imperceptibly, and certainly without any adequate provision in a religious point of view having been made, to the extent of the whole number of the inhabitants of the city of Oxford, and of the towns of Cambridge and Colchester. For these 2,165,864 persons, there were 350 churches and chapels belonging to the Established Church, providing sittings for 351,290 persons, and 447 places of worship not connected with the Established Church, providing accommodation for 250,228 persons; making a total of 601,518 sittings. The number of missionaries employed by this society at the period of the last annual meeting was sixty-one; and during the past year an addition of twenty-one had been made to that number, so that, at the present time, the society employed eighty-two missionaries. Since the last meeting, through the instrumentality of their missionaries, 163 persons had become members and communicants of the church of Christ; 8,606 prayer-meetings had been held, during the year, in the houses of the poor; and, by the instrumentality of the missionaries, 2,898 children had been brought under the influence of religious instruction. The number of visits reported at the last meeting, as having been made by the missionaries, was 289,924; this year the number of visits had been 364,369. The committee stated that an auxiliary to this society had been formed in Madras; and that last year the sum of 441. was remitted for promoting the objects of the Institution. The report then adverted to the state of the funds. For the year ending May, 1842, there had been an increase of about 7007. on the receipts of the previous year; and during the past year there had been an increase on the receipts of the preceding year of 1,1027. 88. 8d. The gross receipts for the year amounted to 6,7411. 5s. 5d.: and the expenditure had been 6,0927. 128. 9d.

In moving and supporting the several resolutions the meeting was addressed by the Rev. Messrs. Bickersteth, R. Young, W. C. Wilson, T. Mortimer, B. Noel, D. Drummond, J. Cumming, and J. Garwood; also, by the Rev. Dr. Morison, and W. Evans, Esq., M.P.

IRISH 80CIETY OF LONDON.

Twenty-first Anniversary, May 11.

The Earl of Galloway, president of the society, occupied the chair, and prayer was offered by the Rev. Mr. Morgan, who afterwards read the report, which stated, that the society had, since its original formation, been the means of instructing 200,000 Roman Catholics (chiefly adults) to read the Scriptures, and of circulating about 150,000

copies, or integral portions of copies of the word of God among them in their native tongue. Hundreds had already abandoned the Romish Church, and hundreds more were prepared by the study of the same Scriptures to follow the same course. The time having arrived when the society felt called upon to enlarge its plan of operations, at the last general meeting a resolution was proposed, in pursuance of which, in addition to its present teaching, it might be enabled to employ every means, consistent with the doctrines and discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland, for promoting the further scriptural instruction of the Irish-speaking natives. The total number of schools under the society was 788, and of pupils 16,975, of whom the adults amounted to 13,043; those upwards of fifty years of age being 351 in number; and the number of female scholars was 2,908. The number of books issued during the past year was :-214 Irish Bibles, 1,383 Testaments, 4,343 portions of the Bible, 151 Prayer-books, thirty-eight grammars, 10,855 primers. The report then referred to the society's new plan of operations, as to which it appeared, that with reference to the object of preparing young men for the ministry of the gospel in the native tongue, the society rejoiced at the establishment of an Irish professorship in the University of Dublin; and, within the last year, to accomplish still further the proposed improvements in the moral working of the society, it had been resolved, in July last, to devote 1,000l. for one or more exhibitions in college, to be held by young men preparing for the ministry, acquainted with the Irish language. It was also determined, in November last, that a school should be opened in Ventry, to be called the "Ventry Irish School," for the instruction of Irishspeaking youths, with the view of preparing them for the ministry. This seminary was already in operation, and five promising young Irish-speaking natives were attached to it. The Bishop of Cashel had become a Vice-patron of the society. The receipts of the society were 3,8771. 68. 1d.

The meeting was addressed by the Marquis of Downshire, Hon. and Rev. C. Bernard; the Rev. Messrs. Nixon, Tottenham, and Rowan; and by W. D. Seymour, Esq.

The report was read by the Rev. J. Angus, of the Baptist Missionary Society, from which it appeared that there were forty children at present in the school, and that its history, during the past year, had been highly encouraging and satisfactory, especially to the parents of the young people.

The Rev. J. J. Freeman read the cash account, which proved the increasing interest cherished by the friends of the institution in its welfare. The legacy of 2007. has been received, as the bequest of the late excellent Mrs. James, of Birmingham, and had been funded, with a special view to aid the case of necessitous orphans, who might hereafter seek to enjoy the advantages of the school.

The meeting was addressed by the Rev. Drs. Cox and Morison; Rev. Messrs. Clarke (Western Africa), G. Smith, Wybrecht (from India), Buyers (Benares), Gogerley (Calcutta), and by W. A. Hankey, and J. Trueman, Esqrs.

