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Mill-Hill congregation, in which the Psalms are divided with very great taste, and the work is beautifully executed; but its price shuts it out from common use in schools and small congregations; and the mode in which the division is marked, appears too complicated, especially for children. In this Selection, not only the bars are marked, but the notes in each bar are separated by points and hyphens. This, however, is not necessary in ordinary cases: as the congregation naturally fall in with the choir, and they (if they have attended to their duty) will have practised the Chant together before it is sung in the service.*

5. No endeavour is made to suit the style of the Chant to the character of the Psalm. Now as much care is required in selecting a Chant for a Psalm, as in choosing a tune for a Hymn. In Psalms, we have all the varieties of joyful, solemn, wild, didactic, tender, mournful, &c.; and the Chants should have the same character. A Chant that will suit one Psalm and one division of the words, will often not accommodate itself to another. There is, however, a much greater latitude in Chants than in Psalm tunes, in this respect. Sometimes there is a change of character during the course of a Psalm: to these a Chant should be sung which admits of change from Major to Minor, and the

reverse.

We wish it to be understood, in conclusion, that the Chant is by no means necessarily connected with a Liturgy. Each may be introduced without the other. The best time for Chanting is, perhaps, between the two lessons; or, in the shorter service, instead of the opening hymn. It may be well to mention, further, that the Doxology now used in the Church is a corruption of the ancient one, in which any Unitarian might join-" Glory be to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit."

Warrington, November 10th, 1848.

P. P. C.

GRIEF FOR THE DEPARTED.

THERE is one grief which is forgiven to man, where he has not a compensation-it is sorrow for the deceased; for this luxurious pain is but a mode of consolation. When we pine for the departed, this pining is but a sadder manner of continuing to love them; and when we think of their removal from us, we shed tears, as well as when we paint to ourselves a joyous re-union; and the tears are not different.-JEAN PAUL.

The following is an example of the Leeds mode of arrangement, p. 62: "I was glad when they said unto me: let us go into the | house of the | Lord.

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"Our feet shall stand with - | - in thy | gates: 0 | Which we should print thus:

- |- · Jerusalem."

I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
Our feet shall stand with | in thy | gates,
O Jerusalem.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. ROBERT ASPLAND.

CHAPTER XX.

IN the last Chapter, with a view of bringing together the circumstances connected with the Unitarian Academy, some of the events of a series of years (1812-1818) have been alluded to; but it is necessary to return now to the earlier period, in order to notice some things worthy of recollection, both in Mr. Aspland's correspondence and publications.

In the year 1812, he preached, on a Sunday morning in November, a discourse on the Proofs of God's Providence in the State of Infancy and the slow Growth of the Human Being. Taking as his text Psalm viii. 2, he adopted the remark of Dr. Geddes, that the whole of the Psalm is "a strong and natural argument against the Atheist." Confining himself to the argument suggested by the text, he shewed that it is not an unmeaning truism that the infant state is the first state of all the human race; for hereon rests an irrefragable argument for the Supreme Providence. No difference can be greater than between the human being in infancy and the same being in maturity; yet every man was an infant, and every infant not arrested in its progress by death will grow up to manhood, there being folded up in the babe all the powers and faculties which in their full display and active exercise constitute the perfection of life. One instance of growth from infancy to maturity would be an object of ceaseless wonder, an inexhaustible study; but every adult human being has exhibited such an instance, and has been from his cradle upwards a witness, whether conscious or unconscious, willing or unwilling, of his Creator's matchless perfections. Again, the growth of the human creature is a continued act of Providence. It implies that with the preservation of life, and happy life, there is a perpetual advancement and improvement of the powers both of body and mind,-an advancement and improvement which is at the same time gradual and imperceptible, universal and harmonious. A retarded or quickened, an irregular or disproportioned growth, occasions deformity and disease. When, therefore, we consider, on the one hand, of how many various parts, some of the most exquisite make and delicate operation, the human frame is composed, and, on the other, the comparatively small number of cases of habitual or permanent defect or irregularity or disorder in the body or mind of man, how can we possibly avoid the conclusion, that there is an unseen, all-wise Power which watches, guards, leads and perfects our nature?

On the discourse, of which this is a summary, remarks were made by some of the hearers, which came to the pastor's ear, to the effect that the argument was superfluous and untimely. Self-complacent critics of this kind, wiser than their teachers,* are to be found in most congregations. A few days after, Mr. Aspland received from an unknown correspondent the following gratifying letter:

Dr. Robert Robinson, in his Directions to Young Ministers, warns them that they will find some of their hearers "will not be content with judging for themselves only, but will take upon them to teach their ministers what they would have them to teach."-Appendix, p. 130.

