thus situated, the Christian Young Men's Association was, in June, 1844, formed under the very able Vice-Presidency of the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel, the Hon. and Rev. H. M. Villiers; the Rev. Drs. Burcuess, Beecham, Morison, Cox, Cumming, Smith, Niven, Leitchild, and Archer; with the Revs. Martin, Robinson, Hamilton, Fisk, Sherman, Binney, and many others of the most excellent of the earth;-and the result which they have already been permitted to witness, must exceed their most sanguine expectations. The Report for the past year (1817) is full of the most gratifying information; containing a number of letters from young men, the outpourings of grateful hearts, testifying to the spiritual blessings they have received through the agency of the Society. While the growing interest and confidence of the religious public 18 fully proved, by the fact of the receipts of the Association for the past year being more than double that of the preceding year, notwithstanding its being one of unusual difficulty in the financial department of almost every other religious society.

The means which the Society employs are very simple - namely, social prayer meetings, and classes for studying the Scriptures, (not their controversial points, but spiritual bearing and practical application.)

In Bristol we meet every Thursday evening in winter, from nine till ten; and in summer half an hour later. One week we have a social prayer-meeting, and the alternate week a Bibleclass, which is conducted by the Rev. J. Burder;

a gentleman beloved by the class, and possessing the entire conndence of all the churches. Nearly all the ministers of the city have very kindly consented to become Vice-Presidents, and many of them have most kindly and literally come forward to aid the Society both by lectures and pecuniary contributions.

Those, Sir, who like myself have lived for many years in some of our largest mercantile houses, can alone fully appreciate the value of an association like this; where they can (when strangers in a great city) be introduced to the Society of young men, whose friendship keeps alive the kindly and social feelings of their nature, when far removed from the society of all their friends, and surrounded by a host of the most deadening and corrupting influences.

Would Mr. Gregory but drop in at some of our meetings, and witness the hallowed scenes, and the warm brotherly feeling that pervades the hearts of all present, he would no longer entertain doubts as to their " Scriptural character," or "tremble for the issue ;" and he would moreover find, that most of the members are the most devoted sabbath-school teachers, and all testifying that the Thursday night meeting prepared their minds and their hearts for the double enjoyment of the sabbath.

Trusting that the " expression of your views" will greatly further the object of the Society, I am, Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEORGE CORNER. 21 and 22, Union-street, Bristol, October 5, 1848.

CHRONICLE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES: OF THE BOARD FOR GENERAL EDUCATION: AND OF THE THREE SOCIETIES FOR BRITISH MISSIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE UNION. Proceedings of the Tenth Autumnal Meeting of the Union, held in Leicester, commencing with the Evening of Monday, the 16th of October, and closing with the Evening of Thursday, the 19th of October, 1848.

MONDAY, the 16th of October-Evening.-The introductory devotional meeting was held in Gallowtree Gate Chapel, the Rev. Dr. Legge's. The Rev. Dr. Morison, of London, presided. Prayer was conducted by the Rev. T. Mays, of Wigton Magna, and the Rev. A. Good, of London. Dr. Morison then addressed the meeting as follows:

DEAR BRETHREN,-We have all a deep interest in the prosperity of our Union. It is next only in importance to the prosperity of our individual churches. The independence and selfgovernment for which we contend, in no way militate against the combined action which we

here seek to promote. Congregationalism, with all its love of liberty, and all its aversion to splritual domination, is not antagonist to such an intercommunity of churches as may proclaim their substantial unity, and call forth their resources for the maintenance and extension of great and acknowledged principles.

