have the right of selecting the objects who receive the benefit of this foundation; and I have understood that no serious obstacle is in the way of esta blishing a theological professorship at Glasgow, from whence these students might derive the benefit. What particular objections might be alleged against this scheme, I am not aware, but it appears that the principal desideratum would be an adequate salary to the professor. Surely this would be attended with infinitely less burden to the Unitarian public than the establishment of an entire College, with the requisite masters and appendages. I much wish some of your correspondents, better informed on the subject than myself, would give their opinion as to the practicability of the plan I am proposing What is the present state of the Unitarian interest, and particularly the Chapel, at Glasgow, I scarcely know; but the establishment of the congregation there was thought by many to be favourable to the scheme which I have suggested; for why might they not be rendered mutually serviceable, particularly in pecuniary affairs? THE T. SIR, January 11, 1821. THE anti-liberal spirit of the Society of Friends, as it stands displayed in their last Yearly Epistle, (XV. 561,) wherein they deprecate the perusal of Unitarian publications, has not, I think, yet met with that degree of public animadversion to which it is so eminently entitled. When we consider the indefinite, generalizing nature of these annual manifestoes, it cannot fail to excite strong suspicion as to the motives which could impel so cautious a body as the Quakers, to step forth and display their zeal, by casting a stone at "the sect every where spoken against." There is, however, reason to believe, that this overt act has not escaped censure among the members of the Society, and that it ought to be considered as the unauthorized proceeding of a few officious persons who, attentive to the watch-words of party-politics, thought the present an opportunity not to be neglected, of paying court to "the powers that be." However unexpected this sally may have been, its effects will rather be to betray the weakness of the assailants, than to prove injurious to the friends of free inquiry. From conversations which I have had upon the subject with a member of this Society, who is himself an advocate for religious discussions, I think there is reason to believe, that among no class of professing Christians, in this country, do there exist, at the present day, such vague notions of Christian doctrine, and such ignorance upon the points of theological controversy, as among the Society of Friends. With respect to "birth-sin," for instance, he informed me, that it was no uncommon circumstance to hear, in the same meeting-house, one preacher descant upon that doctrine as the foundation of the Christian dispensation, and in a few weeks afterwards, to hear another declare that by nature the heart of man is pure and disposed to all righteousness. Such discrepances of opinion lead it seems to no schisms or controversy: for, provided the preachers are energetic, and can infuse a warmth into the feelings of their auditors, they are both equally acceptable, and the clashing of their creeds excites no remark. If there were grounds for the belief that this latitudinarian spirit had for its foundation a sense of the infinite value of practical over speculative Christianity, it might admit of defence, if not of admiration; but as it is upon record, that bigotry and persecution pervade the public proceedings of that body, and that free inquiry on matters of religion is denounced, it savours more of credulity than of candour, to hold them in estimation as a religious sect. With regard to "Penn's Sandy Foundation Shaken," my friend informs me, that some of the members do not like to hear that book mentioned; and they set up some such quibble as this, that although William Penn was the writer of it, he was not the author. How this distinction is maintained I cannot learn. It is, however, doubtful whether in some of the editions of his works which circulate in the Society, that tract is not wholly omitted. Among the Quakers there are numerous individuals distinguished for their active support of the principles of civil and religious liberty. Let us hope that they will bestir themselves to redeem their Society from the reproach which their public proceedings I of late years have cast upon them. SIR, I. H. X. Cirencester, Tthe Bristol Observer of January HE following letter, copied from 4, 1821, may deserve a place in the Repository; not as displaying any thing new or particularly striking on the subject, but as evincing a disposition which has long been suspected to exist among the members of the Establishment, to have a more rational and scriptural service. And "when the charm is broken"-when once the necessity of a reformation in the Common-Prayer Book is acknowledged by competent authorities-we may rest assured that something more will be done than the expulsion of obsolete phrases and doggrel rhymes, even the removal of such " eye-sores" as the Athanasian and Nicene Creeds. F. HORSFIELD. "To