MISSION AT SAFFRON-HILL AND COWCROSS.

In the summer of 1839, a few Christian friends observing the spiritual destitution of the neighbourhood of Saffron-hill and Cowcross, Clerkenwell, resolved to attempt in some measure to supply it, "for the people perish for lack of knowledge."

They agreed to follow the plans of the Christian Instruction Society, and to establish a Sunday-school for the children of the poor,-to form a station for preaching and prayer, and to pursue a plan of weekly visitation at the houses of the people; to lend them religious tracts, invite them to public worship, and to minister, as opportunities offered, to the wants of their bodies and their souls.

Having succeeded in procuring the personal assistance or pecuniary aid of a few other friends, they inquired after a place of meeting, and found an old house that had formerly been occupied by a publican, which has a large sized apartment that was once used as a club-room; this they hired as the most convenient spot that they could procure, and there they have continued to labour, contending with difficulties and discouragement, to the present time.

Many greatly neglected children have been assembled at the Sunday-school, where they have made encouraging progress in useful and Divine knowledge, and in decent behaviour.

Sixteen visitors go forth every Lord's day afternoon to upwards of 500 families, containing at the least, 2000 individuals.

To these, publications of the Religious Tract Society are lent on one Sabbath and

exchanged the next, and a few words of religious advice are offered, whilst the sick and the dying receive more lengthened and anxious attention.

Many poor persons receive the visitors into their wretched houses with respect and gratitude, and the visitors have reason to hope, that some now living, as others who have died, have been converted to God by their humble labours.

In the room already described, public prayer and exhortations are held on Lord'sday and Tuesday evenings. Amidst the noise and toil of the week but few attend, but on the Sabbath evening from thirty to sixty persons in the lowest walk of life meet in the service of God, and some have been brought as penitent transgressors to seek the Divine mercy.

It is a decided proof of the interest taken by the inhabitants of this district in religious instruction, that amidst their deep poverty, many are found willing to subscribe their half-pennies for copies of the holy Scriptures; and in the course of one year, upwards of 100 Bibles and Testaments were thus circulated.

This interesting station now requires the generous aid of Christians, especially of those residing in the neighbourhood.

The house in which the school is held is so old and dilapidated, that it is shortly to be pulled down, and the members of this useful association will be compelled either to find new premises, or abandon the mission.

They require, therefore, funds, if not to build, to rent a more commodious, and consequently a more expensive place. The personal co-operation of Christian friends is also greatly needed, as "the harvest is indeed plenteous, but the labourers are few."

As they regard it to be a natural and obvious duty devolving on the churches of Christ in the immediate neighbourhood to seek the instruction of the ignorant and neglected, dwelling at their very doors, so they would particularly appeal to the honoured pastors, deacons, and members of the Churches assembling at Barbican, Falconsquare, Hare-court, Spa-fields, and Claremont Chapels, to encourage them by their pecuniary and personal assistance, by which a work honourable to God, beneficial to society, and consolatory to the poor, will be sustained and extended.

Communications may be made to the Rev. J. Blackburn, No. 10, Cloudesleystreet, Cloudesley-square, Islington; J. Pitman, Esq., 6, Colebrook-row, Islington, Secretaries to the Parent Society; Mr. A. Braden, 84, St. John-street, West Smithfield; and Mr. H. Penny, 8, Old Bailey.

VOL. XXI.

2 c

SECESSION OF THE NONINTRUSIONISTS

FROM THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND,
18th May, 1843.

Honoured and beloved be that band of faithful and intrepid witnesses for Christ's supremacy in his church, who, in spite of all that might influence their natural fears and prejudices, have renounced their standing in the Scottish Establishment, and thrown themselves upon conscience, upon Divine Providence, upon the promises of a faithful God, and upon the prayers and sympathies of thousands and tens of thousands who have listened to their instructions, who are willing to share in their reproaches, and who will doubtless stand by them in their efforts to construct a new religious denomination, under the title of "The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland." We are thankful to God that we have not, hitherto, allowed ourselves to speak disrespectfully or unkindly of that venerable body of men, who have now sacrificed so much at the shrine of conscience. We should be ashamed of ourselves, if we did not feel a warm sympathy towards them. The mass of them, we believe to be true and devoted servants of Christ, acting, according to their present light, upon what they firmly regard to be the will of God. Many of them are our personal friends, and some of them our beloved connexions according to the flesh. We know the men, and their communications; and we state it as our deliberate conviction, that they are the best men of whom the Church of Scotland boasted; more than a match for their brethren whom they have left behind them in the Kirk, in learning and genius, and greatly their superiors, with some happy exceptions, in piety and devoted attachment to the truth of Christ.

