slight apprehension of the dying struggle; but finding the sweat of death on her brow, she said, "I know what it is," and without a particle of the anticipated tremor, wiped the cold perspiration from her face, looking with the benignity of an angel on all around her. At one o'clock on the morning of the 11th, she was asked if she would like a particular friend to be sent for. She said, "Yes." Being asked what message should be sent to him, her reply was, "Tell him I am now in death's cold embrace, but I am safe in the arms of Jesus, and on my road to heaven."

At half-past four o'clock, after a whole night of dreadful physical conflict, sustained by the most perfect religious peace, Emily Parker fell asleep in Jesus, aged nineteen years and one month.

Can you then doubt the eternal and blessed truth which Christ utters in the text, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me"? Can you aflirm that aught but Christianity, vividly realized in its most precious truths, could have produced such a character, or such a death-bed, as we have portrayed? Can my dear young friends hear of such a life, followed by such a death, without determining to surrender themselves, without delay, to Christ? Does not a voice from the peaceful tomb of Emily Parker say to many a youthful listener to the Word this evening, "Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh"? The great deception with multitudes is, that they are hoping, by and by, to give attention to the concerns of the soul. Now, dear friends, let me solemnly remind you, that there is nothing future in the provisions of Divine mercy for guilty sinners. If you should deter nine to repent tomorrow morning, or when you retire from this sanctuary, I can hold out no hope that the repentance would avail. It is a present

salvation from sin and guilt you need; and it is a present salvation that is offered to your acceptance. Now you may be healed. The great Physician is here to heal every poor sinner that applies to him. Fall down at his feet, then, and let your prayer be, "Lord, save-I perish." Believe in Him-take hold of Him by faith, and you shall be saved.

Trevor Chapel Sunday-schicol children! another of your former companions has entered heaven. Will you not determine to follow her, and to meet her hereafter in the bright region of peace? The Saviour who loved her, and whom she loved, and who has taken her to himself, is as willing to take you to the bosom of his love as Emily Parker. Give that throbbing heart of yours to Christ, to purify it by his precious blood, and to make it the temple of the Holy Ghost. Will not the young in general, who have listened to the details of the evening, cry unto God, from this time, "My Father, thou art the guide of my youth" ?

Happy parents, though now bathed in tears, who were blessed with such a child! Yield not to undue grief; for it is well with the child-well for eternity. Behold "the maid is not dead, but sleepeth." She is in high consciousness and bliss with her Redeemer, in her better part; and as it respects her sleeping dust, he will, at the appointed time, bid it rise. You shall soon meet her, a glorified spirit in heaven; and she who was so grateful for all your kindness on earth will welcome you into everlasting mansions. One question, and I sit down. Is there one member of the family to be a missing when Christ makes up his jewels? Does any heart forebode such a catastrophe? Welcome the foreboding, and while it is yet day, and while Christ is waiting to be gracious,-go to the cross, and there devote yourself to the all-compassionate and omnipotent Friend of sinners.

PROSPERITY AT HOME."

DEAR SIR, Those of your readers who were not previously acquainted with the fact, have doubtless been much gratified to learn, from Mr. Knill's letter in last month's Magazine, that a "series of efforts" at chapel-building have been put forth in Gloucestershire during the past year. Having reference to the new places built, or building, at Cheltenham, Gloucester, Kingswood, and Wottonunder-Edge, our friend writes, "Even Middlesex can show nothing like this." He will be delighted to find Middlesex can show twice

as many new places within the same period: -City-road, Bethnal-green-road, Tottenham, Egham, Southgate-road, Bedford New Town, Caledonian-road, Clapton; in addition to these, all "spacious and elegant" chapels, and opened since May, 1850, with the excep tion of Clapton, which is progressing, there have been four erected during the last two years, in the suburbs, on the Surrey side of the river; and in the last Report of the London Congregational Chapel-Building Society, our friend will find the following paragraph:"The entire number of new Congregational

HACKNEY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, AND SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

THE Forty-eighth Anniversary of this Society was held on Wednesday, the 25th June, at Union Chapel, Islington.

