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The WARWICKSHIRE CONFERENCE will be held at Gosford Street Chapel, Coventry, on Tuesday, October 22. In the morning a Paper will be read by the Rev. E. C. Pike, B.A., on "The Importance of Fidelity to our Principles as Nonconformists." The Rev. W. Salter will preach in the evening. HENRY CROSS, Secretary.

The next LONDON CONFERENCE will be held at Commercial Road, London, on October 2nd. Committee Meeting at 11.30 a.m., to consider the proposals of the General Baptist Assembly. Conference

Business, and Paper by Mr. Towers, at 2.30 p.m. Home Missionary Meeting in the Evening. All Ministers from other Conferences, who may then be in London, are hereby invited to attend both the Committee and Conference.

J. SAGE, Secretary.

The MIDLAND AUTUMN CONFERENCE met at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, September, 17, 1872. The day was very fine, and the attendance much larger than usual at an Autumn Conference. The Rev. J. Salisbury, M.A, President, took the chair at 11 o'clock. The following brethren took part in the devotional exercises.-W. Jarrom, C. J. Johnson, J. C. Pike, J. Cholerton, C. Clarke, E. Bott, T. Stevenson. At the Morning Session the Rev. J. Wilshire read a Paper on "Individual Effort in Christian Work." A very interesting interchange of thought followed the reading of the Paper. In the afternoon a few items of business were attended to, (1) The Committee appointed for finding the Trust Deeds of the Bradwell Property reported that their search had not as yet been successful. (2) The Quorndon friends asked for a recommendation to the Home Mission Committee. It was stated that a grant of about £20 per year would help them to sustain a minister in that increasing village. Recommendation granted. (3) A communication from the church at Market Harborough was read. Resolved, that brethren T. Stevenson, Pike, W. Evans, and W. Bennett, visit the church with a view of conferring with them on the future relation of the church and property to the denomination. (4) A welcome was given to the Rev. C. J. Johnson who has settled over the church at Coalville. (5) The Conferences next year to be held at Old Basford in the spring; at Hugglescote, in the summer; and at Archdeacon Lane, Leicester, in the Autumn. The Rev. J. C. Pike was appointed President. The following brethren were elected on the business Committee, the Rev. Watson Dyson, and Mr. Burton, of Old Basford; the Rev. J. Salisbury, M.A., and Mr. Dennis, of Hugglescote; and the Rev. W. Evans and Mr. Winks, of Leicester.

Subject for the morning paper at the next Conference, "Counsels on Reading, principally addressed to the Young in our Churches and Congregations," writer, the Rev. W. R. Stevenson, M.A. The Rev. J. P. Tetley read a paper on "The Conversion of the Young, and their reception into the Church." The subject was ably treated

the writer lucidly touching on the questions of depravity, responsibility, conversion, and evidences of piety in young people. A very interesting Conference followed. Both the papers above referred to are, by request of the Conference, forwarded to the Magazine for publication. The Rev. J. Wilshire preached to a large congregation in the Evening.

CHARLES CLARKE, Secretary.

CHAPELS.

COVENTRY.-Jubilee Services.-On Sunday and Monday, August 28, and 29, Jubilee Services of the Church, in Gosford Street Chapel, were held in the Corn Exchange. Mr. H. Varley preached to crowded audiences. Collections, £31 2s. 6d. On Monday, a monster and well-managed tea-meeting, at which a thousand persons sat down, was held, and a public meeting followed. The Mayor, W. H. Hill, Esq., took the chair. The pastor, Rev. H. Cross, gave a full description of our views, and a lengthy and interesting history of the church. The society was started by the Warwickshire Conference, and had enjoyed the pastoral care of the Revs. W. Jarvis, J. Pegg, J. T. Bannister, C. E. Keighley, J. Lewitt, and T. Goadby. Mr. Cross has held the charge since 1863, during which time a new chapel, costing £2400, has been built, and congregation and school I have both doubled their numbers. The church now consists of 232 members, and the school of 500 scholars. £450 were raised at this Jubilee, and £50 more expected towards the reduction of the debt of £1000 remaining on the building. Addresses were given by Revs. J. Lewitt, T. Goadby, B.A., and H. Varley. These services were of a most completely successful character from beginning to end.