It may be admitted, however, that our churches have, hitherto, carried out, to a far larger extent, the principle of their independence, than that of their confraternity. On the minds of some, there has been a reasonable apprehension of organic change; while others who have not been so exercised, have been fully conscious of the difficulties connected with realizing an effective union. In proportion, however, as we have looked our isolation in the face, and taken steps in the direction of a large and comprehensive fellowship, in the same proportion have our difficulties vanished, and we have found "how good and how pleasant it was for brethren to dwell together in unity." We have met, we have deliberated, we have poured out our hearts to God, we have struck out plans of usefulness, we have drawn more closely the bonds of Chris

tian brotherhood: and we have retired from the meetings of our Union with an ever-growing conviction, that our congregationalism has been weakened and impaired by all our former neglects of a free and voluntary combination, for the invigoration of our denomination, and for the benefit of our country and the world. In the wake of our Union we have not, as yet, discovered the evil genius of ecclesiastical usurpation; the heaven-conferred rights of our churches are still in their own safe-keeping; and the most jealous conservators of our ecclesiastical polity have been constrained to acknowledge, that the goodly fellowship we have sought to create, has wrought well for the peace, the prosperity, and the independence of our churches.

The annual and autumnal gatherings of the pastors and delegates of our churches have, hitherto, been seasons of hallowed intercourse; they have been marked by mutual forbearance and brotherly love; they have breathed a spirit of intelligence and devotion; they have given rise to many plans of usefulness creditable to the zeal of our denomination; and they have left upon all our minds the salutary impression that we no longer stand alone, but that we are upheld by the counsels, the prayers, the sympathies, and the co-operation of brethren who think with us, feel with us, and are prepared to act with us.

There is a marked propriety in our entering upon the solemn deliberations of the Union, by a service purely devotional. Work such as we have to perform can only be accomplished in the spirit of prayer. We dare not lean on our own understandings, when we assemble for the express purpose of promoting the interests of our Master's kingdom. Congregationalism can only live and prosper in the atmosphere of prayer. Devotion is the pillar of its strength. Our organization, lovely and scriptural as it undoubtedly is, will fall into disorder and ruin, if it be not continually upheld and invigorated by the power of vital godliness and fervent, wrestling prayer. The action of our principles, in all our Evangelical efforts to publish the Gospel, and to commend the simple, spiritual forms of Christ's kingdom to our fellow-men, will be cold and languid, and without any powerful result, if it be not baptized in the elements of a neveralumbering devotion. When we are at home in our own circles, the amount of our personal and social devotion must be regarded as the measure in which our church principles actually prevail. And now that we are about to congregate as a body of delegates, respresenting the intelligence and piety of our churches, we can only hope to alize the Master's presence, in so far as we

have come together earnestly looking to Him, aiming to promote his glory, renouncing the spirit of self-trust, and rising into the lofty region of devout supplication and fervent thanksgiving to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our various deliberations, and all our solemn assemblies, whether for business or worship, can only be "sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer." If we would have an unction resting upon us from the Holy One, we must plead for it in prayer. If we would realize a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, we must cry earnestly to Him for it. If we would be guided to right conclusions in the several matters which come before us, we must seek for "the spirit of wisdom and power, and of a sound mind." If we would have our several meetings baptized with the hallowed impulses of brotherly kindness and charity, we must look, as with one heart and soul, to "the God of love and peace," that he would send down upon us copious measures of Divine influence. Let us expect and ask great things of God, and we may hope to receive them. He delights in the importunity of his children. He says, "Ask, and ye shall receive." If we do not obey this law of the Divine economy, we cannot expect the blessing; and, were it even vouchsafed, we should not be prepared to receive and improve it. But the spirit of fervent devotion will open a communication between our hallowed assemblies and Heaven, and will put us in a posture of readiness for receiving those manifestations of the Divine presence and power which may be granted in answer to our united and importunate pleadings at a throne of grace.

In times like these, we must look well to the spirit we are of our responsibilities are greatwe must retrograde or advance-we must rise up in the might of our principles, to do the work of God in our day and generation. The state of society around us is peculiar. Great changes are passing over the minds of men. There may be new facilities opening upon us for the advancement of our voluntary Christianity. We must stand in a posture of readiness to meet the crisis; and prayer will create those states of mind, and draw down those influences, by which we shall be ready for every hallowed purpose, and every noble achievement.

