be varied, and the pitch or key of the voice should be raised in different parts of his discourse," And he quotes the familiar motto "Begin low Rise higher Be self-possessed When most impressed." Taylor, the American revivalist, advises, "If you desire to speak with ease and force, and never to give out,' stand erect when speaking-not stiff like a postuse as much natural action as you desire, but don't stoop forward: keep your shoulders back, give your lungs as much room as possible, and learn the art of deep breathing. The softest and the loudest tones are thus produced." 66 (3.) Still more important is it to have a faithful and reliable critic to check the preacher from contracting injurious mannerisms-such as "washing the hands in invisible soap ;" letting the voice fall so low that part of a sentence is lost, &c. Every speaker is in danger of falling into the snare of bad habits of speech, gesture, &c. I heard an American tutor tell the story of the great French dramatist who took his plays to an old woman, and read them in her hearing, noting the effect on her mind, and receiving her criticisms: and looking at the students very seriously, the divine said, I advise you all to get an old woman of your own. Nothing is better. A quick-witted, quick-eyed wife is the best critic a preacher can have. One of our greatest English orators was addressing a public meeting in a large northern town, and a slip of paper was sent up to him during his address by his wife; it was looked at and left on the platform, and on it was found, "Not quite so quick." Happy is the man that is in such a case. He has a wife of whom it may be said, "She will do him good and not evil all the days of his life." "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land." (4.) To all this must be added daily practice of the voice, in clear and distinct articulation; in the enunciation of the vowels with a bold, round, and full sound, in the repetition of passages requiring every variety of tone. The greatest orators of antiquity conquered the most formidable natural impediments to success by incessant drill. Demosthenes addressed himself to "the noise of the waves" on the sea shore, so that he might be self-poised amid "the tumult of the people." Cicero had to battle with feeble lungs and excessive vehemence, just as the Greek orator had to war with undignified gesture and a painful stutter. Whitfield made oratory a study. Timothy heard his guide saying, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee." Drill is the one thing needful. JOHN CLIFFORD. THE BULWARK OF PROTESTANTISM AGAIN! IN an article in the Times of Monday, Nov. 10, occasioned by the announced retirement of Mr. Edward Miall from the representation of Bradford, there occurs this remarkable statement, "If the Church is disestablished there will be less security for the Protestantism of the Protestant Religion." Passing by the astonishing ignorance displayed in this effusion as to the aim and teaching of the great and distinguished leader of the Liberation Movement, let us ask what is there in the spirit and theory of Nonconformity that is so inimical to Protestantism? What is there in the free churches that is fatal to the teaching of the Protestant Religion? Protestantism is based on Scripture; declares this to be its bar of appeal on all questions of doctrine and church polity. "The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." And Nonconformity carries that principle to its full and legitimate issues: and even grounds its antagonism to a state-supported church upon its teachings. Do Anglican Protestants love the Bible? We more. Do they read it in their churches? So do we. Do they make it their judge? So do we. Do they reject anything that is contrary to Scripture? We are ready to do the same. Protestantism asserts as its cardinal creed the doctrine of justification by faith in the Lord Jesus. Luther makes it the article of a standing or falling church. We hold to it with the utmost tenacity; count it the key-stone of the arch of Pauline teaching; and declare that when we preach the necessity of works to Scraps from the Editor's Waste Basket. 479 justify the justifying faith, we are only building with fitting stones on a wisely laid foundation. Our teaching is the very essence of Protestantism. Nonconformity clings to the cross of the Redeemer. The Free Churches preach Jesus of Nazareth, and Him crucified. Protestantism asserts the right of private judgment. We count that same right our highest privilege, and insist on its free exercise throughout the whole of our church life. Indeed, Nonconformity is fairly developed Protestantism; it is the Protestant religion applied, in appropriate methods, to the vigorous and free life of this nineteenth century, and in its theory has nothing that is antagonistic to Protestantism. And if such be the case as to the theory, what about the actual facts? Whence comes the insecurity for Protestantism. The Times says that if the Church is disestablished Protestantism will be less secure. How is it now? What is the effect of the bulwark raised against the errors of Roman Catholicism in the State Church? That Popery is growing amongst us is admitted on all hands. But whence come the converts? Are they Nonconformists? Two hundred clergymen stood with Archbishop Manning at the consecration of a