Underhill credit for learning, candour and ability in his discussion of it. We only regret the diminutive size of the type which his printer has used. It is not difficult to account for the precedence of the Baptists in learning the lesson of religious liberty. That great principle is commonly learnt in the school of persecution. There it was that the Independents learnt it-first when oppressed by Episcopacy, and afterwards by the Presbytery. But the Baptist was an especial object of attack. In the controversial books of the seventeenth century, the term "Anabaptist" is the constantly recurring phrase of reproach (as "Socinian" now is) for every man who maintained unpopular views and supported them by scripture proofs. Though we think our Independent brethren historically wrong in this little controversy, we shall be well pleased if they will henceforth prove themselves consistent descendants of the asserter of the right of the Papist, Socinian and Jew, to religious courtesy. We frankly and gratefully admit that in this matter the learned and most able of the Independent body are now without reproach. Religious Meditation: a Discourse. By J. Crawford Woods, B. A. London-Chapman. MR. WOODS is the pastor of the Unitarian church at Devonport. His sermon is characterized by a very earnest spirit, and indicates his possession of considerable powers of composition. Experience will, we venture to predict, give refinement to his taste, but we hope it will not dim the fire of his soul, or make him a less poetical observer of nature, or indispose him to the "passionate exercise Of lofty thoughts." Beauties of Channing. With an Essay prefixed, by William Mountford. Pp. 251. London-Chapman. Ir all volumes of "Beauties" had been composed with the pure taste and sound feeling which have guided Mr. Mountford in the composition of this acceptable little book, we should not have acquired the strong distaste, which we believe we share with many others, to books of extracts published under this title. The passages culled in this volume are, without exception, worthy of being treated as gems. They are arranged under the heads of CriticismPolitical Philosophy-Moral Philosophy-Religion-The Christian Evidences -Christian Doctrines and Duties-Christian Agents-and Controversial Statements. Prefixed is an Essay on the growth and influence of the character of William Channing, which, though brief, is full of sound matter, very sweetly expressed. From several passages marked for extract, we select one. "It has been strangely objected to the intellectual greatness of Channing, that there is no new truth to be found in his writings. Such an objection as this is, is made in almost utter ignorance of the nature of the human mind. William Ellery Channing was a humble and reverential expounder of the Gospel; he was not a professed propounder of new truths. It is not for the disciples of Christ to be looking for new truths in religion: nor is a moral truth, quite new, to be expected from any one. Perhaps at no time did any moral truth feel quite new. Always, ages before the sunrise of a truth, there is the dawn of it; and so the rays of it are never quite new. Even the special doctrine of the Gospel, that God is our Father, did not come into the world without the last of the prophets having looked in its direction and asked, 'Have we not all one Father?' And always with us all, the noblest teaching of duty is as though our own hearts were being read off to us. There is a light that lights every man that comes into the world. In every Christian living now, there is the dawn of what will be the brightness of a hundred ages hence. All essential truths in morals and religion may easily be learned; but they are not learned to the same purpose by everybody; and it is the spirit in which those truths are held, that is littleness or greatness, with any one."-Pp. xiv, xv. CORRESPONDENCE. FREETHINKING CHRISTIANS AND THE MARRIAGE LAW. SIR, I BELIEVE you require no assurance from me that I am no hostile reader of your Magazine, or that I do not write this in any unfriendly spirit towards yourself; but when an important matter of fact connected with religious truth is misstated (however inadvertently), and injustice is done to the foremost and successful advocates of that truth, I feel bound to suggest that a correction should appear in the same pages in which the misrepresentation occurred. In your interesting Memoir of that able and excellent man, Mr. Aspland, you have (when speaking of the exertions made to obtain the late Marriage Act) allowed an assertion to escape you that is quite at variance with fact. You say, "Sixteen or seventeen years of toil and repeated disappointment elapsed before the desired reform in the Marriage Law was achieved. During the greater part of that time, Unitarians toiled alone, unhelped by other Nonconformists." Now, Sir, so far from this being true, it was a matter of deep regret to the members of the Church of God denominated Freethinking Christians, and a subject of their frequent remark, that the Unitarians as a body were too indifferent to the marriage grievance, and would not adopt, as the Freethinking Christians invariably did, both orally and in writing, the practice of protesting to the priest at the unchristian altar against the false, indelicate and idolatrous ceremony. To this ceremony and ordinance of the Established Church, the