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This institution possesses strong claims upon the liberal support of the Christian public, from the interesting and important objects which it aims to promote, viz., to furnish pecuniary aid to those excellent and devoted ministers of the gospel, who, on account of their being engaged in the establishment of new interests in dark parts of the country; or from the extreme poverty of their people, are receiving salaries which are totally inadequate to their honourable and comfortable maintenance. This must

be evident when it is understood, that it is not uncommon for laborious and useful ministers to be in the receipt of not more than forty, fifty, or sixty pounds per annum from their people, though they have large families dependent on them; a sum which is totally inadequate to meet their expenses, without great anxiety and privation.

The committee avail themselves of this opportunity to tender their best acknowledgments to the following ministers and their friends who, during the present year, have kindly aided the society by a sacramental or congregational collection :

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this institution, as well as its great import

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"For this timely aid I am very thankful. A family so numerous as mine cannot be supported, even in the most frugal manner, with means so small as those which I have, in the way of regular income, to depend upon; the consequence has been, that I am often in painful perplexities and straits. In these trying circumstances, I cast my bur den upon the Lord, and cry unto him daily, and many times in the day for necessary supplies. The handsome and unexpected contribution you have so kindly remitted will do much to relieve me of the anxiety and sorrow under which I have been labouring. In the ministry of the gospel, I find increasing encouragement. The Lord has opened a great and an effectual door for the preaching of his word in this neighbourhood. My chapel has recently undergone an enlargement which was necessary in order even to admit the hearers within the doors. The increase is principally composed of the poor of this world, who, I hope, will soon become rich in faith. While I rejoice in this growing attention to the ordinances of religion, yet it is plain that from such an increase of congregation, no great addition will be made to my salary. I must, therefore, continue to look up to God for my daily bread."

This is only a specimen of the affecting letters received by the committee.

All communications to be addressed to the corresponding secretary, the Rev. C. Gilbert, Upper-terrace, Islington. THOMAS LEWIS,

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Secretaries.

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York,

J. Parsons,

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While the committee acknowledge the above collections, they would earnestly entreat their friends to continue their liberality; and would respectfully call upon other ministers and churches to imitate their example. Never did the institution possess stronger claims upon the Christian public, of which the following fact must be a sufficient corroboration,-that during the last four months the committee have distributed upwards of one thousand pounds amongst nearly one hundred ministers, in various parts of the country. The following reply, received in answer to a check for ten pounds, from one of those excellent men, will present a just view of the objects of

RECOGNITIONS.

On Tuesday, August 6th, 1839, the Rev. T. C. Hine, late of Ilminster, was recognised as pastor of the Independent church assembling at Batter-street, Plymouth; the Rev. W. Richards read suitable scriptures and prayed; the Rev. George Smith, of Plymouth, delivered the introductory discourse, in which he stated the constitution of a Christian church, and vindicated the order and practices of congregational dissenters from the objections of the Episcopalians, and from the attacks of the modern Millenarian party; the Rev. W. Rooker, of Tavistock, proposed the usual questions, which elicited an interesting statement from the newly-elected pastor as to the steps which conducted him to his present sphere; The Rev. Dr. Payne, of Exeter, prayed the recognition prayer, an the Rev. J. Nichol

son, of Plymouth, preached to the people from Phil. ii. 2. The service was largely attended by Christian friends from other churches, anxious to testify their interest in the prosperity of the cause of Christ in this sanctuary. "O Lord, send now prosperity!"

On Wednesday, August 7th, 1839, an interesting service was held in the Independent chapel, Mount-street, Devonport, in connexion with the recognition of the Rev. John Pyer, late of Cork, the newlyelected pastor of the church assembling there; the Rev. T. C. Hine, of Plymouth, read the scriptures and prayed; the Rev. W. Keall, of Torpoint, stated the nature and constitution of a Christian church; the Rev. W. Rooker proposed the customary questions to the church and minister, and then offered the recognition prayer; the Rev. Dr. Payne, of Exeter, delivered a solemn and impressive charge to the minister, and the Rev. George Smith, of Plymouth, with much affection and fidelity, addressed the church and congregation on the subject of their various duties towards their pastor, from 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. A large assembly filled every part of the chapel, and it is believed that gracious influences descended from on high. May the results be permanently good!

CHAPELS.

PAGLESHAM, ESSEX.

On Wednesday, August 7th, a neat and commodious chapel was opened for divine worship, in the village of Paglesham, Essex, of which the late Rev. John Owen, Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was for twelve years rector. This chapel is under the superintendence of the Rev. Ebenezer Temple, minister of the Independent church, Rochford. The Rev. George Evans, of Mile End, London, preached a most excellent and suitable Psalm the occasion, from cxxxii. 13-16, at three o'clock in the afternoon.

