impressive they were. She particularly requested that her children might be brought up in the belief of the doctrines of Unitarianism, and was very solicitous before she left the world to dedicate to God, by baptismal service, the infant whose birth immediately preceded her illness. Lying on her death-bed, in the presence of her husband and three other children, and surrounded by those relations whom she most dearly loved, the affecting ceremony was impressively performed by the Rev. John Rowe, twelve days before her death. She went through it with much calmness, and expressed the great satisfaction it had given her.

Occasionally, when the cheerful sun shine beamed through her chamber win dow, or when her eye rested upon the bright green of the vernal foliage, recollections of the many earthly blessings which Providence had conferred upon her would crowd upon her mind, and she would say with tears, "Even now I could wish the bitter cup might pass from me; but I am resigned to the will of God, convinced that he knows what is best for me."

At times, during the agony of her sufferings, after asking how long she could live, and expressing her carnest wish that Providence would release her from her painful existence, she would reproach herself with want of resignation, and declare her firm conviction that her trials were intended for her good; and often while most diffident of the power of her faith to enable her to bear with fortitude her heavy affliction, she was exhibiting to those around her a remarkable example of the influence of religious principle in imparting a patient and dutiful submission to the Almighty will, and evincing that frame of mind so characteristic of the humble Christian.

They who delight in contemplating a triumphant death-bed, and consider that salvation is certain only to such as, elated with the imagined glories of heaven, and confident of possessing them, profess a wish to resign all the joys and duties of this life, would derive no satisfaction from the quiet, unostentatious close of the life of this interesting and amiable woman. Here were to be witnessed no ecstacies, no enthusiasm, no violent excitement, no fancied contempt for the comforts and enjoyments of the world, no presumptuous claim to the favour of Heaven; but, with a deep sense of the important sphere of usefulness in which, as the mother of four young children she was placed; with an acute sensibility to the comforts she was blessed with; with an earnest desire to continue in the society of those she so tenderly loved; and in the performance of the va

rions duties of a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister, which she had hitherto discharged in so exemplary a manner. she submissively bowed to the will of Heaven, sincerely lamenting her frailty and imperfections, yet humbly, hoping for forgiveness, and the possession of that blessed immortality which Jesus Christ had brought to light, acknowledging the support she received, and uniformly declaring her unhesitating belief that her sufferings and her death were wisely and mercifully appointed.

Nor was it, to those who had the privilege of witnessing it, an uninteresting testimony to the efficacy of the great principles of the Gospel over peculiarities of religious faith, to see her surrounded by her dearest friends, most of them differing from her in opinion, yet all mingling with hers the tears of separation; joining with her in devout aspirations to their common Parent for consolation and support; and uniting with her in the humble and coufiding hope of à re-union in that state where sin and sorrow, sickness and death, will be known no more; and thus manifesting their full accordance in the explicit declaration of Scripture that "he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

June 9, at his house in Artillery Place, Finsbury, in the 82d year of his age, the Rev. Abraham Rees, D.D., F. R. S. &c., of a decay of nature, which had been for some time visibly approaching. Of this eminent man, who had been active and distinguished in the literary world, and particularly among the Protestant Dissenters of London, for more than half a century, we shall hereafter give an ample memoir. His naturally strong mind, his various knowledge, his habits of business, his urbanity and courtesy, his eloquence, his commanding presence, and his upright and honourable character, created for him a place of no ordinary importance in society; and his loss will very long be deeply felt, and especially by those that had the peculiar happiness of his friendship. It will give great pleasure to many of our readers to learn that his end was without pain, and serene, and Christian. His congregation shewed their respect to his memory, and gratitude for his invaluable public labours, by undertaking his funeral, at which the several bodies with which he had stood particularly connected, (Dr. Williams's Trustees, the Presbyterian Ministers, and the Managers of the Presbyterian Fund) attended in consequence of special resolutions to this effect. His body was carried to the chapel in Jewin Street; and on

