as Secretary or merely as a member, I shall endeavour to discharge my duty according to the best of my ability."

The scrutineers here announced the result of the ballot, and the brethren adjourned for dinner, most of them being escorted by Brother Durley and the Treasurer to dining-houses that were conveniently near.

At the afternoon meeting invitations were given from Northampton and Keighley, backed by strong arguments in each case, to induce the brethren to hold their meeting of next year in those places respectively. Newcastle-on-Tyne was also mentioned. An interesting and animated discussion of the question resulted in the acceptance of the Northampton invitation, by a large majority.

The magazine was the next subject discussed. Honourable testimony was borne to its general excellence as a literary organ, and its satisfactory management by the editorial and publishing committee. Exception was taken, however, to some part of an autobiography that had been admitted at the commencement of the year, as containing ex parte statements of certain ecclesiastical transactions that it was thought had better be allowed to sink into oblivion; as such things, it was alleged, did the magazine much harm. Suggestions were offered for the increase of its circulation. One brother expressed his belief that in many circuits there was no knowledge of its existence; and he added, "I live in a very small village, where there is a very small chapel. I have tried to get the magazine into circulation there, and have induced seven persons there to take it." Being asked by a brother what he would give towards reducing a chapel debt, he replied, he would give as many copies of the Local Preachers' Magazine as they could sell in the school and twentytwo copies are sold, all on new ground, and that to pay the chapel debt.

On the notices of motion for altering and amending different rules, great reluctance to make any but absolutely necessary alterations or changes was manifested. The principle by which the brethren evidently

wish to be guided in such matters is, "Let well alone." They are not reluctant to adopt the maxim enjoined by Wesley upon his helpers,-"Do not mend our rules, but keep them." Little alteration, therefore, was made, and that little not unsettling anything in the constitution of the Association. Out of seven notices of motion, only two met with acceptance: first, the common-sense and equitable one allowing the trustees to become exofficio members of the General Committee; and the kindly-considerate one of allowing new members to pay their entrance fee by quarterly instal

ments.

Much time was consumed in debating the notices of motion, so that no time remained for taking into consideration the paper read at the preceding aggregate meeting, on " Mutual Aid for Mutual Improvement." It was therefore ordered to stand over for discussion at next year's meeting.

When the question of “ Ways and Means was before the brethren, the Honorary Secretary stated that we want about six pounds a year of free income from every branch of the Association. The question was, how to raise the requisite amount. Collecting cards, annual collections in chapels, and personal application and appeal were among the means suggested by different speakers. One of them remarked, "Push, and Perseverance, and Publicity are the means by which business is made successful: and we, if we would succeed, must use the same means. Many of our aged brethren have served the societies and congregations" without money and without price" for a term ranging between thirty and fifty years, and some even for more than the halfcentury. Surely it cannot be thought too much to ask one collection a year in every chapel dependent upon the local ministry, for the relief of these men in the period of their decline, and in circumstances of need. If this could be had, there would be no lack of funds. An allowance of, not only four shillings, but twice four shillings might then be secured to every poor brother in time of old age and decay. Where no public collection can be obtained, however, some one should

be pressed into service to collect weekly a penny from six, ten, a dozen, or more contributors; by which a larger sum in the year might be obtained than a public collection would yield.

The sittings of the brethren were held, by successive adjournments, until about five o'clock on the Tuesday afternoon, when, prayer and praise having been offered, and the benediction pronounced, they separated. How many of them will meet again on earth? The Lord alone knoweth. Some are sure to pass away ere the year shall have completed its circle. May all, through the great atoning sacrifice, by the grace of God, meet at last in heaven, where partings are unknown! Amen.

Literary Notices.

COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. By James Morison, D.D. London : Hamilton, Adams, & Co., Paternoster-row. THE seventh and eighth parts of this erudite work, extending to Matt. xxiv. 17, are before us. Our admiration of the author's learning and talents, increases with every part that comes to hand. If the author live to complete his undertaking he will have brought a mine of word-wealth into the possession of his readers, together with a critical exposition of the New Testament, such as had no previous existence. We have never read a writer who displays so fine and delicate a perception of the relation of words to ideas, and so complete a mastery of language-especially Greek and English- -as the author of this commentary does. Almost every sentence is an exact reflection of mind in the mirror of speech. Students may here learn how to make use of our composite English; the strong, the precise, and the beautiful of our manifold incorporations and combinations with the old Anglo-Saxon, so as to present his thoughts with exactness to an audience or to a reader. He may do this almost unconsciously, whilst attending only or mainly to the expository teaching before him.

Dr.

Morison examines every word and phrase of the text in the light of par

allel texts, together with that of all that history and tradition and every kind of literature can cast upon them. His object is, not to lecture his readers not to spiritualise or to moralise-but to explain. This is his aim; all else is subsidiary to that. The student wanting to gather materials for sermons, must go to other writers: he who wants to know what words the inspired penmen of the New Testament used, and in what sense they used them, must read this commentary. We have stated our author's main design; but we should do him an injustice if we did not distinctly say that there is interwoven with his expositions, a considerable amount of religious and moral teaching of the purest, noblest, and most beautiful kind. There are gems of moral and spiritual thought, and precious passages of moral and spiritual teaching, blended with verbal exposition, to be found in almost every page. We have before given extracts that sustain these statements, and we gladly give a few more.

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Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. It is in, instead of with, in the original. The heart and soul and mind are thus represented rather as the seat of the love required, than as the instruments wherewith the loving is to be effected, The word rendered all, is not the common word for all, but the word for whole. It is in fact, our very word whole (hóle). In thy whole heart, and in thy whole soul, and in thy whole mind, that is,—if we would produce to a nicety the peculiarity of the Hebrew expression, (Deut. vi. 5; x. 12), in which the word whole is a substantive,-in the whole of thy heart, and in the whole of thy soul, and in the whole of thy mind. The words heart, soul, mind, represent different aspects of one substantive entity-the one spiritual element of our nature, whether that element should be metaphysically simple, or in some respects constituted and compound. It is the heart or centre of our complex being. (See Matt. ix. 4; xii. 34; xiii. 15, 19; xv. 8, 19.) It is the soul,-the seat of sensations and feelings in general. It is the

mind,—that in us which perceives and thinks and understands. 'All that is within us' should be enlisted in the love of the Lord our God; and every element of our inner being should contribute somewhat to the completion of our duty." Page 457.

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'It seems to be scientifically clear, that the whole New Testament is the outgrowth of the Old. Richard Bax

ter was right, -‘Judaism was but Christianity in the egg. And outside the sphere of Judaism there were multitudes of things lying in the same direction, only not so positively 'pronounced.' There has been, indeed, a grand Unity of Aim in all ages. God, and God Propitious, has been in all history. Behind the progress of events, there has been, all along, a Divine Mind showering in, as the clouds and fogs of human prejudices would permit, innumerable sparks or sparkles of its own infinite intelligence, and pointing men hopefully onward and upward. An infinite Conscience, too, has all along kept touching human consciences, and, as it were, divinely magnetising them, or adjusting the moral compasses of men's souls. Side by side with the infinite Conscience an infinite Heart has been sending its pulses strangely and mysteriously, but really, into all human hearts, as much as might be, and often producing wonderful reciprocal longings and lovings and yearnings. So far, also, as the myriad movements of finite free-wills would admit, an infinite Will has been seeking to guide the helm of every human soul, and the helm of all those groups of souls which we call peoples or nations." (Matt. xxii. 43, 44.) Page 460.

