WREXHAM.-Our chapel in this town seems to have been taken as far from the people as it well could be to be within their reach at all. To get to it we had to go through the town, passed nearly all the houses we could see, and last of all we came to the chapel. When inside it we found it to be a decent little sanctuary; but not at all adequate we should say to the wants of Primitive Methodism in such a population. The room beneath it affords but limited accommodation for Sunday-school work. We have a few faithful friends here who have stood by our cause through 'evil report and through good report.' Cheering accounts of revivals in several places in the station were given to us. As we had a meeting here only on a week evening, we could not judge as to the Sunday-school methods which are pursued. A conference should have been held, but it was more a public meeting for an address than anything else. We hope the teachers would receive some little stimulus and help. PRESTON BROOK.-We held a conference afternoon and evening at Runcorn in this station. The best arrangement had not been made for it, but as good as possible in the time that was given. We considered there was a very healthy tone in the meetings. Mr. Pickwell is evidently taking the lead of his people, both in the Sunday-school and in the societies; and they are disposed to follow and to work. We hope they will keep the conversion of the young specially in view, and the gathering of them into the church. The 'Salvation Army' are playing up here, and playing down too; and a number of our weak and unstable members are drawn away for a time. We wish they may be more useful to the Army' than they have been to us. LESSONS FOR THIRD QUARTER, 1882. Ju y Aug. MORNING SUBJECTS. SUBJECT. FOR READING. Golden Texts for Repetition. 2............ The One Living and True God Isaiah xlv. 11-25............Isaiah xliv. 6 9............ God the Creator of all Gen. i. 26; ii. 7 ............... Exod. xx. 11 16............The Ever-present God................. Psalm cxxxix. 1-12......... Verse 7 23........... The Holiness of God .................. Isaiah vi. 1-8 ...............Psalm. cxlv. 17 30........The Majesty of God .................. Psalm xcvi......................Psalm xcv. 3 6............The Wisdom of God Job xxxvii. 14-24............Daniel ii. 20 13........... The Goodness of God .Psalm cxlv. Verse 9 20. The Long-suffering of God 27............ The Worship due to God ............Isaiah lviii.. ........Jonah iii. ............................................ Exod. xxxiv. 6 John iv. 24 Sept. 3..........God Revealed in Nature.............. Job xxxvii. 1-19 ............ Psalm civ. 24 10............ God Revealed in Providence......... Psalm cv. 1-24 .............. Psalm cxlv. 16 17............God Revealed in Grace .............. Isaiah lv......................... John iii. 16 24...........God the Father of all ..................Psalm ciii. .................................................. Verse 13 July Aug. AFTERNOON (International) SUBJECTS. Mark x. 17-31 Verse 21 2............Christ and the Children............... Mark x. 13-16............. 6............The Fruitless Tree Mark x. 32-45 ............... Verse 45 Mark x. 46-52 Psalm cxix. 18 .Mark xi. 1-11 ...............Zech. ix. 9 13............ Prayer and Forgiveness ............... Mark xi. 24-33................ Matt, vi. 12 27............ Pharisees and Sadducees silenced.. Mark xii. 13-27 Sept. 3........... Love to God and Man.................. Mark xii. 28-44..............1 John iv. 21 10............Calamities Foretold...................... Mark xiii. 1-20..............Prov. xxii. 3 17............ Watchfulness Enjoined Mark xiii. 21-37 ............1 Thess. v. 6 Luke iv. 32 THE SUPERINTENDENT. THE position of the superintendent is one of so much importance that it may very reasonably be contended that the church ought to have a voice in the appointment, if, indeed, it should not have the absolute decision. Generally the election is in the hands of the teachers, and it will not always be easy to persuade them into a surrender of that which they have come to esteem a right. To attempt a change on which there is not general agreement is, for the most part, unwise, and never to be ventured unless positive necessity dictates. Where persuasion is ineffectual it is seldom, if ever, expedient to proceed to an assertion of authority. It might be very fairly contended that a church which has erected a building, and not only provides all the funds for the working of the school, but is also the instrument of that spiritual influence which maintains the supply of teachers, is entitled to a very important share in the government. On the other hand, however, the teachers may very properly maintain that they are the workers, and that as they are most familiar with all the demands of the service, and the conditions under which it has to be carried on, they are the best qualified to select a leader. The reasoning is not conclusive, and would certainly not be listened to for a moment in the ordinary affairs of life. But we have to do with voluntary labourers to whom the success of the service