To the Rev. Thomas Rowe,
Wesleyan Minister, Lynn.

Would that all the members of the Established Church were imbued with his

spirit! Then, if dissent did not expire, at least love would revive; and if we did not amalgamate into one bright orb, we should not be hostile and blood-red stars, but kindly constellations, moving in silent harmony, adding to our mutual glory, and each illuminating well our appropriate sphere! For, though descended from the firm Puritans, we do not refuse our reverence to Latimer and Hooker, to Ridley and to Leighton, to Tillotson and Hoadley, to Beveridge and to Porteus, and to many who, though undignified, beam the truest honours on the Protestant and English Church. Yet, as these liberal spirits rise only like islets in the deep -far and wide between Dissenters

offered prayer. But even then they perhaps were trespassing, or if they stood on a church path, might be apprehended like the poor man at Winchester as breakers of the peace. And it is in England and in the nineteenth century, these deeds are done! Is it not high time indeed, that this Society and the legislature interfere? The clergy should either themselves officiate, or permit the ministers and friends to conduct the service. Yet our illus trious Chairman is aware of the alarm this proposal will excite. If a prayer should be offered up; if the monitory or consoling language of a Christian minister to surrounding mourners should be heard, oh! then the cry would be loud sounding that the church was now in danger, and that its antique towers were about to be battered down by violence or undermined by fraud. Lord Liverpool has not however discouraged hope as to redress, and we trust that next Session the Baptists will be relieved from the oppression of which they well complain. Among these ruthless scenes it is pleasant to behold one cheering spot. It is delightful to have the opportunity of doing justice to one prelate of the Established Church. The Rev. Dean Wood, in the Diocese of Norwich, refused to bury a child, because it had been baptized by a Wesleyan Methodist. A copy of the judgment of Sir John Nicoll, was sent to the Dean; but he still refused, an application was then made by Mr. Rowe, to the Right and truly Rev. Diocesan; without delay, the Bishop of Norwich addressed to Mr. Rowe, the reply to which shall be read, because it does credit to the truly Catholic and Evangelic spirit of a venerable man, whose sentiments are worthy of the apostolic age, and the first and holiest Bishops of the Christian church. The letter is as follows:

"Sir-' Days' (says Job) should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.' How far Dean Wood may accede to the truth of this remark as applicable to me, I dare not venture peremptorily to decide, but I am inclined to believe, from the intercourse which has passed between us on former occasions, he will not be indisposed to pay some deference to the opinion of a brother clergyman, who is now in the 87th year of his age, and I have no hesitation in stating most unequivocally what that opinion is. The decision of so well-informed a civilian as Sir John Nicholl, justifies, I think, any minister of the Established Church in pursuing that line of conduct, towards Dissenters of all denominations, which candour, and meekness, and moderation, and Christian charity must make him anxious to pursue on all occasions, especially upon so interesting a one as that mentioned in your letter, and in behalf of an individual belonging to a sect remarkably

should endeavour to procure burialgrounds in every village, and especially in each extensive town. We are aware that, in the country, the expense of rearing a chapel often exhausts the finances of contributors; but whenever a new chapel is erected, a piece of ground suitable to a cemetery should, if possible, be obtained. At Manchester a large burial-ground has been well arranged, and an example set that other places might well adopt. The benefits of such a plan are obvious, as they are great. We should be free from all those controversies which occupy and vex. We should visit the meeting-house with more hallowed interest, if the tombs of our fathers were there beheld. There should peep out the first flower of spring, nor winter be without her rose; nobler blessings too might well result; more conversant with death, it would lose half its horrors, and we should better learn to live and die, as those who die only to live for ever!

