and important help. We cordially commend "THE AMAZON;" A Sermon, preached at St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, upon the destruction of the above noble steam-ship by Fire, on the second Sunday morning after the terrific Catastrophe, January 18, 1852. By the Rev. WILLIAM BLOOD (one of the Survivors), Incumbent of Temple Grafton, Warwickshire. 8vo. pp. 24. Aylott and Jones. THOSE who wish to have a realizing impression of this truly appalling shipwreck, and of the striking Providences by which, in some happy instances, life was preserved, should forthwith possess themselves of this most affecting sermon, which contains a heartrending narrative of facts by one almost miraculously saved from the devouring elements of fire and water. THE REV. THOMAS LEWIS. Obituary. IN his seventy-fifth year, this devoted and honoured servant of Christ was called to his rest and reward, on Monday, the 1st of March. The solemn event was preceded by a lengthened period of suffering and debility, which he bore with meek and cheerful resignation to the Divine will;-on all occasions indicating the deep humility and fervent piety which so peculiarly adorned his character. For more than forty years our deceased friend, by Divine grace, proved himself one of the most efficient pastors in or about the metropolis. His congregations were large, the membership of his church was numerous, and the readiness of his flock to every good word and work, such as to confer on them an enviable distinction. When years multiplied, and infirmities began to press upon him, he gracefully yielded to the idea of a colleague; and thus preserved the cause with which he had so long been associated from the depression which it might otherwise have sustained. The kind and gentle influence exerted by Mr. Lewis in the Direction of the London Missionary Society, of which he was a steady and attached member, will be long and gratefully remembered. We will venture to say of him, with full confidence that we cannot be mistaken, that his brethren, who acted with him for so many years, will ever think of him and of his fellowships as approaching nearer to Christian perfection than is common in this imperfect state of being. All loved him,-all confided in him,-all respected his prudent and temperate counsels. We never saw him heated, we never found his calm judgments mistaken, we never found it unsafe to vote on the side of his convictions. He was no party-man ;-he shrunk from controversy;-but, if truth required that sacrifices should be made, he knew how to vanquish the quietude of his nature, and boldly to defend the right. The funeral solemnities of this singularly excellent man proclaimed more loudly than any eulogies of his brethren the esteem in which he was held. All Islington, Churchmen and Dissenters, did him honour. To the credit of human nature, denominational distinctions were lost sight of;-and a sojourner in the neighbourhood of Union Chapel, on Saturday, the 6th of March, might have felt convinced that "a prince and a great man had fallen in Israel." The town of Islington, for it is no longer a village, seemed as if clad in mourning. So impressive is goodness. The chapel, in which he had so long officiated, was crowded; and every countenance indicated bereavement. Dr. Henderson read appropriate Scriptures, Rev. xiv., 1 Thess.iv., and 1 Cor. xv., when the Rev. J. Watson, of Hackney College, his first colleague, pro nounced a most eloquent and appropriate funeral oration, which, for depth of thought and tenderness of sentiment has rarely been exceeded. The funeral procession then moved to the Abney Park Cemetery, when the Rev. Henry Allon, Mr. Lewis's valued co-pastor and successor, addressed the assembled spectators in a tone of great simplicity and earnestness. May the God of love soothe and comfort the heart of the sorrowing widow, and sanctify the painful bereavement which has been experienced, to children and children's children! We hope to furnish a Memoir of our beloved friend for May. REV. THOMAS WEAVER, OF SHREWSBURY. On Friday afternoon, the 13th of February, in his seventy-seventh year, the venerable and Reverend Thomas Weaver, more than fifty-three years the beloved minister at Swan Hill Chapel, Shrewsbury. His death was literally a translation. In usual health he put off the earthly tabernacle in a moment. "He walked with God, and was not, for God took him." The following Friday the remains were deposited in the same grave in which he placed those of Mrs. Weaver, in the burial ground at the back of the meeting-house. The Rev. Joseph Pattison, of Wem, officiated at the funeral, assisted by the Rev. W. Thorp, whose connexion with Mr. Weaver in the co-pastorate was a source of uninterrupted comfort and satisfaction both to the departed saint, and the now afflicted, but, happily, Mr. Thorp surviving, not destitute church and congregation. The honour done to Mr. Weaver at the last solemnities was great and striking. THE REV. STEPHEN MORELL, OF LITTLE ON the 13th of February, this truly venerable and faithful servant of the Lord Jesus fell asleep, in the 79th year of his age. During a protracted ministry, his private virtues shed lustre on his official character. His excellent memory will long be cherished in the sphere in which, for so many years, he laboured for the glory of God and the good of souls. His career was one of wisdom, piety, and unostentatious usefulness. Home Chronicle. HOME AND SCHOOL FOR THE SONS AND ORPHANS OF MISSIONARIES. In the year 1837, a proposal was made to provide a Home, with suitable