object of this society is, I trust, as dear to my heart, as it is to the most zealous of your members, as it is to the Honourable and Right Reverend Vice-Patron himself. But that grand purpose will never be furthered, much less accomplished, by such means as are offered or afforded, by an irregular association like this; an association of a character so equivocal, that had not the Lords Bishops of Gloucester and of Norwich honoured it with their exemplary names, it might as well be supposed a Church of Rome Society, or a Scottish Kirk Society, or a Swedenborgian Church Society, as to pertain to the Church of England. No-the conversion of the Heathen to the faith of the Son of God, must be founded, as at the beginning, on a system of ORDER and of UNION; ministered by men duly qualified and orderly consecrated to their holy office. On such system, and on such men alone, can the grace of the Eternal Spirit, the God of order and of unity, and not of confusion, be reasonably expected to descend. The ground-work, and little more than the ground-work of such a system is now laid in the EAST, founded on a regular apostolical commission, under the superintendance of a sound apostolical bishop. But with neither of these, it seems, does this Church Missionary Society hold communion. But, whether that be the fact or not, I call on you, as members of the Church of England, to look to that Church. You are summoned hither to discuss the propriety of establishing a Branch of this Church Missionary Society in this city, under the patronage, not of the Lord Bishop of this Diocese, but of the Lord Bishop of Gloucester; who, himself, as Dean of Wells, owes canonical obedience to the Bishop of Bath and Wells; and who, moreover, has no manner of jurisdiction in this city, nor in this diocese, beyond his deanery. AS THE ARCHDeacon of Batu,— In the name of the Lord Bishop of this Diocese, in my own name, in the name of the Rectors of Bath, and in the name of nineteen-twentieths of the clergy in my jurisdiction,— I PROTEST against the formation of such society in this city. Whether, or in what manner, the Hon. and Right Rev. Vice-Patron and his friends will condescend to notice THIS PROTEST, I shall not stay to see. Denominations of Protestant Dissenters in Derby, on behalf of ourselves and the members of our respective congregations, approach your Royal Highness with feelings of dutiful and loyal attachment and of unfeigned sympathy. It would be vain to attempt the expres sion of that sorrow which fills our hearts at the recollection of the irreparable loss which your Royal Highness has been called to sustain. That heavenly Providence which rules over all, and whose wisdom we can neither fathom nor arraign, has removed from the world your illustrious daughter; and at a time, and under circumstances, which to human apprehension. rendered her continuance here the most to be desired. To dwell on the virtuous and amiable character of Her Royal Highness, would be only to repeat the praises which fall from every tongue; and we fear to dwell on a subject which, in the poignancy of your Royal Highness's affliction, might tend rather to renew your sorrows than to alleviate them. If effectual consolation were in our power, it would be our greatest happiness to open every source of it to your Royal Highness; but He alone can bind up the heart who has broken it, and to the Source of all good, whose ways, though mysterious, are always merciful, our prayers are addressed, that he will grant such portions of his all-powerful aid as may support your Royal Highness under this awful dispensation of his power. We trust, also, that your Royal Highness will derive some alleviation of your grief, from the assurance of the affectionate and loyal attachment which pervades all ranks of people in these United Kingdoms. We offer it to the consideration of your Royal Highness as a source of no mean satisfaction, that a spirit of union and loyalty exists among the people of these realms which cannot be exceeded, and that every attempt to disturb the tranquillity of the empire has proved abortive. Addressing your Royal Highness from a county which has been represented (unjustly as we believe) to be disaffected to the government of your Royal Highness, we have the highest pleasure in congratu lating your Royal Highness on the very decisive testimony which was repeatedly borne by the Judges on the bench during the late trials for high treason, to the steady loyalty of the people at large, a loyalty which no intimidation could for a moment shake. It was with infinite regret that we observed occasional statements of the transactions which have disturbed our county, in which it was attempted to implicate the Dissenters in the recent outrages. That undeviating fidelity which the Protestant Dissenters have ever exhibited to the illus trious family of your Royal Highness, ought to have been sufficient to secure them as a body from such unfounded insinuations. And on mature inquiry, we have a confident satisfaction in assuring your Royal Highness, that not an individual counected with any religious society of the Three Denominations of Dissenters was in any degree implicated in the disgraceful occurrences so promptly and so happily suppressed. In veneration of those principles of civil and religious liberty, which we have ever been foremost to avow, principles which seated and maintain the family of your Royal Highness on the throne of these United Kingdoms, and in