We have now commenced operations in good earnest in the south of England, and to all who are acquainted with the views, feelings, and temporal and spiritual condition of; the people, it presents to us a most promising field of labour. Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bath, Exeter, Plymouth, Salisbury, and Southampton, are all great centres of operation. Established in these places, we could soon extend our influence to the adjacent towns and villages, and thus prove that we are endeavouring to act worthy of our great commission. But when are we to occupy this field? We commenced the Bolton mission three years ago, and God blessed the effort and said most encouragingly, Go forward; but if it be only at the rate of one station in three years, most of our ministers will be worn out, and, most likely, many of us, together with great numbers of our members, be reposing in the grave, before our banner waves in all the great cities of the land. Shall this mournful thought be realized? Ten thousand praying men say, "No! we have found work to do and we will do it while it is called to-day.' Let all, even the poorest, give fervent prayers and holy influence, and let all who can, in addition to these, give money, give liberally and continuously, and in six or seven years our desires will be realized. Then news from the south shall kindle the ardour of the north, conversions here shall provoke to holy emulation there, until the south shall become independent and the north shall be greatly invigorated and enlarged, and then both shall rise, full of the purity and power of the Gospel, to devise and carry out large plans of aggression on the kingdom of Satan in the dark places of the earth. May the mighty God keep us! Amen and amen! Bristol. J. WILSON. OUR OPENING AT BIRKENHEAD.-For many years the Liverpool Circuit has been confined to three places in the town, and the preachers have passed on consecutively from one chapel to another with little or no variation. This has been a matter of regret, especially to those friends who were anxious to see our cause expanding in this part of the country. True, a town like this is a Circuit in itself; but still there are many important and rising towns and villages in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, where the Methodist New Connexion may successfully raise the standard of truth and religious liberty. The western banks of the far-famed Mersey are literally studded with populous villages, and in the midst of these stands the town of Birkenhead. A desire was long felt to add this place to the Liverpool Circuit, but circumstances prevented its accomplishment. com At length it was resolved to take the necessary steps for effecting an opening there; and, though no suitable place of worship could be obtained, we menced operations by a camp meeting, on the 8th of July. Notice was given by bills extensively circulated in the neighbourhood; and, at the time appointed, we found ourselves surrounded by a very numerous and respectable audience. The Revs. W. Baggaly, J. Bensley (who has engaged to supply this Circuit on the Sabbath until Conference), and C. Ward preached, and several other brethren conducted the devotional services on the occasion. In the evening, Messrs. Tilston, Fowler and Preston addressed the people in a touching and profitable manner, and announced for similar services there on the following Sabbath. Next Lord's day the Rev. W. Baggaly preached again in the open air, and Mr. Coventry in the evening. Those services have been zealously followed up and accompanied by a sermon from the Circuit preachers every Wednesday evening. A small class was formed, which has received several accessions, and promises to do well. We trust Providence will ere long open our way to a suitable sanctuary in some convenient situation, and crown the labours of his servants with abundant success. The Society thus formed numbers several excellent friends from the Potteries, who are now employed at Seacombe, where our estimable friend Mr. Goodwin, from Longton, has opened a new establishment on a very extensive scale. We commend this infant cause to the GREAT HEAD of the Church, by whose blessing the little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a great people. Liverpool, September, 1852. STOCKPORT CIRCUIT.-ANNUAL TEAMEETING. For a considerable period, the general yearly expenditure of this Circuit has been defrayed, partly by the proceeds of an annual tea-meeting and partly by private subscriptions. On the evening of Wednesday, August 25th, the annual meeting was held in the school-room at Portwood. Our esteemed friend, Charles Robe, Esq., presided; and addresses were delivered by the Revs. J. Henshaw, H. Watts, T. W. Ridley, J. Graham, W. B. Davis (Baptist), E. W. Makinson, M.A., and W. Jenkinson, Esq. The meeting was of a most gratifying character. The speeches were interesting and impressive, and ad· mirably suited to the occasion which called them forth. Nearly 300 persons were present, all of whom appeared much delighted with the evening's proceedings. T. D. C. MONTHLY RECORD. NEW ERUPTION OF ETNA.-A magnificent eruption of Mount Etna, the first since 1843, was witnessed on the 20th of August. A letter from Catania states that, at eight P.M. of the 20th of August, a party of English, composed of Captain and Mrs. Hallett, two Misses Sankey, the Hon. Lieutenant Finch, 68th Light Infantry, and Lieutenant Ravenhill, Royal Engineers, with three guides, three muleteers, and a servant, together with eleven mules, left Nicolini, with an intention of ascending Mount Etna, and taking a shelter at the Casa Inglese. At eleven o'clock the party, in excellent spirits, reached the Bosco, where they put on their light clothing. Passing the Bosco about two miles, the huge crater below Etna, called the Colossi, glared awfully, and shortly threw up large bodies of fire and smoke. Immediately after, Etna vomited forth its fire and ashes. The scene was indescribably grand heaven and earth presented one magnificent glare of light, Etna above vomiting its sulphuric flames, the Colossi below belching forth its dense masses of smoke, lurid from the furnace below; the huge mountain poured out from its interior prolonged moanings; without, the hurricane roared in all its mighty and awful majesty. The party were exposed to the greatest danger, but they returned in safety. Some villages and pasture-lands are reported to have been seriously damaged. DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.