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which has inspired all her acts as Sovereign, has resolved that none of her children should be compelled to sacrifice their feelings to any exigencies of State.

FENNY STRATFORD, BUCKS.-Mr. T. W. people, display such interest and enthusiasm Medhurst, of Kingston, visited the above as were witnessed on this occasion. It is place on Dec. 18th, in order to administer known, and not alone in Court circles, that the Lord's own ordinance of believers' bap- the marriage of the Princess Royal is really tism to six candidates. For six years a and truly a marriage of affection, and that similar solemn rite had not been performed; the Queen, animated by that wisdom therefore much interest was manifested, the chapel being densely thronged. May this be the beginning of greater things! KINGSTON-ON-THAMES.-The Master is still permitting his servant to continue the cultivation of the large field in this town. Our pastor, Mr. Medhurst, on the evening of Dec. 30th, immersed, on a profession of their trust in Jesus, five disciples. The aged sister, whose baptism we reported in December, was summoned to pass the Jordan, and enter into the joy of her Lord on on the 16th of that month.

SUNNYSIDE.-On Saturday, Jan. 2nd, 1858, at a solemn service held in the Baptist chapel, Sunny side, a female, on her profession of faith in Jesus, was immersed by Mr. Nichols, and on the following day received into the fellowship of the brethren with great cordiality and good feeling.

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The crowd represented every class. Vehicles of all kinds rolled thickly along the carriage-way, but many aristocratic passengers preferred the footway; so that literally all classes mingled together in the streets. The working men, with their wives and children, came, of course, in thousands; the day seemed a complete holiday, and warm ejaculations of blessings on the Royal pair burst ever and anon from a multitude of hearts.

The Chapel Royal, where the marriage ceremony was performed, was, of course, as splendid as art and taste could render it, and the spectacle which it presented on the august occasion, in all probability has never been surpassed.

BACUP: Ebenezer Chapel.-On Lord's The prelates and clergy appointed to day, October 3rd, 1857, we immersed one perform the ceremony having taken their believer November 1st, two: Demember seats within the altar rails, and the Royal 6th, four and on January 3rd, 1858, nine, party being duly arranged, the choir sung one of whom was from the United Metho- with great effect the following chorale dist Free Church, and continues still in (date 1599), selected by the Prince Conconnexion with it.

COLCHESTER.-On the evening, of the first Lord's day in this year, Mr. Jackson after preaching upon "One baptism," baptized five believers in the presence of a large and attentive congregation.

THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL,
WITH PRINCE FREDERICK WILLIAM
OF PRUSSIA.

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"This day, with gladsome voice and heart,
We praise Thy name, O Lord, who art
Of all good things the Giver.

For England's first-born Hope we pray:
From hour to hour, from day to day,
Be near her now and ever!
King of kings, Lord of lords,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
We adore Thee!

Hear us while we kneel before Thee!" At a quarter to one o'clock, the ceremony of the marriage was commenced by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, THE long-expected and auspicious event and conducted throughout with great so-the nuptials of the Princess Royal of lemnity and feeling. At the close, the England and the Prince Frederick William Hallelujah Chorus was sung by the effecof Prussia-were solemnized in the Chapel tive choir, and the newly-married pair Royal, St. James's Palace, in the presence of then left the Chapel together, the band the Queen and the most illustrious princes and princesses of the two royal families, on Monday, January 25th.

The early morning was very cold, with a slight fog, which wore away before nine o'clock. About that hour all the streets of the metropolis, but especially the Westend thoroughfares, were thronged with crowds intent on catching but a glimpse of the pageant.

playing Mendelssohn's "Wedding March." On reaching Windsor in the evening, the carriage of the Royal couple was drawn from the Great Western Station to the Castle, by the boys of Eton School, amidst the acclamations of the assembled multitude.

RECEIVED FOR BAPTIST EVANGELICAL

SOCIETY.

Not even on the occasion of her Majesty's own marriage did all parts of the metro- Mr. T. Pillow polis, and all ranks and conditions of the J. Kirkwood, Esq., Glasgow

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OUR readers are now fully aware that the union of the reigning families of Great Britain and Prussia has been consummated by the marriage of the eldest son of the Prince of Prussia with the Princess Royal of England. The union of these two great protestant States in a connection so important may well be regarded with interest and hope, by all those who have the prosperity of true religion at heart; but, after all, what can crowned heads or royal princes and princesses do to advance that prosperity apart from the prayers of the people of God? Political patronage, however great, can weigh nothing in comparison with the supplications of the faithful. It is therefore earnestly hoped that the church of God will plead in mighty prayer that the royal couple may become, the one a "nursing father," and the other a nursing mother" to the interests of vital godliness in that influential portion of Europe, over which, in all probability, they are hereafter destined to reign. May the King of kings so bless them with his grace, that in their high station they shall contribute more than a mere official sanction in advancing that kingdom which is "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit."

