every variety of style-in handsome editions for the rich, and cheap editions for the poor. The majority of all our ministers own it in some shape; and I am free to confess that during the first few years after its appearance it was one of the bestthumbed volumes in my library. I often took it up for the enjoyment of its style, in which the rich, musical cadences of a poem mingle with the researches of historical scholarship. In spite of all its faults, it seems to my mind the most perfect portraiture of the Man Christ Jesus that has been produced outside of the inspired Gospels. His "Life of St. Paul" is a masterpiece of brilliant writing and large erudition; many of his great descriptive passages have the gorgeousness of Lord Macaulay. The next production of his busy pen, entitled "The Early Days of Christianity," is crammed with learning. His latest work, the "Lives of the Fathers," is a return to his earlier and more chaste and temperate style. As a preacher Dr. Farrar stands in the highest rank of living British clergymen. He has none of the graces of oratory, or fascinations of voice such as Spurgeon possessed. His discourses are carefully written, and read in a fervid, earnest and manly fashion. In physique he is a sturdy Englishman, with a broad brow, a keen eye, and a voice of such volume as to be fairly heard when he preaches in Westminster Abbey. Some of his discourses are rather florid in style; but when he is handling some question of practical duty or social reform he hurls out his fearless denunciations with the precision and the power of a Gatling gun. There is no preacher in England to-day who has more of the courage of his convictions than Frederick Farrar. It is this uncompromising plainness of speech which has made him unpopular in polite and perfumed circles of society, and has probably been а bar to his ecclesiastical promotion. In prac tical philanthropy he has been intensely active ever since he came to London. He was the founder of the Westminster Sunday-school Association, and has a helping hand for almost every enterprise of local reform. Several years ago, he adopted the principles and practice of total abstinence from all intoxicating beverages, and threw himself into that movement with all his might and main. Archdeacon Farrar is really the most brilliant and effective advocate of the total abstinence reform now living. His addresses entitled "Between the Living and the Dead," "The Serpent and the Tiger," and "Abstinence for the Sake of Ourselves and Others are powerful specimens of argument clothed in most vivid and impassioned rhetoric. Most of his temperance orations have been reprinted in this country by the "National Temperance Society," and they welcomed him with a public reception when he visited New York. His trenchant and courageous style makes him a favourite speaker to collegians, and after his address on Teetotalism" before the University of Edinburgh, the students escorted him to the railway station and sent him away with "three times three cheers and a tiger." The one They Nearly twenty years ago Dr. Farrar published his first volume of sermons, entitled "The Silence and the Voices of God." They were delivered at Cambridge University, Hereford Cathedral, and other conspicuous places; and some of them have a solemn directness and pungency of appeal that Spurgeon might have employed. entitled "Too Late" is such a note of arousing alarm as the most evangelical pastor might sound in the height of a revival-season. are models of fervour, force and godly fidelity. In a solemn appeal to the students of Cambridge he said, "You can find rest, peace and purity in Christ, and find it nowhere else. You can find it in the religion which Christ came to teach; the sunrise of its first day flushed over the manger of Bethlehem, and the sunset of its last will fall red upon the Cross of Calvary!" Distant be the day when the voice of this faithful preacher and fearless reformer shall no longer echo over Britain and the world! -Treasury of Religions Thought. THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARY METHOD.* REV. HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A. I NEVER have believed in "slow Words of profoundest philosophy and steady" progress-and, blessed are often unconsciously spoken by be God, I do not believe in it now! such unlettered men as St. Peter. I am miserable when I think that I remember a similiarly unlettered at this moment, two-thirds of the man addressing an audience in human race do not even nominally Exeter Hall a few years ago, and acknowledge Christ. I quite admit uttering one of the profoundest that during the past century Chris- Christian truths I ever heard. Sevtian missions have made far greater eral of us spoke on that occasion, progress than during many preceding but nobody spoke so well as he; and centuries; that we have everything no sentiment that he uttered was to encourage us; that there is not so enthusiastically applauded as the the slightest occasion for despair one I am about to quote. It was a anywhere. But at the same time, very remarkable audience. Exeter how any human being can be satis- Hall was crammed to the ceiling fied with the state of things at home with a meeting of workingmen or abroad, I am utterly unable to and their wives the very elite of conceive, the working classes-railway men, porters, engine-drivers, stokers, and so forth. It was the annual meeting of the Christian Railway Men's Association; and the large building was crammed to the ceiling with some of the finest and sturdiest