NEWS OF THE CHURCHES. The Baptist chapel at Barcombe, Devon, has been reopened, after restoration and repairs.-The debt upon the chapel at Fishergate, Preston, originally £5000, has been extinguished. The pastor is the Rev. W. H. M'Mechan, to whom a purse of gold has been presented as an expression of respect and sympathy. The debt upon the chapel at Poole, Dorset, has been paid off, chiefly by the exertions of the pastor; but we do not hear of any acknowledgment having been given to him.-The chapel at Belfast has been reopened, after repairs and alteration.-A new chapel has been opened at Faversham, Hants.-The memorial-stone of a new chapel has been laid at Maidenhead, Berks. The Rev. A. Smith has been recognised as the pastor of the Church at Scarfskferry, N.B.-The Rev. E. Thomas, late of Cardigan, has been recognised as the pastor of the English Church at Carmarthen. The following reports of MINISTERIAL CHANGES have reached us since our last issue:-The Rev. J. Whittaker, late of Lancaster, to Richmond, Surrey; the Rev. H. Angus, of Shrewsbury, to Church, near Accrington; the Rev. H. E. Von Sturmer, of Sarsome Walk, Worcester, to Leicester; the Rev. H. Wilkins, late of Leighton Buzzard, to Salem Chapel, Cheltenham; the Rev. T. Turner, of Foulsham, Norfolk, to Harefield, Middlesex; the Rev. S. Gray, late of Windsor, to Bond Street, Birmingham; the Rev. T. Shindler, of Eyethorne, Kent, to Claremont Chapel, Shrewsbury; the Rev. H. C. Field, of the Metropolitan Tabernacle College, to Burslem, Staffordshire; the Rev. W. M. Thomas, of Pontypool College, to Willenhall, Staffordshire; the Rev. E. A. Tydeman, of the Metropolitan Tabernacle College, to Morice-square, Devonport; the Rev. R. Williamson, of the same College, to Waltham Abbey, Essex; the Rev. E. M. C. Botterill, of Bugbrook, Northamptonshire, to Bolton, Lancashire; the Rev. W. Staynes, of Chilwell College, to Quorndon, Leicestershire; the Rev. J. Harrison, formerly of Birmingham, to Park Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight: the Rev. A. Baker, of Sutton, Ely, Cambs, to West End, Tring, Herts; the Rev. J. Jenkins, of Pontypool College, to Welshpool, Montgomeryshire. The Rev. G. H. Weatherley has resigned his pastorate at Forton, Gosport. The Rev. A. Tove has resigned the pastorate of the Siloam English Baptist Church, Beaufort, after a ministry there of more than twelve years. The Rev. E. Roberts, of Bush Street, Pembroke Dock, has resigned his charge. The Rev. R. R. Finch does not, as mistakenly announced in our last number, remove to Leamington, but remains at Park Road, Victoria Park, London. We regret to announce the death of the Rev. S. Williamson, formerly of Exeter and Bristol, more recently of London; also of the Rev. J. E. Jones, LL.D., late of Llandudno, and formerly of Ebbw Vale and Cardiff, at the age of fifty-three; also of the Rev. T. Jones, of Chepstow, at the age of seventy-four; also of the Rev. M. Saunders, formerly of Haworth, Yorkshire, more recently residing at South-Molton, Devon, at the age of seventy-nine; also of the Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel, M.A., at the age of seventyfour; also of the Rev. B. Hoe, formerly of Clapham, near London; also of the Rev. J. B. Walcot, for many years pastor of the church at Stanwick, Northamptonshire, at the age of seventy-eight. "They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." THE CHURCH. "Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone." APRIL, 1873. THE PRODIGAL'S DEPARTURE AND RETURN. BY THE REV. W. P. BALFERN. NO. II. THE DISAPPOINTMENT. "And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him."-Luke xv. 15, 16. We have seen the prodigal leave his home, laden with his father's bounty, and full of eager anticipation and hope. We have seen him under the influence of his own ideals, and giving full vent and scope to his passions and appetites. He had wasted his father's substance in the realization of his dreams and the pursuit of self-gratification; and we have witnessed the result,-want, isolation, misery. These things led to another step in his downward course, and added another drop of bitterness to his already full cup. "He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country:" that is to say, he sought to hire himself. He who had been a son, became a servant. And such a servant to such a master! He who had been rich, through his prodigality became so poor that he was reduced to want. How severely providence, when she is abused, avenges herself. “To a citizen of that country." We are not told who he was; possibly, he may have been one of his companions; at all events, he seems to have belonged to the country in which the prodigal wasted his substance. And if he had known him in better days he showed him but little consideration, for it is said, "he sent him into his fields to feed swine." It is a common thing for men of the world to fatten upon the extravagance of their dupes; and, when they are down, by