is the substance of the history which Mr. Lepoix furnished me of this poor woman. Her name is Josephine. She was born of poor parents, and enjoyed the use of her limbs till the age of twelve years; when, being one day caught by a shower in the field, she ran so fast to reach the house that her whole body was flooded with perspiration. Immediately on reaching the house she became suddenly entirely purple, the perspiration was arrested and her blood seemed frozen,-all the articulations of her body became disjointed, and her hands crisped. Her fingers now resemble more the empty fingers of a glove than those of a living being. She had lost her father, and being at the mercy of brothers and sisters, her life was embittered by their hard treatment, when Mr. Cretin first saw her eight years ago. At that time her mother was still living, and Mr. Cretin was instrumental of leading that mother to Jesus; she soon after died hopefully converted. Mr. Cretin for various reasons ceased visiting the family, but poor Josephine, who happily can read, gathered together a New Testament and some religious tracts, which she read, and though at the time, and long after, owing to her timidity and habitual silence, the state of her mind was not known, still these produced their fruit. She was some time after visited by Mr. Lefevre, and two years later she was not only converted herself, but had been instrumental of the conversion of her nephew, Isodore Plaquet, and his mother, and had now come several leagues in a cart expressly to accomplish the command of the Saviour. It was arranged that a bath, made for the purpose, should be brought over from Genlis, and that this poor Josephine, with a woman of Chauny, should be baptized at Lepoix's on Sunday evening after our return from Manicamp, where the meeting was to be holden that day. Accordingly, after breakfast on Sunday morning, we started for Manicamp, a league and a half from Chauny, the heat was suffocating. The friends were coming from two to five leagues, so that an early breakfast and a brisk step were required to bring them to Manicamp in time for the service; yet they came, male and female, old men and maidens.

bert's day muster so numerous a procession. We judged that it was composed of at least five hundred persons. The bank of the narrow stream on the side where we were, was mostly covered with saplings and undergrowth; the opposite bank was entirely free; thither there was a continual running together of men, women, and children, many from their labours in the field, some dressed, some with naked arms, some barefoot, and some in sabots. Two small skiffs put off into the stream, to enable those in them to take a better view of the ceremony. Mr. Lepoix was obliged to descend several rods to find a suitable depth of water, and the undergrowth on the bank prevented many from seeing. A sober old man, wearing a blouse, stood before me, and appeared anxious to see the performance. I told him to put his arm around my neck, and hang over the bank, while I grasped a sapling with one hand, and made fast to his blouse with the other. Mr. Lepoix baptized one of the candidates,-the old gentleman repeated the words after him,'au nom du Père, et du Fils, et du St. Esprit,-good words,' said he, exactly as the priest says.' 'Yes,' I replied, no doubt, but the act is not the same.' 'No,' said he, this is the gospel.' Mr. Lepoix baptized another; the same repetition by the old gentleman, the same remarks, and then he added, 'The only difference between us and you is, that you follow the gospel.' 'Precisely so,' I replied, and you do not.' That is it,' said he. Mr. Lepoix baptized another. After again repeating the formula, he said, 'That is fine,-that is good,-good words,-just as we say,-that is the gospel. Are you paid as the priests are ?' No,' I replied, we ask no pay, we desire nothing but liberty to preach and practise what we believe.' That is nice,' said he. I asked him if he lived at Manicamp, and he told me that he did, and said he was one of those whom I saluted on arriving in the morning. He continued to remark about the baptizing, and owned that the catholics for centuries baptized by immersion, that it was the gospel way, but the catholics had changed it into something else. When the ceremony was ended, he took his arm from my neck, lifted his cap from his head, thanked me, and was going away, when a laughing on the opposite side drew our attention, and we saw a man "The meeting began at eleven; at twelve who had taken another man upon his back, commenced the examination of the eight and who walked down to the water where it candidates for baptism, and continued just was very muddy, and apparently made an one hour. I never witnessed any thing of effort to throw his burden into the stream; the kind more satisfactory; in many respects but not succeeding, he fell down into the it assumed a theological character, Mr. Le- mud, rolled himself upon the other, and began poix, for the advantage of the catholics pre-plastering his face with mortar. My old sent, proposing questions whose correct an- gentleman seemed indignant, and cried out, swers could be the result of sound thinkingDes libertins! Des vagabonds! In a short alone. At one we started for the water. The distance was very considerable, but the curé of the village could hardly on St. Hu

"Baptismal scene at Manicamp-Good

words.