Many miscellaneous subjects have also required attention. The Committee received a letter from the Rev. Mr. Thorpe, of Bristol, stating that, a chapel being about to be built at Mangotsfield, the clergyman had threatened to pull it down, if it approached too nearly to his parishchurch. The Committee replied, that the chapel ought not, from courtesy, to be erected so near as to give needless interruption or offence, but that the law prescribed no exact bounds, and that the threats as to demolition were calculated only to terrify those whom phantoms could alarm. A student of Cheshunt College, Herts, had been drawn for the mihitia; but, after explanations, his ex

emption was allowed. Many of these things may be individually small; but many acquire importance by their aggregation; atoms form the Andes, and drops compose the far-resounding sea; every manacle, though light, should be removed, and though the fiend of persecution be restrained by public opinion and the law, still, as the fiend survives, and from long slumber sometimes terribly awakes, the law must be upheld and strengthened, and public sentiment often and aloud expressed. Cases have occurred at South Molton, and other places, during the year, as to the liability of ministers to serve on juries, and in parochial offices; their exemption has been denied; but the denial has been overcome. An attempt to compel the Rev. Mr. Farr, of Wrestlingworth, to serve as a Surveyor of Highways, because he occupied a farm, was abandoned, on the interference of the Society; and the respectful and liberal conduct of Mr. Pym, the magistrate, merits acknowledgment and praise.

At York, the Secretary to the Archbishop has given much trouble to Mr. Pritchet, an intelligent and highly respectable Dissenter, respecting the registry of chapels in that diocese; but the intimation of an application to the Archbishop, or to the superior courts, as soon supplied a remedy for that complaint.

At Exeter, Mr. Terrell has corresponded with the Committee as to the Certificates of Registration. He had met with many formal objections; and it appears that, to render such certificates availing, they should be signed by the Archbishop, or other principal, or by a regular official Registrar; and when the registration has been made either with the civil or ecclesiastical authority, and that registration is certified, all the requirements of the law on that matter are well fulfilled.

In many places, Dissenters have justly complained that the Poor's Rates have been made a mean of persecution. At Wittering, in Leicestershire, a poor man, who had allowed preaching in his cottage, was threatened to be deprived of all assistance. In other places, the same me thod has been adopted by persons of high rank, to obtain the same result. But the plan adopted by Lord Rolle, in Devonshire, is most decisive, and, for the information of all bigots, may be well revealed. He actually inserts a special provision in his leases, that the lease shall immediately be forfeited if any preaching be allowed. (The lease was produced, and the sentence read.) Oh! liberal Lord Rolle! a British nobleman! and an old man, too,-trembling on the borders of the grave! Is not he forging fetters to bind posterity? Is not he planning that the spirit of intolerance shall descend with his estates, as an hereditary heir-loom?

Far be such a blot from any other escutcheon; and even by his successors may the blot be eternally removed!

The Isle of Man presents a theatre for new aggressions. Mr. Dalrymple had there established a private academy and Sunday School in his own house, which the Bishop has attempted to suppress. Every thing relating to that island is involved in mystery. The Bishop claimed this power under some old act of Tynwold, passed in 1705, and said that the Toleration Laws had no operation in the Isle of Man! If that be so, then the legislature ought soon to interpose, nor suffer that little islet to form a dark spot unilluminated by the light which should beam brightly over all regions subject to the British crown.

In Canada, the Catholic religion was the religion of the State. After it became a British Colony, episcopacy was introduced. Presbyterians also became settlers, and an Act was passed to allow Protestants, as well as Catholics, to celebrate marriages, burials, and baptisms: Subsequently several independent Baptists and Methodists became residents in the Colony, and for several years their ministers exercised these rights. As their numbers increased, the Chief Justice refused to grant books to their ministers, and denied their right under the statute. An appeal was made to the Courts at law, by whom it was decided that Dissenters were not Protestants. The Methodists and Dissenters were precluded from the rights they had enjoyed! An Act supported by the Catholics, intended to remedy "the evil, has, however, after a second attempt, passed the Legislature of Canada; but the Attorney-General and Chief Justice protested, and prevented its final adoption, until it should be approved and confirmed by his Majesty's Government in England. Under these circumstances, the Canadians have requested this Society to interpose on their behalf: and, we trust, that our Government, who know the increasing trade of Canada, who desire its improvement, and who encourage emigration to increase its population, and its strength, will not sanction there the introduction of intolerance, which will be more desolating than fires or inundations, than dreary winter, or American and Indian foes to those improving states.