To the Rev. Robert Aspland.

"London, November 24, 1812. "Sir,-It is with pleasure I take the liberty of informing you, that the sermon you preached last Sunday morning has effectually removed every atheistical opinion which I have for years entertained, and which has harassed and perplexed my mind with feelings I am at a loss to describe. To you alone, dear Sir, am I indebted for this happy change of sentiment, and shall ever regard you as an honoured instrument under Divine Providence in having effected a revolution in my religious notions, and caused me to place a firm reliance upon the existence of a Deity, and a confident hope of participating in his mercy hereafter. Might I hope that you will one day commit your discourse to the press, in the sincere hope that it may have the same good effect upon others that I myself have derived from it?

"I am, dear Sir, most gratefully yours,

A. B."

He never learnt who his correspondent was; but at a later period of his ministry he had the satisfaction of rendering a similar service to an accidental hearer, who made himself personally known, and who continued for many years to express gratitude to him for having released him from the bondage of infidelity.

*
Mrs. Cappe to Rev. Robert Aspland.

"York, June 16, 1813.

"Dear Sir, I have just received your letter, which could not fail of being extremely gratifying to me. It has assuredly been one of the first wishes of my heart that Mr. Cappe's views of Christianity should excite attention,-in part, perhaps, because they were his, yet still more, if I do not deceive myself, because I believe them to be just, and consequently the only ones that can furnish an effectual answer to the objections of unbelievers, and produce entire conviction of the great truths of the gospel, on calm, enlightened and philosophic minds. You will see that Unitarianism, properly so called, forms but

Of this excellent woman it is scarcely necessary to say, that she was the daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Harrison; that she was born at Long Preston, in Craven, June 3, 1744; that she married, in 1788, the Rev. Newcome Cappe, of York, whom she survived more than twenty-one years; and that she closed a most useful life at York, July 29, 1821, leaving behind her an interesting autobiography, which was published in 1822, under the title of "Memoirs of the Life of the late Mrs. Catherine Cappe."

In the obituary of Mrs. Cappe in the Monthly Repository (XVI. 495), Mr. Kenrick, after speaking of her marriage to Mr. Cappe, says, "Her greatest delight in this new relation was to assist in preserving from oblivion a record of the knowledge and talents of her husband. To her the Christian world owes it that the eloquence of Mr. Cappe is not already become a faint echo in the ears of his few surviving auditors, and that the labours of his life in the investigation of the Scriptures do not remain locked up in an unintelligible short-hand. But the history of this portion of her life may be best learnt in the Memoir of Mr. Cappe prefixed to his Critical Dissertations, and since separately printed,-a beautiful specimen of truly Christian biography, to which we trust that few of our readers are strangers. With the same zeal and affection with which she had soothed and supported his decline, she endeavoured to do honour to his memory and promote the diffusion of his works. His fame was far dearer to her than her own: one of the highest gratifications she could receive was to know that his eloquent and powerful defence of the doctrine of Providence had enabled some mourner to exchange the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise; that some heart, perhaps in a distant land, had been warmed with the love of religion by his animated praise of virtue and devotion; or that some seeker after Christian truth had found in his critical principles the solution of difficulties in the language of Scripture by which he had been long perplexed."

a part of these an essential part, however, and of great importance to be established; yet I am convinced that many conscientious members of the Establishment (and among these are some of the most excellent persons I have ever known) do in reality worship one God alone, however confused may be their language, and absurd and contradictory their creeds. I thank you for sending the Dissertations to Dr. Cogan, which I really consider as an obligation, and with whose writings Mr. Cappe would have been delighted. I wish also that he should see the notes I have subjoined to my 'Life of Christ;' and as I have not the honour of being known to him, will you do me the favour to send him the copy which accompanies this letter, and of which I beg his acceptance?

"I am glad you approved the paper† I sent some weeks ago for the Monthly Repository; the sequel you will receive in this parcel. I feel very anxious to see the review of Mr. Belsham's Memoir of my late most excellent and invaluable friend-one of the first of human characters. Great as is its merit, invaluable the information it contains, and excellent as the temper with which in general it is written, there are a few expressions that pained me exceedingly, particularly what is said in page 201 of the 'peccability and moral imperfection' of our great Exemplar-a mode of expression not authorized, in my opinion, by any thing published either by Mr. Lindsey or even by Dr. Priestley. This I should not have noticed if it were not too common among Unitarians, in their zeal against Orthodoxy, to institute inquiries and make use of phraseology in itself extremely objectionable, unfavourable to the progress of truth, and of a tendency to lower the high veneration and affectionate attachment so justly due from Unitarians, as well as others, to the character of him who, to use his own highly figurative but emphatic language, was 'the Way, the Truth and the Life, and whose relation to us is perfectly unique.