the Editor of the Bristol Observer. "SIR, "As long as I am permitted to live, I hope I shall always feel a sincere respect for the Protestant Establishment of this nation, as being an edifice reared by the pious dead, and the pillar and ground of the truth. From my infancy I was carefully trained up in its principles. I am somewhat familiar with the times which have gone over it,' and I know many among the clergy and laity who, I am certain, are the excellent of the earth.' Nevertheless, I cannot but deeply regret the want of spirit in our successive bishops, to which, I suppose, we are to impute the neglect of all improvement in what we call divine service, or the public ritual of the Church. If an individual should take it into his head always to appear in the costume of a century ago, we should think but meanly of his understanding, and should be apt to imagine that he intended to insult the better judgments of all about him. Apply this to our National Church. What was considered supremely excellent 300 years ago, may be very ill-adapted to the present state of intellect and manners. Dissenting chapels are springing up on every side, and when we visit the more respectable of them, we are struck with the simplicity, spirituality and brevity of their worship; and who, for the sake of mere he might skim along in a light barouche? antiquity, would travel in a waggon when If I know any thing of my own mind, I speak quite impartially when I say the Church prayers require both amendment and abridgment. The whole service should be modernized, and every repetition in prayer carefully expunged, according to the admonition of our Lord, in his Sermon on the Mount. Nothing is neglected prayers, the sermons, are brought to the by the Dissenters the psalmody, the highest possible excellence, and to argue the contrary, would only betray ignorance of the subject. Where three services are performed on the Sabbath-day in one church, some better plan might be devised than going through the whole of the prayers each time, which appears equally burthensome to clergy and people. If, while the Dissenters improve every nothing, it is easy to predict the consething, the Church should go on improving quence: instead of being in the front of the religious institutions of our country, it must fall back into the rear, and soon we shall scarcely have any body to attend the Church but parish tradesmen, parish officers, and parish paupers. Do we not live in an age of incessant improvement, when knowledge is widely diffusing, and making astonishing strides towards perwhen every department of science is fection? Can antiquated buildings and ceremonies command superstitious veneration as formerly? No; nor do I think they ever will more. We must try other methods to gain the esteem of the present and future generations, and I think improvement, far from being an injury, would be an unspeakable blessing to the Established Church. I am well aware that no officiating minister can legally alter any word in the Prayer Book; but I have been glad to see some things in Bristol and other places recently, which indicate a desire to keep pace with the Dissenters. Some clergymen encourage the practice of singing, and assist in it themselves; others have a few verses sung at the commencement and close of the worship, which is very becoming; others have a selection of psalms and hymus from various evangelical authors, and are consequently able to direct the singing of one after the sermon, illustrative of the subject of discourse; others, again, use great plainness and brevity in preaching, and quite dispense with read ing. In Cornwall and other counties where the Methodists have made wonderful progress by what are called their Class-Meetings,' some clergymen encourage social meetings of the well-disposed, for reading the Scriptures and prayers, and find them very useful in perpetuating the attachment of the people to the Church. At Oakhampton, where I was last Sunday, I was much gratified with another judicious improvement. After reading the prayers in the afternoon, the minister continued in the desk, and when the psalm had been sung, he expounded a few verses in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a very sensible manner, without the formality of a sermon, which I understand is his regular practice during the winter months. It is allowed on all hands, that expounding the whole, or part of a chapter in the Bible, was the primitive mode of preaching; and nothing can be more acceptable to the common people than a plain explanation of the Scriptures; learned disquisitions they have not ability to understand. I ought to have stated, that a few worthy clergymen expound in the poor-houses of their parishes, and at their own houses, on Sunday evenings. Every thing of this kind is very commendable, and I cannot see why clergymen should consider them selves restricted from adopting prudently such measures as have an evident tendency to the salvation of their parishioners and the general good. Still we want the aid of the Convocation to put the Church at large into some little competition