their standing accepted and approved' in their several denominations.

"(2.) That, notwithstanding known differences of judgment in religious matters between the three bodies, and, in some instances, between the members of the same body, the catholic principle of the union was, for a very long period, sacredly observed, and the united body consequently proceeded in peace and harmony, and by their cordial co-operation rendered eminent services to the cause of religious liberty; the Presbyterian body being certainly not behind the two others

in zeal and exertion.

"(3.) That we lament that, within these few years, the catholic principle of union has been infringed, by allowed references, at general meetings and in public proceedings, to doctrinal differences subsisting between the bodies, and the members of the same body, accompanied by reflections and insinuations to the prejudice particularly of the Presbyterian body.

"(4.) That we record with pain, that at the last election of the Secretary of the General Body, a most valuable and universally respected member of this body, who had, by the suffrages of the United Body, filled the secretaryship for seven years with such punctuality, diligence, and ability as procured for him the warm thanks often repeated of the whole body, was set aside, on the ground openly alleged, and even declared in print, of his religious views on points of doctrine, and those of the body to which be belongs, not being consonant to those of the majority of the Three Denominations.

(5.) That we perceive with feelings of deep regret the same spirit of intolerance and exclusion in the resolution of the Antipædobaptist body, not to admit to membership hereafter any Ministers, though hitherto eligible, who shall not profess certain articles of religious belief; and in the subsequent determination of the General Body upon the appeal of the aggrieved party, to take no measure for the relief of Ministers who may be thus proscribed for conscience sake.

(6.) That our serious attention has been also and of necessity drawn to various public proceedings of individuals and parties of the two other denominations; proceedings notoriously assisted by certain leading Ministers of one at least of those denominations-openly applauded by others—and approved, it is apprehended, by the greater part of themthe object or sure tendency of which is to degrade the English Presbyterians in public estimation, to deprive them of rights and privileges until this period

never disputed, and even to revive against them, by means of legal technicalities, the penal statutes, which the wisdom and justice of the Legislature had repealed, to the satisfaction and joy of all enlightened men in the nation, and so far to thrust them out of the pale of civil protection.

"(7.) But contemplating these proceedings, and various indications of the disposition of the majority of the members of the United Body of Ministers, we cannot entertain a doubt that it is the wish and purpose of such majority eventually to exclude the Presbyterian Body from the union, or to make its relative position such as no religious body alive to its own dignity, could consent to occupy: That, therefore, we feel it to be an imperative though painful duty-imposed upon us equally by regard to our own characters as Protestant Dissenting Ministers, who hold it to be one of the inalienable rights of conscience, that no man shall, without his own consent, be answerable to another for his honest judgment upon the sense of the Holy Scriptures, by respect for the memory of those that went before us and laid the foundation of our freedom, and by regard to the welfare of those that shall come after us,-to withdraw as a body from an union, the compact of which has been violated, and in which we see no prospect of equal and peaceful co-operation or of real and effective service to the interests of religious liberty,—our regret, however, is lessened by the pleasing reflection that the original purpose of the union has been, in great part, accomplished by the extension of the liberties of Protestant Dissenters, under the sway of the august family now upon the throne of these realms; and by the conviction that for what remains to be desired for the complete emancipation of conscience, we are justified by recent experience in placing entire confidence in his Majesty's present enlightened and liberal Government, which voluntarily proffers from the throne concessions to religious freedom which our fathers prayed for with faint hopes of success.

"In declaring, as we now do, the Union of the Ministers of the Three Denominations dissolved, and in resolving to proceed hereafter in our single capacity as the Presbyterian Body of Ministers, unless an alteration in the spirit of the bodies with which we were lately associated should make re-union practicable_and desirable, we disavow all angry and hostile feelings; - we tender to the two other denominations, with some of whose members we, as individuals, are and still hope to be united in the bonds of Christian

esteem, our sincere wishes for their usefulness in the cause of freedom, truth, and virtue ;-we preserve our sincere disposition to co operate individually with the members of the other denominations in works of charity, in so far as doctrinal distinctions are kept out of sight, and all parties meet on terms of equality and unity; and conscious that we have done nothing as a body to provoke this unhappy separation, but on the contrary have attempted every thing in our power to resist and retard it, we are willing to abide by the judgment of mode. rate and candid men, in the two other bodies of the Protestant Dissenters throughout the kingdom, of our countrymen at large, and of posterity on this our deliberate and solemn act."

