£500 towards the one at Bow, and a similar sum towards the one now building at Plaistow-Marsh; and he did not attach any perplexing conditions to his gifts. They were promised on the simple understanding, that the chapel should be free from debt; and the money was generally paid long before the time fixed. This friend had lately visited the schools at Tredegar-road, and given instructions for another school to be erected at his own expense, as the dayschool there was overcrowded. He had also purchased a site on Bow-Common, and on that site he was prepared to put a school-chapel and two schools, and give them to the Methodist Counexion. Another site had been secured near the Old Ford Railway-station, where quite a markettown would soon spring up. There was sometimes a difficulty about a site. At Stratford, where they had long wanted a chapel, a piece of land had been refused them, for a reason which, in his opinion, struck at the liberties of the people of England, viz., that the proposing purchaser did not belong to the Church of England; and therefore he could not have the ground. He thought the only light in which they should regard such things was this, that where Methodist chapels and schools were so much dreaded, it was evident they were greatly needed.

The REV. G. T. PERKS, M.A., said, at the last Meeting he was treasurer of the Home-Mission Fund, and he now occupied a different position, in connexion with our Foreign Missions. But he felt that the two offices were not at all antagonistic, for Home and Foreign Missions must stand or fall, flourish or decay, together. The Society at Bow, to which reference had been made, had sent £80 during the last year to the funds of the Foreign Missionary Society. It was therefore evident that the more they multiplied Home-Missions, the more they would augment the regular income of the Foreign Missionary Society. He had been sorry to bequeath to his succes. sor a debt of some £5,000, which, though not a source of alarm, was still matter of anxiety, as it was an obstruction to their progress. He was much gratified to see what had been done by the Juvenile Associations, and looked to them to afford a permanent income to the Fund.

clad, and with her feet almost bare. Her husband is a shoemaker; and, after procuring leather with great trouble, he wished to finish some boots for her on this Sunday morning. She said, "No, I will not wear them if a stitch be put in on Sunday. I have gone almost barefoot, and I can go on the ground one more Sunday." There is some proof here of the genuine character of the change which she professes to have experienced.

January 10th.-In distributing relief to the needy in the alley to-day, I found a family engaged in making wooden dolls. The father, at a rude lathe, first turns the wood into a rough bust, which is then covered with composition, and put into a mould to produce the features, &c. A child then nails on two slender strips of wood for legs; and the mother, who is the artist of the family, paints the eyes, eyebrows, and lips. It is then varnished, packed in paper, tied up in dozens, and taken for chance of sale to some wholesale warehouse, realizing six shillings a gross!

23d.--The gratitude of the children of the Day and Sunday school was shown to-day in the presentation of a cushion, their own work, to the Rev. F. W. Briggs, to whom the poor people here are so much indebted for the erection of the Chequer-Alley chapel.

February 2d. One of our boys, under godly impressions, and seeking salvation, went without his dinner last Sunday, because the food had been bought on that holy day. Our Sunday-school increases; and, with our need of help, God raises up additional friends. We have now separate classes for ignorant children and youths, a select class for advanced young persons, and some eighty infants are also taught.

March 13th.-One of my poor flock, a seller of violets in the streets, brought me a beautiful bouquet. These people appre ciate kindness.

March 16th.-Attended a costermongers' tea-meeting, where were assembled about four hundred of the roughest speci meus of London street-life: a worse sample probably could not have been found in the metropolis. The Rev. E. A. Telfer, Mr. T. B. Smithies, and myself addressed them. They were respectful and attentive, and much deep feeling was stirred and manifested. The prayers of some who have been unquestionably converted from the error of their ways would doubtless offend the taste of some; but they are just what might be expected, and are not the worse for being free from conventional modes of expression, which frequently mean but little. For instance, one will say,

"Lord bless the poor costers of Whitecross-street. Bless that ere one which we ad an hargument with this morning. Help us to speak a word for Thee. Thou knowest we often gets blowed up for speaking, but help us not to mind it." During the quarter several have been converted to God, and we have great reason for thankfulness.

At one of our collections there were presented nineteen farthings, collected by a little child.

Great distress has prevailed in the alley, and considerable relief has been given to the poor. Two thousand six hundred and sixty dinners have been given to children, and six hundred and fifty tickets for food, coal, &c., distributed; and numerous new and old garments given to the destitate. Two hundred women have been employed in sewing-classes for two days and a half per week, earning one shilling per day. The garments thus made have been sold or given to the poor. The halfcrown thus earned has enabled many to keep their humble home, instead of having to seek refuge in the workhouse.