Education, for the Children of Missionaries; and, as the result, two schools were successively established at Walthamstow,-one for Girls, the other for Boys. trained to become fellow-labourers with their parents in distant lands. to the heathen, and sacrificing parental pleasures to fulfil the important trust, have they not a right to expect that the churches will care for their children? And should not each Christian receive it as a sacred charge, and regard it as a blessed privilege, thus to lighten the cares and diminish the parental auxieties of those who, in distant lands, are supplying his or her lack of service? Compelled in many cases to part with their children rather than see them sink into an early grave, or imbibe the pollution of the surrounding heathen, may not missionary parents claim this service at the hands of English Christians? Delegated by the The School for the Daughters of Mission-churches at home to do their work of mercy aries has been carried on with most encouraging success to the present day. But unforeseen circumstances, chiefly connected with the tenure of the premises, compelled the Committee of the Boys' School most reluctantly to break up the establishment, and to place the youths in different schools near London. This was, however, regarded as a temporary expedient only, and the Committee have never ceased to feel the importance of providing for the children a home under the eye of friends who will love them for their fathers' sakes,-where their delicate health will receive kind and considerate attentionwhere they may enjoy suitable educational advantages, and where, if God should qualify them by his grace, they may be specially The tomb of many a missionary parent is on a foreign shore, and surely their orphan children have a special claim. Parents! whom no seas divide from your cherished offspring, -Children! blest with the watchful oversight and dear society of Christian parents!-Brothers and Sisters! happy in each others' affectionate companion ship,-take to your hearts these children of many privations-these little strangers in the land of their fathers, and withhold not from them your prayers, and sympathies, and generous assistance. The Committee are thankful in being able to state, that by the generous co-operation of their Christian friends, a fund has been raised exceeding £800, from which they have been enabled to re-open the school in a suitable and healthy locality. They have taken for the purpose the convenient premises, No. 1, Mornington-crescent, Hampstead-road, and have engaged the valuable services of Mr. Lemon, as Master, and of Mrs. Flower, as Matron, whose character and qualifications afford to the Committee the strongest assurance that the improvement and comfort of the pupils will be kindly and assiduously promoted. The Institution was opened on the 16th of January, with a very interesting social and religious service, at which the Rev. Professor Godwin presided. About sixty friends, male and female, together with the pupils, and some of their parents, then in this country, were present on the occasion, and suitable addresses were delivered by the Chairman, the Rev. A. Reed, of Norwich, three Missionary Brethren, about to leave their native shores, and the Rev. Dr. Tidman, and Rev. F. Trestrail, the Secretaries of the Institution. The present expenses of the Institution will exceed £500 per annum; and the Committee therefore earnestly request the generous aid of the Friends of Missions and of Missionaries in this labour of love, by Congregational Collections, Donations, and, above all, by regular Annual Subscriptions. We are gratified to find that the Rev. James Sherman and his generous friends at Surrey Chapel, evinced their love to the Institution, by a collection, on the morning of the 15th January, amounting to £30. ARTHUR TIDMAN, London DR. WATTS's FATHER. We do not hear much of the ancestry of the venerable lyrist; but, that his father took, in political questions, the same liberal views as the son, we may gather from the fact that his evidence before committee appears on the pages of the Commons' Journals in behalf of the popular candidate for Southampton, at the election of 1689-90, 1st William and Mary. Mr. Isaac Watts's testimony is to the effect, that he had known several elections of burgesses to represent the said town; that the "scot and lot" men had always been accustomed to vote; and that members so chosen had sat without opposition. The result was, that Sir Charles Wyndham, the people's candidate, unseated Edward Fleming, Esq., the nominee of the corporation. We offer no positive proof that the Isaac Watts who figures in this controversy was the father of the poet, beyond the presumption derived from name and residence. Perhaps some of our Southampton friends can throw some light on the history of the branch of the family there settled. The Wattses of Cumberland, it is well known, derive their descent from a French adventurer named Wathes, who came over with Stephen of Blois, but their subsequent issues do not wander much towards the southern counties. There is, however, one of them, George Watts, the rich Turkey merchant of Bristol, who, together with a strong predilection for antiquarian pursuits, made himself conspicuous by his zeal for the Protestant succession during James II.'s reign, and in consequence, got into hot water at the time of Monmouth's rebellion. Allied in name and in his principles with his cotemporary at Southampton, it is not impossible that he was connected also in blood. Devizes, 1st March. SOUTHEY'S