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The state of affairs in the East Indies is fraught with gloom, if not with positive disaster. Lucknow has indeed been relieved and the garrison rescued, but at an expense of human life that is little short of frightful. The noble Havelock is no more,--Wyndham has been outmatched and defeated, the Commander-in-Chief has withdrawn from Oude, and the enemy threaten the communications with Calcutta. The most suspicious circumstance, however, is that of garbling or withholding the truth from the British public. Respectable mercantile firms in the North, and other reliable parties in various parts of England, are assured by their correspondents in different districts in India, that the people at home do not know the worst. Kept thus in a condition of painful and suspicious uncertainty, and possessed of but a portion of the information which passes into official hands, it is next to an impossibility to adjust national action to the true requirements of the case. "The double Government" may be abolished, but unless the whole policy towards India is totally changed, a mighty proof may once again be given to the world that "all who take the sword shall perish with the sword."

Printed by JOSEPH BRISCOE, 28, Banner Street, in the Parish of St. Luke, in the County of Middlesex, and published by ARTHUR HALL and GEORGE VIRTUE. 25, Paternoster Row, in the Parish of St. Faith, under St. Paul's, in the City of London.-MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1858,

THE

PRIMITIVE CHURCH

(OR BAPTIST)

MAGAZINE.

No. CLXXI-MARCH 1, 1858.

Essays, Expositions, &c.

ON THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THROUGHOUT all Christian history,in any period,--in any nation to which the truth of God has spread,-was there ever known or felt a greater need of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit than in the present day? Efforts of the most mighty character, and on the most extended scale, are made to "convert the world," to "elevate the masses," and to "civilize the nations;" and these efforts are put forth by the professors of all creeds, and the adherents of all parties, both at home and abroad. But were the average results ever more meagre, or the successes more vague and unsatisfactory, in comparison with the vast amount of energy and enterprise employed? At home, the masses are obviously as much given to open sin as ever they were, and abroad the Christian faith is almost paralyzed in every land,-while in India and throughout the East it is regarded with a suspicion or a dislike more general than ever prevailed, even before the missionary trod that distant soil. On a calm and prayerful review of all this, may it not be asked with undoubted propriety and the most thrilling earnestness, Is there not a cause? Why so manifest a failure? Why with an agency so elaborate, with materials such as Pastors, Sunday-schools, Tract, Bible, and Missionary Societies,

VOL. XV.-NO. CLXXI.

with our City Missions, supply,-why are the results so equivocal and weak? In a word, why is sin in its ten thousand forms still so rampant, and the cause of true religion still so low? To these questions there can be but one reply, and that is, that the Holy Spirit is not present with the agency employed, and fails to accompany on any large scale, the labour either at home or abroad. To account for this calamity and blight that have fallen upon the modern church, a few considerations are urged upon the serious attention of the reader.

1. There are very considerable numbers among the agencies employed who practically place no dependance whatever upon the grace of the Holy Spirit.

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These persons are perfectly satisfied with the performance of the outward duty. They are for the most part industrious, diligent, and persevering; but their chief or only concern is, to pass along the routine of the day, pear at their posts when the appointed hour has arrived, and to go through the mechanical ordeal of teaching or preaching, as a soldier under the "drill,”-and when this outward part is performed, they pass from the field of labour, congratulating themselves that they have discharged their full obligation in the

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agency of the church. They neither groan, nor sigh, nor weep, that they have by possibility laboured in vain. They have "done their duty," and are quite content with the enactment of their own part; but as to solid, lasting success, in souls awakened and brought to Christ for salvation, the thought is never permitted to disturb their dreams. With agencies of this kind abounding in the professing church, is it surprising that the fruits bear no proportion whatever to the labour bestowed?

2. There are large numbers engaged in various departments of Christian activity, who are entirely ignorant of the great truth that success depends upon the Holy Spirit Exclusively.

These parties are, for all practical purposes, in precisely the same condition with those Ephesians (Acts xix.) who replied to the apostolic enquiry by confessing, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." Large numbers, chiefly among our junior circles, are trained under a system of pulpit instruction that virtually excludes the Holy Spirit from any important share in the success of the gospel among mankind; and when they pass from under this most pernicious training to enter the field of action in the various departments of church agency, what remains but that they in their turn should reproduce the mischief to which they were habituated in the ministry of their youth. It is well known that in several directions it is openly taught and as thoughtlessly believed, that "the Spirit is the word, and the word is the Spirit." In this treacherous dogma "the sword of the Spirit" is exalted to an equality with the Spirit himself; or in other words the weapon is made of as much account as the hand that holds or the arm that wields it. From such a vitiated and poisonous teaching, what can be expected but the almost midnight darkness that now afflicts the church, in her pulpits, her schools, her missions, namely, a widespread ignorance that in all gospel labour success depends exclusively on the Spirit of God? And where this is not savingly known and prayerfully acknowledged, what but a name to live will remain to

the church?

3. In a large number of instances, where the need of the Holy Spirit is

acknowledged, it is too much as a doctrine of the creed, and too little that of the life and ministry.

