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left my dear native village, at the call of the Village Mission Committee, and repaired first to Loughborough to prepare for my missionary work, which commenced in the November following, in the little county of Rutland-my work lying on the borders of the three counties of Rutland, Northampton, and Lincoln, with Stamford as its chief centre. I was then a very young and very timid traveller, and though placed with those who afterwards proved very kind friends, I remember how desolate I felt my situation on the first night after my esteemed brother and counsellor, the late Mr. J. F. Winks, had consigned me to the Christian sympathies of the minister and church at Barrowden. Previous to that time I had lived, laboured, and rejoiced in the fellowship of a devoted band of "old disciples," by whom the church at Melbourne and Ticknall was, under God, mainly sustained; and leaving that church, I found that I should never again meet with a people in whom I could so fully confide, and for a long time I felt the loss of their wise counsels and watchful care-and a distance of fifty miles at that time was more than equal to five hundred miles in the present day. But work upon which my heart was set soon reconciled me to strangers, and as long as the Village Mission existed in active force I continued in the service, my duty being to point the way to Jerusalem.

Passing over a few years of varied trials and changes, in 1841 I took up my residence at Leicester; and here it was that I first began that strange eventful course that has led to my present (in the estimation of many) singular vocation of tourist conductor a work in which I have tried to be useful in a sense higher than that of a mere caterer for pleasure seekers. My first impressions were that the newly developed powers of railway and locomotion

might be turned to purposes of high social interest; and in that spirit I began this work, and, with increased convictions of its utility, have continued it until this day. But my friends did not all view it in the same light; and when I thought I was doing good service in taking away thousands of the youth of Leicester from the dangers of the race course, I was censured by my minister of that day (peace to his memory!) and others for making such arrangements on the day of our chapel anniversary; and that censure was never withdrawn or qualified. But, strong in the conviction of rectitude and propriety of aims and purposes, I have continued to extend these operations wider and wider every preceding year, until I am now within a comparatively short distance from Jerusalem, and I feel a yearning anxiety that some of my General Baptist brethren (and sisters too) should be enrolled in my party for the early months of 1869. Lord Bacon says that "travelling is a sort of education," and I feel that such a journey as I now propose might be turned to the most useful account in the interests of the General Baptist pulpit, the College, and the Magazine. The great facts of the gospel history which are being brought to light by the explorations and investigations in Palestine and Egypt cannot fail to have a powerful influence on the interests of truth; and the churches of other denominations are doing a good work in providing their ministers with the means to enable them to visit the lands of the Bible. In Scotland this is done to a great extent, and the ministers return richly laden with treasures of facts corroborative of divine truth. take it that a couple of months spent in Palestine and Egypt might do more for ministers and congregations than years of theoretical studies. wish your Nottingham (Chilwell)

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school of prophets could spend a session of study in Jerusalem, on the banks of the Jordan, and in the other cities and places immortalized in gospel story. I am sure that both tutors and students would be highly benefited by such a change of locality for the prosecution of their great work.

It is a lamentable thing to hear the unceasing complaints of want of success in the circulation of your Magazine. Suppose a trial was made of sending a special editorial commissioner to Jerusalem, to gather up a store of facts and personal observations with a view to the enrichment of the pages of the denominational organ. In a trip to Rome two or three years ago, I was accompanied by a representative of one of the popular religious periodicals, whose expenses were paid by the proprietary of the work, for the purpose of securing a series of short monthly papers; but a journey to Rome in the miscalled " Holy Week" would be of trifling worth in comparison with a trip to Jerusalem. I remember with what intense interest I read the report of Dr. Burns's trip to Rome, which was given in the General Baptist Magazine a few years since. Depend upon it there is no class of magazine literature more attractive than that of notes of travel; and nothing could afford greater scope for an observant Christian writer than a journey to the Holy Land. I intend to make this tour as cheap and as popular as possible. I hope to accomplish it for a hundred guineas for ten weeks -travelling and hotel accommodation included-a sum unprecedented in the history of Eastern travels; and if a hundred friends will contribute a sovereign each as a Christmas gift in the interests of the Magazine, I will contribute the other hundred shillings in furtherance of the object. I doubt there are not many, if any, General Baptist

ministers whose salaries will enable them to appropriate the same income for such a trip; but there are churches that could do it by a little effort, and it would be a nice new year's gift to a minister to qualify him for such a trip. I referred to ladies, and have little doubt of having some to accompany me, if I can assure them of the perfect safety and practicability of their undertaking such a journey. Many brave women have already accompanied me on my longest journeys, several having ascended to the summit of Vesuvius, and scaled other high mountains. I shall give the offer of my first ten tickets for Jerusalem to ladies, in addition to which I do not intend to give more than twice that number to gentleman, as it is not my desire to make the party unpleasantly large.

