separate what it deemed contingent from what it deemed essential, making the Episcopalianism of one, the Congregationalism of another, and the Wesleyanism of a third, no bar to Christian union on grounds more vital and important than any involved in those differences of administration. One of the plainest tests of the essentials of salvation consisted in the light reflected from the question, Who were of the family in heaven ? And then followed a series of rapid sketches, in which each main division of the Christian church-Roman Catholic, Church of England, Wes. leyan, Orthodox Dissent, Quaker and Unitarian-furnished some example of holy life and spirit to which it was found impossible for even the bigot to deny a place in the assembly of the just made perfect. A warning was then given against any possible conclusions of indifference from such a survey,-shewing how each of these men was sincere, and could not have been what he was without being sincere; that he to whom all faiths were alike had no earnest faith at all; that nothing great or good was ever founded on a lie; and that a careless conformity was not the result of a love of charity and truth, but of indifference and worldliness. - The preacher concluded with pointing out that the main elements of the Christian faith were found, though with more or less of corrupt and therefore of injurious accretion, in all these branches of the Christian church; and that the cause of pure Christianity was concerned in cutting off the additions, and reducing the profession of faith to its original and uncorrupted elements. Without entering into the special purposes to which the temple in which they met would be from week to week devoted, he yet might assert with confidence that it was erected as a refuge for liberty and sincerity,-as a protest against the accretions to the simple doctrine of Jesus Christ, which almost all churches around them had agreed to demand as essential to a saving faith, and as an attempt to restore to its early beauty and power the holy catholic faith of Christ and the New Testament. Bolton District Unitarian Association. The forty-seventh half-yearly meeting of this Association was held at Park Lane, near Wigan, on Thursday, Oct. 11. The religious services were well attended. They were conducted by the Rev. C. B. Hubbard and the Rev. H. Clarke, the latter of whom delivered a discourse from John xvii. 22 - 26, "Neither pray I for these alone," &c. After an amplification of the text, the preacher commented on what he designated the six points of the Christian charter, which, he conceived, were contained in the words quoted:-1, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, or Christ, though a man; 2, that there is One God, the Father; 3, that the only true worship is that which is presented to God the Father; 4, that Jesus Christ had no other object than to be good and to do good, and herein to do the will of his heavenly Father; 5, that when he made it his meat and drink to do the will of his Father, he was one with the Father; 6, that if he finished the work which the Father gave him to do, and endured all the suffering inseparable from the execution of his work, he was entitled to ascend to his Father, and to prepare mansions for his followers where they may be made perfect in one, both with him and with his Father. From this train of reasoning he inferred that the mission of Christ was positive; affirmative, not negative; that he came, not to pull down, but to build up; and that as truth and goodness were the distinguishing features of his character and mission, his followers were called upon to cultivate the same qualities, and exhibit them in the love of God and in the love of Man. After the service in the chapel was concluded, tea was served in the schoolroom, which was tastefully decorated with flowers and evergreens for the occasion. Many were present from the neighbouring congregations in the district. The minister of the society, Rev. Francis Knowles, presided at the evening meeting, and interspersed the sentiments which he brought forward with interesting and useful remarks. The Revds. J. Ragland, H. Clarke, Archibald M'Donald and the Secretary, severally addressed the meeting. The subjects introduced were such as were calculated to promote a zealous interest in the objects of religious worship, consistency as Protestant Dissenters, charity to other denominations, and a holy life. Besides the ministers already mentioned, Rev. F. Howorth was present. The next meeting was arranged to be held at Chorley, on the last Thursday in April, in the ensuing year. F. BAKER, Sec. Western Unitarian Christian Union. The half-yearly meeting of this society was held at Collumpton, on Thursday, September 20th. There was a large gathering of the friends of Unitarianism in the district. In the morning there was a religious service in the chapel, the introductory part of which was conducted by the Rev. J. C.Woods, of Devonport, and a very beautiful sermon was preached by the Rev. J. H. Thom, of Liverpool. About thirty gentlemen dined together at one of the hotels, and the ladies who came from a distance were hospitably entertained at the house of P. Moore, Esq., R. N. In the evening the friends again met at a social tea-party, and all appeared highly delighted with the proceedings of the day. Tea being concluded, the several parties adjourned to the chapel, where, the Rev. W. James being called to the chair, the meeting was addressed by the Revds. T. Hincks, J. H. Thom, R. M. Montgomery, J. C. Woods, W. Rowlinson, and P. Moore, Esq. The utmost harmony prevailed, and although there was some difference of opinion manifested, yet it was expressed in a friendly and charitable spirit. On the whole, the prospects here are cheering, and a strong faith in the power and ultimate triumph of Christian truth appears to exist among all. A Bishop's Portraiture of some of his Clergy. At a meeting very recently held in Manchester, in aid of the funds of the Society for the Employment of additional Curates in Populous Places, the Bishop of the diocese (Dr. Lee) was led to speak of the views and character of some of his clergy. The following extract from his address is taken from the Manchester Guardian of Oct. 24: "I will, therefore," said his Lordship, "define where I will, and where I will not, grant my recommendation. It is most right that the Bishop of the diocese should be the person selected for this purpose-for who should know so fully the circumstances of the diocese?