cult song, "Why does the God of Israel sleep," with a purity and strength of tone and a facility of execution that I have never heard exceeded, any musician may judge of the capabilities of our principal tenor. We were equally fortunate in our principal alto, Mr. Staff, the sweetness and richness of whose voice was not exceeded by that of his eminent contemporary, Goss.

The organ was therefore no substitute for a choir, as it is too often made, but was designed solely to accompany it in the simplest way, and assist in promoting congregational singing. We confined ourselves to plain, good psalm-tunes, and on Christmas-day only exhibited the powers of the choir in an anthem. As we all knew pretty well the characteristics of the cathedral service, it certainly never entered into the head of any one of us to attempt an imitation of it, or to supersede or discourage congregational singing.

The organ was opened by Dr. Beckwith, the organist of the cathedral, whose superior, as an extempore performer on that instrument, I have yet to hear. His eldest son was several years afterwards our organist, and relinquished the situation on the death of his father, to succeed him at the cathedral.

The history of the Norwich congregation would be incomplete without some reference to the liberal and distinguished Prelate who presided over the diocese for two-and-thirty years.

In 1805, Dr. Bathurst succeeded Dr. Sutton as Bishop of Norwich. The latter, who had been translated to the see of Canterbury, was a man of polished manners, extravagant habits and courtier-like address. He was too polite to quarrel with anybody, and too prudent to provoke controversy. He neither felt nor affected any horror of Unitarians. He invited them to his table; and, at the request of the Mayor, he preached a charity sermon at St. George, Colegate, knowing that my father had been asked and had consented to write the hymns.

Dr. Bathurst removed from Durham to Norwich, and as he was a stranger in his new residence, never having taken any prominent part as a public man, little expectation was excited as to his future conduct. He was known to owe his elevation to his relation, Lord Bathurst, and it was generally taken for granted that his views on public affairs were similar to those of the Administration of which that noble Lord was a member. Curiosity led me to the cathedral to hear the new Bishop's primary charge, and I soon found the spirit it breathed to resemble the benevolence that beamed from his countenance. If I had any previous doubts whether these were the vague generalities of a man wishing to feel his way and to stand well with all parties, they were ended by his Lordship's emphatic declaration (in so many words), "I am a disciple of Locke and Hoadly."

After adverting to the penal statutes against the Roman Catholics, he said,

"Happy would it be for mankind if in matters of this nature recourse were never had to any other weapons but those of reason and learning.* ** Force, in the concerns of religion, is unblessed and unavailing, or at least can produce only a transient effect; and this has uniformly proved to be the case wherever it has been made use of. More enlightened and just ideas of religious liberty have of late prevailed, and taken place of that overheated religious zeal which is alike the bane of public peace and of private comfort."

After announcing his hope of seeing an emancipation of the Catholics, his Lordship thus spoke of the Dissenters:

"With respect to our Dissenting brethren of this day, as they have, with a very few exceptions, laid aside that offensive and acrimonious manner of writing and speaking which formerly they too much practised, it is highly incumbent on us, in return, to feel for them, however differing from them in the forms of external religious worship or in points of doubtful disputation, all that good-will and cordiality which they seem disposed to shew to us."

What the Bishop here preached, he also practised. He never shrunk from appearing what he really was, nor, while he received a Dissenter in his study with politeness, would he pass him unnoticed in the street. He was to be seen walking arm-in-arm with persons, of all persuasions, whom he respected, in the streets of Norwich. He was not afraid of shaking "brother Madge," as he called him, by the hand, nor of welcoming Unitarians to his table. What he was as a member of the House of Peers, on all occasions in which the great principles of religious liberty were concerned, is well known. I have only here to speak of his conduct as a resident in Norwich.

It may be mentioned here that, in the year 1822, an address was presented by the members of the Eastern Unitarian Society to the Bishop, for his uniform, consistent and zealous support of the principles of religious liberty. It was written by Mr. Madge, who, with several other ministers and members of the Society, waited on his Lordship for this purpose. The Bishop was much gratified by so unusual a mark of respect from Dissenters, and replied to the address in his usual courteous and liberal spirit.

PAUL'S CROSS.

