This difference in what we may term the comparative ripeness of the gospels is further increased by the circumstance, that the first three gospels were compilations, at least in a great degree, from earlier materials; while in the fourth we have a direct outpouring of the apostle's own mind; an outpouring marked by the effusiveness which is characteristic of an old man, dwelling on the memory of former days, and especially on his intercourse with one, his relation to whom had so greatly affected, not only the remaining years of his mortal life, but the hopes and aspirations of his immortal destiny. While in the synoptic gospels, the evangelists thought of what their readers would desire, or what it would

profit them to know, in John this consideration was modified by the influence of what it delighted him to tell. In other words, while their gospels are predominantly objective, his is to a great extent subjective.

These considerations will help us to understand the differences between the synoptic gospels and that of John; and to see how those differences naturally arose out of the different circumstances or temperament or purpose of their respective authors. These differences relate to doctrine, to historical fact, and to the style of the Saviour's teaching; of each of which matters, therefore, it is needful to speak.

J. C. MEANS.

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transpiring.' "Our liberties are at stake!" Expressions of this kind are as familiar to us, and as regular in their occurrence from year to year as the Christmas chimes. Who that has paid any attention to public affairs can remember the time when these startling announcements were not made to the world, and were not made with that peculiar fervency and emphasis which " the importance of the occasion demanded ?" When, indeed, has this country not been

upon the verge of some great catastrophe," or "about to witness unparalleled changes?" Surely no single year of the present century has been altogether free from prognostications of this sort. And very probably the cries we hear to-day are but the echoes of sturdy notes of warning that have rung through the land ever since the time when the Barons claimed and won for themselves and the people the rights and liberties embodied in Magna Charta, and the people themselves, "citizens and burgesses," were allowed a share in the government of the country by admission to the first House of Commons assembled by Henry the Third. And in the church, too, since the famous struggle between Thomas à Becket and Henry the First, and the heralding of evangelical truth by Wickliffe, there has been no lack of

agitation and alarm. Every age, every session of parliament, has had its dangers to encounter, its rights to defend, its charter of freedom in some form or other to do battle for. Every relay of watchmen on the ramparts of truth and liberty has beheld the advance of the foe from some quarter, and found it needful "to warn the people." And these alarms have not by any means become fewer or fainter with the advance of the times. We hear as much now about the cause of truth being endangered, and "the crisis" through which we are passing, as ever the people of this country heard, and probably a great deal more. There are

thousands of noble men in our land, the foremost men of the age in all that constitutes true thought and right feeling, who are deeply convinced that the times were never more momentous and critical than they are at present. They speak and act as though some inspired mentor were continually whispering in their ears "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise. from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed; and who knowest whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this ?** Their conviction as to the importance of the present hour, the greatness of their work, the obligation under which they rest to perform it, is supreme and unfaltering. No prophet ever had a stronger sense of duty, a directer aim, a firmer

*Esther iv. 14.

purpose. No apostle ever proclaimed a plainer message. No reformer of the olden time fought for the truth with a bolder and more resolute determination. Having made it the business of their lives to watch the course and direction of events, it may fairly be presumed that they have "understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." Surely, if experience and sincerity and purity of motive demand respect, such men are to be respected. And what have they to say to the men of the present age, to the patriot-politician, to the Christian soldier? How do they estimate current events? What are their thoughts about the future? Why it is the old story, repeated with all the old enthusiasm and zeal. The old alarms are sounded, the old summons to battle is given. In all seriousness we are told, as though such a thing had never occurred before and would never be repeated, that "the hour has arrived when it becomes every lover of truth and freedom to bestir himself, and proclaim his sentiments;" and "probably at no time in the history of the country did so much depend on a right apprehension of the state of affairs, and a right use of the opportunity afforded us.' "It is now or never, if the truth is to be maintained, liberty secured, and the nation saved!"

Now the temptation to ridicule this kind of thing is very great in such an age as ours. Men who are in earnest, men who have a creed political or religious, and have devoted themselves with all their heart and soul to the promulgation of it, men who know what they want, and believe also that they know what the world most deeply needs, such men are as much in danger as were the first preachers of the gospel of being regarded as mad or beside themselves. It is the easiest thing in the world to stand aside while they work and fight and suffer for the truth, and to make remarks about "fanaticism" and "ranters" and "demagogues." A reputation for caution and prudence and discretion is cheaply purchased in this way, and as a rule is worth about as much as it costs. Even the members of Christian churches and professed adherents of the Liberal cause are sometimes to be seen in the ranks of the Samaritan host,pelting sneers at those who are helping to build the Temple of Freedom and to fortify the walls of our Jerusalem. There are plenty of people who will be very loud in their acclamations, and uncommonly anxious to worship in the temple or find protection behind the walls when the work is complete, who at present have little else but cold

comfort or even ridicule for the benefactors of their race. "Oh yes," say they, "the times are always important in the opinion of some folks." "You are always announcing a crisis, and disturbing the minds of people who want to be quiet."

