and paralysis that often overhangs the church. People are grieved and driven away from the communion of the saints and the fellowship of those they love, in consequence of the wrong-doing of leaders and managers who do not confess their faults and rectify the wrongs which they have done. Often such persons seem to think it easier to send for a minister and “have a revival” than to confess their own faults and right the wrongs of which they are guilty. But a revival of religion which comes in on the top of old grudges, misrepresentations, dishonesties, and wrongs, will never be very effectual. The high tide may float their craft for a little while; but when the flood recedes, every rock and snag and shoal that studs the channel will reappear, and the sailing will be no better than before. A religion that is not founded apon righteousness is of very little uso in this world, and the men who think that special services, protracted meetings, labours of evangelists, earnest prayers, and gospel hymns, will make amends for wrong and robbery and slander and abuse, will probably find out their mistake before the day of judgment comes, but if they do not, they will certainly find it out then. THE TEMPEST STILLED. The strong wind burst on Judah’s sea, Far pealed the raging billow, When Jesus pressed His pillow; From surge to dark surge leaping, Yet Jesus still lay sleeping. When o'er that barque the loud waves roared, And blasts went howling round her, “Lord I help us, or we founder!” The chafed waves sank, reposing, When clear calm days are closing. And turning to the startled men Who watched the surge subsiding, These words of righteous chiding: As if by heaven forsaken, Or faith so quickly shaken?” Then, then, those doubters saw with dread The wondrous scene before them; Strange awe stole creeping o'er them. For powers Divine array Him: And winds and waves obey Him !" " ALONE, YET NOT ALONE.” O sweetly solemn word ! When I am with my Lord. If Thou art still with me, I cannot lonely be. If Thou, my God, art near, I cannot yield to fear. When storms of sorrow lower, With Thy protecting power. Alone, yet not alone. Chilworth. NEWS OF THE CHURCHES. The memorial-stone of a new at Addlestone, of which the Rev. E. chapel for English Baptists has been W. Tarbox is the minister.—A new laid at Cross Keys, Monmouth- chapel has been opened in Parkershire.-A new chapel has been street, Burton-on-Trent, for the opened at Catford Hill, London, for ministry of the Rev. Dr. Underthe ministry of the Rev. T. Green- wood and the Rev. A. Underwood, wood.—The memorial-stones of a M.A.—The memorial-stones of a new chapel have been laid at Green new chapel have been laid at CinderBank, Flint.-A new mission chapel ford, Gloucestershire, for the minishas been opened at Woking, Sur- try of the Rev. C. Griffiths.—The rey, in connection with the church chapel at Killingholme, Lincoln shire, the pulpit of which has been Ashwater, Germanswick, and Hal. supplied for some time by friends will, Devon; the Rev. W. Glidconnected with the Grimsby Taber- don, of the church at Hayle, Cornnacle, has been re-opened after wall; the Rev. R. H. Roberts, of repair and renovation. - A new the church in Boundary - road, chapel has been opened at Martham, Middlesborough, Norfolk, in connection with the church at St. George's-park, Great The following reports of MINISYarmouth, of which the Rev. S. TERIAL CHANGES have reached us Vincent is the minister.--A new : since the preparation of our last school-chapel has been opened at issue ;-The Rev. J. Harrington, of Staincliffe (late Chapelfold), Dews. | Dorchester, to Boscombe, Bournebury, Yorkshire, for the ministry of | mouth, Hants; the Rev. A. Lemon, the Rev. J. Rendall. of Bristol College, to Shipton-on Stour; the Rev. H. Harries, of THE Rev. J. D. Rees, late of Loughor, to St. Davids; the Rev. Regent's-park College, has been W. Pratt, B.A., of Queen's College, publicly recognised as the pastor of 16 Oxford, to West Haddon, Northampthe church at Pontrhydyryn, Mon tonshire; the Rev. J. Trafford, mouthshire; the Rev. F. Forbes, of M of M.A., late of Serampore College, to the church at Alloa : the Rey, G. Weymouth; the Rev. J.D. Jenkins, Dunnett, of the church at Darkhouse of Brighton-grove College, Man. Chapel, Coseley; the Rev. C. Payne, chester, to Cottenham-street, Ken. of the church in Eastgate, Louth ; sington, Liverpool; the Rev. W.H. the Rev. W. Usher, of the church King, of Birkenhead, to Highburyin Great Victoria street, Belfast; hill," London; the Rev. T. L. the Rev. W. Thomas, of the church Edwards, of Brixton, to Wellington. at Putney; the Rev. T. W. Thoma- street, Luton; the Rev. G. Plumb, son, of the church in Queen's-park, 1 of Regent's-park College, to HarManchester; the Rev. W. E. vey-lane, Leicester; the Rev. J. Davies, of the church in George French, late of Rye, Sussex, to! street, Grantham; the Rev. G. Langley, Essex; the Rev. O. Owens, M'Fadyean, late of Bristol College, of Pontypool College, to Porth, of the church at Saltash, Cornwall; Rhondda Valley; the Rev. J. the Rev. J.J. Knight, of the church Seager, of Thrapston, to Georgein the Circus Chapel, Bradford-street, street, Salford. The Rev. W. Samp. Birmingham; the Rev. W. C. H. son, having accepted the office of Anson, late of North Shields, of the Secretary to the Baptist Union, church at Sydenham Chapel, Forest has resigned his charge at FolkeHill, London ; the Rev. A. Sowerby, stone. The Rev. A. E. Anderson of Regent's-park College, of the has resigned the pastorate of the church at Great Missenden, Bucks; church at Cupar; the Rev. J. H. the Rev. S. H. Firks, late of Ram Paterson, of the church in Eastsey, Hunts, of the Centenary church, street, Southampton; the Rev. H. March, Cambridge; the Rev. J. H. | Powell, of the church at BradfordMoore, of Regent's-park College, of on-Avon; the Rev. J. Wilkins, of the church at Chalk Farm, London, the church at Maidenhead, Berks. N.W.; the Rev. H. Abraham, of WE regret to announce the death the church at Lumb, Rossendale, of the Rev. J. W. Evans, late of Lancashire; the Rev. G. Stanley, Kensington chapel, Brecon, at the late of Whitstable, of the church at age of seventy; also of the Rev. A. Eythorne, Kent; the Rey. T. B. Saker, late of Cameroons, Western Field, of the united churches of Africa, at the age of sixty-five. JUNE, 1880. STUDIES IN THE LIFE OF JACOB. BY THE REV. T. GRAHAM TARN. 1.