Bennett was pastor, the cost of which together was £900. In the year 1860 Mr. Bennett became the subject of serious affliction which obliged him, to the great regret of his people, to resign his charge. The sum of £500 was presented to him by his flock, which was alike honourable to the people by whom it was raised, and to the pastor to whom it was presented. Mr. Bennett is now living as a retired minister.

The Rev. Thomas Arnold, the present pastor, commenced his ministry here in August, 1860; consequently he has now passed the seventh anniversary of his connection with this congregation. Very considerable improvements have been made during that time.

In the year 1862 the chapel, which was built in 1695, according to the fashion of the day, without any architectural ornaments, was considerably enlarged, so that instead of being square it has become oblong, the new part extending over a portion of the graveyard, connected with the schoolrooms at the rear by the erection of several class-rooms and ante-rooms required for modern tea-meetings, and the extended system of Sunday-school instruction. The old and the new work is said to harmonize well, as the congregation decided to purchase some old cottages to supply the builders with stone, which matches that in the old time-embrowned structure. The old vestry, so dear to Doddridge as the place to which he resorted for some of the most hallowed exercises of his life. has been preserved unaltered.

The entire expenditure has been about £3,000, and the pastor and his people hope to celebrate the extinction of the debt at the beginning of 1868. The increased attendance on the Sabbath has amply justified the enlargement of the chapel; the Church has also increased in proportion, and this year the additions have been more numerous than in any former year since Mr. Arnold's settlement.

VOL. IV.--NEW SERIES.

Last year a branch Sunday-school was opened at Primrose Hill, a suburb of the town, and it is intended to provide a suitable building for it, which will also become a preaching station. In the Sabbath-schools there are about 750 scholars on the books, with an efficient body of teachers. Two Bible women are employed, who are supported by the contributions of the congregation.

We may congratulate the present pastor on the success that has attended his efforts to build up and enlarge a Church which has been in existence for more than two centuries; which is so intimately connected with one of our noblest names; which, though it has passed through scenes of weakness and depression, yet has before it, we trust, days of still increasing prosperity, as there is still around it a wide field which by united, prayerful, and believing effort in connection with the other Churches of the town, may be made to yield abundant fruit to the glory of their great Lord.

THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH IN KING

STREET.

When discord and separation take place in Christian societies, they are frequently productive of great evils, and the sad effects are manifest for a number of years; but the God who makes the wrath of man to praise Him, often over-rules the disagreements that arise in His Church for the furtherance of the Gospel. In consequence of the dismissal of Mr. Hextal from the pastorate of the Church, at Castle Hill, his friends determined on building chapel in King-street. It was erected in 1776; here Mr. Hextal laboured until the close of his ministry, and ended his days amongst this people; dying at the age of sixty-six. reference to his views of Divine truth, and the manner of his preaching, Mr. Hextal made the following statement:

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"The doctrine of the Divinity of

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Christ, on which I humbly apprehend the efficacy of His atonement depends; the fall of man or his lost estate by the great apostacy-the Deity of the Spirit, and the necessity of His influences to renew fallen man to the Divine life, are doctrines I believe evidently discovered in Scripture. These I have constantly insisted upon in the course of my ministry, for the truth of which I can appeal to those who have heard me ever since I came to this place." Thus he expressed his fervent desire: "Should the separation here be permitted to continue, may we live in peace, and sincerely pray for each other." This desire has, we believe, to a great extent been fulfilled.

Mr. Porter was the second pastor of this Church, but his ministry here did not continue more than six years, for about the year 1786 the Rev. Benjamin Lloyd Edwards became the pastor of this Church, to which he ministered for. the lengthened period of forty-five years. He died January 2nd, 1831, aged 66 years. As a minister of Christ, he united orthodoxy of sentiment with liberality of spirit; as a man he was admired most by those who were best acquainted with him-warm and faithful in his friendships, of a most enlarged benevolence, and universally regarded as the ardent and consistent advocate of civil and religious liberty throughout the world. The later years of life were distinguished by a growing spirituality of mind; and as he drew near to the close of his labours upon earth, he seemed to increase in the fervour of his public ministrations.

The Rev. John Woodward became the pastor of the Church, July 1st, 1832, but resigned his charge April 5th, 1835. The next pastor was the Rev. Thomas Milner, M.A., well known as the author of the "Life and Times of Dr. Watts," and many other works. During the ministry of Mr. Milner, new school-rooms were erected at a cost of £336. There were at that

time about ninety-five children in the schools.

November 28th, 1847, the Rev. George Nicholson, B.A., became the pastor of the Church, and continued his ministry here until June, 1865, when, to the general regret of his people, he resigned his connection with them, having accepted an invitation to minister to another congregation.

