busy in quieting some boys, who at a little distance were noisy. Some of the Homerton students were also present. We afterwards dined together at the Mermaid, to the number of 120, Mr. Rutt in the chair, and had a most agreeable day. Mr. Remington brought his £100 subscription to the dinner. An account of the dinner, &c., appeared in the Morning Chronicle. "Sunday, Oct. 22,-This morning we had a very crowded auditory, the most numerous, it is said, that has been in the Gravel-Pit since Dr. Priestley's Farewell Discourse, though I think there were as many on the occasion of Mr. Lindsey's funeral sermon. I preached on Christ's Kingdom not of this World. The sermon contained some striking extracts, as appears to me, from the defenders of conscience in the Church of England. "Dec. 21.-Dined at Mr. David Eaton's, with Mr. Middleton and Mr. P, the Swedenborgian. He is a complete mystic, of slender parts and confined knowledge-dogmatical, yet he seems to be naturally benevolent, and his peculiarities make his conversation for once interesting. He speaks highly of the kindness of Dr. Priestley and his congregation to him at Birmingham. "Dec. 29.-I was introduced at Mr. Foster's,† Bromley Hall, to my did not narrow his sympathies. His social intercourse and his literary alliances were not limited to his own religious party. Of the Monthly Repository he was a friend from its commencement, and to its pages he was a frequent contributor. He honoured the Editor with his friendship.-Amongst the boyish but fondly. cherished recollections of the writer of this note, is his seeing in his father's library, about the year 1812 or 1813, three divines of most venerable and attractive appearance in the clerical costume of the last century, one of whom was Mr. Palmer, who in a manner combining dignity, kindness and pleasantry, gave him his blessing, and wished him to be like his father in every thing, except his heresy ! * The learned and most estimable Dr. J. Pye Smith, the head of the Academy, was present on the occasion of the delivery of this Oration, with several of his pupils. From the lips of one of them, since distinguished in public life, the writer heard it stated that on their return to the Academy a discussion ensued respecting the statement of Unitarian principles given in the Oration. The Professor questioned, while the Pupil (already, though unconsciously, beginning to diverge from the strict line of "orthodoxy") defended, the justness of the exposition of Unitarianism contained in the Oration. This was the begin. ning of a change that not long after led to that pupil's abandonment of Calvin-ism and retirement from the Homerton Academy. This was Mr. Thomas Foster, for more than fifty years a respected member of the Society of Friends, in which he was born and educated. He was led early in life, by reading William's Penn's works, to embrace Unitarianism. Through the medium of Mr. William Rathbone, also a member of the Society of Friends, he became a subscriber to the London Unitarian Book Society. In the autumn of 1810, he printed in the Monthly Repository some remarks on the Yearly Meeting Epistle which were afterwards distributed amongst the Friends. This circumstance led to proceedings being taken against him by the Society, and eventually he was disowned. He defended himself in "A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Society called Quakers, within the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex, against Thomas Foster, for openly professing their Primitive Doctrines concerning the Unity of God. 1813." He was a man possessed with a simple and earnest love of truth, with a sound head and a truly warm heart. Mr. Aspland had the greatest esteem for him. He continued till 1818 to reside at Bromley Hall, where his friends were ever welcome, and where the most agreeable society, both in and out of the circle of the Friends, was 2Q VOL. IV. new hearer, Mr. David Ricardo,* and his lady. He is sensible and she is pleasant. "REVIEW OF THE YEAR 1809.-I preached this year 102 sermons and composed 42. Much of my attention has been directed to the Monthly Repository. We have printed of this 1250, and probably sold, including back Nos., 1000. The work gains publicity. The affairs of the Gravel-Pit have this year worn both an important and a pleasing aspect. The number of hearers has not decreased, and if a few subscribers have been lost, others have been gained. * * * The lectures to young persons continue to be well attended and practically useful. The conferences are, I think, better attended than ever, and in proportion as they become known, will probably be the means of enlightening many of the inhabitants of Hackney, who would otherwise have no opportunity of hearing the truth. But the great object which has occupied our attention has been the new meeting, which was begun about Michaelmas and is to be ready for use at Midsummer, which I suppose will be Michaelmas again. However, it is now (Jan. 1810) in great forwardness. The roof is nearly on. It was thought unwise to begin building at such a season of the year, but there were reasons which led to its commencement at this precise period; one was the necessity of losing no time, on account of the precarious tenure by which we hold the old place. *** A favourable contract has been obtained. The builder has engaged to erect the meeting-house for £1800; the whole expense is calculated at £2700; but it will certainly not be less than £3000, if it do not reach £3500. The sum at present subscribed is, I believe, £2200. "Hitherto Providence has remarkably smiled upon us, for the weather has been milder than was almost ever known. The workmen have not been hindered one whole day. As was said of the last Jewish temple, there has been scarcely a serious shower in the day-time since the building was commenced. There has been a great deal of rain, but it has fallen entirely in the night. "Of late, a question has been started with regard to the new building which has provoked much debating, and, it is to be feared, some ill-blood. The idea was suggested by Mr. Frend on the day of laying the stone, viz., that of having vaults under the meeting. The foundations are laid very deep, and there will be a great excavation. It was thought that therefore this underground space might be turned to account, and that the arch-work of the vaults would both strengthen the house and keep it dry and warm. But much opposition immediately arose.