BAPTIST

AMONGST the numerous engagements connected with the recent week of annual meetings in London, there was one somewhat unusual in its character, reference to which will probably not prove unwelcome to our readers. Changes in the proprietorship of this MAGAZINE having rendered it desirable that an opportunity should be given to honoured friends who might justly be esteemed representatives of the Denomination, to become acquainted with the details of its management, seventy gentlemen kindly accepted the invitation of the Editor to an early meeting on the morning of the day devoted to the annual sermons of the Baptist Missionary Society. The statements made on this occasion were held to be thoroughly satisfactory, and the wish was very generally expressed, that in substance they should appear in our pages at an early date. Hence the following digest of the information which was laid before the meeting.

In common with all religious periodicals of long standing, the "Baptist Magazine" has, during late years, felt the competition of younger rivals for the public favour. Many of the most successful of modern serials, disdaining the limited platform of denominational prefer ences, find numerous readers in all

VOL. LVI.

sections of the church. With one or two exceptions they are all in private hands, and not having the pleasing task of labouring for a charitable fund, they can be more cheaply produced than works which, like our own, live for the pecuniary benefit of many. During the greater portion of the fifty-five years of its existence, the "Baptist Magazine" was the sole authority for Denominational Intelligence, and the transfer of this department of its usefulness to the more speedy channels of newspaper communication has not been without some detriment to its circulation. All things considered, it is cause for gratitude that not once in the past fifty-five years have its annual profits failed to contribute towards the necessities of widows and orphans of deceased ministers. Anxiously desirous of strengthening its position; at the close of the last year the Committee of Proprietors felt it advisable to concentrate the resources of the Magazine into more compact dimensions, and they were glad of the opportunity to place the property in trust for the benefit of the Denomination.

After much deliberation, it was accordingly resolved to transfer the management to six well-known gentlemen of our body, who were willing to undertake the charge. A trust-deed was forthwith executed,

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which, while it leaves the new proprietors unfettered on all questions connected with the conduct of the periodical, secures it as public property, and ensures its profits for the widows. The new proprietary is further charged with the purchase of the original shares held by their predecessors. The editorship is in the hands of one of the six, who, while solely responsible for the contents of the Magazine, enjoys frequent opportunities of consultation with his colleagues; and the former Treasurer and Secretary will continue their valuable services in the distribution of the profits which may accrue under the new arrangement.

Such are the secrets of our conclave, and without affectation we submit that they establish for us a claim upon the hearty assistance of all who feel that the preservation of one literary organ to the Baptist Denomination is an object worthy of attainment. The address with which we opened the labours of the year will suffice to make known the views we entertain, and the standard of excellence at which we aim. The following are a few only of the kind and encouraging expressions of confidence and sympathy which we have subsequently received from honoured brethren, whose approbation will, we are convinced, weigh with our readers, and stimulate them to exertion on our behalf, even as it animates us in our labours :

Having paid considerable attention to the arrangements which have recently been made for the management of the

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'Baptist Magazine," I can assure the ministers and members of our denomination that they may look for a periodical worthy of their special confidence and support. The need of a periodical which is practically and comprehensively denominational was, I think, never so urgent at it is at present; and as the supply of that need bids fair to be pre-eminently good in the pages of our magazine, I shall be glad to hear of its augmenting circulation. It has done good service in the past. It is getting ready to do yet better service in the time WILLIAM BROCK.

to come.

Gower Street.

I feel some little delicacy about saying much in favour of a periodical to which I am a contributor, however occasional or unworthy, but I do feel jealous for its position and circulation in the midst of the host of undenominational competitors that have sprung up around it within the last few years. There are several of these the same price as the magazine that one can read with pleasure, but there is not one of them to which I should not, as a Baptist, for many reasons, prefer our own longhonoured, and still to be honoured, representative. I believe there never was a time when we more needed such teachings as it brings to our homes, or when those teachings were more worthy of encouragement and support. Praying that God may abundantly bless you in your arduous and noble labours. Bradford.

J. P. CHOWN.

The long and valuable services of the "Baptist Magazine," together with its charitable object, ought to command the

The important services which the "Baptist Magazine" has rendered to the denomination during a period of more than half a century, and the charitable object to which its profits are directed, are substantial claims upon the support of our churches. The magazine, however, does not need to rest on these only. Improved and improving, it appears to be renewing its youth. The January number contains contributions of varied character,-practical, political, controversial, exegetical, biographical, literary, poetic; and is embellished with a good likeness of one who is held in high esteem amongst us, and an engraving of one of our new chapels, the chaste elegance of which would do credit to any denomination.

