same time recommend the other-whether they are showing the spiritual destitution of the world abroad, or whether relating the success with which it has pleased God to crown the efforts of missionary enterprise; in either case they will illustrate the need and importance, in either case will be furthering the interests of both the societies to which we belong. I hold the propagation of the Gospel to be a fundamental rule of Christian duty. It is evidently our Lord's will that the Gospel should be spread through the world by the instrumentality of man. By this means his own prophetic parable of the grain of mustard seed will be verified and accomplished, and the branches of our holy religion be extended to all the corners of the earth. It was his own command to his apostles and disciples, "Go and teach all nations," that is, go and make disciples in all nations, go and convert them. The preachers were not to wait till all around them had been evangelized and spiritualized, but were to go forth at once into the wide world; and this commission is binding upon the ministers of Christ in all ages. And upon every individual also a charge is laid, "Let your light shine before men;" the spirit of which charge implies that we are all to be intent upon spreading those gracious and glorious truths, with which we ourselves are blessed. The blazing torch of revelation is placed in our hands, not only for our own guidance and good, but also to be lifted aloft for the enlightenment and benefit of all whom its glory may reach. It is the bounden duty of nations, and countries, and towns, and individuals, who have been privileged and blessed with the knowledge of salvation, to communicate the Divine treasure according to their ability and means. It is impossible to be otherwise. The very spirit of Christianity is communicative and diffusive; 66 seeketh not her own" is never selfish; can never be content with the solitary enjoyment of liberty and life, but always burns with a holy desire of brotherly participation. (Hear.) And if there be any one kingdom more bound than all others to execute this high and heavenly commission, ours is that kingdom: ourselves supremely favoured with a full and free access to the fountain of divine truth-ourselves enjoying the privileges of the

1838.] BOLTON CHURCH MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

143

Gospel in all their excellency and purity; and the very nature and constitution of our empire, and our local circumstances, being such as to fit us pre-eminently for the high office of Christian missionaries to every quarter of the globe. There is not a sea, from the Torrid to the Frigid Zones, where the sails of our merchantmen are not expanded; not a portion of the mighty waters over which the flag of Great Britain is not flying triumphantly and peacefully; and wherever our vessels go for trade, they ought to bear also the more precious freightage of the word of life, the merchandise of which is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof better than fine gold. And surely we cannot imagine that Providence has placed us in this favoured position for mere selfish or secular purposes; certainly no believer can think that he would thus fulfil the will of his Heavenly Father, but he will consider that the transportation of his carnal things supplies, and is intended to supply, a means for the transportation of his spiritual things to the regions of superstition and death, and will therefore consider himself indispensably required, and constrained, and necessitated to embrace the opportunities afforded him of enlightening the dark and enriching the destitute of the earth. (Cheers.) And, if we cast our eye not only upon the distant heathen, but also upon our own distant brethren, the vastness of our own foreign territories, upon the extent of our American connections, upon our hundred millions in India, upon the countless multitude of emancipated negroes, assuredly the Christian inhabitants of this prosperous land must account themselves to have received a talent and trust from God, which they are bound to use for the conversion and salvation of their fellow-citizens and brethren. How, then, is this important work to be effected? Chiefly, in as far as the church is concerned, through the medium of our two great societies; and these derive their revenues and means from associations and branch associations, and subscriptions and collections; yes, it is not only by donations of hundreds, and twenties, and tens, and sovereigns, but also by individual shillings, and pennies, and halfpennies; and it is a most gratifying fact, that the societies derive a considerable portion of their income from this

source-gratifying, as affording a proof of the deep interest taken by poor as well as rich in the conversion of their heathen brethren. And we may add, as a further delight, that our own association in this town furnishes a decided instance of the truth of this remark, nearly one-third of our fund for the present year arising from penny collections. (Great applause.) This may well operate as an encouragement to all the collectors, and may invite others to come forward and help us."

EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c.