WHITTLESEY. Harvest Thanksgiving Services.-On Lord's-day, September 15, the services were conducted by the Revs. T. Barrass, of Peterborough, and S. H. Firks, of Ramsey. On Tuesday afternoon the Rev. H. Watts, of Barnsley, preached the thanksgiving sermon. A good number attended the tea-meeting, and Revs. T. Barrass, H. Watts, T. Watkinson, and Messrs. Heath, Burton, and Crofts, gave addresses. The chapel was beautifully decorated with seasonable reminders, as well as with the fruits of the earth. Proceeds, £17 14s. 6d.

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Brogdale, Esq., presided. The singing was in a creditable style, and the addresses by Messrs. W. Finch, J. Burton, and W. Richardson, were entertaining and instructive. During the evening Mr. H. Truman presented, on behalf of friends of the church and school, to Mr. and Mrs. Belton, a beautiful ebony and walnut inkstand and a splendid album; also to Mrs. Belton, from her Bible Class, a pair of elegant vases and a butter cooler, as a token of esteem to commemorate their wedding, and in recognition of their labours in connection with the cause at Carrington during the last ten years.

SMALLEY.-School sermons were preached on August 18, by Rev. J. Jolly, of Boston. The chapel was well filled, and collections amounted to £8 2s. 6d.

SWADLINCOTE.-On August 18, our school anniversary was held in the Market Hall, when two sermons were preached by the Rev. G. Hester, to large and attentive congregations, that in the afternoon from 2 Kings xiii. 20, 21, the evening sermon from Hebrews ii. 14, 15. The collections, &c., amounted to nearly £20.

UPTON-ON-SEVERN.-On Sunday, August 25, two sermons were preached_in_the Baptist Chapel by the Rev. J. Feek, of Redditch, on behalf of the Sunday schools. From Genesis xviii. 19 the preacher showed the duty of the State as to secular education, and of the churches of Christ as to directing the young and tender mind to the great religious truths of the Bible. Much credit is due to Mr. Woodward, the superintendent, who taught the children their music, and to the organist, for the efficient way in which the children sang. On Tuesday the children were regaled with tea and cake in the school-room, and afterwards adjourned to a field for youthful sports kindly lent by Mr. Whatton.

MINISTERIAL.

REV. W. SHARMAN.-The members of the church and congregation, Coningsby, have recently presented the Rev. W. Sharman with a purse containing six guineas, as a mark of their esteem for him.

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SAWLEY.-Aug. 28, four, by J. Stenson.

Marriages.

DACK-WHITNEY.-Sept. 17, at the G. B. chapel, Whittlesey, by the Rev. T. Watkin. son, Mr. G. Dack, of Cambridge, to Miss Whitney, of Whittlesey.

KILBOURNE-TOOGOOD.-Aug. 25, in the Baptist chapel, Sawley, by J. Stenson, Mr. Samuel Kilbourne, to Mary Ann Toogood, both of Sawley.

OBITUARY.

BUTLER.-Aug. 28, at Nottingham, Mary Anne, relict of the late Alfred Butler, aged 73. For fifty years our departed sister was a member of Stoney Street church, and for the last three years of Broad Street. Her end was emphatically peace.

An INQUIRER asks whether there are any churches in the G. B. Connexion which adhere to the Sixth " Article of Religion" as adopted and signed by our forefathers in 1770, with regard to the divine ordinances, and if so may such church or churches be communicated with, since he desires to unite with one?

ERROR.-Will our readers erase the bottom line on page 274 (Sept.) and substitute the name of R. C. TRENCH for that of H. W. BEECHER? It was a pure accident caused by sending the slip on page 313 of this month and that on the " Worth of Prayer" together, and having no chance of seeing the latter after it was printed.EDITOR.

"No one can live in God without being a channel for God. The vessel that receives its supply from an exhaustless source must overflow."Pulsford.

BARKER.-In Dec., 1871, Hannah Barker, of Diseworth, finished her course. She had been connected with the Baptist Society many years; and she is now among those who "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Her last illness was long and trying; but she had delightful communion with Jesus sometimes, and was anxious to depart and dwell with him! Her husband mourns his loss; but all sufficient grace has been bestowed upon him; and he anticipates a reunion, in God's good time

