THE LUTHER COMMEMORATION.

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its beams beyond the frontiers of the land which was its cradle. Let us not forget that the jubilee of a reformer must not be like the canonization of a saint. It is not a question of Luther's apotheosis. He had his grave faults, his narrownesses, his hardness, his want of consistency; he made more than one serious mistake.

Nevertheless, he remains great among the greatest. There are none but writers of sectarian history, or newspaper editors of such fanatical devotion to their cause as to seek to diminish or soil his memory by attributing to the basest motives-to a monkish quarrel or a degraded luxury-the origin of one of the grandest movements of history.

This son of a poor miner, grown in a few years to be a moral power which makes the Pope grow pale, and an emperor calling himself Charles V. give ground before the word which he aims at him in the Diet of Worms, a word at once humble and proud, motto of all holy insurrections of conscience against brute force; "I can take no other stand; God be my help"-(Ich kann nicht anders). This poor little monk, loaded with the chains of a servile devotion, who suddenly shakes them off and breaks them, and draws after him thousands of souls as he scatters out to the four winds of heaven a Divine word, long become a forgotten old text, but graven on his very heart in letters of fire, "The just shall live by faith; "-this popular orator without equal, who makes his thoughts live in a masculine and graphic style, itself a veritable creation; this bold champion who never tires, and whose pen is more terrible than a sword against the authorities of the past, as quick at building up as at pulling down, as he proved by the ecclesiastical edifice he created under which so many generations have found shelter-if greatness is not here, where are we to look for it? If after that people think they can make him less by taunting him with his home, which never ceased to be pure, and had a touching poetry of his own, then, despite some sallies of a spirit of fun which we should have liked to suppress, we scarcely care at all. We blame everything in him that merits blame or criticism, his harshness towards the people in the peasants' war, his culpable indulgence towards the Landgrave of Hesse, his obstinacy in rejecting the hand of Zwingle in the question of the sacraments. We recognize that in the second part of his life he shewed far too much reaction from the noble boldness of the first part. In spite of some portions of it that can never die, his conception of religion cannot satisfy us.

The nineteenth century has as much right as the sixteenth to go back to the springs of Christianity and to divide the water at its source. What remains great, and deserves to be celebrated about Luther, is first of all the spirit of his work, much greater than the work itself, since it is that spirit which authorises all the corrections and all the extensions of it. In the next place it is the man himself, with his genius, his fire, his incomparable might. In these things lies the interest of this jubilee. ED. DE PRESSENSÉ.

THE PENALTY OF Low AIMS -"To the end of men's struggles a penalty will remain for those who sink from the ranks of the heroes into the crowd for whom the heroes fight and die."-G. Eliot.

The Baptist Union at Leicester.

THE Autumnal Session of 1883 has been interesting in many ways. There was considerable attraction beforehand in the place of meeting, in the topics selected for discussion, and in the men appointed to introduce them. General Baptists were in their "own country," and accordingly came up in strong force. And when the meetings were over, so far as one could judge, nearly every hopeful anticipation had been justified. From the first we were in a breezy" atmosphere. But that meant mischief only to the cobwebs of theology and ecclesiasticism. There were signs of mental healthfulness, of moral susceptibility, and of spiritual glow, that will put the recent gathering into favourable comparison with any of its predecessors.

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My personal observation commenced at noon on the Tuesday, hence the reception given by the Mayor, on the previous evening, to our representatives, and the stirring incidents with which it was characterized, are only matters of report to me. The same must be said of the Missionary Sermon to young men, and the Missionary Breakfast next morning. Victoria Church was filled to hear Dr. Allon's sermon at midday. The discourse was a plea for Christian work abroad, marked by all that sympathy with his theme, that force of argument, and that grace of expression, which have contributed to the influence and fame of the Islington pastor. It was an effective sally on the part of the Doctor, when claiming the dicta of physical science for their analogy to spiritual facts, he designated the Fall of man a "reversion of type." But we should have liked it better if the sermon had been more relieved with humour and illustration. As it was, an hour or more of strained attention to a subject under so elaborate a treatment, appeared rather too much for people whose dinner hour had passed.

