man, who said, if he was sure he would be damned in hell to all eternity, that he would not change his religion. This man gave the family of more uneasiness than all in the country besides. The first time I went there to read, he heard me very patiently; the second, he clasped me about my neck and kissed me several times: but, to my surprise, this last time he mostly did not part with us at all; and when I was coming away, he asked me when I would be back again? I told him it would be long before I would go there again. He told me not to do so; but begged I would come often, and if not, that they would be down with me; and that it was better for me to come to them, than for a number to come down and eat my bread and potatoes! Here is a change; from the most determined hatred to the word, he now manifests the greatest love. But it would be tedious to mention all the instances of the work of the Lord (according to appearances) in these most unexpected parts. But you must recollect, there is a great difference between the people of England and the wild Irish here. Some that are true believers, and who, through grace, are enabled to make a clear confession of their faith, are disqualified from being either masters of schools, or readers of the scriptures. But blessed be the Lord, there are some who are qualified to become either, or both. I have already three schoolmasters in this part who are given me for my hire; and a fourth, who is lately brought out of the dark gulph of popery. These will satisfy you to heart's content, viz. who has a flourishing school of upwards of 100 scholars; the same; and the same. There is on the mountain side, who has a good school, which he has maintained most manfully against the greatest opposition in the kingdom; for, although I made the best interest in the country for his being supported against the opposition of the priests; yet if he himseif had not persevered, all would have fallen to the ground. You are to observe, that wherever a school is established, there is an introduc tion for me to read and explain the word of God; without these it would be utterly impossible. I have had occasion to dismiss two of the Sunday readers, and to appoint two others in their stead. One of these is brother to the lad I met with on the mountains, whom I have under my care. There is also a converted man who lives at who reads the Irish Testament well, who is a miracle of grace: he never spoke a word of English; and, in the absence of will read to the neighbours. The progress of learning to read Irish is getting on so fast, that I hope we shall find many faithful men able to do the same; at least that there will not be an enemy to the gospel soon. Your's, &c. From the same, Aug. 21, 1815. It is pleasing to see the flourishing state of the schools, particularly of those where the masters are themselves influenced by the truth. In five of the schools (costing each about twenty guineas per annum,) there are upwards of 600 scholars. These masters are not only teaching the children, but adults, and notwithstanding every opposition that can be made, was made by the priests,. they are now actually dumb, and taking no heed. We are apprehensive that another storm is gathering; but the more they have as yet been opposed, the less respected are they even by those of their own profession. As for instance, in the place where the greatest struggle in the kingdom commenced, about a month since, the priest stood up upon the altar, and with great authority commanded his flock to return every Testament they had in their possession: and said that he had as great authority on that aitar, as God had on his throne in heaven. The only effect produced was, that a man and his wife went out of the chapel, and have declared they will never enter it again: not one Testament was given up. The next sabbath, at another part of the parish, as this had failed, he stood up, and wept bitterly that his flock was likely to be destroyed; but no heed was given to him; and there never was so great demand for Testaments, from all parts, as since that time. Generally speaking, the Lord is exciting a great spirit of inquiry; but there are so few that can speak to the people in IRISH: and any thing else is useless!-I intend to go soon to the Mountains, partly in the counties of Sligo and Roscommon. I have received a kind invitation from an ancient man, that I had not seen for twenty years before last week; who pressed me to come where he lives, and bring the Irish Testament with me: this I cannot omit. I had not intended to visit this place till I met with this old acquaintance. We shall now compass a large tract of country. I shall extend my labours to the East to the South. I hope will be appointed for the West; there is no man the Lord has fitted better for this purpose; he is as mild as a lamb, and as stout as a lion; and there is no disturbing him in his temper, by any means whatever; and he ventures to go, where either of us would be too timorous to go at all. Mr. B. has appointed long ago to go to the North. We are happy to find that, at the annual association of the Baptist churches in Ireland, held at Cork, on May 12, 1815, some very important regulations were adopted, which we doubt not will prove advantageous. A more particular account of this meeting may be expected in our next. NEW CHAPELS OPENED. RATTLESDEN. THE Baptist meeting house at Rattlesden having been greatly enlarged, it was re-opened on Tuesday, the 1st of August. The Rev. T. C. Edmonds, M. A. of Cambridge, preached from Psalm 1. 