Mr. Chairman, I beg pardon for trespassing so far on the patience of this respectable assembly; only entreating that you would act as Christians in this momentous business, by observing the golden maxim of our blessed Saviour, of "doing to others as you would wish they should do unto you;" and remembering the solemn asseveration of the apostle Paul, that without love or charity, the profession of any or of every religion is nothing else than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal! You will please to excuse my having sat whilst I have addressed you, owing to an affliction in my lower limbs-a circumstance known to most of you. Indeed, borne in amongst you this evening by my two sons, I am reminded of my name-sake the venerable apostle John, who, living (as ecclesiastical historians tell us) to upwards of a hundred years, was used to be carried into the primitive assemblies, with wrinkled countenance, only to lift up his withered hands, and utter from his aged and quivering lips, "Little children, love one another!" The Chairman, who had presided with the utmost impartiality, then put the motion-"That the children of the school should not any longer attend WorshipStreet Chapel;" when it was negatived by thirty-eight to eighteen, a more than double majority. Case decided in the Court of King's Bench, on a Dissenter's Claim of Exemption from Toll on a Sunday. We wish to present our readers with a correct Register and Report of all cases which occur in the Courts of Law, af tant points of religion, from the unerring standard of Divine Inspiration, excludes the peculiar tenets or catechisms which divide the opinions of good men-the Bible, in the authorized version, without note or comment, being the only religious Book taught in its schools; and thus all sects and parties may send their children to British schools with the greatest confidence. Care is at the same time taken to secure attention to religious duties, by encouraging the children to attend such Sunday Schools as are approved by their parents, and by requiring proofs of their presence at those places of worship which their parents or friends may prefer. Chil-, dren whose parents profess different creeds, being thus educated together, may naturally be expected to feel a regard for each other, calculated to obviate that prejudice which has heretofore produced much mischief in the world, and thereby to connect all the members of the community by the -bonds of Christian charity!" fecting the Rights of Dissenters, and we therefore insert the following Report of the proceedings in Lewis v. Hammond, from the second vol. of Barnewall and Alderson's Reports, pp. 206-210, particularly as an idea has, we know, been entertained, that the decision was of some general principle injurious to the interest of Dissenters; whereas it will be seen, that it was a mere question of construction of a local act, the obscure wording of which gives, in some respects, as little protection to the Churchman as the Dissenter. This case will, however, we hope occasion a greater attention to the way of wording these clauses in future. LEWIS V. HAMMOND, Nov. 23, 1818. This was an action brought by the plaintiff for money had and received by the defendant to his use. Plea, general issue. "The cause was tried before Holroyd J., at the last assizes for the county of Wilts, and a verdict was found for the plaintiffs, damages 10d. and costs 40s., subject to the opinion of the Court, upon the following case: "By an act of the 37 G. III. there was directed to be taken at the several turnpikes erected by virtue of that act, the toll of 5d. for every horse drawing any carriage, with the usual power of distress in case of non-payment. The act contained a proviso, that no toll should be demanded or taken for the passage of any person or persons residing in any township or parish in which the roads lay, going to and returning from their proper paroebial church, chapel, or other place of religions worship, on Sundays, or attending the funeral of any person er persons that should die and be buried in the same parish. The plaintiff was and had been for a long period, an inhabitant of Rowde, one of the parishes in which the roads mentioned in the aet lay, where there was a parish church. During all that time, he had been a member of a congregation of Protestant Dissenters, whose place of religious worship was at Devizes, and a regular attendant at, and contributor to, such place of religious worship, which was found by the jury to be his proper place of religious worship. On Sunday, 20th April, the plaintiff, with his family went in a taxed cart drawn by two horses, from his house at Rowde, to the meetinghouse at Devizes, for the purpose of attending, and did attend the celebration of divine worship there. He went thither by the direct road, and returned direct to his own house, and in so doing passed through a turnpike gate in the parish of Rowde, being one of the turnpike gates erected by virtue of the act. The meeting-house was in the parish of St. Mary, Devizes, and there were two intervening parishes between that parish and the parish of Rowde. The defendant was the collector of