with the law of the King than to burden the church, while we have relations able to support us.

Fourth. My son informs me, that though I may be unable to endure much fatigue, yet there are many easy situations in which I might be useful, and thereby gain something.

Fifth. The state of my health, and general symptoms, induce me to conclude, my stay in this world will be short; I would, therefore, like much to place my wife and children near to, and under the care of, so near a relative as a brother and son. His hitherto excellent character would enable me to leave them with the more ease, should my Father soon call me to himself.

Sixth. I have hitherto done what I thought to be right, although the apparent consequence of some steps which I have taken was ruin and beggary; and yet I have never wanted either food, raiment, or shelter; and I am now as willing to trust my God as ever. Blessed be his holy name for ever. May he direct me in this matter also.

From all these considerations then, I have made up my mind to sell up, and, divine permission, leave this country on or about the 1st of April, 1845. Should I arrive pennyless in the New World, yet will I go, rather than one should have it in his power to say, I have violated the Scripture which says, "he that does not work shall not eat." Do not think hardly of me, my dear brother, for writing thus, as if I did so from a spirit of haughtiness. This is not the case, I trust. Some few of the brethren have hinted, that if I will and must go to America, the churches will certainly make a collection for me, that I may not arrive on a foreign strand destitute. Now, I would just remark on this, to show you that pride is not a distemper added to my other afflictions, that should the congregations, or any of them, who know me as an old servant, consider me worthy, and make such collections, I will bless them for such an act of kindness, but I cannot ask it at their hand.

I have been here two first days. Was able to deliver two discourses yesterday, but am now suffering for it. I intend leaving in a day or two for Carlisle. Yours in much affection, G. C. REID.

FROM the above items our readers will learn that our beloved bro. ther Reid intends, on or about the first of April next, leaving this country, with his family, for the United States, in all probability not to be seen again by us till the day on which we hope to meet around the throne of our Father in heaven.

Those brethren, or churches, who from a sense of gratitude for past services, or sympathy for present painful circumstances, desire to render assistance to our brother, can do so, by sending post-office orders for any amount their benevolence may dictate, either directly to brother Reid, 18, Nelson Street, Dundee, or to the Editor of the Christian Messenger, Nottingham, for the faithful transmission of which he will be answerable. - ED.

Hull, January 20th, 1845.

THE brethren here have been much refreshed and edified by our beloved brother Thomson's visit for a few days, in passing through this place. During his short stay amongst us, a good many have had the opportunity of hearing the gospel plainly, but forcibly set forth. He has also been the happy medium of restoring union to the church; and most of those brethren who had stood aloof since the disputes which occurred about half a year ago, have now been restored to the congregation. We number about thirty-five. I trust this will give a new impulse to the cause of truth here, and that many will be saved and added to the congregation. J. G. COLLINS.

DURING the last few months brother Thomson has visited the brethren in Dundee, Perth, Newbury, Auchtermuchty, Cupar, Leslie, Kirkaldy, Dunfermline, Grangemouth, Airdrie, Hull, and is now at Nottingham. In these several places, we learn, the congregations are, in general, doing well.

"At Leslie, during the course of a fortnight, there were twelve added to the congregation, making their number about forty. When in the neighbourhood of Airdrie, we had several proclamations at a fresh station, namely, West Calden; at which there was produced, a very great excitement in favour of the ancient gospel. The last meeting, which was held on the evening of New Year's day, was attended by almost three hundred people, out of a population of about six hundred. None had courage to come forward to the acknowledgement of the truth on that occasion, but by the following morning two intelligent men, who had been examining the subject for some time previous, professed their readiness to put on the Lord by baptism, and stand by the consequences, through good and through bad report; and who accordingly were baptized as soon as opportunity afforded. If the people in that place were but acting honestly to themselves and their convictions, great numbers would be added to the Lord. We hope, however, ere long, to see a flourishing congregation reared up there, as the people are of an intelligent and reflecting turn. May the blessing of the Lord rest upon the effort!" W. T.

FOUR have been immersed into Jesus, and added to the congregation in Nottingham, during the last month.-ED.

OBITUARY.

