dual developement of the embryo system in the mind of its inventor-to follow, step by step, the arguments as they presented themselves to his imagination from his first mentioning the plan at a meeting in Elland in this county, in the year 1815, to the recommending these institutions to the acceptance of his fellow-religionists; but that task cannot now be attempted. Imagination can only supply the place of facts, for that mind was soon removed from its earthly clothing, that amiable spirit which, when on earth, seemed superior to its station, was soon removed to dwell with kindred spirits in another and a better state; before he could see the glorious fruits which have sprung up and flourished from the seed he sowed, death summoned him away, and, in his removal, has cast a hallowed atmosphere around these the effects of his dying labours. Some of the views which he entertained in connexion with these institutions, and the nature of the incentives which spurred him on to the developement of his plans, are preserved in the paper which he published in the Monthly Repository for October 1816; and in the following remarks of the late Rev. H. Turner, of Nottingham, his friend on earth, and now, no doubt, his friend in heaven

"For there congenial minds, array'd in light,

High thoughts shall interchange,

Nor cease, with ever new delight,

On wings of love to range."

"It may be allowed one," says Mr. Turner, "who had the happiness of being intimately acquainted with the late Dr. Thomson, to describe the views which he entertained on this subject. He was of opinion, that the Unitarians were far from doing justice to their own cause. The opposition they had experienced from without had not been compensated by any closer union amongst themselves. The scattered members of their body were left to struggle as they could, with the difficulties and discouragements arising from an unpopular persuasion, and were scarcely made conscious that there existed any who partook of the same religious sentiments, and were actuated by the same conviction as themselves. Unitarians, he thought, had called in the aid of so few of the natural and usual means of success, that had it not been for the intrinsic strength of their cause, it must soon have become extinct. He observed, with great satisfaction, the progress of Unitarianism among the lower classes, and regarded it as an important test of the truth and solidity of its principles; for he was accustomed to say, that a religion which did not meet the wants of the poor, ought to be rejected by all. He was rejoiced to find Unitarian principles as suitable to the cottage of the poor, as to the closet of the learned. In this state of things, he perceived that a greater union had become in our societies absolutely necessary." But

the following passage from Dr. Thomson's own paper respecting Fellowship Funds, will throw the most direct light on his own views: "The calls upon Unitarian liberality, for the erection of new chapels, and other important objects, have of late happily been frequent. But, if continued, which I trust will be the case, they cannot be so promptly met and so effectually answered as they ought to be. The willing giver, from prudential motives, will be obliged, however reluctantly, to withhold his aid. We must, therefore, look out for other and multiplied sources of supply, and call in the many in aid of the few. Before you," said the amiable author, "is a plan for that purpose, which, whilst it originates a fresh set of contributors, and falls so easily upon all as not to be felt by any, does not interfere with, nor supersede the exercise of liberality on the part of the affluent members of the Unitarian body." The spirited appeal thus made, was speedily answered, and the Unitarian congregations were surprised at their mental lethargy, in not having sooner discovered and adopted a plan, so simple in its constitution, so powerful in its effects. The details of Dr. Thomson's plan were nearly similar to those adopted by this and every other institution bearing the name of Fellowship Funds; the peculiar objects of each society, its management and internal regulations, differing or agreeing with each other according to the will of the respective congregations. The congregation of the new meeting at Birminghain claim the palm of having first carried into operation Dr. Thomson's suggestions. The elder members of the congregation thought the small subscription too trifling and too troublesome to engage their attention; but the younger members, attracted by the simplicity of the plan, engaged, with the zeal peculiar to their age, in reducing it to practice. Their active exertions soon rendered the Institution of importance, and within a very short time after the publication of Dr. Thomson's letter, the Birmingham Society came into full operation, and has since continued of great service to the cause it was formed to support. The seniors soon lent their aid to the juniors, but, with a Christian feeling, have ever since yielded to the youthful originators the principal management of the Institution. In the first year, they enrolled 226 members; it was this Society that first seconded the exertions of Dr. Thomson, by publishing in the Christian Reformer, an account of its own origin, and a statement of its usefulness; thus holding out an inducement to other congregations to follow its example. The Old Meeting-house at Birmingham speedily followed its neighbours in this work of love, and it is with pride your Committee are able to state, that Sheffield was not backward in lending its aid in promoting this desirable measure. In the year 1817, a Fellowship Fund was established in connexion with this congregation, which, although for a time it was in a state of comparative inefficiency, has now given, and

is giving, ample proofs of the immensity of the good which such institutions are calculated to accomplish. Liverpool, York, Lincoln, Chesterfield, and many other places, caught the pious enthusiasın, and joined their efforts to support their various institutions, scattering good around them, and proving the truth of the poet's attribute of mercy, that "it is twice blessed-it blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."

Various additions have been made by different societies to the original plan of Dr. Thomson, in pursuance of his ardent wish, that the friends of Unitarianism would improve upon his suggestion. In 1818, the Fellowship Fund at Lincoln, then under the care of that indefatigable minister, Mr. Hawkes, joined to the other objects of the fund, a plan of circulating books and pamphlets connected with Unitarianism, amongst its members; and also connecting with it meetings for religious discussion, and exercises similar in effect to those which this Society has adopted. The Fellowship Fund at York also embraced amongst its objects, at an early period of its existence, the formation of a Vestry Library. The one at Cirencester, which was established under the management of a late townsman, Mr. F. Horsfield, also added to its other objects the purchase and circulation of books; and the Gravel-Pit Meeting at Hackney, agreeably, as they stated in their Report for the year 1820, to another of the express objects of Fellowship Funds, provided books and pamphlets for the use of the members of the congregation in humble life; and they express a hope that their successors in office will keep that object in view. And their successors obeyed that injunction, and in their Report for the following year, spoke in high terms of the benefit which had been derived from this department of their institution. The Fellowship Fund at Taunton has carried their plan of circulating tracts to a great extent, and the Committee, in connexion with this distribution, also hold meetings for religious conversation. This mode of appropriating a small part of the funds appears to your Committee highly useful and perfectly compatible with the plan and rules of the Institution; they mention it, not however in the way of proposition, but merely hint at it, to shew that there are still plans open for further usefulness, and that we need not be weary of well-doing.

