siderations-and, among these, some of a particularly exceptionable character-are allowed to prevail over purer motives of action, in determining men's choice of the religious communion to which they will attach themselves. Men of this class have special need to be reminded that the spiritual life is an individual life; a principle and state of temper, not a form.

It might seem obvious that the broadest foundation of Christian Union is the best. The most comprehensive, the least exposed to attack and to decay, might be thought deserving of our preference. "Content yourselves with the Christian name: Profess a belief in Jesus as the Christ; and profess nothing more." This has a very imposing sound, a very specious aspect. On the first hasty glance, we might view it as the panacea and preventive of all Theological differences, of all Ecclesiastical controversies and strifes. It is no such thing. Omnipotent indeed it might and should be for the great ends of humility and mutual candour and forbearance: yet Truth and Honesty have still additional claims, which can never be satisfied by our mere acquiescence in any verbal forms, and still less by an indifference to our personal judgments and belief. There is more than a possibility that we may generalize too much; that an excess of generalization may be destructive of the very objects which it contemplates; and that the encouragement of it may but afford a temporary exemption from the lot of those whom the world speaks evil of, only because they are the confessors of obnoxious truth.

Christianity, as a principle, lies at the root of the spiritual and individual life. It is, further, a documentary and historical religion. To know it, in the heart, is the first thing that we should desire-first, we mean, in worth and moment. But we should not be ignorant that, in our especial social relations to it, Christianity has claims upon our undeviating obedience. There is to be no concealment, no compromise, nothing like unworthy shame. Integrity must not be risked, even for the sake of peace. We must be contented, if we suffer wrongfully. It is to suffer for our allegiance to the Head of the Church, and to his God and Father; and not for attachment to a human leaderno, not even to Paul or Apollos or Cephas-but to the Lord Christ.

Mr. Garbet repeats the text, "One Faith, one Lord, one Baptism."* There are "unepiscopal" societies to whom he gladly regards the description as pertaining: there are others, alike "unepiscopal," upon whom he, no doubt, looks as having "neither part nor lot in this matter." Be it so! "He that judgeth us is the Lord." We now advert to the preacher's quotation chiefly for the sake of observing, that the use of even Scriptural, and, as it may be thought, very clear, language-language, moreover, of apparently a general tenor, and common to us all, does not, as of course, mean either unity of belief or comprehensiveness of Church fellowship, on the part of those by whom it may happen to be borrowed. The Bishop of Manchester's Chaplain reads this passage with different associations from ours. Look at it, together with its connection, and it signifies, one Messiah" [one Lord or Head of the Church], "one Faith" [one great article of belief confessed exclusively by Christians, viz., "that Jesus is the Messiah,

* P. 23.

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or Christ," and confessed when they formally take upon themselves their worthy name and therefore] "one Baptism" [one initiatory rite]. Such is the sense of those memorable words: they contain these statements and nothing more. The members of Trinitarian Churches are reduced to the necessity of giving them an interpretation which corresponds in import, as in complexity, with creeds and articles of man's device.

Faith and Worship are inseparably allied to each other under the Christian dispensation. The willing disciples of the Saviour aim at correctness, while they make no pretensions to infallibility, of belief; and with that belief their worship harmonizes in respect of its Object, and of the feelings by which it is dictated and attended. No man who is conversant with the Scriptures, and with the state and history of the Christian world, can justly allege that it is of little or no importance whether our prayers be addressed to One God, even the Father of our Lord, or to what is invoked as "the Holy, Blessed and Glorious Trinity, Three Persons in One God."

"If thou confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" [i. e. placed in a state of Christian privilege]. When men avowing themselves his followers shall have agreed together in making this confession really, and not nominally, then, but not before, it will be time to lay aside distinctive names in his Church. To one class of denominational appellations we must always object,-those which are taken from human authorities. We are not of Calvin or of Arminius or of Socinus. So far as concerns a Head or Leader, we are only of Christ. The case is not the same of distinctive titles indicative of nothing more than weighty tenets, substantial realities. These names may be highly appropriate. By those "who are without," they may perhaps be considered as offensive. To ourselves they neither appear nor sound as reproachful; and they are at least fitted to remind us of our duty of holding fast the profession of our faith and hope, and of being eminently zealous in the study, and in the encouragement of the study, of those Scriptures whence we derive both our general and our characteristic faith.