I intend to start about the first of March; to go through Italy, stopping at Rome for the so-called Holy Week; then calling at Venice; from thence proceed to Trieste, and there embark for Constantinople, taking the course of the Dalmatian and Albanian coasts, the Ionian and Grecian Islands, the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora, to the Golden Horn of this wonderful city. After spending a week here, we may, if desired, make a trip to the Crimea, and see the ruins of Sebastopol, and the graves of thousands of British soldiers; and then take the coast of Syria, calling by the way at Athens, Smyrna, Ephesus, and the sites of others of the seven churches; from Smyrna proceed to Jaffa, and there land for Jerusalem, visiting all practicable parts of Palestine; afterwards proceed to Cairo, for the purpose of seeing the pyramids, and then return by Alexandria to Italy by the shortest sea route, and over Mont Cenis for Paris and London, completing the whole by the middle of May. This will give April, the best month in the year, for Palestine.

Such a tour cannot fail to be most valuable in its practical results. If visits to famous places intensify the thirst for information and drive inquiring travellers to books and other sources of intelligence, how intense must be the interest of Bible students in contemplating and examining those countries and places where the greatest events of the world's history transpired, and where infidelity and scepticism stood abashed before existing monuments and mementoes of historical truth. The Times said recently that Scotland was indebted for its popularity as a tourist country to the sentiment created by the genius and writings of Scott; but what is there in those writings to compare with the stories and records of holy writ which have invested Egypt and Greece and Palestine with a halo of glorious sentiment, which pervades all earth, and rises to the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the earthly was once a brilliant type, and from the events of which the believer draws his hopes of immortality, and his perfect deliverance from the house of bondage.

Please, dear Mr. Editor, excuse the length and the plainness of this letter. I do not thus write for the mere purpose of obtaining tourists: my small party will be easily made up when my programme is issued on my return to England. But I wished first to invite some of my esteemed General Baptist friends to accompany me ere the list will be completed. I have travelled very far, and seen many exhibitions of what is called religion in papal and pagan lands; but at the end of these forty years in the wilderness" of sentimental heterodoxy and ritualistic ceremonial, I can find nothing so beautiful in its simplicity and really Godlike in its tendencies as that old form of faith and practice which characterized my early General Baptist associates at Melbourne. I have seen much in travelling to

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weaken asperities and annihilate sectarian exclusiveness, but nothing to shake the first love of strong denominational attachment, which is not incompatible with feelings of high esteem for all who love the common Saviour.

Yours very truly,

THOMAS COOK.

P.S.-I expect to be at home by the time your December number is issued, and shall be glad to hear from any who desire to communicate with me, at 63, Granby Street, Leicester. On board the "Principe Tomosso," off Ancona, Nov. 11, 1868.

My dear Sir,-Since writing you from Constantinople, I have enlarged my designs touching a projected tour to Palestine, &c., and I shall be much obliged, in the event of your publishing my letter, if you will so far correct it as to say that I purpose to give three departures from England-the first about the last week in January, for three months, and to include a trip on the Nile as far as the First Cataract; to include Memphis, Thebes, and other famed places and monuments on the banks of the Nile, or adjacent thereto. This trip will be about six hundred miles up the Nile from Cairo.

My second departure to be about a month later, in time for the tourists to meet me at the Pyramids on our return from the Nile.

The third a little later still, after the Easter week at Rome. That party to fall in with us at Alexandria, and all go together or in sections, to Palestine, Turkey, &c.—all getting back about the 1st May.

I shall thus give to this Eastern expedition three months at the very best time of the year for seeing the famed places dear to every Christian and to every student of antiquity. The fares will be regulated in accordance with this three-fold scheme, but I cannot yet quote the exact figures. T. C.

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THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE FREE-WILL BAPTISTS IN AMERICA.

BY THOMAS GOADBY, B.A.

THE Triennial Conference of the Freewill Baptists of America was held in October last, at Buffalo. The sittings extended over eight days; and the delegates about seventy in number, who are appointed by the different yearly meetings, seem to have been nearly all present. It was in every way a most important and memorable Conference, and will mark an era in the history of the Free-will Baptists. The state of the country, the close of the civil war, the change passing over the Southern States, the opening of vast fields at home for Christian labour among the freedmen, the tendency on the one hand to union amongst all Free Communion Baptists in the States, and on the other to separate action in some matters among the Free-will Baptists in the West and in the North, the desire and determination to attempt greater things for Christ's kingdom both at home and abroad, give special significance and interest to the discussions and decisions of the recent Conference. It is gratifying to note that on the whole a wise spirit of forbearance and mutual concession characterized the proceedings, and that enthusiasm and zeal kindled their fires afresh as friendly debate went on, and the prayers of the brethren ascended to God.