The Public Missionary Meeting, in the Temperance Hall at night, was sympathetic and enthusiastic. The three speakers were missionaries, representing India, China, and West Africa; and it cannot be doubted that the exclusion of home-workers from the platform on such an occasion is, as a rule, desirable. It was very pleasing to hear Mr. Smith of Delhi say that a purely native church was wanted in India, and it was gradually coming about. "It is the natives of India who must be the means of converting India." Fifteen years ago Norman Macleod advocated this view in the Scottish Established Church after his visit to the East, and found little sympathy.

The Union keeps up the practice, which has been abandoned by our own Association, of holding early morning services. Those who rose at six o'clock on the Wednesday morning to hear Mr. Platten's sermon at Dover Street Chapel were well rewarded. As the preacher described, from Rev. i. 17, 18, John's vision of his Master, and unfolded "the eternal relation of Christ (1) to the soul, and (2) to the churches," there was such a blending of pathos, poetry, and power, as to produce an impression that will not soon be lost. Mr. Chown's address, at the first sitting of the Session, was conceived and executed in the happiest style. But the interest of the assembly deepened when Mr. Benwell Bird's paper, "The Changes now passing over Religious Thought," came on

THE BAPTIST UNION AT LEICESTER.

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for discussion. The paper itself was a splendid attempt "to please everybody," and we had the proverbial result. In the conversation that ensued the chief advantage was of a negative sort. Spurgeonism found no spokesman; and a sugar-coated Calvinism had no exponent. The energetic brother who entered a protest on behalf of mechanical theology is an M.A. of Glasgow University, but his bellicose bearing only provoked the laughter of his hearers. All the talking was vague at the best; but it is surely gratifying to feel that Baptists are releasing themselves from the old cast-iron creeds that "put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear!" What is most wanted now is a positive utterance to define the Baptist position, and represent truly the liberal spirit that is abroad. As I heard it remarked at Leicester, our denomination has had no one to speak on its behalf in a strain similar to that adopted by Dr. Dale and Dr. Fairbairn in the Congregational Union. But time is on the side of Truth.

In the evening we had two papers on questions of Church Fellowship, the former of which was sadly too long. Worse still, it failed in grip of the most vital elements that make against the entrance of many Christians into church membership to-day. Mr. Skerry's paper had the merit of reviving interest, and it enforced practical considerations. Dr. Green and Mr. W. R. Stevenson did much to make the discussion profitable; but it declined as the time for closing approached, and many things that ought to have been said were left unsaid, because, as it appeared to me, after so long a day, delegates were in a state of physical exhaustion.

Thursday commenced with "British and Irish Home Mission". business, of which nothing need be said here, except perhaps a word in reference to the Secretary of the Union, who came more prominently before the assembly in this department of its work than in any other. Mr. Booth's explicit statement showed how thoroughly conscientious he is in his work; and this, with the kind spirit he uniformly manifests, entitles him to the closest sympathy and loyal support of all Baptists. Then came Mr. W. Payne's paper on Church Finance," which every deacon ought to read. It is very refreshing to hear a layman speak at such times, and when one of so distinguished ability as this deacon from Clapton Downs introduces the subject, nothing is left to be desired-save the adoption of the principles enunciated.

Victoria Church was filled to crowding as the hour came for Dr. Stanford's address on "Family Religion." I have heard this master of word-painting many times, but never have I heard him speak to finer effect than on this occasion. The mingled tenderness, beauty and strength, with which he addressed us, gave a charm to his counsels that cannot fail to affect those beneficently who attempt to work them out. The closing passage was very realistic and touching. It gave the speaker's reminiscences of days long ago spent in Charnwood Forest, which to him " now are but as yesterday," and his words had the solemnizing effect of making the congregation feel how soon the years. are gone in which parents have most influence over their children.