with the Dissenters, by regenerating the whole of the Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the sacraments of the Church of England. I hope this will not be delayed for ever. "I am yours sincerely, "GNOTHOS. "Launceston, Dec. 19, 1820.” SIR, I BEG Halifax, January 16, 1821. G leave to announce through the medium of your publication, that the proposed Monument to the memory of the late Dr. Thomson having been completed by F. L. Chantrey, Esq., R. A., was erected about three months since, in the North Gate-End Chapel, Halifax, conformably to the resolution of the Committee. As it will doubtless be gratifying to the friends of the deceased to see the Inscription that has been adopted, I subjoin a copy of it for their satisfaction. TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN THOMSON, M. D. BORN AT KENDAL, aug. 16, 1783. AFTER A RESIDENCE OF NINE YEARS IN THIS TOWN, HE REMOVED TO LEEDS, AUG, 1817. WHERE HE DIED, MAY 18, 1818. AGED 35 YEARS. IN TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC RESPECT FOR GREAT TALENTS IMPROVED BY EXTENSIVE LEARNING, AND EMPLOYED IN THE FAITHFUL DISCHARGE OF DUTY BOTH TO GOD AND MAN; FOR UNWEARIED ACTIVITY IN THE EXERCISE OF AN USEFUL AND HONOURABLE PROFESSION, WITHOUT DISTINCTION of rich or poor; FOR ENLIGHTENED ZEAL TO PROMOTE THE PURITY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH, AND ESPECIALLY THE PURITY OF CHRISTIAN PRACTICE; FOR ANIMATED ELOQUENCE ALWAYS READY IN THE SUPPORT OF PLANS OF OF SEMINARIES of USEFUL LEARNING, AND OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THIS MONUMENT HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTIONS With respect to the design and the execution of the Monument, I wish to add, for the information of distant subscribers, and in justice to the artist, that the only sentiments I have heard expressed, have been unequivocally those of admiration and entire satisfaction. Mr. Chantrey has rendered the Monument highly interesting and valuable, by introducing a Medallion, containing a profile likeness of the subject in bass-relief, which, in the opinion of several of his most intimate friends, is considered as bearing a very strong resemblance. I beg leave further to state, that, in addition to the subscriptions reported in November, 1818, amounting to £172. 68. 6d., and those announced on the cover of the Monthly Repository for January, 1819, amounting to £35. 178, the following have been either since received, or had been inadvertently omitted in the former lists; Thomas Gibson, Esq., Newcastle-upon-Tyne Mrs. Pattison, ditto Rev. H. H. Piper, Norton, near Sheffield.. Rev. Edward Higginson, Derby Sundry Subscriptions from Lidyate, near Holmfirth. Rev. J. Ashworth and Friends, Newchurch £9. 188. 10d. has been allowed as interest upon the subscriptions received, and a further sum of £7. 188. has been contributed towards the deficiency by two of the original subscribers at Manchester. Thus the total amount of receipts will be £234. 4s. 4d. £213. 78. has been remitted to Mr. Chantrey, viz. £200 for the execution of the Monument, and the remainder for packing cases, travelling expenses of one of his workmen, &c. The expenses of printing, advertising, postage, carriage, and fixing up of the Monument, have altogether amounted to £26. 68. 5d. The trifling deficiency still remaining will be met by some friends in this immediate neighbourhood. RICHARD ASTLEY. The Nonconformist. Inquiry into the Operation of Mr. Brougham's Education Bill as far as regards the Protestant Dis senters. THE THE Education of the People, in whatever point of view it be considered, is a subject of transcendant importance. Public attention has of late years been happily attracted towards it, and measures have been adopted with unexampled benevolence and zeal to raise "Schools for All." Of the effects of this general instruction some persons entertain gloomy apprehensions. Their fears arc, it may be hoped, groundless; although it must be allowed, that the education of the people is the introduction of a new power into the machine of society, and without experience we cannot tell exactly how it will work. Some con fusion may ensue from its earliest ope £1 1 0 110 1 1 0 0 10 6 110 110 5 0 0 2 6 £8 4 0 rations. But in this, as in many other moral cases, we must determine particular questions by general principles; and no principle seems better entitled to the force of an axiom than, that whatever increases the power of mankind must upon the whole promote their happiness, and ought therefore to be welcomed as a blessing to the world. Were the means discovered of imparting a new sense to man, equal in influence to any of the five senses, he would be accounted a timid reasoner and a cool friend to his species who should object to the promulgation of the discovery, lest it should interfere with and correct the customary impressions of sense, and produce a temporary hesitation and embarrassment. Knowledge is a new sense; and whatever may be its immediate effect on the public mind even should the sudden influx of unaccustomed light occasion for a moment blindness-no doubt can be