1. The fellows and consequently the committees will all know, by their own experience, the advantage of collegiate studies, and will be able to pronounce on the merits of professors, and the relative claims of particular studies.

2. They will be able to understand and sympathise with the difficulties of the students; whilst the students, on the other hand, will be more willing to endure what they may think to be a grievance, from the knowledge that they will soon be able to state it more effectually, so as to remove it from their successors.

3. There will be a constant accession of young men to the body of management, which will thus have that variety of ages which is necessary to wisdom and energy in institutions which need to be progressive.

I will endeavour to anticipate and answer some of the objections which may arise against this suggestion. One will be that those who contribute money have a right to control over its employment. While our colleges are dependent upon contributions I do not see that this can be objected to, but there is no reason why the graduates should not be admitted to equal privileges. When an institution acquires endowments (at which every college should aim) the class of members by subscription will of course fall off and may be restricted till it is abolished: the number of fellows will by this time be sufficiently large to insure efficient management.

Some I fear will object that the colleges are only charitable foundations, and that no claim to fellowship can be acquired by having been dependent on their funds. This very common feeling is, I am sure, injurious to our ministry, lowering the respectability of those who are in it, and keeping out of it some who might otherwise have been its highest ornaments. I cannot but think that the change I have proposed would be beneficial by rendering the first step into the ministry less cleemosynary.

There is another objection which arises to the mind, that the colleges would be eventually removed from lay influence. This objection has much weight, and the evil would be indeed great, but the remedy is obvious. I only omit to mention it, because it is not my aim in this place to offer suggestions on the general question of collegiate education.

The same system might be adopted at Mill-Hill; the membership of course not to commence till a specified age. I cannot imagine any means more effectual to insure its continued accordance with the wishes of its founders than to transmit it as an inheritance to those they have educated, while it would present a powerful motive both to the committee and to the tutors to give the education all the improvements of which it is susceptible.

I may add that University College is endeavouring to carry out this principle as far as its character will allow, by giving such of

the shares as are at the senate's disposal to those of its pupils who › have taken the highest honours at the University of London. Leaving these hints to your consideration, and that of yuor readers, I remain, yours respectfully,

3rd September.

AN OLD MILL-HILL SCHOLAR.

IX.

CONGREGATIONAL LECTURE

BY THE REV. R. W. HAMILTON, D.D., LL.D.

WE have much pleasure in directing the attention of our readers to the course of the Congregational Lecture about to be delivered by the Rev. Dr. Hamilton, of Leeds, on a most important subject, of peculiar interest at the present season-THE REVEALED DOCTRINE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.' The Lecture, to which admission will be by tickets, (without any charge,) will commence on the evening of October 20th, and will be delivered at the Congregational Library. The following scheme will show the topics that will be embraced in the course :—

Lecture I. on Tuesday, October 20th:-The necessity of seriousness and caution in all moral inquiry-Definition of terms employed--The present thesis not a mere question of Revelation-The province of Reason-The being and constitution of man--He is, although impressed and acting by external mediums, a spiritual creature. Responsible. Immortal-The proofs of these characteristics of his nature, however elsewhere attested, to be found in his own mind-These constituents of man the postulates and guides of the whole ensuing argument.

Lecture II. on Friday, October 23rd:-Law-Confined to the idea of moral rule-Difference between Divine and human-Injunction, Obligation, Sanction, essential to it-The Goodness of the law to which man, as a moral agent, is subjected-Its operation-Habit, Character, Consequence-Bearing of commonly admitted principles of mind and action-Revelation independent of all the evils antecedent to it—An exclusively Remedial systemThe existence and use of Analogy.

Lecture III. on Tuesday, October 27th:-Revelation recognises the great properties of man, his spiritualism, responsibility, and immortality-Induction of its informations-It proceeds upon all the grounds and measures of moral government-Its discoveries in relation to the Resurrection and the Judgment-How it assumes the shape of a law, and exercises the authority of a jurisdiction.

Lecture IV. on Friday, October 30th:-The limit of the rule which infers right and wrong from the pleasure or pain of the acts-The invariableness of moral ideas-Inequality of rewards and punishments in human legislation-Under Revealed Grace, the conduct of the truly religious is constituted rewardable-Proofs of the fact-Reasons which vindicate it—The question of temporal rewards in the present economy of Revelation.

Lecture V. on Tuesday, November 3rd:-The Heavenly state-A reward -The perfection of law-The development of sanctified manhood-Its proper sphere-Preparatory earnests-From these inference cannot be too lofty-Its historic development-The present and the ultimate-Necessary that it should exceed the kind of every holy enjoyment now experiencedBeauty, Concord, Proportion-Truly eternal.