We admit the correctness of this criticism of the men in whose behalf we plead. The sneer which is levelled at them has a core of truth in it, as most sneers have. And in this case it is the very truth we need to recognise and keep prominent from age to age. The times are always important; and, thank God, we always have in the land a chosen band of men who see that the times in which they live are important and act accordingly. The men who are taking the lead amongst us to-day in every liberal, onward movement in the Church and in the State are precisely of this class. In their esteem the present juncture is all-important, intensely critical. No reformers were ever more disposed to magnify the significance of the passing hour than they are. It is from just such men as these we have received our magnificent inheritance of liberties, and it is only by such men that these liberties can be securely held, firmly established, and faithfully handed down to the generations that shall follow us. All true friends and faithful advocates of freedom and of truth, of justice and equality, all genuine and hearty reformers, must do their work under a deep conviction that their own times and their own duties are of supremest consequence to the destinies of the people.

No

To keep the Christian frontier-such high trust, Is young Duke Silva's. And the times are great; (What times are little? To the sentinel That hour is regal when he mounts on guard.)* Every year brings with it special contingences in the political or religious "situation," and opportunities for the performance of a particular work. two periods are precisely the same and offer equal facilities for the discharge of certain duties. Every era, like every man, must bear its own burden of duty and responsibility. Days of grace and times of trial and probation are given to nations as well as to individuals; and once lost they are lost for ever. Another trial may be made, another opportunity afforded; but it is another, and never exactly the same in all respects. It cannot be given again on the same conditions, it cannot be followed by just the same consequences. All honour, then, to the men who, having these truths distinctly impressed upon their minds, and seeing

*The Spanish Gipsy; George Eliot, p. 5.

the exigencies and claims of the present moment, are working "while it is day,"the men who are with us now and are doing a great work for the age in which we live, and for ages yet to come. It is to these champions of the truth we would offer our tribute, though it be but slight, of gratitude and praise. It is in their behalf we would bespeak the sympathies and prayers and cordial support of all lovers of justice and equality. We speak not of the dead, for their work is done, and we can render them no aid; their reputation is safe, their names are held in reverence, and an enlightened and free people will never suffer their fame to perish; but we speak of living men whose labours are now being carried on, whose names, though not less worthy,

are held perhaps in far less esteem than those which belong to history. We speak of our modern heroes, because we can help them, and can render them, before they are called away, the meed of credit and praise which is their rightful due. Right worthy followers are they of Hampden and Cromwell, Pym and Milton, Sydney and Harrington and Russell. And when some twentieth century Macaulay or Froude shall write the history of the times in which we live, the names of Bright and Russell, Gladstone and Granville, Forster and Miall, will be mentioned as identified with some of the noblest movements that have ever been set on foot for the benefit of a nation or the regeneration of the world.

OCTOBER is the month of Congresses and Unions. The Established Church has gathered at Leeds, United Presbyterianism at Birkenhead, Congregationalists have met at Nottingham, and Baptists at Manchester. No month, unless it be May, is so prolific of public talk on religious and ecclesiastical questions as this. No literature is so likely to help us to understand the spirit, aims, and hopes of the different organised bodies of Christians as that of these various assemblies, and if this were a Newspaper and not a Magazine, it would be as interesting as it would be easy to cull from it enough to fill this month's issue. Ours is the humble task of noting from these signs, if we can, the drift of religious life in this country.

Amongst our "conforming brethren," the "dissidence of Dissent," without "the Protestantism of the Protestant religion," was the most prominent feature. Ritualism was in the ascendant, and violence seems to be a virtue with the Ritualists. So stormy were the waves of debate at Leeds that the charms of music and song had to be invoked to allay the tempest. Only "Jerusalem the Golden" could restore quiet. The Church of the Act of Uniformity is the most discordant Church in these realms.

Union is in and fills the "air." The Presbyterians in England are busily employed in developing the forms in which their existing feeling of unity shall take shape. Dr. Thomas sang its praises: mes. sages of congratulation and good feeling between Nottingham and Birkenhead gave it one exemplification; whilst a still better one was being furnished in the keen zest with which all the Free churches made one solid phalanx for the defence of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and the total sepa

ration of religion from the patronage and control of the State.

