Subscribers and Donors are requested to give informatian of any change of address, and of any inaccuracies which may occur in the above List. HENERAL STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS OF THE FORM OF AN ORDER FOR THE PAYMENT OF SUBSCRIPTIONS. As Subscribers, residing in the country, frequently find it difficult to convey their subscriptions so as to ensure payment as they become due, it is recommended that an order, according to the following form, on some Banker, Agent, or Friend, residing in London, shall be sent to Mr. FRANCIS DOWNHAM, No. 11, Buckingham-street, London (W.C.) sum of £ commencing "Please to pay the Collector of the Protestant Association, the as a Subscription to that Institution, to be continued annually, AN Act of Parliament "for the Amendment of the Laws with respect to Wills" having been passed on the 3d day of July, 1837; which Act came into operation on the 1st day of January, 1838, the attention of all persons, who may contemplate making Bequests to the Protestant Association, is respectfully called to the following section: 1 VICTORIÆ, cap. 26, sec. 9. "And be it further enacted, That no Will shall be valid, unless it shall be in writing, and executed in manner hereinafter mentioned; (that is to say) it shall be signed at the foot or end thereof, by the Testator, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction; and such signature shall be made or acknowledged by the Testator, in the presence of Two or more Witnesses present at the same time; and such Witnesses shall attest and shall subscribe the Will, in the presence of the Testator; but no form of Attestation shall be necessary.' " N.B. Wills executed prior to the 1st day of January, 1838, are not affected by the new Act; but any alteration therein, or Codicil thereto, must be executed in the manner before mentioned. The following extract from a Work, recently published, is worthy of particular attention:•- "The Statute of 9 George II., c. 36, called the Mortmain Act, is not repealed or altered by the 1 VICTORIE, C. 26; and therefore legacies to charities out of real estate will still be void. If a Testator desire to leave legacies to charities, he must take care to make them payable, either expressly, or by ordinary course of law, out of such personal estate as may be applied for that purpose. A bequest to a charity of a term of years, or leasehold property; or of money to arise from, or be produced by, the sale of land; or by the rents, profits, or other interest arising from land; or a bequest of money, to be laid out in land; or a bequest of money secured by mortgage; or a bequest of annuities charged on land, or rather rent charges; or a bequest of money, with a direction to apply it in paying off mortgages on schools or chapels; or a bequest of money secured on parochial rates or county rates, or turnpike tolls-is, in each case, void; and even where no particular fund is pointed out in the Will, for the payment of charitable legacies, and they are consequently a charge on the residue, and the residue consists, in part, of property of all or either of the kinds above specified; so much of the legacies will become void as shall bear the same proportion to the entire legacies as the exempted property bears to the entire residue." FORM OF BEQUEST TO THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH unto the Treasurer for the time being of "THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION," formed in London in the year 1835, the sum of pounds of British money, to be paid within months after my decease, exclusively out of such part of my personal estate, not hereby specifically disposed of, as I may by law bequeath to charitable purposes, and I hereby lawfully charge such part of my estate with the said sum upon trust to be applied towards the general purposes of the said Association; and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer, or the reputed Treasurer, for the time being, of the said Association, shall be a sufficient discharge for the said legacy. If a Testator wishes the legacy to be paid free of duty, he will add the following words to the above form:—And I direct that the legacy duty upon the said legacy be paid by my Executors out of the same fund. N.B. Devises of land, or of money charged on land, or secured on mortgage of lands or tenements, or to be laid out in lands or tenements, or to arise from the sale of lands or tenements, are void; but money or stock may be given by Will, if not directed to be laid out in land. THE PROTESTANT MAGAZINE. AUGUST 1, 1864. THE ANNUAL SERMON FOR THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, PREACHED BY THE REV. JOSEPH BARDSLEY, IN ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, KING'S-SQUARE, GOSWELL-ROAD, ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 11, 1864. "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John v. 39.) You will find from the context that, when our Saviour uttered these words, He had been assigning some important reasons for His divine mission. He had distinctly affirmed, amongst other evidence, that John the Baptist, that burning and shining light, bore witness to Him; further, that His works were evidence and witness of His own divine mission. But, in our text, you will find that He assigns an additional reason—that the Scriptures, that is, the Old Testament Scriptures, the only part of the Bible then written, bore witness of Him; and, therefore, in our text, He says, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life." Then He adds, "They are they which testify of me." It is not of very much consequence whether you regard the first part of this text as a command enforcing a duty, or whether you regard the words as a declaration of what the people were in the habit of doing whom He addressed on this occasion. If, indeed, you regard the words as a command, they set forth, as a positive duty, the