of Mr. Toplady; both lived on high in the joyous and blessed realization of the truth and reality of the sentiments their respective hymns so forcibly express.

Mr. Mote's hymn as given below is as it stands in the author's own book and in Stevens' selection; in other books it begins with the line

"My hope is built on nothing less," which is perhaps the better way of commencing it, The hymn was written in 1825, on the occasion of the author hearing of an awful shipwreck on the Goodwin Sands; hence the expression 66 sinking sand," and one or two others, which such a catastrophe would naturally suggest.

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Mr. Mote was the author of several tracts, one of which was, "Reflections on the opening of new London Bridge." He was also a frequent contributor to various religious periodicals, and for some years in conjunction with the late Mr. Congreve (father of the present well-known Mr. Congreve) carried on a small monthly serial called the "Spiritual Gem." His "selection" was first published in 1836 containing 606 hymns. A second edition was issued in 1843 with 316 additional hymns: 116 of the whole number number are original. The book was entitled 'Hymns of Praise," the design of the compiler being "the glory of our Triune Jehovah, to promote which is to cherish in our memories and reverberate on our tongues the grand and immortal truths of the everlasting gospel." It is now, however, out of print, and probably will not be again reprinted. Mr. Mote himself has not long ago passed away from among us, one of a numerous family from which the Lord has taken during three generations many trophies of his saving grace. An interesting obituary of him appeared in this magazine for Jan., 1875, together with a relation in verse written by himself of the Lord's gracious dealings with him. Mr. James Mote, whose obituary appeared last month, was one of his brothers. The hymn now under notice, as

it stands in the author's book, appears as follows:

THE IMMUTABLE BASIS OF A
SINNER'S HOPE.

Nor earth nor hell my soul can move,
I rest upon unchanging love;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
Midst all the hell I feel within,
On his completed work I lean.
On Christ, etc.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest upon unchanging grace;
In every rough and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the vail.
On Christ, etc.

His oath, his cov'nant, and his blood,
Support me in the sinking flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ, etc.

I trust His righteous character,
His council, promise, and His power;
His honour and his name's at stake,
To save me from the burning lake.
On Christ, etc.

When I shall launch in worlds unseen,
O may I then be found in Him;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. Blessed be God for the gift of poetry to godly, men by means of which in songs of praise like this, we are enabled to render thanksgivings to his thrice-holy R. H.

name.

Barnsbury.

THE STRICT BAPTIST MISSION.

THE eighteenth annual report of this Mission is now in the hands of its subscribers. Copious extracts were given in last month's Gospel Herald in connection with the account of the yearly public meeting, held in Little Alie-street Chapel, on October 28th. Friends who have not seen the report itself should apply to the secretaries for a copy, there being much interesting matter in it which could not be transferred to these pages. Later intelligence is now to hand, from which the following extract is given, being from Mr. Noble's October report:

"The present aspect of this part of the mission-field is certainly not without encouragement to persevere in the great and glorious work of sowing beside all waters. The increasing willingness of the heatheu to listen to the gospel message, and their eagerness to procure the little silent messengers (tracts) a supply of which I do not fail to carry with me on all occasions, is very observable. There is also an increasing desire amongst professing Christians of all classes belonging to other denominations to know the truth as it is in Jesus, to many of whom I have spoken and given tracts, a great number of which in the English and vernacular languages have been distributed. By these and other means the distinctive principles we hold and maintain are becoming more widely known, and, I trust, also gaining a great hold on many hearts. I am led to hope that a bright and glorious future is before

school is doing well, the number of scholars is increased, and the progress made is on the whole satisfactory. At Nazareth-pooram, Vecutasawmy, the Telugu teacher, is doing well; he is now learning the Tamil language, in order to make himself more generally useful. His wife is about to commence a Hindoo girls' school. There is a night-school held at this place in which a few young men are learning to read and write. At Palaveram the bread of life has been broken in the streets and villages, and many tracts distributed. A Sepoy regiment is expected here, on the arrival of which we hope to be able to hold a regular Tamil service in the building in which the English cottage-meeting is now held."

At Pomamallee, Abel Michael had Lot been able to do much out-door work, on account of the heavy rains; Lut had gone out and preached Jesus unto the people whenever opportunity had occurred. On the 13th of the month (Oct.) he had been invited to a marriage in the house of one of our enquirers, to give an address to the bride and the bridegroom. This he accepted, and offered prayer on the occasion, and gave a suitable address in reference to the present and eternal welfare of the parties present. The usual Sabbath services were well attended; the attendance at the boys' day-school had been good; but the girls' school had only seven in attendence, which, if not improved, Mr. Doll purposed dismissing the present female teacher and obtaining a better.

