Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

the change which had taken place in his religious opinions, and from the pulpit and the press avowed his conviction of the truth of the Unitarian doctrine. The consequence was, as might be expected, the secession of a part of his flock, and a violent denunciation of him and his opinions from the orthodox ministers in the neighbourhood. Of the ignorance and intolerance of these men it would be difficult to convey an adequate description. Calvinism, in its most revolting and hideous form, is the prevailing faith in this part of the county, and, as far as they can, its professors act up to their creed. Fortunately for Mr. Latham, he had the advice and assistance of Mr. Toms. That worthy man opened his pulpit to him, and cheered him by his countenance and counsel. After some time, the seceders from the church at Laxfield returned, and violently expelled Mr. Latham from the pulpit. The majority of the Trustees, if they did not countenance this disgraceful conduct, took measures to prevent the continuance of his labours in the church; and, thinking it more prudent to retire from a scene so disgraceful, he quitted the pulpit at Laxfield, though he continued to reside in the village.

During Mr. Latham's residence at Laxfield, he had been accustomed to preach wherever an opportunity offered in the neighbouring villages, and, among other places, at Bramfield, where, through the kindness of Mr. Page, public worship was carried on in a barn. Several of his hearers, in consequence of his preaching and conversation, assisted by reading.various tracts with which they were furnished by the Committee of the Eastern Unitarian Society, gave up the Calvinistic system, and expressed their wish to form themselves into a Church under the pastoral care of Mr. Latham. One of them, a Mr. Mills, a carpenter in the village, agreed to erect a place of worship, on the chance of receiving a very small rental for it. The courage and zeal which it required for so humble an individual in such a situation to undertake so decided and unpopular a step, can hardly be sufficiently estimated, except by those who know all the opposition and discouragement (to use no stronger terms) which he had to contend with. However, he persevered, and the Meeting was built. Public worship was celebrated in it for the first time on Friday, November 5th.

The service was opened by an appropriate prayer from Mr. Clack, of Framlingham. One of the members of the Church then stated the reasons which had induced them to withdraw from the Trinitarian worship, and to form themselves into an Unitarian Society. The invita

[blocks in formation]

tion to Mr. Latham to become their pastor was then given, and, after a short address from him, accepted. Mr. Madge then delivered an admirable defence of the Unitarian doctrine, which was heard with attention, and we hope with profit, by all present. An economical dinner was provided at the inn, of which about thirty partook. Mr. Edward Taylor, of Norwich, was in the chair. In the course of the afternoon, the Chairman remarked, that the Unitarian doctrine could not be considered as new to this neighbourhood, since it had been preached within a few miles of the place where they were then assembled, by Mr. Emlyn, Mr. Whiston and Mr. Manning [Mon. Repos. XI. 725, and XII. 377, 387 and 478]; and he expressed a hope that the seeds which those learned and pious champions of Christian truth had planted, would spring up and bring forth much fruit.-After dinner, about 127.were collected for the furtherance of the infant cause at Bramfield. Several friends from Diss, Woodbridge and Framlingham, were present.-In the evening, Mr. Toms gave a suitable exhortation from our Saviour's words, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

It would be improper to conclude this account of a very interesting day without noticing the prudence and discretion with which the building of this chapel was conducted. Here was no laying out a large sum of money on a doubtful experiment; no debt incurred, though the people are few and poor. It is also right to say, that Mr. Latham continues to labour in the adjoining villages, and hopes before long to obtain a footing in the neighbouring market-town of Halesworth.

Opening of Salford Unitarian Chapel.

was

ON the 25th December last was opened the Unitarian Meeting-house, Greengate, Salford, and dedicated to the worship of the One God the Father. The service in the morning was introduced by the Rev. William Duffield, and a sermon preached upon the occasion by the Rev. Robert Wallace, of Chesterfield, from John iv. 19-24. The preacher gave an account of the rise and progress of the difference of opinion between the Jews and Samaritans. He then explained the memorable words of Jesus Christ to the woman of Samaria, and shewed that the true worship of God, who is a Spirit, is confined to no particular place, and who and what the true worshipers are. In the course of his address, he made a so. lemn dedication of the building to the worship of the One God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the evening of the same day, the Rev. Noah Jones, of Todmorden, preached an extempora.