ought to be as much a matter of interest as it is to the leaders themselves, who have grown up amid traditional ideas of the rights of their office, which they are not likely easily to abandon, and who on every ground are entitled to something more than consideration. Respect is due even to their sentiment of independence, albeit it may sometimes be inconvenient and even a trifle unreasonable. Above all things, they are not, except in extreme circumstances, to be coerced and put down. These are points never to be ignored in any endeavour to secure for the church a voice in the election of superintendent. It has certainly a right to require that the superintendent of such an important branch of its own agency shall be a member of its fellowship, and this right it ought never to forego. Beyond this it would not be wise to lay down any definite rule. In an ideal system the superintendent would be elected by the church, perhaps, out of a list of two or three names submitted by the teachers, and in the formation of new churches it would probably be wise to establish such an arrangement. But where this is impossible, or possible only after a keen contention, it would be better to trust to moral influence to secure the choice of a superintendent, who will feel that the school is the sphere in which he can best render his proper quota of service to the church, and who in that sphere manifests a spirit of true loyalty to the body of which he is a member. Whether the superintendent should be a deacon of the church may be open to some question. It is certainly desirable that pastor and deacons should be in perfect sympathy with the Sunday-school, and as the presence of the superintendent at the council-board would contribute to this, it is so far expedient. I should be disposed to go even further, and to say that if the diaconal board were the sole executive of the church, the head of each department of labour (and the superintendent of the Sunday-school as one of the most important) should have a seat upon it. But this is not the state of things which is found in many churches at present, where a superintendent has been elected as deacon chiefly by the votes of his teachers, who have desired thus to show their attachment to him, and to testify their appreciation of the service he had rendered in the Sunday-school. The result is that his attention and energy are, to some extent, diverted from the work for which he has proved his real fitness to other service for which he has shown no special qualifications. It is certainly not to be assumed that a good deacon will make a first-class superintendent, and as little that an efficient superintendent will also be the most useful as a deacon. But whether this be so or not, it will be generally admitted that the work of the church ought, as far as possible, to be distributed among its members. A monopoly of offices is inexpedient, except in cases where it is absolutely unavoidable; and such imperative necessity is not to be taken for granted until every endeavour has been made to enlist all available talent. Still more clear is it that neither the one office nor the other ought to be considered an honorary distinction, and accepted under the idea that it will give the individual a higher status in the church. The office is greater than its occupant, and the primary object should be to have its duties efficiently performed. There are few men in this busy age who have sufficient leisure to be at once all that a deacon should be in a church, and all that a superintendent ought to be in a Sunday-school. If, therefore, a superintendent is also to be a deacon (and there are unquestionably many reasons which make this desirable) it should be understood that he is so as the representative of the school, and while his advice and counsel are sought, he should not be expected to take an active share in the ordinary duties of the diaconate.-Rev. J. G. Rogers. MORNING HOMILIES. July 16. THE EVER-PRESENT GOD. Psalm cxxxix. 1—12. GOLDEN TEXT. Verse 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? THE author of this psalm was deeply impressed with the greatness of Jehovah, in His wisdom, power, and knowledge of His works. Like a wise man, who desires to turn things to their proper use, he views the perfections of God in their relationship to himself, and shows a heart filled with humility, and reverence for his Maker. The subject of the lesson may be designated the Omnipresence of God, and what is involved in it. There is, 2. I. His perfect knowledge of us. This is asserted and described in vv. 1-4. It is true of us in regard, 1. To our being. 1. Thou hast searched me, and known me. His acquaintance with us is that of one who has thoroughly examined a thing, and understands all about it. He knows whereof we are made, and to what we have been brought by ourselves and others. To our thinking. 2. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off. This saying may mean that God sees our thoughts while they are being formed, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9 ; or, that although He dwells afar off in the heaven of heavens, He knows us as truly as if He were close at hand. Some have indulged the delusion that He is at such a vast distance from men that He does not behold them. Job xxii. 12-14. 