revel in stolen wealth alone. We repeat, that one ground, and one only is consistent or christian, and that is the ground taken in the petition of the Baptist Union and many others, the ground taken by Mr. Bright and Mr. S. Crawford in the House of Commons, viz:-that all State endowments are religiously wrong.

Let it be understood, too, that they are equally bad politically, that is, if the end of politics be to secure the subject's liberties in preference to securing impunity for the oppressors of the people. C.

THE HANSERD KNOLLYS SOCIETY.

Most of the readers of "The Church" will perhaps be aware that this society has been recently organized, for the express purpose of publishing the works of old Baptist writers. Some of these are truly valuable on many accounts; especially interesting as ancient embodiments of our present distinctive principles. Now, shall we not deliver them from the ravages of the moth? Every book that is printed tells for the better or the worse, to a greater or less extent, upon society; and present society upon the generation following; mind moulding mind through successive ages: shall we boast, then, of our near approximation to the "truth as it is in Jesus," and not wish to diffuse our principles in present society, and consequently through future generations? The writer is not provoked to make this appeal to the readers of "The Church," by the attempts of journalists, such as the editor of the "Christian Witness," to depreciate our intelligence as a body, and our gard for the higher operations of authorship." Let these charges refute them. selves. But the appeal is made on the ground of our regard for superior intelligence, right principles, and sound scriptural truths. We would add, too, on the ground of our denominationalism. Many Baptists confine theirs within the narrow precincts of their own churches; and whatever affects the good of the whole, and its extension in the world, they view with a stoic's eye and a stoic's heart. Brethren, "these things ought not so to be."

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An opportunity, then, is offered us, of showing our regard for what is good and great. The list of subscribers is making up. Shall it fall in number below the proposed three thousand? Baptists, never Îet it be ! Heads of families, the best legacy you can leave your children, is the minds of these great and good men, impressed upon the pages published by this society. In this sense "wisdom is to them more precious than rubies." Sunday

school teachers, you have a library for your school, would any works be more cheap (three octavo volumes annually for the subscription of ten shillings and sixpence, if the three thousand can be made up); or, can any works be more proper for a Baptist Sunday-school? Your library will upbraid you, if you have them not. Young men in our churches and congregations, cultivate your taste for reading, and store your minds with denominational information and sound principles, by procuring these publications. Let no Baptist, who can get them, be without them. If this "word" directed "to the wise, should be found sufficient for them," call attention to the project, and at all benefit the denomination, it will be gratifying to

A WELL-WISHER OF THE SAME.

OBITUARY.

HANNAH ANDERSON.

Died at Armley near Leeds, March 19, at the advanced age of eighty-six, Hannah Anderson, a honourable member of the Baptist Chapel at Bramley, for sixty-seven years. She was baptized by Mr. Asqwith, the first pastor of the Church, at the early age of eighteen years; and, to the close of her pilgrimage, she exemplified in her conduct the holy fruits of that change which divine grace had brought on her in early life, in her unaffected piety, the simplicity of her manners, her warm attachment to the house and people of God, and regular attendance on the ordinances of religion. During the last few years of her life, her infirmities of body prevented her from appearing before God in Zion; yet she enjoyed much of the power and sweetness of religion; and the pious truths of the gospel were her support, when heart and flesh were failing her. Her last illness was short; during which she expressed her firm reliance on the atonement and righteousness of the Saviour, as the ground of her acceptance before God. She committed her soul into the hands of the Redeemer, and calmly fell asleep.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE MAYNOOTH GRANT.-The agitation against the passing of the proposed grant still continues, both in and out of Parliament. According to the last report of the select committee, the number of petitions against the grant, which had, up to the 11th of April, been presented to the House of Commons, was 3,721,-signatures, 485,512. On Tuesday, the 15th ult. 406 petitions (chiefly from Dissenters) were presented; on Wednesday, 421; on

Thursday, 366; on Friday, 356; and on the following Monday, 203. Important meetings have been held in different parts of the metropolis, and in almost all the large towns of England and Scotland. In the meantime the second reading of the Bill has been passed in the House of Commons, by the large majority of 147. Mr. Ward has proposed his motion, that the endowment should be made out of the enormous revenues of the Irish Established Church. This has been rejected by an equally large majority. Mr. S. Crawford will move the following resolution :"That any provision for the separate or exclusive education of any particular religious denomination, or for the support or endowment of any religious sect or sects, by state grants, or funds raised by compulsory assessment, whether under the name of tithes, rents, cesses, taxes, Regium Donum, or under any other name or form whatever, is a violation of the rights of conscience, detrimental to religious truth, and dangerous to civil and religious freedom; and that all such establishments, grants, or endowments, now in existence in the United Kingdom ought to be discontinued, with as little delay as may be consistent with a due regard to the rights of those who have life interests in the same." -Still let Dissenters be on the alert. "Clouds and darkness are, indeed, round about GOD;"

"He moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;"

but justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne; and he has promised that all things shall work together for the good of his people. Let them not forget a throne of grace.