3. TONDU.-From the Rev. John C. Reddaway-April 30th, 1868.-Our new Mission chapel is nearly completed, and will be opened in June. The finances are in a satisfactory state. In March, 1865, there were thirty-five church-members in the Mission District; in March, 1868, there were ninety-nine, and sixteen on trial. In 1865 the quarterly income was £2. 168.; it is now £10. 10s. 1d. At Tondu itself, there were but six Churchmembers in 1865; now there are fifty. And contributions to all the funds of Methodism

have advanced in due proportion. Much is due to the liberality of the Messrs. Brogden in furthering the chapel movement, and in largely contributing to the support of the Home-Missionary minister; and we are also greatly indebted to the people, who have been gathered together, for their zealous and valuable co-operation. This successful mission will be comprised in the Circuit organization at the next Conference.

4. BEESTON-HILL, LEEDS.-From the Journal of the Rev. A. Cleaver.-March, 1868.-The success of this Home Mission has been marked, and is gratifying. Before Home-Missionary operations were commenced here, we had about forty church-members, and a small congregation worshipping in an upper room. Now we have a new and handsome chapel, seating six hundred and fifty persons, and costing about £3,000. We have also a spacious school-room and vestries. Although the chapel was opened so recently as June in the past year, every pew is let, and a respectable and intelligent congregation has been gathered together. There are now one hundred and fifty church-members. We have also two hundred children in our Mission Sunday-school, some of whom are members of our Church. We are thankful that every part of the work is healthy and vigorous, and that Methodism has assumed its proper position in this improving suburb of Leeds. It is proposed to take this Mission, thus successfully working to the desired result, into conuexion with the Circuit organization, at the ensuing Conference, and to provide a house for the minister.

EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.-The Annual Soirée of the Evangelical Alliance was held on Thursday evening May 7th, at Freemasons' Hall, and was well attended, the interest of the occasion being much increased by a prior announcement that "the Committee of Council, taking into

consideration the great importance at the present time of presenting a clear and united testimony for revealed religion, and for the doctrines promulgated at the Reformation, so far as they are based on the Word of God," had resolved that addresses should be given on certain

subjects which were specified. The chair was taken by the EARL OF CHICHESTER.

The REV. EDMUND CLAY delivered an address on the following theme:-" A vigorous and united defence of revealed truth, and pre-eminently of the great and fundamental doctrines of Christianity, urgently called for in these days, by the progress of Rationalism as well as of Romanizing tendencies." He said he could not but feel that the programme of the proceedings of the evening constituted a very significant and a very solemn fact. They were called upon to defend the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, and that in the nineteenth century of the Christian religion. He was reminded at once of two remarkable letters whichau inspired apostle, just going to martyrdom, wrote to his son in the faith, [said to have been] the first Bishop of Ephesus, in which he sketched the very thing which they were assembled to consider that evening, to raise their protest, and to make a united and vigorous defence against. The great apostle of the Gentiles, eighteen centuries ago, distinctly foreshadowed the necessity of such an assembly of godly people as was then being held. He told Timothy that in the last days there would be a falling away from the faith, an apostasy, a declension, a departure from the truth, and that perilous times would come. He gave, in a brief form, some of the different aspects which seducing philosophies, falsely so called, would assume, one of the principal of these being the rejection of all authority, and a refusal to acknowledge one great rule of faith and of law. He also mentioned the instrumentality by which these evils would be introduced into the Church. They would be introduced by men whom he called "seducers," men who would be themselves deceived and would unwittingly deceive others. He further pointed out the peculiar line in which this evil would work; namely, by the dishonour which would be put upon God's Word. He seemed to foreshadow a time in the history of the Church when there would arise a system of teaching bringing in a "philosophy falsely so called;" a system of teaching the logical sequence of which must be to undermine the regality and the sufficiency of the sacred Scriptures. And, now, what was the state of things in the day in which their lot was cast? The Council of that Association, which really represented the different Churches of Jesus Christ, both in this land and abroad, said it was high time for them to enter upon "a vigorous and united defence of revealed truth," and of "the fundamental doctrines