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About one hundred and thirty of the friends from neighbouring congregations, took tea together in an adjoining field; after which the Rev. E. Temple took the chair, and the meeting was addressed by the Rev. Messrs. J. Pilkington, of Rayleigh; J. Garrington, of Burnham; R. Fletcher, of Southend ; J. Jacob, of Wakering; and G. Evans, who having just returned from a tour as a deputation from the Home Missionary Society, enlivened and animated the meeting with some striking and interesting anecdotes. About four months ago, a house for preaching was licensed by the Rev. E.

Temple, who, in connexion with others, has supplied the place. The increased and encouraging attendance led to the immediate erection of the chapel in this ignorant and long-benighted village, containing a population of more than 500 souls. Liberal contributions were made towards defraying the expenses incurred.

SOUTHWELL, NOTTS.

A new and commodious chapel was opened for public worship at Southwell, on Tuesday, August 20th, when sermons were preached by the Rev. T. East, of Birmingham, in the morning and evening; and in the afternoon, by the Rev. H. Hunter, of Nottingham. On the following Sabbath, the services were continued, when the Rev. J. Simmons, M.A., of Leicester, preached in the morning and evening; and the Rev. R. Alliott, jun., of Nottingham, in the afternoon.

BOWDEN DOWNS.

On Thursday, July 4th, the chapel at Bowden Downs, Aliringham, near Manchester, was re-opened for divine worship, when the Rev. Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, preached in the morning, and the Rev. Samuel Luke, of Chester, in the evening. The collections amounted to the handsome sum of 551. 5s., including a donation of 57.

At two o'clock, more than one hundred individuals, with many ministers from the neighbourhood, sat down to a dinner, which was provided by the liberality of Ibotson Walker, Esq., in a large private room, tastefully ornamented for the occasion.

The chapel is small but elegantly neat, fitted up with raised seats in the form of an amphitheatre. It had long been felt by the friends of the gospel in the neighbourhood that increased accommodation was needed in this attractive and thriving town, and this chape,l which was built recently for the followers of Mr. Aitken, having been offered for sale, it has been purchased principally through the activity of a generous friend on the spot, and re-opened in connexion with the Independent denomination.

ASSOCIATION.

The forty-eighth annual meetings of the "Kent Congregational Association" were held at Greenwich Tabernacle, on July 9th and 10th. Sermons were preached by Rev. Samuel Raban, of Marden, from Rev. ii. 7; and Rev. Benjamin Slight, of Tunbridge Wells, from 2 Cor. 7-9. Devotional exercises were conducted by Messrs. Jenkings, Bevis, Tippetts, and Thomson.

An open meeting of the committee was held in the school-room, in the after

noon of Wednesday, when the sub-committee appointed for the purpose of drawing up resolutions on the several subjects of "General Education," "the reduction of postages and Bible Monopoly ;" and also a committee consisting of five ministers and five lay members of the association to ascertain the exact amount of actual debts due on the chapels belonging to the denomination in the county, and to prepare a plan for the liquidation of the same, to be brought up at the next annual meeting.

The annual public meeting was held in the evening, Thomas Thompson, Esq., treasurer of the Home Missionary Society, in the chair. The report presented by the secretary, (an abstract of which is ordered to be printed,) afforded pleasing evidence that with scarcely an exception, peace and prosperity are enjoyed by the associate churches, and efforts are making in every

district for the spread of the knowledge of "the truth as it is in Jesus."

The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Jenkings, Holliday, Thomson, Bevis, Foster, Chapman, James, and Rev. A. Wells, secretary to the Congregational Union. The collections at this anniversary amounted to considerably more than on any former occasion; and the sum of 651. was voted in aid of the efforts made for the spread of the gospel in the county.

The annual meeting of the Kent Union Society, was held on the afternoon of the 9th, when annuities of 177. 12s. 6d. were granted to six aged ministers, and eleven widows, as also gratuities of from 51. to 201. to several necessitous cases. It is greatly to be regretted that this society does not meet with the countenance and support which its importance deserves.

EXTRACTS

General Chronicle.

From Mr. Douglas's Tract on Revivals. "Our first step is to feel our wants, and this might seem of no difficult attainment. The opinion of plenty,' observes Bacon, with respect to natural knowledge, 'is among the chief causes of want;' and it is so in spiritual advancement likewise. Those who fancy themselves rich are sent empty away; but conscious poverty of itself is a prevailing plea for obtaining celestial riches.