BAPTIST COLLEGE, CANADA.-Three thousand pounds have been subscribed in England towards a Baptist College at Montreal, Canada, and as much more is still wanted. We have just seen the handsome plan of it; and while congratulating our Canadian friends on what we are aiding them to effect, we confess we are almost tempted to be ashamed of Baptist Colleges in England. The oldest of these looks much like a Bridewell; the next was an old brick palace made somewhat comfortable; the third appears very much like a factory, guiltless of course of the smoke producer. It seems Baptist colleges put on their best dress when they go abroad. We are happy to give the following extract from the report :-"Sixteen students have, during the year, enjoyed the benefits of the college. The studies have embraced Church History, Theology, Moral Philosophy, Logic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Mathematics, Biblical Geography, and History. At the annual Examination of May last, the Rev. H. ESSON was pleased to use the following

language:-'I have great pleasure in bearing this public testimony of my high sense of the eminent efficiency and success of the system of education, secular and sacred, in the Baptist College of this city, of which your late Examination afforded decisive evidence. The lengthened and searching probation to which the classes in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Geometry, and Moral Philosophy, were severally subjected while I was present, in which I took a part, has left upon my mind a deep conviction of the ability, learning, and faithfulness of the professors, and of the proficiency of the students."""

LECTURES IN REPLY ΤΟ DR. HALLEY. We are, at length, able to announce that Mr. Stovel, of Prescotstreet, intends delivering a course of lectures, on the personal and spiritual qualification for christian discipleship, and its scriptural recognition, privileges, and responsibilities, as opposed to the indiscriminate system submitted by Dr. Halley in his congregational lectures,-to hereditary claims to the covenant of grace,-to the sacramental system of Papists and Oxford tractmen, and the superficiality of modern formalists. The committee of the Baptist Missionary Society have granted the Library in Moorgate-street for the occasion; but the lectures have no connexion with that Society, nor are the committee in any way responsible for what may be delivered. A private committee will, we understand, be formed to superintend the incidental arrangements, and secure the fulfilment of these conditions. In order to facilitate the attendance of all friends to personal religion, in the churches of Christ, it is intended to deliver the course in October next. It is hoped that a syllabus of the lectures, with tickets and advertisements, will be early and widely circulated, for the use of those who will give Mr. Stovel their attention and support.

DENMARK. Our readers will be gratified to learn that Mr. Mönster, whose further imprisonment was announced in our January Number, is again at liberty, having shortened the term of his incarceration by choosing a diet of bread and water. "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood upon them that dwell in the earth?"

THE MAY MEETINGS.-The public meeting of the Missionary Society, will be held in Exeter-Hall, on Thursday the 8th of May, and will be adjourned to the evening. Mr. Aldis, of Maze-Pond, London, preached on the Thursday evening previous, April 24th. Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, on Wednesday morning, April 30th; and Mr. Knill to the Young, on Monday afternoon, April 28th. The annual meeting of subscribers was held on Tuesday morning, April 29th.

BAPTIST UNION.-At the approaching Annual Meetings in the metropolis, there will not be, as usual, a session of the Baptist Union. It was determined last year, that measures should be taken for the holding of the meeting occasionally, in some place in the country; and, in consequence, arrangements have been made for the assembling of that body in Leeds, the last week of the present month. On Tuesday evening, May 27th, a meeting for public worship is to be held, at which a sermon will be preached, and the deliberations of the ministers and representatives are to commence on the following morning.

BRAMLEY.-A very interesting TeaMeeting was held in the Baptist SchoolRoom, Bramley, on Monday evening, March 24, with the view of promoting the building of the intended New Chapel, when about two hundred and fifty sat down. The tea was gratuitously provided, thirty trays being kindly supplied by the female friends. During the proceedings of the evening, the chair was occupied by John Cliff, Esq.; and animated and stirring addresses were delivered by the Chairman, Mr. Macpherson, pastor of the church, Mr. Colcroft of Stanningley, and Messrs. Pitts and Earl of HortonCollege. The company seemed highly gratified. The proceeds of the tea realized nearly £17. By a happy thought, and inventive and expansive benevolence, the £800 already subscribed, was converted into guineas; thus adding £40; and nearly £30 were taken and pledged in subscription cards. Altogether nearly £90 was realized.

