tion, of almost every description usually, admitted in almanacks; it contains also a short text for every day in the year. There is also a very neat sheet almanack, (one penny,) which contains the daily texts in addition to the usual information, tables, &c. Or this latter may be had (also for a penny) stitched and with a cover, pocket size. These publications ought to be encouraged; the daily text, placed so that no one can look for information respecting any day of the year, without his eye catching also half a dozen words from the Book of books, seems to us a most admirable way of "teaching diligently" God's Word to every one we present with the almost universal vade mecum-an almanack. THE MARINER'S CHURCH TEMPERANCE SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MAGAZINE. pp. 42, price 6d. T. A. Smith, Wellclose Square. We said a word in favour of this periodical in September; we have seen the November number, and repeat our recommendation. Religious Entelligence. CHURCH OF ENGLAND. BISHOPRIC OF MANCHESTER.-In the Gazette of Tuesday October 23, appears an order in Council, pursuant to recommendations of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, that the sees and dioceses of St. Asaph and Bangor, on the next vacancy in either see, shall be united, the surviving bishop of either see to be confirmed in the new bishopric: either see to be exempt from the payment of first fruits, &c., on that occasion. The new bishop to receive an income of £5,200. Arrangements are also made for newly apportioning the bishops of St. Asaph, St. David's, and Llandaff, who are to receive, respectively, a yearly income of £4,500, and £4,200. Also, that when the union of the sees of St. Asaph and Bangor shall take effect, the Collegiate Church of Manchester shall forthwith become a Cathedral Church, and seat of a bishop within the province of York; the wardens and fellows thenceforth to be called Dean and Canons, to be the Dean and Chapter of the said church; the county of Lancaster, except the Deanery of Ferns, to be detatched from the diocese of Chester, and to constitute the diocese of Manchester; the new bishop to receive an average annual income of £4,500 and to be provided with an episcopal residence. The order appears in the Gazette of the same day on which the charter for incor porating Manchester is dated. NEW CHURCHES.-On Friday October 26, the foundation stones of two new Churches in Dudley were laid. The Bishop of Llandaff, on the 18th of September, consecrated a new Chapel at Devauden. The Bishop of Bath and Wells, on the 21st of September, consecrated Trinity Church, Frome, almost wholly intended for the poor. And in October last his Lordship consecrated a new church at Burrowbridge (to hold 350 persons), and a new Chapel at East Harrington, near Wells. The Bishop of Chester, on Wednesday October 10, consecrated a new Church at Eccleston, near Prescot, which will accommodate 600 persons; it has been built at the expence of Samuel Taylor Esq. of Eccleston Hall. By the same Prelate, a new Church at Walkden Moor, near Worsley, (erected and endowed by Lord Francis Egerton,) was consecrated on Thursday October 18. On Sunday October 21st a Chapel at Hart's Hill, near Dudley, lately purchased from the Independents, was opened according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, under a license from the bishop of the diocese. | for information respecting the charges so The Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry industriously circulated against the chain October last consecrated a new church racter of their diocesan. I annex, thereat Smethwick. fore, with great pleasure, a statement of facts, of which you are at liberty to make any use you please. "For many years the character of Mr. Turner had been well known to me, through a common friend, as an individual of considerable talents and acquire The Bishop of Winchester, on Saturday November 2, consecrated a new Church near Egham, called Christ Church; it will hold 450 persons, and has cost £2,000, the Queen contributing £200; the patronage is vested in trus-ments, and of a peculiarly amiable, peacetees, one of whom (Miss Irvine) gave £2,000 as an endowment. Also on Tuesday November 6, the same Prelate consecrated a new Church at Rotherhithe, situate near the Commercial Docks, and called Trinity Church; it will hold 1,000 persons, and has cost £3,800, besides £2,000 for endowment for the minister. The Bishop of Ripon on Monday October 22, consecrated a new Church at Lothersdale. On Wednesday October 24, the same Prelate consecrated one at Stoneyhurst, near the Roman Catholic College. On Friday October 26, his Lordship consecrated a Church at Settle; on Monday October 29, a new Chapel at Howgill; on Tuesday October 30, a new Chapel at Cowgill: and on Wednesday November 7, St. George's Church, Mount Pleasant, Leeds. The Bishop of Worcester on Tuesday November 13, consecrated the new Church at Birmingham, called Bishop Ryder's Church. The Bishop of London, on Saturday November 17, consecrated the new Chapel of St. Paul, Lisson Grove, which will seat 1,100 persons. SOCINIANISM COUNTENANCED.