After prayer by the Rev. E. Mannering, James Glode Stapelton, Esq., the Treasurer, took the chair, and called on the Secretary to read the Report. A resolution for its adoption, and for filling up vacancies in the Committee, was moved by the Rev. H. Allon, and seconded by W. Leavers, Esq.; and the Rev. J. Stoughton, of Kensington, then preached on the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which it is the object of the Institution to make known. The Rev. C. R. Howell closed the service with prayer.

The Report stated, that during the last six months there had been fourteen students in the Seminary. Three were about to leave the Institution, having completed their studies; two of whom were shortly to sail for Tahiti in the "John Williams,"-Mr. Lind, who had been educated as a Missionary student for the London Missionary Society, without charge; and Mr. Spencer, who has offered himself to that Society, and been accepted. Mr. Spencer is the twelfth student who has proceeded from the Seminary to foreign missionary stations under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. The classical and theological exeminations were conducted by the Rev. R. Redpath, A.M., who bore testimony to the assiduity and zeal with which the students are prosecuting their several studies, with every prospect of many of them becoming wellfurnished and useful ministers of the gospel.

About £150 has been appropriated to the propagation of the gospel in the rural districts. There is a balance due to the Treasurer of £74.

PROVINCIAL.

HODDESDON ANNIVERSARY.

ON the 6th May, this interesting service was held, when the Rev. Dr. Morison preached in the morning, and the Rev. John Stoughton in the evening. On this occasion, the balance due for the building and fittings was entirely cleared off. The chapel was commenced in 1846, and opened in 1847. It cost very nearly £1500, and it is now free from all encumbrance. It is a beautiful little chapel,

quite a model of elegant simplicity. We congratulate our excellent friend, the Rev. William Ellice, on the success which has attended his energetic efforts in the rural village where Divine Providence has cast his lot.

POVERTY OF MINISTERS.

(To the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine.) DEAR SIR,-Amongst the readers of your excellent journal, there are doubtless many rich persons of various denominations. I would hope that there are some of this class to whom it would be only necessary to propose a charitable plan, to ensure the exercise of their liberality. The poverty of many devoted ministers, both in the Establishment and out of it, is a great scandal to the church of Christ; and the mental suffering endured from this cause, by men of a liberal and learned education, is terrible in the extreme. When reflecting on this subject lately, a plan occurred to my mind, which, if reduced to practice, would in many instances greatly ameliorate this unhappy state of things. Let the rich Christian in any particular locality inquire who of the worthy ministers of the neighbourhood is in straitened circumstances, and regularly remit to him, half-yearly or annually, such a contribution as his conscience tells him he can afford. If these communications were anonymous, there would be a beautiful exhibition of delicacy, eminently worthy of the gentleman and the man of feeling, and, what is more, a happy correspondence with the injunction of our blessed Saviour,-"Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth." How often in such a case would the sanctified intellect of the preacher be released as if from fetters, and exert itself with new life and vigour in the service of his Lord and Master! How often would the prayers of the closet comprehend fervent addresses to heaven in favour of the unknown benefactor! Let those generous souls in whom the love of Christ burns with a zealous flame, act on this suggestion, and assuredly the blessing of God shall be upon them.

Yours very respectfully,
PASTOR RUSTICUS.

BAWTRY.

ON Tuesday, June 17th, the Rev. John Wesson was ordained to the pastorate of the Independent church, Bawtry, Yorkshire. The introductory sermon was preached by the Rev. Samuel Mc All, of Nottingham; the confession of faith was received by the Rev. Joseph Muncaster, of Gainsborough; and the designation prayer was offered by the Rev. Professor Falding, M.A., of Rotherham College; the services of the morning being concluded by a charge to the newly-ordained

THE Rev. George Shaw, of Rotherham College, has accepted a cordial and unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the Independent church at Patricroft, near Manchester. Mr. Shaw entered upon his stated labours on the third Sabbath in July.