The Allotment System.-The following appears in the Bedford Beacon :— "We noticed a few weeks since that W. H. Whitbread, esq., had humanely devoted the large field, extending from the village of Elstow to the Ampthill road, to allotments for the poor of the parish of Elstow. The tenants, fortyeight in number, met for the purpose of acknowledging to Mr. Whitbread their sense of the advantages likely to accrue to them from the liberality he had manifested in their behalf. A letter was sent to Mr. Whitbread, signed by the forty-eight tenants, to that effect."

Effects of Intoxication.—Mr. W. C. while in a state of delirium, produced by excessive drinking, threw himself out of a first-floor window, and fell on his head on the footway pavement. He was taken up bleeding profusely, and carried to Charing Cross Hospital.

Sitting Hens.-Farmers' wives of the old school say, that hens should never be allowed to sit during the season that the blackberry is in blossom. There is an old verse to the same effect which runs thus:

"Between the sickle and the scythe,

What you rear will seldom thrive."

Homely proverbs are often true. No scientific research is necessary in order to prove the correctness of the foregoing observation. Long experience has shown, that hens should not be allowed to sit during the months of June and July, because, when the young ones are hatched, the season has commenced when that rural torment, the harvest bug, prevails : this insect attacks the chickens, covering their tender skin, and causing so great a degree of irritation and fever, that they speedily begin to droop their wings, and die; whole broods we have known to perish at this particular season, and at no other. About midsummer is that which is indicated in the old saying.

Temperance. The men who work in a quarry near Snowdon, in Wales, have saved a large sum of money since they unanimously agreed to have no strong drink in the quarry.-Welsh paper.

Coals were first discovered at Newcastle in 1234, but did not come into general use in London till 1400. Fires from coal, and tallow candles, came into use in the same century. The first tallow candles made in England were in 1280.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received the communications of F.; M. A. B.; W. K. B.; J. T.; E.; G. B.; a Layman; Aa. ; E. W.; and W.-M. A. B. in our next.

THIS day is kept holy in honour of the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew, whose Jewish name was Levi. He was born in Galilee, and his father's name was Alpheus; but he is not supposed to have been the same Alpheus who was father to James the less. Although a Jew, St. Matthew held the Roman office of publican, or tax-gatherer, a situation once considered highly creditable, but in the Apostle's time, owing to the covetousness, and reprobate life of those engaged in it, it was esteemed one of peculiar disrepute. The Romans generally appointed Jews to collect the public revenue, thinking them more acquainted with the affairs of their nation, and better VOL. XVIII.

K

qualified to exact the customary tribute; and, as it was a very profitable occupation, many accepted it willingly ; but it drew on them great dislike from the rest of their countrymen, who regarded them as assisting the enemies of their nation to ruin and enslave it. Added to this, as any intercourse with Gentiles was forbidden by the Jews, and these publicans had, by necessity, constant communication with their heathen masters, they were not only looked on in a very hateful light, but were excluded from sharing in any of the Jewish customs, whether religious or civil; and all connexion with them, either by marriage, or in any of the affairs of life, was carefully avoided. It seems that St. Matthew's business consisted more particularly in receiving the tribute, which people paid for themselves and their merchandize, in passing over the Lake of Gennesareth, and for this purpose he dwelt at Capernaum, which is situated on the border of the lake, and was sitting at the receipt of custom there, when our Saviour called on him to become a disciple. He was, doubtless, already impressed with a sincere belief and admiration for his future Lord and Master, and therefore joyfully seized this opportunity to become His follower; but we should remark that his ready attendance on the Divine call, was the more praiseworthy, as he exchanged rich and easy circumstances, and a prosperous trade, for the doubtful existence, and probable suffering of a servant of "Him who had not where to lay His head." The greater proportion of Christian disciples were amongst the poor and unlearned, who had no worldly advantages to give up; but St. Matthew ranked among the few, who, by giving up worldly advantages, proved the sincerity and earnestness of their conviction, that in following Jesus they had chosen that better part, which should more than recompense them for any sacrifices they might make. The entire resignation of wealth, and the means of obtaining it, was indeed what few would have done for the sake of religion; and had St. Matthew's object been the applause of men, he might have displayed the merit of this action, in a manner very favourable to himself; but, conscious of nobler views, the Apostle, in the ninth chapter of his