the toll at the gate, and demanded the sum of 10d. for the passage of the plaintiff in his cart. The plaintiff stated the place, and the purpose to and for which he was going, and claimed to be exempted from the payment of toll, under the proviso in the act. The defendant refused to permit the plaintiff to pass without payment of the toll, and the plaintiff, to avoid the distress which was threatened, paid 10d., which was so demanded. "This case was argued on a former day in this term, by Gaselee for the plaintiff, and C. F. Williams, for the defendant. The Court went so fully into the question in giving judgment, that it became unnecessary to state the arguments; and now, "ABBOTT, C. J. delivered the judgment of the court. This case was very well argued before us, in the course of the present term. By the body of the act the toll is imposed generally; the party who declines to pay it, must therefore bring himself within the terms of the exception; but we are of opinion that the plaintiff has not been able to do so. The early parts of the clause of exemption are not framed with such perspicuity as to aid the constraction of the latter part, upon which this question has arisen. That part is as follows: nor for any person or persons residing in any township or parish, in which the said roads lie, going to and returning from their proper parochial church, chapel, or other place of religious worship on Sundays.' This exception does not extend generally to all persons going to or returning from a place of religious worship, nor even to all persons going to or returning from their proper place of religions worship; for it is obvious, that a person of the same religious persuasion as the plaintiff, and who should be a member of a Dissenting congregation, assembling at a place situate in one of the parishes in which these roads lie, but who should reside out of any of those parishes, would not be entitled to the benefit of the exemption. It is obvious also, that members of the Church of England, residing in one of the parishes, who should resort to a church in another parish, either ordinarily, by reason of its more near and convenient situation, or at extraordinary seasons, when the church of their own parish might happen to be under repair, would not be entitled to the exemption; because such persons would not be going to their proper church. And this appears to us to shew, that the words chapel or other place of religions worship,' which follow the word church, are to be understood of places of the same kind as church, which is first mentioned. It is not denied that they are to be so understood, far as regards the 6 first epithet 'proper,' that is, that they are to be understood of places of assembly, of which the parties resorting to them are quodammodo members. And we think they are so to be understood also, with reference to the epithet, parochial,' and that this word is to be applied in construction, not to the word church only, but also to the following words, chapel or other place of religious worship,' as denoting the situation of such chapel or other place, with reference to the residence of the persons frequenting it. This construction is also aided by the consideration of convenience. The gate-keeper may be expected to inform himself as to the persons residing in his parish, the places of worship situate within it, and the hours of usual attendance at them, but he cannot be expected to acquire such information, as to other and more distant places: and unless we are right in our construction of the clause, there will be no limit to the distance of the place, except such as the practicability of travelling to it may impose. The extensive limits, therefore, contended for by the plaintiff, may occasion much uncertainty and confusion, and much dispute and wrangling, on a day that ought to be specially devoted to charity and peace. For these resons, we are of opinion, that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover; and the postea must be delivered to the defendant, that a nonsuit may be entered. "Judgment for Defendant." Derby, Nottingham and the South of Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting. THE Quarterly Meeting of the Ministers of the Association formed for the counties of Derby and Nottingham, and the South of Yorkshire, was held at Sheffield, on the 22nd of last December. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Williams, of Mansfield, from 2 Tim. ii. 15. The devotional and other parts of the service were conducted by Mr. Turner, of Nottingham. The discourse, as the text will shew, contained, principally, advice to ministers, both in the discharge of their duty, and under those trials to which they are too often exposed from captious and perturbed spirits. It contained also many useful hints to congregations, relative to the manner in which they should behave to their pastors, and receive their instructions," esteeming them highly for their works' sake," shewing them respect, manifesting an attentive and candid mind, not neglecting “the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some (we may add in these times many) is," and joining them heartily