Kilmarnock, January 18th, 1845. THE brethren here have had the painful pleasure of consigning to their last resting place the ashes of another of the "faithful few." Our beloved sister Lauder is no more. The duty which devolved upon them was a painful one, inasmuch as in it they were obliged to sever the link of interview they held with one who had walked out and in before them in the tabernacle of our God; it was one fraught

with pleasure, because they had the assured confidence that her grave was but the portals of an entrance to another and a better land. Sister Lauder expired on the eighth instant, leaning with unshaken firmness on the bosom of Immanuel. It seems as if death made an annual visit to this apartment in the household of faith, and that those whose earthly career he cut short were the most exemplary of the flock. It becomes us, therefore, to value the more the society of each other for the profit of all. In the death of our sister we see a fearful gap; not only in the family circle but also among the followers of Jesus. Though the disease which terminated her career had lain heavy upon her for many months, not a murmur escaped her lips; for she had learned in all the dispensations of God to act a willing part; and, up to the hour of her departure, she seemed like one overtaken with heaviness in a journey, and, almost without a struggle, she fell asleep in Jesus. During her short life she had made many friends; not by indulging in the gossip of the world, for she learned in the school of Jesus, and was, in the strictest sense of the word, a "keeper at home," but by a constant and endearing performance of the social and spiritual duties of life, she had formed many attachments which ended only in her death. Zealous at all times for the progress of the Word of truth, she lived a life almost the very index to the exalted nature of the precepts enforced by the Great Teacher in the Sacred Volume which she valued as the hand book to heaven. To her husband (our beloved pastor) the loss is truly great; for a more faithful friend than she never undertook to their accomplishment the onerous duties of the conjugal state. O! that he may from the heart respond with an amen to his present bereavement, and may the prayer of the faithful be, that the God of heaven should shield her little ones. And may those who survive our sister Lauder, be enabled to take up the lines of the poet, and act upon their moral:

"Man's life, how short, even at its farthest line,

With dread eternity's extent compar'd!

Then in that little which remains of mine,
Oh! let me strive for death to be prepar'd."

EVANGELISTS' FUND.

J. G.

DURING the last three months the following contributions have been received for the Evangelists' Fund :

ERRATUM.-On page 260, January number, last line but one, for

Huddersfield read Halifax,

your

DEAR BROTHER CAMPBELL.-There are several of readers, besides myself, in this vicinity, who respectfully solicit, for the truth's sake, and our fellowship in the same, a brief, but definite explanation of your remarks in the last Harbinger, page 9, on the nature of our blessed Lord. Whether it is to be attributed to obtuseness of understanding on our part, or to indefiniteness of statement on yours, the fact is, beloved, that from the close attention we are capable of giving to all you have written on this subject, we do not yet understand you.*

The paragraph referred to is as follows:

"For my part, I regard no man as a believer in Jesus as the Messiah, who denies that he is a divine person-the only begotten of God; or who refuses to worship and adore him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. I fellowship no man nor people under the heavens, and I am sure none in the heavens, who are unwilling to admit that our Redeemer is Emmanuel-God with us-God manifest in the flesh. As far as my acquaintance with all the brethren extends, North, South, East, or West (whatever may have been their former opinions I know not), they all accord in rendering the same honour in thought, word, and deed, to the Son, as they do to the Father who sent him: They are opposed, indeed, to both Trinitarian, Arian, and VOL. IX.

Y

We are equally opposed with you to "Trinitarian, Arian, and Unitarian speculations on the divine essence.” From the systems of fallible and erring men, we trust the Son has made us free. Our desire is, simply to understand what the Spirit of truth teaches on this and every other subject.

Most cordially do we unite with you in acknowledging the Messiah as "a divine person, the only begotten of God." Most devoutly would we love, "worship, and adore him," As "the only begotten of the Father, full of favour and truth." But we tremble at the word of HIM who will not give his glory to another, and we obey that word which teaches us to love and worship the Son "to the glory of God the Father."

Will you favour us with a definite answer to the following queries ?

1. Who is the one God, besides whom there is none else -who is to be acknowledged, loved, adored, and worshipped, as the eternal, begotten, independent ALL IN ALL, of whom are all things?

If you reply in the words which the Holy Spirit teaches, 1 Cor. viii. 6," the Father," we ask

2. Do you, in the term Father, used in the above sense as "the one God," include or exclude the only begotten of the Father, who was with him" before the world was ?"

3. Do you, or do you not, understand the terms first, only begotten Son, beginning of the creation of God, first born of every creature," in the full import and meaning of (these) words," as we do, viz: as teaching, that the Son, in his highest personal nature, is a distinct being from the Father, and had a "beginning" of existence ?

4. Do you understand our Lord's words, "My Father is greater than I," in a limited or unlimited sense? Do you understand him to affirm this without any reservation? When the Son, or Word, was with the Father, before he came down from heaven, was he, or was he not, as independently wise, powerful, self-existent, and eternal, as the Father ?

Unitarian speculations on the divine essence; but all harmonize in regarding Jesus in all the high character which prophets, evangelists, and apostles give him, in the full import and meaning of their words."