reading of the Word of God; if you regard the words as a declaration, they then represent what was the habit or the practice of those whom the Saviour addressed. The words in the original, no doubt, may be rendered either as they stand in our text, or may be rendered, "Ye do search the Scriptures," and so be regarded as a declaration. I shall endeavour this evening, with very great brevity, to assign some reasons why it is our duty, and, at the same time, VOL. XXVI. New Series, No. 285. K our privilege, to search the Scriptures. And may God the Holy Ghost, who caused these Scriptures to be written, be present with us, and bless our meditations! It is impossible, my brethren, to read the Word of God, without perceiving that it is taken for granted everywhere that the Scriptures were given to be our guide and our directory. How it could ever have occurred to men that the Scriptures were to be possessed only by ministers, or, as Roman Catholics would say, by the priests of the Church-how this could ever have entered men's minds seems to me past comprehension. There is nothing, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, to justify any such inference. Not only is there no such declaration, but, as far as I know, there is not a single text that could even have suggested the opinion that it was the privilege and duty of ministers alone to read and to search the Scriptures. There was great force in what the great translator of the English version said-I mean William Tyndal-when in London, and reasoning on this subject, on his way to the Continent, where he translated the New Testament into the English tongue. He was told by some that it was the duty of the laity to accept the Scriptures as interpreted by the priests, and not for the people to read and study the Scriptures for themselves; and he replied, "Here is a piece of stuff. Do you "—addressing a person who was a draper-" do you measure your yard by your stuff, or your stuff by the yard? So," he says, "the Word of God is the universal standard." Our Saviour, when reasoning with the multitudes, and when speaking to individuals, constantly appealed to the Old Testament Scriptures. If the people had not been in the habit of reading the Old Testament Scriptures, it could have served no purpose with them to have quoted the Old Testament Scriptures as an authority. Besides, the very form in which he refers to the Scriptures, and the very mode of expression, clearly indicate that it was regarded as the privilege and the duty of the people to search the Scriptures for themselves. For example, he says, "Have ye never read?" and then He quotes some Old Testament portion. Again, He asked, "What is written in the law? How readest thou?" Again says the Saviour, on another occasion, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one went unto them from the dead." The Saviour constantly spoke after this manner; from which it is evident that He assumed, as a matter admitting of no discussion, that it was the privilege and the duty of the people, as well as ministers, to read the Word of God for themselves. Let me assign, then, some reasons, brethren, as I said before, why we should regard it as our greatest duty, and, at the same time, our highest privilege, to search the Scriptures : I. We should search the Scriptures because of their Divine authority. The Bible is the book of God. It contains a revelation of God's blessed mind and will concerning us. The Word of God speaks to us with authority. We may neglect to read other books; we may forego much instruction, much edification, and much comfort, by not reading them, but we do not necessarily incur guilt; but if we neglect to read the Scriptures, we neglect that positive duty of learning, from the only revelation possessed in the world, what God would have us to think, to do, and to know. To use the language of our Sixth Article, "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation;" and, because of that which is there beautifully and Scripturally expressed, we should esteem it our duty and our privilege to search the Scriptures. Through the Scriptures, God Himself speaks to man. II. But not only because of their authority, because of their supremacy, but, also, because of their fulness or sufficiency as a rule of faith, we should search them; that is, not only because of their supremacy, but because of their sufficiency. The Scriptures reveal to us everything that is necessary for men to know to be happy here and blessed throughout eternity. They reveal to us everything that man is required to know respecting God, respecting our Creator and our Preserver. We learn everything there that man is required to know respecting God's eternity, God's power, God's wisdom, God's truth, God's holiness, and God's justice. We there are taught how God's attributes are harmonized in the glorious scheme of redemption. We there read of God's everlasting love and mercy, as well as of God's justice and faithfulness. We there learn what is the nature of Christ's work, whereby man, guilty and polluted by the Fall, is restored to God's favour and to God's fellowship. We are there taught what we are to believe respecting the work of God the Holy Ghost. We are there taught what is man's duty to God, and his duty to his fellow-man. Here we find instruction for all ranks, classes, and conditions of men. Here, brethren, we are taught what is the duty of kings and of subjects, of masters and of servants, of parents and of children, of husbands and of wives. Here we find instruction for the wise and for the ignorant, for the rich and for the poor. In this precious volume, we are taught where the wise man may obtain a knowledge which should cause him to regard his own knowledge as unworthy the name; where he may learn to know all things, and be made "wise unto salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus." Here we are taught where the rich may |