in their exertions to promote the "truth as it is in Jesus," and advance the interests of pure and undefiled religion throughout the world. After the service, the ministers, with a few friends, (amongst whom was Samuel Shore, Esq., of Meersbrook, that veteran friend of truth and Christian liberty,) dined together at the Tontine Inn. The ministers present were, Mr. Williams, of Mansfield; Mr. Turner, of Nottingham; Mr Piper, of Norton; Mr. Brettell, of Rotherham; Mr. Platts, of Doncaster; Mr Wallace, of Chesterfield; Mr. Wright, of Stannington; and Dr. Na thaniel Philipps, of Sheffield. The next meeting will be held at Mansfield. Manchester Presbyterian Quarterly SIR, THE last Quarterly Meeting of Presbyterian Ministers in this town and neighbourhood, was held on the 6th instant, at Doblane Chapel, near this town. The Rev. John Smethurst introduced the ser vice, and the Rev. John Grundy preached the sermon, from 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4. The attendance at the chapel was numerous, and creditable to the Christian zeal both of the minister and the congregation. The ministers, to the number of fourteen, returned to Manchester in the afternoon, and with about au equal number of lay brethren, partook of an economical dinner at the Bridgwater Arms. The afternoon, as usual, was agreeably spent in the expression of sentiments congenial to the occasion, and to the views of our denomination of Christians, and the company was frequently gratified with the remarks which they called forth from several gentlemen present. In one subject the meeting seemed to take particular interest-the proposed institution for the Protection of the Civil Rights of Unitarians; and it was unanimously resolved, that a communication relative to it be transmitted to Mr. Fox, before the proposed meeting at the London Tavern, on the 13th instant. This day, the Annual Meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Unitarian Book and Tract Society was held. The Treasurer's account was received with great satisfaction; from which it appeared that the institution is in a prosperous and progressive state; the number of subscribers having increased, and not much fewer than three thousand books and tracts having been distributed in the course of the last year. The Rev. B. R. Davis preached the annual sermon on behalf of the institution, yesterday in the evening, at the chapel of the Rev. William Hawkes, in Moseley Street. Owing to some reasons, the audience was but small, and the sum collected, of course, in proportion. The Quarterly Meeting, in a collective capacity, having not deigned to take notice of the charge of duplicity urged against its members by an anonymous writer in the Repository, I may be allowed to add, in an extra-official capacity, that I do not intend, after this time, to take any farther notice of the dispute. A dispute about names is seldom attended with good, frequently with mischief, and has attr etions only for weak minds and meddling dispositions. If there was no other reason of retaining, for the present, the denomination Presbyterian, the fact that some of the congregations composing the Quarterly Meeting are not Unitarian, and would not have joined it under the deuomination Unitarian, is sufficient. But they have so great a degree of liberality, and are such strenuous advocates for Christian liberty and free inquiry, that they have tarian brethren, who are, in this respect, no repugnance to associate with their Unilike-minded with themselves. lution of the Quarterly Meeting transmitted Unitarians, is a pretty satisfactory comment to Mr. Fox, relative to the Civil Rights of on my text, and exhibits the subject in a clear light even to ordinary capacities. When the term Unitarian shall have become sufficiently definite in its application in general, and when the professors of Unitarianism shall have constructed a system of union and discipline, at once simple, comprehensive and effective, then probably there will be less difficulty in discontinuing the use of the denomination Presbyterian -a denomination which custom and long usage so strongly sanction, though its languages, must be necessarily altered and meaning, like that of most words in all modified by the changes which times and circumstances unavoidably produce. Manchester, January 7, 1819. Unitarian Fund. The reso W. J. [From the Report of 1818, we extract the following passages, containing Mr. Wright's Journal of his Mission in Scotland, in 1817. We shall hereafter give monthly an article under this head. ED.] EIGHT years have elapsed since I first visited Scotland as an Unitarian Missionary. At that time there were but few avowed Unitarians north of the Tweed, in comparison of what now openly profess the Unitarian doctrine, unite in the worship of the one God, the Father, and are connected together in an annual association for the promotion of the truth as it is in Jesus. As might naturally be expected, from a view of all the circumstances of the case, though much has been done, the Unitatarians in North Britain are still a little flock in comparison of the disciples of John Calvin; their religious views are much misconceived