With respect to the marriage law, so far as it affects Protestant Dissenters, your Committee have invited the assistance and co-operation of the Committee of the Protestant Society, in order to devise the most expedient measures to be adopted. That society has appointed a deputation to meet a deputation from your Committee, and a meeting is in tended to take place forthwith. to wait the result of the Commissioners' sufficient to defray the actual expenses of proceedings, rather than attempt any seits circulation. To what cause this exparate measure on the subject. traordinary indifference is to be attributed, your Committee are at a loss to conceive; but they are willing to put the most favourable construction they can upon the conduct of the Dissenters, by supposing that they consider a large fund nnnecessary, now that the repeal of the Sacramental Test has been effected. Your Committee the more deeply lament the unfavourable issue of their exertions, as that which yet remains to be done for the cause of civil and religious liberty may give rise to considerable expeuse, whilst the want of available funds to defray it may occasion great difficulty, delay, and embarrassment. In May last, the attention of your Committee was called to a bill then pending in Parliament, for regulating the free grammar school at Birmingham. A clanse had been introduced into that bill, tending to exclude Dissenters from any share in the controul or management of the school, or its funds; a circumstance which could not fail to excite the attention of the Dissenters of Birmingham, who are a very numerous and influential body in that town. They accordingly, without delay, appointed a committee to oppose the objectionable clause, considering, no doubt, as well as your Committee, the attempt as a fresh exhibition of the same spirit of bigotry which had occasioned, for so long a period, the continuance of the Corporation and Test Acts upon our statute book. Your Committee, therefore, communicated with the Birmingham Committee on the subject, and shortly afterwards the bill dropped, ou the third reading in the House of Lords, where it originated. Your Committee have still to lament the little effect produced by their address, forwarded near two years ago to Dissenting congregations throughout the kingdom, on the subject of the funds of the deputation. They had flattered themselves that the statements contained in that address, and the appeal therein made to the justice and liberality of Dissenters at large, would have had the desired effect, of not only replenishing the finan ces of the deputation, after the heavy reduction they had experienced by the expenses of obtaining the repeal of the Sacramental Test, but also of establishing a further permanent fund, from which a sufficient income might be derived for the ordinary purposes of the deputation, and to the principal of which resort might be had in case of any other great and unforeseen emergency. Your Committee, however, so far from having their expectations realized, have had the mortification to find that the amount of subscriptions, collected in consequence of the address, is very little more than As to the ordinary business of the past year, your Committee have the pleasure to state, that but few instances have occurred requiring their interference. The following is a brief statement of the cases brought before them : 1. A poor minister in Wales was deprived of an endowment, consisting of the rents of several houses, which had been bequeathed by a will made in the year 1735, for the benefit of the minister, for the time being, of a particular congregation. The endowment was regularly accounted for, and paid to the ministers, in succession, for a great number of years; but at length the trustees withheld payment from the present minister, alleging that they had a discretionary power to appropriate the endowment to some other minister in the neighbourhood. The opinion of counsel was taken, and being in favour of the claimant, every means was used to induce the trustees to comply with the donor's intention, but without effect. A petition to the Lord Chancellor was, therefore, presented, which for some time was obstinately resisted by the trustees; but at length they yielded to the justice of the case, delivered possession to the minister, accounted for the rents they had received, and executed a conveyance of the estate to new trustees for the benefit of the claimant and his successors, so as to preclude the possibility of any doubt or dispute on the subject hereafter. 2. Another minister in Wales was ejected from his meeting-house and dwelling house, by an action at the suit of the heir-at-law of the surviving trustee. The case was not brought before your Committee till within a few days of the trial; when, seeing it was one of great hardship, and strongly recommended to the attention of your Committee by many respectable ministers in Wales, they re This was the second meeting of the kind by which the society here have commemorated their school anniversary; and it is intended to hold it in a similar manner in future years. Hull, Jan. 20, 1831. E. H. solved to undertake the conduct of it to a certain extent. They, accordingly, un der the advice of counsel, defended and adopted proceedings in the Court of King's Bench, and in the Common Law and Equity Courts of Wales, in the hope of getting the minister reinstated in his office, and restored to his rights; but in Lectures at the Octagon Chapel, Northe progress of the suit they found it encompassed with so many difficulties, and that so much doubt arose in the minds of counsel as to its final success, that they have found it expedient to withdraw from further interference. 