In the afternoon there was a brief sitting of the Session to receive reports upon the "Union Funds." Our editor has already called attention

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UNANSWERED YET?

to the lapsed privilege of General Baptists with regard to the "Annuity" and "Augmentation" Funds. I would beg for careful attention to the statements that will soon be sent out in my name, acting, as I do, on behalf of our Association in the matter. General Baptist Ministers are provident men, judging from the rate at which they are entering for the benefits of the Annuity Fund, so that our churches ought to contribute liberally to the increase of the capital sum out of which the benevolent allowance has to be paid. The work done now, will be done once for all. There is similar reason for our support of the Augmentation Fund. This by the way.

The Session closed with two large public meetings on Thursday evening. That held in the Temperance Hall, for working men, seems to have been the more popular, where Mr. Arthur Mursell delivered an oration of great power and real purpose.

One cannot be altogether pleased with the circumstance that the first full day (Tuesday), is monopolized by the Foreign Missionary Society, so that the Union proper does not commence its work before Wednesday morning. That is, however, an instance of age taking precedence, I suppose.

It only remains for me to remark on the excellent arrangements made by the Local Committee for the comfort and enjoyment of their guests. The work they had to do must have been prodigious; but it was done with a zeal and cheerfulness which went far to give the Autumnal Session of 1883 the grateful memory in which it is, and long will be enshrined. W. J. AVERY.

Unanswered Yet?

UNANSWERED yet? The prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?

Does faith begin to fail; is hope departing,
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Though when you first presented
This one petition at the Father's throne,

It seemed you could not wait the time of asking,

So urgent was your heart to make it known.

Though years have passed since then, do not despair;
The Lord will answer you sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done.

The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.

If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered,
Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock;
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, "It shall be done," sometime, somewhere.

ROBERT BROWNING.

Pen Pictures of Nonconformity,

FROM HENRY VIII. TO QUEEN VICTORIA.

No. XII.-NONCONFORMITY ADVANCES TOWARDS RELIGIOUS EQUALITY. UNTIL very recent times clergymen of the State Church were the only persons legally competent to perform a marriage service for dissenters in England. Foreigners were either perplexed, or they laughed to see the citizens of Freedom's own island reduced to the alternative of permanent single blessedness, or of abject submission to the government mode of associating religion with weddings. Foreigners were still more surprised when told that English couples who wished to elude the injustice of our marriage laws had only to travel to Scotland; they saw that prosperous people were practically free, and that, after all, it was only the poor who were deprived of liberty to choose how they would solemnize their marital unions. However many of the poor handed a protest to the clergyman; and that is not to be wondered at when we remember that there are very indelicate expressions in the Prayer Book Marriage Service, for numbers of poor people object to that kind of thing both at their weddings and at all other times, whether from the lips of a clergyman or anyone else. It must be said that Quakers were not obliged to hear those expressions; but then no Government has ever been able to make Quakers accept religious forms which they did not approve, so they were permitted to get married in their own meeting-houses. Howbeit about the year 1836 it dawned upon the legislative mind, that however pleasant it might be to parsons to domineer over free-born Britons, this foolish forcing of one marriage ceremony upon most of the English people was making Government look very ridiculous. Then the rights of man were once more recognised, and thus we are able to state (though with no great amount of pride as to the number) that the comparative liberty enjoyed by British brides and bridegrooms is now actually forty-seven years old. But as if to show that it was easier for the Commons to pass the new law than for parsons to enter into the spirit of liberty, during the major portion of the brief period of freedom, numerous clergymen were wont to insinuate that all was not right unless weddings were celebrated by them. One of them told the late George Dawson, of Birmingham. that he was not properly married because he was wedded in a Nonconformist chapel. "Well then," said he, "what am I?" Said the parson, "You are only joined together." "All right!" said Mr. Dawson, "as a practical man that will do very well for me." Of late years, even that feeble opposition has nearly ceased, and parsons, including most of those who are the very last to find out anything, have discovered that people can get really married without them, and that nothing serious happened in connection with the Dissenters Marriage Act, excepting that a great nation became somewhat more free than it was before.

None too soon boroughs like Sheffield and Manchester advanced another question by resisting the imposition of church-rates; in fact they voted the shabby and insulting exaction right out of their midst. In other places, as Leicester, Churchmen were putting inoffensive highprincipled Nonconformists in the common gaol for refusing to pay