neous discourse from John iv. 8, God is love, in which he shewed the inconsistency of many of the popular opinions of the day with this attribute of the Deity. After the morning service, the Members of the Society assembling in the new Meeting house, together with their friends, dined in a large room in the Salford Cloth Hall. About 160 persons sat down to a plain, substantial dinner, provided for the occasion, at which Thomas Potter, Esq. presided, and Mr. Andrew Hall acted as vice-president.-On Sunday, the 26th, there were also two services-one in the forenoon, and the other in the evening. At the former, the Rev. Noah Jones prayed, and the Rev. R. Wallace preached from Gal. i. 23. The preacher defended the public life and teaching of the apostle Paul, and shewed it to be in perfect consistency with that of his Master, and took occasion to refer to and refute some of the statements of Gamaliel Smith. At the latter, Mr. W. prayed, and the Rev. J. G. Robberds, of Man chester, preached from James ii. 14; reconciling what is often urged as a contradiction between the writer of that epistle and the apostle Paul, on the subjects of faith and works; and taking occasion to urge the necessity of the

union of both. Collections were made after the services, and amounted in the whole to the sum of 1047. 8s., which is the largest collection that has been made on a similar occasion in this county.It was stated from the pulpit, that the expense of the building, including the walls round the burial-ground, the stone and iron work, gas apparatus, and legal expenses, would amount to about 12807.; towards which there had been then sub scribed about 8007., which, with the collection, will make 9007.; so that there now remains a debt of near 400%. upon the building. In order to liquidate this, it is the intention of the Society to apply to the friends of Unitarian Christianity for their support, and in that application it is hoped that they will be successful; for their having done so much at home entitles them to encouragement. The Society has now to pay a yearly rent of 281. for the land forming the site of the building and the burial-ground; they have also to support a regular minister, and to defray other incidental expenses; and this will be as much as they will be able to do in the infaucy of their establishment. The writer believes that the case of the Salford Unitarian Meetinghouse will not be found less deserving of support from the friends of Unitarianism than any that has been heretofore sub mitted to their liberality.

F. B.

Proposal for New Unitarian Chapel, at Islington.

David Eaton of some importance, but too late to come in entire. He says, " I am authorized by a gentleman to state, that if any persons will join him, he is ready to advance, as a shareholder, ONE THOUSAND POUNDS, for the immediate erection of an Unitarian Chapel at IsLINGTON. The great increase of population in that district, and the growth of knowledge and inquiry amongst all ranks of men, afford, it is presumed, good ground to hope that, under an able ministry, a respectable society would be speedily raised."-He adds, that communications will be thankfully received, addressed to A. B., 187, High Holborn.

We have received a letter from Mr.

THE Quarterly Meeting of Ministers took place in the Unitarian Chapel, Mosley Street, Manchester, on Friday, impressively introduced by Mr. R. B. Aspland, a son of the Rev. R. Aspland, chester College, York.-The Rev. F. of Hackney, and now a student in ManBaker, of Bolton, preached from Acts xvii. 22, and inquired, at some length, into the strict meaning of the word translated in this passage and in Acts xxv. 19, superstitions and superstition.-After the service, the business of the Lancashire and Cheshire Unitarian Book and Tract

the 31st of December. The service was

Society was transacted; and in the afternoon the Ministers and a few lay friends dined together, and concluded the day in

a cheerful and agreeable manner.

Manchester, Dec. 31, 1824.

THE Annual Sermon for the relief of the Necessitous Widows and Children of Protestant Dissenting Ministers will be preached on Wednesday, the 6th of April next, at the Old Jewry Chapel, removed to Jewin Street in Aldersgate Street, by the Rev. JOSEPH FLETCHER, of Stepney. Service to begin at 12 o'clock at noon precisely.

THE REV. C. P. VALENTINE has announced his intention of resigning, at Midsummer next, the pastoral charge of the congregation at Diss, in Norfolk.

