better, it would be a work of supererogation in me to say a word of him. I conclude, therefore, with the expression of an earnest prayer that his renewed health and strength may be long devoted to your service; and that when others arise to fill his place, your children's children may come to the house which you have erected, to worship the God of their fathers in spirit and in truth. Mr. SWINTON BOULT was next called upon, and proposed-"Our Church in its integrity; free inquiry, deep conviction, earnest faith, and good lives;we may destroy the temples where our fathers worshiped, but in the records and remembrance of the faithful life, their good name and works will survive the fall." The Rev. CHARLES WICKSTEED, after some playful introductory remarks, said -I am, in truth, glad to be in Liverpool; to have been with you this morning, to be with you now; because the earlier part of my ministerial life was spent in Liverpool; and though fourteen years have passed, and more deeplyrooted attachments have ensued in another place, the memory of the kindness I then received is green and hallowed still. I am glad also to be among the Paradise-Street congregation, because many years ago I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Yates in the later, and Mr. Grundy in the earlier part of his ministry; and because I well remember the day on which your present minister ascended that pulpit for the first time; and did time and place permit, I could still give you a pretty ample skeleton of the discourse on that occasion. I am glad also to be here, among my friends and brother ministers, to stretch out to him the offering of cordial sympathy and respect. We have a pride and a joy in your minister, for we feel that his splendid powers and lofty character shed a lustre on our denomination. But I must pass on to the sentiment which has been confided to my hands. I accept from Mr. Madge the beautiful statement of doctrine he gave from the pulpit this morning; I accept that ample and Christian creed. The foundation of all our churches is their intellectual liberty. From their attachment to free inquiry, our ancestors separated themselves from the gorgeous Establishment of their own day, and for our attachment to that liberty we are content to remain in separation from it. We are at liberty to accept that creed, to modify or to reject it. Our Christian liberty is the firm ground on which we stand, and the first principle for which, at all hazards, we must contend. But in remembering the right, we must also remember the duty of free inquiry. I am quite sure that there will be no deep conviction unless there be first free inquiry, especially among those who must be the future hope of our congregations, the young people. My father's creed is nothing to me; it was much to my father: it must become mine by personal investigation; and it cannot become mine unless I am a reader as well as a hearer of theology. We give our ministers the privilege of speaking freely, but we must ourselves use also the privilege of reading freely.-I was pleased to hear your respected minister speak of what he wished to see in all our congregations-a genuine principle of association. I think free inquiry and the right of individual liberty have grown almost to their full extent among us: we have so enormous an amount of individuality, that it is difficult to get us together-that we are almost pulverized. Now the individual men and women which this glorious liberty makes, association will combine into a noble whole. We have now indeed the elements of power, which we can unite by the force of a great principle; and then we shall perhaps be able to present to the world a perfect and complete model of a Christian church. Hitherto we have done little more than solve the great problems of Christian doctrine; then we should be able to solve the great problems of Christian action. Without an active Christian love, our zeal will become indolent-our piety nothing better than hypocrisy.-The remainder of the sentiment touches upon a fact very interesting to myself as well as to you. There is allusion made to the temples in which our fathers worshiped, and which are destroyed, and also to their good name and works, which will survive the fall. This is to me rather a comprehensive subject, as having occupied so much of my time for several months, that I fear I may become too discursive. I will only express the hope that in our future edifices we may avoid the creeping meanness which seizes hold of a thing simply because it belongs to a dominant Establishment, as well as the bigotry which rejects it for no better reason. Let us adopt that which is good and beautiful in itself; let us reject that which is in itself poor and unornamental. We have built in Leeds, in Cheshire and here, churches, but not in imitation of the church: ecclesiastical architecture belongs to you as much as to anybody else: because you are Dissenters, you do not therefore turn your backs on what has gone before. In this country we have always been devoted admirers of ecclesiastical architecture: we have been pilgrims, both in our own and in foreign lands, to behold and admire the magnificent ecclesiastical structures reared by the piety of bygone ages: and I do not see why we should not adopt other features of it which seem to conduce to the beauty of devotion and the furtherance of individual piety. It may seem to you that there are additions and ornaments which may very appropriately be made to your present structure; and those who wish to call