Saturday the 18th inst., the congregation and the other gentlemen who wished to pay the last tribute of respect to him, assembled at the Library in Red-Cross Street, and thence proceeded to the chapel, where Dr. T. REES delivered an Oration, in which he sketched, with an able hand, the mind and character of the deceased. The procession then moved to Bunhill fields, where the service was concluded. The pall was borne by six ministers of the Three Denominations. The next day, Sunday the 19th instant, the funeral sermon was preached in Jewin Street, to a crowded auditory, by the Rev. R. ASPLAND, on a subject which was ever near the heart of the deceased, viz. The Reunion of Christian Friends in a Future State. The Rev. D. DAVISON, the Doctor's recently appointed colleague, conducted the devotional services on this occasion. (Dr. Rees had ap pointed, by his will, the two gentlemen before-named, that officiated in the funeral services.) Both the Oration and the Sermon are, at the request of the family and congregation, to be published.

June 13th, in the 71st year of her age, at Reading, after eight days of painful suffering, Mrs. Champion, whose sound

sense, sincere piety, domestic virtues, liberal spirit, active charity, ardent friendship, conjugal and maternal affection, endeared her to all her family and friends, and rendered the time of her departure from this life a season of deep affiction. Her sorrowing family will long cherish her memory, in the pleasing anticipation of a happy reunion in a state of conscious being, where death will have no more dominion over man, or power to rend the sacred bond of mutual affection. The deceased had in early life embraced the Calvinistic system of religious belief; but she gradually abandoned it; and, after having adopted the doctrine of universal restoration, from the writings of Mr. Winchester, she became, for the last fourteen years of her life, a decided and zealous Unitarian.

June 15, at Leigh Rectory, near Reigate, Surrey, in the 58th year of his age, SAMUEL WILTON, Esq, eldest son of the late Dr. Wilton, formerly minister of the Weigh-House, East Cheap, who, though he has been long dead, and died at an early age, is remembered with esteem and respect as the friend and champion of religious liberty. (See his Review of the Thirty-nine Articles.)

DOMESTIC.

RELIGIOUS.

Manchester College, York. THE 38-9th Annual Meeting of the Trustees of this Institution was held in the Cross-Street Chapel Rooms, Manchester, on Friday the 6th of August, 1824, when, it being determined in future to hold the Manchester Aunual Meeting of Trustees on the Thursday nearest to the first full moon subsequent to the 22nd of February, the anniversary of the foundation of the College, the meeting adjourned, at its close, to the 3rd of March last, having first passed a vote requesting the officers of the College to continue in office until that day.

On the 3rd of March, Samuel Kay, Esq., having been called to the Chair, the proceedings of the Committee since the former Annual Meeting were read, approved of, and confirmed, and votes of thanks were passed to the several officers of the Institution, for their services during the past year. The following officers were then elected for the year ensuing, viz. Joseph Strutt, Esq., President; James Touchett, Esq., Peter Martineau, Esq.,

Daniel Gaskell, Esq., Abraham Crompton, Esq., the Rev. John Yates, and the Rev. John Kentish, Vice-Presidents; and George William Wood, Esq., Treasurer. The office of Visitors continues to be filled by the Rev. W. Turner and the Rev. Dr. Carpenter, and that of Public Examiners by the Rev. Dr. Hutton and the Rev. John Gooch Robberds. The Deputy Treasurers were re-elected with the addition of Mr. John Bell for York and the neighbourhood. At a second adjournment of that meeting held on the 7th of April last, Ottiwell Wood, Esq., in the Chair, Mr. S. D. Darbishire and the Rev. J. J. Tayler were appointed Secre taries, and Mr. Samuel Kay and Mr. Samuel Allcock Auditors, and the Committee was re-elected with the exception of the Rev. John Grundy, Mr. Edward Hanson and Mr. Robert Philips, Jun., who are succeeded by Mr. Benjamin Heywood, Mr. Samuel Allcock, and the Rev. Robert Smethurst.