The Rev. William Broadfoot, President of Cheshunt College; the Rev. John Young, minister of Albion Chapel; and the Rev. Robert Redpath, of Wells Street Chapel, the orthodox members met on Monday, March 7, and prepared the following Protest against the proceedings of the Unitarian majority of the Presbyterian Board.

"Against the vote passed at the Meet ing of the Presbyterian Body, on Friday last, the 4th instant, at the Library, Red Cross Street, for separating the said body from the two other bodies of the General Body of the Three Denominations of Protestant Dissenting Ministers, the undersigned members of the Presbyterian Body protest, for the following reasons:

1st. Whilst the undersigned have no right to object to any members of the Presbyterian Body withdrawing, if they think proper, from the General Body of the Three Denominations, they maintain, that should such members constitute ever so large a majority, the minority, however small, can be in no respect constrained to concur in their act, but are entitled to remain as Presbyterians in the united Body of the Three Denominations, retaining all the privileges which they have hitherto enjoved in consequence of their union with the other two bodies.

"2d. As the immediate result of the withdrawment of the Presbyterian Body from the other two, would be the breaking up and terminating of the General Body of the Three Denominations of Dissenting Ministers of London, Westminster, and their vicinity, the undersigned feel themselves bound to express, in the strongest terms, their marked disapprobation of an attempt, in their estimation so reckless and so improper; and N. S. No. 136.

the more so, considering the acknowledged powerful and happy influence the said General Body has had for upwards of a hundred years, in sustaining and extending throughout this whole kingdom, correct notions of civil and religious liberty, besides the beneficent remonstrances it has been honoured, and not without success, to make in behalf of the right of private judgment on the great concerns of religion, and in aid of the oppressed in other countries of Europe.

3dly. Because the members of the body who have carried this vote for separation, have evidently, and from their own showing, had recourse to this measure purely from their feelings as Arians or Unitarians, they alleging, as aggrieved by the conduct towards them, the reason of their doing so, their being on account of their doctrinal opinions, of the evangelical portion of the General Body of the Three denominations. With such feelings the undersigned can have no sympathy, agreeing as they do, so far as the great doctrines of the Christian religion are concerned, with the Congregational Body, and with that of the Particular or Evangelical Antipædo Baptists, and differing from them merely on the comparatively minor consideration of the form of church government, a difference which has been always recognized in the intercourse of the Three Denominations. While the undersigned offer no opposition to Arians or Unitarians who view themselves aggrieved, seceding from the General Body,they cannot for one moment entertain the proposal of the withdrawment of the Presbyterian Body on any such account, or regard the attempt otherwise than as groundless and unjustifiable.

"4thly. The undersigned feel themselves bound to oppose the vote of separation, from the additional consideration that they, properly speaking, are the only Presbyterians of the body, those withdrawing being only so in name, besides their being, by the late decisions in the case of Lady Hewley's Charity, legally adjudged to be no Presbyterians, all that was Presbyterian of the Body remains with its identity unaffected by the circumstance of a majority of its members being in favour of the vote.

"5thly. On all these accounts the undersigned consider themselves as carrying with them all the privileges belonging to the Presbyterian Body, and as being and constituting the Presbyterian Denomination in the General Body of the Protestant Dissenting Ministers of London and Westminster and 2 M

their vicinity, aud do in consequence claim the Minutes of the Presbyterian Body.

WILLIAM BROADFOOT,
JOHN YOUNG,
ROBERT REDPATH.

London, March 7, 1836."

In the spirit of this Protest, they proceeded to appoint Mr. Broadfoot the Secretary of their Board-admitted to their number the Rev. Mr. Archer, of Oxendon Chapel, and took measures to secure an early meeting of the General Body to consider the business. On Wednesday, the 9th of March, an extraordinary general meeting of the Protestant Dissenting ministers of the three denominations was accordingly held at the Library, Red Cross Street, "To receive a communication from certain members of the Presbyterian Board respecting a resolution of the said Board to separate from the General Body."

The Rev. Joseph Fletcher D. D. of Stepney, was called to the chair. We understand that the preceding documents were presented to the meeting, and ordered to be entered on the minutes-that the claim of the orthodox

Presbyterians to all the privileges of the Presbyterian Board was allowed, that a Deputation was appointed to wait upon Lord John Russell, his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department, with a Memorial explanatory of the whole proceedings. That deputation consisted of Dr. Fletcher, the Chairman, the Rev. George Clayton, Secretary, and the Rev. Messrs. Broadfoot, Yates, Tidman, Binney, Steane, and Watts, who attended at the Home Office, on Thursday, March the 17th, but the result has not transpired.