2. “ Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." The Rev. J. Smith, of Ilford, from John, iii. 30. "He must in crease." And the Rev. W. Weare, of Ipswich, from 1 Cor. i. 21. The devotional services were conducted by the Rev. Mess. Cole, of Bury; Thompson, of Grun disburgh; Weare and Paine, of Ipswich; Cox, (independent,) of Hadleigh; Brown and Bloomfield, of Stowmarket; and Tipper, of Otley. MILDENHALL A NEW meeting house, at West Row, Mildenhall, (for the Baptist congregation in that place,) was opened in March.The Rev. Mr. Keebie, of Blandfordstreet, London, preached from 1 Cor. xvi. 13, 14. The Rev. Mr. Stodhart, of Pellstreet, London, from Prov. xviii. 24. And the Rev. Mr. Paine, of Ipswich, from John, iii. 16. The Rev. Mess. Cole, of Bury; Norman, of Soham; and Middleditch, of Rattlesden, assisted in the devo tional services. NOTTINGHAM. ON Wednesday, Aug. 16, a large and commodious Baptist meeting house, lately erected in George-street, Nottingham, was opened for divine worship. The Rev. Thomas Morgan, and the Rev. Isaiah Birt, of Birmingham, preached in the morning; and the Rev. Thomas Reberts, of Bristol, in the evening. The collections toward defraying the expenses of the erection (including those made after two sermons preached by Mr. Roberts, on the following Lord's day) amounted to £317 15s. KEIGHLEY. ON March 29, 1815, a new chapel was opened at Keighley, in the West of Yorkshire, of the Baptist denomination. In the morning Mr. Trickett, of Bramley, introduced divine worship by reading the scriptures, and prayer. Mr. Stephens, of Manchester, preached from Psalm cxxxii. 18. Mr. Lister, of Liverpool, then preach. ed from 2 Cor. iii. 8, and concluded. In the afternoon Mr. M'Farlane, of Rawdon, began divine worship by prayer. Mr. Mann, of Shipley, preached from Haggai, ii. 7.; and Mr. Steadman, of Bradford, from Micah, vii. 20, and concluded. An interest was set on foot here, five or six years ago, by a few individuals who were members of the Baptist Church at Haworth, a village about three miles from Keighley. Since that time, Mr. Joseph Shaw has been invited to labour there. A church has been formed consisting of eighteen members. The place will seat about 500 hearers, and is yet encumbered with considerable debt ; for the liquidating of which, application must be made to the churches of Christ, around. Keighley is a considerable market town; and the interest has long been in a very low state indeed there; every effort made to encourage it there is highly deserving the patronage of the Christian public. ORDINATIONS. GREAT DRIFFIELD. MR. James Normanton was ordained pastor of the Baptist church at Great Driffield, Yorkshire, on the 28th of June. Mr. Arbon, of Hull, commenced the service of the day with reading. Mr. Burry, of Bishop-Burton, prayed. Mr. Harness, of Bridlington, delivered the introductory discourse, and asked the questions. Mr. Pilling, of Goodshaw chapel, Lancashire, offered the ordination prayer, and gave the charge to the minister from Isaiah, lxii. 6. Mr. Arbon addressed the church from 1 Thes. v. 25. Mr. Burry preached, in the evening, from John, xxiii. 16. Halsted, as a tribute of respect to Mr. Compeer, who had been one of their teachers; requesting him to employ it for the use of the negro children of his con gregation. ASSOCIATION. BECKINGTON. THE Wilts and Somerset half-yearly as sociation was held at Beckington, Sept. 26. Brother Ayres, of Keynsham, preached in the morning, from 2 Tim. ii. 10. Brother Macfarlane (who is supplying at Trowbridge) in the afternoon, from Psalm lxxxix. 15. Brother Dear, of Paulton, in the evening, from 2 Cor. v. 20. Brethren Philips, Robarts, Parsons, Edminson, and Seymour, engaged in the other services. After each sermon, a collection was made for the encouragement of village preach ing. The next association is to be held at Crockerton, on the last Tuesday in April, 1816. Brother Edminson is appointed to preach. CHIPPING, SUDBURY. AUGUST 23, the Rev. Ezra Horlick, from the Bristol Academy, was set apart to the pastoral office over the Baptist Church at Chipping Sudbury, Gloucestershire; Mr. Griffiths, of Wooton-underedge, began the services by reading and prayer; Mr. Vernon, of Downend, deli- ASSISTANT MISSIONARY SOCIETY. vered the introductory address, asked the questions, and received Mr. Horlick's confession of faith; Mr. Porter, of Bath, offered up the ordination prayer, with laying on of hands; Dr. Ryland gave the charge, from Jeremiah, xxiii. 22; Mr. Porter addressed the people, from 1 Peter, ii. 5; and Opie Smith, Esq. of Bath, concluded in prayer, Dr. Ryland preached, in the evening, from Acts, xxvii, 23, latter part. DESIGNATION OF A MISSIONARY. MR.Lee Compeer, a Baptist Missionary, about to proceed to the West Indies, to instruct the slaves upon the estate of a humane and benevolent gentleman, was publicly set apart to that work on Wednesday evening, Oct, 18, at Mr. Shenstone's meeting, Little Ailie-street, London. Mr. King, of Halsted, (Mr. Compeer's pastor) began the service by reading the scriptures, and prayer. Mr. Ivimey delivered an introductory discourse upon the importance of missions to the heathen, founded upon 1 John, v. 19.; asked Mr. Compeer the usual questions, and received. his answers. Mr. Roberts, of Bristol, prayed for the missionary, accompanied by imposition of hands. Dr. Ryland, of Bristol, delivered a solemn and instructive charge from 1 Cor. ix. 19, 22, 23. Shenstone concluded in prayer, after presenting Mr. and Mrs. Compeer, each, with a Bible; the former, from the children belonging to the Sunday school at Mr. HANTS AND WILTS. July 19, the churches of Hants and Wilts, composing the Assistant Missionary Society for those counties, held their second Meeting at