Meetings for religious conversation, and for communications respecting the progress of Unitarian sentiments, have been added to the Fellowship Funds of a great number of congregations; the instances of Lincoln and Taunton have been mentioned. The Bristol congregation have long adopted it, and in their report for the year 1823, speak in high terms of their utility, and state that they have essentially contributed to the promotion of congregational plans of usefulness.

The means employed by all the institutions to collect their respective funds are nearly alike, allowing the smallest contri

bution, a penny per week, to constitute the subscriber a member, and to give the contributor a right to have a voice in the appropriation of the Society's property. The objects of the Institution, as briefly stated in the rules, are to give such occasional assistance as may be wanted for Unitarian chapels, or other buildings connected with them, about to be erected, repaired, or enlarged; and to aid any institution now existing, or which may be hereafter formed, appearing to be calculated to support the cause of religious truth and liberty. But these are not the only benefits which have arisen from their institution: in many instances they have been the means of keeping together the scattered few whom similarity of sentiment had joined; in all, they have been found to aid the great cause of truth, and to draw in closer compact and fellowship the Christian congregations which have adopted them. The plan and the objects are alike admirable, and it is with confidence that we call upon you for a continuance and an increase of your support to these combinations for good.

Whilst thus enumerating the advantages of these institutions, it is with regret that your Committee have to allude to a serious evil which has arisen out of their establishment-an evil which the generous mind of their originator never anticipated, and which, but for the various lamentable proofs that have been given of its existence, would be doubted by all whose hearts lay claim to liberal feeling, or whose hands were ever stretched forth to aid the progress of truth-an evil which, if not speedily checked, will either destroy altogether the institutions out of which it has sprung, or materially impede the progress of the cause it is your wish to support, by limiting the means of its supporters. Your Committee refer to the mistaken notion, which has been adopted by many of the members of this and similar institutions, that the funds thus raised are to supply entirely all the aid formerly obtained from individual subscriptions; and that the small amount individually contributed to these funds is to exempt the contributors from those calls upon their liberality which it was once their pleasure and their pride speedily and liberally to answer, since the frequency of such calls evinced the progress of the sentiments they desired to forward. Your Committee earnestly recommend the friends of the Institution to look at the founder's intent; it was his object to raise a new class of subscribers, not to destroy an old and more efficient, because more opulent order of donors; his wish was to include the poor in his plan, and to induce them to aid the great work by the widow's mite and the poor man's gift, not to shield the rich from the usual demands on their liberality, or to save their purses by the means of the less wealthy of their fellow-christians. Such a view is at once injurious to the institutions we support, and to the cause we wish to aid; and your Committee earnestly call upon the members of this

and every other Fellowship Fund, to discard an opinion which can only arise from mistake or meanness. If this evil be remedied, the plan of Fellowship Funds will be blameless, and with that divine aid which accompanies every work whose object is the promotion of such praiseworthy ends, no doubt can be entertained of their continued utility, and their increasing prosperity. No drawback will then exist to the pleasure which all the friends of Unitarianisın feel in their institution; and their object and their plan will alike merit support; the many will then aid the exertions of the few; and the liberality of the rich, and the contributions of the poor, will be combined in one rich stream of benevolence.

WESTERN UNITARIAN SOCIETY-W. SMITH, ESQ., M. P.

Ar the Annual General Meeting of the Western Unitarian Society, held at Yeovil, on the 17th of July, 1828, the following resolution was passed unanimously:

"While we cordially and fully unite in the expressions of honour and thankfulness already conveyed by the British and Foreign Unitarian Association to Lord Holland, Lord John Russell, and John Smith, Esq., and other distinguished members of the Legislature, who have, in various ways, promoted the cause of civil and religious liberty, and particularly by the employment of their talents and exertions to bring about the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, and also in the sentiments expressed by the Association of warm and respectful interest in the regard shewn, during the late proceedings in Parliament, to the unshackled right of private judgment by so many of the bishops, and by great numbers of the clergy and laity of the Establishment out of Parliament, as well as in the earnest desire that all civil disqualifications on account of religious opinions may speedily be terminated; we feel peculiarly called upon, as a religious society, uniting and now assembled to promote the doctrines of Unitarianism, because we believe them to be the truth as it is in Jesus,' to express and convey to William Smith, Esq., M. P., our high estimation of the services which, during nearly half a century, he has rendered to the Dissenting interest in the House of Commons, and of the enlightened intelligence of Christian character with which he has supported those services; and our admiring appreciation of the manly firmness with which, when the principles and conduct of the Dissenters were impugned, he stood forward, as one of them, in their defence; and, above all, of the conscientious openness and integrity with which, when the opinions of Unitarians were treated with contempt, or held up to abhorrence, he professed a good profession before the government and legislature of his country, and avowed his convictions as one of the sect which was the object of obloquy and misrepresentation."