In reviewing this important event, it is only justice to the Unitarian Seceders to acknowledge that they have rendered good service to the cause of civil and religious freedom in the General Body from which they have retired, by their talents and attainments, and have by their urbane and

• This step became necessary, as the Seceding Unitarians had deputed Dr. Rees, Mr. Aspland, and Mr. Madge, to wait upon Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell upon the same subject.

business-like conduct, commanded the respect of those with whom they were associated.

At the same time their withdrawment is a matter of sincere congratu lation with the General Body and the religious public, for when the essential differences between them and their evangelical associates are remembered, it is obvious that all expressions of ministerial sympathy, and all acts of

social devotion must have been ex

cluded by their presence, while it not only gave extensive offence to our Christian brethren of other denominations, but led to the withdrawment of several much valued members of our own, and also prevented the accession of a large number of approved Dissenting ministers in London and its vicinity, who could not sanction by their union, that incongruous associa

tion.

Happily, however, they have retired from our citadel: now then is the time to erect a barrier against their return, and we trust that the General Body will not allow itself in the exercise of a questionable courtesy, to lose the present opportunity of confirming the recent decisions of the Court of Chancery, by declaring that these gentlemen are Presbyterians only in name, as neither in doctrine or discipline do they accord with the venerable Presbyterians of the seventeenth century.

SECESSION OF THE UNITARIAN GENTLEMEN FROM THE DISSENTING DEPUTIES.

In 1732 a general meeting of Dissenters was held at Silver Street Chapel, London, when it was resolved that every congregation of the three denominations of Protestant Dissenters, Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, in and within ten miles of London, should be recommended to appoint two deputies to be members of an assembly to take care of the civil rights of Dissenters. From that period deputies have been so chosen, and the Unitarians succeeding in the places of the old Presbyterians, have taken their place with the rest under that venerable name. It appears, however, that these lay gentlemen have felt, like their ministers, aggrieved by recent events, and their proceedings have been announced in the following advertisement.

"At a meeting of the Deputies of Congregations of the Presbyterian Denomination, (appointed in January last to form part of the general body of Deputies of the Protestant Dissenters of the Three Denominations in and about London.) held the 5th day of March, 1836; James Gibson, esq. in the chair. "Resolved-That the Union of the body of London Ministers, and that also of the Deputies of the Three Denominations of Protestant Dissenters, were formed more than a hundred years ago, and have, till lately, been uniformly considered to be based and conducted on the footing of the perfect independence and equality of each denomination-to have for their object the promotion of the broad and acknowledged principle of nonconformity-and to have no reference whatever to doctrinal opinions, distinctions, or qualifications

"That before and at the time of the formation of these voluntary associations, the English Dissenters of the Presbyte rian Denomination had publicly asserted, and had ever since maintained the principle of perfect freedom of investigation in matters of religion, and of resistance to every species of restraint upon, or interference with, a complete liberty of action upon the results of such investigation.

"That in the earliest period of these Associations, and down to the present time, the result of this principle of action among the Presbyterians has been, that many of these ministers and laymen have, from time to time, adopted doctrinal opinions differing more or less widely from the Calvinistic standard.

"That notwithstanding such known diversity of opinion, and the departure of the English Presbyterians in many particulars from those forms of Church discipline in which their name originated, the identity and succession of their ministers and congregations have been, on all occasions, formally and officially recognised by the other constituent parts of the bodies with which they have been connected.

"That this Meeting laments to have witnessed, within a short period, (and particularly since the establishment of the civil and social rights of Protestant Dissenters by the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts,) a continued and obvious disposition on the part of many members of the other denominations to act upon exclusive distinctions, subversive of the equality and independence of such portions of the aggregate dissenting societies as do not coincide with the doc

trinal creed of the majority, hostile to the principles on which they have combined their efforts and contributions, and constantly tending to the depression and degradation of the Presbyterian denomination in particular.

"That open challenge has of late been repeatedly and publicly made of the title and identity of the ministers and congregations hitherto invariably recognized as composing the Presbyterian denomination, and that legal proceedings have been successfully instituted by Dissenters, founded on the denial of such title and identity, and seeking to inflict the forfeiture and transfer of the endowments now held by Presbyterians, as the penalty for the exercise of their conscientious privileges as Christians and Protestant Dissenters.

