DOMESTIC.

In our last volume (pp. 758—760) we gave a full architectural account of the chapel which, with equal taste and spirit, the Mill-hill congregation at Leeds have erected in the place of the ancient chapel raised by the early Nonconformists of Leeds in 1672. We are now enabled to give some report of the very interesting service with which this new house of prayer was set apart for the public worship of Almighty God, on Wednesday, December 27, 1848. In illustration of the description of the chapel already given, we beg to call the attention of our readers to an engraving, necessarily on a very small scale to suit our page, in which they will see the general external effect of the building. To the left hand of the engraving, the reader sees the north gable or chancel end, surmounted with a carved cross finial, and containing the large painted window, beneath which in the interior is the communion-table. The engraving also exhibits the west elevation which fronts Park Row, with its beautiful transept projection, surmounted by octagonal turrets and spirelets. In the gable of the west transept is seen the principal entrance to the chapel. The other entrance is situated at the south gable end.-The opening day was fortunately remarkably fine for the time of year; and long before the hour appointed for the service, friends from far and near began to pour in.

The effect of the interior, on entering at the south door, is strikingly beautiful. The great length of the building, nearly 110 feet, at first view impresses the visitor with the fear that the voice of the preacher, unless very powerful and well sustained, will not always reach those seated at the southern extremity of the building; but so good are its proportions, and so well is it adapted for the transmission of sound, that on the opening day at least little inconvenience of this kind was felt.

The engraving is executed by Mr. J. F. Masser, of Leeds. The same artist has just published an engraving of the chapel on a large scale, which we recommend to the notice of all interested in ccclesiastical architecture.

Two beautiful windows of richly-stained Strike the eye of the visitor. The larger glass are amongst the first objects which

of the two is the window of the chancel. It is characterized by stillness and solemnity. It consists of twenty-seven spandrels in the tracing. The quatrefoils are occupied with the Cross and the emblems of various evangelical attributes. These are all enriched with canopies and appropriate ornaments. The lower and main body of the window has five lights, divided by a transom. The upper tier contains in the centre a figure of our Lord, and two of the Evangelists on each side. The lower has in the centre St. Peter; and on either side, St. Paul, St. Thomas, St. Andrew and St. James the Less. Each apostle or evangelist has his distinguishing emblem of character or of martyrdom. These are all represented beneath enriched canopies, with appropriate texts, and surrounded by rich borderings. This window is by Warrington, of London, who is also the artist of the smaller window in the west side of the chapel. This window is a memorial of filial piety. The idea of at the same time recording parental virtue and thus ornamenting a place of worship, is a happy one, and will, we doubt not, be imitated hereafter both here and elsewhere.* The execution of this window is, to our taste, truly beautiful. There is less of the techni cal and traditional in it, and more freshness both of invention and of adaptation. It is accommodated more to the purest scripture theology; and is a proof that while Unitarianism may reject, or may unwillingly acquiesce in, many of the received emblems and devices which artists in general consider necessary, it may, by following out its own reading of sacred history, gain much more than it need lose. This little window is of a lighter (if we may so express it) and less oppressive character than the one over the communion-table. It contains four subjects: 1. Christ and the Woman

There has been some talk of a memorial window of Dr. Priestley and Rev. W. Wood, former ministers of the chapel. To such a design, and to a memorial of the Nonconformist confessors who preceded them, many not belonging to the Leeds congregation would gladly contribute.

of Samaria at the Well, with the words beneath, "God is a Spirit." 2. Christ blessing Little Children, with the words, "Suffer little children to come unto me" (the figures in this subject are peculiarly graceful and beautiful). 3. Christ and St. Peter, with the words, "Feed my lambs." 4. Christ and the Two Sisters at Bethany, with the words, "But one thing is needful." These are all in a highly-enriched ground, and encircled by borderings which resolve themselves into canopied headings of a floriated character, which contain angels with scrolls containing other passages of scripture, such as, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord," &c. Between the two upper and the two lower subjects are the Latin words, "Dilectæ Memoriæ Parentum Filius Filiæque posuêre" (To the beloved Memory of their Parents, the Son and the Daughters have placed), and at the bottom of the window, the names, the ages and dates of death of those departed, to whose memory the window is erected.