3. The third and last case is, that of a recent disturbance of worship at the chapel in Great Suffolk Street, Southwark. Your Committee were applied to to prosecute the offender, but, upon his coming forward and signing a written apology, expressing coutrition for his offence, and promising never to repeat it, they deemed it expedient to forbear a prosecution. The same course has been adopted in former instances of this kind, and your Committee hope that their act of justice on this occasion will not prove less beneficial by being tempered with mercy. ROBERT WINTER, 16, Bedford Row. wich. LECTURES on the principles of Unitarianism having been recently delivered J. Bakewell, to numerous congregations, at the Octagon Chapel, by the Rev. W. erful reasonings and eloquent appeals of who were forcibly impressed by the powtheir minister, a subscription was set on foot to present to the Rev. Gentleman a testimonial of their admiration and esteem. Although the amount of individual subscriptions was purposely limited to a mere trifle, a sum of thirty pounds was speedily collected, and presented by a deputation of the congregation to Mr. Bakewell, who was much affected by this unexpected testimony of the scntiments of his flock. It is understood that the effect produced by these lectures on persons not hitherto connected with the chapel, has encouraged Mr. B. to prepare a second series. May they open the eyes of those hitherto blind to the absurdities of TriR. M. Hull Unitarian Sunday-School Anni- uitarianism. versury. ON Sunday, January 16th, the annual sermon was preached on behalf of this school, by the Rev. R. K. Philp, of Lincoln, from Eccl. xi. 6, "In the morning sow thy seed," &c. On the following Tuesday afternoon the children of the school, after singing a hymn, and hearing a suitable address, and joining in prayer in the chapel, were conducted to a room hired for the purpose, where tea was prepared and served to them by their teachers. They sang another hymn before they were dismissed. A second tea party sat down afterwards to the same table, consisting of the teachers and friends of the Sunday-school and the congregation, to the number of seventyfour, which number was afterwards increased by other arrivals, and by the addition of the older scholars, who were admitted at their own desire. Mr. Philp kindly acted as Chairman after tea; and the evening was delightfully spent in friendly social intercourse, and in listen. ing to various addresses from several speakers on subjects of religious and benevolent interest. The meeting concluded with singing and prayer. From the same authority, we learn that the number of prelates, dignitaries, and incumbents, is only 7,694; and if the above were equally divided among them, each would receive one thousand two hundred and twenty eight pounds per annum. The number of benefices is, however, 11,342. There are 5,098 rectories, 3,687 vicarages, and 2,970 churches, neither rectorial nor vicarial, making a total of 11,755 churches. These churches are coutained in 10,674 parishes and parochial chapelries. The whole of these 10,674 benefices are in the hands of 7,191 incumbents; there are 2,886 individuals with 7,037 livings; 567 with 1,701 livings; 209 with 836 livings; 64 with 320 livings." We do not pretend to decide between this statement and the following, but the Church has no right to complain of misrepresentation, or to claim credence, while the materials for a correct estimate are withheld from the public. NON-RESIDENT CLERGY.-Lord KING brought forward a motion on this subject on Monday, Feb. 14. His Lordship's object was to shew the ratio between the non-residents of parishes where the patronage was in the hands of laymen, and of parishes where it was in the hands of Churchmen. The usual plea for pluralities, the grand cause of nonresidence, was, that the livings, separately taken, were too poor to support a clergyman; but Lord King observed, this plea could be urged only where all the livings held by a pluralist were poor ones. The average income of the clergy of England had been stated to be 3657. 