-who should know so accurately and minutely the population, the wants, the exigencies and the needs of every district, and be able to say whether or no this, that or another place is deserving of assistance?-if the incumbent is a fit and proper person to receive it? And independent of all that, where can the Society, whose committee resides in London, at a dis tance from the scene of operations, gain information from a person so responsible, so open to the attacks of public opinion, and so placed, by the very nature of the tenure which he holds, under the correction of public opinion, as the person who holds the office which I hold? Where, then, I find a willing and ready population, I would gladly relieve them; where I find a neglected, abandoned, godless population, still more gladly would I seek to aid them. I will aid on no principles of party, on no principles of private or individual pique or opinion. But if I find incumbents preferring their wretched ceremonial of a past time to the vital essence of Christianity,-if I find men dwelling upon a dress in the church, instead of the spirit in which the doctrines of that church should be taught,-clinging to the surplice in ministration, instead of clinging to the word and the vital truths of God,-and telling me (for unfortunately I am not speaking of imaginary cases) that they must cling to those antiquated follies, unsanc tioned and unauthorized alike by the letter and the spirit of our church and of the church of Christ,-telling me, I say that they must cling to those antiquated follies, or that they must platform),—then, on them I will not become infidels ("No, no," from the bestow your bounty. (Applause.) And if I find, under the plea-the affected plea-of catholicism, and the ancient customs of an ancient church, disrespect to their official superiors,claiming to themselves the right of withholding the rite of baptism and burial from others,-sending children from the church-gates whose parents are anxiously craving for them to be received into that church,-sending that same child unburied from their church-gates, in consequence of the want of that baptism which they themselves refused-on them I will not bestow your bounty.-(Applause.) I am speaking of no imaginary cases. I feel pained that I am compelled to allude to those things; but I dare not, after what I have lately seen, withhold my support from this Society one hour; and even at the risk of being partially misunderstood, I must make this my confession of the public course I mean, with God's assistance, to pursue." Testimonial to Dr. Raphall. On Saturday evening, October 6, a deputation, consisting of Samuel Thorn ton, Esq., Mayor of Birmingham, the Rev. Hugh Hutton, M. A., and Mr. John Webster, accompanied by a few other friends who were desirous of testifying their respect for Dr. Raphall, waited on the Rev. gentleman at his residence, in the Bristol-road, to present to him, previously to his departure for America, an Address, and a Purse of One Hundred Sovereigns, contributed by Christians of nearly every denomination resident in this town. The MAYOR opened the proceedings by assuring the Doctor that he considered it a high honour to have the privilege of thus testifying the esteem and reverence entertained for him, not only by himself and the other gentlemen who accompanied him, as well as by those who contributed to this testimonial, but, he was sure he might add, by all who had the happiness of knowing him. After alluding to the high standing which the character and learning of his Rev. friend had established for him, not only in Birmingham, but throughout the kingdom, and the liberal and efficient services which he had been at all times ready to afford to the Charitable and Educational Institutions of the town, the Mayor concluded by affectionately expressing the deep regret felt by himself and the Christian friends of all denominations whom he represented on that occasion, that they should be deprived, even for the short time which must be consumed in this visit to America, of the benefit of his social intercourse, and of the instruction and edification derived from his public lectures; and the ardent hope that he might have a safe voyage, and a prosperous result to his purpose in crossing the Atlantic, and that he might be spared to return and to settle down once more in the scene of his former honourable and successful labours.