THE Rev. JoйN LEN CHILD, pastor of the Congregational Church at Kensington for 16 years, has accepted the call of the church in Bridge Street, Bristol, formerly under the pastoral care of the Rev. Sa muel Lowell.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Joseph Lancaster in South America, WHATEVER may have been the eccentricities of Joseph Lancaster, he must still be regarded as the benefactor of his country and species, and the philanthropist will be anxious to hear of his proceedings. He is now in that land of promise, South America, and the following is an extract of a letter of his, dated La Guaqru, May 26, 1824, which has been communicated to us by a friend to whom it principally relates:

"Thy order for 251. came most acceptably to hand, my apparel needing a new stock, and my remittance from this country having not arrived. We all admire the timing of it as a most providential act, and we feel affectionate regard and obligation to you and other of my kind friends in England, and especially to my true and steady friend for so noble a token of his distinguished regard to one so distant from England, and forgot by many. Our passage to this place from Philadelphia was with head winds, and lasted thirty days; we had again to contemplate the wonders of the Lord in the deep, and to feel his hand was guid ing us along the pathless ocean. Our vessel bore a new banner-a bloodless flag, the standard of education-a shield with children with maps and globes; on the other side, my old and honoured friend George III. standing on a sea girt rock, leaning his hand on a trident, with this motto Columbia, to glory arise.' Thus the standard of peace and know ledge has waved over the unstable and changing ocean, and we were greeted to these shores with joyful welcome. On our landing, a deputation of the first men in this country waited on me, to welcome us, my only son and only daughter, and to offer us the very same table and accommodations as are usually placed at the disposal of the chief of the Executive of this Department when present.-Mules are just come down to carry our baggage, with a guide and a companion for us. We have a most noble house, well furnished, which is prepared at the public expense. And while enjoying all this from foreigners, I have thy son's letter before me, which proposes, on behalf of my professed friends, I should not return to England, or return on conditions: but this party have missed again the golden and glorious opportunity of behaving nobly; but they have no nobility in them, or they would long ago have swept a sense of their oppression from my heart, by an act of generosity, which would have atoned, in a small degree, for my sufferings. But now God has raised up stran. gers to do for me and mine what they

have neglected; and by God's providence, and not their doings, I am placed in comfort, honour and independence."

Ireland.-Until the meeting of Parliament, which is to take place on the 3rd of next month, things will remain as they were in this country. The com plexion of parties is upon the whole, perhaps, better. A Grand Jury has ignored the ill-advised bill against Mr. O'Connell. Some Orangemen have been convicted of a riot, on the prosecution of the Catholic Association; and a lenient spirit was shewn by the prosecutors and met by corresponding feelings on the other side. This has displeased the bigots of both parties. Let the Law triumph over passion, and political and religious animosities will presently subside.- We hear of no more Bible-battles.-The Catholic rent is coming in regularly; a few driblets have been sent from England, and amongst these £10 from the Devon County Club, at the head of which is the Duke of Bedford.-Though Mr. O‘Connell is at liberty, we have no tidings of the missionaries deputed by the Associa tion to treat us on this side of the water (and a treat it would be) with some of the best specimens of Irish Eloquence.For the first time, the English Catholics, who are uniting every where, have in their central meeting at London declared themselves in alliance with their Irish brethren, and have expressed unqualified approbation of the character and conduct of the Irish leader, O'Conuell. At the meeting alluded to, which consisted of the Catholic nobility, gentry aud priest. hood, the venerable Charles Butler took part in the proceedings. In thus forgetting past differences with a view to further a common object, the Catholics set an example to the Protestant Dissenters, who, if they ever succeed in their claims upon the legislature and the govern ment, will do so only by community of feeling and concentration of exertion.

The Royal Tapestries, made by order of Pope Leo X. for our Henry VIII, from the Cartoons of Raphael, and sold by order of the Commonwealth, in 1650, with the private property of Charles I., have recently been recovered by Mr. Tupper, our Consul in Spain, from a palace of the Duke of Alva. There are two subjects not included in the paintings at Hampton Court; namely, the Conversion of St. Paul, and Christ giving the Key to St. Peter.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, with his accus. tomed munificence, has presented the sum of One Thousand Pounds to the London Mechanics' Institution.

New University.

In consequence of the overflow of students at both our Universities, it is in contemplation to found a Third University in the neighbourhood of York,

towards which the venerable and excellent Earl Fitzwilliam has promised to subscribe Fifty Thousand Pounds!

