But we must expect discouragements; we must expect that some will throw cold water on our efforts, and attribute to us motives we never dream of; but we must expect, too, that if we labour and wait, and pray, God will fulfil His promise, and grant a rich blessing.

Wherever we are let us sow the seed of the kingdom, and not be discouraged because we do not see the results all at once. "The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain." So the heavenly seed is long growing; and we, too, need patience and faith to wait for the coming fruit. We fear because our words are sometimes met by a light remark, or careless smile, that they are lost; but we do not see the tear shed in secret, when none but God is near, nor hear the prayer of penitence arising from the hearts we deem so thoughtless; we cannot witness the hidden growth, nor know that the gentle rain of the Holy Spirit's influence is falling upon the tiny blade; but we can wait, and trust, and pray, and the seed sown in faith and prayer will grow and ripen; and though here we may not be permitted the joy of reaping, there, in the great harvest gathering, amid the throng of the redeemed ones, we shall behold the fruit of tears and prayers, and hear, with rapturous wondering joy, the Master's approving word, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

E. M. B.

The Work of our President at March.

THE Wisbech Advertiser, speaking of the Rev. S. S. Allsop, the President of our Association, says: "After a pastorate extending over a period of eleven years this gentleman has resigned the charge of the Centenary Baptist Church at March. His removal to Burton-on-Trent is regretted by those with whom he has been connected. Mr. Allsop entered upon his work in 1868, under very unpropitious circumstances, but his unquenchable zeal in the cause of religion, coupled with the exercise of an indomitable will, has mainly contributed to the success which has attended his efforts. The stupendous work of erecting a new chapel, which for elegance and convenience stands unrivalled in the town, was brought to a successful issue principally through his instrumentality; and the debt incurred, although not yet extinguished, has been reduced to a minimum. The congregation is regular, and an extensive Sunday school is conducted by an efficient staff of teachers. Mr. Allsop was the means of introducing the modern system of voluntary weekly offerings, and the latter scheme has acted successfully. Soon after the erection of the present chapel an organ was substituted for the harmonium which had led the psalmody in former times. The new instrument is adapted to the size of the building, and under the manipulation of the efficient organist gives universal satisfaction. The church is engaged in various forms of parochial work, and contributes to institutions within and without the pale of its denomination. The subject of this notice has been eminently evangelical in his ministrations, fearless in his denunciation of those religious orders whose practices he holds to be erroneous, and unflinching in his condemnation of national and social evils. Although not a total abstainer he has on numerous occasions taken part in meetings for the promotion of temperance. During his residence here he has assisted in the propagation of institutions calculated to enlighten and improve the public mind. Charity with him was a gift, and the sick and destitute always moved his compassion and insured his relief. In the severity of the winter season he has frequently co-operated in the formation of those soup kitchens which are so advantageous to those in necessitous circumstances, and the poor will undoubtedly lose in Mr. Allsop a benefactor who will not easily be replaced. His unsullied and irreproachable character has won for him the affection and esteem of an extensive circle of friends, and he leaves the town with the expression of their hope that the future of his life may be gilded by brighter and more glorious successes than even those which he has achieved in the past.'

Enaid.*

FIRST NOTICE.

THE papers contained in this small volume are only suggestive, not exhaustive. They skim and touch the surface of this great question as the swallow in its flight touches the smooth surface of the flowing river. But wherever they touch they disturb the current of orthodoxy. The commonly received opinion is that man has at least a dual nature; that he is composed of soul and body; that the soul bears the relation to the body of an organist to an organ, or of a rower to a boat; that as the boat may perish and the rower escape unhurt, or the organ be destroyed and the organist remain uninjured, so the human body may die, and the human soul live on with all its faculties unimpaired.

Of all this Mr. Griffiths does not believe a single word. He thinks that the human body is like an Æolian harp which discourses music so long as the wind. sweeps the strings, and that the moment the Life is gone the entire man is gone. He believes that death is a dreamless sleep-that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are asleep now, and have known nothing from the day they died until the present hour-that to be "absent from the body" is impossible-that to die is not gain, and will not be until the resurrection-that, consequently, the dying thief is not in paradise-that although Paul had "a desire to depart and to be with Christ," he has departed to be with nobody; that at this moment he knows nothing; that he is not numbered with the white-robed throng; and that he has not taken his place among the "spirits of just men made perfect."