-The Mayor then read the following Address, which he afterwards handed, together with the Purse, to the learned Doctor: "To the Rev. M. J. RAPHALL, M.A., Ph. D., late Preacher of the Jewish Synagogue, Birmingham, a few of his Christian friends, of various religious denominations, wish to present, on the eve of his departure for America, a sincere, though inade quate testimonial of their affectionate regard and esteem. They are especially desirous of recording their high appreciation of his character and demeanour in all the relations of public and private life; of his extensive learning in the several departments of abstruse and polite literature of his cultivated talents and commanding eloquence in the communication of the stores of his richly-furnished mind for the instruction and delight of othersof the benefits conferred by his valuable courses of Lectures on all classes of the inhabitants of this neighbourhood-and of the generous services frequently rendered by him in different ways to various of the Charities and other Institutions connected with this town. They request his acceptance of the accompanying Purse, containing One Hundred Sovereigns; expressing at the same time their regret that the shortness of the interval for preparation has prevented them from providing a gift more worthy of the occasion. They beg to assure him, on parting, of their earnest wishes for his health, prosperity, and happiness; of their prayers for his safety in his journeyings by sea and by land, and of their desire and hope that he may be permitted once more to land on the shores of Britain, and to resume his studies and his labours in a neighbourhood where his character is so universally respected, and his exertions in the cause of humanity and truth have been so productive of good.-Signed, on their behalf, by "SAMUEL THORNTON, "Mayor of Birmingham. "Birmingham, Oct. 5, 1849." Dr. RAPHALL, after having expressed his grateful sense of the honour conferred on him by the Mayor in "his too kind and flattering remarks," and by the contributors to this beautiful and munificent testimonial, proceeded to state the peculiar delight he felt in receiving such a mark of respect from a body of Christians-a honour which he believed to be unprecedented-and which he had received from them without ever compromising, without ever being required to compromise, his feelings, his opinions, or his position as a Jew. He rejoiced that the long and dark age of prejudice and intolerance was now passing rapidly away; and he was firmly convinced that if men would only act honestly and consistently with the religious views which were dear to their own individual hearts as the truth of God, they would soon learn, however wide their differences of opinion might be, to respect, to love, and to assist one another as equally children of the one great and beneficent Father of all. The generous testimonial he had just received he should ever honour and treasure most highly; and he should leave it as an heir-loom to his 696 Intelligence.-Education the best Preventive of Crime. family, to remind them that integrity and faithfulness in their religious worship and other duties would be no barrier to their possessing the respect and confidence of the wise and good of all sects, parties and creeds. The learned Doctor concluded a most eloquent and touching address (during the delivery of which there was not a dry eye in the room), by most feelingly alluding to his experience of the greatest kindness and encouragement from his Christian friends in Birmingham, during the eight years that he had lived and laboured among them, which he regarded as the happiest period of his whole life, and assuring them that wherever Providence might cast his lot in the years to come, the inhabitants and the interests of Birmingham should ever be most gratefully remembered and honoured in his heart. The Rev. HUGH HUTTON Could not refrain from saying a few words on an occasion that was so deeply interesting and affecting personally to himself. He was about to part, it might be for ever in this world, with one of his dearest friends; but he could from his own experience verify, if it were needed, every statement which Dr. Raphall had made in reference to his intercourse with his Christian friends. He had himself enjoyed the privilege and happiness of the Doctor's most intimate and confidential friendship for the last seven years; but they always met and parted, they conversed, they advised each other, they acted together, without the slightest violation of principle on either side-the one a most determined, uncompromising Jew, and the other an equally determined and uncompromising Christian. Neither expected the least sacrifice of truth or sincerity on the part of the other; neither blamed the other for differing from him in faith; and, therefore, their friendship was honest, firm, and unabating to this present moment. The speaker was here overpowered by his feelings, and abruptly concluded by saying, "I now part from him as a brother, whom I can never replace." The Deputation afterwards attended at the platform of the Birmingham and North-western Railway, where a numerous company of Jews and Christians, among whom was the Rev. Wm. M'Kean, of Oldbury, had assembled to bid farewell to their friend, who proceeded to Liverpool by the express train the same evening, and sailed from that port in the Sarah Sands, accompa nied by his two sons. May his voyage be speedy, safe and prosperous! Education the best Preventive of Crime. The great mass of the inmates of our prisons are proved to have had little or no education. In Scotland, of the criminals in 1846, 3323 were uneducated, 665 could read and write, and 70 were well educated. In England and Wales, 22,640 were uneducated, 1936 could read and write, and 85 were well educated. And there are few who, in addition to this want of education, have not been driven to crime in their youth from want and starvation. The ladder from beggary to crime the most revolting is but too well marked. By easy stages, the crimes become more and more intense in degree, in proportion to the number of imprisonments and to the criminal's advance in years. The poor, haggard, outcast child, who, when some six or seven years old, had been forced by the cravings of hunger to steal a piece of bread, is hurried off to prison, where he meets with companions hardened in iniquity, who find him an easy prey; or if it chance that, through the kindness of some benevolent prison chaplain, he does not become contaminated with the bad society in which, during his first short imprisonment, he