The spectacle which the meeting of the General Assembly presented on Thursday, the 18th May, was most imposing. The protest of Dr. Welsh, in the name of his brethren, and the subsequent retirement of the Nonintrusionists, as a body, to their - appointed place of meeting, was a sight worthy of the land of Knox. May "the spirit of wisdom, and power, and of a sound mind," rest upon the men who have made

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so noble a sacrifice to maintain their integrity, and to prove their homage to the Prince of peace! Oh that they may be enabled now to ponder the path of their feet," and to "keep their hearts with all diligence!" We can smile kindly at Dr. Chalmers's disclaimer against voluntaryism. It might, in all good conscience, have been spared at such a crisis; for voluntaries the Nonintrusionists now are, in point of fact, whatever they may be in point of theory. And more than this, we must affectionately remind them, that they never could have been in a position to set up their "Free Church of Scotland," if they had not become voluntaries in order to do it. But we are heartily willing to merge all this, in the ingenuous admiration we feel in contemplating the fearless intrepidity they have displayed on the side of truth and conscience. The fact of so large a secession of good and great men, from the best national establishment extant, is an occurrence of which church history supplies no parallel. It must tend, in no ordinary degree, to awaken attention to the question of state patronage, and to lead men's minds afresh to the New Testament, as the only legitimate source of information as to the genuine platform of the church of Christ. We promise to our brethren of "The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland" the right hand of Christian fellowship; and our fervent prayer will be, that their future plans may tend to the furtherance of evangelical piety and vital godliness, not in Scotland merely, but throughout the empire, and to the very ends of the earth.

to the series, we earnestly recommend our friends, for the sake of economy, and to encourage the undertaking, to adopt this method.

UNITED MEETING OF CHRISTIANS
On the First of June.

We hail this day with inexpressible delight. May it be to our churches as the beginning of days! Christ looks down on it with delight and complacency, as in this vast metropolis, a spectacle is exhibited, which may influence millions of the divided children of God to seek union with each other. In all important and saving truths Christians are one; let them show the world that they are such. If some, from timidity, or want of due enlargement, should be held back from this communion of saints, it may be that the effect produced by it, may lead thousands to reflect with shame and confusion of face upon their alienations from each other, as the disciples of their common Lord and Redeemer. The call to union is most urgent at the present moment. The enemy is in the field, seeking to place the friends of Jesus at a still greater distance. Romanism and Tractarianism are seeking once more to enthral this free and happy country; let the friends of evangelical religion combine, and they have nothing to fear from earth or hell. Let those who love the Saviour, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, repair this day to Exeter Hall, and show that they are all one in Christ Jesus.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT EDUCATION

BILL.

We expressed a hope in our last month's Home Chronicle, that before we issued another number of our work, this painfully obnoxious measure, which has occasioned so much alarm, would by this time be withdrawn by its original proposer. But up to this date, (the 18th May) Sir James Graham, in the face of more than thirteen thousand petitions, perseveres in his determination of going into committee. Surely, such a course, pursued by any government, in a free country like ours, borders on infatuation. Of all measures that can be conceived of, one for national education ought surely to unite all great interests.

How,

otherwise, can it be expected to accomplish its proposed end. We yet hope, that the government will yield to the loudly expressed wishes of the people; and that no government in future will attempt to construct a system of national education, upon the essentially vicious and unjust principle of vesting its administration in the hands of a single sect, and that sect by no means the

most zealous and self-sacrificing in promoting the education of the people. Of all the cant that the agitation of this great question has called forth, nothing has disgusted us half so much as the grave lectures which have been read in certain quarters, to Evangelical Dissenters from their Evangelical brethren in the Church of England, for their opposition to this memorable bill,-when they know in their consciences that, were it to pass into law, the great mass of the rising generation would be indoctrinated in the errors of Tractarianism, against which they are unable to raise any effectual barrier. Will certain persons never learn, that there is such a thing as consistency, and that those complaints of Puseyism which are found compatible with a readiness to commit the rising youth of our country to their care, are lacking of that sincerity and good faith which ought to distinguish honest men, who fear God and love the truth?

PROVINCIAL.

BLACKBURN INDEPENDENT ACADEMY.

Extracts from the Minutes of the proceedings of the Constituency of the Blackburn Academy, at the last Meeting, prior to the removal of the Institution to Manchester.

Resolved,

That this constituency feels constrained, before separating, to record with gratitude to God, and with respectful remembrance of the deceased donor, the valuable aid afforded to this Institution by the late Roger Cunliffe, Esq., during his life, and perpetuated since his death in the legacy of 1007. a year, bequeathed by him to its funds.

That the acknowledgments of this constituency be presented to Mrs. Cunliffe, relict and joint co-executrix of the late Roger Cunliffe, Esq.; and to Roger and James Cunliffe, Esquires, co-executors for the efficient execution of the will of the testator in behalf of this institution.