It is because we so greatly prize the records of Revelation that we lament, on the one side, the injustice of a vast body of men who seem desirous of monopolizing the Christian name, and, on the other, the supineness of a different class of persons to what we cannot but regard as the doctrines of uncorrupted Christianity. Where these are slighted or lost sight of, there is the utmost danger of Christ's religion being degraded to a level with the speculations of the Academy or the Porch. The languages in which the Scriptures were originally written, may not be sufficiently cultivated even by those who read them in the public assembly and they who pour contempt, whether real or affected, on Theology, may, in the end, become sensible that a depreciation of Scriptural Learning has no auspicious influence on even the individual and spiritual life, on the advancement of "Vital," Pure and Undefiled Religion! N.

CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION AT NORWICH.

BY EDWARD TAYLOR, Gres. Prof. Mus.

It is after much hesitation that I accede to the request of the Editor of the Christian Reformer and the wishes of my Norwich friends, that I would continue to a later period my father's account of the Presbyterian congregation there. This may be said to terminate with the death of Dr. Enfield in 1797; and among his regular hearers scarcely one whose connection continued with it for the thirty following years now survives, myself excepted. Many individual members of the society left Norwich, some families went over to the Established Church, but the generation who were of Dr. Enfield's standing has passed away. Under these circumstances, compliance with the wishes of my friends seemed to be almost imposed upon me as a duty. For the accuracy of the most important facts I can pledge myself, as my memory has been materially aided by extracts from the Chapel Vestry-book and other documents in my possession. My opinions, of course, will be open to question: all I shall say in their defence is, that they are honestly given.

Dr. William Enfield was born at Sudbury, in March, 1741. His earliest instructor was the Rev. William Hextall, the Dissenting minister of the place, at whose recommendation, probably, he was destined for the ministry. In his 17th year he was sent to the Academy at Daventry, then conducted by Dr. Ashworth; but he had given up the Calvinistic system before he quitted it, for his first settlement as a minister was with the Benn's Garden congregation at Liverpool. Mr. Philip Taylor (Dr. Taylor's eldest grandson) soon after being appointed minister of the other Presbyterian congregation at Kaye Street, Mr. Enfield was ordained in 1763, and in 1769 he married the daughter of Mr. Holland, of Liverpool. In 1768 and 1770, he published two volumes of Sermons, and during his residence at Liverpool a Collection of Hymns for the use of his congregation, and a volume of Family Prayers.

On the death of the Rev. Mr. Seddon, Mr. Enfield was invited to succeed him as Tutor in the Belles-lettres at the Warrington Academy, and Rector Academiæ. Before he entered upon the arduous duties of his office, it was evident that the causes which had long operated prejudicially against the Academy, some of which had been grievously felt by Dr. Taylor, were gradually bringing on its dissolution. "Mr. Enfield's efforts," says Dr. Aikin, "and those of his colleagues, were faithfully exerted to preserve its credit, and to remedy evils as they arose: but the arduous post of domestic superintendent and enforcer of the laws was not one for which he was best calculated. *** The crisis of the institution arrived in 1783, and its embarrassments were cured by dissolution."

While he resided at Warrington, the degree of LL.D. was conferred on Mr. Enfield; and the following is a list of his publications during that period:

Sermon at the Ordination of the Rev. Philip Taylor. 1770.
The Preacher's Directory. 4to. 1771.

The English Preacher; a Collection of Sermons. 9 vols. 12mo. 1773.
An Essay toward the History of Liverpool. Fol. 1774.
Observations on Literary Property. 4to. 1774.

The Speaker. 8vo. 1774.

Biographical Sermons on the principal Characters mentioned in the Old and New Testament. 12mo. 1777.

A Sermon on the Ordination of the Rev. J. P. Estlin.
A Sermon on the Death of the Rev. John Aikin, D.D.

1778.
1780.

Exercises in Elocution; being a Sequel to the Speaker. 8vo. 1781.
A Collection of Hymns. 12mo. 1781.

A Translation of Rossignol's Elements of Geometry. 8vo.
Institutes of Natural Philosophy. 4to. 1783.

Dr. Enfield's invitation to the pastorship of the Presbyterian congregation at Warrington was concurrent with that which he received from the Trustees of the Academy, and on the dissolution of the latter, he received a few pupils into his house, in whose tuition and in his pastoral duties he was chiefly occupied. For the instruction of his congregation, he wrote a series of discourses on the principal events and moral precepts of the gospel.