During the ministry of Mr. Nicholson, in the year 1858, additional accommodation was called for in the chapel, and an enlargement was effected at a cost of about £1,200. New schoolrooms were built in 1863-4, on the opposite side of King-street, in which the chapel is situated, at a cost, including the ground, of £1,150. The building contains, on the upper floor, a very large room for the teaching of the school, with several commodious classrooms adjoining; and below the same there is a handsome room, used for a week-evening lecture, and prayer meetings. The number of scholars at present on the books is about 300. Thus, we find there has been a considerable increase of accommodation for hearers, and for Sunday scholars; and a large addition to the numbers of those who attend to receive instruction. The Rev. Edward Hill, from Shrewsbury, succeeded Mr. Nicholson, and is the present pastor, having entered on his ministry here in April, 1866.

THE INDEPENDENT CHAPEL IN COM-
MERCIAL STREET.

This chapel presents a pleasing memorial of the Christian zeal and liberality of the late Thomas Wilson, Esq., of Highbury-place, London. Mr. Wilson's attention was directed to the town of Northampton as a place which, on account of its increasing population, required some additional efforts for promoting the kingdom of the Redeemer. Hence, at his cost of £2,000, a chapel was erected, at a considerable distance from the other places of worship, and

was opened for Divine service on the 9th of April, 1829. On the 1st of December, in that year, a Christian church was formed. Previous to this the Rev. E. T. Prust, who had finished his studies at Highbury, was invited by the congregation to supply for six months; at the expiration of this period he was chosen to the pastoral office by the Church and congregation unitedly, and was ordained on the 21st of April, 1830. For thirty-seven years no change in the ministry has here taken place; Mr. Prust still continues his labours as the highly-esteemed pastor of this people. The number of members received, from the formation of the Church to the present time, is 615; the number now in communion 190.

The congregation erected galleries in the chapel, with an organ, and an additional school-room, at a cost of nearly £1,000. A commodious schoolroom has also been built, on a site adjoining the chapel-yard, for Sunday and Day Infant schools. A tablet in the school-room has the following inscription: This school-room built A.D. 1851, for the use of Sunday and Day Infant schools, in connection with Commercial-street Chapel, and in memory of Stephen Prust, Esq., of Bristol, who was only prevented by death from erecting it himself." In this Church there has been steady progress, and the aspect of things is still cheering.

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A district school has been established in a neighbouring street, where a Mothers' Meeting is held weekly; and on Sunday and week-day evenings religious services are held. A Benevolent Society, for the visitation of the sick poor through the town, is also connected with the chapel, and has been much blest in the communication of temporal and spiritual benefits.

The friends of Mr. Prust will cordially unite with us when we state that a great loss was sustained last year, not only by the bereaved husband, but by the congregation and all their connections, in the death of Mrs. Prust, who was most truly and eminently the devoted wife of the pastor, taking the superintendence for years of the girls' Sabbath-school, writing many letters with a view to the spiritual benefit of the young; presiding at female prayer meetings, visiting the afflicted, and laying herself out for various purposes of usefulness. She viewed herself as highly favoured by Providence with opportunities and means of doing good, and she sought most diligently to improve them. Such was the esteem in which she was held, and the influence which she obtained, that the loss sustained in her removal cannot easily be repaired. But the memory of the just is blessed; and her spirit and example cannot soon be forgotten.

RECENT events are calculated, beyond all doubt, to invest with more than ordinary interest the important and arduous work which the Irish Evangelical Society is seeking to accomplish. It may be hoped, indeed, that those

events will serve to exhibit and enforce more powerfully than has yet been done the urgent claims of this Institution upon the sympathising prayers and

efforts of the Congregational Churches throughout the United Kingdom. Whilst politicians of all parties are in perplexity as to the best means of making Ireland what she ought to be, Christian philanthropists can have no difficulty in believing that the universal reception of Christ's holy Gospel would prove the panacea for all her woes. Righteous legislation is, indeed, impe

ratively called for; but even this would fail to extinguish Irish discontent, apart from the peaceful, purifying, and ennobling influences of evangelical truth.

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Do not the events lately, and even still, occurring proclaim, as if with trumpet voice, Ireland's need of the Gospel? And when so many, professing to act on Ireland's behalf, are trying to inflict injury and desolation upon us, is not this the very time to copy the beneficent spirit of the Divine Saviour by obeying His sublime command? Surely now, if ever, we ought to respond to His heavenly requirement, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." Seeking, as this Society does seek, to become increasingly the embodiment and expression of the Christ-like pity and of the Divine magnanimity of the Congregational Churches of these lands, in relation to the sister island, the Committee confidently anticipate more vigorous and more extensive help than ever.

SELF-SUSTAINING CHURCHES.