Unitarian (with one or two exceptions) submitted in silence: the false declaration and Trinitarian language he was called upon to utter, he expressed without stating any objection. But the Freethinking Christian invariably expressed his nonconformity to the doctrine and practice proposed to him, and protested against being compelled to submit to a ceremony repugnant to his feelings and his conscience; and to give to such protest a public influence, exemplary and polemical, he took pains to advertise it in the leading papers of the day. I did so, Sir, at my own marriage, in the year 1823, as will be seen in Vol. I. of the Freethinking Christians' Quarterly Register; and during the ceremony, the priest (the present Dean Jones, of West Ham, Essex) closed the book several times, and threatened that if more remarks were made he would cease to go on with the ceremony altogether. I have also been present at many like marriages when the members of our Church have protested. We not merely considered that truth required that we should express our dissent from language we were compelled to utter, but we saw in various quarters that the annoyance we were giving to ecclesiastical authorities by so doing, and the publicity thus given to our objections, were likely to force such authorities into an admission of those rights that we and the Unitarians were both seeking to possess. I am not, Sir, now about to repeat that we commenced this agitation some years before it was taken up by the Unitarians, and that the first letter in the Monthly Repository on the subject came from our pen, nor am I about to contend which measures were most advisable-those pursued by the Unitarians, or those taken by ourselves-as likely to obtain the relief we sought; but I write, and thus briefly, merely to correct the statement that "Unitarians toiled alone, unhelped by other Nonconformists:" for in addition to thus constantly protesting, we assailed the Legislature with petitions unparallelled for the strength of their declarations and denouncements, as well as for the arguments which they contained; and had the Unitarians individually and as a body manifested a like zeal, the great victory doubtless would have been much sooner obtained. The Freethinking Christians will be among the first to acknowledge that when Mr. Aspland once took up the subject and joined in the struggle, he individually was, as he ever was in every labour of his head, heart and hand, earnest, untiring and pre-eminent; and to him and a circle of his coadjutors, and to Samuel Thompson and the Church of the Freethinking Christians, be the honour of achieving the reform in the Marriage Law, and not to the Unitarians generally or the great mass of other Dissenters. Cheltenham, June 8, 1849. JOHN DOBELL. DOMESTIC. INTELLIGENCE. West-Riding Unitarian Tract Society. The thirty-fourth anniversary of this society was held at Huddersfield, on Wednesday, June 13. There was a good attendance of friends from a distance, who were heartily pleased with the reception given them by the zealous and intelligent members of the Huddersfield congregation, and could not fail to mark, in the good arrangements visible in their chapel and school-room, and in the special accommodation provided for the Tract meeting, the signs of that healthy vigour which we know to characterize this new and very interesting congregation. They are at present destitute of a settled minister, but we hope are likely soon to be suited. Meanwhile the activity of their congregational system and the efficiency of their lay-officers were put to the proof in the arrangements which they had undertaken with diffidence, but conducted with such exemplary success, for the district Tract meeting, than which a pleasanter or more animated is scarcely remembered. Service having been conducted by the Rev. J. K. Montgomery, of Torquay (who is at present supplying at Huddersfield for a month), a sermon was preached by the Rev. J. Gordon, of Coventry, on "the fields white for harvest;" in which, after speaking of the transition state in which many religious denominations, not excepting our own, appear at present to be, the preacher forcibly pointed out the position and duties of Unitarians in their Master's harvest-fields. The discourse will, we trust, be printed, as the request of the Committee of the Tract Society to that effect has been favourably received by Mr. Gordon. This will make a third valuable tract, appropriate to wide distribution both within and beyond the Unitarian body, which the annual meetings of the Tract Society have lately been the means of bringing out, all at the cheapest rate imaginable. After service the business of the Society was transacted,-the Rev. W. Turner, of Halifax, in the chair. The Secretary's report shewed nearly 3000 books and tracts (between £58 and £59 in value) to have passed through his hands during the year. The most re markable passage in it was the mention of a present from the Rev. J. Barling, of 50 copies of his Review of Trinitarianism, for distribution among orthodox ministers and laymen. These had been duly presented, in the principal towns, with the compliments of the Tract Society's Committee, to Independent ministers chiefly, but also to Baptists, Wesleyans and clergymen of the Establishment; and had been in many cases courteously acknowledged with thanks (though the mode of presentation was designed