Downton. The bre thren Bulgin, Russell, Miall, and Giles preached appropriate sermons.. The devotional parts of the services were conducted by the brethren, Dore, Roberts, Miall, Tilly, Saffrey, and Giles. A col lection was made in aid of village preach. ing. Boetry. A THOUGHT OF DEATH AND HEAVEN. SWIFT as my fleeting days decline, The final hour draws nigh, I must retire and die! O! may this solemn thought pervade And all my pow'rs control! Lord, draw thine inage on my heart, Which fits the soul for heav'n! Then welcome the kind hour of death, London: Printed by J. BARFIELD, 91. Wardour Street, Soho, G. B. THE Baptist Magazine. DECEMBER, 1815. MEMOIR OF MR. GEORGE ANGAS, SENIOR, For many Years a Deacon of the Baptist Church at Rowley and Hincly, WHO DIED ON THE 21ST OF AUGUST, 1815, Aged Ninety Years. THERE are several families of and his grandfather Henry, the name of Angas, in the south- brought up their family in the west part of Northumberland, way of truth: all of whom were and that part of Durham bor- partakers of the grace of God. dering upon it, descended from Jonathan Angas was, as I find one common original, whose in the church book, ordained a love to the Reformation, in the deacon in 1720, and served his sixteenth century, had obliged brethren in that honourable them to flee from Angus, in office, affectionately and faithScotland, to avoid persecution, fully, for fifty years. He was a about the time when the famous man of sterling piety, and as Buchanan fled to France from loyal a subject in his day as any Cardinal Beaton's power. They in the surrounding country. And have been generally Noncon- it deserves to be recorded, in formists, and many of them honour to his memory, that, in Baptists. Henry and Mary the rebellion in 1715, when the Angas were baptized the 14th inhabitants of the district were day of the third month, 1653. convened publicly for that They had three sons, named purpose, Jonathan Angas was William, John, and Titus. the only man present who deJohn, their second son, mar- cidedly and publicly avowed ried Abigail Hall, of Monkfield, his determination to adhere, at near Hamsterly, by whom he all events, to the house of had three sons, Jonathan, John, Brunswick. This was, indeed, and William. Jonathan, the the universal sentiment of Proeldest, married a good woman testant dissenters, though many of the name of Angas, by whom of the sons of the hierarchy vahe had seven daughters, and [cillated. This good man, howone son, named George, the ever, was as devoted to his subject of this memoir. His God as loyal to his king, and, father and mother, being godly bringing up his family in the people, and members of the great principles of the gospel, same church as his father John, had the happiness to VOL. VII. 3 U see him in 1770. And those who had known him from the beginning affirmed, that his manner of life had been considered by his brethren as uniformly unblameable and irreproachable. Col. i. 22. 1 Thess. iii. 13, v. 23. The same humble deportment appeared when circumstance required, or he was de most, if not all, of them pro- | private and domestic worship. fessors of religion in an early I first became acquainted with period of life. His son George was born in 1725, and became a member of the same church; and though the minute of his baptism in the church book, is not dated, it must have been about his twentieth year. His conduct and conversation were so becoming his profession, that the church chose him unanimously, in 1770, asputed by his brethren to disa deacon, in the place of his father, then living, but incapable, through age and its infirmities, to act any longer in that capacity. And this office, with equal faithfulness, he sustained till his death in August, 1815. Thus the father and son, which is a rare thing, served the same church in the same office, for near a century. The father died in his ninety-souls of the guilty. fourth, and the son in the ninetyfirst year of his age. As a man, Mr. Angas was temperate and industrious, and discharged the duties of his station in civil life with a punctuality, which rendered him respectable and respected among men. As a Christian, and a member of the Christian church, his whole conversation was lovely and becoming the gospel. His attendance in the house of God was constant; and though at some distance from the places of public worship, the one being four, and the other fifteen miles distant, he and his family were generally among the first. He rose on the Lord's day as early as on others; and though his family of children and servants was rather numerous, he had always time for pense reproof to others. Nor were any more observant of that divine rule contained in Matt. xviii. 15, than he. By inattention to which, in whispering abroad the real or supposed errors of their friends, so many have injured the characters and grieved the hearts of the innocent, instead of checking the backslidings and gaining the In domestic life, Mr. Angas was a most affectionate husband, tender parent, and good master. His family worship consisting in reading the sacred volume, and, on Lord's day evenings, causing children and servants to read in rotation, with prayer to God: and no absence of his servants, on any pretence, or in the busiest seasons, was allowed or connived fat. His house was always open to receive evangelical ministers, and to obtain a congregation from the neighbourhood to hear them. On such occasions, he was well pleased to see a full house, and prayed for a blessing to follow. And, no doubt, but his family and neighbours were benefited by it. As a deacon in the church, he affectionately served his bre |