Our expositor clearly and strongly holds and teaches both the freeness of divine grace and the freedom of the human will. "And ye would not: -or, And ye wished not. Such is the literal translation (Matt. xxiii. 37) but nothing can excel that of our authorised version. The language is evidence,' as Dean Alford justly remarks, of the freedom of man's will to resist the grace of God.' Calvin was led astray by the theology which he inherited, when he denied the validity of the evidence, and accused

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those of sophistry who adduced it (a sophistis arripitur). He did not anticipate the progress of philosophic thought, and perceive that the denial of all theology, revealed and natural, is involved in the denial of the freedom of the will." Page 491.

"For a witness unto all nations (Matt. xxiv. 14). Not a witness against them, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Arnoldi suppose; nor yet a witness to them against the Jews, as Grotius and Richard Baxter suppose; but for a testimony to them of the grace of God to sinners universally, and His willingness to take them back into the enjoyment of His favour. 'This,' says John, 'is the testimony, that God hath given to us-hath made over to us in gifteternal life, and this life is in His Son.' Hence Whitby's paraphrase is substantially correct, for a witness to all nations that I am the Christ." Page 506.

We close our extracts with a most solemn and weighty sentence, that cannot be too widely promulgated, and that all need to ponder :-" When the morals of a people become thoroughly corrupt, no political expedients will long succeed in averting social ruin and physical degradation.' Page 496.

GARDENER'S MAGAZINE.

THE August issue of this serial, being the forty-fourth part, and comprising Nos. 218 to 221 inclusive, is now upon our table. Its immediate predecessor we have not seen. Thorough lovers of gardening, who follow the art, whether as a business or as a pleasure, we are inclined to think, must be as anxious to see each number, as soon as it appears, as is the politician, or the cosmopolitan, or any other habitual reader of news, to get hold of a copy of the Times as soon as he sits down to breakfast. There is always something new and something instructive and agreeable in its pages. The part before us contains reports of far towards a score of exhibitions -horticultural, floral, and botanic; notices of many new flowers; descriptions of interesting localities; valuable information in meteorology,

on

reaping as to the full-ripeness of grain to be secured before being cut, and on many other matters connected with farming, gardening, and kindred subjects; replies to correspondents, &c. Every part issued contains graphical illustrations, either of trees, plants, flowers, fruits, implements, buildings, grounds, and generally several of the different classes of subjects here indicated. Some of these illustrations are exceedingly beautiful, as are the five examples of Croton in the part before us, especially the three on page 297. On page 300 is the figure of a watering-pan upon a principle that commends itself at a glance to the common-sense of any one, but especially to florists. Leaving the other illustrations and all other matters, we present our readers with a paragraph from the second column of page 317.

LOVE OF FLOWERS.-In all countries women love flowers; in all countries they form nosegays of them; but it is only in the bosom of plenty that they conceive the idea of embellishing their dwellings with them. The cultivation of flowers among the peasantry indicates a revolution in all their feelings. It is a delicate pleasure which makes its way through coarse organs; it is a creature whose eyes are opened; it is the sense of the beautiful, a faculty of the soul which is awakened; colours, forms, odours are perceived for the first time, and these charming objects have at length spectators. Those who have travelled in the country can testify that a rose-tree under a window, a honeysuckle around the door of a cottage, is a good omen for a weary traveller. The hand that cultivates flowers is not closed against the supplications of the poor, nor against the wants of the stranger. Flowers may be called the alphabet of angels, wherewith they write on hills and plains mysterious truths."

OLD JONATHAN continues to bring out of his treasury things new and old; and the old are generally-perhaps always-adapted to the times. Articles for the young, and articles for the old, for Sunday schools, for families, and for individuals; about

morals and about religion; together with biography, topography, natural history, travels, and anecdotes, and many other subjects, find a place in most of the monthly issues. The illustrations, too, continue to maintain their high excellence. Do spend a penny a month upon Old Jonathan.