back to their memory the sainted spirits who have left this scene of their labours, may here find a place for memorials which shall prove ornaments to your church, while they gratify personal affection and reverence. Now it often happens that many of the symbols of Christian art belong to an age of Christian doctrine with which we have little sympathy. I can well understand that some persons may dislike the introduction of these symbols into their houses of prayer; but let not such persons rest till they have become convinced of the fact, that we have in our theory as fine a field for Christian art, and till we have all our churches ornamented with out one untrue or unchristian symbol. And if, in the exercise of these privileges, you bestow a little more of your worldly goods on your beautiful temple, it will be redeemed from much that is transient and changing, and many of you will be able to say, There I have a fraction of my earthly treasure stored up where "neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal." C. E. RAWLINS, Esq., proposed the next sentiment-"The other Congregations of our body, and their Ministers in this town and its vicinity; be the spirit of cordial good-will which subsists amongst us constantly maintained." Rev. J. H. THом, after some introductory observations, said, he offered his cordial sympathy, and his warmest congratulation, and his earnest good wishes, to the congregation which will henceforth assemble in the church of Hope Street. On this critical day of their religious life, when they were leaving behind them the outward habitation of their former history, he desired for them, that whatever might deserve to be dear and sacred connected with that place, in the principles of their Puritan descent, might cling to them as the flesh clings to the bone; and that whatever of further and richer development may have been wanting to the rugged fidelity of their forefathers, might more and more descend upon them in their realization of the future. Might he be permitted to say-it was just that he should say-that he uttered this wish, if not with an equal degree of personal affection, yet with as sincere a desire, as honest a prayer, as if he were uttering it for his own people. Standing in the relation that his people and himself did to the congregation of Hope Street and their minister, he desired to breathe a spirit of fervent cordiality and good-will towards him and his people. There was not, he was sure, one minister in their body who was not prepared to breathe that spirit of good-will with equal sincerity and intensity. He must seize that occasion to welcome once more amongst them his valued friend and colleague, to tell him how they all felt in his absence-how at least he had felt-as a warrior in a castle that had lost its tower of strength, desiring and praying, in a craven spirit, that no enemy would be cunning enough to attack them until their bulwarks were restored. He congratulated his friend and brother on the inestimable blessing he had enjoyed in his long period of rest and meditation, and that it had pleased Almighty God to mark that term of absence with nothing more severe than the gentle chastenings of his hand; that it had pleased him not to connect those privileged days with a sad memory which would have left a permanent scar upon his peace. He congratulated him upon the auspicious prospect which greeted his return to the duties of his home; that, returning as he did amongst them with a new strength, he found a renewal of his people and a new and noble church. There was, he well knew, no man who could better afford to do without the impulse of new circumstances, and there was no man better qualified to take the full advantage of new circumstances. He desired publicly to declare and to thank him for the harmony, the unbroken unity, the brotherly fellowship and cordiality which had existed between them, and to offer him, in the spirit of deep respect and affection, his earnest desire for his increasing success as a minister of Christ and a servant of God. Reference was made, in the sentiment just Intelligence.-New Church, Liverpool. proposed, to other congregations and ministers of our body, and properly so, for the circumstances of that day were not altogether of a local character. The fair and beautiful religious structures which had been rising, year after year, amongst them, were surely signs of increasing zeal and strength, of the sense of new wants and a desire of richer culture. He could count some six of these Gothic edifices. Surely these have not sprung up out of a valley of dead bones, the term by which the world thinks fit sometimes to designate our religious body. He was glad to see assembled, on that auspicious day, so many of the ministers of those august Gothic edifices, Mr. Martineau, Mr. Tayler, Mr. Wicksteed, and Mr. Aspland. It was a somewhat remarkable circumstance that all these brethren of his were conductors of the periodical literature of our denomination. How was it that all so circumstanced, except himself, had been improving their state, and making themselves bishops and archbishops, and deans with chapter-houses? He was afraid that in his less good moments (which he confessed he had) he should begin to envy these stately courts of theirs. These friends of his ought to rejoice that he had little of the iconoclastic spirit of John Knox, or else in self-defence, if not in spite, he should be preaching a crusade against these strange innovations upon the peace of our Israel; that he should call