THE Rev. H. F. Holmes, of Wendover, Bucks, has received and accepted the cordial and unanimous invitation of the Church assembling in the Independent Chapel, Grovestreet, Boston, Lincolnshire, and entered on his stated ministry there on Sabbath-day, June the 29th.

BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE JEWS, 1, CRESCENT PLACE, BLACKFRIARS.

AMONG the various agencies in operation to extend the dominion of the Lord Jesus, there are very few that possess such claims to the sympathy of the churches of Christ as this. Yet, strange to say, it has not received the amount of support that it is so justly entitled to. Our obligations to the ancient people of God have been forgotten. Generation after generation have been permitted to pass away from the earth, without any attempt being made by the church to diffuse among them the glad tidings of salvation! We, therefore, rejoice that this unsectarian Society exists, and that its constitution and agency render it deserving of the help of all who really love the Redeemer.

At present, the Committee are desirous of calling attention to the Society's operations on the Continent. The readers of this journal are aware that the religious ideas, as well as the social position, of the Jews of Europe, and especially of Germany, have, during the last fifty years, experienced a remarkable series of changes. These changes are justly attributable to Gentile influence. The development of the Jew is necessarily dependent upon that of the people in the midst of whom he dwells. As they are, he aims to be. The reason is obvious. He is conscious of being looked upon with contempt, as a member of an always despised and often proscribed race. Hence, he struggles not only to equal, but to excel his Gentile contemporaries in every path of literature, art, or science open to him. Thus he seeks to make good his claim to respect, when he cannot command esteem or win affection. The sphere of his religious ideas is not exempt from this spirit of emulation; and, therefore, the synagogue has invariably given a clear and vivid reflexion of the forms which the religious life of the German churches has, from time to time, assumed.

When, for example, under the influence of unsound philosophy, and erroneous principles of criticism and interpretation, the divines and

university professors of Germany pronounced the Bible to be a collection of Oriental fables, -when they declared that there was no state of reward, or of retribution after death,—and when they crowned their impiety by denying the personality of God,-the Jew, adopting their principles, imitated their example. The infidelity of the Church produced that of the Synagogue!

On this state of things the Committee are endeavouring to fix the attention of British Christians. It constitutes an almost impregnable barrier in the path of the Missionary. When and where the Talmud was losing, or had lost, its power over the Jewish mind, an opening was found for the introduction of the Scriptures; but now that the Bible itself is placed in the same category with the exploded traditions of the Rabbis, the Society's agents find their need of works that demonstrate the integrity, genuineness, authenticity, and inspiration of the Old and New Testaments. To supply this demand, the Committee ask the help of the churches. We trust that they will not have to ask in vain. Help ought to be rendered at once. But this is not the only reason why it should be so. The Society maintains a college for the education of its Missionaries; it employs nineteen agents, in Palestine, Northern Africa, Gibraltar, Bavaria, Frankfort, France, Holland, London, and in the principal towns in this country. God has smiled upon their efforts. The Scriptures have been circulated where formerly they could gain no entrance, and many who were once the enemies of "the truth as it is in Jesus," have received it "as little children." We therefore trust that the churches will promptly respond to the Society's appeal, and thereby hasten the promised ingathering, which to the Church and to the world will be as "life from the dead."

THE CHURCH OF THE NESTORIANS; OR, THE CHALDEAN CHRISTIANS.

THERE is an interesting chapter in Layard's "Nineveh," devoted to some inquiries into the history of the Nestorian Christians, the chief seat of whose worship-the Kurdish moun

tains, a short distance to the north of the present | Mosul, and consequently of the site of ancient Nineveh Mr. Layard personally visited. Mr. Layard points attention to the fact, that these Christians have never acknowledged the authority of the Church of Rome; whilst from the time of Nestorius, at all events (A.D. 428), in their government and ritual they have maintained an existence distinct wholly, and independent of that church.