-His Grace the Duke of Wellington died at Walmer Castle, on Tuesday, September 14. The telegraphic despatch which announced this startling and melancholy event describes it as having occurred about half-past three o'clock, "after a succession of fits." It appears that when the Duke was seized by the illness which had this melancholy termination, an electric message was sent to summon Dr. Williams to Walmer Castle; but before the physician had time to reach the station at London-bridge another telegraphic despatch had arrived there announcing the Duke's decease. His death will occasion a great chasm in that world to which public admiration is directed. With the exception of the sovereign, no one has for years enjoyed so great a share of the nationa respect. It is impossible not to be in some measure affected by the grief which will take so firm a hold on the minds of thousands. His brothers-inarms will have lost the great loadstone which has enchained their admiration for years. His political friends and enemies will each mourn the departure of one who has commanded the irrepressible deference of both. It is gratifying to state that for some time the Duke has manifested great respect for religion, and has been regular in his attendance on divine worship. ANCIENT WOOD.-Some sound beams, formed from the wood of the mulberrytree, have been found in the ruins of Nineveh, where they are supposed to have been placed at least 700 years before the birth of Christ. REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF LONGEVITY. In April last, died, in Brooklyn, New York, Mrs. Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, at the patriarchal age of 145 years. This venerable old lady was equally remarkable for plurality of husbands as for length of days. She had been united to no fewer than eight partners, four in Scotland and four in America. She was amazingly active, and her eyesight never failed her. Thirty children survive to lament her death, which an antediluvian could hardly call premature.-Morning Advertiser. FREE LIBRARIES.-Manchester has taken the initiative in the laudable desire now extensively felt to supply books on all subjects, free of charge, to the working-classes in our large towns. By an Act, 13 & 14 Vic., c. 65, passed in 1850, and called "The Public Libraries Act," municipal corporations can levy a rate to meet the expenditure of such institutions. Manchester, ever forward in works of magnanimity, or utility, or charity, has already finished and opened its "Free Library." The ceremony of opening took place on the 2nd inst. in presence of distinguished noblemen, M.P.s, several famed in the circles of the literali, and a large assembly of ladies and gentlemen. The library contains 16,013 volumes, purchased at a cost of £4,282. AN APPEAL BY THE MISSIONARY COMMITTEE TO THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION, ON THE INCREASED CLAIMS OF THE MISSIONARY CAUSE DEAR BRETHREN,-The last Conference determined, under the recommendation of the Missionary Committee, to enlarge the operations of the Society by opening several new stations in the populous towns of our own country. Bristol was selected as the first of the series, and the Rev. James Wilson, whose faithful labours at Bolton have been abundantly honoured of God, was appointed thereto. Bristol has been selected, not only as a town important in itself, but as the centre of a wide district reaching and connecting our remote and isolated outposts at Truro, London, and Birmingham. With increased agencies there must be an increased expenditure, and if the Mission Fund is to be kept free from debt, and the General Treasurer free from embarrassment, the annual income of the Society must be augmented to £3000. The Methodist New Connexion Missionary Society was founded by the Conference in 1825, and the whole income of the following year was £386 17s. 7d., of which sum £73 5s. 9d. was raised in Ireland. In 1835, the income had advanced to £714 1s. 64d., which was raised in England. In 1846, the income was £2,068; and the last year, £2,013, including £51 raised by Bolton. The income of the Society, as thus given, indicates great unsteadiness, partly arising from the state of trade, and partly from the spiritual condition of the Connexion. A great augmentation is shown between the income of 1826 and 1852; but the income of last year was below that of 1846, although we are more in number both in congregations and members, and have, at least, an equally prosperous trade. Our efforts in the great work of the world's evangelization have been feeble and intermittent, deficient not only in system but in Christian earnestness. We are now an adult and established community, and if we possess the principles, the life of the true Church of God, that life should manifest itself in corresponding acts. A tree in its first years may bear no fruit-it is struggling for life-rooting itself in the earth, throwing out branches, and filling them with the sap needful to future fertility. So with our Connexion: we had to struggle during a number of years for mere existence-to expound and defend our principles, to apply those principles in a wise and harmonious government, to found and adjust our institutions, &c. But now, by the blessing of the Highest, we have outgrown our infancy and pupilage; and as the responsibilities of spiritual manhood attach to us, it behoves that we address ourselves in earnest to the duties thereof. Those duties, while they include all that is needful to self-edification, go far beyond it. The Jewish Church had a local shrine, and a priesthood whose course was equally local and restricted. But the Christian Church is not confined to Jerusalem or Gerizim, and its ministers are to go and teach all nations. The one Church was stationary; the other is aggressive. The one received proselytes when they presented themselves at her altar; the other goes out to seek in order to save the lost. We have acted too much in the spirit of the old and abrogated dispensation too little in the spirit of those who were ever pressing to the regions beyond. The conviction of this fact has of late greatly advanced amongst us, both in breadth and intenseness. The New Connexion has doubtless been called to bear witness to the scriptural liberty of the Church of Christ, but its most important mission is to evangelize. Without depreciating the former, the latter has claims upon us commandant as the soul, solemn