-In our last number, we stated that the Bishops of Durham and Norwich were named in ter. able, and uncontroversial disposition, full "About two months ago he sent me a to be published at the request of those prospectus of a volume of sermons, about whom he had served for fifty-seven years. As a personal compliment to an old man of eighty, whom I had every reason to respect, I readily consented to take a copy, but with a distinct request that my name should not be inserted in his list of subscribers, for the obvious reason that, by those who did not know the circumstances of the case, my motives might be misrevidual construed into an approval of his presented, and my respect for the indidoctrines. "The moment my attention was called to the statement in the Times, I wrote to Mr. Turner to express my regret and surprise. In reply he informed me that my name had been inserted in one of the lists, contrary to my express desire, and without his knowledge, by an oversight; and that, on being made aware of the fact, he had it immediately erased. "To the clergy, to whom the principles the list of subscribers to a forth-coming late charge, it can scarcely be necessary I hold have been so recently given in my volume of sermons by Mr. Turner, of for me to repeat my steadfast belief and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a Socinian minis- earnest persuasion of those essential docEach of these prelates was ap-trines of Christianity, so utterly at varipealed to on the subject, the former by ance with the fundamental errors of the Archdeacon Thorp and the latter by the Unitarian creed. To that charge, and to Rev. C. N. Wodehouse. We subjoin that parish in which my ministerial life has been passed, I refer for what I have believed myself, and what I have preached to others; but I do not conceive that there is any inconsistency in being, at the same time, sensibly alive to the merits of an individual, in whose persevering devotion to the happiness and welfare of all within his sphere of action I could not but recognise the practical working of the Gospel of peace and goodwill to man, their answers : "Palace, Norwich, Nov. 1, 1838. My dear Mr. Wodehouse,-I am quite of your opinion that, however unbecoming it would have been in me to notice the misrepresentations and calumnies of anonymous writers, and the malignity of the public press, a full explanation is due to the clergy, who may very naturally wish! "Auckland Castle, Oct. 25. "Dear Mr. Archdeacon.—I feel obliged to you for the letter which I received this morning, and for the manner in which you have called my attention to the paragraphs which have been circulated in the news papers, as well as to the information that a strong feeling has been excited among the clergy of the archdeaconry, on account of my subscribing to a volume of sermons about to be published by Mr. Turner. "I beg you to understand that I gave my name on this occasion in courtesy to an eminent person, for whom, setting aside his religious views, I had been taught to entertain much respect. I had also hisassurance, that the topics which would be handled in the sermons were of a practical, not controversial, nature; and I could not but know that a Dissenting minister, how much soever he differs from the church, might find ample matter in the illustration of evidence-in the examination of critical points unconnected with articles of faith-and in enforcing the practice of morality, without touching upon interpretations and opinions peculiar to his sect. "Nevertheless, I have no hesitation in assuring you, although I feel perfectly justified in my own mind, yet, if I could have foreseen that it would give offence to my brethren, or that it would have been considered in the light of giving sanction to error, I would have abstained from snbscribing. I acceded to the wish expressed by Mr. Turner as a personal compliment to him, but nothing could be further from my mind than conveying approbation of his opinions. "I never have intentionally countenanced any doctrine which is at variance with those of our church; still less could I have thought of countenancing errors so grievous as I hold those of the Unitarians to be. Yet this feeling, as to the extent of their error, ought not to prevent us from showing all possible charity to their persons; and that, I again assure you, was all that I contemplated by this act of courtesy, which has drawn upon me, I cannot help thinking, much unmerited censure. "I need scarcely remind you that Dr. Lardner's works, edited by Dr. Kippis, also an Unitarian, were published by subscription, and that almost all the bishops of that day, with the leading men of the church, were subscribers. Yet Dr. Lardner's works contained not merely his masterly labours on the Credibility, but various sermons and tracts, including his celebrated, but heterodox, letter on the Logos. Now I am not aware, and certainly I do not expect, that either you or I shall find any offensive matter in the forthcoming_volume of Mr. Turner. Surely, then, I am at least as much justified in subscribing to it, as the bishop and divines of our