"I communicated your letter to Mr. Wellbeloved, who desires his compliments and gives you free liberty to put down his name, in addition to those of Mr. Turner, Dr. Carpenter, &c. You will rejoice to hear that the young men who are to leave our institution this year are characters of the greatest promise in every respect, and indeed that the whole state of the College gives reason to hope that the indefatigable labours for many years of the excellent Theological Tutor, aided as he now is by such able coadjutors as Mr. W. Turner and Mr. Kenrick, will eventually prove a blessing to society at large. We lament the loss of Mr. Dewhurst, and shall rejoice to hear that you have the prospect of supplying his place, although it can hardly be hoped that it should be done completely. When you see Mr. Eaton, remember me kindly to him-to Mrs. Aspland also; and I am, dear Sir, your obliged friend,

CATH. CAPPE."

At the close of the first session of the Unitarian Academy, in the summer of 1813, he made a series of visits into Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Worcestershire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Shropshire, preaching in each of these counties, and inviting the support of the congregations whom

This eminent philosophical writer was, during his residence at Clapton, an attendant at the Gravel-Pit. The writer well remembers a visit which, in company with his father, he paid to him at Clapton. His benevolent and noble countenance and dignified manners were most impressive. He died at the house of his brother, the Rev. E. Cogan, of Walthamstow, Jan. 24, 1818, in the 82nd year of his age. The funeral address and sermon were delivered by Mr. Aspland, and from his pen was the Memoir of Dr. Cogan inserted in Vol. XIV. of the Monthly Repository.

† On Mr. Cappe's opinion respecting the miraculous birth of Christ, Mon. Repos., VIII. 37, 183.

The students who left the College in 1813 were Messrs. Manley, Joseph Hutton, Henry Turner and George Kenrick.

he addressed to the Unitarian Fund and Academy. It was in this journey that he first visited Mrs. Mary Hughes, whom he had long known as a writer and admired as a correspondent, and whose friendship he and the other members of his family assiduously cultivated during the remainder of her life.*

Mary Hughes, the youngest daughter of the Rev. Edward Hughes, Rector of Norbury, in the county of Stafford, was born in 1756. She had the misfortune to lose her father in infancy. Her mother, to whom she was most devotedly attached, was a woman of great Christian worth, imbued with warm devotional feelings and a strong sense of practical religion. From her excellent parent she early learnt to practise rigid self-denial, in order to extend the circle of her personal charities. During a considerable period of her life, her pecuniary means were limited; but she set apart one-fourth of her income to be expended in charity. When her income increased, she gave half of it in the same way, and afterwards a still larger proportion. The family resided at Hanwood, a country village about four miles from Shrewsbury. With the aid of her second sister, she established, and for many years carried on with great success, a Sunday-school, to which the villagers' children of the neighbourhood of Hanwood resorted. The history of this benevolent undertaking is pleasantly told in her interesting story of "The Sunday Scholar." Mary Hughes and her sisters were brought up as members of the Established Church, of which their father had been an exemplary minister. At Hanwood they enjoyed the society and friendship of the clergyman of the parish, the Rev. Edward Harries, who resided on his paternal estate at Ascott, about a mile from Hanwood. This gentleman's opinions and history exercised a very important influence on the religious opinions of Mrs. Hughes and her daughters. He had been brought up in the Highchurch principles of his family, and studied first at the Grammar-school at Shrewsbury, and afterwards at Magdalen College, Cambridge. Before he left the University, a great change was made in his political views by the perusal of Mr. Locke's "Letters on Government" and the "Independent Whig." On leaving Cambridge, he took orders, and was inducted into the livings of Cleobury Mortimer as well as Hanwood, both in Shropshire. The secession of Theophilus Lindsey, in 1773, from the Church, and his resignation of the vicarage of Catterick in consequence of his adoption of Unitarian opinions, made a deep impression on the mind of Mr. Harries, and induced him to review the grounds of his religious system. The result was his conviction that the doctrine of the Trinity was not contained in the Bible. He did not at once withdraw from the Established Church, but satisfied his conscience by omitting in his use of the Book of Common Prayer all that now appeared objectionable to him. His parishioners were not

In token of this friendship, he named his youngest daughter, born 1814, after this excellent woman, Mary Hughes.

† See the interesting but too brief memoir by her neice, Mrs. Price, in Mon. Repos., XX. 114.

The "Sunday Scholar" was a Mr. Edward Morris, who afterwards settled in Glasgow, where he filled a commercial situation and was much respected. In religion he was a Wesleyan Methodist, and occasionally did duty as a local preacher.

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