The pulpit, to which we next turned our attention, struck us as a perfectly successful example of the mode in which this essential part of a Protestant place of worship may be constructed in accordance with the rules of ecclesiastical architecture. In correction of our former account we would state, that it is entirely composed of white Caen stone, of a very fine quality, richly carved: the emblem of the vine is conspicuous ("I am the true vine," &c.). The position of the pulpit is in such a building a difficulty, the two essentials being a site which shall command the whole interior, and be conspicuous from every part of it, and yet one in which the pulpit shall not obstruct the view of the worshipers to the extremity of the chancel, where stands the communion-table. The pulpit is here placed on the east side of the large arch which leads to the chancel, and close to one of the rich clustered pillars. It behoves us as impartial critics to say, that we do not think the effect good of the committee-room and the vestry, which are of wood, and occupy a portion of the north-west and north-east of the chaneel. The incongruity is sought to be diminished by carved wood screens, both towards the aisles and towards the chancel. The open spaces above these two apartments are constructed as galleries, and were occupied by worshipers on the opening day. When the hour for the service came, we observed amongst the congregation (which struck

us as being the most intelligent and cultivated we ever saw assembled in any great number, in any Unitarian chapel), in addition to the members of the congregation, Henry Busk, Esq., of London; Frederick Swanwick, Esq., of Whittington; R. Kershaw Lumb, Esq., and James Stansfeld, Esq., of Halifax; Thomas Thornely, Esq., of Hyde; Thomas Avison, Esq., and Sam. Thornely, Esq., of Liverpool; Heap, Esq., of Rochdale; Henry Briggs, Esq., of Overton; Henry Stansfeld, Esq., and William Johnstone, Esq., of Wakefield; and the following ministersRev. Samuel Crawford, of Leeds; Rev. Dr. Beard, of Manchester; Rev. W. Turner, of Halifax; Rev. T. Johnstone, Rev. E. Higginson, Rev. P. Cannon, of Wakefield; Rev. J. H. Thom, of Liverpool; Rev. H. Green, of Knutsford; Rev. G. H. Stanley, of Huddersfield; Rev. W. Smith, of Rochdale; Rev. J. P. Malleson, of Brighton; Rev. F. Howorth, of Bury; Rev. R. V. Palmer, of York; Rev. M. C. Frankland, of Malton; Rev. A. Turner Blythe, of Chesterfield; Rev. Wm. Turner, of Manchester; Rev. Fletcher, of Selby; Rev. Edward Talbot, of Tenterden; and Rev. R. B. Aspland, of Dukinfield.

At twelve o'clock, the Rev. Charles Wicksteed entered the pulpit. How many of the assembled crowd sympathized with the preacher at this interesting moment, and in spirit united in the unspoken prayer with which he consecrated the scene of his future public labours! The noble anthem, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth," was the first audible act of worship, and as the sublime strain resounded through the spacious building, all were satisfied that it was well suited to vocal and instrumental music. The choir was strengthened for the occasion, and Mr. W. Bower, of Hanslet, presided with ability at the organ. After an introductory prayer of great solemnity, the minister read 2 Chronicles vi. and Ephesians iv., and not a word either of the Prayer or the Scriptures was, we imagine, unheard by the dense crowd

* It was pleasant to see amongst the congregation some young, but very intelligent children, who may tell to a future generation their recollections of this opening service. One of them, bearing the Christian names of Philip Henry, was a descendant of the great and good man who made that name honourable.

that by this time filled even the aisles. The Christmas Hymn' was then sung, to the words of the hymn beginning, "House of our God, with cheerful anthems ring." During the General Prayer there was that remarkable stillness which shews that the hearts of the congregation are attuned to the strains of devotion uttered by the minister. While the choir were chanting Psalm cxxii. ("I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord," &c.), Dr. Hutton, the appointed preacher, and for seventeen years the beloved minister of the congregation, entered the pulpit. With much emotion, he prefaced his discourse by an Address in the following words:

My Christian Friends-On an occasion of this kind, it would ill become me to dwell at any length on personal feelings; yet you will excuse me, I trust, if I introduce the remarks I have to offer by expressing briefly and simply, what cannot but be uppermost in my heart, the gratification that I feel in the thought that the connection which existed between us in former days is not forgotten; that in your breasts, as in my own, the old friendship survives; and that after you had yourselves poured forth, under the guidance of your own highly-valued pastor, those solemn utterances of praise, thanksgiving and prayer, which should always be first heard in such a place as this, and which, as the offerings of your hearts, are its best consecration, you should have wished to hear my voice, as that of one who has not yet become a stranger to you, though, in the course of Providence, many have been removed to whom it was once familiar. The occasion, my friends, that has brought us again together is a joyful one. After sojourning for a season under a friendly roof -and to have thus experienced the kind offices of Christian hospitality and brotherhood, cordially offered and as cordially accepted, you feel, I am sure, to have been no mean privilege-even to want a home becomes a blessing when it brings us into closer contact with the brother whose generous heart induces him to share his own home with us—after such a pleasant sojourning, you have returned to your own House of Prayer, the home, as you naturally regard it, of your religious affections; and you have entered it with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that keep holy-day, with those with whom you have been long accustomed to take sweet counsel and to walk to the house of God in company, and with others who are willing to rejoice in your joy, and to prove

