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few there are that even preach the first principles of the gospel, and fewer still who are made instrumental, through the grace of God, in gathering together Christ's sheep dispersed abroad in this wicked world, and in building them up in God's most holy faith, by setting forth before their hearers the fulness of Christ in the gospel of the grace of God;' therefore, instead of seeing poor, outcast, despised, and persecuted ministers of the Lord, enduring hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,' we, alas! behold a large body of men, the generality of whom have not a single mark of a true servant of the Lord, living at ease conformed to the world, 'seeking their own, and not the things which are Jesus Christ's.' Nor do I see any prospect of an improvement amongst them, whilst the revenues of the Church of England are so immense, and consequently form so strong an inducement for ungodly and worldly minded men to enter the ministry, in order to enjoy at least a comfortable maintenance. But the way to heaven is strait and narrow, and whoever is called by grace to travel that must take up his cross daily, and deny himself, and follow Christ; for through much tribulation we must

way,

enter the kingdom of God.' Surely then, the true ministers of Jesus Christ, instead of living in ease and comfort, must suffer trials in various ways, for they cannot in any way expect to escape the cross, if they be faithful in their great Master's canse. But the world will love its own, and take care of its own. Then whilst we behold the Church of England closely connected with the State, sharing the riches and honours of this world with it, including almost every body amongst her members; if she be a true church, where is the world? but rather with grief and pain may we not say, Where is

the true church? Where is Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world?' Where is the salt of the earth, and the city set on a hill? Where is the little flock, hated of all men for Christ's sake, which 'the world knows not,' but to which God according to his good pleasure will give the kingdom?'

"The reason for my mentioning so fully the present state of the Church of England is, to show that I can scarcely distinguish a church from which I am seceding, as she is now lost and buried in the world, whatever she might have been in her better days. I can assure you, that I lament and mourn over her present state; and shall be delighted to see many

sound and faithful ministers raised up within her walls, who may, through God's grace, be enabled to work such an entire change, as shall cause the hearts of God's people to rejoice; if things continue as they are, the wrath of God will soon be poured down upon her. But may the Lord's people be led to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that we may see more manifestly a true church called out, and increasing in this our land, bearing the plain and simple marks thereof as stated in the word of God!

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"I trust your kindness will excuse so long a letter, as I am anxious fully to explain my reasons for the important step which I have taken. For as not hold my living and a good conscience too, I am bound even as an honest man to prefer the latter; for the apostle Paul says, if a man only doubts in doing that which is lawful, he is condemned. I feel assured with my present views, as stated in this letter, I am by no means justified in keeping my living. Therefore, I trust that you will kindly receive this letter, giving you due notice of my resignation of the vicarage of Sutton Courtney, in the county of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury."

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Since the publication of this pamphlet, the Rev. M. R. Whish, who we understand is a dignitary of the church, and attached to Salisbury cathedral, has written a letter to Mr. Tiptaft, in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, to warn him as a brother," and to inform him that other persons whom he has known, have fallen into the same snare. Mr. Whish wishes Mr. Tiptaft to "deliberate a little longer," then he will" not have written in vain." His letter is couched in a friendly style, but he says it is on a subject in which he can only "have a common interest with other brethren in the Church of England." It is a truly lame performance. If the church has no more skilful defenders, she is in a sad and hapless condition. Mr. W. combats Mr. Tiptaft's objections to the marriage service of the church, for example, by presuming that, without it, ungodly men would be at liberty to 66 run away from the nuptial vows,' a very luckless consequence, certainly, of the absence of a state religion; as though there were no connubial fidelity in Ireland or in Scotland, or in the United States. The argument of Mr. Tiptaft against the catechism, is met with the

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irrefragable rejoinder, "The Catechism is a system of divinity, and can any one lightly think of it?" Mr. Whish, on the subject of the church and state union, says, "I leave this point with the proper persons!" "but who will say that the powers that be are not ordained of God," as though civil power, the ordinance of God for man's temporal protection and benefit, involved the monstrous perversion, of secular authority over that kingdom which is "not of this world!" If the church has no sons that can better defend her than this member of one of her most splendid sanctuaries, she may well hoist signals of distress, and cry out that she is " in danger.'