to make this unnecessary); in one instance the book had been politely returned uncut, but still with " acknowledgments for the courtesy of the Committee in sending it." At two o'clock the members and friends lunched in the room connected with the Gymnasium, the Rev. John Owen, of Lydgate, occupying the chair, and Mr. William Hornblower, of Huddersfield, the vice-chair. The usual loyal toast-"The Queen" -and the true Dissenting toast-"Civil and Religious Liberty all the world over"— having been given from the chair, and the latter responded to by the Rev. W. Turner-the Secretary, the Rev. E. Higginson, was called upon to speak in connection with "the West-Riding Tract Society;" the Rev. C. Wicksteed proposed Mr. Gordon's health, with thanks for his sermon, the merits of which he discriminated while eulogising them; the Rev. J. Kenrick, as Principal of Manchester New College, acknowledged the mention of that institution and the expressed hope that the Unitarian body may always be distinguished by their efforts to secure a thorough theological and scriptural education for their ministry; the Vicechairman responded to "The Huddersfield Congregation;" the Rev. J. H. Ryland to "Zeal without Bigotry, and the open and candid avowal of Truth without the Spirit of Sectarianism;" F. Schwann, Esq., to the desire expressed for the success of every institution aiming at the intellectual and moral improvement of the people; the Rev. P. Cannon to "Sundayschools;" the Rev. J. K. Montgomery to "The Right-hand of Fellowship offered through him to the Western Unitarians;" and an interesting account was given, by Mr. Jas. Wheater, of Stanningley, of the little congregation of Unitarians which holds its meetings for worship and conducts its Sunday school and Library in that large manufacturing village. The next day the West-Riding ministers held their quarterly meeting (usually assembling in each other's houses) at the hospitable house of Mr. Schwann. The Provincial Meeting. This annual gathering of the Presbyterian ministers of Lancashire and Cheshire (probably the most ancient Nonconformist meeting in England) was held on Thursday, June 21, at Atherton (Chowbent). There was a respectable attendance, though the number of lay gentlemen from distant congregations was scarcely an average. Amongst the guests were R. V. Yates, Esq., of Liverpool; Robert Heywood, Esq., of Bolton; C. J. Darbishire, Esq., of Rivington; Mr. Chorley, of Manchester; Rev. Dr. Montgomery, of Belfast. The following ministers answered to their names when, according to custom, the roll was called over at the commencement of business by the Secretary :-Joseph Ashton, Preston; R. Brook Aspland, Dukinfield; Dr. Beard, Manchester; Jas. Brooks, GeeCross; Francis Bishop, Liverpool; F. Baker, Bolton; W. Fillingham, Congleton; H. Fogg, Ormskirk; H. Green, Knutsford; W. Herford, Lancaster; F. Howorth, Bury; - Hibbert, Dob Lane; F. Hornblower, Nantwich; N. Jones, Gateacre; J. Layhe, Manchester; A. Macdonald, Chowbent; Travers Madge, Manchester; T. E. Poynting, Monton; J. Ragland, Hindley; J. G. Robberds, Manchester; John Robberds, Toxteth Park; J. J. Tayler, Manchester; W. Taylor, Todmorden; J. H. Thom, Liverpool; James Whitehead, Ainsworth; J. Wright, Macclesfield; G. H. Wells, Gorton. The religious service was introduced by Mr. Travers Madge with impressive simplicity. The sermon was preached by Rev. W. H. Herford. It was a very beautiful composition, and was listened to with marked attention. The preacher took as his text 2 Cor. v. 17, "Old things are done away; behold, all things are become new." After explaining the text and context, the preacher observed that the abstract truth contained in these words is true of physical nature, and equally so of the spiritual world. The forms VOL. V. in 3 L which men perceive truth continually change and pass. Such is now the case, as well as in past times. But the truth is not universally admitted. Two classes do not truly receive it-those who cling too much to the Old, and those who seek too lightly after the New. The former think no old things would pass but for the impatient presumption of the young; the latter, that all things would become new but for the obstruction of the old. The old feel the natural objection to change arising from love of quiet and order; the young are doubtless prone to love novelty for its own sake. Yet the change is necessary. In every generation those who are true to themselves must see things differently from their predecessors-not through arrogance or impatience, but by a clear necessity. Neither praise nor blame attaches to this novelty. The necessity thus to throw themselves into the new when first admitted, gives not joy, but pain; the heart sinks rather than rises at finding that it must henceforth take the burden of conviction on itself. The wonderful fitness of the words of the text to the condition-political, social, religious-of the present time-productive of hope and of fear. But clearly the duty of all to live in the present, and not in past or future. In order to be able to look calmly on the time, we must have faith, and expel selfishness. We see a general striving after purer morality—after the realizing of Christ's precepts in their plain sense. If we have faith in man, is it not best that his evil and his good should come forth and meet in fair combat, as now? If we have gloomy views, is there not