to you by their presence here that, though they worship for the most part in other courts, they regard them but as courts of the same universal temple in which we all of us bow before the Father as disciples of the Son. Some, possibly, there may be who come from curiosity merely, and who would not willingly identify themselves with us as fellow-worshipers. Well, should it be so, them also we gladly welcome; and if they cannot conscientiously join in our prayers, they will not, we trust, forget us in theirs, and we will gladly engage that in ours they shall not be forgotten. The house in which we now meet, it is true, though still the home of the same worshiping family, presents a very different aspect to the outward eye from that in which we formerly assembled. It rises before us a more beautiful structure, in fairer proportions, more worthy in every respect of the sacred purpose to which it is devoted. There may be those indeed amongst my hearers, whose long-cherished and deeply-rooted religious associations might almost have induced the wishhad it been possible-to see the humbler house in which they and their fathers worshiped, given back once more to their longing eyes. Even in the temple of Solomon, I doubt not, there were some who remembered with a sigh the tabernacle of David. Such feelings are natural and excusable: all of us who have lived long enough have at one time or other experienced them, and even when the new has been a decided improvement on the old, have sometimes felt inclined to say, "Give us back the old, for it is better." But the world goes on, my friends; and the fathers must not expect that the sons will rest contented with what time and habit, or even their very best and holiest feelings, have endeared to them. Our children begin their existence in a more advanced age of the world than we; and if their tastes and habits do not improve upon ours, it will only be a proof that we have not done our duty by them. To those, then, should any such be here, with whom recollection supersedes sensation, and whose vivid remembrance of what is good and beautiful in the past dims their eyes to what is better and more beautiful in the present, I will only say-Think of the ground on which this temple stands: that house of humbler worship occupied the very same. Look through its windows, and behold how your venerated fathers, and some of the most beloved of your contemporaries, yea, and in not a few instances, your children also-for the children of our youth often die before usslumber undisturbed in sacred silence

around it.

Think of these things, and regard it as a place not wholly new and strange to you-as a temple standing on the same hill of Zion, though it be another temple. And to all of you, my friends, I would say-Behold in this beautiful building, which raises its head with such fearless dignity amongst the structures of your native town, the proof that our fathers have not lived and thought, and freely uttered what they thought, in vain.

The time has been when the professors of opinions deemed heterodox, however honestly they might hold, however conscientiously they might maintain, however modestly they might profess them, were obliged to seek retired spots to speak in, and to speak even there with "bated breath;" when in religion, as in politics, might, in the estimation of a ruling majo. rity, constituted right; and when though a popular creed could always command from multitudes a loud assent, to express dissent from it, in accents however low, was dangerous. Glory and gratitude be to God! this is the case no longer. What the honest mind thinks and the true heart feels, the tongue, faithful to these inward monitors, may now freely speak Almost within the scope of our view from this place, houses of Christian worship occupied by worshipers professing Christianity in many various forms-Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Protestant, Independent, Baptist, Methodist-uplift their spires, extend their fronts, throw wide their gates, that all who will may enter and bow down in sacred fellowship with those who think and feel as they do. It is a glorious and a blessed sight. As such, at least, I regard it. Beautifully, in my mind, does it typify that union of individual freedom with social harmony, of truth that speaks fearlessly and conscientiously its own thoughts, with charity that thinks no worse of others, but, on the contrary, loves them better, for doing the same, which is infinitely preferable to the closest unity either of faith in the bond of ignorance, or of what is still more to be deprecated, of profession in the bond of hypocrisy. [Many, I know, lament grievously over these varieties of creed, and the sectarian divisions to which they give rise. I freely admit that a unity of faith in the bond of knowledge as well as love, could we have it, would be much better; and on the cheering hope of such a unity, even in the far-distant future, it

*

is comforting and pleasant for us to dwell; but while our views on subjects that we deem important differ so widely as they now do, it is surely right and fit that such differences should be openly avowed, that our outward professions should harmonize with our inward convictions, and that, till we can agree without difference, at the very least without material difference, we should agree to differ. Various sects I fear there must be, my friends, till we all become so wise-seeing that, happily, we are not all so ignorant-as to think alike. Till our vision becomes perfect, the objects placed before our eyes will present various aspects to us, if they are seen at all. Uniformity of perception is the peculiar privilege of two classes-of those whose eyes are perfect and who see all things as God sees them, and of the blind. Not wishing, I presume, to be of the latter class, we must wait patiently till we receive admission, which probably none of us have yet done, into the former. "Where there is much desire to learn," says that illustrious advocate of freedom of thought and speech, John Milton, "there will of necessity be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. Under these fantastic terrors of sect and schism, we wrong the earnest and zealous thirst after knowledge and understanding which God has stirred up. What some lament for, we should rejoice atshould rather praise this pious forwardness among men to re-assume the illdeputed care of their religion into their own hands again." Sects, then, I repeat it, for the present there must be; but there need not be, now nor ever, a sectarian spirit. Till God shall shed full and equal light on all our minds, we must differ; but we need not love differencewe need not differ for difference' sake. Agreement may be the object that we unanimously seek-agreement in the truth. Far from wishing to remain apart, it may and it ought to be our hearts' desire to draw near to each other, in the only effectual manner, by drawing near to God. After a way which you think erroneous, we may say with Paul, we worship the God of our fathers; after a way which appears in some respects erroneous to us, you worship Him. Let us rejoice together that by all of us He is worshiped, and let it be our joint and earnest prayer that, by the light of His truth, the darkness that still broods, more or less densely, over all minds, both ours and yours, may, in His own due time, be entirely and for ever dis pelled.] Cordially, then, my friends and brethren of this worshiping society, do I

