Orissa, of the patronage and support of Juggernaut by the British authorities the annual grant being 36,000 rupees. This is continued, though the Pilgrim Tax was abolished in May, 1840; and more subsequently, the Khoorda estate of the temple returned to the care of the rajah and his pundas. The natives glory in this support of Juggernaut. It was determined to present memorials to the India Board, and the Court of Directors and Proprietors of the India Company. Mr. Peggs was requested to undertake this business. On Thursday afternoon, May 13, a deputation waited upon Sir J. C. Hobhouse, YOL, X.-FOURTH SERIES, Bart., at the house of the India Board, Cannon Row, Westminster. It consisted of W. Evans, Esq., M.P., John Heard, Esq., and the Rev. Messrs. Burns, Stevenson, W. Underwood, R. Pegg, and J. Peggs; they were very courteously received, and a free and interesting conversation was enjoyed upon the subject of the deputation. Sir John expressed his desire to see the government separated from the idolatry, and stated that he prepared the last despatch (Dec. 1844,) which was very satisfactory. It is to be deeply regretted this anomalous and unchristian system should still exist in various parts of our Indian empire. We subjoin the memorial for the information of our readers. A similar one is to be laid before the Courts of Proprietors and Directors, about 20th prox. : "To the Right Hon. Sir J. C. Hobhouse, Bart., President of the India Board,— "The respectful Memorial of the Committee of the General Baptist Missionary Society, assembled at Nottingham, May 6, 1847, "SHEWETH, "That the society your memorialists represent employs several missionaries in the vicinity of the great temple of Juggernaut in Orissa. The missionaries, while pursuing their benevolent labours, have frequently visited this popular shrine of Hindoo idolatry, and witnessed scenes of infamy, misery, and death, which no pen can fully describe or thought conceive; scenes of lewdness and obscenity far too gross to be ever described are annually beheld; while the more impure the songs, the greater is the applause, not of men only, but of scores of thousands of females debased by delight in such obscenity. "Your memorialists, in connexion with the Christian public, rejoiced in the repeal of the pilgrim tax, and the announced intention to dissolve all connexion of the British government with the temple by the restoration of its lands to the rajah and the pundas, enjoined in express terms by the despatch of the then Court of Directors, dated Dec. 18, 1844, which states, We desire that you will take the necessary measures for carrying this into effect, that thus the discontinuance of our interference in its concerns may be made complete.' "Your memorialists and the Christian public have had these reasonable expectations disappointed, and the announced intentions of the directors have been more than frustrated by the grant of 36,000 rupees per annum, directly from the British treasury to the support of the idol. This, in common with all who revere the Christian name, your memorialists deeply regret. An Indian journal,* recently received, thus described the position of the temple at the present time:-The estates of the temple have been restored to the priests. The scope for extortionate gains has been indefinitely enlarged by the repeal of the pilgrim tax which brings pilgrims with more money into the presence of the idol, and in addition, they have the donation of 36,000 rupees from our treasury. It would scarcely have been possible to devise any plan by which the mischief which the Court of Directors were so anxious to avoid, could have been more effectually perpetrated!' The Rev. C. Lacey writes, Supported by the donation, the idol appears in great glory; but the chief evil is, the arguments it furnishes the people, and especially the pundas, on behalf of idolatry, Who,' say they, will deny that the enlightened government of Britain does respect Juggernaut while it supports him so amply?' To facilitate the pilgrimage, a splendid road has been made now the tax is abolished, that no impediment may exist to the approach of the devotees to the shrine of the world's lord! This is all done by Europe, and under the inspiration of Juggernaut ! Such are the arguments against Christianity held by the pundas, and they are believed.' "Your memorialists submit that as God has in the Bible so strongly revealed his hatred of idolatry, its direct support by increasing his displeasure, who rules among the nations, must more fearfully compromise the safety of the British empire in India, than all the machinations of its foes. "Your memorialists therefore implore you to exert your authority, that Juggernaut and the idols in every part of India, may no longer receive support and honour from the public funds, but may be left entirely to the support of their own votaries." COLLECTANEA. THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S NEW BILL. We have reason to believe that there is no expectation of carrying this obnoxious measure during the present session of Parliament, but the perseverance with which it is endeavoured to arm the bishops with new, and, for many purposes, absolute powers, should cause the clergy to take alarm in time, and previous to the election of their representatives, call attention to the invasion of their rights under cover of introducing a bill for the punishment of immorality. At this very moment, the clergy of the diocese of Exeter are vexed and harassed by the assumption of new powers, and the attempt to enforce new interpretations of the Liturgy and Articles. The Bishop claims the right of examining all curates who come into his diocese, and of interdicting such as refuse to subscribe to his views of baptismal regeneration. Even in the metropolitan diocese we have seen, from a late discussion in parliament, that the Bishop of London is disposed to consider it as a disqualification that a clergyman has been born in Ireland. In truth these are not the days in which it is advisable to arm individuals with new ecclesiastical power, even although those individuals be bishops.The Record. CORRESPONDENCE. HANSERD KNOLLYS SOCIETY. To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine. MY DEAR BROTHER,-Allow me to offer a suggestion through you to the ministers and deacons of baptist churches in reference to this most important society. It is this;-that they should urge on the churches to place in their libraries, if they have libraries, or if not in their vestries, copies of the society's books from its commencement. I beg their attention to the following reasons: 1. The volumes are exceedingly valuable, highly honourable to the denomination, and calculated to sustain in our churches the devout, indomitable, truth-loving spirit of their authors. The two already published have given the fullest satisfaction to 1300 subscribers. 