The subject of registration of baptisms and births is a point on which Dissenters and Methodists naturally feel a deep concern. It was long supposed that the registration of births at Dr. Williams's Library, and of a baptism by a dissenting minister, was equal evidence of a birth or baptism with a registration of a baptism in a parish register by a minister of the Established Church. An Act now repealed, that passed and imposed a stamp

duty on those registers of births and baptisms by Dissenters, confirmed the hope. But a contrary decision has been pronounced by the Court of Chancery, as well as by the Ecclesiastical Courts. Great dismay has been consequently spread among dissenting congregations throughout the country. That dismay is excessive, since such registers, although not equally availing with parochial registers, may materially assist as evidence in any cases of litigated claims. Yet it is highly important that other security should be obtained. Parochial registers, as far as they extend to baptisms, are regarded as public records, and examined extracts from them are admitted as sufficient proofs on the matters to which they apply. But dissenting registers and entries at the Library of births are but secondary evidence, and the original books or entries must be produced, and other testimony must be given as to the signature of the parties and their identity to render them availing; and from which, in many cases, Baptists also, who never baptize their infants, are precluded from the benefit of parochial registers, which extend only to the baptized. To obviate such inconveniences, and meet the wishes of numerous congregations, the Committee have communicated with the Government, and sought the attention which the great body of Dissenters and Methodists are entitled

to expect. Their sanction they thought desirable before any appeal was made to the Legislature for relief; and the liberal respect they have ever experienced from Lord Liverpool, Lord Bexley, and their ministerial friends, encouraged confident expectation of just support. In such application they felt more confidence, as in cases of settlement, entries of baptism are not evidence of birth, for in a recent case Mr. Justice Bayley had decided that an entry of birth in a register of baptism, was not evidence, as the present entries of baptism not only supply no proof of birth, but are much less useful to supply proofs of descent and identity than they might be made; and as all classes, whether Churchmen or Dissenters are interested, that on this matter some improvements should occur. The remedy we propose, avoiding all interference with registers of baptisms, and thereby leaving clergymen and Dissenting Ministers in possession of their present rights, is to obtain a voluntary registration of births as a civil and not ecclesiastical affair. Such registers are to contain ample information of the parents of the children, and the day of their birth, and being duly verified and entered, shall be regarded as public records belonging to the State. Of those records, we propose that the clerks of the peace in their several cities and counties should have the care, and that for certain small fees they

should make the entries, and supply copies and information in forms to be prescribed. As the registry would be optional, no person could be thereby vexed, and as no interference was contemplated with baptisms, no ecclesiastical persons could complain, and security might be obtained by parents as to their children, which would lessen future litigation and relieve the anxious heart. Lord Liverpool made no objection to the measure, and appeared willing 'to lend it his concurrence; but at this time intimated, that it belonged particularly to the province of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. An interview was obtained with Mr. Peel. It cannot be said that he greeted the suggestion with the same cordiality as Lord Liverpool had shown. Mr. Peel hesitated much about the expediency of the proposed alteration; he said, he should be obliged to consult many persons,--declined to legislate on a matter so important without much consideration, but at last doubted whether a universal registry of births should not be required and by compulsory enactments be enforced. The result was, however, a promise that when Parliament was dissolved, he would give the matter more attention, and either bring forward a bill in the next session, or apprize the Society of the objections he entertained. That communication the Committee will await, and expect that propositions so just and needful cannot be repelled; but if that expectation be disappointed they must apply to the Parliament for their protection, and trust that although they may meet some rocks and shallows in their course, and find some ebbing currents or opposing gales, they shall obtain the cooperation of the deputies and all their Rev. friends, and be enabled to steer the vessel securely into port.

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The Committee have also considered it their duty to make an application to Parliament during the past year on the subject of Negro Slavery, and to urge the matter on their country friends. That is a subject on which all Christian spirits could not but agree, and a petition was presented, praying that Negro Slavery might not long deform the earth. might be doubted whether that question is not of a nature too political to occupy a Society formed for the protection of religious freedom. But when it was a question whether 850,000 beings with immortal minds, and their sad posterities should continue slaves, what man, what Briton, what Christian, what Protestant Dissenter, what true lover of religious liberty, could withhold any effort that might assist a good decision that they should finally be free? is a foul blot on this country that Slavery has so long existed! The cause of the abolition of Slavery is a glorious cause; but they would not be true patrons to the

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negroes, nor friends to their country, or to man, who would attempt precipitately to hurl down an edifice which, though wrongfully erected, involves much property and comfort, which must not be allowed for ever to rear its frowning turrets and invite indignant thunders on the land, but which wisdom and charity must persevere progressively to dilapidate and finally re

move.