18s. 4d. he thought the proper rule would be, that where any living was of equal or greater value than that average, the incumbent should not be permitted to hold another. The Church, Lord King said, was by no means liberal to her own sons. Ou some Church property belonging to the see of York, the sums paid to the clergymen were not more than 307. a year: in one case of a valuable college living worth 2000. the curate received only 307., and the parish ioners had been obliged to subscribe to make it up to 701. The Bishop of LONDON said, since he last addressed their Lordships on the subject, he had entered into a calculation of the average income of the clergy; and he found, if the whole of the income of the Church was equally divided among the various incumbents in England and Wales, it would not exceed 1557. each; and even adding the glebe lands, Queen Anue's bounty, and property of the va rious Deans and Chapters, it would not exceed 2007.; while the average income of the Church of Scotland amounted at the least calculation to 2751. The publications on this subject were a tissue of the grossest misrepresentations. Proceedings in Jamaica. [From the Anti-Slavery Reporter.] WE have received a great mass of information from various slave colonies, but principally from Jamaica, since the last Reporter was published. We cau only glance at a few of the points which it embraces. The Assembly of Jamaica, in their displeasure with the Government for having rejected the Slave Act of 1829, with its anti-christian clauses, have resolved to take no step whatever to amend their slave law. That of 1829 was proposed to be re-enacted in its former state, with the exclusion simply of its persecuting provisions; but after long debates, which displayed not only an extraordinary degree of heat and asperity, but gross ignorance of all constitutional principles, aud the most determined hostility to all missionary efforts, it was thrown out by a majority of 24 to 16. The Assembly are thus fairly at issue with the Government and Parliament of this country. They seem to have felt the perilousness of placing themselves in such a predicament; having on one side a numerous population of slaves, possibly excited by the failure of all hope of seeing their condition alleviated; and on the other, the free black and coloured classes generally irritated by the contemptuous rejection of their claims to equal rights, and openly proclaiming their willingness to accede to the wishes of Government on the subject of slavery; and they could not, therefore, but be alarmed at the prospect of standing alone in a conflict with the Government, and also with both the free black and coloured classes, and the slaves. It appears to be under some such impression that, in despite of all their ancient and most inveterate prejudices, they have carried through all its stages, with unusual celerity, a bill for conferring on all free black and coloured persons the same privileges, civil and political, with the white inhabitants. This measure, we have no doubt, will prove in its consequences a most auspicious one, whatever may have been its motive. The free classes are too strong in their allegiance to be drawn in to join the whites in a contumacious resistance to the Government, and therefore this precipitate change of policy cannot but prove highly beneficial in its results to the general interests of humanity. The Assembly have offered, it is true, a high bribe to the black and coloured classes, by removing all their disabilities; but we think they have formed a most mistaken estimate of those classes if they expect their support in any measures of resistance to the Government and Parliament of this country. Their passions, we are persuaded, have here deluded them. We nevertheless rejoice exceedingly in the event. One of our members had been for several years a class leader and local preacher in the Wesleyan Methodist connexion in England; he had, for some considerable time, held opinions that were not in strict accordance with those of his Methodist friends, particularly on the subject of future punishment, the eternal duration of which he could not admit, not being able to reconcile the doctrine of eternal punishment with the acknowledged perfections of God, and the general tenor of divine revelation. His views on this subject were generally known among the preachers and people; among the latter there were many who thought with him; they spake often one to another on this and other interesting subjects, aud he continued united with them in Christian love and friendship during his stay among them. On his removal to the island of Guernsey, having received an appointment in the service of the customs, it so happened that, in attending the Methodist chapel, he found one of the travelling preachers on the station to whom The House of Assembly was suddenly he was well known; this man was a streand unexpectedly prorogued by the nuous advocate for the doctrine of Eternal Governor, probably to give them time Punishment; and although he was apto reflect calmly ou their peremptory re-parently very friendly, he secretly insijection of all improvement in their slave code. The Assembly appear greatly alarmed also by the freedom with which the periodical press of the island, and particularly the Watchman and the Christian Record, canvas the conduct of the planters, and the nature and effects of slavery, and a bill has been brought in to restrain it, which has excited very general opposition, particularly on the part of the free black and coloured people. The bill proposes to give summary power to magistrates to enter printinghouses and seize types, papers, &c.; and it inflicts on any one convicted of publishing seditious libels, the punishment of transportation for life. Should such a law pass in the islaud, it could only live until it reached England, where it must of necessity be disallowed. nuated among the people that such an one was