If our denomination ever needed succour and help of God, it is now, when so many of our standard-bearers are removed from the midst of us. How overwhelming the blanks made in our circle since our Union held its annual meetings in the metropolis! Payne, the acutest divine of his age, the ornament of our Independency, and

the able instructor' of a portion of our rising ministry, is no more. His death was almost a translation. He had descanted on a sabbath evening, with inimitable pathos, on that surpassing oracle of Divine truth, God is love;" and ere the next sun had risen he was carried up to heaven, as in a chariot of fire. And Hamilton, that tower of strength on the battlements of our Zion, whose varied and brilliant powers shed lustre on the profession to which he belonged, and on the denomination of which he was the boast, is no more! His sun declined while it was yet day. In the midst of a career of usefulness, every hour becoming more marked and decisive, the Master whom he served has, of a sudden, called him from toil and suffering to rest and beatitude. But how deep and affecting is our sense of bereavement at this gathering of our churches! We shall no more look on the beaming countenance of our friend;-we shall hear his voice no more;-his eloquent tongue will never again thrill our assemblies ;-his exuberant wit, and fancy, and humour, will never more fan the feeling of a generous brotherhood;-his mighty pen has fallen from his hand; and the bold and masculine advocate of truth has dropped his brief, and gone himself to his account. Farewell, thou friend of our youth. Thou hast left behind thee imperishable memorials that thou hast not lived in vain. Thou art gone to the land of the blessed, where no tears of anguish shall rend thy spirit, and no tidings of evil shall disturb thy repose. Happy, glorious spirit! we hope soon to meet thee where death-divided friends shall meet to part no more.

TUESDAY, the 17th of October-Morning.The First Session for Conference was held in Gallowtree Gate Chapel, the Rev. Thomas Binney, of London, in the Chair. Opening worship was conducted by the Chairman, on the close of which, he delivered a most impressive inaugural address, received by the Assembly with marked attention and pleasure.

The Rev. John Angell James moved; and the Rev. Dr. Legge, of Leicester, seconded:

I. That the Chairman be requested to print his most appropriate address, which the Assembly has heard with deep interest, and acknowledges with its warmest thanks.

This resolution having been most cordially adopted by the meeting, the Chairman responded, and asked time to consider the proposal for printing his address-to which he subsequently assented.

CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS.

HONOURED AND WELL-BELOVED BRETHREN, -We assemble this morning in very affecting circumstances. We meet, if I may so express myself, under the dark shadow of the Angel of Death. It was thus, also, this time twelvemonth. The remains of a distinguished and beloved brother were then lying unburied. Snatched, unexpectedly, from his flock and from us, the news of his departure only reached many at the place of meeting. The eloquent lips and large heart of him who then occupied this chair, referred to the event, and felt it in all its aspects,

as he only could speak and feel: Now those eloquent lips are themselves silent,-that large heart still for ever! and with him, there has been gathered to the grave an earlier President of this Union-one well known throughout the denomination, and of more than denominational repute: who was greatly esteemed and honoured by those who could appreciate his judgment, acuteness, and sagacity, and his many accordant and characteristic accomplishments. These two men-both of whom may be said to have met with us six months ago-the one in spirit, the other in person-the one by reporting to us in writing the mission he had just fulfilled, as our representative in Scotland-the other by his appearance amongst us, and by the frequent utterances of his love and wisdom: these menone with absolute, the other with comparative, suddenness, have been removed from the midst of us are dead, and in their graves.