BIBLICAL NOTES AND QUERIES. WE have received a "Specimen number" of this new candidate for the patronage of Bible students, and have given it a careful perusal. There is certainly an important field of inquiry and information which it proposes to occupy, and which may be occupied and cultivated with advantage to religion and learning, if sufficient caution and prudence be maintained, and if those indispensable qualities be served by the requisite amount of scholarship. The undertaking is as grave a one as can be imagined. There will be peril from a flood of crude and fanciful contributions, in all probability; and unless the editorial reins be tightly held, and the literary steeds be wisely guided, the car will soon be either broken among crags or sunk in bog. The present number contains excellent matter. We do not agree, however, with every item of its contents. It is but fair to acknowledge that it is not to be expected that everything in such a publication should meet with every one's approval. The various articles and items of a repository of this kind must be read with candour, whilst the exercise of an independent judgment upon them must be maintained.

Writers for the press are always liable to suffer from the mis-readings and errors of compositors; and authors do not always detect such errors when revising the proofs, often lacking the requisite leisure for that part of their service. To these causes, we suppose, we may attribute the blunder in the middle of the first column of page 17, where, under a Synoptical view of the Bible," the book of Judges stands for the fifth book of Moses, as containing A repetition of Laws and Dealings with Israel."

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Among other articles are "Appa

ratus for Biblical Criticism;" "Patristic Testimony to the Canon of Scripture; "The Lower and Higher Criticism" (their principles); "Qualifications of an Interpreter;' "Bible Theology; "Vulgar Errors," and "Ecclesiasticism, the Right Use and Doctrinal Opinions of the Fathers."

Sunday School Column.

'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE. YES, it is sixty years since, on the 6th November, when a boy about thirteen years of age, with clean hands and face, made his bow, and asked to be admitted a scholar in the Keilah Sunday school. The teacher looked into the speaking and intelligent countenance, and said, Now, my lad, if your name is entered on the book, I shall expect you to attend regularly, at six o'clock in the morning in summer, and seven o'clock in winter." "That I will do, master," replied the boy so Edwin's name was duly entered in the book.

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Young Edwin, though thirteen years of age when he entered as a scholar in this school, had been at work from the age of eight years, and had not had the advantage of a dayschool education, so he had to begin with A B C. He possessed, however, a determined mind; and a boy with that, what won't he do?

Young Edwin soon conquered the elements, and with his big A, little a, r-o-n, was able to spell Aaron. Nothing like perseverance; so thought our scholar; for from the day of his entrance, all through the cold winter of 1808, and the warm summer of 1809, till Nov. 26th, fifty-six Sabbaths in unbroken succession, Edwin was in his place in the school, outstripping all his school-fellows in his attendance, not one of whom could show such unbroken attendance for so long a period.

The teacher, I perceive by the rollbook, from July 2nd, 1809, kept a double attendance; two columns being appropriated to each boy: the first headed S, signifying school; the second C, signifying church. Here again our Edwin is as regular as clock-work, from July 2nd, 1809, to

July, 1811, when the roll-book ends. He appears never to have been absent from church.

It is customary now, when a scholar's name is entered on the rollbook, to have placed before his name a permanent number; but in the book before me, when Edwin's name first appears, it is number nineteen. When the names next appear in the book he is number three. The next move he is number one, which position he holds to the last. Well done, Edwin! Your perseverance, punctuality, good conduct, and progress in learning have secured you the first place in the school.

It has been said, "Reward sweetens labour." This is a truth. A wild little fellow, who, by his conduct very frequently called forth words of rebuke from his mother, did something on one occasion which he thought merited approval; so he said, "Courage me, mother; courage me.' There is little doubt but the penny tins given for clean hands and face, regular attendance at school and church, getting at the head of a class, learning his tasks well, had an influence on our scholar. I find an account in this book of the distribution of prize-money. Here is our Edwin, March 24th, 1811, at the top of the list; he has secured 260 prizes, and carries away 13s. prize money. There are thirteen other boys rewarded; but none of them exceed 200 prizes: one as low as twenty. It must be borne in mind that at this school, although a boy might secure tins for paying attention to the rules, he might forfeit them by violation. For instance, a boy in one month may have secured ten tins; but he may have forfeited five-hence would have five only placed to his credit.