The cause has been nourished here by the zeal and liberality of a few friends, some of whom are spared to see the work of the Lord prosper in their hands. They have erected a commodious chapel, (capable of accommodating 400 persons,) and they have lately built a school-room, in which about 130 children are taught on the British system, while an equal number attend the Sabbath-school instruction. And we rejoice to add, that by efforts, which those who are acquainted with village congregations will appreciate, they are free from debt. There are also active missionary, Christian instruction, and benevolent societies in healthful operation. On Wednesday, 16th June, 1841, the ordination of the Rev. James Smith, to the pastorate, over the Congregational church in Ebenezer chapel, Lipton, Staffordshire, took place. The Rev. J. C. Gallaway, M.A. of West Bromwich, read the Scriptures and offered prayer; the Rev. John Hudson, of the same town, delivered the introductory discourse; the Rev. Thomas Morgan, of Great Bridge, received the minister's confession of faith; the Rev. John Hammond, of Handsworth, Birmingham, offered the ordination prayer with imposition of hands; the Rev. James Dawson, of Dudley, delivered the charge to the pastor, founded on 2 Tim. ii. 15; the Rev. John Parsons, of Brickley Hill, closed with prayer. Mr. Palk, on the behalf of the church, read an affecting statement, detailing the circumstances which had led Mr. Smith to accept the unanimous invitation of church and congregation. The evening service was commenced by Rev. Peter Sibree, of Birmingham, reading a portion of Holy Writ, and fervently imploring the blessing of God on the Union; the Rev. John Hill, A.M. of Gornal, preached to the people, from Deut. i. 38. "Encourage him." The Rev. George Newton, of Enderby, closed with prayer. The services were numerously and respectably attended: in the afternoon, members could not obtain admission. The minister enters on this sphere with encouraging indications of the Divine blessing; the congregation has gradually, but materially increased since he commenced his stated labours. COLLEGIATE ANNIVERSARIES. BRECON INDEPendent ColleGE.-At the examination of the students of Brecon College, under the tuition of the Rev. Charles Nice Davies, theological tutor, and the Rev. Edward Davies, classical and mathematical tutor, on Wednesday, June 9th, 1841, at which the Rev. N. M. Harry presided, as the deputation of the Congregational Fund Board, the students were examined as to the studies in Grotius de Veretati Religiones Christianæ; in four chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews in Greek; in an equal number of chapters of Genesis, and the Psalms in Hebrew. To these distinct subjects of examination, ad aperturam libri, were appended several questions in Logic, Philosophy, Literary and General History, and Universal Science; which they respectively answered. In the Classical and Mathematical departments, the subjects proposed for examination, and to which the students had attended in the course of the session, were (in Latin) the second and third Books of the Æneid; the first and second Books of the Odes of Horace; parts of Justin, Curtius, Florus, and Livy, and first Book of Cæsar's Commentaries. In Greek, the first nine chapters of the Epistle to the Romans; parts of Plutarch, Polycemus, Elian, the Septuagint, the second Book of the Iliad; parts of the Anabasis, the Memorabilia, the Cyropædia of Xenophon, and the Hecuba of Euripides. In Algebra, the whole of Quadratic Equations. In Geometry, in the First Book of Euclid, portions of which respectively were fixed upon by the ministers present without previous notice. Several essays were delivered by the students as specimens of Welsh composition; they also offered to the examiners several specimens of their composition in English. The students, in the different departments of Classical, Mathematical, and Theological studies in which they were examined, showed the great attention which their tutors must have paid to them during the session, and the satisfactory progress they had made. The examination altogether, and the state of the College, gave the greatest satisfaction to the ministers and friends present on the interesting occasion. CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOL, LEWISHAM.-The midsummer examination of the pupils in this institution took place on Tuesday, June 29th, when the Rev. H. L. Berry, M.A. of Homerton College, presided, assisted by the Rev. G. Rogers, of Albany Chapel. The following gratifying report has been presented to the committee, the perusal of which, it is hoped, may induce the religious public to render more efficient aid to a school which imparts a secular and religious education to no fewer than fifty sons of Congregational ministers : 'Having examined the pupils of the Congregational School in the several depart ments of education, we cannot but express the satisfaction which we have felt in witnessing the proceedings of this day. The classes appear to be well-grounded in Latin syntax and prosody; the rules of which were verified by examples from Ballantyne's Introduction and the