There is much to affect us in these events. There is much of sadness in them to our feelings as men, much of solemnity to our spirits as Christians. I trust, however, that the result will be most beneficial, and that it will be seen in the manner in which we shall conduct our approaching deliberations; in the devotedness and earnestness of our hearts; in the propriety and justness of the conclusions to which we may come; and in the resoluteness with which we shall depart to our respective and consequent duties. I feel, I confess, so deeply that we are bound to improve these repeated strokes that have fallen upon us, and to take from them such impressions as shall go with us through the business of the session, and help us in its serious and energetic fulfilment: I am so surprised, too, I may say, or so appalled, at finding it to fall to my lot, to refer this day to the removal of those with whom, only at our last meeting, I enjoyed frequent and cheerful intercourse, that I have put aside many topics on whicle I had wished and purposed to utter something from this place, and have determined to confine myself, in this opening address, to such reflections as the occasion suggests,-reflections which, referring to the losses we have recently sustained, may be adapted to excite each of us, in our respective spheres, and especially in our present united capacity, to endeavour, by increased seriousness and wisdom, by Divine faith and manly energy, to supply, in some measure, what these losses have withdrawn; so that, while paying a tribute to the dead, in words or tears, we may pay it also in higher language, by kindling purposes and eloquent acts. "Remembering them who have been guides and leaders," we best evince at once our admiration and our sorrow, by "so considering the end of their conversation, as to enter into their labours, imitating their faith;" and, "binding up the loins of our minds," realising the increased "cloud of witnesses," grasping again "the weapons of our warfare," and casting a look at the Master and the prize, to recommence"fighting the good fight," and to take a fresh start in "the course and the race set before us.'

"

Perhaps the first feelings that take hold of most men-of men, at least, of average thoughtfulness-on hearing of some unexpected death, is a sense of personal insecurity, associated with that of the importance of action, and of working "while it is day;" a reproachful consciousness that they have often been trifling when they

should have toiled; and a determination immediately" to arise and work." to put out the hand at once, and take hold of whatever duty may be near it-"to do it with all their might "-and to go on, leaving less and less undone than before. Happy is the man from whom these feelings do not depart without leaving something behind them that does not die! Too frequently

they themselves, and the sudden purposes to which they give birth, "are even as a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away;" or they are only followed by a few unhealthy spasmodic efforts at achievement efforts which become, very soon, less and less frequent and strong. till the man lapses again into forgetfulness and sloth. Now, it is the same with bodies of men as it is with individuals. The sudden or unexpected extinction of some shining light, the eclipse of the illustrious, the fall of the elevated, or the disappearance of the great, will diffuse instantly a deep sensation far and wide, which will spread and shoot through every part of the body like a momentary pang of personal anguish, surprise, or terror; feelings are excited, sympathy expressed, tributes and testimonials eloquently uttered, and much, in a brief space, very extensively said and done: but it passes away; the huge wave sinks into a ripple, the ripple itself subsides and ceases, and the surface of things becomes as smooth and quiet as before! Now, so far as the surface is concerned, we are not disposed to say it should be otherwise. It is in the order of nature that all violent emotions should be brief, and that the pursuits of the living should not be long interfered with by the dead. But there may be a return to established routine and external tranquillity in a bereaved denomination, and yet great and mighty effects may remain in the hidden recesses of its inner life. It is sad, indeed, very sad, when the fall of the great men and princes of Israel seem to leave it, not only without strength, without spear or sword, bow or battle-axe, but "without a sacrifice, without a priest, without an ephod, and without a terraphim,"-when the removal of the lights and leaders of a sect, without exerting a great moral influence upon it, making it more deep-thinking, active, and earnest; awakening the powers of embryo chiefs, and occasioning the appearance, and heralding the advent of adequate successors-comes only in the form of a desolating judgment-an expression apparently of Divine displeasure-a judgment without mercy

a warning neglected, unimproved, lightly esteemed, uttered "not for the better, but the worse!" In such cases, a particular Church, losing those that guided it, and whose presence and name gave it power and lustre, becomes feeble, looks empty, forlorn, useless-lying like the hulk of a wrecked vessel, master and crew alike gone-a mere dead, motionless thing, incapable, valueless, liable to be struck unresistingly by every wave, and in danger of sinking into the deep, to be seen no more.