representatives of the English working classes. A man who from his general appearance and size I should imagine was an engine-driver, came to the front and delivered himself of the following sentiment, which was cheered again and again with boundless enthusiasm by those workingmen and their wives. He said; "Mr. Chairman, there are some people who say to us in the present day, Legislate, Legislate, Legislate! So say we workingmen. Parliament can do great deal for us, and the sooner it does it the better. There are others that say, Educate, Educate, Educate! So say we workingmen; and we are very thankful for what has been done of late for the education of the working classes. But while we are ready to say Legislate, Legislate, Legislate! we say above everything else, Regenerate, Regenerate, Regenerate.' To me it is the most melancholy and humiliating of all facts, that to-day in this little island, where the Gospel has been preached for a thousand years, the majority of my fellow-countrymen belong to no section of the Church of God. No doubt the revival and extension of the work of God abroad must follow that revival and extension of the work of God at home of which, blessed be God, we have many signs. But oh let us be profoundly dissatisfied with the existing rate of progress. I think, brethren, that even in the history of your own great society another Madagascar is overdue. We cannot live forever upon the historic exploits of our fathers. And I may say with respect to my own communion, I am anxiously waiting for another Fiji. Now, what do we want in order that we may see the work of God revived-revived as in apostolic days, and as in this country a century ago? We want the baptism of the day of Pentecost. I may express my whole thesis in this one sentence: We can neither coerce nor argue human society into Christianity. We cannot make any real progress without the Spirit of God. That sentiment was applauded to the echo. That sentiment was the profoundest Christian philosophy. There is no man * From the Annual Sermon of the London Missionary Society who believes more intensely than I in the necessity and in the sacredness of politics. There is no man who has a higher estimate of what human learning can achieve for God and man. But both Bible and history teach me that the human race is not going to be evangelized either by politicians or by schoolmasters. The men who can do that are the missionaries of Jesus Christ, full of the Holy Spirit, and speaking with tongues of fire. God alone is able to save the human race; and His only method is the method of the day of Pentecost. When the eyes of St. John were purged to things as they truly are, he beheld the city of God for which you and see I have been praying and yearning ever since we began to think. Was it founded by human wisdom? Was it established by statesmen or by schoolmasters? No, he saw the City of God, "coming down out of heaven from God" (Rev. xxi. 2). And I stand here this morning in the presence of God and of this vast congregation representing one of the greatest missionary societies in the world, to remind you once more that the only hope of the human race is in the direct personal agency of the Holy Spirit, granted in answer to the prayer and faith of true Christians. Great Spirit of the Living God! come, come, come and crown us all with fire. Religious and Missionary Intelligence. BY THE REV. E. BARRASS, D.D. of this Conference, still there are many bands of Indians without the Gospel. has Like Conferences in the East, this Conference recommended changes in the Discipline; one relates to the personnel of the Stationing Committee, that it shall consist of one minister and one layman from each district. Another change was for the rule relating to amusements to be made more stringent. The corner-stone of Wesley College was laid at Winnipeg during the sittings of Conference. In the absence of Mr. Massey, of Toronto, who was to have laid the cornerstone, Dr. Sparling, Principal, performed that ceremony. Mr. Massey contributed $25,000. Rev. Drs. Griffin and Briggs, Treasurer of the Superannuation Fund and Book Steward respectively, attended and greatly cheered the Conference with the information which they gave respecting their departments. These brethren were greatly pleased with their visit to the Northwest. Dr. Briggs went to British Columbia and was gratified by his visit. Nova Scotia Conference met at Amherst. The ministerial session was first held, when six probationers were received into full connection with the Conference and ordained, nineteen were continued on trial, and four candidates were received. Drs. Carman, Sutherland, and Withrow were present. It was gratifying to learn that there was an increase in the Missionary receipts of $590, and also an increase in church members of 428, after losing 970. Rev. W. H. Evans was elected President, and Rev. D. W. Johnson, Secretary. Ten probationers were appointed to attend college, and two others obtained leave of absence for one year to continue their studies abroad. The price of the Wesleyan was reduced some years ago from $2.00 to $1.50 in the hope of an increase of one thousand subscribers, but, alas! as in some other similar cases, the hope was not realized. Three ministers died during the year, Revs. Messrs. Botterell, Daniel and Alcorn, of whom honourable mention was made. The Conference pledged itself to join in the effort to increase the endowment of the Supernumerary Fund to $100,000. There are thirtysix ministerial claimants and twentyfour widows on this fund, but the income could only pay ninety per cent of their claims for the past year. The visitors from the West addressed the Conference, greatly to the delight of the brethren. Dr. Sutherland called attention to the fact that $200,000 of the Missionary income was spent in the Dominion, leaving $35,000 to be expended abroad. He thought more should be spent abroad and that the income should be increased. If members would set apart one cent per day and the Sunday-school scholars one cent per week, there would soon be a great augmentation of income. 