In 1785 (as my father's narrative has stated), he accepted an invitation from the Norwich congregation. His first residence was at the village of Thorpe, near Norwich, where he continued to receive a few pupils, among whom were Lord Chief Justice Denman and the present Bishop of Durham. Dr. Maltby's father, Mr. Thomas Maltby, was a member of Dr. Enfield's congregation, and lies buried in the chapel grave-yard. His uncle, Mr. George Maltby, was one of the deacons of the congregation. One of Mr. George Maltby's daughters was long a regular attendant after her sister had married Dr. Pretyman, Bishop of Lincoln. Pretyman was the son of a haberdasher at Bury St. Edmund's, and no man ever learned the art of providing for all his family out of the Church better than he did. After a few years, Dr. Enfield declined to receive any boarders, and removed to Norwich. He was now the father of two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Richard, after passing through his clerkship with uncommon reputation, had been appointed Town Clerk of Nottingham, when he was suddenly snatched. away by a fever. Some years afterwards, his second son, Henry, succeeded to the same office, and of the ability, integrity and courtesy with which he discharged its duties, I believe there is but one opinion.

Before Dr. Enfield had completely detached himself from the business of tuition, he undertook an abridgment of "Brucker's History of Philosophy." This work, which appeared in 2 vols. 4to, displayed the tenets of all the leading sects of philosophers with singular perspicuity and elegance of language.

In 1784, his friend, Mr. Philip Meadows Martineau, projected the foundation of the Public Library at Norwich, in which he was cordially seconded by Dr. Enfield, who was one of the earliest presidents of an institution which for the extent and variety of its catalogue is probably not inferior at the present time to any similar Library in the kingdom. In the early periods of the French Revolution, a periodical work was established by the Liberal party at Norwich, entitled The Cabinet, to which the principal contributors were Mr. John Pitchford, Mr. Wm. Youngman, Mr. Norgate, Mr. Charles Marsh (afterwards M.P. for

Retford), Mrs. Opie (then Miss Alderson), Mr. John Taylor and Dr. Enfield.

In 1796, his friend Dr. Aikin established the Monthly Magazine, and engaged Dr. Enfield as one of his coadjutors. His assistance was regularly given in a series of papers under the title of the Enquirer, which were equally distinguished by their freedom of thought and purity of style. To the Monthly and Analytical Reviews he was also a frequent, if not a regular contributor.

In the year 1796, he engaged, with Dr. Aikin, in the publication of a General Biographical Dictionary; but of this laborious work he saw little more than the commencement. A painful and incurable disease attacked him; and, with his faculties entire to the last, he met the approach of death with Christian resignation, and departed on the 3rd November, 1797, in the 57th year of his life.

After his death, three volumes of his Sermons were published by subscription; and among the subscribers were persons of almost every sect and persuasion in Norwich, from the Cathedral prebendary to the Independent minister. More than twenty beneficed clergymen's names appear in the list, and it is very well known that Dr. Enfield's sermons have been heard in many pulpits of the Established Church.

His style of preaching was clear, unaffected and graceful; his topics were rarely controversial, although he never shrunk from controversy when he felt it right to engage in it. But to win his hearers to the love and practice of Christian virtues and duties was more in accordance with his temper than to address them on disputed doctrines. In the early part of his life he looked with interest and hope to the endeavours which were made by many ministers of the Established Church to obtain a revision of the Liturgy; and had these succeeded, it is not improbable that he might have attached himself to the Church endowed by law, as, in common with some of his brethren, he had no objection to an Establishment as such; but their utter failure confirmed his alliance with the Dissenting body, and prompted the bold and manly language of his Revolution Sermon in 1788. Naturally inclined to give men credit for the same frank and honest spirit that he himself possessed, he was often led to mistake the courtesies and civilities of Churchmen with whom he associated for indications of a growing spirit of liberality. The Birmingham riots and the language of the Church party in Parliament and in the pulpit on Mr. Beaufoy's motion for a repeal of the Test Laws, convinced him that in truth the tide was running in an opposite direction. Like the traveller in the fable, he might have been induced to throw off the mantle of Dissent by genial warmth, but the rising and raging of the tempest led him more closely to enfold himself in it. The race of liberal and enlightened clergymen nurtured under the reign of George II., the Clarkes and Jortins and their fellows, was dying off; Toryism and High-Churchism were in the ascendant; Dissent and Republicanism were regarded and denounced as kindred principles; and the clergy were both allured and frightened into denunciations of Nonconformity. Dr. Enfield lived to see and to deplore the incipient change in the character of the Church clergy at Norwich, who now, as a body, scarcely bear any resemblance to their predecessors in spirit, station or attainments.