As to the Test and Corporation Acts, the peculiar circumstances of the country, and the shortness of the Session, rendered it inexpedient to address the legislature for their repeal. It is postponed with the conviction, that, whenever brought forward, it should be discussed as a great and momentous subject. It is only by speaking generally and firmly, that the Dissenters can hope to be free from these vexatious and disgraceful laws. An opportunity will soon arrive, when they may speak with firmness and effect. I hope that Dissenters at the General Election, will be true to themselves, and that in giving their influence and votes, they will not be swayed by interest, nor crouch to power, but will vote for congenial spirits, who will pledge themselves to promote here, and throughout the world, Improvement, Liberty, and Truth! Friends to religious freedom can do much by union, and by firmness. When the excellent Whig representative of Surrey applied for support to the individual who addresses you, he addressed to him a note, and enquired what he thought of Bible Societies, of Lancasterian Schools, and of the Test Act? That hon. gentleman replied, that he was Vice-President of a Bible Society, near his residence in Surrey; that he maintained a Lancasterian School in the North of England, at his own expense, and that he considered the Test Act a disgrace to the Statute Book, and the Established Church. This reply was immediately communicated to every Dissenting Minister throughout the county, and no consistent Dissenter would have withheld from that candidate his influence or vote. If friends to freedom will thus act, they will demonstrate their numbers, their principles, their respectability, their strength, and their determination, to be relieved from the degradation of annual Acts of Indemnity, and from the innumerable petty vexations which may be designated rather as insults than as wrongs. On this matter, I trust, we shall soon speak, and so speak as to command attention and ensure success!

While I indicate the clouds that collect and impend, and which discourage and begloom, I am, however, happy to advert to sunshine that beams upon the path. Among some circumstances which animate and cheer, we have received subscriptions and communications from Scotland, ho

nourable to that country, and acceptable to us. From Dumfermline especially, a voluntary contribution was sent, and our correspondents, when they remitted their donation, expressed surprise and sorrow that England should be so inferior in religious freedom, to the country from which it was separated only by the Tweed! In Scotland, they have no struggles as to baptisms, and marriages, and burials: and the intolerance with which we had to contend, was there unknown. Yet they remind me they were not always free. There was a time when persecution stalked among their mountains, and dyed their lakes with blood; and they entreat us to be true to ourselves and to our cause, and say, "We have been firm-have persevered -and overcome! Be firm and persevere -Scotland will aid your efforts--and you too shall overcome !"

To the intended establishment of a London University I think it proper to advert. We envy not the revenues of the Established Church, nor seek to violate their rights. They err who think it is their wealth we envy, because we complain if trodden on, or bleed if we be wounded. The ministers of the Protestant Dissenters are inferior to none in piety and learning; and while they live stipendiaries on the love of those for whom they labour, they pass by the palaces of bishops, unenvying their revenues, and breathe out a prayer that the prelates who dwell within them with ample means of liberality, may have that liberality of heart which alone sanctifies the means. But who does not feel that our exclusion from the Universities, that are the boast of Britons, is a tyrannous and cruel wrong? How can the ingenuous and educated youth of Protestant Dissenters look on those venerable seats of learning--the bowers where Bacon, Locke, and Newton reposed and studied, and where our celestial bards first breathed their strains-without an emulous glow, a kindling of poetic feeling, and an ardent wish to share their benefits? I have myself wandered among their Gothic structures, have paced the margin of the Isis and the Cam, have wandered amid their parks and groves, have gazed on their collections of ancient and modern lore, have felt that science might never boast a nobler home; but I have, too, felt a stranger in my native land. I stood on the border of a paradise I could not enter; odious statutes, hostile as avenging cherubim, forbade my entrance! What to me was the magnificence and beauty-what the fruits of intellect and stores of knowledge, if I might not dwell in those abodes, nor share their treasures? Into those Universities Dissenters cannot be admitted, or take degrees or honour, but by apostacy from the principles of their forefathers. They cannot gather the laurels

which there may grow, without signing articles of faith in which they do not agree, and the very signature of which they may condemn. Therefore am I glad dened that our Chairman, and men of rank and influence, and of unbounded talent, undeterred by obloquy and opposition, have resolved to found in London an University, in which Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Christians, may all receive the best instruction, without leaving the paternal roof, and without any obtrusive interference with their religious creeds. I hope that similar colleges will be founded in all the great towns and cities of the empire, and that learning, and liberty, and religion will advance together with triumphant speed!

