Public Meeting.

A Public Meeting of the Members and Friends of the Organization, was held in Exeter Hall on Friday, the 6th Oct., which was numerously attended, Sir C, E. Eardly, Bart. presided. Eloquent addresses were delivered by the Chairman; Mr. J. P. Plumptre, M.P.; Rev. W. Arthur, of Paris, and other Members.

Sir C. E. Eardly said—Surrounded as he now was by brethren from various parts of this country, he could not but remember that, two years ago, on the occasion of a similar meeting, he had seen around and below him many brethren from other countries, indeed from almost every country in christendom, and he could not but reflect upon the events through which they had passed since their return to their own land. He not only traced them in their return to France, to Switzerland, to the United States, and to Germany, each in their respective circles originating branches of the Alliance which would carry out the same principles which the present meeting had assembled to promote, but he also followed them through those important and stirring events which had been occurring around them. Paradoxical as the assertion might appear, it was his opinion that it was the events of 1848, which brought here their brethren of the Evangelical Alliance in 1846. To single out au instance, he believed it was because, in the spring of 1848 an infuriated mob was to assemble around the institution of deacon-nesses, which was presided over by M. Verneil, and because the life of that excellent man was to be endangered, and his faith to be tested—that God brought him here in 1846, that he might know when his faith was tried in Paris that there were brethren in England, in America, and in Europe who were praying in his behalf.

Mr. Plumptre, M. P. said,—He saw before him a goodly assembly of persons of different grades in society, of different ages, of different religious denominations, and it might be of different countries; but that Great Being who was in their midst saw one char-acter inscribed upon all of them,—that of sinner. But, blessed page 281 be God, he believed that with regard to many of them, there was a happy addition to the name of sinner,—he meant sinner saved by Grace; and he believed farther, that that grace which brought them salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, was apprehended by one instrument—namely, faith; and that that faith sprung from one fountain—that it was not of themselves, but was the gift of God. If these, then, were the topics to which as brethren in Christ, they directed their attention, it surely behoved them to lose sight of all minor differences, to be bound together in this one bond of Union, and to rejoice together in that name which was above every name—the name of their common Saviour and Redeemer.

The Rev. Mr. Arthur, said,—In every part of the earth, amidst every variety of the human race, and under all possible forms of government, of manners, and of religion, one thing is evident—transition. Look where you will and you behold it. Yonder it is treading with burning steps upon the snows of Greenland; and yonder breathing in a healthy infancy, amidst all the malaria of Guinea. We see it overleaping the wall of China, and it is yonder again in New Zealand. In India we see it too, penetrating territories that have been closed for long ages, and defended by millions of hereditary priests. It is entering Turkey, and opening the doors of the harem, and establishing, under Mussulman protection, Evangelical Churches in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find it also treading soil long forbidden to the spirit of transition—boldly marching over the Italian land,—to the city of the Seven Hills, heaving them with bold and resistless motion, and declaring in the ears of the Pontiff—like a loud and unexpected thunder-clap—“Wicked and living Anti-Christ.” This spirit is spreading every where. I find no community that is not wanting something new, except those communities that have obtained “pure religion and undefiled,” in the Gospel of the Son of God. It appears to me as if, sitting as we are in our peace, and amidst our privileges, all the world were now presenting to us a demand for the gospel which we possess, as if the continent of Europe, stumbling upon barricades, and gasping in the smoke of gunpowder, and stained with blood, were crying out for “pure religion.” There is a phrase in the cant of modern philosophy upon the continent, which is applicable to men whose hearts are set upon doing something for their generation, “Men of the future.” Young christians, in the order of the providence of God, you are to be, as to material life, “Men of the future.” Then look to the destinies of days that are coming. I feel an impressive sense of the need we have to forget all but three things—union, holiness, and self-denial. Let us make haste to be one. Let us be hungry after holiness. Let us be ready to deny ourselves, even to the death.—Are we, knowing that we have God's work in hand, and man's salvation at heart, to sit still in little comfortable efforts, that never cut at the root of one of our habits, or interfere with one of our domestic enjoyments? As a young minister, I look round on the ministry of my own age or thereabouts and I see one thing. I look for heresy in doctrine, no; there is respectability. I look for scan-page 282dal in living, no; all is respectable. I look for great extravagance and fanaticism, no; all is respectable. I look for broken hearts, audiences bathed in tears, for vestries crowded with anxious inquirers, for ministers doors from which streaming eyes are turning, no; all is respectable—very respectable, and this appears to me to be the chief characteristic of our ministry. We want something that will rouse us to altogether a different view ef the mission God hath given us, and to the danger of the souls of men.