of Christianity," by reason of the spread of a certain system of teaching called Rationalism, and of another system of departure from the truth called Romanism. Here, then, they had these two apostasies, which were foreshadowed by the apostle, brought face to face with themselves. The ultimate teaching of Rationalism, and the ultimate teaching of Romanism, were precisely the same. That teaching practically subverted and superseded the Divine sufficiency and anthority of the Sacred Writings. One of the clearest and deepest thinkers of modern times, in their own country, spoke of this as being a characteristic of the present condition of the human mind, a revolt from all authority; and he said that three centuries of growing intelligence, of growing liberty, and of growing wealth, had brought the civilized world into universal discontent and universal doubt. What was the fact? It was no secret to himself, or to his audience, or to any one who reads the literature of the present day, that men of vast powers and ability had brought in a system of teaching with respect to God's Holy Scriptures, which, if it were accepted by the thinking minds of the community generally, would plunge them into an abyss of hopeless scepticism. Let them call it by what name they pleased, such was its tendency. This system of teaching or philosophy did not reject the Scriptures; it acknowledged that the Bible contained the orthodox faith, but it required and demanded that every man should be allowed to interpret the Bible according to what was called "the inward criterion of the human mind." One great writer of that school said, "the Scriptures must be admitted to contain the orthodox faith; but what is the orthodox faith must be determined by the verifying faculty within us." So that, instead of man's mind and judgment being subject to that Word by which he is hereafter to be judged, the Word was to be judged by man's "verifying faculty." Man's authority, in short, was made to supersede the Divine authority, and was permitted to call in question the Divine sufficiency and supremacy of God's sacred Scriptures...... And no whit behind the Rationalizing tendency was the Romanizing one. For what did the Romanizing system teach? Whether it were the doctrine of the in fallibility of the Pope that was asserted, or whether it were left to a general council to decide what was, and what was not, truth, there was a usurpation of the office of the Spirit of God as the interpreter of

Seripture. Rationalism left it to each man to decide for himself what was, and what was not, truth; Romanism left the matter to the Pope or to a council; and in both cases the result was the samethe truth was dishonoured......It was distinctly laid down by St. Paul that their defence of the truth must rest on their abiding and continuing in their allegiance and loyalty to the supremacy of God's Word. The apostle said to Timothy, "Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." There was their security, there was their shelter, there was their defence,-in continuing and abiding in those Holy Scriptures which they had "known," the power of which they had tested, the might of which in the Spirit of God nothing could prevail against.

SWITZERLAND.- LORD'S-DAY OBSERVANCE. I think the most interesting feature of religious life in our country at this moment is the progress of the Society for the sanctification of the Lord's day. If its labours had to be judged exclusively in the light of results already realized, they might be thought of small account; but all who undertake to stem the general current of habit and custom know that in such things a great amount of exertion has to be achieved before any visible impression is produced. The friends of the Lord's day have worked steadily since the foundation of their society, which was a consequence of the General Conference of the Evangelical Alliance in 1861; and the Conference at Amsterdam, last year, has given them a renewed impulse. Five committees have been successively organised, in Basle, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Schaffhausen, and Geneva, whilst in other cantons, where no committees have been formed, the cause of the Lord's day counts some good and true friends, willing to help according to their power. Those several agencies work together harmoniously, and the interest is gradually extending. Special sermons have been preached, tracts and addresses have been printed, in both French and German, and begin to be extensively circulated; and meetings, both private and public, have repeatedly placed the subject before the eyes of the several classes of our population. We have had three public meetings in Geneva in the course of this winter.

It is a character of the sanctification of the Lord's day, that, as it implies cessation from labour, it appeals at once to a vast number of interests, and affects a great many persons who perhaps have no care whatever for its religious importance. Yet, without some consent on their part, improvement in practice must always be very difficult. Only through the action of public opinion at large is it possible to obtain results in which the action of Government is required. For instance, all over the country the military musters and rifle practice extensively take place on the Sunday, and the reason given is the wish to lighten as much as possible that burden on the public, by leaving their business days and hours untouched. It is evident, that in order to obtain from the Government a modification of that state of things an expression of the public desire for it must be obtained, as a motive for action, and this desire must first be created in the majority of the people. This is not by any means an easy task, and it requires not only much labour, but also time and perseverance. However, time is of no account when set in the balance against right and truth.