Facts are almost daily turning up, helping us to treat with its merited contempt the foolish taunt, cast at the disciples of our present scriptural churches, "Where was your religion before the time of Luther?" Monastier's History of the Church of the Vaudois, -which Romish persecution has never been able either to subject to itself, or to root out of its fastnesses in the wild Alpine home in which God's mercy has for so many ages sheltered it, has done some service in this respect, as the records of that church, in common with those of this now prostrate and fallen Church of the Nestorians, sufficiently prove the existence of an early primitive Church, from which the Romanists, and not us, have dissented.

The charge, therefore, of novelty, of which some are disposed to make so much, if this witness be true, must lie at the door, not of the disciples of Luther, but of Rome.

We merely examine one of these witnesses now, and, as we have intimated, a sadly fallen witness; yet, even in her fallen and reduced condition, repudiating, as stoutly as ever, all connexion with the See of Rome. The facts are taken mostly from Mr. Layard's volume, from whose personal observation all that relates to their present state was supplied.

The Name of the Church.-This deserves a moment's attention. Giesler states, that they were called by their opponents, "Nestorians," though they called themselves "Chaldean Christians," and in India, "Thomas Christians." With these remarks Mr. Layard's observations strikingly accord. He was not able to ascertain, from the Kurdish Christians themselves, the circumstances in which the name "Nestorians" arose; but inclines to the belief, that it originated with the Romish Missionaries, who, in their disappointed attempts to convert the people, may have found it "necessary and politic to treat them as schismatics, and to bestow upon them a title which conveyed the stigma of heresy." By the Chaldeans themselves the name has ever been disallowed. Thus Ebedjesus, a Chaldean writer of the 14th century, asserts, that the Orientals have not changed the truth, but as they received it from the apostles so have they retained it, without variation. They are therefore called "Nestorians," without reason and injuriously: Nestorius ollowed them, and not they Nestorius." The

name still used by the people themselves is "Chaldani," except when designating any particular tribe: and the Patriarch still styles himself, in his letters and official documents, "The Patriarch of the Chaldeans, or of the Christians of the East."

The Doctrine from which their name has arisen.-To speak, first, of the person from whom this doctrine emanated. Nestorius, prior to his elevation to the See of Constantinople, was a Presbyter of Antioch, where, says Neander, and the remark is worthy of our attention, he was "esteemed and celebrated, on account of the rigid austerity of his life, and the impressive fervour of his preaching" two great points, in their way, in the character of "a good minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." One feature in his history stands prominently forward, viz. his habit to take his doctrines, not from the Church, but from the Scriptures. Such, then, was the man who, about the year of our Lord 428, was raised to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The doctrine of the man, however, is far more difficult to get at than his character. Mr. Layard remarks, that, whilst still denying to the Virgin the title "Mother of God,"

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according to the testimony of the ancient Church Historians-"they do not admit, to their full extent, the tenets on account of which they are accused of heresy by the Church of Rome." This fact is of importance in its bearing on the remarks we are about to offer. He further adds, that the distinctions they make on the point in dispute, are however so subtle and refined, that it is difficult for one who discourses with them to understand that which, most probably, they scarcely comprehend themselves." He appends their Confession of Faith-still repeated twice a day by these Chaldean Christians-which professes to have been settled by three hundred and eighteen Holy Fathers at Nice, "in the time of King Constantine the Pious, on account of Arius-the infidel accursed." It agrees almost, in all respects, with the present Nicene Creed. With reference to the person of Christ, their profession of faith runs thus: -"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, before all worlds: who was not created,-the true God of the true God-of the same substance with His Father, by whose hands the worlds were made, and all things were created."

And now for the doctrine of Nestorius, as delivered to us by church historians. To say nothing of the fact, that the correct meaning of the more abstruse distinctions respecting the person of Christ, in which the theology of those distant times delighted to indulge, seems hardly possible, except on a far better knowledge than we possess of the