The Congregational Churches in Ireland able to support themselves are, alas! comparatively few. But to the greater number of these the Society can with gratitude point, as among the many blessed results of its past labours. In Limerick, in Belfast, in Sligo, in Londonderry, Churches, long nurtured by it, have for many years past been independent of all external aid. All these Churches, it is gratifying to know, are now centres of holy light in their respective localities, and are contributing in various ways to the enlightenment of the more distant regions of that country. In some of these communities, indeed, God is manifesting, in a remarkablemanner, the wonders of His grace; Romanists, as well as nominal Protestants, being transformed by its saving power.

THE MISSION STATIONS.

Never had the Committee ampler reason for satisfaction with the brethren whom they partly or wholly sustain at the different stations than at the present time. In every one of their agents they have entire confidence, as to piety. devotedness, and adaptation to the work in which they are engaged. At three important stations they have quite recently appointed brethren eminently fitted for the enterprise, viz., in Galway, the Rev. Wm. Jarrett, as successor to the Rev. J. Lewis, compelled to retire through ill health; in Belfast, at the Second Church (Albert Bridge), the Rev. A. M. Morrison, instead of Mr. Rodgers; and at Donaghmore, the Rev. James Grant. Another stationYoughal-which, owing to peculiar circumstances, had been for some years vacant, the Committee have lately reoccupied, with much hope of extensive usefulness to the town and the surrounding district, by the appointment of the Rev. H Cope, late of Watton, Norfolk. All the ministerial agents, in addition to their pastoral labours, engage extensively in direct evangelistic efforts. occupying regularly about one hundred preaching stations, exclusive of the central stations, and thus reaching many thousands of the population. A few extracts from some of their recent communications will illustrate at once their purposes, their difficulties, and their encouragements.

One minister, whose chapel is now too small for the numbers wishing to frequent it, says: "My congregation now consists of parties gathered in from various quarters, many of them being persons who attended no places of worship. Several have been converted, and have joined the Church. Two of these were Unitarians, and one a Roman Catholic. I find that many of the young people are very ignorant. I am endeavouring as far as possible to instruct them, in the Sabbath-school,

and visiting regularly from house to house, and distributing tracts and little books."

Another valued minister writes:

"I have this afternoon returned from the county town of L, thirty miles from this, where I lectured last evening to a very pleasing congregation for numbers, respectability, and earnest attention. It is a very dead placelittle doing in it or for it spiritually. An occasional visit there is much prized by several. I have also been in

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eighteen miles to the north of our largest sea-bathing place in this region, taking advantage of the season and the rapid ingress of visitors. I had a very large and most attentive congregation, and an earnest request that the visit would be soon repeated.

"I enclose B- -'s journal for this month. It is of the usual character. He is steadily, constantly, and quietly at work, scattering, I believe, the good seed; though, from the nature of the work, results can scarcely be visible to us. You have had recent terrible experience of the kind of material with which we have for the most part to do when we step beyond the bounds of a nominal Protestantism, that nominal Protestantism itself being sufficiently difficult; still, the Gospel in the hands of the Spirit has already overcome obstacles equally great, and will yet do greater things than have ever yet been done. Our part is to go forward.'

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"My winter lectures have been resumed, as well as my usual Sabbath and week-day services, by God's good hand upon me, steadily continued. I have visited also C. S., the assize town of the adjoining county, and had a large and most attentive auditory.

"We close the year with humility, but with much thankfulness. My health is almost marvellous. Whatever power God ever gave me I still possess; and if I know myself, my heart is more and more alive to HIM, and my desires more

earnest to glorify HIM, and to benefit souls."

From an important city a minister writes:

"During the last quarter I have had some very encouraging incidents in connection with my work in Zion Chapel, but as I shall in my next report refer to particulars, I will pass them over at present.

'Our congregations have been increasing, and a few have been added to the Church. At present matters wear a more hopeful aspect than they did since my settlement. As to my actual work, I may say I have been working without ceasing-preaching twice every Sabbath, and on Friday, and frequently in other parts of the city, presiding at two or three prayer-meetings weekly, teaching a Bible class on Sunday morning, and visiting from house to house. We have been making a special effort to pay for the new trust deed, and make sundry necessary repairs, and have succeeded beyond our expectations.

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"I expect to have some very interesting facts for my annual report. Earnestly do I pray that the Great Head of the Church may carry on His work in this wicked city."

From a village station, in the centre of an agricultural district, another agent reports:

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'Having again arrived at the conclusion of another year, I am reminded that it is time to forward you a brief outline of my labours for the last quarter. In doing so I am happy to inform you that I have had much to encourage me to persevere in the good work.

"The Lord's own promise, that 'His word shall not return unto Him void,' has been very pleasingly fulfilled here. The attendance on divine service in our chapel has very much increased during the last three months, and the bonds of Christian peace and love are growing still stronger in the Church and congregation.