Between the creed and the conscience, there is as wide a distinction as between the faith of the head and of the heart, The one is a bare intellectual belief,-the other is a living principle; the former is a cold mental consent to truth,—the other is its heartfelt reception; the one is the assent of the understanding onlybut the other is the surrender of the affections to its perpetual control. And this wide distinction exists where the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is admitted but as a dry tenet, and where it is received as the law of a spiritual life. In the former case the man is the orthodox professor only, both dry and useless ;-but in the latter he lives in the Spirit, walks in the Spirit, and travels along the heavenly journey as the Spirit leads the way. In the closet the Spirit will breathe in his prayers, in the pulpit He will infuse power into every sermon,--and in all the departments of Christian labour He will fill his earthen vessel with heavenly treasure. Living in such a man, the Spirit will cast around him whether as a parent, a teacher, a pastor, or a missionary, the atmosphere of a purer and a happier world; and wherever such a man may labour or abide, he will be known by all around as a living epistle of Christ. These are the agencies required by the church, both at home and abroad, men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost ;" and because they are so few and so widely scattered, we have in the present day sabbaths without life,— sermons without unction or power,-and a religion which has yet to prove itself "the salt of the earth.”

4. The great gospel truths which alone can ensure the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit, are awfully neglected, if not despised, by the greater number of modern churches.

The true nature of the pulpit teaching of the last twenty-five years, is becoming every day more apparent in its effects. Broken-heartedness on account of sin, tenderness of conscience, meekness of spirit, and holiness of life, have given place to "the dignity of human nature,"

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intellectual greatness," "manly independence," "and the perfection of human virtue." The total depravity of mankind,

the consequent need of a Saviour, justifi- | Divine blessing, and Ichabod may be discation by faith alone, and the new birth tinctly traced upon the doomed and by the Holy Spirit, are treated as exploded Christless portals. and old-fashioned visions, utterly unfit for these "intellectual" times.

The blind adorers of the idol within may fail to discern the fatal inscription, but there it is in gloomy distinctness; and the sooner it is read with care the better will it be both for the church and the world. The name of the church will then cease to be abused, and the hope of the world will be no longer deluded.

5. There is a most criminal neglect among the churches, of united, wrestling prayer, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The natural result of this departure from plain scriptural instruction is the mournful one that many churches have become perfectly indifferent to doctrinal truth, and would readily receive as a pastor an Arminian or an Arian, a Socinian or a Universalist, provided he were popular and drew a worldly crowd to the scene of his ministrations. Let any serious Christian examine with care the public teaching of those preachers who are now most cele- It is too painfully evident to require brated among "the masses;"-let him at- proof, that, in general, the professing tend on Lord's-day "lectures to working-church is asleep with regard to this great men" which newspapers and other such organs delight to puff into fame and to bepraise with every gaudy epithet of pride and folly ;-and he will retire from the examination with the undeniable conviction upon him, that the man who most cleverly disguises and distorts the gospel, -who is most dexterous in omitting Christ, and all that is distinctive in His holy word, is the man whom the world will honour with the largest share of its applause. On the lips of such a man crowds will hang with rapture, and his faintest whisper will convey to them a far higher authority than all that Paul and Peter ever wrote or spoke.

Yet it is most evident that the truths omitted from such a ministration, are precisely those upon which the Holy Spirit alone can act as the Spirit of grace and blessing. His sole office is to glorify Christ. If, therefore, the preaching is not that of the gospel,—if it does not present a perfect Saviour to a ruined world, and boldly avow man's lost condition by sin and his exclusive recovery by an Almighty Redeemer,-if it is not adapted to convict the sinner of his utter helplessness, and to direct him to Calvary as his only hope ;-then, whatever else may be taught, whether of moral virtue or of human goodness, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, on which the Holy Spirit can operate to glorify the Son of God. As the pulpit ministration has so little to do with Christ, equally so the Spirit can have as little to do with such a ministration. The sermon and the sanctuary being thus without a Saviour, must be of necessity equally without a

duty, and the carnal policy of the day serves but to rock the babe into sounder slumbers. Who lifts up the voice of alarm? Or if, perchance, it is raised in some isolated quarter, who gives heed to the warning? Where, and in what Goshen of this Egyptian age, are there wrestling churches? See yonder splendid, fashionable throng, listening in almost thousands to the voice of the Lord's-day orator. How they admire! On retiring, how they elaborate the praises of the preacher! Enter again, at the hour of prayer; see the meagre dozen, or the thinly scattered score, wan in their solitude, and startling at the vacant echoes of their own loneliness. Where now is that admiring throng? Where those jostling hundreds that hung so eagerly upon the preacher's lips? Where? They came alone to hear, nor did the orator care to break the spell that bound them to the idolatry of that sacred hour. They sought not God, but man, and to him they gave their worship. For prayer they have no affection, and the prayer-meeting wears no charm for that Christian crowd. Would that such were but a solitary exception, and that praying churches were the rule!

The time has passed for trifling or neglect, and the state of things in Britain assumes an aspect of fearfulness and gloom that should make us tremble for the future. If we are anxious to retain our privileges as a gospel land, and to apply an efficient check to the spreading national immorality, and if we are solicitous that our blessed Redeemer should ". see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied,"-then in our closets, our families, and our

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