The organization of this Conference is more complete than that of our Annual Association. There is a considerable staff of officials-a moderator, a secretary, a clerk, and assistant clerks. The roll of delegates is read every day, and the attendance registered. Over twenty standing Committees upon every imaginable subject that can fairly come within the notice of the Conference introduce original resolutions and suggestions, or special reports upon matters referred to them. Nothing escapes the supervision of this argus-eyed body, from peace, temperance, and moral reform, up through all the denominational institutions to church polity and doctrine. Volumes of talk are poured forth, a good stroke of business is well and earnestly done, and the story of the proceedings from day to day is told by their newspapers

to the whole denomination. It is evident from the reports that the recent Conference was full of life and spirit. There was no lack of social cheer, of friendly greetings, of healthy mental and religious stimulus. The prayer meetings were "brimming over with soul and fervour;" the public meetings throbbed with the pulse of a quick and vigorous enthusiasm; the preaching was rich with choicest thought and eloquence, and full of inspiration and power; the communion service gave sweet refreshment to the spirit amid the jading toil of business; and the excursion out into God's fresh pure air away to the Falls of Niagara, that scene of unparalleled beauty and grandeur where the Father of Waters, rainbow-spanned, sits throned amid mighty thunders and the thousand- voiced chorus of the foaming torrent, afforded a most agreeable change, and broadened the soul's psalm of praise into unison with old prophetic song.

The Statistics of the Denomination are not given at large, but an increase in the number of members is reported amounting to 9,420. Some General Baptists of the west, 2,000 in number, have joined the Conference; 5,000 more are to follow in a few weeks; 10,000 Free Baptists in the South are said to be ready to join; and a deputation was welcomed bringing friendly salutations from 6,000 Free Christian Baptists in New Brunswick. The indications are that the Free-will Baptists, now that slavery has disappeared from the States, will gain great accessions of numbers from various quarters. The noble stand they took against communion with slaveholders and pro-slavery never diminished their numerical strength; but the battle of freedom has been won, and no longer will the negro be a cause of division in the church. The Free-will Baptists already number between 60,000 and 70,000 in church fellowship, and unless their rate of progress is checked they will soon be at least eighty or ninety thousand strong.

The Rev. G. T. Day, now editor of the Morning Star, and honoured with a diploma in divinity, gave to the brethren

an account of his visit to the General Baptists of England at the Association at Loughborough two years ago. He specially referred to the cordial and enthusiastic reception given to Professor Dunn and himself, though they came without credentials, and declared that the welcome of the Association in spirit and noise was like the enthusiasm of a Western political convention. He said kind and generous things of us, and was, on the whole, favourably impressed with the earnest and devout spirit shown by our brethren, and the culture and piety of the ministers. He was specially pleased with his hospitable welcome to the homes of friends in the midland counties, which he considers form almost a paradise. He said, "If there is a place anywhere in this world where the domestic life of the human race is beautiful and touching, it is in the domestic circle of the middle classes of England." The Committee on Correspondence submitted resolutions gratefully recognizing the generous and honouring welcome given to the Rev. G. T. Day and R. Dunn by the General Baptists of England, specially desiring continued intercourse, appointing the clerk to represent the Conference by letter, and nominating the Rev. G. H. Ball, of Buffalo, and Dr. Graham, of Chicago, to attend as delegates our Centennial Meeting. Mr. Day spoke of the Association at Loughborough being a year ago last June-it was two years ago, and the resolution speaks of our Centenary as next year, -it is not until 1870, but we shall greatly rejoice to see the brethren next year, if they come.

The business done at the Conference was unusually important. For years the denominational organ has been the Morning Star, published at Dover, in New Hampshire, under the able management of the late Mr. Burr, this paper, and the whole printing establishment, have been very successful, yielding a large profit annually to be divided amongst the denominational institutions. Under the new editorship of the Rev. G. T. Day, the Star shines with even increased brilliancy, and is one of the best religious papers in New England or the whole States. But for some time it has been thought desirable to remove the Star from Dover, or to start a new paper for the

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West. As the Star appeared fixed and not planetary, and the needs of the West demanded it, another paper, the Christian Freeman, was started at Chicago, under the able direction of the Rev. Dr. Graham, whom our churches had the pleasure of seeing and hearing in 1860, and Mr. F. W. Dunn, who, with his father, was present at Loughborough in 1866. It was determined at the recent Conference to accept the Christian Freeman as a denominational organ, encourage the projectors and their work with a grant of twelve thousand dollars from the establishment at Dover, set apart ten thousand dollars for the establishment of a third paper in New York, or some central place, and remove all three papers from the control of the Conference by placing them in the hands of "Corporators,' who should divide the profits between the denominational institutions, and report their financial condition to Conference for information only. The decision has taken everybody by surprise. Dr. Graham says, in an editorial, "If the best thing has been done on the whole subject of papers, we shall be most happy to confess our error in Dr. Day says, judgment." 66 The results. are not probably what were expected by a single individual, they are the fruit of much compromising, they were accepted by a vote which had little emphasis, and much half-reluctant acquiescence in it;" and he even deplores the policy which tends, he thinks, to localization, not unity, which will probably deprive the benevolent institutions of the body of the customary help, which will make it hard for any paper to exist at all, and which has dissolved the dream of a vital and vigorous denominational literature just when it was on the eve of realization. Few of us but will sympathize with these forebodings, but let our brethren all take courage. What they have done is a purely American thing. Had they done less they would have been faithless to their national spirit. The sons of the founders of a republic that stretches from the torrid to the frozen zone, that includes the white man, the negro, the Red Indian and the Esquimaux, and is an epitome of Europe and the world; the representatives of a people who build cities of "magnificent distances," and lay

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