Sabbath-school 2. s. d. .... 1. 8. d. 1. s. d. 0 10 0 Mr. and Mrs. Pinson 2 0 0 Mr. Kenworthy (D.) 100 Girls'Sunday-school 9 7 3 Mrs. Pinson..........(D.) 100 18 7 0 Do. Bible Class .... 1 17 0 E. Horton......(A.) 0 12 0 Less Expenses.. 0 12 10 Do. Teachers 3 16 0 Collections 56 2 9 Do. Day-school 0 13 4 Collection after Ju17 14 2 Boys'Sunday-school 16 7 11 venile Meeting 3 52 087 Do. 1st Bible Class.. 2 4 11 Do. 2nd do. 1 18 10 196 17 2 Bordesley-st. Chapel and Sunday-schools 5 13 11 N.B. The amount sub- Garrison-lane do. scribed for the Native Teach Additional ..... 181. 28. 9d.. SUFFOLK. Lavenham. and do. Less Expenses.. 13 Congregational Church Mis 6 194 3 8 sionary Association. 404 7 11 3 236 6 458 11 Less Expenses.. 0 15 7 0 2 0 0 Keith. Collected by Ebenezer Chapel. Miss Turner.. 162 Collected by 0 13 6 Juvenile Association 0 5 6 Mrs. F. Christian... 450 Mrs. Ellis 1 17 8 698 0 1 457 16 7 Lozell's Chapel. Misses Rogers and 1 16 1 Sundry Donations.. 86 3 16 0 37.5 WARWICKSHIRE. Birmingham District. Per William Beaumont, Esq.. A Wesleyan.. (A.) 1 0 0 The Treasurer..... Collection after Sur tation, the Rev. L. Portsny. Teacher, for the Mary Ann McLeich 0 5 0 Hartshill......................... 4 16 10 Miss Harley, for the Produce of Mis lectors... 200 0 care of Mrs. Lewis 3 16 0 Mrs. Glover, for the Mrs. Thomas Avery Professor Rogers... School under the vis, Esq., for the Wilton Provis.... 10 0 0 YORKSHIRE. Halifax District. Subscriptions lected by Mrs.Sug- at Nagercoil...... 20 0 0 Do do. Mrs. Atkin support of the Hin- J. A. James ...... 10 00 1 0 0 100 9 10 9 son and Miss Sug- 11 15 0 Anniversary. Annual Collections 108 0 11 10 0 0 Public Meeting.... 15 11 0 Annual Collections.. 31 16 6 Harrison-road Chupel. 6 Charles Glover ... 10 0 0 Annual Collections. 13 1 100 Mrs. Glover, for the Mrs. Parker Miss James Miss Floyd Mr. John Freeth.... 300 support of a Native 2 00 Teacher, named George Storer 4 04 Mansfield... 10 0 0 Mr.John Freeth,Jun. Mrs. Baker "Rain from Heaven" Professor Watts Mrs. Watts Mr. Forgham Mrs. Lee Mr. Ellary Mrs. Ellary Anonymous - Pro ceeds of Old Silver Coins... 160 110 Mrs. Lowe, for the support of a Na- Teacher, named James Hill 1000 Scarborough, Auxi 210 liary Society, per Per Rev. J. Williams. C. W. Bowen, Esq... 0 10 0 Mansfield Glover.. 10 0 0 Mrs. L. Bennett.... 116 J. Collins, Esq. 220 110 2 2 0 Ebenezer Girls' 110 School, for the 0 10 6 support of a Na tive Teacher, named Sarah 0 13 0 Ebenezer Girls' School, for General Purposes..... Ebenezer Girls' School, collected by Eliza Cooper.. Ebenezer Boys' School, for General Purposes Henry Wright, Esq. 5 0 0 Ebenezer Girls' Day Mr. and Mrs. E. School 0 13 0 School Collection .. 1 7 Bancroft, late of Of Mrs. Frances 19 19 Shepherd, inte of 0 Of Mr. John Tapp. Contributions in aid of the Society will be thankfully received by Sir Culling Eardley Eardley, Bart., Treasurer, and Rev. Ebenezer Prout, at the Mission House, Blomfield-street, Finsbury, London; by Mr. W. F. Watson, 52, Princes-street, Edinburgh; J. Risk, Esq., 108, Fife-place, Glasgow; and by Rev. John Hands, Society House, 32, Lower Abbey-street, Dublin. Post-Office Orders should be in favour of Rev. Ebenezer Prout, and payable at the General Post Office. LONDON: REED AND PARDON, PRINTERS, PATERNOSTER ROW, EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, AND MISSIONARY CHRONICLE. FOR DECEMBER, 1852. THE EDITOR'S PLEA FOR 1853. THE issue of the last number of the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, for 1852, reminds us of the mercy by which we have been upheld during a year of anxious and earnest toil. We can say, with sincerity, that we have aimed to uphold the reputation of the work committed to our care, and to make it worthy of the age in which we live, and of the large and enlightened constituency among whom it circulates. Avoiding all spurious charity on the one hand, and all undue severity on the other, we have endeavoured to deal uprightly and forbearingly with the current questions of the year; never allowing ourselves to forget that we are "set for the defence of the gospel," from whatever quarter it may be assailed. How far we have come up to our own notions of responsibility, it is not for us to determine; but we are greatly cheered in our labours by the viva voce and written testimonies of not a few, whose standing in the great Christian community gives them the right to hold and express a decided opinion. Conscious as we are, however, of many defects, and strenuously resolved to aim at sleepless progress, we would only regard the approbation of our friends as an encouragement to future and more deserving effort. We well know that, in this age