2. The subscription is so small (only 10s. 6d. a year), that every church can afford it. For this sum we received two volumes last year, which would have cost 248. in the usual course of trade. And should this appeal induce only 600 churches to subscribe, we should have three such volumes. 3. As the society prints only the number of volumes subscribed for, they will soon be lost to the public generally; but if found, as they ought to be, in all our chapels, our Sunday-school teachers and members will continue to read them for generations to come. 4. We can hardly conceive a cheaper way for the poorest church to gain in a short time a library whose value can never diminish. 5. We may notice the exceeding appropriateness of these works to the times in which we live. Their elevated piety, their descriptions of suffering for principle, their noble anti-state-church spirit (baptists being the first since the reformation resolutely to deny they right of the civil powers to interfere with religion), all unite to render them just the books we now want. . I would also respectfully suggest to the council to send a circular to each of our churches, requesting the minister and deacons to bring the subject before their first churchmeeting, since many churches may not see this letter; and no time should be lost in giving the orders. May I hope that so practical a suggestion as this to aid a most valuable society by enriching ourselves will not be forgotten as soon as read? Much depends on the minister's zeal in the cause. FRANCIS CLOWES. Horton College, May 8, 1847. PETITIONS TO PARLIAMENT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT GRANT TO JUGGERNAUT. To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine. MY DEAR SIR,-Favour me with a corner in your columns to request your numerous readers to consider the fact at which "the ears of every one that heareth should tingle," that the British authorities in India still make an annual grant of 36,000 rupees to the rajah and temple of Juggernaut in Orissa! A memorial was presented by deputation on this subject to Sir J. C. Hobhouse, on Thursday last, and a similar document is given to John Poynder, Esq., to be presented to the Courts of Directors and Proprietors. It would arouse the attention of the India Board and the Directors, if twenty or fifty petitions upon this "abomination that maketh desolate" were sent to Parliament before Mr. Poynder brings forward his motion on the 23rd proximo. Who of our zealous friends of the mission will promptly act upon this suggestion? "The king's business requireth haste." I would add, some memorials couched in similar language to the Courts of Directors and Proprietors forwarded to John Poynder, Esq., South Lambeth, London, would much help the cause. The church must not sleep, nor allow these downy lords to sleep, while they encourage obscenity, misery, and woe. Yours in Christ, JAMES PEGGS. Burton-on-Trent, May 15, 1847. EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT. The proceedings against our baptist brethren in France, of which details were given in April and May, have engaged the aitention of the committee of the Baptist Union, and of zealous friends in different parts of the country. Measures are adopted to pro. cure additional information, and our readers may rest assured that due vigilance will be shown. In the meantime, it is hoped that public bodies will take care not to give such expression to their feelings as might furnish an occasion to the adversaries of our suffering brethren to avail themselves of the sensitiveness of the French people in respect to English influence, and plead that the national honour requires perseverance in the course which has been commenced. It may turn out to be an advantage to the brethren who have been fined, that there is neither real nor apparent connexion between them and any society in England; and prudence requires that we should carefully abstain from everything that could be construed into dictation on the subject from any part of the British public. We shall be anxious to learn the course pursued by the judicial authorities and the executive powers in France, and to communicate the facts to our readers; but we know enough already to warrant the offering of fervent and united prayer on behalf of those worthy men against whom legal decisions have been pronounced, and their coadjutors. Many of our readers will unite with us in regretting that we are likely to lose the pleasure of personal intercourse with our valued friend, Dr. Davies, of Stepney College. Family reasons lead him to wish to return to Canada, and he will probably leave this country, with Mrs. Davies and their children, in the course of the summer. Important changes are taking place in the management of the New Asylum for Infant Orphans, at Stamford Hill, which demand the attention of its supporters. We are authorized to say that Mr. Joseph Tritton has resigned the Treasurership, and only discharges its duties till a successor is appointed. We believe that Mr. Sherman also has resigned the office of Secretary. It affords us much pleasure to find that a very large number of intelligent men coincide with us in an opinion which we have for some time entertained, that at the approaching general election the true policy of