"The second step is, that we must expect great things, Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' The conviction of our own poverty must be accompanied with the belief of the inexhaustible riches of Christ, and that the only barrier to our being put in possession of them, is because we either ask not, or ask amiss. If we expect great things, we shall pray for great things. Why are the promises so abundantly held forth to us, but that we may turn them into petitions? Idle speculation is useless and hurtful. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick;' but we defer our own hopes, by spending the time in vain wishes, which should be employed in fervent prayers.

"The last requisite is, that we wait until we obtain. Ordinary waiting is easily practised. It is not offering up a petition, and then directing the mind to some other object but waiting, in the Scripture sense, is a high and persevering exercise of trust, and hope, and supplication; where the con

fidence of being ultimately successful, increases the earnestness and diligence with which we seek the promised blessing."

"America is the country of revivals. From its first planting its founders watched over the decay of religion, and sought by prayer and supplication for the return of the light of the divine favour. They never sank down to that supineness which is con tented with declaring the gospel, without inquiring whether that declaration is effectual. They knew that the gospel was the power of God unto salvation, and gave themselves no rest till that power was fully manifested. The example of America is full of encouragement; there we have an instance of a country where revivals are ever recurring, because, whenever the times of refreshing are interrupted, they have re course to prayer, which is earnest and uninterrupted till the blessing be obtained. Where no revivals are expected, none are likely to take place, for men will only pray for blessings which they hope to obtain; but the expectation of spiritual recovery determines its recurrence, for these men plead the promises; and God, who is faith. ful to his own word, abundantly crowns their petitions, and shows that he has not forgotten to be gracious.

"If America serves for encouragement, it may serve also for warning. They expect revivals, but they generally expect also that these revivals will speedily ter

minate. Even in the discourses of Edwards, addresses are made to the impenitent to come and be converted while the season of revival lasts, for the Spirit would soon withdraw his influence, and it might be long, very long, before they might witness a revival again. And all this with as much solemnity and authority as if such views were actually contained in Scripture.* Hence the benefit of revivals is very much lessened. A long winter often succeeds a brief spring. Men in religion obtain what they expect. We are not straitened in God, but we are straitened in ourselves. The gospel is equally free at all times. The Spirit and the Bride continually say, Come! but if men restrict the accepted time, and will only come at imaginary intervals, they limit their own mercies, and curtail their own privileges.

FRANCE.

A Country Congregation in France, the First Fruits of Calvin's Ministry, and preserved to the present Day.

[Taken chiefly from the Paris Archives du Christianisme, Aug. 24, 1839.]

BROTHERLY ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF RELIGION AND EDUCATION, ON BEHALF OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF

ASNIERES-LES-BOURGES, IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE CHER,

In a village in the heart of France, there exists a Protestant church, which has a strong claim on the friends of religion.

This church is poor, and but few in number. It consists of about ninety families, all vine-dressers, and chiefly daylabourers; sincerely attached to the gospel, and honouring it by such an exemplary conduct as has always drawn from the magistrates of the district an excellent testimony. It owes its religious principles to the evangelical teaching of JoHN CALVIN. There is good reason to believe that it received its instructions from him in the very first steps of his course as a Reformer; and that the Protestant church at Bourges, of which that at Asnières is a feeble remainder, was the first fruits of his ministry. Calvin had not separated from the Church of Rome when, in 1531, he came to the University of Bourges, the most eminent in France as a school of law, in order to prosecute his studies in that faculty, under the celebrated Italian, Andrew Alciati, the first jurist of his time. It is believed that he took this step, quitting the course for the priesthood into which he had

Many of the later American revivalists are not chargeable with this defect.

At

been introduced in very early youth, to devote himself to the bar, and to escape from the difficulties likely to be brought upon him by a profession of the gospeldoctrines, of which he had received some convictions from the reading of the Scriptures. But it was in vain that he endeavoured to turn his thoughts into this channel; though the University of Orleans, where he had before studied, had conferred on him the doctorate in civil law. Bourges, besides his legal studies, he diligently cultivated the Greek language, under the Professor, Melchior Volmar, with whom he contracted an intimate friendship, and to whom, fifteen years after, he dedicated his Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The doctrines and feelings of the gospel now took firm hold upon his heart. He began to preach at different villages and chateaux in the neighbourhood, particularly at Lignières, under the protection of the Seigneur and his lady. It is affirmed that a family still existing, one of the most numerous and respectable in the village, was the first that was brought by young Calvin's preaching to the faith of the gospel.

It was, however, considerably later, that the Christian converts by his labours formed themselves into a church at Bourges; under the indefatigable ministry of Simon Brossier. This took place in 1556. Five years afterwards, Charles IX. issued an edict forbidding Protestant meetings in towns, though tolerating them in country places.