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St. John in Patmos. By one of the old living Poets of Great Britain. London. Murray.

THE Apocalypse with its lofty train of visions and symbols-vials pouring forth and trumpets sounding-awful glimpses of the future-the burning lake, the purified world, and the holy city-is a subject perhaps too sublime and magnificent to be successfully treated by a mortal muse. It seems an attempt too hazardous and daring thus to " presume into the heaven of heavens, an earthly guest." We cannot forget the splendid original, in reading the composition founded upon it-" The noise of many waters and of mighty thunderings" breaks upon the

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Under these circumstances, Mr. Bowles' poem certainly appears to disadvantage; nevertheless we pleased upon the whole with his visit to the sacred island of St. John. To the Christian mind, the solitudes of Patmos are invested with inspiring and hallowed associations-its illustrious exile, though "dead, yet speaks" along its shores, and to us its monastery, grotto, and volcanic cliffs, form a far more interesting site than the plains of Marathon, the summits of Ida, or the coast of the Troad. Here it was that heaven took away her inspiration from the bosom of man. Here the voice of the revealing Spirit, --heard in all ages since the institution of the redeeming covenant-heard by Abraham in his tent-Moses in the tabernacle-Prophets amid the crowds of Jewish cities, or the wild fastnesses of Jewish deserts-and Apostles communicating the testimony of Jesus Christ that voice ever recognised by its awe-struck hearers as no earthly tone, gave expression on this sea-girt rock to its farewell accents, and unfolded those scenes of weal and woe, of light and shade, of joy and gloom, which shall chequer the concluding pages of the world's brief history.

The following extract pleasing anticipations : —

"That Book

Which the Lamb opened-as a
6 flying roll'---
Angels of light shall have, with wings unseen,
From shore to shore; and thus though Paul be dead,
He still shall speak, and millions, yet unborn,

Shall bless the boon. THOU shalt reveal the things

Which thou hast seen; but that same Book, which none

In heaven or earth could open, but the Lamb,

None but the Lamb shall close: awake! awake!

Ye who now slumber in the shades of death.

Yes! every nation shall confess the Lord,

Till all shall be fulfilled, and there shall be

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Through the wide world' ONE SHEPHERD AND ONE FOLD,'
For deem not this small frith, called the Great Sea,"
That girds yon promontories, girds the world:-
Without is the great ocean- the main sea,
Rocking in tempest, and in solitude;

Ten thousand isles are scattered o'er the waste
Of those dark waters; and each isled land-
ALL EARTH-shall be one altar, and from earth
To heaven, one flame of incense; and one voice
Of prayer, and praise, and harmony shall rise!"

*Mediterranean.

contains

TRANSACTIONS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL DISSENTERS.

COUNTY ASSOCIATION.

Ar the Annual General Meeting of the North Riding Association of Independent Ministers and Congregations, held at Malton, Yorkshire, May 30, 1832,

Resolved unanimously-That believing the entire extinction of the Roman Catholic religion is rendered certain by abundant divine promises, and cannot be very distant, and that it is high time to use active measures avowedly for this object, this meeting requests the attention of their Protestant Dissenting brethren throughout the kingdom to the fact, that while we have combined in missionary exertions for overthrowing, as our God may prosper us, the idolatry of distant nations, we have made no united effort towards subverting that of continental Europe, to which recent providential openings seem particularly to invite; and submits to their consideration, whether it be not our duty as strenuous Protestants, to unite for this object, either by joining the British Reformation Society, or by forming a separate institution.

WESTERN ACADEMY.

THE Anniversary of this Institution which took place on the 26th and 27th of June, at the house, at Exeter, which has been recently purchased for its use, was attended by a numerous company of ministers, subscribers, and friends of the Institution. On the former day, the students were examined by a committee appointed for that purpose, who made the following Report:

"We have been highly gratified, with the results of a long and scrutinizing examination of the Students, in Theology, Hebrew, Latin and Greek Classics, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Mental Science; time not permitting them to enter into all the subjects of the course of study for the year. This examination equally evinced the zeal and fidelity with which the highly esteemed Tutors have discharged the duties of their respective departments, and the application and N. S. No. 92,

diligence with which the young men have prosecuted their various studies." On the latter day the general business of the Institution was transacted, and in the evening Mr. Edwards, one of the senior students, delivered an Essay on the Difference between Natural and Moral Inability.

THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIGHBURY

COLLEGE.

THE Annual Examination at Highbury College took place on the 3d and 4th of July. On the former day the Students were examined in the classical department, from a statement of the books which have been read during the session. Passages were selected by the Chairman from Sallust, Virgil, Horace, Tacitus, Xenophon, Herodotus, and Thucydides. the latter day, several essays were read, and a series of questions proposed on Rhetoric, Biblical Criticism, and Theology. One class expounded a portion of the Greek Testament, and another read selections from the Hebrew Bible. The following report was furnished by the examiners;

On

"We, whose names are undersigned, cheerfully bear our testimony to the very scholar-like and admirable manner in which the young men have acquitted themselves; and whilst we congratulate the Tutors on their success and the Students on their varied attainments, we indulge the hope that an institution so highly favoured will continue to enjoy the blessing of the Redeemer, and the increasing support of the churches.

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of the Treasurer, that a considerable defalcation has occurred in the Annual Subscriptions. Some liberal subscribers have been removed by death, and others, through commercial difficulty, have been obliged to relinquish their assistance. The notice of this deficiency will, we trust, be quite sufficient to induce the friends of this most important Institution, and especially the ministers who have been educated under its patronage, to come forward immediately with their influence and support in its favour.

CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOL FOR THE SONS OF MINISTERS, SILCOATES, YORKSHIRE.

THE first Anniversary of this useful Institution was celebrated on Wednesday, July 4th, and proved highly gratifying. About twenty ministers of the counties of York and Lancaster were present, besides a considerable number of the subscribers from places in the more immediate neighbourhood. At the examination of the pupils, which commenced at an early hour, the Rev. R. W. Hamilton presided. The several classes read in Delectus, Cæsar, Virgil, Horace, and Cicero, in the Latin; and in the New Testament and Euripides in the Greek. They were also exercised in Geography, History, the Mathematics, and produced specimens of their attainments in writing, mapping, English composition, &c. Prizes of Books were conferred upon those who had distinguished themselves in their respective classes, and the general exercises of the school. Immediately after this a public meeting of the constituents was held; the Treasurer, George Rawson, Esq. in the Chair. A Report of the proceed ings of the past year was read, and ordered to be printed. Some important alterations were made in the laws and regulations of the school. Amongst other changes, it was determined, instead of limiting its advantages to the counties of York and Lancaster, to admit the sons of ministers from the counties adjoining, and in accordance with that enlargement of its sphere, to entitle it The Northern Congregational School. A considerable accession to the number of pupils is expected at the next commencement, on Wednes

day, August 15th, and in the mean time applications may be addressed to the Principal, Rev. E. Miller, A. M., Silcoates House, near Wakefield, or the Secretary, Rev. T. Scales, Leeds.

PROPOSED DECLARATION OF FAITH AND ORDER.

WE are happy to learn from several quarters, that the proposed Declaration which appeared in our last, from the Committee of the Congregational Union, has met with much approbation.

One intelligent correspondent in the north says, "many here have read it, and all concur in expressing their admiration of its literary excellence, and especially of its luminious and scriptural summary of evangelical doctrines and precepts. Our pastor

thinks it to be an article of so much value, that he, with a few friends, is reprinting seven hundred copies, chiefly for gratuitous distribution."

It will give us pleasure to know, attention is paid to it in all our that the same degree of enlightened churches, so that it may be adopted at the Annual Meeting of 1833.

ALTERATION OF THE MARRIAGE
LAWS.

AT a meeting of the Committee of and Wales, held at the Congregational the Congregational Union of England Library, London, July 9, 1832, it was

Resolved-That, as a new Parliament is about to be elected, it is, in the opinion of this Committee, the duty of the dissenting body to connect with the exercise of their elective franchise, an effort to secure the support of their future representatives to a measure for such an alteration in the law relating to marriage, as will save Dissenters from being compelled to worship, contrary to their consciences, at the altar of the Church of England. ARTHUR TIDMAN, JOSEPH TURNBULL, JOSHUA WILSON,

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ORDINATIONS.