upon the Presbyterians of England to stand upon their old ways; that he should preach up the meeting-house against the steeple-house, and denounce the latter as the sign of every thing that was worldly and priest-like. The grapes being sour, he had made up his mind not to covet them, and to maintain the great respectability of old things and old ways, and at all events to wait until Protestantism should become creative, and discover new and beautiful forms of architecture, symbolical of its vigorous and expansive powers. He would take up and apply the noted saying of Michael Angelo, "Better than you I cannot, and like you I will not." Amongst the many delightful circumstances of the day, he must confess there was one consideration that excited some little apprehension; he could not but refer to the change of their locality and designation. How was it that they were removing from a place of fruition to a place of expectation, from Paradise to Hope? He trusted this descent was symptomatic of no declension in their state. "" He took comfort from the reflection that possibly this might be set down humility, and that they who went round as a symptom of their improvement in pretensions in stone set down the meek their towers, would against their lofty lowliness of their name. suspicion. Was not this designation of another circumstance that awakened There was their church a sign of their profound plotting? Was not this accidental humiliation He (Mr. Thom) remembered well that a device of their long-headed minister? in those last words which their pastor had addressed to them in their Paradisaical state, he told them that it was his his ministry, to deprive them of the wish, the most determined purpose of luxury of a good conscience,-that he was resolved to shake them out of all uncomfortable about their spiritual state. sorts of easy chairs, and to make them Now it might be that this explained the new style of architecture which belonged but most respectable building in which to the church. Instead of that simple they recently worshiped, and which spread itself most leisurely, and lay quite at its ease, they had betaken themselves to a style all angular and spurned the earth and sprung to the sharp; now they had a church which skies, and, on the summit of that severe finger which pointed to the skies, they had placed that solemn cross, which, if it suggested hope, did so only to holiprayer. Mr. Thom concluded his very ness and modesty and vigilance and striking and impressive address in these Hope-Street congregation, I pray and words-My friends and brother of the good and a right one-and in all the desire for you that in this design-a may prosper! May you yourselves be desires of his heart for you, you and he lively stones built up into a spiritual house, to offer praises acceptable to God through Jesus Christ! THOMAS AVISON, Esq., then proposed toast in an impressive manner. dom and simplicity, whose sympathy HENRY CRABB ROBINSON, Esq., after some remarks on the surprise of being called upon to address such an assembly, said they had heard that night words of truth, of eloquence, of solemnity, and he should be ashamed if they were now from him to listen to words of frivolity and insignificance. But he could not help making a remark on the subject of the beautiful, or rather the picturesque building in which they that morning had the pleasure of assembling. It was a new thing to witness an assembly of Dissenters in a building constructed after the model of the venerable Gothic churches which adorn our country. He should not soon forget the surprise he felt a few years ago on first beholding such a sight. He was in Manchester, and was desirous of hearing a gentleman preach whom he had the pleasure of knowing. He inquired the way to his chapel, and having received the necessary directions, proceeded in search of it. The street he found; but of the Unitarian chapel he could see nothing. While standing in doubt opposite to what he conceived to be a Popish chapel, he asked a gentleman passing by to direct him to Mr. J. J. Tayler's chapel. The stranger pointed to the building opposite; and on his (Mr. R.'s) remark of surprise that he supposed that to belong to some Roman Catholic community, added, "The Unitarians have thought proper to imitate the Papists in their forms of architecture." For a moment, he confessed, he was disconcerted by the remark. When in Italy, he heard the differences between Protestant and Roman Catholic churches thus described: "All Roman Catholic churches are in tended to gratify the eye; Protestant churches are built for the purpose of hearing." The two wants of the common people of Rome were of old described by the words, panem et circenses, which, translated by the aid of the ecclesiastical habits of Italy into our modern language, meant "maccaroni and processions.' All the ancient and long churches were built for the purpose of gorgeous processions. A large and important part of the service of the Roman Catholic church consisted of a long procession of priests, crosses, croziers, and censers filled with incense. For Catholic worshipers to hear, is less important than to see. Many of their services were familiar and known by heart, and they knew, by the genuflections of the priest and the ringing of a bell, at what part of the service they were. When the Reformation came, then preaching arose. It was resisted by those who wished to cling to the old religion and old ways, but it was practised and promoted by the early Reformers and then by the Puritans, who