That this constituency present its respectful and cordial thanks to those residents in Blackburn and its vicinity, who have so warmly and steadily availed themselves of the opportunities offered, by the location of the Institution in their midst, to foster its true interests and promote its general efficiency.

And, that it tenders to Mrs. Cunliffe, specifically, the assurance of its grateful recollection of the important assistance which she has rendered, and of its most respectful and affectionate sympathy with her, while witnessing the removal from her immediate neighbourhood of an Institution, whose rise and progress have been to her objects of such deep spiritual interest.

Resolved,

That in parting from the Rev. Gilbert Wardlaw, A.M., and Mr. Daniel Burgess Heyward, the late tutors of this Academy, the former of whom gave in his resignation in February, 1842; and the latter declined the chair of General Literature, which was urged on his acceptance by the Educational Committee of the Lancashire Independent College, this constituency feels bound to give publicity to the following extracts from the minutes of the committee's proceedings in reference to these two honoured brethren.

"At a meeting held at Liverpool, April 5th, 1842, when the resignation of Mr. Wardlaw was read, it was resolved, That this committee cannot anticipate the termination of the Rev. G. Wardlaw's connexion with this Institution, without expressing their deep sense of the value of the important services rendered by him during a period of fifteen years, and of the ability, propriety, and delicacy, which he has uniformly displayed in the cases of difficulty which have occurred while the Academy has been under his management. They beg, at the same time, to assure him of their sincere sympathy, under the affliction which has occasioned his retirement, to tender him their warmest wishes for his future comfort and usefulness."

And, at a meeting held at Manchester, April 5th, 1843, it was resolved, "That in the prospect of closing their connexion with Mr. D. B. Heyward, the committee take this opportunity of expressing to him their high sense of his eminent attainments and abilities-of his ardent zeal and devotedness to the interests of the students-and of the valuable services he has rendered to the Institution during the period he has held the Classical Tutorship, namely, eleven years." Resolved,

That to give the wider circulation to these resolutions, the editors of the Congregational and Evangelical Magazines, and of the Patriot newspaper, be requested to insert them in their several periodicals.

R. SLATE, Chairman. Blackburn, April 20, 1843.

CASTLEGATE

MEETING-HOUSE, NOTTING-
HAM.

On Friday evening, April 14th, 1843, an interesting service was held in Castlegate meeting-house, Nottingham, the object of which was to commend the Rev. Dr. Alliott, late pastor of the church assembling there, and his future labours in the metropolis, to the care and blessing of God. This esteemed minister of Jesus Christ having considered it his duty to accept an invitation from the people meeting for Divine worship in York-road chapel, Lambeth, to take the

oversight of them in the Lord, his brethren, the ministers of different denominations in the town where he has, for a considerable number of years, laboured with increasing esteem and usefulness, deemed it proper and desirable, on various accounts, to hold a valedictory service on the eve of his departure from amongst them. The Rev. Joseph Gilbert addressed the people in a very appropriate manner, and, in the course of his observations, advanced principles and sentiments which were characterised by their comprehensive luminousness, and by their instructive harmony with the lessons of an enlightened reason, as well as with the dictates of Holy Writ. Prayers were offered up by brethren connected with the Methodist and Baptist bodies. It was a pleasing, and, to every mind imbued with the feelings of Christian charity, most gratifying sight, to witness this combined manifestation of sincere and well-earned affection towards a brother beloved in the Lord. On the following Sabbath evening the Rev. Doctor preached his farewell sermon to an overflowing audience, and many went away unable to obtain admission. His removal from Nottingham is deeply and universally lamented by his late charge, to whom he had greatly endeared himself by his ability as a preacher, his amiableness as a pastor, and his sympathy as a friend. Seldom, indeed, has a similar event taken place, accompanied with so large a measure of local interest and regret.

REMOVAL.

The Rev. J. Moreland, late of Totteridge, Devon, has accepted the unanimous invita. tion of the Independent church at Petersfield, to become their pastor, and commenced his stated labours amongst them on the 23rd of April.

NEWPORT PAGNELL COLLEGE.

The thirty-first anniversary of this institution will be held on Wednesday, the 28th June, 1843. The Rev. John Burnet will preach in the morning at eleven. The meeting for business will be held in the afternoon, and a sermon will be preached in the evening, by the Rev. H. Madgin, of Duxford.

NOTICE TO POOR MINISTERS.

An individual is disposed to afford pecuniary aid to eight or ten cases of Congregational ministers, according to the pressure of their claims. The time for receiving applications, between the 3rd and 5th of July, 1843. The letters to be directed to the Rev. Edmund Russ, Congregational minister, Seaton, near Axminster, Devon, who will be influenced by a due regard to the character and usefulness of the applicants.