The number of Students in the College during the last Session was twenty-nine, viz. ten Lay Students and nineteen Divinity Students, of whom twelve were on the foundation on full exhibitions, and

five on half exhibitions. Mr. Payne and Mr. Ryland having completed their course of education, have left the College and on the vacancies thus occasioned, Mr. Edward Higginson and Mr. Francis Darbishire have succeeded to the full exhibitions. Mr. Russell, a Divinity Student on the foundation of the Hackney Education Fund, has retired from the College, and his place has been supplied by Mr. Joseph Ketley.

The number of Divinity Students in the College, at the commencement of the present Session, was twenty, viz. Messrs. Mitchelson, Beard, Brown, Wreford, Tagart and Worthington, in the last year of their course; Messrs. Howarth, Aspland and Lee, in the fourth; Messrs. Talbot, Martineau and Ketley, in the third; Messrs. Rankin, Squire, Higgin-, son, Darbishire and Philipps, in the second; and Mr. Thomas Davis, son of the Rev. Timothy Davis, of Oldbury, (on the Hackney Education Fund Foundation,) and Mr. Samuel Cockroft, of Kendal, in the first; the latter of whom, the Trustees regret to state, has since been obliged, in consequence of ill health, to retire from the College. There are also ten Lay Students.

At this Meeting the Treasurer's accounts were produced and read, duly audited by Mr. Samuel Kay and Mr. Benjamin Heywood, and were allowed. The Trustees have the satisfaction of stating that the report of the state of the funds was a favourable one. The receipts for the year 1823-4 have been so far satisfactory as to enable them, after discharging the current demands of the year, to clear off the arrear of the former year, and to make the customary appropriation to the Permanent Fund for covering the progressive deterioration of value in the building property.

There has been a small increase in the Aunual Subscriptions; the Congregational Collections have amounted to 2107. 6s. 4d.; the Receipts from Fellowship Funds to 31. 10s.; and the Beuefactions to 3137. 148.; the latter amount includes a donation of Fifty Pounds from Mrs. Toogood, of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, and another for the like sum from an anonymous female friend. The Trustees have also to acknowledge the receipt of 1657. 12s. 11d. from the executors of Mrs. Hannah Webb, of Barrington, Somersetshire, relict of Francis Webb, Esq., the produce of a legacy, bequeathed by that lady to the Treasurer, "for the benefit of the Institution."

It was stated in the last report that the Committee were in treaty for the purchase of an estate near Kirby Moorside, in Yorkshire, as an investment for the

Permanent Fund.

This purchase has

since been completed, and the Committee are now in possession of the estate. The great depression which had taken place in the value of landed property, combined with the high price of the funds, and the small rate of interest to be got for money, seemed to point out that the moment was particularly propitious for an investment of this nature; and it is hoped that the selection which the Committee have made, of the estate in question, will prove a valuable addition to the real property of the College. The purchase considerably. exceeds the amount of the funds at present available, but the eligible nature of the estate made the Committee feel unwilling not to secure it: the objections to making a purchase beyond the existing means were not overlooked, but they did not appear on consideration to be of a formidable nature, whilst such a step seemed to carry with it some prospective advantages. The Committee moreover felt the difficulty of postponing the purchase till an estate should offer of the precise value required, and which should be suitable in point of situation and in all other respects to their wants.

By the existence of a temporary debt on the estate, the Trustees will be spared the necessity of looking out for further investments, for a considerable time to come, for those gradual accumulations for replacing the progressive decrease of value in their building property, which the policy of the Trustees has so long sanctioned, and by which the permanent value of the College estates can alone be maintained. These accumulations will by degrees discharge the debt, and the advantage of possessing a compact estate of considerable value, rather than different detached properties, will then be obvious.