"There is a world above, Where parting is unknown; A long eternity of love, Formed for the saints alone: And faith beholds the dying here Translated to that glorious sphere." GREEN.-Charles Green, sen., of Diseworth, was very suddenly called to his eternal home, one Sabbath morning. He was found dead in his bed, aged 82. He had been a soldier, in the East Indies, more than twenty years, and had witnessed dreadful scenes in the wars. After his return to England he became a "soldier of the cross," and was much esteemed by his Christian friends. He seldom alluded to his military adventures, unless questions were pointedly put to him; and then he would reply as briefly as he could. He had no delight, as some old soldiers seem to have, in talking about "blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke." He was tenderly affected often, when conversing about the Saviour, and "the rest which remaineth for the people of God." The following brief account of some martial exploits, in which he had to take part, has been given to me by a respectable pensioner, who is now residing in Kegworth, and who was also engaged, (though not with Charles Green) in the Indian wars. "As I have served in India eleven years, I can firmly believe all that C. Green has told me about his doings and sufferings in that country. He had two medals; one for Java, and the other for Bhurtpore: these always decorated his breast when he came to receive his pension. He has told me that at Java, the French completely divided the English troops, and took up a position between the two divisions. A private in the horse artillery voluntarily engaged to take a dispatch from one English officer to another; and he did take it, notwithstanding the imminent perils which surrounded his path. His bravery was acknowledged and rewarded. At Bhurtpore, C. Green belonged to the storming party! Many of his comrades were blown up on entering the forti

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fication; but he was mercifully kept from
injury. Some Englishmen were captured,
and conveyed to the top of a high moun-
tain, where they were ignominiously exe-
cuted. But happily for Chas. Green, he
escaped such a cruel murder as that.
now twenty years or more since I first
became acquainted with Charles Green,
and I never knew him to be the worse for
drink. He always came to receive his pen-
sion clean, and conducted himself respect-
ably. He was much esteemed by all who
knew him." Well, the old warrior is now
gone to the realms of eternal peace and
rest!

"O! speed thee, Christian, on thy way,
And to thy armour cling:
With girded loins the call obey
That grace and mercy bring."

"There is a battle to be fought,
An upward race to run;
A crown of glory to be sought,
A victory to be won.'

T. Y. KIDDALL.-August 23, 1872, at Louth, aged 79, Nancy Kiddall, relict of the Rev. James Kiddall, and was interred in the Louth cemetery, August 26.

SCHOFIELD.-September 2, at Sheffield, very suddenly, Alice Scholfield, aged 22. She was born at Crowle, in Lincolnshire, in 1830, and was early received as a scholar in the Sabbath school. Her good conduct and fervent piety gained her the esteem of her teachers, and after a few years she was called upon to become a teacher, and on decision for Christ, was baptized by the Rev. W. Saunders, on Sunday, July 17, 1864. She was highly esteemed by the members of the churches at Sheffield and Crowle, for her eminent and sincere piety. last illness was short and severe, but she was divinely supported by the Saviour's presence. Sickness gradually reduced her; but even then she made an effort to sing those beautiful lines which have cheered many Christian pilgrims when called to cross the narrow stream of death.—

Her

"Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, Should fright me from the shore." Her mortal remains were interred in the cemetery at Crowle, September 4, in the presence of numerous relatives and friends. The solemn services were conducted by the Rev. J. Stutterd, who, the Sabbath-day following, still further improved the event in a sermon from Psalm xxiii. 1, and 1 Thess. iv. 18.

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Missionary Observer.

A PARALLEL AND A LESSON.

BUT when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; PRAY YE THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST,

THAT HE WILL SEND FORTH LABOURERS INTO HIS HARVEST.

THE PROPOSED MISSION TO ROME.

WE have received the following letter from our valued friend, Mr. Thomas Cook, who has now started on his great tour round the world. A few sums have been received, and we happen to know that it is in the heart of others to contribute. Would it not be practicable to gladden our brother, ere he returns, by taking some decisive step in the matter? It would seem as if the money only was needed, and that already the man had been found. At any rate Mr. Wall had told Mr. Cook of a minister who might at once be engaged for about £100 a year, a locale costing about an equal sum. The minister referred to is an Italian, who only wants the encouragement of assured support to give himself to "the work of an evangelist."

DEAR SIR,-I wish I could obliterate, or rather I wish that others would obliterate, the second word in the above heading. I am almost sick at heart in writing and talking about a proposed General Baptist Mission to Rome. It is now nearly twelve months since I was prompted by what I saw and felt in Rome to write you from Genoa on the success of scriptural teaching, where the people had long perished for lack of scriptural knowledge. I thought that our denomination, that has always stood at the very antipodes of the papacy, would respond with joy to an appeal for united action against the trembling foe. And then when we met at Nottingham, and there was much counselling and drilling for various kinds of action, at home and abroad, I felt morally certain that our little band would " go up to the help of the Lord against the mighty."

