The last list of the churches throughout the kingdom was published in 1835, which was accompanied with the usual analytical account of the various denominations and their efforts in each county. The lapse of six years has made a revision of that list desirable, and the Editor will now proceed to state the specific objects he has in view in printing the mass of information he has now the pleasure to bring before his readers. Firmly convinced that the formal and permanent association of ministers and churches within certain convenient limits can be maintained as a part of the Congregational polity, which is alike primitive and useful, it is his wish, by the present publication, to increase a knowledge of existing associations, and to advance their efficiency. He has, therefore, collected all the facts within his reach respecting the associations already organized, and has indicated by a mark, elsewhere explained, what ministers and churches are so associated. He has been further anxious to ascertain the date of the formation of the existing churches, or of the erection of their present places of worship, which, at the close, will enable his readers to test the progress of our body during the present century. Most of those dates are inserted on the authority of the Appendix to the first Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state, custody, and authenticity of registers and records of births or baptisms, deaths or burials, and marriages, in England and Wales, other than the parochial registers. And as our churches have confided to the custody of the Registrar-General a large collection of those invaluable records, the Editor has thought it right carefully to affix a mark to every church that has so deposited its registers, that when the present generation shall have passed away, there may be in many hands an index of easy access to those documents that now form part of our national archieves.

The Editor has renewed his attempt to exhibit the places in which the present pastors were educated for the ministry, but regrets to record that the academical lists themselves, in several instances, are so meagre and defective, that this part of the document, he fears, will be far from complete.

On the subject of that depository he has some further remarks to offer, but they will be more appropriately introduced in another place. The object of the present Supplement is, then, not so much to supply facts wherewith to assail others, as to record those which may enable us to understand our own circumstances, and improve them. The Editor is thankful to remember, that the Congregational churches have borne a full, unflinching testimony to their countrymen concerning the spiritual nature of the kingdom of their Lord and Master, and have fallen under no small obloquy and reproach for the same; the certain recompense of all those who dare to follow the example of the King of Martyrs. He ventures to hope, that now the churches will give themselves again to the edification and enlargement of that kingdom. It was during the long period in which statesmen, unfriendly

their politics to religious equality, were at the helm of England's overnment, that our churches multiplied greatly. Should such nother period of political and ecclesiastical conservative-ism be before is, it will be the duty of evangelical Protestant Dissenters, the Editor humbly conceives, to preach freely and fully the doctrines of the reformation-doctrines which, when faithfully proclaimed, will, blessed be God, always find a certain response in the hearts of the British people. Then will the churches of Christ perform their own primary and proper business, and will be prepared to say with Nehemiah, to any who would divert their attention from that imperative duty, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?"

It only remains for the Editor to state, that the following paper on a New Division of England and Wales is from the pen of the Rev. James Gawthorn, of Derby, who has illustrated his ideas by a skeleton map which has been engraved to accompany the article. The next paper contains the second and final report of the Commission of Registers other than parochial, which has been presented to parliament, but not printed until now.

This document is highly important, and with the introductory remarks must be interesting to the dissenting public at large.

These are succeeded by the lists of our churches in their respective counties, arranged in alphabetical order, and will be followed, if our space permit, by some general observations on our county associations, &c. Should, however, that not be the case, such a paper may be expected in the Magazine for January, 1812.

ON A NEW GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION OF ENGLAND AND
WALES FOR DENOMINATIONAL PURPOSES.

Illustrated with a Skeleton Map.

ENGLAND and Wales contain a surface of 57,552 square miles. This portion of the United Kingdom is differently divided for civil and ecclesiastical purposes. The chief civil divisions are circuits, counties, hundreds, wapentakes, tythings, parishes, townships, liberties, &c. The ecclesiastical divisions are provinces, dioceses, archdeaconries, parishes, chapelries, and peculiars. However well-suited these divisions might be to the times and purposes for which they were made, they are now attended with great trouble and expense. Some are inconveniently large, and others unnecessarily small. The county of York contains 5836 square miles, while Rutland has but 149. The shapes of the counties are in general extremely ill-formed, in numerous instances they run deeply into one another, and in many cases parts of one county are isolated, and embedded in several other counties. Most of the county of Durham lies to the south of Northumberland, but one part is half-way up the eastern coast of Northumberland, and

another portion is quite on the north of that county, and adjacent to Scotland, and is thus widely separated from the body of the parent county, by the whole length of Northumberland. What a needless expense of time, trouble, and money, is required to bring officers, jurors, witnesses, and prisoners, from the borders of Scotland, to the assizes in the city of Durham.

In most cases the boundaries of counties were determined by the course of rivers. At a period when a stream of water was a real impediment to the intercourse of two neighbouring places, when for the most part rivers were passed only over a solitary plank, or through dangerous fords, at a time when a map was a rarity, and the geographical knowledge of most men was confined to their own parishes, there might be a propriety, or even necessity, for making rivers the boundaries of counties, &c. But now, when, if we only mention the latitude and longitude of any part of the ocean, every school-boy can immediately point it out on the map, when good roads in every direction, and bridges at short distances from each other, render the intercourse of towns in adjacent counties as easy as between two places of equal distance in one and the same county, no such necessity exists. Whoever looks at a map of Lancashire, Oxfordshire, or Berkshire, will be convinced, that even chance, or hap-hazard, could scarcely have formed more ill-shaped districts.

Some difficulty would now attend a general re-division of the whole kingdom, but these, though considerable, would be but temporary, and would soon be compensated by the great and permanent advantages that would accrue. It is, perhaps, to be regretted, that a general measure of this kind was not adopted at the passing of the act to reform the national representation. The matter has not been altogether overlooked, and some partial legislation on the subject has taken place, but by no means suited to the necessity of the case. If there be political reasons why the government should continue the present awkward and unequal divisions and sub-divisions which now exist, there is no reason why voluntary societies should be confined to them. The Congregational Union, the Baptist Union, the Bible Society, the various missionary and other societies, might at once dispense with them, and adopt others incomparably better. The Wesleyans have already done this with great convenience and advantage to their body-why should not other denominations and societies avail themselves of similar facilities? In the following suggestions, the boundaries of counties are altogether disregarded; the sooner we disabuse ourselves of the prejudices and feelings which these antique and awkard figures have occasioned, the better we shall be prepared to adopt a more rational and convenient plan. In the consideration of this subject, both the size and the shape of the divisions should be regarded. If a country could be divided into squares with the exactness of a chess-board, it would be the most convenient imaginable, but as the general figure of our island, and the