At Cookhill we have a neat little chapel; | become a thousand; the number of members the congregations are good; the arm of the Lord has been made bare among the people, and on Sunday, August 13, 1849, five believers were immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Although the day was very unpropitious, the rain coming down in torrents, the chapel was filled to overflowing, and in the evening, during the public service and at the table of the Lord, when our sisters and brethren were received into the church, a hallowed influence pervaded the whole place, and many felt it to be the house of God and the gate of heaven. In both places, and especially at Studley, the work of the Lord is in great prosperity, and within the last nine mouths there have been a few noted conversions, and these have produced a very powerful impression on the minds of many. Numbers are inquiring their way to Zion, and at present we have at Studley six persons, and at Cookhill five others, who are accepted as candidates for Christian baptism. To God be all the glory. In conclusion, we have reason for great thankfulness, that God has hitherto been with us, and taken our cause into his own his own hands; and that while some have become our avowed enemies, because we invite poor sinners to come to Christ, others have been raised up who have" showed us no small kindness," and who wish us well in the name of the Lord. Whilst we have had to endure the wintry blast and storm, God has blessed us with the signs of the approach of a spiritual summer, which has now arrived. Scriptural conversion is no longer a strange work to many here. We have lately seen parents receiving their children into their arms happy in the love of God, and children witnessing the power of Christ to save their hoary-headed parents. And, blessed be God, the good is not confined within the church, it exerts a moral influence throughout the length and breadth of the village, so that many awful swearers swear no more, and scores of drunkards have been reclaimed. What hath God wrought! The baptist cause at Studley for many years was connected with the parent church at Cookhill, but in the month of January, 1848, the friends at Studley formed themselves into a church, consisting of twenty-seven members. We went on well for a little time, and in February I was ordained pastor of the church at Studley. Shortly after this, two or three of the friends, holding notions not in accordance with ours, did all they could to remove me, and when they found they could not effect their purpose they divided the church, and sixteen left us and opened another place of worship in opposition to us, which has come to nought; but by the good hand of our God upon us, our number at Studley is raised from eleven to sixty-four. May the little one at Cookhill is thirty, with a sabbath school containing sixty children, which have been collected together within the last three months. Cookhill is five miles from Studley; I have to preach on sabbath morning at Studley, at half-past ten o'clock, then walk to Cookhill in the afternoon and preach, then come back to Studley and preach at six o'clock. That is my Sunday's work. On Monday we have a prayer meeting at Studley, when a short address is delivered. On Tuesday evening we have a meeting for inquirers. On Wednesday preach at Cookhill. On Thursday preach at Studley. On Friday deliver addresses and hold prayer meetings, alternately, at the villages of Sambourn and Middletown. W. MAIZEY. Shiffnal, Shropshire. That my time has been fully occupied you will see, when I say that I have had but two evenings in the month that I could say were my own. The work of pastoral visitation has appeared to me increasingly important, especially in a place where the people-even the sick and dying-might truthfully say, (except for the efforts of myself and people,) "No man careth for our souls." I am encouraged in this department of labour by the expressions of gratitude with which the people receive my visits, which I trust have contributed to the comfort of the afflicted and the instruction of the ignorant, as well as to the strengthening in those who attend my ministry a love to public worship. Our congregations have, on the whole, during the year, presented a very encouraging aspect; even during the months of summer our attendance was good; although every means have been employed by the state clergy to deter the people from coming. Through their influence there are many of the poor who have ceased to attend of late, although they tell these clergymen that they get profitable instruction, far more than when they "attend church." I have baptized six believers during the year, five of whom have been added to the church, and shall (D.V.) baptize one more at the end of this month. Our present number of members is nineteen. My bible class is a great means, I trust, of promoting the instruction of the persons who attend it. Two of the dear young people have written some appropriate lines, called "An Invitation to the Bible Class." Our sabbath school has continued to flourish; it has twelve teachers, and there are about seventy-five children on the books. The teachers toil on with persevering zeal and in perfect harmony. I have continued to visit the school once a month, to encourage the teachers and address the children. In the autumn of last year I commenced preaching in a house, a short distance from the town. This, I suppose, we may designate a village station. The attend Crisp, Rev. T. S........ Thomas, Mr. George... 0 10 Walton, Mr. D......... ...... Bloomfield, Sir T.W. Collection Edgar, Mrs..... £ . d. 050 0 5 0 0 5 0 050 0 10 0 1 1 0 0 10 6 166 0 10 0 0 5 0 Edgar, Miss 0 10 0 2 0 0 Coll. by Mrs. Veales.. 1 17 0 13 0 6 Loft, Miss... 0 10 6 050 Loft, Miss J. 050 Jolly, Mr..... 0 5 0 0 5 0 Collection Darkins, Mrs..... Robinson, E. L... 050 Wheeler, Mr.. Sen..... Lye, Robert 026 0 5 0 Wheeler, Mrs...... Slaughter, Mr........... Brown, Mr. J. 0 10 0 Judge, Mr.... 050 0 5 0 Smith, Mr. 200 050 Frome Moore, J........ 0 10 0 A Friend....... Cross, Mr... Neatishead 500 0 5 0 SUFFOLK. Breach, Mr............... 026 Lewes Clowes, Mr. Ipswich 0 10 0 Lawrence, Rev. Mr... 050 SUSSEX. Goldsmith, Mr.. Hammond, Mr...... 050 0 10 0 Miles, Mr....... Curtis, Mrs...... Sharp, Mr... Smaller sums............ 0 26 0 2 6 0 5 6 Battle Collection Ford's, Mrs. Box ...... Simmonds, Miss........ Coll. by Mr. Weller... Weller, Mr., extra (to Clipstone, balance........ 0 17 6 Brighton SHROPSHIRE. Sing, Mr.................. Allender, Mr. D........ SOMERSETSHIRE. 1 0 0 0 10 0 1 0 0 100 1 0 0 100 Broadmead, collection 16 1 2 Counterslip. King St. Pub. Meeting 8 10 0 Collected by Harris, Mrs. Leonard, Miss C. Morgan, Miss.... Subscriptions Aspinall, Miss, 1848-9. 2 2 0 Ashmead, Mr. G. C... Clark, Rev. James Contributions at Bond W. Mr. & J. Davy, Mr.... 026 020 0 11 8 050 Underwood, Mrs....... 100 0 10 0 0 5 0 Davey, Mr. G... 0 50 0 1 6 J. S.... 026 0 10 0 186 0 10 6 Daniell, Mr. 026 0 5 0 Daniell, Mr. Jun....... 026 Daniell, Mrs. coll. by. 0 2 6 026 Mitchel, Mr. 026 0 5 0 Hilder, Mr.... 026 0 50 Bird, G... 02 6 Small sums............ 060 Goffe, J.. Uckfield Larner, Mr. & F. D... 0 5 0 Marshal, Mr.. A Friend... Wivelsfield Collection 026 050 1 5 1 Tate, William. Several small sums.... WALES. PEMBROKESHIRE. 0 2 6 Haverfordwest Rees, W. Esq............ 10 00 Collection Missionary Box......... 0 13 9 Donations and Subscriptions will be gratefully received on behalf of the Society, by the Treasurer, J. R. BOUSFIELD, Esq. 126, Houndsditch; or by the Secretary, THE REV. STEPHEN J. DAVIS, 33, MOORGATE STREET, LONDON. Much trouble will be saved, both to the Secretary and his correspondents, if in making payments by Post Office orders, they will give his name as above; or, at any rate, advise him of the name they have communicated to the Post office authorities. 026 0 3 0 Salem 026 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH MAGAZINE. No. 77.- MAY, 1850. ON SECRET PRAYER. "But thou, when thou prayest, enter | into thy closet; and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret:" MATT. vi. 6. THE subject on which I wish to engage your attention and to excite your interest, is secret prayer, the importance and benefit of which can scarcely be over-rated. Yet there is no duty, acknowledged to be such, which is more neglected by even the children of God. mouths, telling us to take with us words and say, "Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, and love us freely." He, whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, takes pains, if we may so say, to remove the dread produced by conscious guilt. He holds forth to our view the propitiatory sacrifice provided by himself, and points to the new and living way which he has opened; and his language is, "Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you." And our great Intercessor, who has put I do not think it necessary, in ad- away sin by the sacrifice of himself, audressing you, to prove the general obli- thorizes us to go to his Father as our gation of prayer. Those who do not Father, and encourages us, in_the_confeel it are not Christians, however fidence of faith, to enter into the closest boldly they may assert their right to and most endearing communication the name. They cannot know them- with him in regard to our most secret selves as guilty, needy, helpless crea- concerns and most essential interests. tures. A right knowledge of ourselves, "Enter into thy closet," saith he; indeed, as transgressors of the holy, just," and when thou hast shut the door, and good laws of a good God, will never, pray to thy Father which is in seof itself, drive or draw us to His foot- cret." stool. On the contrary, a just view of our guilt as presumptuous rebels against his righteous, wise, and beneficent government, cannot fail to fill us with shame and dread; and prompt us, like our first parents, to fly from Him, and endeavour to hide ourselves from the piercing blasting glance of his all-seeing eye, in utter despair of being ever admitted into his presence, except it be to hear the awful final sentence of eternal banishment. In such a state of selfcondemnation, how sweet the voice that invites us to "turn to Him from whom we have deeply revolted," that woos us to return, that puts language in our VOL. VII.