The arrangements which have been made for obtaining the required pecuniary accommodation, cannot fail, it is hoped, to prove as satisfactory to the Trustees as they have done to the Committee. The purchase-money is 90007., towards which it will be necessary, for the present to borrow 40007.; nearly the whole of which sum has been most handsomely offered to the acceptance of the Committee by various friends, in sums of 2001. each, at an interest of 34 per cent. per annum; the principal to be repaid by instalments, at the convenience of the Committee, but at a rate of not less than 5 per cent. per annum. As the rental of the estate is likely to produce 34 per cent. on the purchase, it is expected that no loss of income will be occasioned by the circumstance of a part of the money requiring to be borrowed.

The estate has been conveyed to Robert Philipps, Esq., of the Park, near Manchester, a member of the Committee, and a gentleman well known as one of the oldest and steadiest patrons of the College; and it is thought expedient to postpone the execution of the Deed of Trust until the debt is redeemed, when it is intended to convey it to Trustees on such trusts as may be deemed advisable. The writings are in the mean time to be deposited with the Solicitor of the Com. mittee, in trust, as a security for the payment of the borrowed money, but no mortgage will be required.

The estate consists of about three hundred and ten acres, of which forty are in wood, and the remainder chiefly arable: -it is proposed to increase the quantity of wood-land, as the timber grows with great luxuriance, and some parts of the estate are particularly suited for that mode of occupation. Since the purchase was made, timber has been sold to the value of 8007., the proceeds of which will be available in the course of 1826 for the reduction of the debt: the remainder of the purchase-money will be raised from the existing property of the College, iucluding some building ground in Manchester, worth about 800., the sale of which has just been contracted for, and which has hitherto been unproductive.

The money in the Stocks has been sold out at prices that leave a profit of nearly 500%. on the investments, as will be seen by a reference to "The state of the Funds," at the foot of the cash account. The chief rents have been since sold on favourable terms.

In relation to this investment the two following resolutions were passed, viz.

Resolved, "That the Treasurer be authorized to advance whatever sum may be necessary for completing the purchase of the estate, and that the title deeds and estate be a security for repayment of such advance, in common with the other sums borrowed for the like purpose."

Resolved, That the Ling Moor and Oxclose Estate be held for the same purposes and under the same conditions, as the Permanent Fund, subject nevertheless to the payment of the money borrowed for completing the purchase, until the same shall be otherwise discharged, and reserving a power to sell the estate, or any part thereof, and re-invest the proceeds, for the like purposes and on the like conditions, if such should be judged expedient."

The following amended regulations for the admission of Divinity Students were adopted at this Meeting, and ordered to be inserted in the future reports of the Trustees, instead of those before existing, viz.

"That no one shall be admitted as a Divinity Student, but on the recommendation of three Protestant Dissenting Ministers, residing in the neighbourhood where he lives, who shall certify, that at the commencement of his Course he will have attained the full age of sixteen; that, on their personal examination, his moral character, natural endowments, and classical proficiency, are found to be such as to qualify him for becoming a Student for the ministry; and that the profession is the object of his own voluntary choice. It is required that he have read, in Greek, four books of Homer, and three books of the Cyropædia, or the Anabasis of Zenophon; in Latin, four books of Virgil, two books of the Odes of Horace, and Sallust's History of the Catilinarian Conspiracy and the Jugurthine War :-in all these he is to be examined in any part, pointed out at the time, without previous notice. It is also required that he shall be thoroughly acquainted with the practical rules of arithmetic, as far as vulgar and decimal fractions, as usually taught in schools. Students admitted from other academical institutions, in any other year than the first, will be required to have made classical proficiency, proportioned to the standing which they wish to take. If they enter in the second year, their testimonials must also state, that they have been examined and found competently skilled in Hebrew, and have read the book of Genesis in the original; if in the third year, the book of Psalms.

"It must be further understood that when candidates are adinitted as Divinity Students, it is under the implied obliga. tion on their part, that it is their bouâ fide intention, and that of their friends, that they shall go through the full College course, and that to quit the College at an earlier period, for the purpose of undertaking any congregational charge, cannot be sanctioned by the Trustees."