Edinburgh Delectus; they read passages selected at pleasure, from the first and second books of Cæsar's Gallic War, the first and third books of the Eneid of Virgil, and Sallust's Conspiracy of Catiline, to which were added extracts from the Greek Delectus. They were likewise examined in arithmetic, geometry, (the first book of Euclid,) English Grammar, and ancient history; prompt, and, in general, accurate answers were also returned to questions on the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Their proficiency in the different branches of learning was, on the whole, highly creditable, and we hesitate not, to express our opinion, that the solid basis may here be laid of a sound classical and liberal educa. tion, while we cannot refrain from recommending to parents and guardians an institution which provides the foundation in early life, for those higher attainments in religious knowledge, literature, and science, which are demanded by the claims of the Christian church, and the present age of the world." WESTERN ACADEMY, EXETER.-Tutors: the Rev. G. Payne, L.L.D. and the Rev. O. T. Dobbin, L.L.B. The annual examination of the students in this academical institution took place on Tuesday, June 29th. The Rev. George Clayton, of London, took the chair at eleven o'clock, when, in the presence of many of the neighbouring ministers, eight classes were examined in reference to the objects of study in the last session. The junior Latin class translated passages out of Virgil, and some paragraphs of Dr. Lowth's Latin dissertations; the second class was questioned by the theological tutor, in the science of mental philosophy, in political enonomy, and the doctrine of justification; the junior Greek class read and translated portions of the Dream of Lucian; the next class was examined in logic; the second Greek class in the sixth book of Homer's Iliad; the sixth class read the Chaldee of Daniel; the seventh class translated Horace, and gave an analytical account of the structure of the language, and the metres of the Roman poets; the eighth was questioned on the first six chapters of the Hebrew Bible; translated from the Greek Testament into Latin, and read parts of the Medea of Euripides. An essay, evincing considerable ability, was delivered by one of the senior students, in refutation of the hypothesis, that the Scriptures of the New Testament were originally composed in Latin. Several of the students have been for a short time only in the house, yet even these evinced, for beginners, a hopeful measure of attainment. Of the seniors, some were distinguished by an encouraging degree of proficiency in the different departments of study, and afforded no equivocal indications of talent, diligence, and successful application. On the whole, there was much to gratify the examiners, and to reflect credit alike upon the rev. tutors and their youthful charge. These exercises did not close till nearly nine o'clock in the evening. On the following morning the general meeting of the friends and supporters of the institution was held, when various resolutions were passed, and a lively interest evinced for its advancement and prosperity. In the evening, a discourse, appropriate to the occasion, was delivered in Castle-street Chapel, by the Rev. G. Clayton, founded on Acts xvi. 17, and prayers were offered by the Rev. J. Bristow, of Exeter, and the Rev. James Hart, of Tregony. It is devoutly to be wished, that the friends of sound learning and piety, as necessary accompaniments of the Christian ministry, may be led to consider well the claims, and support more zealously, by their countenance, their contributions, and their prayers, an institution, which has been greatly honoured of God for usefulness, and is fitted to become much more extensively a blessing to the western counties, to the united empire, and to the world at large. BRIEF NOTES ON PASSING EVENTS. The PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS have closed, and, after an unprecedented contest, the advocates of monopoly in trade, politics, and religion, will possess in the new House of Commons a majority of more than seventy votes ! * Had this triumph of Toryism been voted by the free acclamations of a people obeying the dictates of their own mind, we should feel less depressed than we must acknowledge we now do ; but when we know that the electors, in some instances, have been coerced, like serfs and slaves, and in others corrupted and debauched by money and drink—that they have been maddened by appeals to their worst prejudices and vilest passions, we mourn over it as a fearful spectacle of national depravity, which makes us blush for our country in the society of foreigners, and to tremble for it in the presence of God-"Shall I not visit for these things," saith the LORD," and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" We believe that where the monopolists have triumphed by the fair suffrages of the electors, motives scarcely more worthy have influenced their majorities. An ignorant and selfish dread of proposed reforms have moved some, and disappointed hope has vexed and irritated others, to vote against the