These remarks are not exaggerations of what has happened to particular confessions and confederacies on the removal by death of their great men. Some sects, as such, have been little more than the embodiment, the visible expression, of the convictions and views of a leading mind; they have lived by his life, been pervaded by his spirit, constituted an organ for

ulating his perceptions; and then, when he

has been removed, none fitted to become his successor, or capable of speaking with his inspiration and authority, the body has naturally died, or has languished through a few generations, diminished, unknown, forgotten, or "hardly numbered among the tribes." In other cases, the social position, or secular respectability, (if I may use so equivocal a term in such a connection)-the secular respectability of a body of Christians, is factitiously or accidentally enhanced, by its temporary identification with some remarkable men.-the rays of whose genius, shooting over the walls and moats of the sect, surprise and enchant the world by their splendour, and reflect back again lustre on all that surrounds their source. These gushings and corruscations, however, becoming only a remembrance, the light and glory of them quenched in death,-the body ceases to stand where it stood before. That being withdrawn on account of which its peculiarities were forgotten, or for a while overlooked, the world returns to its accustomed spirit of neglect or scorn. Sometimes, again, an individual, or individuals, have not only adorned a denomination by their genius, but their large-hearted and generous sympathy with every form of the good and the true, wherever found, have restrained the rancour, bigotry, and fanaticism of their inferior associates; but, when the controlling power has passed away to its kindred heaven, these have felt that a place or a passage was again opened for them on earth, and they have come forth in their wonted forms of vulgarity and violence, or with an increased intensity porportioned to the preceding period during which charity and goodness had awed them into silence. These remarks, and these instances, I again say, are not exaggerations; they are not pictures furnished by the imagination, but are allusions and references to actual facts-to things that have occurred in the history of some of the divisions of the Christian church; and they are mentioned now, for the purpose of exciting our thankfulness to God, that none of these things, or any kindred calamity, has happened to us, though we have to lament this day, that, as a body, we have sustained a signal loss in the removal from among us of two eminent and conspicuous men. Blessed be God! we are associated together to be the mouth and members of no supreme, individual, human mind;-we glory in the truth, not as taught by this or that man, but as it is contained in "the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth ;"-we can give, we trust, a better account, even of our existence as a sect, than that of being the mere articulating organ of any earthly teacher, living or dead-we call ourselves by no man's name, "for one is our father-God" We have one master and Lord -Christ. Even they, whom we call fathers, and whom we reverence as Rabbis, we reverence not merely for teaching us what they knew, but for constantly directing us beyond themselves, and for laying it on our souls, as their first, last, and ceaseless lesson, that we should keep THE WORD in its rightful supremacy, follow it ever, and exist and live for the pursuit and utterance of God's truth, not for the propagation of an opinion, or the glory of a name. Again: we are not indifferent to our social standing-our denominational power,-the "report" we have "with them that are without,"-the manner in

which men may think of us as capable of acting in relation to liberty or letters. These regions are neither foreign nor forbidden to those to whom "all things belong," - -"life and the world," as well as death and heaven,-" things present" as well as "things to come:" but, whatever our standing or influence may be, or may not be, in those spheres, such as it is it does not depend on any one individual, however eminent; it is not suspended on the prowess of a single arm-the facility or vigour, copiousness or richness of a single per- the weight or authority, the reputation or genius of a solitary name. In the same way, whatever there may be among us of ignorance or suspicion, bigotry or violence, want of charity, liberality, candour, -blessed be God! they are kept in check, we trust, by the large-heartedness, the loving throbbings, and radiating benignity of far more than one or two great-souled men! On these accounts, when we are called to lament over our dead, we ought to lament the loss, even of our most illustrious leaders, with that religious submission and manly grief, which become men who feel themselves associated together on the permanent principles of eternal truth, and who constantly realize the presence and guidance of a Divine Leader who can never die. Our losses, indeed, may trouble, weaken, impoverish us; they may be intended to chasten, to humble, and subdue; to cause us to cease from "glorying in men," or to prevent our being seduced into the sin; they may smite us for a moment with something like dismay, as light after light is extinguished in our courts, and star after star vanishes from the sky;-still, that cause and that truth, which, with all our idolatries, are dearer to us than anything else,—are with us, in the midst of us, "our glory and defence;" and He, whose they are, will not leave them and Himself without witnesses every way worthy, if, at periods like the present, we hear humbly the voice of the rod, and rightly interpret and learn its lessons. Then, while again and again the arrow flies, and the mighty fall, and they "that seemed to be pillars" are dissolved, and many of "our pleasant things laid waste," we shall be able to say, through faith in him, and hope in his mercy, to whom troubles and humiliations teach us to turn,-"Though in deaths oft, yet we livé; though troubled, we are not distressed; though left for a season, we are not forsaken; though chastened, we are not killed; though cast down, we are not destroyed; though stripped and impoverished, we are not in despair." He who confers natural capacity, who bestows and distributes spiritual gifts, who sends whom he will and honours whom he sends, still lives; and though he forbids us not to mourn for the dead, "because we shall see their face no more,” yet "we will glorify Him in them;" we will acknowledge and commemorate what we so long enjoyed, and we will seek to signalise their removal from amongst us, by the improvement and increase of those gifts which we may yet individually or collectively possess.