and misrepresented, and their opponents, though evidently alarmed at the progress they have already made, affect to despise them as being fewer in number than they really are. Were their number much smaller than it is, this would certainly be no argument against the truth of the doctrine they maintain; though it might lead those who regard the popularity of a doctrine more than the evidences of its truth, to think meanly of it. The more unpopular any part of divine truth is, the greater is the honour of professing and promoting it. Judging that some account of the state and progress of Unitarianism among our Northern brethren will be acceptable to many of our friends in England, I shall connect with the account of my last Mission in the North, some remarks on this subject. I feel the less hesitation in doing this, as I have been pretty well acquainted with the Scotch Unitarians and their progress for eight years past, having, during that time, performed four Missionary journeys among them, from the last of which I am just returned, after spending more than six months north of the Tweed. I went to Edinburgh the last week in January, and, after spending twenty-eight weeks in Scotland, re-entered England on the 17th of August. During this journey, a considerable part of my time was spent in Edinburgh and Glasgow; this, particular circumstances rendered necessary; and, as it afforded me opportunities of preaching on a greater variety of subjects, and of having more intercourse with the friends than is usually practicable in my Missionary journeys, I trust it, rendered my labours more effective and successful in those populous cities. The knowledge of Unitarianism has been extended during the three years which have elapsed since my third Mission to the North. This has been chiefly by the circalation of books, especially by Mr. Yates's publications in reply to Mr. Wardlaw of Glasgow, and Dr. Smith's publications at Edinburgh. To the same great object the occasional labours of some of the students at Glasgow, in several places in the west of Scotland, have contributed. During the above period, the churches at Edinburgh and Glasgow have had to regret the removal to England of their much-esteemed ministers Mr. J. Yates, and Dr. Smith, whose labours were highly valued. some In places I had now the pleasure of fnding my former labours had not been in vain, but had been productive of permaneat effects. On the whole, the prospect of the Unitarian cause being successful in Scotland is good, notwithstanding some discouraging circumstances; and, I conceive, cannot fail of being realized, if pro per means be applied with persevering exertion: what I have to state respecting the different places I visited, will, 1 trust, shew this. Edinburgh. The Unitarian church in this city being without a minister, solicited me to go down and spend three months with them. In compliance with this wish, and with the advice of the Committee in London, I went down and spent the months of February, March and April in the northern capital: during which time I preached thirty-seven discourses, administered the Lord's Sup per, &c. The morning and afternoon congregations were not large, but I had the happiness of seeing some increase, and of learning that some persons who had left the Society for several years, returned and again became regular attendants. It was proposed to me to deliver a Course of Lectures, on the Doctrines maintained by Unitarians; with this proposal I gladly complied, and continued the Lectures on Sunday evenings so long as I stayed. Having fixed on the subjects, the Lectures were advertised in one of the public papers, and by printed bills. They were always well attended, frequently by large audiences, who were very attentive. I was pleased to find that among the strangers who came to hear the Lectures, a number of the same persons continued to attend to the end of the course. On the evenings when they were delivered, small tracts were distributed at the doors of the place of meeting, and were received with eagerness. The Society at Edinburgh, though not numerous, is respectable. Its members well understand, and are firmly established in the doctrines they profess. They are united and happy with each other. Their conduct in life does credit to their profession. They have some zeal in the cause, and are anxious for its success. It is highly desirable and of great importance that they should have a minister fixed among them, who is a man of learning, popular talents, and ardent zeal, one who will devote himself, with his whole heart and soul, to the work. The friends at Edinburgh are deserving of commendation for their exertions to get Unitarian books into circulation, for keeping up the library, and for their steady attendance on the public services: and it is hoped they will be equally diligent in promoting other important measures. They have struggled through many difficulties, and openly avowed their sentiments in the midst of reproach and contempt. They have begun to establish a fund for the erection of a chapel at some future period; this fund might accumulate more rapidly, if a number of persons, who can afford to give