No doubt this will be surprising to many people; but it is not at all surprising when once the author's definition of human nature is accepted. In fact the sooner man gets off to sleep the better. According to Mr. Griffiths' theory the difference between a lion and a man is the difference between a grindstone and a barrel-organ. He puts it thus: "A barrel-organ and a grindstone stand near one another. A dog turns the handle of the organ and music is heard; the same dog turns the handle of the grindstone and there is no music. Here we have an organism and an outside power; but the music is the result of the high art exhibited in one of the instruments, and absent from another. The human organism and the lion's organism are influenced by the outside power, Divine law; the one thinks-the other does not. Is not this evidence that the thinking depends on the organism and not on the outside power." This last is a question; but as there is no note of interrogation put to it, Mr. Griffiths will perhaps excuse us if we withhold our assent.

Again he asks, "May it not be said that the human body is like an Æolian harp which the breath of the Divinity-that is Life-agitates and enlivens so that the harp emits music-that is: the body, vitalized, thinks." If Mr. Griffiths had said, "the body vitalized lives," we should have agreed with him. Vitalizing a body no more makes it think than it makes a barrel-organ think when the handle is turned-or than it makes an Æolian harp think what tune to play when the wind "enlivens" it. An organ is vitalized when it is supplied with air, but it needs intelligence to preside at the keys to determine what tune shall come forth. If Mr. Griffiths will find us a harp which is set thinking what to play when the wind sweeps its strings-if he will find us an organ which is set thinking by having its bellows filled with wind-then we will believe that the vitality of the body makes it think. But when that is done, all the vitality will have gone out of human responsibility. Mr. Maskelyne, at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, has a wonderful automaton named Zoe. She will draw the portraits of Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Gladstone, and a score of other characters; she will write down with ink any figures the audience may call out, while another automaton, named Psycho, will multiply, divide, square, or cube those figures, and as he holds up the result she will write it down. To all appearance those automata can think when the outside power has once been imparted to them; but they don't think, nor does the thinking depend on the organism, it is rather the organism that depends on the thinking, for it is Mr. Maskelyne that thinks.

* A Series of Brief Essays upon the Unscriptural Character of the division of Man's Nature into Soul and Body. By R. F. Griffiths, Baptist Minister and Barrister-at-Law. London: Griffiths & Co., Porchester Road; Stock, Paternoster Row.

The figures have no responsibility. Neither has man if he be only an exceedingly clever automaton. Whatever thinking he does is the thinking put into him by God, and not any thought of his own.

Mr. Griffiths mourns our unbelief in the wonder-working powers of vitality. He closes the book with a lamentation, saying, "Men will not believe Moses, who declares man to be vitalized dust." We believe Moses; but we believe man to be a great deal more than "vitalized dust." When Flato defined man to be "a biped without feathers," Diogenes plucked a barn-door fowl and said, "Here's Plato's man." But when Mr. Griffiths declares man to be nothing more than "vitalized dust" the barn-door fowl needs no plucking. It is á sufficient answer as it struts about the farm-yard, for it seems to say, "I, too, am a man, for I am 'vitalized dust.""

We reserve the Scriptural argument for next month.

The Late Mrs. Jolly.

J. FLETCHER.

ON Tuesday, Dec. 16, 1879, Emily, the beloved wife of the Rev. J. Jolly, Boston, fell asleep in Jesus. She was born at Heanor Hall, Derbyshire, April 4th, 1849. She was the only surviving child of Mr. H. Bradley, now of the Grange, Loscoe. Her parents were God-fearing people, and she had all the advantages of a pious training, and a good education. She attended the Baptist Chapel, Loscoe, almost from childhood, and very early became subject to religious impressions. She soon evinced a desire to be useful, and became a teacher in the Sabbath school. This, to her, was a congenial sphere. She loved her scholars, and her labours were not in vain. In March, 1870, the writer, who was then pastor of the church at Loscoe, had the privilege of baptizing and receiving her into the church.