On

congratulate you on the completion of this beautiful structure, and its consecration this day by your praises, thanks givings and prayers, to the worship of the One God the Father through the One Lord Jesus Christ. In no narrow sectarian spirit, I trust, do we rejoice together; with no proud and self-complacent feelings do we look round upon those who worship the God of our fathers in other temples and with different rites; no disposition have we to say, "Forbid them, Lord, for they follow not with us." the contrary, we would earnestly cherish the hope that the truth as it is in Jesus is alike the object of their search and ours, and would devoutly offer up the prayer that sooner or later we may all of us find it. Ever let us keep before our minds, brethren, and steadily let us act upon the conviction, that it is not where we worship or with what rites, but how we worship and in what spirit, that must determine our fitness to appear at length in that heavenly temple within whose ample space all true worshipers will in God's own time be gathered. Who these true worshipers are, we learn from those ever-memorable words of Jesus in which he conveyed to the mind of the woman of Samaria, and through her now teaches us, that God prefers before all temples the upright heart and pure, and that it matters not in what temple or on what spot of earth beneath the sun he bows the knee who carries this spiritual temple within him.

Dr. Hutton, taking for his text John iv. 23, 24, discoursed most earnestly and impressively on the characteristics of acceptable Christian Worship. In the first portion of his discourse he shewed that the true worshipers offered their worship to the Father. After dwelling briefly, but not lightly, on this the controversial part of his subject, he hastened to observe, that all worshipers, of every Christian sect, whatever were their opinions respecting what are called personal distinctions in the Unity of the Godhead, regarded the One Infinite and Eternal God as their Father. After a beautiful exposition of the parental character of God, and its power over the human affections, the preacher dwelt upon sincerity, reverence and love, as the attributes of Christian worship, and urged upon his hearers that worship which consists in obedience, charity, and the doing of Christ's work, in his benignant spirit. We are enabled to give the closing words of this appropriate and beautiful discourse:

Yes, my friends, your schools, your missions, your benevolent societies, your joint exertions, by whatsoever instrumentality, to diffuse knowledge, virtue and happiness around you—these will constitute no small portion of the true glory of your church, and of the acceptable worship that you offer here. Brethren, I am not ignorant that in many things you have done well. "Be not weary in well-doing:" resist not those promptings of the Spirit that would lead you to do better still. While you continue to join with mind and heart in praise and prayer, and to listen with devout attention to the voice of instruction, remember that virtuous practice is the end and consummation of all true worship, and that thoughts and feelings, however just and pure and holy, will be vain if they do not fructify in deeds. This beautiful building in which we have now assembled, methinks at no inappropriate season, for the first time, will attract the notice of many eyes, and many questions will be asked respecting the opinions, principles and practice of those who worship within its walls. See to it, beloved friends, that the material do not disgrace by comparison the spiritual church. Be it yours to adorn what you believe to be the doctrine of our Saviour in all things; to act in such a manner that those without may have no evil thing to say of you; that they may be able, on the contrary, to testify, not that you are worshipers of the Father in spirit and in truth-that testimony it must remain for the Father himself, and for Him alone, to give or to withhold-but that your outward conduct is in harmony with such inward worship; that for the love of the Father, so far as the eye of man can judge, you tread in the footsteps of the Son, visiting the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and keeping yourselves unspotted from the world. And in addition to this testimony of other men, God of His infinite mercy grant that you may have a higher and a better testimony, without which this alone would be vain and valueless-the testimony of your own consciences -that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, you have your conversation in the world. Amen.

After a hymn, a collection, amounting to £34. 9s. 6d. was made. Unlike collections on similar occasions, the Millhill congregation, with disinterested and true Christian generosity, had resolved to devote the proceeds to a local charity; that selected was the Strangers' Friend Society of Leeds, a charity designed to relieve "persons of every