government; while not a few, who have had their unrighteous gains reduced by the wholesome enactments of the Whigs, were influenced by spite and revenge to vote against them. Gloomy as is this retrospect, we confess the prospect does not appear more cheering. *The Globe of July 28th, give the following numbers : The cry The failing trade of the country, the melancholy state of the weather, which "The scenes of want and misery," which surround the ministers of religion in the manufacturing district of Manchester and its neighbourhood, have induced them to issue a circular, inviting "a national conference of ministers of all religious denominations on the subject of the laws respecting the food of the community," to be held in the Town Hall of Manchester, and which will commence its sittings on Tuesday morning, the 17th of August. An invitation, so unusual in this country, (though similar conventions are often held with great effect in the United States,) must have originated in a powerful conviction that the state of society in the north is fearfully ominous, and that it is necessary that the unemployed myriads should hear amidst their despondency, perhaps desperation, the sweet voice of Christian charity, pleading on their behalf. The fact is indisputable that the masses at the present day feel that they have no friends to plead their cause, and thus they attach themselves to every political charlatan, whether Chartist or Socialist, who professes sympathy for their sufferings, while they shun the ministers of religion, whom they regard as the hired advocates of vested interests, as allied with their oppressors. Let then a goodly multitude of faithful, godlike men assemble at Manchester, not to clamour for a particular measure, that will only transfer money from the purses of one wealthy class of oppressors to the coffers of another; but boldly to speak to "the millocracy”—as well as the aristocracy-to" cotton lords"-as well as landlords-" What mean ye that ye break my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of Hosts." Let them seek in "the spirit and power of Elias" fearlessly to denounce those "who keep back by fraud" "the hire of the labourer," and with the prophet Jeremiah to pronounce a heavy "Woe unto him that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work." Such a faithful ministration of the threatenings of God, "without respect of persons," will raise all who pronounce them in the confidence of their countrymen, and prove that the benevolent precepts of the Son of God are not yet trodden to the dust by the feet of an indomitable selfishness. We venture to encourage our brethren to attend this convocation with greater confidence as discussion is invited, and as it is designed" to fetter no man's conscience," "to pledge no one" to the approval of principles and measures, against which he may feel it his duty to object. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Favours have been received from Rev. Drs. Vaughan-Reed-J. P. Smith. Messrs. W. K. Towers-Bernard Barton.-A Nonconformist.-W. Stroud, Esq. M.D. THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. SEPTEMBER, 1841. THE REV. JOHN BERRIDGE AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS, ILLUSTRATED BY ORIGINAL LETTERS. IN that devoted band of holy men, by whose self-denying labours evangelical religion was happily revived in this country, there was not an individual more eminent for intellectual energy and high scholarship than the vicar of Everton. Dr. Southey has thought it fit to call him "a buffoon as well as a fanatic;" but there abundant proofs that he was neither. He was a fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he resided twenty-one years, not as a college drone, but as a laborious student. "When I first came to the University," says he, in a letter to a friend, "I applied diligently to my studies, thinking human learning a necessary qualification for a divine, and that no one ought to preach, unless he had taken a degree. Accordingly, I studied the classics— mathematics-philosophy-logic-metaphysics, and read the works of our most eminent divines. This I did for the space of twenty years" --and at the rate of fifteen hours a day; so that the late Mr. Venn, who knew him well, declared "that he was as familiar with the learned languages, as he was with his mother tongue;" and "that he could be under no temptation to court respect by itinerating preaching; for he merited and enjoyed that in a high degree among all ranks of literary professors at the University."* His strength of intellect and quickness of perception, his brilliant fancy and ready wit, combined with unusual gravity of countenance and dignity of bearing, fitted him in an eminent degree for the duties of moderator in the academical exercises of the University, to which office he was appointed. Such a training was not likely to produce "a buffoon" and "a fanatic." But he was willing to be accounted "a fool for Christ's sake," and, like the apostle Paul, he could say, "But what things were gain to * Life of Rev. J. Berridge-Evangelical Mag. Vol. I. p. 15. N. S. VOL. 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