H. C. LEONARD.

It was gratifying to notice the improvement in many respects of the periodical

you conduct during the past year, and especially so to find the still greater promise which distinguishes its first issue for the current year. I sincerely wish the magazine may enjoy increasing sympathy and support, and shall be happy to render it any little service I can. There is no reason why its circulation should not be largely augmented. It ought not, aud must not, be permitted to decline. Make it, gentlemen, the representative, rather than the receptacle of the denomination, and it must assume its proper place.

The independency of our churches ought to be an element of great power, but when this degenerates into isolation, it dissipates strength, and is apt to generate jealousies; and where these spring up, there will be "envies and strife, with confusion and very evil work." J. P. MURSELL. Leicester.

The value of our periodical literature, with all its drawbacks, is not easily to be estimated. It would, in my judgment, be an irreparable loss to any denomination not to possess its magazine. The general interests of our body require that we should uphold our own monthly organ; not to speak of the service it has long rendered, and renders still to our ministers, our families, our widows, our missions, and our literature. Under its present management it has my hearty commendation, and if my influence avail anything it will be regularly taken in wherever that is felt. EDWARD STEANE, D.D. New House, Rickmansworth.

CALVIN was a great man, in every proper sense of the word. Intellectually, he towered above most. men of his age. His endowments were of the solid character, clear conception, keen penetration, comprehensiveness of view, skill in judgment, force in reasoning. He had not, it is true, the lively imagination which gives brilliancy to the pro

ductions of mind, and he might be pronounced deficient in taste; but his powers were of the noble order. He aspired to know the true and the right. The entangling sophistries and vain speculations of the schools were abandoned as soon as he had ascertained their uselessness and evil tendencies, and he repaired to the heavenly sources of religious know

ledge. He was no common inquirer. He plunged into the depths, and he soared to the heights. When he found wisdom he held it with a powerful grasp, and would not let it go. And he was gifted with the faculty of lucid statement. His positions were precisely laid down, and so clearly presented and defined that his meaning could hardly be mistaken. Unlike some, whose thoughts are lost in a sea of words, he contented himself with few and wellchosen expressions, and was satisfied when he had by that means secured his object. Doubtless, he owed much, very much, to education. He had the benefit of the best instruction which the times afforded, and he spent full ten years in amassing knowledge and acquiring those mental

habits which are the result of dis

cipline. But other men enjoyed the same advantages who did not rise to his eminence. He excelled them, first, in the strength and range of his powers, and then in that toilsome, exhaustive diligence which suffered no time to be wasted, no energy to be unemployed.

As a religious man, also, Calvin occupied a high place. His conversion was effected by a gradual process, though at the actual turning point the change appeared to be sudden. He thought his way to godliness. He laid hold of one truth. after another, and pressed onward and onward, till he came in view of the glory, and bowed in humble holy joy before God-God in Christ. Thenceforth his whole life was an embodiment of the principle expressed in his letter to Farel, when he informed him of his acceptance of the invitation to return to Geneva :-" Had I the choice at my own disposal nothing would be less agreeable to me than to follow your advice; but when I remember that T not my own, I offer up my

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heart, presented as a sacrifice to the Lord. . . . I submit my will and my affections, subdued and held fast to the obedience of God." In the true spirit of adoption, the filial, reverential affection peculiar to the members of God's family, he strove to ascertain the course of conduct which would be well-pleasing to his Heavenly Father, and that, once discovered, he resolutely pursued. He felt that God was near to him, recognised His presence and gracious interposition, and took delight in sublime and holy communings.

In his letters, where he unbosoms himself freely to friends and brethren, all the feelings of his heart were poured forth: at one time condoling with the afflicted, and displaying the rich treasures of consolation which divine promises supply; at another, animating sufferers for the truth by directing their regards to the faithful Saviour and the crown of glory awaiting them; and often giving way to the gushings of Christian love, and expressing, in tenderest words, the emotions that distinguish the friendship of saint with saint, and his yearning desires for the increase of holiness.

It

The religious system which Calvin propounded, and which, as he believed, was wholly derived from the sacred writings, may be said to resemble his own spiritual life. was, emphatically, full of God, an expansion of the apostolic words, "Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever." Comprehensive, compact, thoroughly consistent with itself, it unfolds the glory, the goodness, and the government of the Most High, and aims to humble the sinner, to exalt divine grace, and to promote universal sanctification. There are no flights of fancy, no logomachies, no attempts to explain the inscrutable or solve the mys