VOL. XXX. | of growing intelligence, we can only keep our standing by the supply of valuable material. To that one object, we hope to bend our undivided attention; but, in addressing ourselves to Christian men, do we look for too much, when we solicit an interest in their fervent prayers, that, in the sixtieth year of the existence of the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, we may be assisted to "discern the signs of the times," to perform our duty with manly integrity, to fan the piety of the Christian church, to be worthy successors of the holy men who have gone before us, and to keep alive our own Christianity, that we may advance that of others? We feel that no class of men among us need more the prayers of the faithful than the Editors of our periodical Christian literature. They stand in slippery places and can only be upheld in the wise and faithful discharge of the trust committed to them by copious supplies of the grace and wisdom which come from above. May we also be permitted to remind our friends, that a periodical which depends for success on a large circulation, requires their cordial and energetic cooperation. The EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, we must venture to observe, in addition to all its other claims, is the 3 A nucleus of a large charitable fund, exclusively devoted to the widows of faithful ministers. It can only support its present large disbursements, by maintaining and extending its sale. Every year it loses many of its supporters by death and other causes. The close of 1852, then, is the appropriate time to look out for new readers of the work. And to whom can we look for cordial greeting in our anxious labours, but to those who have hitherto sustained us-who value the Magazine-who approve its | principles-who rejoice in its success? A word from them, in their several circles, will be sure to do us good. They may say, with truth, that the number of widows who have received gratuities, during the year 1852, has been 158; of these, 140 have been widows of Congregational ministers,-11 of Presbyterian brethren, 5 of Episcopalian clergymen, and 2 of Calvinistic Methodists. The whole sum distributed for the year, has been £1304, of which sum the widows of Independent pastors in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, have received the large amount of £1164. May we not, then, without a blush, solicit a Pulpit notice of the EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE from our beloved brein the course of thren the present month? And may we not look to the officers of the several churches for their hearty co-operation in giving effect to the kind hints of the Christian Pulpit? Should not ministers' wives be the zealous advocates of a periodical to which many of their Christian sisters are so deeply indebted? And ought not widows in general to be the friends of this easy and cheap mode of helping the honoured but often suffering relicts of their deceased pastors? A widow can say for widows what no one else can; and cold will be those hearts that are not moved by the appeal. By God's blessing on our efforts, we look forward to the coming year with undiminished hope; as we look back on all the years of the past with thankfulness and praise. If we are true to the Divine Master, he will not suffer us “to labour in vain, or to spend our strength for naught and in vain." MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. JOHN MATHER, THE Rev. John Mather was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 20th of January, 1773. Though we possess no particular account of his parents, we can state, that their piety was real and consistent; and, whatever the world may think, to have a valid claim to such a relationship is no slight honour. He was the youngest of three sons, his father dying before he was born; and to this circumstance, in after years, he was wont to allude, as if he had thus a peculiar interest in the fatherhood of God. The oldest brother was an honoured minister, in the connexion of the late Countess of Huntingdon, and laboured, for many years, with acceptance and success at Dover; the second was a respectable inhabitant of Newcastle, and a true Christian. Of the early days of the subject of this brief memoir we have no account. He doubtless possessed the advantage of a pious education, being brought up, from his youth, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In all probability, his mind was early impressed with the importance of Divine things. The example of his brothers, who, as in life, were also in Christ before him, must have been beneficial, and calculated to lead to serious reflection. What were |