Welsh Journals

H)t?e ;Cewpoi[f ^restiyferian. MONTHLY NOTES. (January •'E are thankful to our many friends who have helped to" circulate our Magazine during the last month. There is yet room for a much wider circulation. Is it too much to ask every reader to make an effort this month to secure another reader ? At the risk of seeming '' wise in our own conceit," we submit that the Newport Presbyterian makes good reading for all who are interested in pure literature and Christian work. To help our circulation is to help in the cultivation of puie literary tastes, and the deepening of interest in all Christian movements. Who will help us iu the work ? * * Our Year Book is now published, and should be in the hands of all our members. The increase in mem¬ bership has been wonderful. We started the year 1894 with 155 members, and closed it with 222 ; an increase of 67. We have used no extraordinary means to bring in these new members. We have not had any Revival Services or Special Missions. We have preached and prayed and so have prospered. The lesson is clear— " Ask /or the old paths, and walk therein." During the year 1895, by more earnest prayers, by more faithful preaching, by more consistent living, be it our privilege to be more successful fellow-workers of God and His Spirit, more deeply devoted to His service, and more eminently used for the winning of souls. * « We are glad to be able to announce that on Tuesday evening, the 12th of this month, the appointed delegates of the Presbytery will visit us for the purpose of form¬ ing the new Church in Caerleon Road. We advocated this in our last number, and now it is about to come to pass. With all our heart we wish the new Church all possible prosperity. They will be about 60 in number. Situated in the thick of a population that grows with great rapidity, they will have noble opportunities, and will doubtless double and treble their numbers in a very short time. * * The new Church will bring the membership in Havelock Street down to about 160, or just about the number with which we started the year 1894, Figures are a poor measure of power. Gideon's three hundred must have looked small enough, and yet they routed the Midianites that lay along the valleys like g ass- hoppers for multitude. If the Lord be with us as He was with Gideon, these hundred and sixty will do mighty things. " The little one (in Caerleon Road) shall be¬ come a thousand, and the small one (in Havelock Street) a strong nation : I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time." * ♦ Our programme for 1S95, as given in the Pastor's Address in the Year Book, is in keeping with past success, and promises a thoroughly Forward Movement. Three points are especially mentioned—a New Chapel in Caerleon Road, a Branch School in Pill, and a Young People's Band. It is understood, of course, that all existing societies and branches of work will be con¬ tinued, only with increased vigour. The New Chapel and the Branch School will demand very resolute work. Some of our members will perhaps think that the New Chapel will be more than enough this year, and that the Branch School can wait. Honestly we think other¬ wise. We submit a few reasons. ♦ * We have now about thirty members living in the Pill District. If these worked together, they could not only start a New School, but also work it to great success. The distance from Pill to Havelock Street is so gieat that these friends cannot be expected to attend regularly three times a Sunday. Havelock Street School is already full enough, and if the Pill members left, there would be an opportunity of bring¬ ing others in. The rent of a schoolroom would not be heavy, nor would all the working expenses for twelve months be more than a little extra liberality could meet. And, above all. there are in Pill so many persons who never attend a place of worship, that our work among them would be a Christian Mission indeed. Put these considerations together. Do they not show that the Pill Mission is urgent ? • * For the above reasons, as well as for others which need not be mentioned here, we hope, if God will spare us to see the end of 1895, that we shall then have a New Chapel on Caerleon Road and a flourishing School in Pill. Let the members of the New Church in Caeileon Road band themselves together in the Lord, and their New Chapel will ere long be full. Likewise let the friends fiom Pill take up with prayer and persistence the matter of the Branch School. Let them meet now at once and petition the Officers of Havelock Street Church and School. Let them urge and urge their claims till the thing is done. Thus shall the Newport Forward Movement justify itself. o 0 Our Band of Help is looking up. The new Com¬ mittee means business, and we may expect great changes in the work. While sending out our energies far afield, to Caerleon Road and Pill, it were ill indeed if we neglected the people at our very door. May it never be said of our church—"They made me the kciper of the vineyards ; but my own vineyard have I not kept" The work of the Band of Help—visiting the sick and afflicted, relieving the poor and distressed, distributing pure literature, conducting Cottage Prayer Meetings, and the like—is it not mercy, blessing him that gives and him that takes ? Let the motto of the new Com¬ mittee ever be, " Freely ye have received, freely give."