Her connection with the church was short, for God had marked out for her another sphere.

Towards the close of 1871 she was married; and then began that career of usefulness which, alas! has so quickly closed. She felt the responsibility of her position from the first, and gave herself to the work with a devotion that scarcely knew any bound. In her the minister truly found a helper, and the church a friend. There was no agency connected with the church that had not her warmest and most practical sympathy. She taught in the Sabbath school, conducted Mothers' Meetings, visited the sick, instructed the inquirers, did most of the church correspondence, so that her husband might devote his time more fully to study. She was a model daughter, an affectionate and devoted wife, a friend to the poor, a ministering angel to the sick, a sympathiser with all in distress, and, as far as her physical strength would allow, she would throw heart and soul into any emergency that would help the church and better the world. Her activities were only limited by her strength. To her, life was full of sacred missions, and she gave herself to accomplish what she could. She was possessed of great mental and spiritual power. Strong in conviction, beautiful in consecration, she carried with her the very atmosphere of heaven. She embodied the truth, and you felt its power. Like clusters of violets that do not court attention, but throw off their fragrance and you breathe their sweet perfume, her piety exhibited itself. For her to live was Christ. She was not permitted to continue her manifold activities to the close of life. She was called to suffer. For many months she passed through the furnace of affliction, yet she never murmured. She was patient, and even cheerful, in the midst of all. Her faith was clear, her hope was strong, rendered all the more beautiful by the fiery process through which she passed. In her greatest sufferings she frequently ejaculated, "Lord, help me! Dear Lord, help me!" and the Lord did help her, for her resignation was complete. On the morning of the 16th it was evident to all that the end was nigh. A storm of suffering and trial was succeeded by a calm; and in that calm " God's finger touched her, and she slept." She, whom many delighted to honour, was not, for God had taken her. She was interred at Heanor Cemetery, Derbyshire, where she and her mother rest together till the resurrection morn. Burton-on-Trent.

J. T. OWERS.

Quaker Anecdotes.*

SUCH is the title of a book just published by a friend once well known among us, the only surviving son of the former venerated Secretary of our Foreign Missionary Society. As Mr. Pike truly remarks in his preface, the history of the Society of Friends, from George Fox's time to the present day, has been a remarkable one. Their influence and achievements have been out of all proportion to their numbers. Many of them have lived nobly unselfish lives; they have been most active in the fields of philanthrophy; whilst for shrewdness, business capacity, and readiness of reply, they have had no superiors.

The idea of a collection of anecdotes relating to this interesting and remarkable body of Christians was, we think, a happy one; and the book before us is evidently the fruit of much research and extensive reading. We happen to know that the editor, in performance of his work, spent many months in carefully exploring the libraries of London and other places. The result is a volume of ever-varying interest—in no part dry or dull, but just the book for the lesiure hour, the railway journey, or the seaside visit. We add a few specimens taken almost at random. Many others we should have liked to have given, but space forbids, whilst to the editor of the work in question, further quotation would, perhaps, be scarcely fair.

LOYALTY TO CONSCIENCE.

Mr. Richard, in his memoirs of "Joseph Sturge," says, "There were many illustrations of loyalty to conscience exhibited by him in the course of his mercantile career. It is now twenty-five years since the temperance reformation began to attract attention in this country. Mr. Sturge very soon identified himself with that movement. But as forming a regular branch of the corn trade, his firm had at that time large dealings in malt. No sooner, however, did he become convinced of the duty of total abstinence, than he felt the inconsistency of selling an article directly concerned in the production of intoxicating drinks. He therefore relinquished at once that part of his trade, and at the same time declined granting the further use of certain cellars on his business-premises to a house that had previously hired them for storing wine and spirits. Nor did he stop there. Further reflection led him to doubt how far he could, with a clear conscience, take any part whatever in the purchase and sale of barley for distilling or malting purposes. The issue was that he and his partner gave up that department of their business also, and thereby sacrificed large annual profits. This seems to have called forth expressions of astonishment and remonstrance from some of their commercial connections; to which Mr. Sturge replied in the following quiet and modest circular:— "To C. D., Corn Exchange, London.