-Early Days. GEN. XXV. 27, 28. The interest which gathers round the old Hebrew patriarchs seems to deepen, rather than diminish, with the lapse of ages. There is much to fascinate the imagination and to awaken thought, as we explore among the ancient springs of history, and study the lives of the is world's grey fathers." They stand far back upon the mountains of time, but are as clearly presented to the vision as figures that we have seen just above the horizon, sharply outlined against the blue frmament. Even though at a distance, we can distinctly discern them and watch their various movements. The life of Jacob is presented to us in all its rounded completeness, and with considerable fulness of detail. It is so graphically delineated, limned on the canvas with such consummate skill, that we realize the individuality of the man. He lives and moves before us, and from the materials at our disposal, we are able to read his character with greater certainty after forty centuries have passed away, than if we had been amongst his contemporaries. We can sweep our glance along the whole of his life, and interpret one event by another; we can see more clearly the position which he occupies in relation to the unfolding of God's purposes, and also in relation to the great Jewish nation, of which he was the father. We cannot peruse the record of his life without remarking the evident truthfulness of the narrator. The vividness of the portraiture is equalled by its fidelity. The faults and foibles of Jacob are brought forth into prominence, as well as his virtues and excellences. There are many dark threads interwoven into the warp and woof of his life, especially in the earlier portion of it, and they are exposed to view with an unsparing hand. No attempt is made to conceal any of the infirmities which marred the brightness of the patriarch's life. We are told that the fidelity of Sir Joshua Reynolds as a portrait-painter was so great, that when he painted his friend, Dr. Johnson, it was with a manugcript held near his face, as an indication of near-sightedness ; and when he painted himself, he revealed his own physical defect by an ear-trumpet. Johnson was highly displeased, and said, “ It is not friendly to hand down to posterity the imperfections of any man.” But Sir Joshua "esteemed it as a circumstance in nature to be remarked, as charac VOL. XIII. N.S. VI. terizing the person represented, and therefore as giving additional value to the portrait.”* This honesty of presentation is a characterietic of all the biographies of Scripture; and if they had only been accepted as models by modern biographers, we had been spared some of the partial, one-sided, dispiriting lives of the "saints," which have from time to time appeared. And is not this very fidelity an evidence of the veracity and trustworthiness of the history Whatever attempts have been made to deny that the pen of Moses traced these records, it is an incontrovertible fact that they were written by an Israelite ; and we are met by the startling and suggestive thought, that though the Israelites cherished unbounded veneration for their great ancestor, the Bible historian ascribes to him some of the most despicable traits of character, and narrates incidents in which his conduct is reprehensible to the last degree. Had the author not been inspired and guided by the God of truth, the natural partiality of an Israelite, when thinking and writing of the founder of his nation, would have led him to emphasize the nobler features of Jacob's life, and cloak the blemishes and sins by the mantle of silence. But everywbere we find traces of an " honest chronicler," and we are constrained to accept and use the narrative, as an undoubted piece of genuine, reliable history, commended to us by Divine authority. At the outset we are met by the difficulty that God should select & man of such glaring imperfections and moral obliquities, link to him all the brightest and purest promises made to humanity, and set him apart as the special object of Divine favour. We are amazed to find the Infinitely Pure One in league with such meanness, and craftiness, and deceit, and we are ready to ask with mingled bewilderment and reverence, “ What fellowship hath righteousness with uprighteousness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ?” Where can we find a clue to this strange election of grace? I hope to show before I close that, deep beneath the covering of selfishness and unprincipled cunning, there was in Jacob the germ of a noble nature, capable of great spiritual expansion and culture ; but meanwhile it may be enough to indicate, that when God laid hold of Jacob, it was not that he might remain in his littlenesses and sins, but that he might be shaken free from his imperfections, and be started on the onward path to purity. And it is just here that the history appeals 80 powerfully and pertinently to ourselves. The fact that Jacob began his career from such low ground, with such radical defects of character, and yet was not despised but assisted by the Most High, is fraught with richest comfort and en. couragement to us. Abraham, with his gigantic faith in God and unwavering obedience, starts from an exalted plane and towers far away above ue ; but Jacob stands by our side, and we have with him a fellow-feeling of sinfulness. The loving and gracious dealings of God with Jacob the supplanter, are hope-inspiring to all who are desirous * Northcote's Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds, vol. ii. pp. 3, 4. |