TESTIMONIAL OF ESTEEM.-On the evening of the 2nd of March, a deeply interesting Meeting of the members of the Church was held in the Baptist Chapel, Farsley, when a written address, signed by the deacons, briefly declaring and expressing thankfulness to God for the cheering events of the past twenty-one years, was presented to their pastor, the Rev. J. Foster. The deacons and a member of the church delivered addresses; after which the deacons severally presented their pastor with a silver teapot, silver teaspoons, tablespoons, and sugartongs, and a pair of silver spectacles, as a token of the strong attachment the people

feel towards his ministry, and of the gratitude they cherish for his faithful, devoted, and successful labours among them. These memorials were feelingly acknowledged by Mr. Foster, in an appropriate speech.

NORWICH. The Baptist Church at Orford-hill (which was established about fourteen years since, by the Rev. John Green, now of Leicester), has been supplied for three months past, by the Rev. Isaac Lord, late of Horton College, Bradford, who has accepted the church's cordial and unanimous call to the pastoral office. He will commence his stated labours in that character, on the first Lord's-day in June.

LIVERPOOL.-Mr. Walton of Lockwood, has accepted the unanimous invitation of the Baptist Church meeting in Pleasant-street, Liverpool, and intends entering on his stated labours there the first Lord's-day in May.

BAPTISMS. Bramley-Three persons were baptized by Mr. Macpherson, on the the first Lord's-day in April.

Retford, Nottinghamshire.-Eleven persons were baptized here on Wednesday the 9th, and eighteen more on Sunday, the 20th of April. The above is the result of special services just held in the Baptist Chapel, and protracted for a period of three weeks, at which the Rev. J. Tunnicliff of Leeds presided. There are, we understand, no less than one hundred and fifty persons enquiring the way to Zion, with their faces thitherwards!

Hunslet.-One person was baptized by Mr. Williams on the 6th of April. Others are expected next month.

Haworth.-Four persons were added by baptism, on the 13th of April, to the second Church, Hall-Green, Haworth.

OBITUARY. Died, at Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight (where he had gone for the benefit of his health), January 24th, 1845, aged 40 years, Mr. Edward Ostler, leather factor, of Leeds. He was for several years a honourable and useful member of the Baptist Church, South-parade; and was secretary to the Foreign Missionary Society, in the West-Riding. He was an arduous and persevering labourer in the Sabbath-school. His loss will be long felt by a numerous circle of friends, and by the Church of Christ with which he was connected.

Died, at Leeds, March 24th, Mrs. Fletcher, wife of Mr. William Fletcher, Deacon of the Baptist Church, Hunslet.

Leeds:

PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY J. HEATON, No. 7, Briggate;

To whom all communications for the Editors must be addressed, before the 15th of the month.

It is with the utmost satisfaction that we communicate to our readers the pleasing intelligence, that the ministers and messengers of the West-Riding of Yorkshire Baptist Association have, by an unanimous vote, given "The Church" their cordial recommendation, so that, though not officially adopted, it may be virtually regarded, as the organ of that powerful Association. Moreover, several gentlemen, whose praise is in all our churches, having, to a certain amount, rendered themselves responsible for any loss that may follow a reduction of price, we have additional pleasure in announcing that, in the hope of extensive circulation, 66 The Church" will in future be sold at a penny, and thus become the cheapest periodical in the British empire. While, however, we feel encouraged by the support thus afforded us, we also feel conscious of much additional responsibility; and, though our efforts in this department of service are wholly gratuitous, we feel extremely anxious that this periodical should be, both in circulation and efficiency, worthy of the churches who have honoured it with their sanction, and meet the great demand of the times, by a full and acceptable utterance of the great truths on which the Church of Christ is based.

Most earnestly, therefore, do we solicit the co-operation of all our brethren, and especially our brethren in the ministry, on whom we would respectfully urge the importance of assisting us in the following ways.