Since the association I have been eager to get a first sight of the G. B. Magazine, to note the progress of the proposed five years' special subscription for a Mission to Rome. Not that I had any great faith in this five years' proposition. There are many who would prefer to contribute according to the exigencies of the occasion, and the

ability which God gives them, rather than give a pledge for five years. Moreover, this plan was pretty sure to diminish the amount of subscriptions, as the most careful and prudent would be afraid of reverses or diminution of income, and this would deter them from promising anything beyond the very minimum of their present means. It seemed, however, at the time to be the only way of disarming hostility, and for that reason it was acquiesced in by those who were prepared at once to take up the work. Two numbers of the Magazine have since made their appearance, and the subscriptions promised afford no hope of a commencement of missionary work in Italy in the coming season, nor are there yet any signs of that great effort which some promised to make for the enlargement of Indian operations. There is, it is true, a stimulating proposal from Bourn, the results of which have to be seen. The little debt which alarmed the timid has been amply covered by one of those copious windfalls which our excellent foreign treasurer so earnestly invoked at the annual meeting.

In a newspaper report of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, I saw it stated that for the Italian Mission and the

debt of the society more than £28,000 had been raised by special effort. Thus it seems that our sagacious Wesleyan friends have utilised a new and popular movement to pay off an arrear of obligations. The very name of the Mission to Rome carries with it a power of appeal to christian liberality, which has proved eminently successful, and the funds of both Baptist and Wesleyan Missions have been increased by it. Our good brother Wall, of whom I have written you so frequently, has spent a month chiefly in London, and he has obtained promises to the amount of nearly £2000 towards the £6000 required for the purchase of a suitable house for evangelistic purposes. Several sums have been entrusted to me for the purpose of aiding Mr. Wall, incidentally; and, at his request, I have been able to furnish a neat service for the communion table of his little church in Rome. From a Highland congregation at the United Presbyterian church at Oban, after a Sunday evening address, picked up five guineas in aid of evangelistic work in Rome, which I shall be perfectly justified in appropriating to our purposed Mission. Had I time to tell the story of these operations in other places, I could soon raise twenty times the amount of that Oban collection. Leicester is contributing liberally in response to an appeal from Mr. Wall, and the £6000 required will soon be raised if active friends continue to make

proper applications. There is great promise of a successful campaign in Rome in the coming winter. The famous Van Meter of New York, the founder of the mission to the little Arabs of that city, has gone to Rome to commence school operations; Dr. Cote returns to resume his work; Mrs. Gould is still actively labouring for the "little ones;" the Wesleyans have, I believe, secured their great home, for which two gentlemen contributed £20,000; and in addition to all these and other evangelistic operations, the great Dr. Guthrie is going to spend the best part of the winter in supplying the pulpit of the late Dr. Lewis, in the Scottish Free Church.

The government of Italy gains strength against the ultramontanes, and church properties are about to be expropriated; the priests are beaten in every contest by the Roman people, and there is now great probability of

the early departure of the Pope. A rent or fissure has been discovered in the dome of St. Peter's, which is regarded as an omen of the speedy fall of Roman Catholicism. The best of all is "the word of God is not bound," but a great and effectual door is opened for the instruction of two millions of people in "the truth as it is in Jesus."

Baptists, as such, are by name scarcely known in Rome, but the principles and practice of New Testament disciples are most forward, and believers, guided by the New Testament teachings, and aided by the discoveries of ancient baptistries and illustrations of scriptural baptism, naturally take their way

through the flood" to the church. The Baptist occupies the best standpoint against popery, regarding the whole system, from the font to the extreme unctiou, as a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.

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In my observation of these Roman christians, I have been powerfully remined of the simple, unsophisticated, earnest disciples of Christ who flourished on and around Charnwood Forest, from 50 to 100 years ago, when surrounding churches, some of them now of great magnitude, acknowledged Barton as "the mother of us all." The spirit of those early Leicestershire General Baptists would not have required a year's prompting to raise a paltry £250 for the support of a Mission to Rome, at a time when the seat of the papacy is undergoing one of the most astonishing revolutions of any age of the christian church.

That little sum of money is now all that is wanted to commence immediate operations. I have been told of a good man and true, a converted Italian minister, who could be at once engaged, ready to go to work, at a salary of about £100 a year, and about £100 more would pay the rent of a locale, or preaching room, leaving £50 for incidentals. If the General Baptist Mission Committee desire the reference, I can give it to them.

I deeply regret that I shall not be able to take further part in the work for the next six or seven months. In a few days before this letter can reach the eyes of those for whom it is intended-I expect to be on my way to the other side of the world. My itinerary embraces the great American continent, from New York to San Francisco; from

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