-NO. LXXVII. In considering the duty here enjoined, we must advert to the connection in which the command stands. Our Lord was warning his disciples and the multitude of the evil and danger of hypocrisy, and the supreme desire of the praise of man, and points out this mode of performing an acknowledged duty as one means of escaping that danger. We must not suppose that the evil to be guarded against was peculiar to the sect of the Pharisees, or to the day in which our Lord lived upon earth. We do not, indeed, feel any temptation to the precise forms and observances which they practised, and K which Jesus Christ condemns with such severity. These, instead of attracting the applause of men in the present day, would only expose the performer to ridicule. But though different in its forms, the evil remains; and clothing itself in less ostentatious and obtrusive forms, works its deadly effects with the more certainty that it is often unsuspected even by the subject of its malign influence. In this country, at the present day, the duty of public worship is almost universally acknowledged; and among the very numerous class of the more orderly professors of religion who abound around us, some attention to the forms of domestic worship is also pretty common, and rather considered respectable. Regularity in the observance of these may procure for any one the character of a religious person. But it is impossible to doubt that all this may go on without any change of heart, or real conversion to God, and may be carried on without one desire after God. There are motives enough for one who has been brought up among religious people, or who is surrounded by such, to keep up these customs. His estimation among his friends may depend upon it; nay, the satisfaction of his own conscience may require it. But we may go further yet. There may be a profession of religion that shall be recognized among the truly godly-a sincere profession-with not only exemplary attendance on public ordinances, and on family devotions, but even frequent engagement in the exercises of the more select prayer-meeting, and yet the soul may be in a cold backsliding state, and the real condition of the individual a very doubtful one. There may be motives from without, and from within too, sufficiently powerful to uphold a considerable form of godliness, while there is little or none of the power. I must confess with shame that I can attest this from my own humiliating experience. And I have known several very lamentable admonitory exemplifications of this truth among my own acquaintance. One in particular occurs to my mind, that made a strong and painful impression upon it. It occurred not long after we came to reside in Edinburgh. We occupied a flat on the south side of the town, when we were surprised and delighted to hear, night after night, what seemed to be the sound of prayer and praise, and the reading of the sacred Scriptures, ascending from the apartment immediately below our sitting room. We found that the family below us consisted of an elderly couple, who were connected with the Anti-burgher Seceders, and who, as to outward observances, appeared to be "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." We made their acquaintance, and hoped they were godly people; but there did not seem to be much of heart in their religion. And before we quitted that locality, we learned that a habit of self-indulgence, which had been slowly gaining ground upon one of them at least, if not on both, had at length attained such a fearful ascendency, that though the forms of worship were still maintained, the strife of tongues was not unfrequently heard encroaching upon the wonted hour that was assigned to them. The issue was awful;-the man by intemperance hastened his departure hence into another and an unchanging state. In this case there could have been no habit of secret prayer. The two practices were incompatible. One or other must have been abandoned. Yet these were considered religious persons, and, perhaps, considered themselves such. "Let us therefore fear;" for "blessed is the man that feareth always." When thinking on what topic I should address you at this time, it occurred to me to look into my own heart, and examine narrowly into my own condition, and endeavour to discover wherein I am myself most defective, and require a word of exhortation. And the result of the examination, and of the reflections to which it gave rise, is, that the healthfulness and vigour of our spiritual condition depends instrumentally on two things-the habit of secret communion with God, and the habit of active exertion for God. To the first of these I wish to direct your attention on the present occasion. The expression secret communion includes not only private closet prayer, but the exercise of the mind upon as a prescient being, cognizant of our God |