† I was rather zealous for the vaults, believing that .... constantly found. He then removed to Evesham, where he resided about ten years. He died at Rushwick, near Worcester, July 9, 1834, in the 75th year of his age. * Mr. Aspland had the happiness to interest more than one Jewish family in the truths of Christianity. His sermon on the death of Mr. Lindsey had a considerable circulation amongst intelligent members of the Hebrew faith. One of them pronounced it "a noble funeral sermon for Abraham himself." Mr. Ricardo continued to attend at the Gravel-Pit until his removal to the western side of London. This scheme was on many accounts properly withdrawn and unanimity restored. the plan (drawn up with great care on a new principle, adopted in the new church at Wakefield, and improved by our architect, Mr. Edmund Aikin) was perfectly safe, that all objections would presently subside, and that much permanent benefit would result from the work. My sentiments and speeches were, however, somewhat misrepresented in reporting; and from the whole affair I have learnt a lesson or two-as, that the peace of a church may be broken by trifles, where there is a previous want of congeniality or union, or inattention in bringing a plan forward to people's feelings and prejudices; and that a minister cannot be too delicate in his interference in the secular affairs of a congregation. I have now finished this journal of the year. ** "Every year increases the arduousness of my situation. May every year also increase my usefulness! May Providence strengthen, guide and bless me in my public character!" PIETY OF LOCKE AND NEWTON. IT must not, however, be supposed that this free employment of reason on the contents of Scripture, either weakened the faith or chilled the devotion of Locke. On the contrary, all the latest expressions of his thoughts are tinged with a tender and earnest piety, as if they came from one who was living in the presence of God and waiting for eternity. His death-bed confession of the vanity of life, though it has incurred sarcasm, as unworthy of a philosopher, was the beautiful and solemn farewell of a resigned and devoted spirit, losing all sense of its own brief services to truth and humanity in the absorbing thought of God and the vast prospects of immortality. It may be compared with the touching humility of Newton, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the universe, who regarded his own discoveries in it as but the picking up of a few shells and pebbles on the shore of a boundless ocean. In an age of great intellectual excitement, when old opinions were freely cast aside and extraordinary impulse was given to the pursuit of truth, it is an impressive phenomenon, not lightly to be dismissed from the thoughts, that its two greatest philosophers-one in the van of moral science, and the other leading on discovery with unexampled triumphs into the physical creation-should have stood firm by the religion of Jesus Christ, not simply paying it the respectful homage which is due to a venerable and beneficent belief, but subjecting its history and documents to a thoughtful scrutiny, and devoting their high powers to its illustration and defence.-Rev. J. J. Tayler's Religious Life in England, pp. 361, 362. Locke has expressed the same sentiment at the close of a letter addressed to Anthony Collins, 1704, the year of his death, and to be delivered after his decease :-" All the use to be made of it is, that this life is a scene of vanity that soon passes away, and affords no solid satisfaction but in the consciousness of doing well, and in the hopes of another life. This is what I say on experience, and what you will find to be true, when you come to make up the account. Adieu." DOMESTIC. INTELLIGENCE. Manchester College-Meeting of Trustees. In our last No. we gave a portion of the proceedings and stated the result. We now add the substance of the speeches of Rev. Edmund Kell, of Newport; Rev. Edward Talbot, of Tenterden; Robert Scott, Esq., of Stourbridge; and Rev. R. Brook Aspland, of Dukinfield; premising only that the reports are given, not from notes taken at the time, but from the recollection of the several speakers. The Rev. E. KELL observed that there was reason to complain of the mode in which University Hall originated. In the establishment of a Hall professedly founded in commemoration of the passing of the Dissenters' Chapels Act, no steps had been taken to ascertain by a public meeting the opinion of the Nonsubscribing Dissenters as to the especial manner in which they desired that event to be celebrated; but individuals, without consulting the body at large, settled their plan, and then called upon the public to give it their pecuniary support. He saw many objections to the project, and believed it would never meet with general concurrence. He objected, in the first place, to the formation of a Hall of this de scription, as opposed to the well-being of a University. It was the establishment of a Collegiate body within the precincts of another Collegiate body, which might seriously affect its prosperity. It partook of the nature of an imperium in imperio, and might ultimately come to have varying or opposing interests. The friends of University Hall, in addition to the appointment of Theological Professors, contemplated the endowment of a Professional Chair for Ethics, a branch of study already provided for in University College, and hence would arise a clashing of interests, especially if similar Halls should also be provided by other parties. JOHN TAYLOR, Esq., of London, here observed that the science of Ethics was not taught in University College. Mr. KELL replied that he had always understood that Mr. Hoppus was Professor of Ethics as well as Logic.