Birmingham, 11th month, 5th, 1844. "Esteemed Friend,-Thy letter of the 4th ultimo has the following remark on the notice contained in our last monthly circular:-The singular resolution you have come to, as to not selling barley, has been much canvassed here today. I regret it much, and the more so as I can discover no good and sound reason for it.' This observation, and some other circumstances, induced me to give a further explanation why this resolution was adopted, believing that thyself and many other of our friends, though differing in opinion, will not condemn a course which results from a conviction of duty.

Intemperance produces such an incalculable amount of vice and misery, that I consider it right to use my influence to promote the principles of total abstinence. This I feel the much more bound to do, as nearly twenty years' personal experience, and much observation in this and other parts of the world, have convinced me that fermented liquors are not necessary to health, and that those who refrain even from what is termed the moderate use of them are, in consequence, capable of more bodily and mental exertion, and exempt from many maladies which afflict others.

* Quaker Anecdotes, edited by Richard Pike. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co. Price 3s. 6d. Crown 8vo, 304 pages.

"In accordance with these views, our firm has long altogether declined the sale of malt, or the supply of any grain to distilleries, and converted to other uses cellars which, many years ago, we let to wine and spirit merchants. Our continuing to take commissions for the sale of barley for the purpose of malting has, for years, caused me much uneasiness, and I have recently been so fully convinced that it is wrong to do so, that I must have withdrawn from our concern had it not been relinquished. The belief that we are responsible for the means of acquiring, as well as for the use we make of our property, and that we cannot exercise too rigid a watchfulness over our own conduct, is compatible with perfect charity towards those who differ from us in opinion. "I am, respectfully, JOHN STURGE."

WASTING OTHERS TIME.

A Committee of eight ladies, in the neighbourhood of London, was appointed to meet on a certain day at twelve o'clock. Seven of them were punctual, but the eighth came hurrying in, with many apologies for being a quarter of an hour behind time.

The time had passed away without her being aware of it; she had no idea of its being so late, &c.

A Quaker lady present, said, "Friend, I am not clear that we should admit thine apology. It were matter of regret that thou shouldst have wasted thine own quarter of an hour; but here are seven besides thyself, whose time thou hast also consumed, amounting in the whole to two hours; and seven-eights of it was not thine own property."

COURTSHIP.

"Martha, dost thou love me ?" asked a Quaker youth of one at whose shrine his heart's holiest feelings had been offered up.

"Why, Seth," answered she, "we are commanded to love one another, are we not ?"

"Aye, Martha, but dost thee regard me with the feeling the world calls love?" "I hardly know what to tell thee, Seth; I have greatly feared that my heart was an erring one. I have tried to bestow my love on all; but I have sometimes thought, perhaps, that thee was getting rather more than thy share.”

A Doomed Army.

"TRAMP, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching." How many of them? Sixty thousand! Sixty full regiments, every man of which will, before twelve months shall have completed their course, lie down in the grave of a drunkard! Every year during the past decade has witnessed the same sacrifice; and sixty regiments stand behind this army ready to take its place. It is to be recruited from our children and our children's children. Tramp, tramp, tramp," the sounds come to us in the echoes of the footsteps of the army just expired; tramp, tramp, tramp-the earth shakes with the host now passing; tramp, tramp, tramp, comes to us from the camp of the recruits. A great tide of life flows resistlessly to its death. What are they fighting for? The privilege of pleasing the appetite, of conforming to a social usage, of filling sixty thousand homes with shame and sorrow, of loading the public with the burden of pauperism, of crowding our prison-houses with felons, of detracting from the productive industries of the country, of ruining fortunes and breaking hopes, of breeding disease and wretchedness, of destroying both body and soul in hell before their time. Meantime, tramp, tramp, tramp, sounds on-the tramp of sixty thousand yearly victims. Some are besotted and stupid, some are wild with hilarity and dance along the dusty way, some reeling along in pitiful weakness, some wreak their mad and murderous impulse on one another, or on the helpless women and children whose destinies are united to theirs; some go bound in chains from which they seek in vain to wrench their bleeding wrists; and all are poisoned in body and soul, and all are doomed to death. Wherever they move, crime, poverty, shame, wretchedness and despair hover in awful