their conduct towards them, to add to their sorrow and enhance their degradation. "When misery is down, all put their foot upon her." "To feed swine." What a degradation for a Jew! And with this there was also joined "hunger;" and it was so severe, that "he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat." His master was a hard man, and did not give him sufficient food; so that the prodigal would have been glad to share in the husks allotted even VOL. XVI. N.S. NO. IV. H to the swine. How such utter want must have made him think of the waste of other days! "And no man gave unto him. " There was no help, no relief, to be found among these citizens;—“none gave to him." They might have shared in his munificence in other days; but if so, they were not willing to reciprocate his bounty. Or it may be, that, like himself, they had only their husks, and could not, or would not, spare any even of them. The world at its best has enough to do to keep itself alive, and is generally too selfish to care for any one's misery but its own. Many have proved this. How often have we seen the thoughtless youth leave his home in health and strength, and, through the love and care of his parents, surrounded with plenty. For a time we have seen him exult in his freedom from all loving parental restraint, and give himself freely to the pursuit of pleasure, and the society of those who live only for the world and its passing joys. The end, however, has soon been reached; extravagance led to want, and this to degradation; and the poor youth has been left to learn, in solitude and sorrow, that the men who share our pleasures will not share our pains, but when we are down, will frequently join their influence with those who seek to expose our wounds and to add to our grief. “And no man gave to him." Write these words upon the philanthropy of the devotees of pleasure, for they are truthfully descriptive of their spirit and conduct. The world gives hard wages for hard work; and when the soul wakes up to its misery, has nothing but husks to offer. Of these, even, it will give but few, and often grudgingly. The prodigal's experience illustrates the gradation of sin; one bad step leads to another, and men go from bad to worse. Those who pamper passion, shall have passion for their master; until the worst provision, provided by the worst, shall fail to satisfy the cravings of an appetite whose hunger is ever feeding but never fed. Let us use the prodigal's misery to illustrate one or two other phases of Christian experience. The quickened conscience.-When a man is fairly awaked by the Spirit, he finds himself at a distance from God, and in his experience, as it were, in a strange country. He hears, it may be, of the love and mercy of God, and of the ample provision he has made in Christ to meet the necessities of the returning prodigal; of that pardon and righteousness and peace which are all to be found in Christ; and that all these are to be had freely, without money and without price, by simple faith. Sometimes the man thinks that such tidings are too good to be true; but more frequently he turns from them under the impression that he has enough of his own to meet all the needs of his soul; and if he prays to God, it is not that He would save him, but that He may give him such help, such a portion for himself, that he may become his own Saviour,-in other words, really become independent of God. And when, even as the result of repeated failures, the burden of guilt upon conscience not only remains, but is increased, still he turns from the his gospel of Christ; and listening to the teachings of pride, and dwelling in the town of legality, and influenced by the example and spirit of its citizens, he struggles hard to remove the hunger of his soul after peace with the husks of self-righteousness; until such a famine of misery, guilt, and self-condemnation, seizes upon his spirit, as makes him at last too glad to receive and partake of the bread of heaven, and to find the peace and rest of his soul in Christ and His salvation alone. The backslider. How frequently, alas! do those who have known the Lord depart from Him. The causes of this are various. The young disciple, who without much conflict has found his way by faith to peace and rest in Christ, and the home of his spirit in God, after the warmth of his first love has abated, feels springing up in his heart the spirit of ambition, a desire to make way in the world, and to stand high in the estimation of its successful men. At first he watches this spirit; but in the end, failing to pray earnestly against it, it so increases that while keeping up the externals of religion, he really goes full swing with the world. The result is a guilty conscience, a spiritual famine within, and a hanger of the soul, which refuses to be satisfied with the husks of success, wealth, and pride. And this experience of envied wretchedness and opulent misery often continues, until the hand of God, through some strange and unforeseen providence, brings ruin upon the circumstances, and leads the heart, in its poverty and sorrow, like the prodigal, to say, "I will arise and go to my Father;" and again at home with Him, to find in His forgiveness and love, and the provisions of His mercy, its true peace and rest. Briefly then let us observe, 1. That generally, as is our spirit will be our company.