every where promoted lectures, and contemptuously termed the old clergy, who could not or would not preach, dumb dogs. He feared that, in some of their churches of recent structure, the conveniences for hearing were somewhat sacrificed to secure an ecclesiastical character of architecture. His remarks did not, however, apply to their beautiful church, for that morning he had the good fortune to hear every word that was uttered. The whole proceedings of the day had gratified him. He was rejoiced to see proofs that the national character of England was not deteriorating. In the time of the Stuarts, their Puritan ancestors had put on a goodly and noble front in the counties of York and Lancaster. There the Nonconformists had most flourished; and it was most gratifying to him to find at the present day the liberal descendants of those good ancestors now existing in the same places in their greatest strength. Not even there, indeed, did they constitute a numerous body. A form of Christianity like theirs, which refused to identify itself with any of those doctrines and notions which appealed exclusively to the passions,-a religion which refused to address itself to vulgar fears and idle superstitions,which, while it did address itself to the purest and best sensibilities of human nature, did it far more to their hopes than to their fears,-such a religion could not expect to receive the assent of the multitude, or to include in its believers numbers at all in proportion to those which were gathered together in support of systems less rational and spiritual. He trusted, in conclusion, whatever changes and improvements might be introduced into the ecclesiastical architecture of the liberal Dissenters, that the members of their churches would preserve the integrity of their course, the spirituality of their understanding, and the sobriety of their habits. The Rev. JAMES MARTINEAU then rose and said, he gave fair notice to his friends around him that, notwithstanding all that had been said against creeds and confessions, it was his intention to impose a creed upon them-a creed of one article-a creed that would pledge them to their belief for the rest of their lives. No one present would, he sup Intelligence.-New Church, Liverpool. posed, hesitate to give his assent to The CHAIRMAN, in acknowledging the The sentiment was acknowledged by Mr. RATHBONE, Mr. W. Roscoe and Mr. J. B. YATES. The latter gentleman said, he well remembered the removal of the congregation from a very humble part of the town, where they had long met in obscurity and humility. Influenced rather by hope of better things to come than by the actual state of their society, they removed, some sixty years ago, to Paradise Street. He well remembered the anxiety with which his father, then pastor of the congregation, entered on that proceeding. He remembered the close and indefatigable attention paid by him to every thing that could minister to the welfare of his flock. When his father first entered on his duties in Liverpool, seventy years ago, the congregation was comparatively small. By his zeal, and he might perhaps be permitted to add, his talents and eloquence, it immediately grew in numbers and strength. The new chapel was built and filled by a very excellent congregation, many of whom he (Mr. J. B. Yates) rejoiced to see around him on that happy occasion. Their honourable mention of his father was, he believed, well deserved. He lived and sustained of difficulty, when by the world at large their cause in a time of peril, certainly it was considered no honour to be a Dissenter of any description, certainly and obnoxious opinions. It was true no honour to belong to a denomination that he altered, about middle life, some of Dissenters reputed to hold extreme of his doctrinal opinions, for he was ever a seeker after truth; but the persuasion that he then adopted he maintained to the end of his days. men whom this sentiment honoured WILLIAM RATHBONE, Esq., said, the Yates had not only preached the gospel, but loved it; Dr. Shepherd was the were indeed a holy brotherhood. Mr. lowed. He had adorned the town by fearless champion of civil and religious liberty; the name of Roscoe was halspirit. He had been one of the forehis literary talents and by his public slave. He (Mr. Rathbone) felt that his father's memory was honoured by most in vindicating the rights of the trusted the memory of these men would being associated with such men. He cling to them through the whole of acknowledged in sentiment and words, existence-that it would be not only Rathbone concluded by proposingbut illustrated by a faithful and reverent imitation of their virtues. Mr. their Ministers;-the People earnest, enlightened, energetic; their Pastors "The Manchester Congregations and distinguished by piety, ability, faithfulness and learning;-present in combination elements of influence enabling them, now that the bitterness of sectarianism is passing away, to maintain ment and development of truth which, that position in the progress of improveably and nobly won and held." in the earlier conflicts of opinion, they could not be expected to say much in Rev. J. J. TAYLER observed, that at reference to the sentiment which had that late period of the evening, he connected his name with the place where his ministry was cast. He felt, indeed, that in every thing which reimportant locality, not less so than Lilated to the moral and social progress verpool itself. His friend Mr. Martiof mankind, Manchester was a most neau had referred to the lowness of |