zealous attachment to the venerated institutions of our country as secured by our invaluable constitution, we trust we shall steadily per severe. To defend the land of our birth against foreign aggression, its tranquillity against the efforts of faction, its institutions against the encroachments of power, are our duties as patriots, to yield a ready submission to the laws and constituted authorities of the State, is the first lesson which we learn as subjects; to embrace every fit opportunity of expressing our dutiful attachment to our Sovereign and his family, is our privilege as Britons. In these characters we now address your Royal Highness, beseeching your Royal Highness to receive our professions of loyalty and affection, and our assurances that your Royal Highness will ever find us among the most faithful of his Majesty's subjects. Williams's Library, Red Cross Street. December 9, 1817. Ar an Extraordinary Meeting of the General Body of Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations, Resolved unanimously, That having so recently been admitted into the presence of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to offer our congratulations on the auspicious nuptials of his Royal Daughter and his Serene Highness Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg, and having had the honour of personally addressing the Illustrious and Happy Pair on the same event, we cannot but feel, most powerfully, the sad reverse of circumstances occasioned by the lamented death of the Princess Charlotte and her Son. That though we deem it most expedient and respectable to abstain from such communications of our condolence on the mournful occasion, as might revive the painful sensations which must have agitated the minds of her Royal Parents and his Serene Highness Prince Leopold; we do, nevertheless, consider it our duty, as a body, to testify our deep sense of the great loss which the nation has sustained by that afflictive event. That, from the talents and acquirements of her Royal Highness, from her attachment to those principles of true freedom, civil and religious, which have been the basis of our country's felicity and glory, from the countenance which her public conduct and domestic virtues afforded to the interests of good morals, and the exercises of devotion and piety, and from her courteous and condescending manners, we were led to anticipate, in common with the country at large, extensive blessings to the community under her rule, if she had lived to fill the throne of this United Kingdom. That the Almighty having been pleased, in the course of his Providence, to disappoint our sanguine hopes, by removing her, we trust, to a better world, we bow in humble submission beneath his chastening rod, and hope and pray, that the Universal Sovereign will cause good to arise out of this national affliction, and that he may still continue to be "a wall of fire round about, and the glory in the midst" of our land. (Signed) JOHN RIPPON, Chairman. Ukase, addressed to the Legislative Synod at Moscow, by Alexander, Emperor of Russia. Dated from Moscow, Oct. 27, 1817. DURING my late travels through the provinces, I was obliged, to my no small regret, to listen to speeches pronounced by certain of the Clergy in different parts, which contained unbecoming praises of me, praises which can only be ascribed unto God. And as I am convinced, in the depth of my heart, of the Christian truth, that us through every blessing floweth unto our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ alone, and that every man, be he who he may, without Christ, is full only of evil, there fore to ascribe unto me the glory of deeds, in which the hand of God had been so evidently manifested before the whole world, is to give unto men that glory which belongeth unto Almighty God alone. I account it my duty, therefore, to forbid all such unbecoming expressions of praise, and recommend to the Holy Synod, to give instructions to all the Diocesan Bishops, that they themselves, and the Clergy under them, may, on similar occasions, in future, refrain from all such expressions of praise so disagreeable to my ears; and that they. may render unto the Lord of Hosts alone, thanksgivings for the blessings bestowed upon us, and pray for the outpouring of his Grace upon all of us; conforming themselves in this matter to the words of Sacred Writ, which requires us to render to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise God, honour and glory for ever and ever. ALEXANDER. INTELLIGENCE. Unitarian Fellowship Fund at St. Thomas's, London. Jan. 26, 1818., SIR, SINCE the appearance in your valuable Miscellany of Dr. Thomson's excellent plan and regulations of Congregational Fellowship Funds, its pages have been occasionally occupied by accounts of the establishment of such Funds in various parts of the country. I have now the gratification of reporting the formation of another of them in the metropolis, in the religious society with which I have the honour of being connected. At a general meeting of the congregation of St. Thomas's, in the Borough, held yesterday, in the chapel, after the morning service, it was unanimously resolved, that there should be established, at that place, a Fellowship Fund, to be called "The St. Thomas's Unitarian Fellowship Fund," and the names of about a hundred subscribers were instantly announced. The regulatious differ in no material respect from those of other similar institutions. The monies to