The Independents, who are our nearest kinsmen in the faith of Christ, and the polity of the Church, discussed most of the questions which were raised at the Baptist Union. In fact, for nearly all purposes the two assemblies might have been merged into one so fully did they travel the same ground. Both meetings treated of the question of education, and in the main from the same point of view; greater prominence, however, being given at Nottingham to the work of the pastor in the religious instruction of the young. Missions, British and Foreign, held a foremost place in both programmes. Vacant churches and unoccupied ministers received consideration in both assemblies. In fact, our needs, our difficulties, and our hopes are the same. Clearly, along with reports of decrease in the number of members, there is a deep and intense craving for more spiritual life. The churches are thirsting for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Parched and barren they cry aloud for the heavens to give rain. This was the inspiration of many of the speeches. The churches are now enjoying the "Beatitude of Desire," and "they shall soon be filled."

Congregationalists in England are becoming more coherent, more completely organised. In the Midlands and in the North, "Arbitration Boards and Councils of Advice" were formed, or are being formed, and our own Board was referred to in both discussions as a pattern of what is wanted. A Board was chosen at Manchester apparently on the principle of representing the theological beliefs existing in the Union; which is about as wise as if

the arbitrators at Geneva had been elected on the principle of representing legal opinion concerning the desirability of a separation between law and equity, and not for their eminent fitness for the work they had to do. Why can't a man leave his close or open communion, his broad or limited atonement theories at the door when he enters a union where all meet as Baptists ? Another" straw on the stream "is seen in the discussion on "vacant churches" and the "settlement of ministers." In neither conference was it known exactly what to do with this difficulty, but it was felt that something should be done. The Baptist

Union threw the question up in despair. But it will urge itself forward again. It is one of those points in which the genial influence of the authority, not of a conference, or a synod, but of good sense sanctified life and eminent service in the gospel of Christ, will have to be used to moderate the wildness, cure the errors and make up for the deficiencies of our independency. Whether this can ever be done directly by such big and unwieldly bodies as the "unions" is questionable, but might it not be done with great advantage by means of the existing smaller associations ? J. CLIFFORD.

GENERAL BAPTISTS throughout the kingdom will be glad to learn that the friends at Longford have at last erected and opened their long needed and long-hoped for new chapel. Fourteen years ago the project was started; but it made slow progress, and was at length entirely arrested by the failure of the Coventry trade. When work and wages returned plentifully to the district, the good friends at Longford, in their thankfulness, resolved to start the scheme afresh, and under the divine blessing their efforts have been crowned with extraordinary success. A handsome and commodious chapel has been built, the moneyvalue of which may be fixed at about £2000. It stands on the spacious plot of ground which was occupied by the former chapel, will seat 800 persons, and is one of the most conspicuous buildings in the large parish of Foleshill, to which Longford belongs. It is accompanied by a minister's vestry, deacon's vestry, committee room, together with a spacious room for weekevening services. There is also excellent accommodation for 500 Sabbath scholars. It is provided with all needful tea-meeting appurtenances, and also with a carefully constructed warming apparatus, which promises to be highly satisfactory in its working. The surrounding ground is to be neatly laid out, and decorated with evergreens, lime-trees, weeping willows, &c. Few village chapels in the kingdom will bear comparison with it. It is a marvel of cheapness; for though worth £2000 its cost will scarcely exceed £1500. The explanation is that the builder, Mr. Glover, of Blaby, near Leicester, who has so skilfully introduced a large mass of good brick, stone, and timber from the old building into the less conspicuous parts of the new as to avoid all patch-work, has generously done the work at cost price, and gra. tuitously supplied his services as architect. Mr. Glover was moved to this generosity