church, and the whole of the two hundred, and the Archbishop himself, had held office in the Church by law established. Is that security for Protestantism? A work published for and largely circulated amongst the priests of the English Church distinctly declares that the bread and wine on the altar is bread and wine before the priest's consecrating act, but afterwards it is the body and blood of Christ. Our fathers died rather than conform to that! they went to the stake rather than subscribe to that very doctrine -the doctrine taught by State-Church officials. Is that security for Protestantism? Is the doctrine of the confessional, of prayers for the dead, and all the rest of the Papal teaching now encouraged throughout the law-made churches of the land, your security for Protestantism? Why there is not a sadder burlesque in the land than this of our leading journal denouncing Edward Miall, and holding aloft the English Church, honeycombed with Popery, and given over to High Churchism, as the bulwark of the Protestantism of the Protestant Religion. Security! If our Free Churches, by the intensity of their spiritual life, by their faithful adherence to Scripture, and effective church organization, do not uphold Protestantism, it is doomed to be stifled within the boasted bulwark that was to have preserved its life. JOHN CLIFFORD. SCRAPS FROM THE EDITOR'S WASTE BASKET. I. THE BIRMINGHAM VICTORY deserves to be chronicled far and near. It is the triumph of Liberalism; and even the Daily Telegraph admits that neither metropolitan nor extra-metropolitan defeats will greatly diminish the effect of this remarkable issue upon a field of battle chosen deliberately by both sides as decisive, and accepted everywhere as a sign of the tendency of the times. Verily the twenty-fifth clause cannot survive the sound and repeated blows of Mr. Bright and his constituency. They are more than conquerors. Their majority is upwards of 93,000 votes. "The Liberal eight" have a sublime excess of votes The milk-and-water Wesleyan is nowhere, and "the Bible eight" are sufficiently low in the number of votes to give decisive significance to their defeat. Manchester apathy has given the advantage to denominationalism: and similar apathy will put the palm in the hands of our foes in other places, but the nation is really with Birmingham. Sectarianism in national education is a national injustice; and Englishmen are not unjust. II. THE DUTY OF OUTSPOKENNESS.-Mr. Spurgeon and Dr. Landels have given the Baptist testimony with ringing clearness: and all the Baptists of the country say "Amen." The former by his Signs of the Times, and the latter by his address on Ritualism, has made clear to others our opinions. Some people prefer giving the Baptist testimony to Baptists in the way that some ministers always blame the early attendants at worship for those who come late. We have believed what Dr. Landels told us for years: but it is necessary at such a time as this that churchmen and pædobaptists generally should understand us. They are sensible men: they will not think any the less of our friendship, but will appreciate it all the more. III. THE CIRCULATION OF DR. LANDELS' ADDRESS.-£150 were needed for this purpose at the first. About £90 were contributed or promised at the meetings of the Union. But because many thought it so small a sum, and others imagined it all raised, the other £60 are not yet to hand. We know it is only necessary to make known the deficiency, and money will be forthcoming at once. Readers may send to Mr. A. S. Daniell, Trafalgar Road, Birmingham, or to the Editor of this Magazine. IV. THE CONGREGATIONALIST ON INFANT BAPTISM.-We have not space to discuss the papers that have appeared in the Magazine edited by Mr. Dale on this subject during the last three months; we hope to do so in the new year: but our readers will be glad to make a note of the following facts:-That Congregationalists have in their chief monthly organ, and by the mouthpiece of one of their leaders, completely surrendered all interest in the Abrahamic covenant, as the ground and meaning of the rite of infant baptism: that they have given up the theory of hereditary piety. So that we shall hear no more of "circumcision," nor of the holiness of a parent making the child holy. Mr. Dale holds that infant baptism sets forth that the child is embraced in a scheme of uni versal redemption, and that Christ claims him as His. What Mr. Dale would say as to the meaning of the Scripture passages on baptism, if he were not compelled to find some theory for the practise of sprinkling infants, we no not know. Beecher frankly admits that the practice is not scriptural. What are we coming to? V. THE FRIENDS have just closed their special conference in London: and amongst many other noteworthy signs of the times is the expression of strong dissatisfaction with the theory of "hereditary piety." It is thought by some to be the principal defect of their system, the main cause of their weakness and comparative stagnation. We have the warmest admiration for the disciples of George Fox, and augur from this unrest and discontent the approaching surrender of this obstacle, and the acceptance of none other than personal and individual relations between the soul and its Saviour. With this change there will doubtless be the increase of power and prosperity. Reviews. THE ORDINANCES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. By Henry Webb. Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. THIS volume is intended as preparatory to one we noticed and commended a short time ago in these pages by the same author on the Gospel Church; and it is constructed on precisely the same principles. There is the same loyalty to the Scripture, the same transparency of diction, and the same earnest desire to trace the mind of the Lord, and to induce true spirituality in divine worship. The ordinances of Christian worship are "Watching;" to know the will of God; prayer; confession of God, in address and in song; administration of the word. Considerable skill is shown in discriminating between the permanent and the evanescent ordinances of Christian worship, as in the case of the holy kiss, the anointing with oil, etc.; and also in laying bare the groundlessness of such human rites as confirmation. We are amazed that a writer of such acuteness should at this time of day contend for infant baptism, and take his stand on the fact that the command reads, baptize all the nations,which, if taken without regard to the discipling which precedes it, would comprise idiots, murderers, etc., etc., for they can be baptized as well as infants. THE COMPANIONS OF THE LORD: Chapters on the Lives of the Apostles. By C. E. B. Reed, M.A. Religious Tract Society. It is a suggestive and interesting fact that so much attention is now being paid to the first disciples of Christ, with the view of revealing His wisdom and grace in the training and perfecting of men. Bruce's "Training of the Twelve," Maccoll's "Disciple Life," have led the way; and an admirable addition is now made by Mr. Reed. The details of the history of the apostles are woven together in a singularly able manner; their characters are sketched with marked skill and discrimination, and their relations to the Teacher Himself are traced with unfailing accuracy and insight. The book abounds with information. It is abreast of the literature of the time. Recent travels, wide history, and English poetry all furnish either material or setting for the author's thoughts. It is an eminently servicable book. THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON.By Rev. F. Ferguson, M.A. Hamilton, Adams, & Co. This is another exposition of "the Pearl of Parables;" rightly basing its claim to a place amongst its numberless companions Reviews. on its thorough homeliness of style and illustration, and the glorious breadth and freeness of the gospel it exhibits. There is an air of domesticity in it from beginning to end. It is intensely practical; and it gives a broad unrestricted message of salvation; one without a shadow of reserve, provided and really meant for ALL sinners; and offered without money and without price. It is well adapted for cottage reading, to give to enquirers, and Christians generally will read it with interest and profit. HOMES MADE AND MARRED: a book for Working Men and their Wives. Religious Tract Society. THE story of Matthew Hill and his wife is told with thrilling effect, and will be read with deep feeling and much profit. It exhibits, in a simple and captivating manner, the sad results of bad temper, and the fearful consequences of the vicious habit of indulgence in intoxicating drinks. A better temperance tale has not recently issued from the press. While it shows the service rendered by the efforts of intelligent and Christian workers, it makes patent the fact that help must be drawn from God in conquering every evil way. It is a most appropriate gift book for working people. THE MYSTERY OF THE BURNING BUSH.By T. M. Morris. Stock. A dozen sermons on such topics as God's revelation to Moses in the burning bush; Self-pleasing; The Thee Crosses; The one Cross and the Three-fold Crucifixion; Growth, ctc., make up this neat and attractive volume. The framework of these discourses is simple and interesting; the style clear, direct, and forcible; and the tone is spiritual, devout, and practical. They are expositions of the text of Scripture, and will refresh the faith, cheer the toil, brighten the hope, and heal the sorrow of Christian men. NED'S SEARCH. Ву. M. H. Holt. Marlborough. Our youthful critic pronounces this "better than ever;" and we endorse his opinion. Ned's Search will surely be a favourite with every boy who has the good fortune to obtain it. It is full of tenderness, of stirring incident, and of Christian teaching, all set in a style that is clear and pleasing, and illustrated in a manner that completes the effect. R.C. MISCELLANEOUS. 481 The Voice of Scripture on the Worship of God in Public. By Spencer Murch. (Derby: Brown.) It is precisely what it professes to be, a scriptural statement of the church of the first days, and is adapted to be useful.Ritualism, Confession, etc. By S. T. Williams. (Leicester: F. Hewitt.) Timely, stirring, and able: deserves a large circulation. Our Hope. A Magazine bearing on prophetic enquiry. Edited by W. Maude. (Stock.) This new periodical is set for the exposition of the beliefs of such writers as Henry Dunn, J. Tinling, and W. Maude; and advocates the theory of life in Christ only. We highly appreciate some of the articles of this opening number, and think its tone and ability prophesy for it a prosperous career.