— -If our hearts are in the world, we are not far from it; and unless we watch, we shall soon be in it. Though the prodigal was with his father, his heart must have departed from him long before he himself left his home; and backsliding from God generally commences in the heart, and long before it shows itself in the life. Let us watch our spirit, therefore, and notice well towards what objects our supreme love and sympathy incline, remembering the solemn words of Christ, "that friendship with the world, is enmity against God." 2. That as is our company will generally be our conduct, the entertainment, and the results.-The prodigal found himself, in the far country, among a very different people to those he had known in his father's house. He was happy with them no doubt for a time, and enjoyed the society of his new friends, while they helped him in turn to waste his substance; but when it was gone, they sent him into the fields to feed their swine, and left him to perish with hunger. And the believer who is lured by the deceitfulness of sin and the smile of the world to forsake the love and friendship of his Lord, will ever find that those who entice him from his fidelity to his conscience and truth, will only lead him in the end to a degradation and misery, from which they have neither the means or the inclination to effect his deliverance. When, therefore, solicited by the world or our own hearts to turn aside from the way of righteousness, to forsake our Father's home and the joy of His presence, may we listen to the exhortation of the wise," My son, if sinners entice thee consent thou not;" and, abiding with God, we shall find in fellowship with Him a satisfaction of soul which the world at its best cannot impart, and a divine strength which will help us successfully to combat the solicitations of sense and sin, and finally to overcome every spiritual foe. THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT'S REVENGE. FROM THE GERMAN. Two brothers, Wolfgang and Raymond, both born and reared in Germany, once embarked for Malta. Their father had caused Raymond to be enrolled at an early age as a knight of Malta, and the youth's adventurous spirit drew him irresistibly towards that isle, in order that he might there serve his order as a true knight. Wolfgang loved his brother too dearly to be separated from him; so he sold his lands, collected together his property, and accompanied him to Malta, where he purchased a beautiful estate. Here he became a happy husband and father, and being of a pious and frugal disposition, he created a miniature paradise about him, while his brother was off at sea, fighting the corsairs. Here Raymond always found rest and refreshment on his return from battle, and when he told of the dangers he had escaped and of the victories he had won, he did not scruple to declare his hatred of the unbelievers, and to VOW eternal war against them while the milder Wolfgang would strive to convince him that they must use wholly different arms than the drawn sword. In this manner they had passed several years in Malta, when the order decided to make a masterstroke against the corsairs, who had just captured a number of its ships. Raymond went to this war, but did not return. The Christian knights gained many advantages, but suffered also many losses, one of which was the ship from which Raymond had fought. Eye-witnesses who fortunately escaped from the pirates in a small boat, affirmed that the ship, after the destruction of all on board, had been captured, and that Raymond had fallen with the rest. Wolfgang's grief at the loss of his beloved brother was deep and inconsolable. His brother was not dead, however, but was reserved for a still harder fate. The pirates, having observed a little life still lingering in the wounded knight, had used every means to preserve it, in order to expose him for sale at the slave-market in Algiers. His strong, noble form, attracted many customers, who were rejoiced at the prospect of being able to torment one of the formidable knights as a slave; but the corsairs demanded too great a price for them to pay, and Raymond was, therefore, obliged to wait many long, terrible hours for a purchaser. Finally there appeared a distinguished young Turk, named Mulei. This person examined the build of the unhappy victim much as men are accustomed to examine a yoke of cattle before purchasing, and at last paid the large sum demanded for him. "You will have to work hard for me, Christian," said he, " that I may not give this great price for you in vain!" |