In the first place, we trust that most of them, if not all, will send us articles for insertion, containing their thoughts on the

VOL. II. ENLARGED SERIES.

principles, doctrines, constitution, laws, ordinances, destinies, duties, dangers or prospects of the Church of Christ, viewed in relation to God, to its individual members, to society in our own country, or to the world at large. As many aspects of the Church of Christ, overlooked by one mind or one class of minds, may present themselves to another, and as the Church, in all its aspects, is full of beauty and instruction, we hope that our brethren, as they walk about Zion and consider her palaces, her bulwarks, and her towers, will send us an occasional record of their holy contemplations, that we may communicate to the present generation and the genera tion following, the result of their observation and experience. Seriously would we remind our brethren that, in the present day, the press is at least equal to the pulpit in its influence on the destinies of the world, and humbly urge them; under the recollection that time is short, no longer to overlook so powerful an instrument for advancing the glory of the Saviour whom they love and wish to serve,

Next to the importance of contributing to our columns in the way described, we would urge upon our brethren the necessity of their appointing some friend, or of undertaking themselves, each for his own congregation and neighbourhood, to send us regularly every month such accounts of meetings, baptisms, marriages, deaths, ordinations, anniversaries, openings, &c. as may be generally interesting to our churches. If our brethren would kindly undertake this service, we should be able every month to furnish our readers, at a glance, with a survey of all that is worthy

F

of observation, in connection with our denomination in this neighbourhood. We hope, therefore, that each of our friends in the ministry will be so good as to send to our publisher in Leeds, either his own name, or the name of some other friend in his church, on whom we may rely for this purpose.

Lastly, as a means of increasing the circulation, which must amount to six thousand per month, to cover, at the present price, the expense of publication, we shall feel greatly obliged, if our brethren will announce and recommend it from the pulpit, introduce it into their Sabbathschools, and occasionally invite attention to it in the course of private conversation, or by any other means in their power.

Should we be favoured with the kind aid which we now solicit, we shall soon be able to send through our churches, monthly, such a stream of wholesome doctrine, exhortation, or counsel, as will greatly tend to promote their spirituality, their unity, and brotherly love; as well as to enlighten them, as christian citizens, in

the duties which they owe to this country, and the eventful age in which they live. Thoroughly grounded every month in the principles of Dissent, our young people will no longer be liable to mistake Antichrist, under any of its forms or appearances, for the church of Christ; and the folly of going over to the Establishment, of which so many congregations have had reason to complain, will be less frequently repeated.

In our present number, it would have afforded us pleasure to have given, at some length, the recent meetings of the West-Riding of Yorkshire Association. But as all the transactions of those meetings will be published in the Circular Letter of the churches, now in the press, we content ourselves with strongly recommending that production to the attention of our readers. A report, however, of the public meeting of the Itinerant Society will be found in our columns, which, though necessarily brief, will be read, we have no doubt, with much profit and delight. G.

Dear Sir,

Permit me to address to you the sixth of a series of letters to godly Churchmen, and to offer as my apology for so doing, the extreme lengths to which you have gone in asserting the Compulsory or Establishment principle. In the first place, having, in former years, attended on the worship of Baptists and Independents, and communed in the Lord's-supper with the latter, you deliberately went into the ministry of the compulsory church; in the next place, shortly after your appointment to be vicar of Bradford, you took the lead in laying a church-rate by a ludicrously small minority, enforcing that rate by seizures of the goods of pious men. I am not now wishing to censure, but merely to state facts. I am bound to believe that you verily think you did God service by compelling some liberal christians in your town to pay a few shillings to you at the cost of many pounds to them; that you looked with far more pleasure on the elements of the Lord's-supper paid for by compulsion, than you formerly did on those paid for by free-will offerings; and that on your knees you thanked the Lord

that you had forced those good men to pay a small sum for what they disapproved, who gladly gave their tens and hundreds of pounds to extend the gentle triumphs of Christ. I repeat, I am bound in charity to believe this of you. In proportion, however, to the extent of my charity in regard to your motives, I may ask a hearing in regard to what appear to me your surprising mistakes, and, believing as I do, that God has permitted our Statesmen of all parties to perpetrate their present crime, in order to open good men's eyes to the absurdity, in a christian point of view, of the Establishment or Compulsory principle, I beg your attention to a few remarks.

The Establishment principle necessitates the endowment of Popery. What argument can an advocate of State-support for religion offer to our rulers, against the equal support of Popery, which cannot be turned against those who urge it?

Perhaps you will allege that the laws of our land have constituted our Government a Protestant one; but the answer is twofold and complete. 1st. Our laws have recently admitted Roman Catholics to a