-The Canon and the Cardinal (Stock and Winks) is a full and particular account of all the circumstances connected with the conversion of Canon Grassi. All our readers should invest in it, and distribute it far and near.-The Series of Little Books by John Bunyan. Blackie and Son have added to those already noticed on this page-The Resurrection of the Dead; The Barren Fig Tree; Justification by Imputed Righteousness; and the Jerusalem Sinner Saved.The Baptist Almanack for 1874 (London: Banks) contains much valuable information about the London and other churches, and is deserving of general support.-Old Jonathan's Almanack for 1874, just issued by W. H. & L. Collingridge, is well illustrated, and contains, in addition to the usual almanack matter, a good selection of texts, and much that is interesting and useful, forming altogether a very attractive broadsheet, which will be found well adapted for localization.-Popular Education, and the Oppressive Clauses of the Education Act. By Giles Hester. (Sheffield: D. T. Ingham.) Sound exposition, educational history, and apt counsel are admirably combined. Circulate it widely! It will do much good. TEMPERANCE LITERATURE. The Rechabites of Scripture. By the Rev. W. T. Adey. (Leeds: Broadbent.) Able, judicious, and suggestive. Worthy of extensive circulation.-The Juvenile Temperance Catechism. By Rev. D. Burns, M.A. (London: Curtice.) Exactly suited to the necessities of the young. Should be in every Band of Hope Society.-Who are against us? By Rev. J. H. Morgan. (Stock.) An admirable, temperate, and timely answer. Church Register. CONFERENCES. The next LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE CONFERENCE will be held in Enon chapel, Burnley, on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Service to commence at eleven a.m. Preacher, Rev. W. Chapman. J. MADEN, Sec. The WARWICKSHIRE CONFERENCE Was held at Salem Chapel, Longford, Oct. 7. At half-past ten a.m., after devotional services, a paper was read by the Rev. W. Lees, on "The Relation subsisting between Prayer and the success of the Gospel." A very cordial vote of thanks was given to Mr. Lees for his admirable paper, and he was requested to send it for insertion in our Magazine. The afternoon meeting commenced at half-past two. Brother Parsons prayed. The Rev. J. P. Barnett, presided. From the reports received, thirty-three had been baptized since the last Conference, and there were thirty-two candidates. The following business was done : I. Committee for recommending Candidates for Collegiate Education.-The following were appointed for the ensuing year, brethren Pike, Parsons, G. Cheatle, Patterson, Lees, Marshall, Barnett, Carpenter, Norton, and Cross. II. Evangelistic Services.-The following resolution was passed:-"That we earnestly recommend the churches of this Conference to hold Evangelistic Services with a view to the revival of spiritual life; and that the Secretary be requested to correspond with the churches respecting this subject." General Baptist Church at Armley. About thirty persons, unable to endure HyperCalvinism, have seceded from the Particular Baptist church, and taken a large upper room, fitted it up in a neat and comfortable manner, and held opening meetings on Nov. 12 and 16. On the 12th the first service was conducted by the Rev. James Walker, late pastor of the P. B. church, but now pastor of our church at Congleton. A tea meeting followed, at which we had a large gathering of friends and sympathizers. Councillor Swithenbank presided at the public meeting; and addresses were given by Revs. H. Richardson (Wesleyan), E. Hall (New Connexion), R. Silby and others. On the 16th, Rev. J. Walker preached morning and evening, and Rev. R. Silby, of Leeds, in the afternoon. At the close of the afternoon service Rev. J. Clifford, M.A., LL.B., gave a brief and encouraging address. Our opening services have been crowded to excess, and the collections beyond expectation. Nothing is more evident than that the Lord is with us to bless and to save. EDGESIDE.-On Nov. 1st we held a public tea meeting to reduce the debt on the chapel. Over 200 persons were present. Addresses were given at the public meeting by the Revs. W. Chapman, D. George, A. J. Parry, J. Stapleton (pastor), and G. Shepherd, Esq., in the chair. The debt on the chapel was £670. The handsome sum of ninety-two pounds was collected. the following Sunday two sermons were preached by the Rev. W. Chapman. Collections, £12. Present debt, £566. On HITCHIN, Walsworth Road.-On Sunday, Nov. 9, the Rev. Dr. Green, of Rawdon College, preached the anniversary sermons, morning and evening, and Rev. J. Aldis in the afternoon; and on the Monday following Rev. W. Landels, D.D., of London, preached in the afternoon. Tea was provided in the school room; after which a public mecting was held, C. H. Goode, Esq., of London, in the chair. Addresses were given by Rev. J. Clifford, M.A., LL.B., the ministers of the town, and R. Johnson, Esq. The pastor, Rev. J. H, Atkinson, gave the following financial statement: The proceeds of the last anniversary and the weekly offerings amounted to £227 11s. 4 d. The year before the receipts from the same source amounted to £183 14s. 7d. The following sums had also been raised:-for the Sunday School, £14 13s. 6d. ; for the G. B. Missionary Society, £51 13s. 4d.; for Chilwell College, |