6

time the man undergoing the operation of being plastered, extricated himself, ran into the stream pursued by the other, and ascended

I told him on Monday that when he returned to Savoy he would be our missionary, and that through his means we would enter Italy. This may yet prove to be no dream.

"We have never passed more joyous days together in France. To form any idea of the rejoicing of these redeemed ones, it would be necessary to see and know them. God's work is manifest here; this is glorious ! May it augment a hundred fold.

the current with a great deal of splashing, | and followed by the shouting multitude on the bank till a bend in the stream concealed them. This disorder and laughing, which would have shocked every body in a New England congregation, was nothing thought of; it did not occasion the least apparent derangement, or seem to be thought extraordinary. It is, indeed, of every day occurrence when there is any gathering. The effect of this baptizing was no doubt excellent. Mr. Lepoix required of every one a confession of his faith before immersing him, and after the immersion, still holding the candidate by the hand, he administered a charge or exhortation analogous to the circumstances of the individual or to the relations he sus-hill; they had more than 200 hearers and a tained. This took much time, but rendered the act unusually impressive. That baptismal scene will never be forgotten. When all were dressed the singing ceased, and after a short prayer we all returned.

"Baptisms at Chauny.

"It was now three o'clock. We dined, and at four, as we were going to the chapel, I hinted that we had got much to do that day; but Mr. Lepoix said the bath was not brought, and Josephine would not be baptized that evening. Mr. Pruvots preached, and Mr. Cretin broke bread. At five we took leave of the friends, and returned slowly to Chauny: the heat was excessive. It was after sunset when we arrived, and we found that Madame Lepoix had procured a bath, and had all in readiness. As soon as we had taken a little refreshment, we proceeded to the examination of the two candidates, and baptized them. After the baptism the friends sung, conversed, and prayed till ten o'clock, when they separated; Mr. Lepoix having requested those of Chauny to come in next morning at nine o'clock to break bread with Josephine before she returned to her distant village. Soon after breakfast next morning a woman of Genlis, who came to the market for something, called in and wished to be baptized. She had been severely persecuted by her husband; but had decided to obey the Saviour, live or die. She was baptized. One of those baptized the previous evening, said she would call in Miss Delauné, not a seller of purple, but daughter of a physician of Auvergne, residing at Manicamp in the quality of linen-draper. She came and witnessed the baptism, she was also present the evening previous. While we were yet rejoicing, there came in a woman of Chauny, and said she must be baptized also. She was examined and immersed. Mr. Pruvots then broke bread to us. All this time Miss Delauné was weeping, but she could no longer withstand; she expressed a wish to be examined and baptized also. It was done.

"One of the young men baptized the preceding day at Manicamp, was a Savoyard.

"I left these friends on Tuesday, 15th of August, and returned home. That same day Mr. Lepoix and his friend, who has often preached, with Mr. Foulon, went to hold a meeting on the mountain of Caillouel, a league and a half from Chauny. It is a lofty

joyful time. On coming down from the mountain the friends went to Bethancourt, hard by, and held a prayer meeting, which proved to be a melting time, and rendered the little chapel there a Bethel indeed to them all."

NEW CHAPELS.

BLOOMSBURY STREET, LONDON.

The spacious and elegant structure recently erected by Mr. Peto on a conspicuous site in the immediate neighbourhood of New Oxford Street, was opened for worship on Tuesday, the 5th of December. Before the appointed hour arrived, it was crowded by a respectable congregation which comprised a very large number of baptist and independent ministers. At eleven o'clock, Mr. Brock commenced the service by giving out an appropriate hymn; after which Mr. Hinton prayed, and other praises were sung. Dr. Harris of Cheshunt College then preached impressively from the words, "The kingdom of God is not in word but in power." In the evening, the chapel being again filled, prayers were offered by Dr. Steane, and Dr. Godwin delivered a plain,substantial discourse from the words of our Lord, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." No collection was made, and this fact, together with the noble style in which dinner had been provided for some hundreds of invited guests in the school-room below, called forth strong expressions of admiration of the munificence displayed by Mr. Peto, and, we believe, many sincere prayers that he and his family might continue to enjoy both temporal and spiritual prosperity. After dinner, no toasts were introduced, or resolutions of any kind; but brief addresses were delivered by Mr. Brock, under whose labours it is hoped that a church may speedily be formed; by Mr. Alexander, independent minister at Norwich, who spoke of the high esteem in which Mr. Brock was held by all good men in that city; by Dr. Price, who had been Mr. Brock's first pastor, and by Dr. Archer, presbyterian minister of a neighbour