church the works of Dr. Lardner, which contained were in 1788 in prefixing their names to the avowal and defence of all his erroneous opinions. "I do hope, Mr. Archdeacon, that what I have written, however hastily, may appear to you and our brethren a reasonable and satisfactory explanation. "You are at liberty to give any publicity to this letter which may be necessary, and I beg you will believe me, "Dear Mr. Archdeacon, "Your faithful friend and brother, "E. DUNELM." what we have of this gentleman (see pp. REV. HENRY E. HEAD-Having said 453, 498,) we are bound to add, that his parishioners have sent him an address declaring their approbation of his conduct and ministry in very strong terms, and that he has addressed the following let. ter to the Bishop of Exeter; "Rectory, Feniton, 25th Oct., 1838. "My Lord.-Feeling that I wished not to impugn, but rather to aim at the correction of the baptismal office and catechism, and that a cold affirmative to your lordship's question, "did I in my pamphlet impugn, &c." would ill have expressed the fervour of my attachment to the communion in which I was born and bred, and would rather have implied a degree of hardiness and hostility, and a kind of parricidal principle, which I quite disown—and waiting till closer questi- |bationary state, God promises to put His oning should have drawn from me a fuller fear in their hearts, that they shall not deexplanation of my sentiments-I answered part from Him-to give them faith, to take "no," observing at the same time, that these all care of their salvation upon Himself, and offices were not free from human imperfecto work in them all graces necessary thereto. tions, or of equal authority with Scripture; a remark not irrevalent to the subject. For there are churchmen, my lord, whose minds are well furnished and enlarged, and whose principles are directed to what is holy and just, but who yet hamper themselves with the opinions of men, in points of doctrine, and struggle to set them on a level with Holy Writ, from an unconscious prepossession of their infallibility-and who, sheltering themselves in the stronghold of popular opinion, undertake to defend things indefensible (on scriptural grounds), not scrupling to obscure | the clear doctrine of Scripture, in order to attach dignity to the dogmas of men. Permit me, my lord, to offer a further explanation of my sentiments. The word regenerate," in the baptismal office, is one of those "imperfections" to which I alluded. It is a word, which causes many exemplary Christians to secede from the church, and which still keeps many such from its pale; a word which gives a handle of accusation to our enemies, and which gives rise to the most discordant theories amongst ourselves, of which permit me to give a few specimens. One of the evils resulting from the position of this word in our ritual, is, that from it, some churchmen teach that infants are really regenerated by outward baptism. Now "regenerate," according to the etymology of the word, means" born again." The individual who is born again is quickened, Eph. ii. 1; not with an extinguishable, but with an eternal life, John x. 28; is made partaker of the Divine nature of Christ, 2nd Peter i. 4; and (which is coincident therewith, as St. Paul teaches Eph. ii. 12.) becomes a subject of the covenant of grace; partakes of the Divine inward and spiritual baptism mentioned in Col. ii. and Acts xi. 15-18: is delivered from the dominion of death and Satan and becomes one of the Israel of God; all which is the result of the free purpose of God, according to the 17th Acts. To declare this of infants indiscriminately, is manifestly unscriptural. God did not say to Abraham (according to Other Churchman teach that the word "regenerate," in our ritual, does not mean regenerate in the true sense of the word, but only an introduction into the visible church. These, indeed, come near to the truth, but their interpretation is inadmissible; 1st, because it offers violence to the plain grammatical sense of the word; 2ndly, because the parties who support this doctrine at the same time support the contrary proposition, that baptism is a means whereby we receive" spiritual grace. So did not our Lord and His holy apostles teach. Scripture neither teaches that baptism is a means whereby we receive spiritual grace, nor places it in the foreground of the plan of our salvation, nor attaches to it the power of regeneration, nor makes it a cloud to obscure the lustre of that covenant of which God says, "My covenant I will not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips," Psalm lxxxix.; of which covenant St. Paul intimates, (Gal. iii. 15,) that no man, not even the Son of God himself, disannuls or adds to it. Baptism is outwardly a "sign of profession," and "an instrument whereby we are engrafted into the visible and fallible church," which a comparison of the 27th Other churchmen, seeing the absurdity of with the 19th article will show; and inwardsuch a doctrine, teach that the word "rege-ly it serves to help the faith of the fainting, nerate" in our ritual means 66 a covenant" desponding