is compelled to move, still that child leaves the prison as poor and as destitute as before. Nothing is done to save him from impending ruin-he leaves the prison with the brand of a jailbird stamped on his tender foreheadhe is scouted by the world at large; and he has no other course left to him but to steal his daily bread or to starve. Is it matter of surprise that the child, impelled by hunger, steals again, is again carried before the judge, is again consigned to prison for a somewhat longer period than before, is again cast out of prison, and once more left to the mercy of a hard-hearted, mercenary world; and that this goes on step by step, until at last the child becomes a youth, when he is finally transported beyond seas, or ends his life on the gallows? By a petition presented to the House of Commons, in 1846, by the magistrates of Liverpool, we learn that of fourteen young persons, whose cases had been fairly chosen, each had been apprehended many times, some more than twenty, none less than eight. Of these fourteen, all became confirmed criminals except one, who had left the neighbourhood and whose history was un known. One of the fourteen had been in custody twenty-three times within four years and a quarter. We are told by the Rev. Russell Whitworth, one of the Inspectors of Prisons, that the destitute condition of many of the juvenile inmates of our jails, is attributable rather to the want than the misconduct of parents; nearly sixty per cent. of the children in the prisons of this country being orphans, or the children of convicts, or whose parents, having contracted a second marriage, had thrown them upon the world without means of support." Are these children fit subjects of imprisonment? Are these juvenile criminals to be visited with all the penalties of the law, whom their parents, society and the State, have alike neglected? These are anxious questions. The great object of punishing criminals is to deter others from committing like crimes. Do we find, then, that crime is diminishing? On the contrary, we have seen that within this century crime has increased fivefold. What is to be done to check its onward course? We ask you to look at Aberdeen; look at the Child's Asylum, and the effect there produced by sending juvenile offenders to school, instead of to prison. The Prison and Police Reports there speak for them The social revolution which Aber selves. Crime is much on the decrease, and juvenile delinquency is comparatively unknown. Except in some few cases, the child fed and treated with kindness, becomes a new creature, and after a year or two's attendance at an Industrial School, he becomes able to support himself; the manufacturers gladly take him into their employment; while on the other hand, if the child has been once in prison (even though he should leave with a kind recommendation from the governor), no one has a kind word to say to him, and he is universally scouted by society. We may well say, in the words of Mr. Guthrie,-"God pity the poor, if, amid all the comforts and wealth and luxuries of our enlightened land, the only doors left open to these outcast children shall be the dreary portals of the Policeoffice and Prison !"—North-Brit. Rev. Sunday Labour in the Post-Office. We look at the agitation on this sub ject in perfect wonderment. Strange hubbubs in the religious world we have witnessed before: this surpasses them all. Are not souls in the country worth quite as much as souls in the metropolis? And is not one hour's Sunday labour in London well purchased if it set free-as the Post-office authorities declare will be the casetwenty hours or more of labour in the provinces, besides adding to the convenience of a large portion of the community-A divine command? Let those who take this ground be at least consistent then, and demand relief for policemen as well as postmen, and for the "cattle" of the Bishop, as well as of the mail. deen has undergone through the agency of industrial schools, is now matter of history. A few years since, there were 280 children in the town, and 328 in the county of Aberdeen, who, compelled by their own or their parents' necessities to cater for their immediate wants, prowled about the streets, and roved far and wide through the country,-cheating and stealing their daily avocations. Now, a begging child is seldom to be seen, and juvenile crime is comparatively unknown. According to the Prison Reports, there were, in 1841, 77 committals of juvenile criminals; while in 1848 there were only 19 under twelve years of age. The Rural Police Committee of the county of Aberdeen report, in 1846, that the most gratifying part of the results of last year's experience consists in the almost complete disappearance of juvenile vagrants from the country. From their last Report it appears, that while in 1841 there were 328 vagrant boys apprehended, in 1846 there were only being probably not less than three and a-half 14, and in 1847 the number was still further reduced to 6. The new arrangements in the London Post-Office will, it is contemplated, require the services of a score or two of men, not for the whole, but for a portion of the day only, after the hours of divine service. The relief afforded to the country offices will be understood from a communication from Mr. Rowland Hill, dated Oct. 22, in reply to an inquiry to him on the subject: "The number of places in England and Wales having at present two or more deliveries on the Sunday, but which will hereafter only have one, is undoubtedly about 240. And the number of Post Towns at which the office is now open on the Sunday during the whole or part of the interval between 10 a. m. and 5 p. m., is probably about 500, the average relief about to be afforded hours each office. The smaller towns and villages which will be relieved are far more numerous." |