be raised are to be applied" to aid, as occasion may require, in defraying the expenses of conducting public worship at St. Thomas's chapel, to furnish contributions towards the erection or the repairs of other places of worship, to assist small and indigent congregations in procuring reli gious instruction, to aid in the education of young men for the ministry, to support the Unitarian Fund, and any other society in stituted for the promotion of Christian truth and piety, and to grant occasional relief in cases of personal distress." A subscription of one penny a week, or five shillings annually, to constitute a member; a payment of three guineas at one time to constitute a member for life; and donations of any amount to be received. For the management of the business, a committee of twelve gentlemen has been appointed, of whom eight have been selected from among the young persons in the congregation; it being thought highly expedient to give this important class in our religious society an interest in such proceedings, and thus to train them up for more extensive services hereafter in the advancement of the same great cause. The office of president has been conferred on the minister for the time being. S. S. Spyring, Esq. of the Borough, has accepted the office of treasurer; and Thos. Wood, Esq. of the Kent Road, that of secretary for the present year. I am induced to trouble you with this statement, in order that the subject of these institutions may be kept continually before the public mind, and that other congregations may be stimulated by such examples to adopt them. There is no calculating on their importance were they to become general among us. THOMAS REES." Kidderminster Fellowship Fund. *** SIR, Nov. 11, 1817. Esteeming the Fellowship Fund as being well calculated for the important purpose of bringing Unitarian congregations into greater co-operation for serving the cause of truth and benevolence, I have been its being adopted, as recorded in your usegratified by seeing the several instances of ful Repository. And considering it pro per, and conducive to its further success, that Unitarians in general should have the means of knowing how extensively this valuable institution is approved, it appears, desirable that every instance of its being established should be similarly announced, I therefore send for insertion in your next, if room can be spared, a copy of the reso-, lutions of the Fellowship Fund Society lately formed at Kidderminster RICHARD FRY. New Meeting Fellowship Fund Society. At a meeting of the congregation, assembling at the New Meeting-House, Kidderminster, held in the Vestry, October 26, 1817, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: Resolved, 1. That in the opinion of this society, it is desirable that a Fund should be forthwith established, to be called the New-Meeting Fellowship Fund. afford some assistance to such congrega2. That the objects of this Fund be, to tions as may stand in need of help for providing places of worship, and for the support of the Christian religion-to contribute aid to academical institutions for the education of young men for the ministry--to exhibit relief to infirm or incapacitated ministers-and to co-operate with similar societies in such other beneficial purposes as may appear expedient; all the cases entertained being viewed as consistent with a strict regard to the Divine Unity. 3. That the above Fund be formed and maintained by voluntary donations, and a quarterly contribution of at least one shilling, to be paid in the vestry to the Treasurer or his Deputy, on the Lord's day immediately preceding every quarter day, of which public notice shall be given a week before, together with some statement of the cases to be then proposed to the attention of the society. 4. That on the days when the quarterly subscriptions are paid, such occasions as may occur for exhibiting benefactions, agreeably to the previous notice, are to be submitted to the consideration of all the subscribers who may choose to attend, and that no part of this Fund shall be appropriated to any purpose but with the approbation and concurrence of those who are present; to be decided by a majority of votes, the chairman having the casting vote. 5. That should any case arise appearing to some of the members of this society such an emergency as is worthy of its immediate attention, a special meeting of the subscribers may be called by the Secretary on any other Lord's day, for taking the same into their consideration. 6. That a Treasurer and Secretary be annually appointed by the subscribers; and that Mr. Watson be now requested to be the Treasurer, and Mr. Fry the Secretary for the year ensuing. 