VARIOUS were the scenes of which Paul's Cross was the witness in the days of its glory. At one time, the pavement beneath resounded to the feet of a multitude eager to catch every accent of Hooper, as he ascended the pulpit, with his scarlet chymere flowing to his feet, and the terrible square cap upon his head; or a penitent was going through his punishment, arrayed in a white sheet, with a taper in his hand, and standing upon a flat form erected on the outside of the pulpit. Meanwhile, the double balcony, at the angle of the church, was thronged by the nobility; the civic authorities shone in the robes of office; and distant groups of gentry, seated upon their horses, caught up a few scattered sentences, as they loitered along the outskirts of the assembly. Here Jewell uttered his famous challenge to Rome; here the Spanish King came to hear Gardiner, attended by a magnificent retinue of courtiers, and encircled by a guard of horsemen, four hundred in number. Here, too, the dead were carried to their last earthly home. The churchyard of St. Paul's was the chief burial-ground of the metropolis, and the open graves furnished the preacher with the liveliest illustration of human vanity and decay. Here, too, were enacted some of the saddest scenes in the lives of eminent men. It was at Paul's Cross, amid the wondering gaze of twenty thousand persons, that the pious, the learned and the persecuted Pecock read at the feet of the Archbishop his abjuration of his "heretical opinions," after giving with his own hand fourteen of his books to the executioner appointed to commit them to the flames.Willmott's Bishop Jeremy Taylor, his Predecessors, Contemporaries and Successors.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. ROBERT ASPLAND.

CHAPTER XIII.

In the year 1807, Mr. Aspland introduced at the Gravel-Pit a series of weekly Conferences on religious subjects. The meetings were held each Wednesday evening during the winter season, beginning at a quarter to seven o'clock. They were opened and concluded with singing and prayer. The subjects of discussion were arranged and published at the beginning of each season, and comprehended a great variety of topics in theology,* interpretation of Scripture, moral philosophy and ecclesiastical history. The meetings were open to all comers, of every variety of faith. The minister presided; and on him devolved the important task of summing up each evening's discussion, supplying deficiencies, explaining difficulties, and striking the balance between the conflicting arguments adduced by the speakers. These meetings were continued for a long series of years. To the young and to religious inquirers they proved interesting and eminently serviceable. From the first they were remarkably successful, attracting within their sphere persons of every variety of belief and unbelief. To

* A list of the subjects of Conference for one season may be added with advantage. Of the following season the subjects will be found appended to the Plea for Unitarians, pp. 137-139.

1812.

Dec. 9. The probable Consequences of an universal Circulation of the Bible, "without Note or Comment."

1813.

16. The Grounds of the Reformation from Popery, in the 16th Century. 23. Whether the Reformation left any of the prevailing Corruptions of

Christianity unreformed?

30. Characters of the "Man of Sin," 2 Thess. ii. 3, &c.

Jan. 6. Whether any part of Christian Doctrine be proposed to the Belief of Mankind as a Mystery?

13. The Calvinistic Doctrines of Election and Reprobation.

20. Whether the Declaration, Mark xvi. 16 (He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; he that believeth not, shall be damned), be applicable to Men of the present Day?

27. The Innocency of Mental Error.

Feb. 3. The Apostles' Creed.

10. The Athanasian Creed.

17. Moral Effects of War.

24. Scriptural Authority for Infant Baptism.

March 3. Peculiarities in the Doctrine and Discipline of the People called

Quakers.

10. The idea of Christianity as a Reformation, Heb. ix. 10.

17. Whether Infallibility be claimed by the Prophets, Apostles, or Evangelists?

24. Whether the Old Testament reveal the Doctrine of a Future State of Existence?

31. Agreement between the Church of Rome and the Established Protestant Churches.

April 7. Doctrines common to all Christians.

14. Love to Christ on Unitarian Principles.

21. Whether any Scheme of Church Discipline can be devised which shall sufficiently discountenance Immorality, without infringing upon Christian Liberty?

28. Whether the Character of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, warrants the expectation of the Final Happiness of all Mankind?

all, a fair hearing was granted. For the conduct of meetings of this kind, Mr. Aspland possessed remarkable qualifications. His personal bearing, without any thing of priestly assumption, was sufficiently dignified to maintain order and decorum, and sufficiently familiar to encourage perfect freedom of discussion. His patience

and firmness were sometimes tried by personal attacks, but assailants using weapons of this kind generally retired with the mortifying consciousness that they had only lowered themselves. Generally speaking, the discussions, though animated, were sober and improving. The summing up was often a masterly performance, and exhibited copious knowledge, vigorous logic, and skill in assigning to the several arguments their respective place and weight. He had many able assistants, both amongst the members of his own congregation and ministers and laymen of other societies. Messrs. Rutt, Christie, Parkes, Young, Hart, Fearon, Talfourd, W. H. Reid and Marsom, may be named amongst the laymen who took part in the Conferences. Mr. Vidler, Mr. Barbauld, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Gilchrist, were amongst the divines who gave their help. It is believed that many persons were made Unitarians by means of these discussions. A clergyman* ministering in the parish of Hackney made public through the press his complaint of this "debating assembly, at which the mysteries of the Christian faith are all in their turn brought under discussion, with that freedom of inquiry which admits every one to deliver his opinion." To this clerical critic this appeared an outrage upon Christianity." He deplored the fact that these Conferences were "so attractive to the young and inconsiderate" that they frequently "attended them in great numbers."