The following is a summary of the Members of all the Colleges at Cambridge, in 1824 Trinity, 1229. St. John's, 1015. Queen's, 228. Emmanuel, 218. Christ's, 210. Jesus, 204. Caius, 201. St. Peter's, 169. Clare Hall, 139. Trinity Hall, 135. Corpus Christi, 130. Pembroke Hall, 125. Catherine Hall, 118. King's, 108. Sidney 101. Magdalene, 95. Downing, 53. University officers, 11-4489.-Comparative View -1748, 1500. 1813, 2805. 1823, 4277.-Morn. Chron.

LITERARY.

Orthodox Plagiaries Detected. Criticism is never more useful or commendable than when it apprehends and brings to punishment the poachers in the field of letters. Two grave offenders of this description have been lately caught, and the reader will naturally look for some account of them in the magazines, which are in this respect literary police reports. The religious periodicals are specially bound to give this news from the justice-room of the republic of letters, as the culprits are divines, popular, "Evangelical" divines, wearing the broad. est phylacteries of "orthodoxy."

One of these is "the Rev. JOHN ANGELL JAMES, minister of Carr's Lane Chapel, Birmingham." This gentleman has been lately engaged in an attack upon stage amusements, which undoubtedly he had a right to attack. But his mode of warfare has been complained of in his own town, as not being quite agreeable to the rules of civilized hostilities. Nor is this all a townsman has addressed a letter to him, forming a pamphlet of upwards of 100 pages, entitled, (by a play upon one of his own titles,) "The Plagiary "Warned,'" in which he convicts the reverend gentleman of extensive depredations upon the works of others: whole pages of this serious monitor's are tracked by the vigilant letter-writer to a book by Dr. Styles, once employed in a contest similar to Mr. James's. That they may be followed up yet higher is not here pretended. In Mr. James's works, some of them sermons, the borrowed passages (we might use another word) stand without acknowledgment, without even those slight indications of dependence, inverted commas. This account the "Evangeli

[ocr errors]

cal" Mr. may be able to settle with the 'Evangelical" Dr.; but how will he answer to the public for taking (this word has several senses) a sermon of Archbishop Tillotson's, and passing it off as his own, and receiving for it praises upon his talents, eloquence and piety, from the reviewers of his own party? The sagacious letter-writer, a faithful officer of justice, has found and proved the property upon him. And yet we should not wonder if the said "Rev. John Angell James" had been ere now heard to pronounce Archbishop Tillotson no gospelpreacher!

The other detected plagiary is "the Rev. Thomas T. Biddulph, A. M. Minister of St. James's, Bristol," who has been long one of the most active and zealous members of what is called the "Evangelical" party in the Church of England. A work of his lately published, under the title of "Divine Influence, or the Opera tion of the Holy Spirit traced from the Creation of Man to the Consummation of all Things," has fallen under the notice of the last or LXIst No. of the Quarterly Review. The reviewer makes some very just observations upon the author's doctrines and criticisms, and then lays open the source from which the reverend writer has obtained his plan and argument, his names and, what is more striking, one at least of his blundering calumnies. The writer to whom the "Evangelical" minister is indebted, is the late Dr. Vicesimus Knox, in his Christian Philosophy. In vain, says the reviewer, has he sought for some slight confession of obligation to Dr. Knox. According to his mode of thinking, there is something not quite right in this concealment, and he quotes the words of Goldsmith, that "a trifling acknowledgment would have made that lawful prize, which may now be considered as plunder."-From Dr. Knox, Mr. Biddulph has taken passages from Paley, Tillotson and Warburton, to shew that these eminent theologians were ignorant of the gospel. Paley and Tillotson are injured by the original and the imitative accuser only by being quoted loosely in detached passages, which in Tillotson's huge volumes it would be an endless task to attempt to verify; but Warburton is egregiously and foully misrepresented. This able writer is charged with a notion which he expressly introduces for the purpose of confuting! The notion attributed to Warburton, to which his name is affixed without more special reference, is this-"Socrates preaching moral virtue, and dying to bear witness to the unity of the Godhead, was made to the Grecian people wisdom and righteousness, not less than Jesus." These are indeed Warburton's words, but in using them he