dissenters will be, in most cases, to hold themselves aloof from the turmoil, and refrain from voting. During the last few years it has seemed to us that many pious people, connected both with the established and the dissenting churches, have devoted too much attention and energy to political strife. Pious churchmen have done so, thinking it important to support those statesmen who pledged themselves most decidedly to the maintenance of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Pious dissenters have done so, thinking it important to keep out of office that party which seemed to be identified with high church principles. These have made large sacrifices on behalf of political men, who, though they did not accord with them in their religious views, seemed to belong to the better class of legislators; influenced, not so much, however, by a desire to bring them into parliament, as by a desire to keep others out whose hostility they dreaded. Gratitude has also actuated dissenting voters extensively, though it has rather been gratitude for promises than for performances. It is evident, however, that during the last ten years at least, very little has been gained by that course, while we have lost much of that moral influence which is the basis of our real strength. Assuredly we have reaped nothing sufficient to compensate us for the employment of that precious time which might have been expended in the promotion of loftier objects, or even for the sacrifices of property and commercial prosperity which many have made on behalf of the political party to which we were attached, and which has repaid us by acting in defiance to our expressed wishes, and treating our remonstrances with scorn. We are glad therefore to find that many influential gentlemen who have been very active in the elections of the last twenty years, have determined that unless it be in favour of candidates who appear to be so far enlightened as to perceive the evil of that union between the church and the state which is producing consequences of the most portentous character, they will at the coming election abstain even from voting. They will thus make themselves understood, at length, by the statesmen who have solicited, received, and betrayed their confidence; and the aspect of the times seems to us to require that every protestant dissenter should withhold his aid especially from the members of that party which is more than any other intent on inflicting upon us another ecclesiastical establishment, by endowing the Roman catholic priesthood. The churches on the Continent have sustained a heavy loss in the death of M. Vinet, author of an admirable Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction and upon the Separation of Church and State, and of many other valuable works, some of which have been translated and published in this country and in America. His views of Christianity were very clear, and his style of writing was remarkably impressive. M. Vinet was born at Lausanne, in Switzerland, June 17, 1797, so that when he died he had not completed his fiftieth year. Among the many afflictive occurrences which journalists have recently had occasion to record, is the death of Dr. Traill, whose excellent Translation of the Wars of Josephus has been repeatedly mentioned to our readers. He was the rector of West Schull in Ireland, and has fallen a victim to his exertions to alleviate the sufferings of his parishioners from the famine and pestilence with which they were visited. His translation of the Jewish War had however been completed some months ago, and the prepations made for other departments of the were so far advanced that it will be carried forward, we are informed, with un- An undertaking is contemplated, which in the hands of so eminent a biblical scholar as Dr. Kitto, the projector, is likely to prove eminently useful to students of theology. It is a Journal of Sacred Literature-a quarterly publication at the price of six shillingsintended to enable different denominations and different countries to impart to one another whatever they know that is likely to advance the general interests of biblical science. Dr. Kitto proposes, with the cooperation of the Englishmen and foreigners most eminent for this species of knowledge, to produce such a theological journal as this country has not yet seen; "a publication which shall keep us acquainted with all that has been done and is doing by the biblical scholars of the European continent and of North America, and in whose pages such of them as now live may interchange the results of their researches with our own writers;" "a publication which proposes to combine with the fulness of matter which characterizes continental investigations, that good sense and that reverence for sacred things by which the researches of British scholars are honourably distinguished." All persons who take any interest in the design, and are disposed to afford it real encouragement, are invited to send their names as subscribers, without delay, to the editor, Dr. Kitto, Woking, Surrey, or to friends who are known to be in communication with him. Such persons will undertake to give the publication a year's trial; but will not be expected to take it in longer, if it has then failed to give them satisfaction. The first number will be published as soon as the requisite number of subscribers have sent in their names. A series of Tracts is about to appear, on "The Sanctification of the Sabbath," of which the first number has just issued from the press. It is written by Dr. Wardlaw, and its object is to give a concise summary of the argument in support of the early origin, and the universal and permanent obligation of the sabbath, and of the change, under the Christian dispensation, of the seventh day of the week to the first. Fourteen others are announced, to be written by eminent ministers of different denominations, some relating to the authority for observing the day, and some to the application of the principles laid down to railways, Sunday mails, and "Other preva lent Forms of Sabbath Desecration," |