but little, were to subscribe to it at the rate of one penny per week. It is by such small subscriptions some denominations of Christians raise vast sums of money. It is hoped the Edinburgh friends will never, either by building or purchasing a chapel, involve themselves much in debt, as a heavy debt ever proves a dead weight on the cause The promotion and firm establishment of Unitarianism in this city, is, under every view, of great consequence, and deserves all the aid and countenance that can be given it; and the prospect of its success is encouraging. Neither the word Unitarian, nor what it is used to express, excites the alarm it did formerly; many persons are more disposed to read our books, and examine the subjects to which they relate, than they once were; and there is little doubt but that many persons are favourable to the Unitarian doctrine, who, on account of its unpopularity, or their own peculiar circumstances, do not venture to shew themselves openly as its friends. The spirit of inquiry and liberality is evidently growing; and this must be favourable to the progress of truth. On the whole, all that I saw and heard, during a three months' residence in the northern capital, convinces me that Unitarianism is gaining ground there, and that if proper means be applied, in a judicious manner, with perseverance, there may, in a few years, be a large and respectable congregation. I estimate the progress the cause is making, not merely by the nambers who constantly meet together, but by the degree of information diffused on the subject, the spirit of inquiry excited, and all the circumstances which have a bearing upon its prosperity. Before I left Edinburgh, the annual association of the Scotch Unitarians was held there, of which a short account has already been given to the public. This meeting is well calculated to promote union and mutual exertion among the brethren. LITERARY. WITH the new year there are always ushered into being some new periodical publications, on "plans entirely new," and after the issuing of prospectuses full of promise: but most of these productions perish in their cradle. We put down the titles of such of these works, as are announced for 1819: "A new Literary Journal, entitled The Edinburgh Monthly Review," in 8vo. price 28. 64. As the name imports, this Journal is to give light from the North. The Scottish literati seem, indeed, to aspire to a monopoly of public instruction. The Edinburgh Review, the Encyclopædia Britannica, and the Edinburgh Annual Register, have obtained great and deserved literary distinction. The Edinburgh Gazetteer is slowly struggling into existence: and The Edinburgh Monthly Magazines are deafeuing the public with their mu tual bickerings and empty pretensions. It remains to be seen, whether the mass of British readers will put themselves under the training of Monthly Northern Re viewers. "The Remembrancer; or Ecclesiastical and Literary Miscellany," Is. 6d. Under this heavy name, which has sunk ventures of this kind without number, the Rivingtons, booksellers of High-Church, orthodox celebrity, propose a "Theological Journal, for general use, intended to combine the several provinces of a Magazine, a Review and an Historical Register." The object is stated to be," to produce co-operation amongst Churchmen, and to conciliate reverence and esteem for the clergy." 66 "The Fireside Magazine and Monthly Epitome," 1s. This Journal promises an "Impartial Review, quite original," and a Summary of all the Reviews in the preceding month." It is to be published by Drakard, of Stamford, the Editor of the respectable weekly paper called "The Stamford News," and this we must say is the most promising feature of the prospectus. "The Caledonian; or Scottish Literary and Political Investigator," a weekly publication, 4d., designed to record the progress of literature, science and political opinion in Scotland. "The British Magazine and Periodical Gleaner," a monthly miscellany, 6d.: pursuing a middle path between the religious and literary Magazines." 66 "The Anti-Jacobin Review," which has also the name of The Protestant Advocate, advertises, that "an Editor to succeed the late Mr. Giffard has been at last procured." The Champion Sunday Newspaper, from which extracts may be found Vol. IX. pp. 441 and 470, has lately changed hands. It was instituted by Mr. John Scott, who had distinguished himself as the Editor of Drakard's Stamford News, and who has been since better known by his two volumes, entitled A Visit and A Second Visit to Paris. Of him it was purchased by Mr. Clayton Jennyns, who held some legal office in one of the West India Islands, but being displaced, came home a flaming patriot, and made his appearance on the hustings at Covent Garden: he has since, however, cooled down to his former temperament. His successor in the proprie torship and conduct of the Champion is the celebrated Mr. John Thelwall, one of the " Acquitted Felons," (according to the late Mr. Windham,) of 1795, who has landably devoted himself for the last twenty years to the profession of elocution, but has now returned to the stormy region of politics. He assumes the character of |