be carried a little too far, even in men for whom pulpits are made and circuits formed, and it is not always safe to let organ “15” in phrenological charts get the upper hand.  After all we admire Mr. Tindall’s erudition and eloquence.  He is free from vulgarity, and in general style miles ahead of many preachers in the same body, whose great mission is to maltreat pulpits and turn religion into a rhapsody of words.

The well-meaning and plodding Mr. Smith succeeds.  He is a hard worker; but there does not appear to be over much in him at present.  More thinking, and a greater experience of life, may cause him to germinate agreeably in a few years.  His style is stereotyped and copied; there is a lack of original force in him; when he talks you know what’s coming next—­you can tell five minutes off what he is going to say, and that rather spoils the sensation of newness and surprise which one likes to experience when parsons are either pleasing or terrifying sinners.  But Mr. Swift does his best, and, according to Ebenezer Elliot, he does well who does that.  It would be wrong to deal harshly with a new beginner, and therefore we have decided to check our criticism—­to be brief—­with Mr. Swift and express a hope that in time he will be president of the Conference.

No.  V.

FISHERGATE BAPTIST CHAPEL.

The “right thing” in regard to baptism is a recondite point; but we are not going to enter into any controversy about it.  We shall say nothing as to the defects or merits of aspersion or sprinkling, immersion or dipping, affusion or pouring.  Opinions vary respecting each system; and one may fairly say that the words uttered in explanation of the general theme come literally to us in the “voice of many waters.”, Jacob the patriarch was the first Baptist; the Jews kept up the rite moderately, but had more faith in its abstergent than spiritual influence; John turned it into an institution of Christianity; the Primitive Church carried on the business slowly, Turtullian kicking against and Cyprian lauding it; in the fifth century baptism became fully established amongst all Christian communities; then the Eastern and Western Churches quarrelled as to whether sprinkling or immersion constituted the proper ceremony; other small disputes concerning the modus operandi followed; and from that time to this the adherents of each scheme have spilled a great deal of water in piously working out their notions.  There was once a time when nobody could undergo the ordinary process of baptism except at Easter or Whitsuntide; but children and upgrown people can now be put through the ceremony whenever it is considered necessary.  In Preston, as elsewhere, the majority of people think well of water when it is required by children for engulphing or baptismal purposes; but they care little for its use when the teens have been trotted through.  It may be right enough for the physical and religious comfort of babes and sucklings; but its virtues recede in the ratio of development.  There are, however, some sections of men and women in the town who, symbolically at least, have a high regard for water at any time after the years of sense and reason have been reached.