7. That the foregoing resolutions, as containing the standing rules of the NewMeeting Fellowship Society, be inserted in a book to be provided for its use, in which the names of the subscribers, and the accounts of their Fund shall be regularly entered, and which shall be open for their inspection at every meeting. P. S. Under a persuasion of the importance of observing the scriptural rules, "To do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased;" and, "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ," all, to whom it may appear eligible, with out distinction of sex or age, are invited to become subscribers to the above institution, which promises, in conjunction with others of the like nature, to be extensively useful; and the contributions are brought so low as one shilling per quarter that it may include a considerable proportion of the congregation. Donations towards the first establishment of the Fund, and for speedily administering assistance to cases already known, will be received by the Treasurer at any time, and the smallest will be very acceptable. State of the Fellowship Fund, Swansea. SIR Swansea, Jan. 13, 1818. In the name of the Unitarian church in this place, I congratulate you and the friends of the interest in general, on the formation of new Fellowship Fonds, which almost every new number of the Repository is announcing. We rejoice that a scheme, which we were among the first to adopt, appears likely to be generally adopted; because we are persuaded that by the small contribution of a penny a week, which scarcely any individual will feel to be an effort, it is calculated to become a very powerful instrument for the promotion of our common cause. We have no desire to make an ostentatious display of our own zeal. But now that our scheme has heen in operation a year, we think we may be doing good by informing the Unitarian public of its progress. may serve to keep up attention to the subject, and perhaps encourage and stimulate the exertions of others. It The Penny Subscription (strictly so called, because it has been limited to a penny a week from each subscriber) has produced, in the year, fourteen pounds, In addition to the money raised in our small congregation for general purposes, such as the minister's salary, the repairs, the warming and the lighting of the chapel, the servants, the poor, &c. This contribution has been perfectly voluntary and cheerful, and is likely to be continued without diminution. The fund has been preserved untouched for the first year. It will continue to be kept distinct from our other funds, and will be applied to no private uses of the congregation. At our last quarterly meeting, Dec. 31, some resolutions were passed for commencing its application to use. Our first resolution was to present two pounds to the New Unitarian Church at Stainforth; which would be much more than the share of such a small society as ours towards the liquidation of their debt, if the scheme were generally adopted,” and will be sufficient, we hope, for that purpose, if followed by a proportionate contribution from the other Fellowship Funds already formed. We next resolved to subscribe a guinea annually to the Western Unitarian Society; conceiving that we should thus be serving two useful purposes, procuring Tracts for circulation at the lowest expense, and at the same time contributing to the support of that important institution. We determined also to take in some num bors of the Christian Reformer. The distribution of books, and the assisting of newly formed Unitarian Societies, will be our two principal objects. And we flatter ourselves, that we shall be able to make our little fund considerably useful, and contribute to put an end to the inconvenient and unpleasant method by which money has usually been raised for building Dissenting chapels. The intimation which you have given See Mon. Repos, XII. p. 251. respecting the sale of the Monthly Repository, has not passed unnoticed among us. It is greatly to be regretted, that almost the only periodical work which is open to the free and impartial discussion of religions subjects, and which is the only public channel of mutual communication and almost the only bond of union among Unitarians, should want support, while other Magazines, which are notoriously devoted to the support of a system and a party, are in an unprecedented degree flourishing. Some pains will be taken here to procare additional purchasers for the Repository; and we trust that the general body of Uni tarians will attend to the case, and not suffer so useful a work to languish for want of encouragement. It is at the request of the members of the Swansea Fellowship Fund I make this communication. The only design of it is to excite attention to the Fellowship Scheme. We trust you will approve of it, and by giving it a place in the Repository, and inviting other similar communications, by degrees effect the union of the whole body of Unitarians in a method so easy, and at the same time so effectual, of raising the necessary funds for supporting their growing interest, R. AWBREY. THE Unitarians at Stainforth have very great pleasure in being able to state, that several donations to their chapel have lately been received; but that it has been deemed proper not to publish them at present. When the subscriptions shall be considered as closed, a complete list will be printed and attached to the Monthly Repository. J. G. Stainforth, Dec. 15, 1817. By Mr. Aspland. A Friend, Barrington, Somerset 50 Inn 22 0 P. S. Farther subscriptions to the Stainforth Chapel will be thankfully received by Rev. R. Aspland; Mr. C. J. Y. Benson, Gray's Inn Square, London; Dr. Thomson, Leeds; Rev. P. Wright, Shef field; and Rev. John Gaskill, Thorne. Subscriptions to the Unitarian Chapel, Additional assistance towards defray 3 3 0 ing the debt upon Union Chapel, Glasgow. [See pp. 564, 635, Vol. XII.j Sums relinquished. Mr. Charles Bowring, Exeter, 10 0 0 Mr. Isaac Cox, Honiton, 10 0 0 Manchester College, York. THB following sums have been received on account of the College. Benefactions. Rev. Matthew Anstis, Bridport, eleventh benefaction Richard Hall Clarke, Esq. Bridwell-House, near Collumpton, Devon 25 0 5 5 0 John Davis, Esq. Uckfield, Sus- |