1. Recommendations of changes in the Discipline were numerous. That women have equal priv ilege with men as delegates to Conference. 2. That ordained and unordained married men should have an equality of salary. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Conference met at Sackville, when seventy-five ministers and twenty-five laymen answered to their names. Rev. J. A. Clark was chosen President, and Rev. Jas. Crisp, Secretary. There is an increase of 244 members. The brethren ask for two persons to be elected from each district to compose the Stationing Committee: they also ask that there be two missionary funds, one Home and another Foreign, instead of one for both, as at present, and thus do away with the Sustentation Fund. The brethren were very liberal in their gifts towards furnishing rooms at the college residence. About $1,000 was promised. Concerning Newfoundland Conference we learn that Dr. Milligan was elected President, and Rev. A. D. Morton, Secretary. Drs. Carman and Withrow were present. Their visit was greatly enjoyed by the Conference. Dr. Withrow writes us expressing great delight with his visit. He thinks the ministers are an earnest, devoted class of men, who are performing a great amount of self-denying labour. One brother travels 150 miles along the coast, chiefly on foot. The Conference recommends the formation of a Connexional Fire Insurance Company. Also that transfers of ministers between the Conferences be more easily effected. There is a small decrease in the membership, but a large increase in the connexional funds. The Conference publishes a monthly organ, of which Rev. W. T. Dunn was appointed editor. Four young men were ordained to the full work of the ministry. Dr. Carman delivered the ordination charge, for which he received the thanks of the Conference. There were several public meetings, at most of which the General Superintendent and Dr. Withrow spoke. Rev. Dr. Cornish, General Conference Statistician, states that the WESLEYAN METHODIST. As these notes are being prepared for the press, our fathers in the parent Conference are meeting in the city of Birmingham. The retiring President, Rev. H. J. Pope, is justly pronounced by the editor of the Wesleyan as a great master of facts and figures. He (the President) says, in respect to the solid progress of Methodism,-"It had been said, with some degree of truth, that their fathers built chapels and left them to pay for them. This generation of Wesleyan Methodists had cleared off a debt of $12,500,000 incurred by their forefathers, and in addition had raised $45,000,000 for chapel building. The present debt on all Wesleyan property was only about $4,000,000 -just about one year's trust income.' The Southport Holiness Convention, which is held annually and is attended by Dr. E. Jenkins, and many others of all branches in Methodism, is doing much to keep the doctrine alive in the churches. The reports of the proceedings are always inspiring. Rev. T. Cook visited Kent Town, Australia, and 390 persons entered the inquiry-room, and most of them professed to have found salvation. During Dr. Stephenson's visit to America a reception was given him at Sherman House, Chicago, when a splendid collection was taken up for the Training School for home and foreign missions. One gentleman gave a plot of ground worth $20,000, and the subscription amounted to $12,000. THE IRISH CONFERENCE. The Centenary Church, Dublin, was the place of meeting. Rev. H. J. Pope presided; he was accompanied from England by Revs. Dr. Rigg, F. W. Macdonald and S. Whitehead. Rev. R. C. Johnson was elected Secretary. The increase in the membership is 235, but 2,019 Three young had been received. men were ordained. These distinguished ministers, Revs. Dr. McKee, W. G. Price, W. Graham, and Geo. Allan, retire from the active work. Rev. W. Nicholas, M. A., D.D., was elected Vice-President. A new central mission is proposed to be established at Londonderry; eight new churches, five new schools manses have been and three new built during the year. A breakfast-meeting was held at Wesley College, when $15,000 was subscribed to liquidate the debt. Bishop Andrews and Rev. J. F. Berry, D.D., of the M. E. Church, The Bishop attended Conference. preached in the Centenary Church. They afterwards went to England. Bishop Andrews preached to crowded congregation in Wesley's Chapel, London. METHODIST NEW CONNEXION. a The Conference was held at Longton. Rev. M. Bartram was elected President, and Rev. E. Holyoake, Secretary. Death had robbed the Church of two valuable ministers. No less than fourteen ministers of other denominations applied for admittance into the Conference; all were refused, as there was no room. Six young men were ordained, and eighteen others were continued on probation. The ordination service and the missionary meeting were both seasons of great enjoyment. PRIMITIVE METHODIST. The Conference of this denomination met for the first time in the ancient city of Chester. Rev. John Wenn was elected President, Mr. |