-The flourishing Universities of Germany, and those of Edinburgh and Glasgow, knew no separate Halls of this kind, and experienced no need of them. The establishment of Halls and Colleges within the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had been the bane of those seats of learning, and had almost annihilated the practice of attendance on the lectures of Professors, and substituted in its place the comparatively inefficient tuition of College and Private Tutors. He objected strongly to a large number of young men residing in the same house, in which individuals of every shade of character must necessarily be thrown together, as likely to lead to disorder and immorality. It had been alleged that associations of young men under the same roof gave refinement to their manners, but he considered that good morals must lie at the foundation of good manners. Young persons at that period of life required the society of men of maturer years and the purifying influence of good domestic intercourse, which Providence intended as the natural means of guiding and controlling the passions of youth. To isolate men in separate communities of the kind proposed, is a retrograde movement, and it has invariably been attended with more or less of demoralizing effects. Reluctantly, too, must he object to the appointment of the respectable individual who had been chosen as President of University Hall, who it was understood did not identify himself with any religious denomination. He did not think that such was the right influence under which it was desirable to place our young men, and especially our candidates for the Christian ministry, for the formation of their minds and the direction of their studies. He conceived that it was a spurious liberality to treat this as of slight importance. He thought it of great moment that they should be led to value their Unitarian sentiments; for if they did not take an interest in openly professing their opinions, they could not expect to lead others to esteem them of inestimable importance. He apologized for occupying their time, when there were so many present better qualified to address them; but the subject of University Hall had been mixed up with the removal of Manchester College to University College, London, and he could not therefore but express, though in a very unprepared manner, his objections to the principles upon which that Hall was intended to be founded. The Rev. E. TALBOT said, that as to the locality of the College, both Manchester and London had strong claims. Historical associations and endearing remembrances of the past, the circumstance that Manchester and its neighbourhood were the stronghold of Nonsubscribing Dissent, that a very large portion of the funds of the institution were raised in the north of England, and the natural and earnest wish of some of the oldest and best friends of the College to retain it at Manchester, were no doubt weighty reasons against a removal to London. On the other hand, the growing desire on the part of the denomination at large that the institution should be removed to London, in order more fully to enjoy the benefits of a connection with the London University; the circumstance that £10,000 had been raised amongst Non-subscribing Dissenters for the purpose of promoting an untrammelled collegiate education; and the further important and to be regretted fact, that though the College had not failed in well educating candidates for the ministry, yet that it had failed to attract lay students within its walls, were reasons for seriously taking into consideration the question whether the prosperity of the institution would not be better promoted by a change of locality. Under the difficulty of coming to a satisfactory decision either way, he would suggest whether it might not be possible to come to some equitable compromise? Half measures, he was aware, were proverbially bad measures; but in this case, it appeared to him that an arrangement might be come to by which the advantages both of Manchester and London might be secured. As the Committee have come to the wise decision to add a sixth year to the course of preparation for the ministry, why might not the first three years be spent in London, and the students, after having taken their degree, devote themselves more peculiarly to theology, preaching and the pastoral care, in the theological department of the College to be maintained at Manchester? This, no doubt, would entail a greater expense; but if such a plan should be the means of reconciling diversities of opinion and preventing a divided action, the united friends of a liberal and untrammelled education would not be deterred from carrying out an object on which they had really set their hearts by a mere financial difficulty. He therefore begged to read, not as a motion on which a vote should now be taken, but as a suggestion for the future deliberate consideration of the Committee, the following proposition:-"That the original intention of the founders of the Manchester College, which was the efficient training of young men for the Christian ministry amongst Non-subscribing Dissenters in an institution in which individuals designed for civil life might be their fellow-students, will, in the present crisis of the College, and considering the advantages presented by the University of London, from which all religious tests are excluded, be best secured by allowing those designed for the ministry to receive the classical and literary portion of their education in London, and that relating to theology and the pastoral care in an institution to be located in Manchester." Mr. R. ScoTT then addressed the meeting, and apologised for intruding upon their notice in the presence of so many learned and reverend gentlemen. He complained that the interests of Manchester College should be placed in jeopardy, not so much with the view of improving that institution, as for the purpose of increasing the prosperity of University College, or of fostering the infant energies of University Hall; and he entreated the Trustees to dismiss from their minds all consideration for the welfare of those other establishments, and to act as Trustees for Manchester College only. He admitted that, thus limiting their view, there was room for much argument and difference of opinion, and he hoped the question would be fully discussed. It was of vital importance, not only to the College itself, but also in reference to the future character and position of the Presbyterian body. To the able arguments embodied in the Report of the Committee he had heard no reply: he urged the meeting, at any rate, to defer a final decision for removal. In arguing this question, he was prepared to maintain that the College was not a failure. It was successful at Warrington, where it established a high reputation for learning in the Professors, and diligence and good conduct in the pupils, and where was educated Dr. Barnes, the future Tutor at Manchester. Indeed, it was a remarkable fact that this institution had in its various localities, and from time to time, supplied itself with instructors of the |