the effort now being made to accommodate, and feeling, thanking God that his eyes were them with a place in which they may meet permitted to see this day. The Rev. M. H. to worship the God of their fathers. This Crofts of Ramsey addressed in an affectionate undertaking is indeed felt by the few persons manner the pastor and church. The attendwho have entered upon it, to be a very ance on this occasion was exceedingly good, weighty affair; still it is sincerely hoped that and all appeared to feel that God was there. the friends of the Redeemer will most cordially help them in this labour of love, that an effort so nobly designed, and carried on with such untiring perseverance, may be crowned with that success which is so ardently desired.

ORDINATIONS.

WALGRAVE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, On Tuesday, October 10, Mr. James Cox was publicly recognized as pastor of the baptist church at Walgrave, on which occasion Mr. Robinson of Kettering gave a brief but lucid statement of the nature of a church of Christ, and received Mr. Cox's confession of faith; Mr. York, one of the deacons of the church, gave an account of the steps which led to their invitation of Mr. Cox; Mr. Jenkinson of Kettering offered prayer on behalf of the newly chosen pastor; Mr. Wheeler of Moulton gave the charge; and Mr. Hawkes of Guilsborough preached in the evening.

HIGHGATE.

On Wednesday, November 22nd, recognition services were held in the baptist meeting, Highgate, on occasion of the settlement of the Rev. S. S. Hatch as pastor. After reading and prayer by the Rev. T. Pottenger, Rev. C. Stovel delivered an introductory discourse, Rev. W. Jones of Stepney College asked the questions and offered prayer, and Rev. J. Hoby, D.D., delivered the charge. In the evening, the Rev. Birch (independent) of Finchley, commenced with reading and prayer, and the Rev. J. H. Hinton preached to the people.

SPALDWICK, HUNTINGDONSHIRE. Wednesday, December 6th, 1848, the Rev. W. E. Archer, late of Chelsea, was publicly recognized as pastor of the church of Jesus Christ meeting in Spaldwick, Huntingdonshire. The service was introduced by the Rev. H. L. Tuck of Fenstanton, who read the scriptures and prayed. The Rev. Alfred Newth of Oundle (independent) delivered an able and effective discourse on the nature of a Christian church. Mr. Archer then gave a brief statement of his religious history and theological views. The Rev. John Manning, who for more than fifty years sustained the pastorate in this place, and who is just entering on the ninetieth year of his age, offered the recognition prayer with much solemnity

VOL. XII.-FOURTH SERIES.

CHURCH STREET, BLACKFRIARS ROAD.

The Rev. John Bigwood of Exeter having received a unanimous invitation to become the pastor of this church, has complied with the request, and intends commencing his pastoral labours on the first sabbath of the new year.

RECENT DEATHS.

MRS. C. PRICE AND MRS. A. CONWAY.

These truly pious and excellent females, born in the town of Abergavenny, were two sisters, daughters of the late Mr. John and Mrs. Elizabeth Harris of Govilon, near the said town. Mrs. Price was the wife of the Rev. Joseph Price, some years ago pastor of the baptist church at Alcester; now of the baptist church at Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire. Mrs. Conway was the relict of the late Mr. John Conway, tin-plate manufacturer, Pontrhydyrhyn, in the county of Monmouth.

Mrs. Price was the elder sister, and she finished her course on the second day of last May; and Mrs. Conway, the younger, terminated her pilgrimage below on the ninth day of March immediately preceding. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not far sundered. On the paternal side they were descended from a long line of ancestors in this county, of staunch nonconforming principles, and of the baptist denomination; persons, in their day, that ranked amongst the more influential and respectable connected with their religious persuasion. Their great-grandfather, Mr. John Harry, was minister of the baptist church at Blaunagwent in Monmouthshire, a very old interest. He died in 1737, aged 63. Their grandfather, Mr. Morgan Harry, the son of John Harry, was also a minister at the Blauna, and died in 1746. He was the father of Mr. John Harris of Govilon, and of a posthumous son named Morgan after his father, which son was called to the work of the ministry, studied at the Bristol academy, and became assistant pastor at Llanwenarth, where he honourably ended his days, both as a Christian and a minister about sixty years since. The elder brother, Mr. John Harris, who changed the family name from Harry to Harris, was a man of great worth, both as a citizen and a follower of the Saviour. He was a member and a deacon of the baptist church in Frogmore Street chapel, Abergavenny, from nearly its commencement to the close of his valuable life in 1819, aged 75

F

years.