by a close family relationship which he sustains to Mr. Barnett, the pastor of the church. The chapel has been opened by a series of very successful meetings and services. On the afternoon of Sept. 24, the Rev. Arthur Mursell, of London, preached a characteristically eloquent sermon from 1 Kings, xviii. 21. A tea meeting followed, at which 1500 guests attended. The chapel was densely crowded in the evening, when addresses suitable to the occasion were delivered by the Rev. S. Hildyard, of Bedworth (chairman), J. P. Barnett (pastor), J. C. Pike and J. P. Mursell, of Leicester, J. Sibree, W. T. Rosevear, J. Whewell, and H. Cross, of Coventry, J. Barnett, of Blaby, J. Parkinson, of Hinckley, J. H. Wood, of Monks Kirby, and other friends. The opening services were continued on the three following Sundays, the Rev. T. Goadby, B.A., of Derby, officiating on the first, the pastor on the second, and the Rev. W. Chapman, of Vale, Todmorden, and S. S. Allsop, of March, (former pastors of the church) on the third. The entire proceeds amounted to £275. On the Monday following the third Sunday, a congregational tea meeting took place, at which about 500 friends assembled, the object being to receive a complete financial statement, and to spend a pleasant evening with the former pastors, each of whom delivered an exceedingly effective address, expressing extreme gratification at the happy circumstances in which the church and congregation are placed, and tendering suitable counsel and encouragement for the future. Thus closed this auspicious event in the history of the church at Longford-an event on which our friends there may be most heartily congratulated. The total sum which has been contributed for the new building from all sources amounts to £1270, leaving a debt of only about £230 which, it is hoped, will be liquidated next year, that being the centenary of the church.

THEISM: NO RIVAL OF CHRISTIANITY. By

Psychopompos. Trubner & Co.

THE object of this Essay is to prove (1.) that Theism is totally insufficient as a basis upon which to build the religious life, and (2) that Theism is indebted to Christianity, for every conception in which it is superior to the old religion, and therefore cannot be in any true sense a new creation." This latter point is established by showing that the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man are eminently of Christian origin, and have been incorporated, consciously or unconsciously, with the theistic religion. It is stated that for a thousand years before Christ the shepherd relationship was the picture of the relation of the human and the Divine; but Christ taught that God is our Father, and under His guidance the race has made "a stedfast advance towards the conception of a parental Deity." It is exceedingly ungenerous of Theists not to admit this, and give honour where honour is due.

The incapacity of Theism to develop a moral and religious life is shown in the fact that it gives us only abstract notions of the Deity, and that these are powerless, quite without practical effect on the religious and moral life. They have no spiritual vitality, cannot touch the affections, elevate the conscience, or breathe into man the breath of life. Man is never made good and pure and noble by abstract conceptions. He needs the life and teaching of Jesus.

Only one side of this great subject is touched. This the writer admits. As far as it goes it is good and useful. Knowing the futility of mere Theism, and assured of the fitness of Christianity, we may preach the gospel with greater courage and a larger hope. But we must not suffer ourselves to forget that, according to the New Testament, Christianity centres not only in the teaching and life, but also in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.

PRESENT-DAY LECTURES TO A BAPTIST CONGREGATION. By T. H. Pattison. Yates and Alexander.

THE five questions discussed in these lectures are "Why are we Baptists?" Why are we Congregationalists, Nonconformists, Protestants, and Christians? The chief merit of the discussion is that it is conducted in a fresh and living way; and speaks directly and with the authority of

earnestness, conviction, and charity, to the pressing thoughts and actual needs of this generation. Old stock-logic is not exhibited. The battles of the last age are not re-fought. Every question is dealt with in the most direct and pressing aspects it wears at the present hour. We heartily recommend the volume to the young people of our churches who wish to understand the grounds of their faith and practice.

PLAIN PULPIT TALK. By Thomas Cooper. Hodder and Stoughton.

The

No book ever better justified its title. These seven sermons, preached to tens o thousands all over the country, of which it consists, are full of homely, clear, and forcible "talk" on the weightiest of themes. There is no mere rhetoric, much "straighthitting" and practical directness. language is the choicest Saxon, the illustrations are as racy as John Bunyan's, the style is as clear as the Pilgrim's Progress, and the matter is full of the savour of the gospel of Christ. The book is full of reality. It fixes the attention, warms the heart, stimulates the intellect, and ennobles the life These are words for the people, by one who knows them, their difficulties and their needs, and who speaks not only with the authority of experience and of careful mastery of his subject, but also with the earnest sympathy of a friend.

REJOINDER. By A. M. Stalker. A Reply to "the Analogy between Circumcision and Baptism," by a Layman of the Church of England. Stock.

THIS pamphlet deals most effectually with the unutterably weak writing that is paraded as argument on the subject of Circumcision and Infant Sprinkling. The

PERIODICALS.

The Sunday Magazine (Strahan) starts a new volume under the editorship of Drs. Guthrie and Blaikie in admirable style. Its story, entitled, "Crooked Places," is full of promise. The rich and varied contents, and philanthropic spirit of this Magazine will ensure it a growing fame and an extended circulation. We have also received the Congregational Miscellany,Church, Hive, Missionary World, and Cyclopædia of Anecdotes, issued by Mr. Stock, and can warmly commend them all to the earnest support of our readers,