some selfish interest at stake? Politically and socially, the question of liberty and equality seems about to be settled. The question and the doubt then is, will the masses rush from pupilage to lawlessness? Religion only can reply. Here we see much hope in the practical philanthropic movements of the day-in the comparative neglect of formal and dogmatic religion. We must quit the attempt to convert the orthodox, and go as missionaries to the heathen, who dwell at our gates and know not our God or our Saviour. There are too many who tell them of their rights-shall they not hear of their duties? Shall they not be told that all which can be done for them is nothing as compared with what they can do for themselves? That the inward evil, of character, is far greater than all outward evil, of circumstances. Naught but Christianity can tell the people the whole truth. We need no improvements on Christianity, but we need earnestness and simplicity in its propagation-passionate attachment to its commonest doctrines. With this, we shall find the harvest plenteous. The singing was spirited and possessed much of the characteristic excellence of Lancashire psalmody. Rev. J. J. Tayler, in moving a vote of thanks to the preacher and supporter, remarked that the sermon was very interesting, and well adapted to the circumstances of the times, and was as conciliatory in its spirit as it was wise in suggestion.-Rev. J. H. Thom, in seconding the motion, which was carried unanimously, said that their preacher's discourse was weighty and well considered, a lesson at once of wisdom and charity. Rev. Joseph Ashton, being called upon by the Chairman to give a report of the proceedings of the Committee appointed to arrange the services at Cleator, in Cumberland, during the past year, stated that he was commissioned by Mr. Ainsworth to present the following letter to the Assembly: "To the Provincial Meeting of the Presbyterian Ministers of the Counties of Lancaster and Chester. "Gentlemen,--The monthly religious services which, by your aid and assistance, have been held at Cleator during the past year, have been to myself so agreeable, and (as I have reason to think) to our community so beneficial, that I am most anxious to have a similar arrangement made for the ensuing year. "I therefore beg that you will be pleased to make such arrangements as the small pecuniary sum I place at your disposal will enable you. "I gladly avail myself of this opportunity publicly to thank those gentlemen who so kindly undertook, and who so agreeably performed, the services of the past year. "THOMAS AINSWORTH. "The Flosh, May 23rd, 1849." Mr. Ashton stated, for the information of those members of the Assembly who were last year absent, that Mr. Ainsworth lived in a district which was remote from all opportunities of attending religious worship consonant with his own views; but having very decided religious opinions, he thought it a duty openly to profess and act upon them, and had set apart a handsome sum to defray the expenses of monthly services at Cleator, to be conducted by ministers appointed by the Assembly. In detailing his views and wishes, Mr. Ainsworth had stated, that though they were to be more of a private than a public nature, yet they would be conducted in a room open to the villagers, many of whom were very ignorant. He wished the services, therefore, to be simple in their style and practical rather than controversial. It was his desire that the rights of private judgment should be enforced and illustrated; at the same time he thought it would be better that those who might attend the services should gather from them the impression that a truly Christian life and temper were the best evidence of the correctness of religious principles. With a view to ensure variety in the topics of the preachers, the subjects of the sermons were arranged and previously announced. The Committee appointed last year had the advantage of an exact acquaintance with Mr. Ainsworth's views and wishes, and it had been matter of gratification to them that the arrangements which they had been enabled to make had proved satisfactory to him. The application of Mr. Ainsworth, thus pleasantly renewed, was novel in its character. There were many placed in Mr. Ainsworth's circumstances who might advantageously observe and imitate his conduct. In some cases the separation of our wealthy laity from worship in conformity with their principles, acting in conjunction with the attractions of a wealthy and fashionable Establishment, exercised a very unfavourable influence on religious sincerity. The example set by Mr. Ainsworth was indeed admirable. They might hope well for their cause if individuals in various parts of the country shewed the same fidelity to principle, the same attachment to public worship, and carried out their views with his enlightened zeal and in his catholic spirit.-Revds. F. Baker and J. G. Robberds added their testimony to the merits of Mr. Ainsworth, the latter remarking, that while compelled by conscientious convictions to absent himself from the ministrations of his parish minister, Mr. A. had yet conciliated that gentleman's very friendly regard and co-operation in his plans of general usefulness, and had with true liberality been the chief contributor to the much-needed repairs of the parish church. A resolution was unanimously passed thanking Mr. Ainsworth, and |