not sound in the faith, that he held dangerous opinions, and that it would be advisable that the people should have as little intercourse with him as possible. This had its intended effect with regard to the greater part of the members, but it excited the attention of others in a more excellent way; these manifested a friendly disposition towards the stranger, and sought opportunities to converse with him on the subject of religion, &c. It was on one of these occasions, when three of his Christians friends spent the evening with him at his house, that they expressed themselves as highly gratified with the evening's conversation; and oue of them proposed a stated weekly meeting for the purpose of religious conversation, &c. The proposal was gladly embraced, and from that time I date the origin of the Unitarian Church in Guernsey; not that either of us had any idea of Unitarianism at that time; we had scarcely heard of the name, and were al together unacquainted with the doctrine, and unconnected with its professors. Our first subject was God's Universal Love-to us a most delightful theme. The gracious declarations with which the Scriptures abound on this subject, became familiar to us; on this subject we delighted to dwell; it excited in our hearts sentiments of the purest gratitude, and furnished us with the most powerful motives to love and fear God, and walk in his way. Among other arguments to prove the universality of God's love to mankind, we laid no small stress upon what we had been taught to believe as the doctrine of atonement, that the justice of God had been satisfied for the sins of mankind by the sufferings and death of Christ, that he had not only paid a debt, but had also purchased salvation for us. Such were the ideas which pervaded every part of our religious services, to which we had been accustomed for years; we had been taught to sing repeatedly, "Lord, I believe were sinners more Than sands upon the ocean shore, Thou hast for all a ransom paid, For all a full atonement made." "For all my Lord was crucified, For all, for all, my Saviour died, "Behold the Lamb of God who bears The sins of all the world away," &c. of The reiteration of the doctrine of Eternal Punishment, (commonly a more harsh expression,) which sounded in our ears in almost every sermon, appeared to us so inconsistent with our hymns, and so contradictory to the positive declaration of the Almighty, "I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made," Isaiah lvii. 16, that it excited our astonishment, and led us to a more particular consideration of the subject, than, perhaps, we otherwise should have given it, until we came at length to perceive that the doctrine of Atonement, as we had been taught, was not only inconsistent with eternal punishment, but incompatible with any punishment at all; for it now appeared to us, that if full satisfaction has been made to Divine Justice for the sins of mankind, and if the whole world be included in that satisfaction as stated above, then in that case, it struck us forcibly, there could be no future pu nishment for sin. We were not prepared for this conclusion. We were, I may say, alarmed at the result of our discussions on this subject; we saw clearly that the salvation which the gospel reveals is conditional; that repentance, faith, and good works, are essentially necessary to our final acceptance with God; and that our state and condition in a future world depends upon our conduct in this. We now believed that God sent his Son not to satisfy his justice by paying the sinner's debt, but to bless mankind by turning them from their iniquities; that obedience to his precepts and conformity to his example is the best proof we can give of our love to Christ, and we determined accordingly. About this time, reading in "Evans's Sketch," we found a reference to a book called the "Antisatisfactionist ;" this we immediately procured; it was to us a most valuable acquisition, and confirmed us in our change of opinion on the doctrine of Atonement. We next rentured to discuss what we had been taught to believe as the divinity of Christ, that it was essential to the satisfaction required for the sins of mankind, that Christ should be God as well as man, otherwise it could not be an infinite satisfaction. The following is the language of our hymus in reference to this subject. "Equal with God most high, He laid his glory by, He, the Eternal God was born !" "God, in this dark vale of tears, A man of griefs was seen; Here, for three and thirty years, He dwelt with sinful men." Then he dies. "Come see, ye worms, your Maker die! And say was ever grief like his." And again, "The Immortal God hath died for me." We now perceived the impropriety of such language, and having given up the doctrine of satisfaction, the argument for the Deity of Christ, arising from the supposed necessity of an infinite satisfaction, lost all its force, and we soon came to the conclusion, that as there is but one God, and that one God is so clearly distinguished in scripture as a distinct being from Jesus Christ, as having sent him, anointed him, raised him from the dead, &c., &c., that Jesus Christ could not be God in the strict and proper sense of the word. Our friends now began to feel dissa |