“That this adoption of proceedings operating as restraints upon the Christian liberty of congregations of another denomination is, in the opinion of this Meeting, wholly at variance with the principles which occasioned and justified the separation of Nonconformists from an Established Church; that such proceedings are mainly founded on inferences drawn from penal laws long since repealed, and which it is the duty of every causistent Dissenter, to condemn and disregard; that the consequences of their successful prosecution are personally vexations and oppressive, in the highest degree, to those who for a long course of years peaceably occupied the foundations of their ancestors; and that the injury is deeply aggravated by the attempt thus made to fix upon those ancestors exclusive intents repugnant to their known principles of action, and opposed to the honest and consistent tenor of their lives and characters.

"That the establishment of the legal principles thus invoked against Dissenters by their brethren, strikes at the root of that Protestant liberty for the attainment of which their forefathers made their noblest saerifices to conscience; and tends to convert every chapel, though founded for free and independent worship, into a petty establishment; more objectionable than one connected with the State-both in principle, because it is the work of men who profess to be free,-and in practice, because the State possesses the power aad means of improvement in its institutions, while on the other hand, the Dissenting trusts are to be doomed to continue perpetual and invariable.

"That the community of feeling and principle which has been formerly as

sumed to characterise the associations of Protestant Dissenters being thus disturbed, the freedom for which the Presbyterians have sought protection in such associations, being attacked by those with whom they associated for mutual protection; and it being plainly necessary that they should direct their energies and resources towards their own defence, not provided for elsewhere; this Meeting cannot but consider it useless and undesirable, that the body to which they belong, should continue outwardly to maintain a connection which has ceased to have a common or consistent object, and which tends rather to strengthen an influence, that experience shows may not improbably be directed against themselves.

"That the Deputies present, therefore while they respect the characters and principles of many of those with whom they have so long co-operated, and while they greatly lament the necessity for the present proceeding, feel themselves imperatively called upon in conformity with the example of their respected ministers, and with the prevalent feeling of their country brethren, to withdraw from the Deputies of the other two denominations, and, in so doing, to co-operate in the formation of a new union, founded on enlarged and consistent views, and directed to the maintenance of the great essential principles of Protestantism.

"That this determination be forthwith communicated to the Chairman of the General Body of Deputies, and to the argregate meeting of the English Presbyterian Dissenters now about to be held."

It will be seen that the numbers of Deputies who have withdrawn is not stated, but that it will be found inconsiderable, both individually and representatively, we have no doubt, for the Presbyterian congregations have so wasted under the malign influence of Unitarian opinions, that they have become in this metropolitan council of the Dissenting churches, what Gatton and Old Sarum were in the national Parliament. The orthodox Presbyterians continue with the Deputies, and thus the original constitution remains unbroken, maugre the efforts of these seceders.

A SUMMARY OF THE CLAIMS OF PROTESTANT DISSENTERS.

The following comprehensive petition exhibits a perspicuous summary of the grievances of Protestant Dissenters, which we feel persuaded they must continne vigorously to resist by all the just and constitutional means in their power,

ment assembled.

"The humble Petition of the undersigned, being attendants at the Congregational Chapel in Stroud, Gloucestershire, or friends of religious liberty residing in that town and neighbourhood,

"Sheweth-That your Petitioners are of opinion that religion, though a matter of supreme importance, respects the relation which subsists between man and God, and not the political relations which subsist between man and man; and, consequently, that religion ought not to be the means of depriving any one of any civil right or privilege.

"That persons who dissent from the Established Church of Great Britain have, for that cause alone, endured various hardships and grievances

"That your Petitioners are of opinion that the root of all these evils is the special patronage which the State has given to one denomination of Christians, those, namely, who belong to the Established Church, conferring various civil privileges on such as adhere to that community, and inflicting various civil disabilities on all who refuse to conform.

"That your Petitioners are fully persuaded that the best thing that a civil government, as government, can do for religion, is generally to let it alone, taking care that all laws enacted are agreeable to the word of God; that religions people enjoy full protection, and that whatever favour is shown to them be not incom

patible with the civil rights of any portion of the community.

"That, at the same time, your Petitioners are fully aware, that the nation generally, including your Honourable House, is not yet prepared to enter on the consideration of the question as to what degree of connection ought to subsist between the Government and the Christian Church. Your Petitioners, therefore, proceed to specify some particular grievances, the redress of which they seek.

"Your Petitioners enter on this subject with gratitude and confidence, being thankful both to Divine Providence and to your Honourable House for numerous enactments made on their behalf during some years past, and especially for the important and excellent proposals recently brought before your Honourable House by His Majesty's Ministers relative to Marriage, Registration, and Ecclesiastical