Some people think that, as a religious question, this subject should be argued upon purely religious grounds. I confess my own views are less exclusive; and, considering that the religious advantages are not the only blessings with which the Lord has enriched His own day, I think it is not only legitimate, but wise and Christian, to use every argument, wherever it will tell, provided always it is in itself true. For that reason, I consider it a very satisfactory fact that the Genevese "Société d'Utilité Publique" has offered two prizes, one of £60, and the other of £20, for the best essays on the two questions, "What are, to private indi viduals and to society, the consequences of the observance of a weekly day of rest under the three aspects of health, wealth, and morality?" "What are the best means to obtain and secure, both for society and all its members, the benefit of that rest ?" No doubt these questions are far from exhausting the subject; much yet remains to be said and to be done. But truth is one; and it is impossible that economical and moral truth should not, in the end, be found to agree with religious truth. The "Société d'Utilité Publique" is not a religious society, but many of its members are men acquainted with piety, and their sympathy for the cause ought to be gratefully accepted, in the shape in which they are willing to give

it. This combined action of all legitimate influences is desirable at this juncture for a result of some importance. It is intended to secure the day of rest for our postmen, at present almost entirely deprived of it by the service of the Postoffice. The men themselves, in the canton of Geneva, are willing; one hundred and five of them have signed a petition to their superiors. These, on their part, appear well disposed to grant what they can. But many weighty interests are involved in the postal service. No measure can be of any avail-in fact, nothing can be done-without a consent of the majority in the cantons; and you can suppose what complications may arise! In the mean time, the men learn to value the boon; they think about it. They begin to be ridiculed by those who do not value the Lord's day for themselves; but that will rather make them more earnest in the cause than discourage them. At the same time, they learn to appreciate the sympathy of those who endeavour to work with them for their advantage.Correspondent of Evangelical Christendom.

THE DISCIPLINE OF REFORMATORIES. -The Quarterly Social Meeting of the masters and matrons of the various institutions connected with the Reformatory and Refuge Union, was held at Radley's Hotel on the evening of May 25th. After an hour spent in social intercourse at the tea-table, and the reading of a passage of Scripture and prayer, the business of the meeting was commenced by Mr. Amor reading a short paper on the subject chosen for discussion, namely, punish ments. He said it was impossible to lay down any rules which should apply equally to all institutions or to each of the inmates; much must depend upon the character of the one and the dispositions of the others. Corporal punishment when resorted to should seldom be inflicted at the time of the offence, for fear of its seeming to be the result of hasty decision, instead of a calm conviction of its justice and necessity. It should generally be had recourse to only as the last resort, but might be inflicted for lying, stealing, determined wilful disobedience, and grossly immoral language or conduct. Several superintendents took part in the discussion which followed, all of whom approved of corporal punishment, when other means had failed.

The opinions so widely prevalent some years since, that punishments were unnecessary and hurtful in the education of youth, and that the young could best be

ruled by love and by appeals to their reason, were considered altogether erroneous. These opinions were founded on a mistaken view of the moral constitution of man by nature, in his fallen and unregenerate state, and of the mind of God on this question, as revealed in His written Word. It is only when it is unjustly and too frequently administered that corporal punishment has done harm. It is obvi ously impossible man can be raised

from his fallen condition until the rebellions self-will and self-righteousness, which were the fruits of his fall, have been subdued by the conviction of his absolute nothingness, worthlessness, and helplessness, and he has been so thoroughly humbled in the sight of God as to be ready to exclaim with Job, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

The inculcation of this humble and teachable frame of mind and disposition of heart is the first step towards success in the Christian training of character in the young, as from it springs some of the highest Christian graces. While punishments must vary in their nature and severity, according to the infinite modifica tions of character and temperament, expericuce clearly proves that there are cases of determined overbearing self-will and proud self-conceit in which all other means fail besides bodily chastisement; though it should not be resorted to until milder measures have been unsuccessfully tried. Several remarkable examples of this description were mentioned by the masters of public institutions present, in which they had been subsequently thanked, with tears in the eyes, by youths whom they had flogged, and had been told that their punishment, although severe, had been the turning-point in their lives, from which they dated, and to which they owed, all their happiness and pros perity. The total exclusion, indeed, of of corporal punishment would be assum ing that the Bible is in error when it says, "a rod for the fool's back;" "he that spareth his rod hateth his son ;" and this would be asserting that man is wiser than God.

The foregoing plan presupposes, however, that the teacher is a well-instructed Christian, whose heart has been truly converted to God; for without vital godliness, however high may be a teacher's qualificstions as regards secular instruction, it is next to impossible he can succeed in laying a sound foundation for the growth of the religious principles, and for the building up of the Christian character.

Mr. Fox specially noticed, in warm terms, the successful results he had learnt