is describing and refuting what he calls Paganized Christianity. (The passage is in the 3rd chap. of the 3rd book of The Doctrine of Grace, in which book, says the reviewer, he has left this sentence on record: "The redemption of mankind by the death of Christ, and the sacrifice of himself upon the cross, together with its consequent doctrine of justification by faith alone, were the great gospel principles on which Protestantism was founded on the first general separation from the Church of Rome.") Was ever writer more sinned against? The sin is not originally Mr. Biddulph's, but he makes it his own by repeating it, and stands at the same time convicted of the further offence of disingenuousness with regard both to Knox and his own readers. -The Quarterly Review has, we conceive, done good service in this literary labour. It is always useful to unmask pretenders, and in both these cases, it should be observed, the peccant books put in extraordinary claims for spirituality and sanctity of purpose. The Bristol minister not only writes upon "divine influence," by which he means a sanctifying power on the heart and life of the believer, but it is also implied in his book that he himself is a happy example of "divine influence:" now what does this pretension amount to, when in the very utterance of it the writer not only falls into gross and defamatory errors, but also does that which the majority of writers, aspiring to no more than a fair character in the world, would deem in the highest degree dishonourable?

Juvenile Periodical Literature.

In this day of printing and of making the press cheap, nothing scarcely surprises us; but we confess that we were scarcely prepared for an authentic statement that is now before us of periodical publications for children. From this it appears that there are no less than fourteen of these published monthly. Four are sold at 4d. each; one at 3d; one at 2d; and eight at 1d. Twelve are in the hands of the parties calling themselves "Evangelical." Mr. John Campbell, the African Missionary Traveller, and droll Dissenting Minister, gives his name as Editor of one of the Penny works, which is gravely recommended in advertisements by several of the popular Calvinistic preachers. Some of these cheap magazines are illustrated with cuts.

Mr. Richard Priestley, classical bookseller, Holborn, has given notice of an Uniform Edition, by subscription, of the Variorum Greek Classics. The whole collection it is supposed will form 150

volumes. The average price of each volume of about 500 pages, 15s.; large paper, 25s. A Bust or Frontispiece will be given with each author.

HEBREW MS.-The Biblical world is at present occupied in the investigation of of a Hebrew Roll of great antiquity, found in a vessel captured by the Greeks, which roll has recently been brought to this country. The enormous sum of 1250 pounds is asked for this relic; half that amount is said to have been offered for it by an eminent Hebrew Capitalist. Gent. Mag.

Mr. LAZARUS COHEN has in the press a New System of Astronomy, in six parts: comprehending the Discovery of Cause which Actuates the Planetary Systhe Gravitating Power; the Efficient tem; the Causes of the Tides; the Laws that Govern the Winds, &c. &c.: the whole accounted for on Mechanical Principles. One vol. demy 8vo.

The Rev. Dr. EVANS, of Islington, is his Tracts, Sermons and Funeral Oraat length putting to press a Collection of tions; including an Attempt to account for the Infidelity of Edward Gibbon, Esq.;

[ocr errors]

a Letter to Dr. Hawker on General Re

demption; and Memorandums of the General Baptist Church at Barbican under the care of Dr. James Foster: with Obituaries and Miscellanies, which have an Appendix, containing Biographies, appeared in periodical publications.

FOREIGN.

Statistical Notice of certain Continental Universities, in 1823.

THE following estimate of the number of students will afford some idea of the comparative reputation of the different Universities of Belgium, Germany, Norway and Russia.

Belgium.-At Louvain there were in 1823, 309 students; at Gand, 297; Liege, 462; Leyden, 382; Utrecht, 312; Groningen, 277.

Germany-At Gottingen, 1559; Leipsick, 1645; Tubingen, 795; Halle, 1119. Heidelberg, 660; Wartzbourg, 663; Bonn, 528; Berlin, 1249; Freyburg, 556; and Greifswalde, 127.

Norway. At Christiana, 211. Russia. At Moscow, 695; Dorpat, 400; and Charkow, 264.

Prussia-Berlin.-" I did not expect to have found the churches so well attended even by the higher classes. In the Cathedral I heard the best sermon preached which I heard in Germany; yet the cler

« PoprzedniaDalej »