CROMWELL. (To the Editor.) J. W. SIR,-I wish to present the readers of the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE with an extract from "Southey's Life of Oliver Cromwell," together with some remarks which his observations call forth, from that writer's position being opposed to strict Scriptural views and experience. It is taken from page 8 (Murray, London), viz.: "The language of an evangelical professor concerning his own sins, and the sense of his own wickedness, is no more to be taken literally than that of an amorous sonnetteer, who complains of pains and torments." I would wish that Mr. Southey were alive, in order that my remarks might have been addressed to him personally. Some there are who would cover over the faults of the departed, and who enjoin silence; but we see no reason to abide by such a rule, from the circumstance of his writings being extensively disseminated and perused; thus, "being dead he yet speaks :" "Forth to its work the printed thought proceeds, And who shall track it as it rounds the world?" We unhesitatingly affirm, that Southey's language is an attack upon the truth; and, to that mind which receives it, it must act as a moral poison, causing it to discard those appeals from the pulpit which depict sin, and its doleful consequences upon the soul: and, not only so, but on any cne mentioning to such a disciple of Southey, that he feels that sin has separated him from God, and must condemn him, unless cleansed by the allpowerful application by faith, through the Holy Spirit, of Jesus' blood, the truthful picture will be scouted as wild imagination, equal only to a "sonnetteer's" wanderings to produce effect. Southey wrote much on the Church of England. What would have been his reply, if asked by a person, on his returning from morning service, "What do you mean, Dr. Southey, when you exclaim, addressing the Majesty on high, 'Cleanse thou the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit ?'" Would he have answered, "It is only a form framed for use?" It is to be feared, that all, whether Churchmen, or otherwise, do not sufficiently weigh the import of the words employed in prayer or praise. But if used without a meaning, we have an answer in the same spirit as the lip-service, viz., nothing. We pray for nothing in this sense, and have an answer-barrenness !! Blessed be God for his unspeakable gift. We know that when his Holy Spirit, in mercy and love, moves upon the heart, opening and laying bare the chambers of corrupt imagery in the soul, that the language of the convinced one is to be taken literally, and that the aspiration," God be merciful to me for Jesus' sake," is by no means as the wild view of a "sonnetteer;" neither is the effect produced by new wine," to the force of which defamers in the days of the apostles ascribed the religious awakenings around them. 66 It is a serious thing to treat questions of this character in a trifling way. "What must I do to be saved?" may be, and is the cry of the awakened soul. "Stay the ravings of your distempered spirit," exclaims an unbeliever; and, wonderful as is the nature of the human mind, the first buddings of unbelief may have been cherished, and helped forward to maturity, by perusing the quotation from Dr. Southey which has been given above. How careful we should be what we commit to the press! For, as a living writer remarks in reference to printed thoughts, which fly through the world, "They execute what none save God controls." I know nothing of the closing scene of Southey's life, but would fain desire that "he made signal of his hope," and was assured that vital, experimental Christianity is not a dream-a theory-but a reality. There is another work bound up with "Cromwell's Life," viz., Bunyan's." In the latter, the iniquity of Charles the Second's acts against religious liberty is slighted over, and no mention is made that he was a concealed Papist, which is the key that unlocks the secret of his persecutions. In Cromwell's, also, no notice is taken of his noble defence of the Waldensian Christians of Piedmont,* who were butchered by the Papists; nor of the appeal which he made to his countrymen, as well as to the Protestant states of Europe, for pecuniary aid in the behalf of suffering humanity. These are acts which no monarch has eclipsed, and of which, as a people, we must hold in enduring remembrance. I remain, Sir, truly yours, WILLIAM HEWETT. Fowey, Cornwall, March 8th, 1852. THE "PATRIOT" PAPER.—CELEBRATION OF ITS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY. ON Monday afternoon, March 1st, the Committee of management of the "Patriot " paper celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its existence. The Lord Mayor occupied the chair, and introduced the business of the day by offering some very striking remarks on the necessity of sustaining our denominational literature; and by stating how much he felt personally indebted to the "Patriot" paper, of whose pages he had been a constant reader from its first publication. Mr. J. Mann followed his Lordship, and read letters from Alderman Challis, W. A. Hankey, J. Wilson, S. M. Peto, R. Peek, T. Pewtress, Esqs., expressing their regret at not being able to be present on that auspicious occasion. Mr. J. Conder gave a very luminous and interesting sketch of the history of the paper from the commencement, and paid a high tribute to the character and attainments of the different gentlemen by whom he had been assisted in his editorial work. Mr. J. M. Hare, the sub-editor, expressed the pleasure he had found in the