believer, on the great point of (of their own invention), an initiatory, im- non-imputation of sin to him, Acts xxii. 16; perfect state of grace. This also is mani- which non-imputation of sin is one of the festly opposed to Scripture. For the great parts of the covenant of grace, Heb. ¡x. charter of our salvation, the promise 16-18. made to Abraham and his seed, not only does not countenance any such imperfect state of grace, but stands directly opposed to it in every point. For according to that promise, so far from partly saving His people, or putting them merely into a pro Other theories there are, contradictory to themselves, and grounded for the most part on this word "regenerate," by such as are determined to justify its position in our ritual at all events. I will not mention them now, but humbly represent to your lordship, that I, for my part, as a minister of the Gospel, consider myself forbidden, not only to read in my church exhortations founded on such theories, but also in any way to predicate the regeneration of baptized infants. It will be said, "have I not bound my self by oath to adhere to all our rituals to the very letter?" If a clergyman asks me this, I ask him in return, if he uses the form I absolve thee from thy sins,' in the visitation of the sick. If he does not, he is exactly in the predicament which I am in—if he does, he is in a worse, for he ascribes to himself that which is the prerogative of the Almighty alone. But if the question be asked me by a layman, I answer-I made no oath which I intended to break! I break none, which (with my sentiments) is not worse than perjury to keep! I assert moreover, that the Church of England does not teach the doctrine of baptismal regeneration-such doctrine being nowhere to be found in her articles, the article on baptism merely teaching that we are thereby grafted into the visible church-and I will even go so far as to say, that our church explodes the doctrine above mentioned, on the principle of the great Protestant article (the 6th) which declares, that whatever is not read in Scripture, or can be proved thereby, is not required of any man that it should be believed." Whether what I have said be hostile or friendly to the interests of our church, let every true churchman judge. The holy king Josiah, my lord, "turned aside neither to the right hand nor to the left." If we accuse those of turning to the left hand, who aim at the demolition of our church, surely those also turn too much to the right, and are righteous over much, who overlooking the great Protestant principle, just mentioned, insist too much upon a compliance with the letter in human and therefore imperfect rituals. Oh! that our prelates had long since carried these things to the foot of the throne! Oh! that they would summon a convocation, expunge from our rituals a few words merely, which offend true Christians, or abate the rigour of the oaths of conformity. In the mean time, my lord Bishop, I most humbly entreat your lordship to bear with me, if I yield a filial, rather than an implicit observance to the catechism and baptismal service. May the Almighty guide, protect and bless you. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most humble servant, HENRY E. HEAD." The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Exeter. WESLEYAN. NEW CHAPELS.-In October last a small chapel, recently erected at Lad ford, near Market Raisin, was opened; and another in the Groves, York, being the fourth belonging to the Wesleyans in that city. On Tuesday, October 24, a new chapel was opened at Ravenstone, Leices tershire. On Friday, October 26, the chapel at Oakworth was reopened, after being enlarged to nearly three times its former size. On Friday, November 2, a new chapel at Barnet was opened. On Friday, November 16, a new chapel was opened at Newbury, Berks. A new chapel at Newcastle-uponTyne was also opened last month: it will accommodate 1000 persons, and has cost £3000; there are 300 free sittings. On Wednesday, November 23, a new chapel was opened at Bridport, Dorset. CENTENARY.-The formation of the Wesleyan Methodist Society in 1739 will be celebrated next year, by solemn public services throughout the kingdom on Friday, Oct. 25th. It has also been proposed to raise £80,000 to erect a theological Institution for the education of ministers, a Missionary Society House, a Missionary Ship, and provide a fund to relieve chapels and school-houses from debt. Within a fortnight of the first meeting to promote this object, the sum of £45,000 has been raised, some persons subscribing £1,000 each. MISCELLANEOUS. NEW CHAPELS.-On Tuesday, Sept. 25, a new chapel was opened in Brick Lane, Old Street—and on Wednesday, Oct. 3 a new chapel at Risely, Bedfordshire-both for the use of the Particular Baptists. On Wednesday, Oct. 17, a new Independent Chapel was opened at King's Lynn, Norfolk. REV JOHN HARRIS, of Epsom.The College at Amherst has conferred the degree of DD. upon this reverend gentleman. A QUAKER LLD.-The degree of LLD. has been conferred on Joseph John Gurney, (the Quaker minister,) by Brown University, in the United States. |