Secretaries.

ON Tuesday, April 24th, Mr. T. R. Barker, formerly Student at Homerton, was ordained to the pastoral office at Harpenden, Hertfordshire. The Rev. J. Harris, of St. Albans,

read the Scriptures and prayed; the Rev. J. Smith, of Redburn, delivered the introductory discourse; the Rev. W. Chapman, of Greenwich, offered the ordination prayer, with laying on of hands; the charge was given by the Rev. A. Reed, of Wycliffe Chapel, from 2 Tim. i. 14; the Rev. Dr. Smith, Tutor of Homerton, addressed the people, from 1 Pet, iv. 18; and the service was concluded with prayer by the Rev. W. Upton, of St. Albans; and in the evening a sermon was preached to the congregation by the Rev. H. Burgess, of Luton, from Psalm cxxii. 6. 66 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee."

The ordination of the Rev. D. Senior, of the Independent College, Rotherham, over the United Church of Fairburn and Brotherton, took place on Wednesday, May 30, in the Wesleyan Chapel, Brotherton. In the morning, the Rev. J. Roberton, of Selby, commenced the services by the reading of the Scriptures and Prayer; the Rev. James Rawson, of Pontefract, delivered the introductory dis course, and proposed the usual questions; the Rev. J. D. Lorraine, of Wakefield, offered the ordination prayer; the Rev. T. Scales, of Leeds, gave the charge; and the Rev. J. Armstrong, of Wortley, concluded with prayer. In the evening, after prayer by the Rev. W. Gothard, of Knottingly, the Rev. J. Pudie, of Halifax, preached to the church and congregation, and closed the impressive and deeply interesting solemnities with prayer.

Mr. Rawson having requested the church, through the medium of one deputed by it, to furnish the assembly with a narration of those circumstances which had led to the transactions of that day, the following statement was given :

In replying to your question, it would be improper to overlook events prior to the settlement of Mr. Senior in this place, and in which this Christian assembly will trace the hand of a kind and gracious God. More than twenty years ago, the moral wants of this neighbourhood excited the attention and commiseration of three gentlemen of Leeds, the late amiable and pious William Clapham

(and may not imagination indulge the pleasing thought, that his happy spirit is hovering over us, and is rejoicing to witness our proceedings), J. Clapham, and G. Rawson, Esqrs. But it' was not mere sympathy; their zeal was active, and they themselves for many a Sabbath came and preached to the inhabitants of Fairburn the glad tidings of a Saviour's love. And they did not labour in vain. A thirst was excited for the water of life; sinners were converted and saints were edified, some of whom remain unto the present, but some are fallen asleep.. Since that time, the neighbourhood has frequently been favoured with the occasional labours of different ministers of the Independent denomination. An itineracy was at once formed, when some of our most valued ministers of the West Riding visited this as well as other places. The ministers of Pontefract and Knottingley, Dr. Boothroyd and yourself, Messrs. Chalmers, Lees, and Hesselton, have preached the Gospel here with zeal and success. Still there was no permanent ministry among the people, and they therefore asked you, Sir, if practicable, to satisfy their wants, and meet their desires. You applied to the Home Missionary Society for the West Riding of Yorkshire, and it very generously consented to assist them. Its pecuniary resources were much exhausted, but its deep poverty abounded to the riches of its liberality. A gratuity of twenty pounds was voted for Fairburn and Brotherton. On the third Lord's day of May, 1830, the Rev. Dr. Cope, of Wakefield, introduced the regular ministration of the Gospel in these villages. The church and congregation feel that they would be guilty of a neglect of duty, if they did not publicly express their gratitude for the highly valued and most self-denying labours of the different ministers and students, who have preached to them the word of life. Mr. Senior, who frequently, and with much acceptance, had preached to them when a student, was invited to supply them during the vacation of last year. He yielded to their wish, and the result of his labours was an unanimous wish that he should statedly instruct them in those things which belong to their peace. He complied, and immediate

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