discharge of his duties, and alluded, in the most honourable terms, to the aid he had derived from the judgment and experience of his senior colleague. The meeting was also addressed by the Revs. Dr. Campbell, and T. James. and N. Griffin, C. Pearson, J. Milligan, M.P., T. Dakin, D. Pratt, and J. Low, Esqs. The entire proceedings showed that the "Patriot" paper had been most efficiently conducted, and had rendered very important service in informing the minds of our people on the great public questions of the last twenty years. * Milton's beautiful sonnet will be appreciated here:"Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they To heaven." HOME CHRONICLE. For ourselves, we can only say that we sincerely desire for this valuable journal a circulation commensurate with its merits. HALSTEAD, ESSEX. ON Thursday, Feb. 5th, the Rev. Joseph Waite, B.A., late of Cheshunt College, was ordained as co-pastor with the Rev. John Reynolds, over the Independent Church assembling in the old Meeting-house. The Rev. T. W. Davids, of Colchester, delivered a very the forcible and conclusive discourse on Nature of a Church, and of Ordination according to the principles and examples of the New Testament. The Rev. T. Craig, of Bocking, proposed the usual questions to the church and to the minister. The ordinationprayer was offered by the Rev. John Reynolds, and an affectionate and powerful charge was addressed to the newly-ordained pastor by the Rev. W. H. Stowell, D.D., of Cheshunt College. In the evening, an excellent sermon was preached to the church and congregation by the Rev. S. Steer, of Castle Hedingham. The Revs. Kay, Riggs, Gill, Eastman, Hopwood, Davies, Burgess, E. Waite, Watkinson, and Browne, were also present, and took part in the services. congregations were large, and throughout all the engagements of the day there was a spirit of earnestness, and union, and devoutness, which gave promise of much future prosperity. BATLEY.-DEBT EXTINCTION. The A CONGRATULATORY tea-party was held in the Independent Chapel, on Monday evening, January 5th, when about three hundred persons, with the friends of the place, met to rejoice over the extinction of the debt. After tea, John Crossley, Esq., of Halifax, took the chair, and opened the business of the evening by a brief account of proceedings taken by the West Riding Home Missionary Society, He then which had led to this movement. announced to the meeting that the sum required by the Society from Batley itself had been raised by the friends of the place, and The Society paid over to the treasurer. would, therefore, be prepared to redeem the pledge given to contribute the amount requisite, and now they might pronounce their chapel free of debt. The Rev. J. Hotham thanked the friends of the neighbourhood for the liberal assistance they had rendered, so as to have enabled them to meet the generous proposal of the West Riding churches, to whom he, on behalf of his church and congregation, tendered their warmest thanks for this kind and generous aid. An outline of the history of the place was furnished by the Rev. H. Bean. Congratulatory addresses The The were given during the course of the evening, sustaining the interest of the meeting to its close, by the Rev. R. Martin, Mr. R. Clarkson, Rev. A. Mac Millan, Rev. J. Tattersfield, Rev. C. H. Bateman, Mr. J. Taylor, Rev. J. Reeve, and the Rev. S. Oddie. Rev. R. Willan closed with prayer. original cost of the building was £1650. The debt which was left, but now removed, was £920. Of this sum £500 have been raised by the exertions of the congregation at Batley. THE BAR CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, THE ordination-services on the introduction of the Rev. Robert Balgarnie, late of Cheshunt College, to the pastoral office in the above church, were held on Wednesday and Thursday, the 4th and 5th of February. The morning service commenced at eleven o'clock, when the Scriptures were read and prayer offered by Rev. E. Gatley, of Thirsk. The Rev. G. W. Conder, of Leeds, in a very lucid and impressive discourse, defended the principles of Congregationalism, and the Scriptural freedom and individual action of churches. The Rev. J. C. Potter, of Whitby, proposed a series of questions to the pastorelect, and having received from him the confession of his faith, commended him to God by prayer and the imposition of hands. The morning service was closed by Rev. J. Hoyle, B.A., of Pickering. The Revs. G. Thomas, J. Collier, B. Backhouse, also engaged in the devotional parts of the service. In the evening the services were resumed at half-past six o'clock. The Rev. B. Evans commenced with prayer and reading the Scriptures. The Rev. George Smith, of London, delivered a faithful, affectionate, and deeply interesting charge to the minister, and the Rev. Newman Hall, B.A., of Hull, preached an eloquent and most impressive discourse to the people. The church was filled throughout the day by large congregations. On the Thursday evening a soirée was held in the Town Hall. On this occasion there was an immense gathering of friends of all denominations (hundreds being unable to obtain admittance), to give welcome to the new pastor. The meeting was ably presided over by Sir William Lowthrop, and addressed by Revs. B. Evans (Baptist), J. Collier, R. Felvin (Wesleyans), P. Harland (Primitive), M. Baxter (Wesleyan Association), J. C. Potter, and E. Gatley. Mr. Evans, as senior minister of the town, publicly gave to Mr. Balgarnie the right hand of fellowship as a fellow-labourer in this part of the Lord's vineyard. |