The spirit in which Mr. Aspland and the members of his flock engaged in these Conferences was thus described by himself:

"Not being under any other restraints than those of Scripture and Reason, we judge that we cannot act more wisely than to communicate to each other our doubts and difficulties, our discoveries and persuasions. We dare to search the Scriptures, because we dare to avow the doctrines which in our judgments the Scriptures teach."+

The Curate of St. John's had asserted that at the Gravel-Pit Conferences" every one might deliver his opinion in any language which an unchastised imagination might suggest." In setting right his censor as to a matter of fact, Mr. Aspland rebuked his want of charity:

"No, Sir, there are bounds within which the 'Moderator of the Assembly,' as you very properly style the minister who presides upon the occasion, confines all the discussions; what they are, I may, perhaps, best explain by saying that he would not permit any speaker to use such language, with regard to the members of your Church, as you have used, in your book, with regard to Unitarians."

The Hackney Conferences, indirectly as well as directly, made heavy demands upon the minister's time. They who were preparing to join in the discussion, often came to him for advice and the loan of books. In his hospitality, his house was the home of those that came from a

Rev. H. H. Norris, in 1813. See his "Practical Exposition of the Tendency and Proceedings of the British and Foreign Bible Society," p. 207. +"Plea for Unitarian Dissenters," pp. 122, 123, note.

distance to join in the Conference. Earnest theological discussions often sprung up at his supper-table, surrounded by Conference guests, which were carried on beyond midnight, and sometimes adjourned till the next day. The diary has sometimes entries of this kind the day after the Conference :

"1807, Jan. 22.-Messrs. Vidler and Marsom stayed dinner. Talk all the morning of baptism and first chapter of John. I read to them Cappe's Dissertation on Baptism."

A little before this time Mr. Aspland had given up the doctrine of the perpetuity of baptism, but to the end of his life he abstained from the practice of infant baptism, using in its stead a simple service of dedication. Mr. Cappe's theory in the Dissertation referred to is, that it was on the part of the baptizer only a form of reception to instruction, and on the part of the baptized an acknowledgment of the truth of the pretensions of the person who baptized; and he further held that the term baptism might be used wherever there was a reception of a proselyte to information and instruction, even where the rite was not literally used. Mr. Aspland often, at this period of his life, had to defend his new convictions on the subject of baptism against Messrs. Wright, Vidler, Toulmin and others.

Other additions to his public services, undertaken by him shortly after the establishment of the Conferences, were the catechising of the children in the Sunday afternoon, and the delivery to the young people of the congregation of a lecture on some scriptural, theological or historical subject, immediately after the close of the morning service. The addresses were short (occupying in delivery about twenty minutes) and popular, and generally consecutive in subject. One course was on Prophecy; another, a series of Sketches of Ecclesiastical History; another, on the Primitive Church; another, on the three Creeds of the Apostles, the Nicene and the Athanasian; another, on the English Deistical Writers, &c. The substance of many of these lectures may be found in the early volumes of the Christian Reformer (duodecimo series). The numerous, intelligent and deeply interested assemblages of young persons in the lecture-room at the Gravel-Pit, were abundant reward to their pastor for his exertions. Sometimes, in addition to his regular and laborious Sunday duty, he undertook a third service in the evening in London, and occasionally took his turn in a week-evening lecture established by Mr. Vidler in the neighbourhood of Stratford.

His duties at home were not unfrequently interrupted by calls abroad to distant places, to preach charity sermons and to plead in behalf of the Unitarian Fund. In the year 1807, he had the gratification of revisiting his friends at Meersbrook and Norton; and his diary records the pleasure which he derived from the interesting and able conversation of many of the guests assembled to meet him, amongst whom were Chantrey and Montgomery. At the same time he visited Nottingham, to preach the school sermon, and passed several very happy days in the society of Rev. James Tayler and Rev. John Grundy, and of the principal members of the High-Pavement congregation, amongst whom were many persons of cultivation and refinement. It happened that the election of a Member of Parliament was going on in the town. The Liberal candidate was Dr. Crompton. At the invitation of one of the sheriffs (an Unitarian), Mr. Aspland went more than once on the