entertained by him that holds Man in reverence or places any confidence in Truth, that its final results will be great and salutary. It may be still a question how far it is desirable that general education should be forced by public authority. The interference of governments with private concerns has been often mischievous, and as the world is managed their patronage is always suspicious. All the beneficial moral changes that have taken place in society have been effected by private activity and benevolence, and commonly in opposition to political power. Governments follow rather than lead the public mind. They cannot go before the general intellect without endangering their own safety. It is well, perhaps, when they are content to move in the path which the people have already made common, and to assist rather than to institute schemes of public benevolence. Scope is thus allowed for the exercise of private benevolent genius, the encouragement of which is of more importance to the character and happiness of a nation, than the execution of any works of magnificence, or the establishment of any institutions, however specious and imposing. But, without meaning to object absolutely to a national and compulsory scheme of education, I will venture to lay it down as an indisputable principle, that that plan is best, with a view to this end, which embodies the largest portion of the individual feeling of a community, and co-operates with, instead of superseding, private virtue. Nay, I will further assume, that any measure designed for the benefit of the mass of the people will be inefficient if mere power be calculated on as the instrument of success; and, indeed, if the feelings of the people be not enlisted in what is regarded as their own cause, and a certain popular character be not given to plans involving their interests, but in which if they concur not cheerfully, nothing is done. After these general remarks which I have made at the outset to prevent the necessity of repetition and to guard against misconstruction, I proceed to examine Mr. Brougham's recent Bill providing a new plan of Education for England. I shall consider it in connexion with his own speech on the introduction of it into the House of Commons, * and with an elaborate, and as it may be termed official, justification of it in the Edinburgh Review. My object is to ascertain in what manner and degree the Bill, if passed into a law, may affect Nonconformists to the Church of England, and particularly Protestant Dissenters, and consequently how far it may be expedient or necessary for them to oppose its progress. The Bill is avowedly and designedly framed and fitted for the Church. The author of it, in his opening speech, called upon the House of Commons to "observe how he had united and knit ted the system with the Church Establishment." He addressed himself on that occasion to the prejudices, the fears, the vanity and ambition of the clergy, whom he loaded with extravagant compliments. He did not overlook the Dissenters, but he evidently considered them as too insignificant to be allowed to be an obstacle to a great measure. He almost confessed that he meditated some wrong to them, when in a conversation in the House upon the extension of the Bill to Ireland, he said, "If the Dissenters in England bore the same proportion to the Established Church as they did in Ireland, he should never have brought forward the motion:" that is to say, if the Dissenters had been to Churchmen as 4 to 1, instead of being as 1 to 4, he would have framed a different measure, or none at all; so that whatever merit the Bill may have on the score of expediency and policy, public or private, we are entitled by the author's own confession to pronounce it to be "not absolute wisdom." Some complimentary expressions as to the Dissenters also are inserted into the Review, but these are evidently designed to conciliate them to nonresistance to the Bill, which the style of persuasion adopted by the writer plainly shews that he considered not favourable to their interests. * As reported in the Times, June 29, 1820. + No. LXVII., for August, 1820, We have only to look at the Bill to see how undisguisedly it aims at being auxiliary, as the proposer more than once in his speech avows that he in made prompt and full returns in answer The clergy are praised for having to the circulars of the Parliamentary Committee. But they must have been rather bold to have refused to reply to the application of such a body, with such a Chairman at its head. And if they be so praiseworthy, what must be the merits of the Scottish clergy, who made returns not less ample or expeditious, though they have not quite so much reason to be satisfied with their station in society, and are less interested in the promotion of mentioned, that the Scottish clergy had, national education? Here it may be merely for the sake of promoting the without parliamentary dictation, and national welfare, furnished Sir John Sinclair with copious materials for his great Statistical work-which he acknowledges with strong gratitude in a letter to the last General Assembly. |