[Here Mr. Wilks indulged in some lengthened and very animated allusions to the progress of religious liberty in France, South America, and Greece, which we reluctantly omit.]

Earnestly I deprecate the spirit of selfishness which sometimes influences Protestant Dissenters. Parents are taking their children to the parish church to be baptized. Young men are apostatizing from the faith of their fathers for literary honour and paltry gain. I lament this spirit, because they sacrifice their honour, not because it diminishes the number of Dissenters; for to numbers I pay little heed, and should still maintain and recommend our principle, though but one Dissenter remained resident on earth. We should watch against this sprite of selfishness. Superstition rests on a couch of skulls, and loves to lave herself in blood. We breathe the sweet fresh air of liberty; let us ever be mindful of the victims we have left behind, and who are amid the glooms and dangers whence we may have escaped. Oh that I were able to exhibit selfishness in all its true deformity! then those who are most under its dominion would loathe and burst its thrall. As the fair lady, on whose snowy boson rests the incubus of night-mare, would wish to shake off the ill intruder; so, could I depict selfishness, as it visits the aged and the young, the lovely and the wise, benumbing each faculty, and infusing to the heart the apathy of death, I am persuaded that all would shrink from its embraces, and would renew to benevolence and to freedom their devotion and their troth. But, should multitudes allow his influence, we may not despond. Throughout the world, and in that assembly, the love of liberty did not decline. Many whom I see around me have grown grey, devoted to her cause; and the manly bosoms of our vigorous youths beat gladly at her

name.

Still shall it be taught by our pastors to the people, and by our matrons to their noble boys; and if we might raise a

temple to any thing below the skies, to liberty the altar should be reared; and if the inscription or our purpose be inquired, I will reply in the language of the immortal Locke," Liberty, absolute liberty, just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty, is what we need."

[This eloquent address was received by a crowded audience with great applause, and enthusiastic cheers followed its conclusion.]

The resolutions, which we shall insert in our next number, were moved and seconded by the Rev. Messrs. J. Morrison, T. Atkins, W. Platt, Mark Wilks, and W. Orme; T. Walker, Esq., and Dr. J. B. Brown. The Marquis of Lansdowne and Lord Dacre severally acknowledged the votes of thanks, and the meeting separated.

IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETY.

The twelfth Annual Meeting of the above Society was held at the City of London Tavern, May 9, 1826. Thomas Walker, Esq., in the chair. Rev. T. Morell, of Wymondley, opened the meeting with solemn prayer. From the Report of the Committee for the past year, it appears that the number of students in the Society's Academy has been extended to twelve: three have recently finished the academical term, and are now occupying important stations of missionary labour in the country; and the statements and recommendations of promising candidates for admittance are already before the Committee, to fill up the vacancies thus occasioned. The labours of the students on every Lord's day, in superintending Sunday Schools, and preaching the Gospel at destitute openings in the neighbourhood of Dublin, appear to be interesting and important. The Society has eighteen stations through the country, at which its labours are promoted in the English language, and seven native missionaries, who are diffusing its important benefits in the vernacular tongue. It is gratifying to find, in reference to all the Society's stations, that there is perfect harmony among the missionaries and the congregations; that the spirit of general co-operation for the advancement of the great cause appears to be increasingly felt and exemplified; that Sunday and other Schools are multiplying in most of the districts, and promising the happiest results; and that the distribution of the Holy Scriptures and religious tracts has met with unprecedented encouragement, and seems likely to prove a powerful auxiliary in the spiritual instruction of the people. The missionaries generally report that, throughout the whole of their itinerating labours, they have found a very considerable spirit of inquiry about the Scriptures of salvation, and an increasing desire for instruction, particu