To the two distinguished and honoured brethren whom we have recently lost, both of whom presided over your Annual Assemblies, it cannot be improper, at this time, and from this place, to make some distinct personal reference; although, as a Union, we have already, in some measure, through the resolutions of the Committee, fulfilled the sad though grateful duty. It is, per

haps, less questionable here, than in more exclusively sacred engagements, to advert to their talents, and acquirements, and mental peculiarities, as well as to recognise their course and usefulness as men of God. Though it seem extremely repugnant to good taste and serious piety for sermons to consist of what sounds more like laudation of the dead than concern for the living-or lamentation over events, than the encouragement of trust in Him who controls them-I think we are not without scriptural warrant, not only for the utterance of sorrow on the death of the distinguished, but for marking, either while they live or after they leave us, their different talents-the character of their ministry, the form of their eloquence, and the distinctive peculiarities of the different writings by which some of them may have sought to glorify God. When the first martyr had fallen asleep-and fallen asleep, be it remembered, in such circumstances as abundantly certified his instant and triumphant admission to heaven→→→→ his immediate participation of that glory that had beamed upon him in his last hour-yet, when "devout men carried him to his burial, they made great lamentation over him." The wound inflicted on them was not healed, their tears and sorrows were not staunched, by the most perfect knowledge of their friend's eternal repose and joy. Though admitted to the bosom of their loving Lord, they still wept for and lamented his removal from themselves. With respect to the other point-the scriptural sanction for our remarking the different talents of individuals, and the manner in which they appear in and modify the work they accomplish, whatever it may be-the following things may be worth a thought. It certainly could not be without design, that the inspiring Spirit descended upon men of very various natural gifts, genius, and education, and that the mental peculiarities of the human medium of utterance affected the accidents which adhere to the expression of the Divine thought. The characteristic qualities that marked the minds of the sacred writers, as men-whether original, accidental, or acquired-are as obvious in their productions ("the holy writings") as if these writings had had no other or loftier source. This is a simple fact. It has many and great uses-uses seen and seized by the thoughtful; but all that we draw from it at present is this: that, as it is natural to suppose that what is obvious and open to the notice of the church, was intended to be noticed; so the very same thing in God's servants, throughout all time, may properly be the subject of interest and ob servation. The education, and turn of mind, and habits of thought, and style of expression of the evangelists and apostles, differed from each other; and even the self-same writer or speaker on separate occasions differed from himself; they had various gifts of composition and utterance; and these are not only observable by us, but they were observed by themselves, and hints and allusions indicating this are not wanting. One of the first preachers of the faith is celebrated for his eloquence, at least he is noted as being "an eloquent man;" the quality of the eloquence of others is probably recorded in their being called "sons of consolation," or "sons of thunder." Paul's versatility in adapting himself to his different auditors in the synagogue at Antioch, the Areopagus of Athens, the crowd