All the demonstrations of their sorrow were but a weak expression of what they felt. And yet there was a meaning in the visitation; and one cannot doubt that out of their minister’s cheerful serenity, and calm and tranquil “exodus,” God wrought for them a quickening of faith. For of Alexander Raleigh it might well be said that the “manner of his passing” was an “evidence of the things unseen.” VIII—PLANTING A NEW CHURCH—MR. SYMES’ MINISTRY [Picture: Rev. Colmer B. Symes, B.A.] “GOD buries His workers, but carries on His work.” It is this faith that leads a Church, even under the shock of a bereavement as severe as this one had been, to turn with unabated determination to the prosecution of the work. The more nearly a Church of Christ attains the standard of the Master, the less it depends on any mere human instrumentality for its success. It is not the person of the preacher, but the Person of the Christ and the love of His work, that forms the sacred tie between the members. This it is that prevents the work of God from suffering, and gives permanence to His cause. It was truly with a sad heart that the Church assembled at this time to consult about a successor to Dr. Raleigh; but the claims of “the work” were paramount, and there was a plain but difficult duty before them. Our critics are not slow to remind us that the gravest defect of the Congregational system lies in the fact that, during the period when a church is without a minister, a system of competition among rival candidates is pursued, which is humiliating to the self-respect of those who preach, and calculated to provoke division and contention among those who sit in judgment. This evil is, we believe, being resolutely redressed in most of our Churches to-day, and the Kensington Church has never suffered from it at any period of its history. A trusted committee made careful inquiries with a view to discovering some minister who seemed to be adapted, alike in character and abilities, to the special wants of this neighbourhood. Opportunity was then sought of introducing him to the pulpit, and if he manifestly commended himself to the whole Church—and not a mere majority of the Church—he was invited to become the minister. This admirable plan has averted anything like the evils sometimes associated with a change of pastorate. In the instance before us the committee’s attention was directed to the eminently successful ministry of the Rev. Colmer B. Symes, B.A., of Exeter. In that corner of England Mr. Symes had most worthily maintained for several years the office of the Christian ministry, and had exercised a great power for good. All who knew him esteemed him for the loftiness of his Christian character, as well as for his ministerial gifts. As a man of culture and wide reading, he seemed to be conspicuously suited to the special needs of a locality, where the problems of modern thought occupied the minds of a large proportion of