as eternity, and imperative as the mandates of the Judge of all. The General Committee have long felt that the Connexion ought to do more, and, without wishing to diminish either our sympathies or our services toward Ireland and Canada, they regard the neglected population of our own country as having the first claims upon our endeavours. The Liverpool Conference resolved to appropriate one-fourth of the Mission income to the establishment of a Home Mission. Up to last Conference, however, only one new station had been opened; but the delay had been occasioned solely by the want of funds, and the Conference and the Committee were restrained, by the pledges they had given, from incurring debts by expending more than the liberality of the Connexion placed at their disposal. They therefore brought up the subject for the renewed deliberation and sanction of the last Conference, when the following resolutions were unanimously passed, viz: That, in the opinion of this Conference, the time has arrived for opening an additional Home Missionary station; and, as the city of Bristol has been repeatedly named in our Conferences and published documents, as presenting one of the most eligible fields of labour, not only on account of its situation and the number and character of its inhabitants, but also because friends once united with us in different Circuits are now residing there, some of whom have expressed a willingness to aid us in our operations-the Conference resolves that Bristol be considered as a Home Missionary station, and that the Stationing Committee appoint a suitable married preacher to labour there the ensuing year, under the direction of the Missionary Committee. "That, looking to the feeling which pervades the Connexion for the extension of our Mission both at home and abroad, and the desirableness of largely increasing the missionary income, the Conference, while thankful to those Circuits who put forth their efforts in the way of collections, is more abundantly thankful to those other Circuits who add private subscriptions to their public collections; and, considering this the more excellent rule, most earnestly recommends it to the adoption of the whole of the Circuits: and, as such, directs all superintendents, in connexion with the other authorities, to carry out this plan in the ensuing year, and also to economize the local expenses as far as possible. "That the Conference, delighted with the growing popularity of the juvenile efforts which are making, and with the increased amounts raised by our young friends, feels great pleasure in thanking them for their exertions during the past year, and the Missionary Committee is requested to prepare and circulate a plan of proceedings, so that juvenile associations may be organized in every part of the Connexion. "That the Missionary Committee be charged with a special appeal to the Connexion, showing the amount which will have to be raised to meet the enlarged views and extended object of our people, placing before our Circuits and Societies, and especially before our juvenile friends, what has to be done, and urging upon them the most effectual way of accomplishing it without delay." In discharge of the special duty thus imposed upon them, the Committee, after a full consideration of the means best calculated to accomplish the object proposed, recommend the following general plan; viz. : 1. That as many of the friends in each Circuit as may be able be respectfully requested to increase their annual subscriptions to FIVE POUNDS. Not a few of those friends who now give only one pound, may and therefore ought to give five pounds; and many of those who give only a few pence to a weekly or monthly collector may give one or two pounds. It is also requested that these annual subscribers pay their money to the Secretary or Treasurer of the Committee connected with the place in which they reside; and that a list of the whole be prepared and read at the public-meeting every year, not to compliment the givers, but to stimulate others to imitate their example. 2. That the list of collectors be revised and their numbers increased, with districts, as far as practicable, assigned to them, so as to enable them to canvas the whole territory of a town or neighbourhood. They should be met regularly by the minister and Committee to pay in their moneys, and to be encouraged in their work. 3. That the whole of the collectors in a Circuit be convened in some central place once a-year, that one may hear what another is doing, and that, as the result of their combined wisdom and experience, they may adopt those plans which are found to be most successful. If possible, this meeting should be held when the Conference deputation may be present. Such a meeting could not fail to do good, not only in equalizing the missionary zeal by diffusing it throughout the Circuit, but would raise it everywhere to more intense ardour, and also give greater wisdom and vigour to its practical operations. 4. Public meetings, preceded by appropriate Sabbath services and collections, should be held in every place, however small the building, and a band of collectors, sustained by a suitable committee, should be organized. 5. In order that properly-organized Juvenile Missionary Societies may be established in connexion with our Sabbath and day-schools, the following plan is recommended : a. That a Committee be appointed at a teachers' meeting, to consist of teachers and elder scholars, together with a treasurer and secretary. b. That this Committee distribute books and cards among the scholars, and make the necessary arrangements for the money being paid weekly into the hands of the treasurer. c. That where there is an objection to carry the missionary-box round the school every Sabbath, it will be found a good plan to hold a quarterly missionary meeting of the school, at which addresses should be delivered by the teachers and others, and a collection made. d. That annual missionary meetings be held on the Sabbath afternoon in every school, or in the chapel connected therewith, and, where practicable, a sermon be preached suitable to the young. Short and simple resolutions may also be moved and seconded, and may be diversified by singing, or by suitable recitations by the scholars, &c., so as to give the whole proceedings a lively and popular character. e. That a tea-meeting, comprising all the schools in the Circuit, be held in some place most convenient, once a year, to which all the |