The church at Bourges was at length destroyed by the sword of persecution. All the professors of the Reformed faith were either driven to apostatize, or were put to death, or made their escape by flight. Those of Asnieres, being only poor villagers, were spared; and they only. The ferocious persecutors, drunk with the blood they had shed, did not invade these poor people; or perhaps they thought that, having cut down the trunk of the tree, the branches must soon die. But the ways of man are not those of God. Often even in this life, "the wicked worketh a deceitful work," (Prov. xi. 18.) Not only did the little church at Asnières escape from falling by the strokes which had destroyed that of Bourges, but the persecution strengthened them in the faith. They concentrated their resources, they maintained their standing, they triumphed over all the attempts which were afterwards made to take their children from them, [a very common practice in the French persecutions ;] and, after having passed through more than two centuries of sufferings, a period during which they were totally deprived of the benefits of a settled

ministry, they obtained, in 1814, permission to build a place of worship [un temple] over the graves of their fathers. In 1821, the government allowed them to have a pastor; now M. Duviver. In 1832, the mercy of God enabled them to build a temple in Bourges itself, there to rekindle the gospel light, some glimmerings of which had been preserved; and now they are seeking to crown their work by building a school and an asylum, which will serve for more than one hundred and fifty children.

Thus has HE whose mercy endureth for ever, delivered the Evangelical Church of Asnières from all its distresses; has enabled it to resume its ancient position; and has enabled it to hold fast, with constancy and without variation, the profession of its faith and its hopes, from the days of Calvin to the present. Therefore this church now "magnifies the Lord, and rejoices in God its Saviour."

It attaches the greatest value to its two temples; town and country; and in them divine service is maintained every Lord's day. But these Christians are equally concerned for their school; for there it is that their numerous children must be trained in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. The building is now unhappily stopped by the want of means to carry it on. The people have done their utmost, some by pecuniary sacrifices, others by gifts in kind, others by digging stone from the quarries, and carrying materials; but the consistory has only 10,000 francs [£400] and they want 5,000 more [200] to complete the work.

In their distress, they implore the friends of religion and education to afford them some kind help. They have read with deep feeling the account of the late beneficent act of the Town Council of Erfurt, to the orphan children, descendants of the illustrious Reformer of Germany. These destitute children are supported at the expense of the town, and have their dwelling in the very convent which, three hundred years ago, was the abode of Martin Luther. The church of Asnières owes its birth to Calvin it is his offspring; and, in this capacity, it comes humbly forward and says, O brethren, help me! Your offerings will not impoverish you, but will enrich me; and for my sake many thanksgivings will be rendered to God.

The king has given to the church at Asnières, for its school, 300 francs; and the Duchess of Orleans, 200.

In LONDON, donations will be faithfully transmitted, if intrusted to Jackson and Walford, or T. Ward and Co.

BELGIUM.

To the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine.

MR. EDITOR,-Having lately passed a short time in Belgium, I am anxious to draw your attention to the moral and religious state of that country, in the hope that many of your benevolent readers may be induced to afford their aid to the Belgian Evangelical Society, whose proceedings, under the fostering hand of the great Head of the church, have both surprised and delighted me. I was not prepared for such immediate and striking results from the cir culation of the Scriptures, and I bless God for what I have heard and seen. It is lamentable to think of the long night of papal darkness which for three centuries has covered that land; and the more so when we recollect the struggles which were made at the era of the Reformation, for the propagation of a purer faith, and the many sainted martyrs, who then suffered for their attachment to the word of God-our own Tyndal among the rest, to whom we owe such a debt of gratitude for his early translation of the New Testament, The flames of persecution have indeed long ceased to burn, but there was little improvement in the moral and religious state of Belgium, until the British and Foreign Bible Society commenced its distribution of the Scriptures among the people about three years since, which has well been described as "the greatest boon that Belgium ever received." The circulation of fifty-seven thousand copies of the Sacred Scriptures has awakened inquiry, and in a most remarkable manner prepared the way for a Protestant ministry. Under the immediate superintendence of some pious pastors of the reformed church, a society has been formed, called the Belgian Evangelical Society, whose objects are the same as those embraced by the Evangelical Societies of Paris and Geneva, and whose labours have been crowned with similar blessings. I had the pleasure of meeting several of these Protestant ministers, who conduct the af fairs of this society, and I should feel wanting in duty if I did not express what I heard of their zeal, wisdom, and piety; of their sound Christian principles; and my full conviction that any remittances sent from this country to a Committee formed of men of such high character, will be expended in the way best calculated to carry out the religion of our Lord and Saviour. Having visited some of their stations, and met some of their interesting congregations, I can, moreover, bear my humble testimony to the very important work now carrying on

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