The following extracts from a translation of a printed form of address sent by Mr. Noble, are given as showing the method adopted by missionaries in India in addressing their heathen auditors :

"Oh, people! you worship idols. We propose to show that such worship is treason against God, and a heinous sin. To do this we shall set before you

six propositions, and we ask you to give them your candid and attentive consideration. First, there is only one God; second, God is a living God; third, God is the Creator of the universe; fourth, God sustains and protects the universe; fifth, God is the Benefactor of the universe; sixth, God is the Punisher of sin."

These six proposition are all clearly expounded, and some of them enforced by quotations from their own poets after the manner of the apostle Paul to the ancient idolaters at Athens. The following extract is under the head of proposition five, God our Benefactor:-"It is God who makes the rain fall and fill your tanks. It is He who, sending forth His light and heat, covers your fields with luxuriant grain. It is He who clothes and feeds you. Why, leaving the God who confers all these favours upon you, do you bow down to carved images of wood and stone. We quote what one of your poets says of them: 'Gods there are baked and unbaked; gods there are planted and unplanted; tied gods there are, can they loose their fastenings? All they can do is to lie where you put them.' Oh, ye people! you confer many favours on these images, wash them, scour them, tie on their clothes, put garlands and jewels on them, anoint them with fragrant oil. All these kindnesses you do to them, but they do not in turn a

solitary kindness to you. Are they your gods, then, or are you their gods? Reflect and answer the question. Oh, people! when there is a God who bestows numberless benefits upon you every day of your lives, how shall we characterise your leaving Him and worshipping a carved image which has never, and never can, confer upon you a single favour. Is it not sinful worship?"

Then, after showing that God is the Punisher of sin, the address goes on to explain the way of salvation by Jesus Christ in words of which the following are a specimen :

"These things being so, a Mediator is required to stand between us and God. We need a Saviour, a heavenly Guru (teacher) who is able to expiate our sins, purify our souls, and bring us near to God. There is only one such Mediator. That Mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true God; yet He became incarnate as man, and lived upon earth thirty-three years. He came as the Saviour to remove our sins, cleanse us from impurity, and bring us unto God. He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins."

With many other words to like effect: thus do missionaries in India make known to their heathen fellowmen the way of salvation. Is it not very much after the manner of the first preachers of Christianity?

MR. WILLIAM RULE. OUR departed friend and brother in Christ was born in the parish of Barony, in or near the city of Glasgow, about the year 1823, and at the age of 20 years enlisted in the honourable East India Company service, and served as a soldier in the army for about 22 years in India, during which time he bore a good character, and when discharged held the rank of sergeant major of artillery, the pension of which rank he drew to the time of

death. He married while in the army, and has left behind a widow and four children, three of the latter are grown up and settled in life. I first became acquainted with our deceased brother in the year 1875, shortly after his arrival at St. Thomas' Mount, when finding him to be seriously impressed, I was induced to visit him frequently, and every time I did so became more and more interested in his spiritual welfare; and when the subject of believers' baptism was brought before

him and explained, he found little difficulty in embracing that doctrine, as he professed to seeing it plainly set forth in the New Testament. A great difficulty was, however, presented to him, and one which for about eighteen months he was unable to surmount. The distinguishing doctrines of Divine grace when opened out to him appeared to bewilder him, especially particular redemption, limited atonement, and man's utter depravity by nature, being without the will or ability to do anything good, etc. I saw that he was really anxious to grasp these soul-sustaining truths if made palpable to him; but with all the arguments I could bring to bear on these points, and all he could read on the subject, proved ineffectualthat of a limited atonement appeared to perplex him more than any other of our distinguishing doctrines. I was almost led to despair of ever convincing him of these doctrines, when at last in the month of October, 1877, I think, he took me by surprise when he announced that he fully agreed with us in doctrine and principle, and was anxious to cast in his lot with the Strict Baptists. He at once applied for baptism, and, weak as he was in body, he was determined, by the grace of God, to follow his dear Lord and Saviour through the watery grave. When examined by the church prior

to his baptism, he gave powerful evidence of the grace of God in him. I had the pleasure and privilege of immersing this dear brother on the 30th Nov., 1877. About ten months after his baptism, having been for some time suffering from a swelling and excruciating pain in the knee, he was obliged to enter the General Hospital, Madras, for treatment; but as the bone was in a decaying state all the remedies applied did not avail anything, and he had been there about four months when he expired on the 28th Dec., 1878. His sufferings were very great, but faith was strong, and his trust in Jesus firm. He was visited while in the hospital by several Christian brethren and sisters, particularly myself and brother Doll. A few days prior to his departure his mind wandered at times; but at such intervals as reason returned, he gave good evidence of faith in Christ. The remains of our dear departed brother were interred on Sunday, 29th Dec., 1878, at the General Cemetery, Madras, in the presence of a large number of friends. The funeral service was conducted jointly by brethren Doll, Chatterton, and myself. Brother Doll gave a very practical and appropriate address, and the hymn, "Shall we meet beyond the river," was sung at the open grave. All was peculiarly solemn and impressive. H. NOBLE.