3. To our acting. 2. Thou knowest my downsitting, &c. When we cease from our activity, and when we resume it, the Lord is there; in rest or in labour, we are all the while under His eye. 3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, &c. Our active habits and our passive states are all before Him. The passage means, Thou art round about me, to winnow all my ways, as one sifteth grain. 4. To our speaking. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, &c. The saying may apply to words already spoken. The Lord knows the motives that prompted them, and the issues that may spring from them. It may apply to the words not yet ready for utterance; but half-formed, or held in check; and the reason why they are thus. Or it may apply to all the possibilities of human speech. God knows all that a man can say, of good or evil. II. His complete power over us. 5, 6. 1. He surrounds us. He has beset us behind and before. He not only knows the past and the future, but He has formed them by His creative power and fatherly providence. 2. He holds us in His hand. We are so near that we are always within His reach, and so fully under His control that we cannot get away from Him. He can push us forward, or keep us back, or deprive us of our strength. 3. His dealings with us astonish and baffle us. 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, &c. The psalmist is satisfied that God knows all about him, but he cannot understand this attribute of Omnisience. We are all in the same difficulty. God would not be God if we fully understood Him. How shall we overcome Him whom we do not comprehend? If we cannot fathom His wisdom, how shall we free ourselves from His grasp? His knowledge and power are alike infinite. III. The futility of all our efforts to escape from Him. 7-12. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? His Spirit made and rules all things. Psa. civ. 30. Dr. Clarke says the word rendered presence means faces. Two methods of escape are mentioned. 1. Fleeing. 8-10. Whither? To heaven? There God has His throne. The whole realm is filled with His glory. Shall I make my bed in hell? That is sheol, the unseen world. If by this is meant the grave, God is there, holding the dead in bonds. If the region of disembodied spirits, He is among them, for He keeps such for the judgment day. If the place of torment, He is there also, for in that His anger burns for ever. Shall I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea? Bywings of the morning,' we may understand the swift-flying, light; by uttermost parts of the sea, remote and solitary places. Yet I can only go as far as Thy hand shall lead me, and Thy right hand shall stay me, and hold me back. 2. Hiding. 11, 12. What shall be the covering? Night hides many deeds from human ken. Some sinners disguise themselves by craft and falsehood. With God light and darkness, near and distant, are distinctions that do not exist. Before Him midnight is like morning, the centre of the earth as naked as its surface, the bottom of the sea as bright as the top falsehood as transparent as truth. His eyes are like a flame of fire, piercing the very soul of everything they touch, and making all they look upon luminous to the innermost core. We should fear, trust, love, and serve this great Being. July 23. THE HOLINESS OF GOD. Isa. vi. 1-8. GOLDEN TEXT. Psa. cxlv. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. IT has been supposed that in this lesson Isaiah gives an account of his first call to perform the work of a prophet in Israel. This appointment was made in a most fitting way. He had to preach the word of the Lord to a rebellious people. What so proper as that he should be given to see, in the beginning of his ministry, that God is absolutely holy, and that none but the pure can stand before Him; and that, moreover, He is ready to put away the sin of those who feel their guilt, and confess it before Him. We have,— I. The representation made to the prophet concerning the Divine holiness. 1-4. Notice,-1. The object. The Lord, the sovereign Ruler of earth and heaven. Isaiah saw Jesus Christ. John xii. 41. This is a clear proof of the Saviour's Divinity. The scene of this vision was the temple. But what temple? Some say that of heaven; others, the one in Jerusalem. The reference to the live coal from the altar seems to favour the latter view; though the exalted throne, and attendant seraphims, appear to point to the celestial dwelling place of God. Heaven is spoken of as His temple. Psa.xi. 4; xviii. 6. Wherever the scene, the vision had regard, doubtless, to the Lord in the habitation of His holiness. He appears in human form, seated on a throne, arrayed in flowing raiment, the borders of which filled the place. 2. The attendants. Seraphims. The name means burning, or fiery. Nowhere in the Bible, except in this lesson, are such creatures mentioned by name. The two wings for flight may represent their activity in God's service, the two |