Mrs. Harris also, whose praise was in all the churches, and who had been a member of the church at Llanwenarth from her early youth, transferred her communion to the church at Abergavenny, in fellowship with which she happily died in 1825. Her father, the venerable Mr. Caleb Harries, for so spelled he his name, was an assistant preacher, and the highly respectable and revered pastor of the baptist church at Llanwenarth, for about half a century. He died in 1792, aged 77 years.

So paternally and maternally were the two sisters, the subjects of this imperfect and inadequate sketch, descended, and in their day and generation they proved themselves worthy of their parents and progenitors.

forth to meet him, she, having her lamp trimmed and her light burning, readily obeyed the call, in perfect peace resigned her spirit into his hands, and thus softly languished into life. But having for the last four and thirty years resided at so great a distance from this neighbourhood, and visiting the place only occasionally, the writer considers himself very incompetent to do justice to her worth.

Mrs. Conway, on the contrary, having been three and thirty years a member of the church over which, from its commencement in April, 1807, he has presided, comes more directly and extensively within the range and sphere of his observation. She, and her excellent Some four or five and forty years ago, the partner in life, with seven others, were bapsisters opened a ladies' school at Bristol, tized by him, and received into the church, when Mrs. Price, then Miss Catharine Harris, March 19th, 1815. In August, 1821, Mr. was baptized at Broadmead, and became a Conway, whose health had for some time member of the Broadmead church, at that been precarious, was rather suddenly called time under the pastorate of the eminent Dr. away, leaving seven fatherless children, the Ryland. But in 1809 or 1810, they left eldest about ten years of age, and the youngBristol, returned to Abergavenny, their native est a little infant, to the charge of his deeply town, and conducted their seminary there. distressed widow. But she was a woman Miss C. Harris, soon after this change of that, on various grounds, rose much above locality, was dismissed from the Broadmead mediocrity. Her strength of mind and to the Abergavenny church, with which she abilities were of a high order, her education continued in full fellowship till her marriage, liberal and paramount, and her mental culand consequent removal to Alcester. During ture, which had been her pursuit from the that interval her career was one of exemplary early morning of life, placed her far in adpiety and usefulness. Every way she could, vance of the greater portion of her sex. she was prompt to serve and advance the Charitable and expanded in her religious cause of the Redeemer, then in its infant views, yet strictly evangelical, she was prestate. The recollection of her lovely counte-pared to make every allowance for obliquities nance, affable mien, superior understanding, holy life, energetic zeal, and sisterly condescension to her inferiors, is still deeply infixed in the minds of the comparatively small number of her once delighted associates that now survive, to cherish sweetly, and with freshness, the remembrance of her distinguished Christian virtues. Nor did she decline or decay in the vigour, value, and lustre of her character and religious profession, as she accomplished her pilgrimage and went down the declivity of life; but her path being that of the emphatically just, it shone more and more unto the perfect day. Her domestic bereavements she pungently felt, yet meekly and patiently endured, knowing that He whose prerogative it was to give, had likewise an undisputed right to take away. Besides, her own personal afflictions for some years prior to her lamented decease were numerous and severe. But she knew whom she had believed, and was fully persuaded that he was able to keep that which she had committed unto him against that day. She felt perfectly satisfied, that however mysterious and inscrutable many of his ways may appear, they were not only righteous, but also kindly designed and wisely ordered. When her flesh was wasted away, and the voice of the heavenly Bridegroom summoned her to go

incidental to the perverse influence of popular opinion, educational prejudice, and human infirmity. Nevertheless, she was not this, that, anything, or everything, which now, alas! seems pretty much to become the fashion amongst those even that are loud and clamorous in their profession of dissenting principles. Their eager aping of comformity in habiliments, architecture, and forms of worship, had no charm in her estimation. Her vast reading had familiarized her with history, both secular and ecclesiastical; and she was a fervid admirer of the illustrious founders of dissent, the puritans and nonconformists, who bravely purchased the precious pearl of British freedom, civil and religious, at the expense of all things terrestrial, dear to mortals, yes, of life itself! and whom nothing, either formidable or seductive, could intimidate or tempt to merge their distinctive sentiments and practice into that semi-conformity and nonconformity, which at present place multitudes of our contemporaries, baptists and independents, in the anomalous position of those of whom it is thus recorded:

Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people. Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him."

Mrs. Conway was too decided and elevated