Applications for the admission of Divinity Students on the Foundation must be addressed either to the Rev. Charles Wellbeloved, York, or to one of the Secretaries at Manchester, before the first day of May: they will be decided upon at the York Annual Meeting of Trustees, on the last Friday in June, when such Candidates will be preferred, as, from their testimonials, appear to be most eligible. The Divinity Students on the Foundation have every expense of lectures, board and lodging, defrayed for them.

The Chair was then taken by Mr. Samuel Kay, and the thanks of the Meeting voted to Ottiwell Wood, Esq., for his services as the President. In the afternoon of the same day, the friends of the

College dined together at the Bridgewater
Arms, near Manchester, to commemo-
rate the Thirty-ninth Anniversary of the
Institution, Ottiwell Wood, Esq., in the
Chair.

S. D. DARBISHIRE,
J. J. TAYLER,

Secretaries.

Manchester, June 20, 1825.

Annual Meeting of the Unitarian Ministers and Tract Society in the West-Riding of Yorkshire.

THE Annual Meeting of the Unitarian Ministers in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, with their friends, and of the West-Riding Tract Society, was held at Halifax, on the 11th of May. The Rev. Thomas Johnstone, of Wakefield, conducted the devotional services; and the Rev. Charles Wellbeloved, of York, preached a most admirable sermon from 1 Tim. iii. 16, which was eminently characterized by soundness of criticism, clearness of exposition, and close adherence to genuine scriptural Christianity. As Mr. Wellbeloved kindly acceded to the unanimous wish of the friends, who afterwards dined together, that he would allow the sermon to be published as early as his numerous and highly-important avocations may permit, the writer of this article will not venture upon any

attempt to convey an idea of its excel

lence.

At the close of the religious service the Annual Meeting of the West Riding Tract Society was held in the chapel, and was numerously attended. The Rev. T. Johnstone presided. The Report of the Secretary contained a satisfactory account of the operations of the Society, and urgent appeals for continued and increasing support. The Secretary took an opportunity of reading a letter which he had recently received from the Rev. W. Adam, dated Calcutta, Oct. 21, 1824, in which, after acknowledging the receipt of tracts sent the preceding year as a douation from the West-Riding Tract Society, he states, that an eligible plot of ground, in an open and central part of the city, had been purchased at the expense of about £1250, for the intended chapel. He adds, rather despondingly, that this was a greater sum than had at that time been subscribed, and that they were looking anxiously to England, as

* In consequence of the change from August to February, of the day for holding the Annual Meeting, the adjourned Meeting held on the 3d March was, in fact, the Thirty-ninth from the foundation of the College.

well as to America, for contributions, without which their prospects were dark. A second grant of Tracts, to the amount of £10, was voted, to be placed at the disposal of the Senior Divinity Students in Manchester College, York, for distribution, in aid of their Missionary labours. And tracts to the amount of 11. were also voted to be placed at the disposal of each minister of the congregations connected with the society. When the business of the Tract Society was concluded, eleven ministers, aud thirty-three of their lay friends, dined together, the Rev. R. Astley in the chair. In the course of the afternoon the subject of Unitarian Christianity in India formed a leading subject of conversation; and a letter having been Fund, stating the necessity of immediate read from the Secretary of the Unitarian support to the Rev. Wm. Adam at Calservices as a preacher of Unitarian Chriscutta, in order to prevent the loss of his tianity in India, after much interesting discussion upon the mode in which support could be effectually given-it was resolved, "That a society be forthwith formed for the support of Foreign Unirecommend it accordingly to their Unitarian Missions. That this Meeting tarian brethren in other parts of Englandto co-operate in the establishment of such a society; and that the undersigned agree to support this object by contribution of the donations and anuual subscriptions placed opposite to their respective names.” (See the Wrapper.)