Lecture VI. on Friday, November 6th:-Moral government supposes

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possible defection-Punishment-Man under condemnation-Revelation, while it assumes, may affect it-The nature and duration of this condemned state may be argued from the constitution of man- -Suffering, with one or two allowed exceptions, must be penal-Self-infliction-Punishment not restricted to this-Not intended to exercise corrective influence-Its only relation is to justice-Justice must enforce its character and its conception of sin. No benefit of the Atonement except to them who are under its moral influence-The progressive power of eyil-Degrees of retribution.

Lecture VII. on Tuesday, November 10th:-General descriptions of the. future state of the wicked-Sheol and Hades-If eternal punishment une true, it ought to be boldly disavowed; if true, as solemnly forewarnedGeneral impression-Analytic investigation of terms-Hebrew and Greek words commonly used to denote eternity-Applied, in the highest acceptation, to future suffering-Examination of passages of Scripture supposed to favour universal restoration-Whether sin can be regarded an infinite evil-The theory that the remission of punishment is indebted to the Atonement-Judas-The immortality of the effects of sin rather a physical than a moral difficulty.

Lecture VIII. on Friday, November 13th:-Considerations which might be supposed to render future suffering endurable-Necessarian perfectibility -The hypothetical withdrawment of immortality from man-The conjecture of Destruction-Particular objections-Eternal punishment opposed, because involving the eternal existence of sin-Motives and means of an evangelical nature impossible-The doctrine defended-Enforcement of it as revealed-Our first duty respects the Divine faithfulness-The prevalent scepticism-Appeal to Christian pastors and churches, urging the earnest maintenance of the truth.

X.

MONTHLY DIGEST OF RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

I. CONGREGATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.-1. Chapels opened.-A neat and commodious Independent Chapel was opened at Sidmouth, Devon, on the 11th August, 1846. The Rev. J. A. James and the Rev. J. Bounsall preached, The cost of erection is £1500, towards which £1250 has been contributed. The Rev. J. Lucas, late of Hingham, Norfolk, has accepted a unanimous invitation to the pastorate, and has entered upon his labours.-A new chapel was opened on the 9th September, in the village of Muddiford, North Devon. The building is neat and substantial, and in the Gothic form. It cost £250.-The foundation stone of a new Independent chapel at Pendleton, Manchester, was laid on Monday, the 31st August. It is to be built in the Gothie style, at an estimated cost of £3,500. The amount subscribed toward it is about £2,000.

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2. Education. A series of meetings have been held in Pembrokeshire in aid of Education in Wales. They were largely attended, and the object was taken up with liberality and zeal. At the meeting at Milford the sum of £860 was subscribed, and proportionate amounts at other places.

3. Ordinations.-On Tuesday, the 8th September, the Rev. John Gill, of Highbury College, was ordained pastor of the Congregational church, Sawbridgeworth. The Rev. George Smith delivered the introductory discourse. The Rev. Dr. Henderson gave the charge. And the Rev. James Stratten preached to the people.-On Wednesday, May the 27th, the Rev. John Lewis, late of Airedale College, was ordained to the pastorate of the Independent church, Banbury. The principal parts of the service were

conducted by the Rev. R. Knill, the Rev. Walter Scott, and the Rev. Caleb Morris. The Rev. Thomas Thomas, of Homerton College, was ordained pastor of the church at Salem Chapel, Wellingborough, on Thursday, the 23rd July. The Rev. A. J. Morris delivered the introductory discourse; the Rev. Dr. Pye Smith gave the charge; and the Rev. W. Robinson preached to the people.

4. Removal. The Rev. J. V. Mummery, of Tunbridge, has accepted an invitation from the church assembling in Queen-street, Ratcliff, East London, to become their pastor, and commences his stated labours there on the second sabbath in October.

II. COLONIAL Intelligence.—Considerable interest has been excited in Demerara by the ordination of two Christian brethren, of African descent, the Rev. Jacobus Berkley, and the Rev. George M'Farlane, to the pastoral office in two Congregational churches in that colony. They appear to be ministers of great fervour and devotion, and to have been much honoured in their labours as preachers of the Gospel. They enter on their pastoral toils amidst the congratulations and sympathies of many Christian friends. The missionaries of the London Society were engaged, with the pastors of Independent churches, in conducting these ordination services, which occurred in the last week of July, and which were very largely attended, and favoured with delightful tokens of the presence and grace of the Saviour.

III. LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.-Tidings have recently been received by the Directors, of a destructive hurricane which passed over Rarotonga, the principal island of the Hervey group, in the South Pacific Ocean, on the 15th March last, by which nearly every building was overthrown, and the people left without food or shelter. There is reason to fear that the other islands of the group have equally felt the gale. Prompt exertions have been made to send out, with all possible despatch, supplies of food and clothing, together with building materials, for the restoration of the fallen houses and chapels. About £1300 have already been contributed, and we have no doubt but much larger sums will yet be raised to mitigate the severity of this providential calamity. The war in Caffreland continued up to the latest despatches from South Africa, but with every prospect of its termination, in the subjection of the Caffres. The missions have suffered much as the result of the contest. Some of the stations have been consumed; at others much valuable property has been destroyed; and at Beaufort a most valuable Caffre evangelist, by name Undai, was shot dead by his hostile fellow-countrymen.-The French government have sent out additional troops for the subjugation of Tahiti; and there is reason to fear that unless the British government interfere, other islands in the vicinity will soon be subjected to the yoke of Gallic oppression and popish cruelty. -The tidings from India are encouraging. As a specimen, we quote from a letter just received from the Rev. J. B. Addis, of Coimbatoor, the following statement:-'I had the pleasure yesterday (June 28) of baptizing nine persons, among whom were a school-master, a respectable farmer, and a Mohammedan. May these converts prove faithful unto death! They have all passed through much persecution and contumely, but have hitherto stood firm; and professing, as they do, to rely entirely upon Divine aid, I trust they will be enabled to witness a good confession before their deluded countrymen. Not one of the many baptized from the commencement of this Mission, (now nearly sixteen years ago,) has relapsed into heathenism, a fact probably unparalleled in the history of Indian Missions.'

IV. AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE. The Methodist Episcopal Church has resolved upon establishing a mission in China. The Rev. C. Adams, of

Boston, has been appointed superintendent of the mission, and will soon sail for the scene of his future labours.-The annual commencements of the various colleges, literary and theological, in the United States, have recently; occurred, and most of them appear to be in a healthful and prosperous condition. The minutes of the General Assembly for 1846 have been published in a pamphlet, containing the usual statistics of the Presbyterian Church, with full minutes of the late meeting in Philadelphia. There are reported 20 Synods; 105 Presbyteries; 1430 ministers; 151 licentiates; 89 candidates; 1581 churches; and 145,416 communicants. The number of ministers deceased during the three years is 34.

V. CONTINENTAl Intelligence. We rejoice to learn that 33,000 copies of the sacred Scriptures have been sold by the colporteurs in France, during the last three months.-The Evangelical Society of France has published a bulletin full of encouraging details respecting its labours in the departments of the Haute-Vienne, Charante, Nord, Manche, and Yonne. The debt remaining at the last anniversary has been partially liquidated, but the committee have already contracted additional liabilities to the extent of more than 157,000 francs. They hope to extend the Society's operations, and to raise the income of the Society during the present year to at least 250,000 f.-M. Descombaz, one of the seceding pastors of the Canton de Vaud, is successfully labouring as an Evangelist, in connexion with the Evangelical Church of Lyons.

VI. RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN GREECE.-Dr. King, the devoted American missionary at Athens, published, some time ago, a book against the worship of the Virgin Mary; and for this he not only has to stand his trial, with the probable issue of imprisonment, but his life is in danger from a murderous mob, instigated by some priests. His trial was to have come on at Syra, for which place he left in a steamer from Athens on the 21st of July. The trial, it seems, was postponed, and Dr. King was prevented from going on shore, in consequence of the warnings of his legal advisers, who informed him that the priests had collected a large crowd around the Court-house, waiting his arrival. He returned to Athens. I have every reason to believe,' says Dr. King, in a letter published in the Witness, that there was a murderous plan deeply laid by the priesthood at Athens and Syra, to rid themselves of me at once; and that they thought themselves sure of their prey. But the Lord turned their counsel into foolishness, rendered all their designs vain, and they now feel disappointed and enraged that I am not yet condemned that I am still in the land of the living.' He adds; ‘I have learned, from a source which I deem worthy of confidence, that there are about fifty persons combined here, who are determined to kill me, and it seems that this is known to the "Holy Synod." A certain person, who is very friendly to my wife, having learned this in a very direct manner, immediately sent his wife to inform my wife of this, namely, that they intended, when I should go out, to kill me; and that, if they could not accomplish this in any other way, they would come and burn my house! I have no doubt they are waiting for me [July 24] to go out, that they may take away my life. I have all the doors of my garden locked or barred, though I do not much expect an assault to-day. I think it more probable that they will choose next Sunday for the attack, rather than this day.' Sir Edmund Lyons, the British Ambassador, having learned the danger to which he was exposed, called, and very kindly offered him, in case of need, British protection.

VII. PERSECUTION IN MADEIRA.-Dr. Kalley has been compelled to fly from this island and to take refuge on board a steam-packet, in which he afterwards sailed to the West Indies, and subsequently returned to England.