of presenting to their venerable Pastor, the Rev. William Turner, the after-mentioned memorials of their esteem and affection. Mr. Losh spoke as follows: "Sir, I am commissioned by the congregation of this chapel, to present to you, in their name, the things which lie before me (and which will afterwards be explained), as a testimony of their esteem and affectionate gratitude. You, Sir, have been for nearly fifty years the minister of this place; and during the whole of that period, as far as we ourselves know, and from what we have heard from those who went before us, you have discharged the duties of a minister of the Gospel of Christ with mildness, yet at the same time with firmness, and inculcated His doctrines and precepts in a way that could not, if duly attended to, fail to produce an anxiety after usefulness, and a desirable tranquillity in this world, and a state of happiness in the next. I may further add, Sir, as a matter of the utmost importance, that you have given an example in your own personal conduct, of those best of virtues, which are found to consist in love to God, and in acts of benevolence towards our fellow-creatures. around me, permit me to say a few words. an occasion, which will, I trust, produce a beneficial effect upon us all. It ought to teach us who are old, that it is in the power of every one to make old age itself amiable, by being kind and useful to all those who may be connected with us. Those, whether young or of middle age, who are in the vigour of life, may learn from it that best of all lessons, that they can only secure their own happiness by promoting the happiness of others. And even the youngest of those who hear me, though they may not fully understand what is passing before them, may, at some future period, recal this scene to their recollection-may remember that they saw their venerable minister reaping the fruits of a well-spent life, and be thereby induced to follow his example." To you, my friends Mr. R. W. Swan then read the inscription on the salver, which was as follows:-"This Salver was presented to the Rev. William Turner, by the Unitarian Congregation of Hanover Square Chapel, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on the occasion of his entering into the fiftieth year of his ministry, as a testimonial of their unqualified approbation of his services during that period, of their sincere respect and affection for him as a friend, and of their unfeigned admiration of him as a man and a Christian. The subscription on this occasion, confined to members of the chapel, having accumulated to the amount of three hundred and twenty pounds, it was resolved to invest three hundred pounds of this sum in securities for Mr. Turner's benefit. That their faithful shepherd may long live to enjoy this tribute of their affection and esteem, is the earnest prayer of his Christian flock. Presented on the 9th day of January, 1832." The Rev. W. Turner replied in the following manner:-" Permit me, my dear Sir, in the first place, to return you my thanks for the very friendly and kind manner in which you have discharged the commission entrusted to you by this most respectable assembly. To convey my thanks to them in any adequate ex pressions, I feel to be impossible. It becomes me to look back with fervent gratitude to an All-preserving God, that I have been permitted, for so long a time, to hold a pleasing intercourse with you all, my friends, as your minister, and to recollect the kind indulgence with which you have not only overlooked, but even most kindly accepted, my services with all their imperfections, which it becomes me to acknowledge with deep humility, have been many. I was received amongst you at first, an inexperienced youth, with cordial marks of esteem and even affection; and during the whole period of almost fifty years that I have resided among you, I have been favoured with uninterrupted testimonies of respect. I have been at liberty to declare my sentiments without offence; my proposals for the establishment of Sundayschools (the first in the north of England), for the formation of a vestry library (also the first in this neighbourhood), for the introduction of a more regular plan of catechising, and of more extensive plans for the religious instruction of the young, the remodelling of the Psalm-book, the Tract Society, and the Friendly Association for Mutual Relief, have been cheerfully complied with and liberally supported. In private life I have ever experienced a hearty welcome, and have had every respect paid to my family as well as to myself; and as to pecuniary concerns, my income has been gradually increased, until it has become double its original amount; and that without my having ever once hinted, or even thought, that it was not, at any time, equal to the services performed. And now comes this splendid testimony of your regard, which can never be recollected without the most grateful sense of obligation. It becomes me also to acknowledge, that it is chiefly owing to my situation as your minister, and to the respectability attached to my connexion as such, with persons of so much weight and influence among their fellow-townsmen as the members of this society have always been, that I have been enabled to avail myself of favourable conjunctures for the promotion of literary and scientific institutions, the education of the poor, the distribution of the Bible, and other important objects; and that it is, therefore, to you that I have been, in a great degree, indebted for the distinguished testimony of public respect with which I have been lately honoured. What additional obligations I am thus laid under to devote that remainder of life which it may please the Supreme Disposer to allow me, to a more diligent discharge of my duty as your minister, I cannot but deeply feel. The details of plans which I meditate for this purpose, will more properly be left to another occasion; in the mean time assure yourselves of my affectionate and fervent prayers for all that is good for you in the present life, and for your everlasting happiness in the life which is to come." WE have received from our intelligent and esteemed correspondent at Fishkill Landing, Duchess County, State of New York, an interesting account of the introduction and establishment of Unitarianism in that populous district. The township of Fishkill is very large, about twenty-four miles long, and ten miles broad, bounding westerly upon the North River, and about sixty miles above New-York. In this township, there are several villages, called Fishkill Landing, Fishkill, Glenham, Matteawan, Low Point, Hughsonville, and Franklinville. The Rev. Henry Channing being on a visit in the vicinity in September 1830, was requested to preach at Fishkill Landing, and did officiate two Sundays. This led to an invitation of a more permanent nature, and since December 1830, Mr. Channing has statedly conducted religious worship there. In consequence, 66 the First Congrega tional Unitarian Church in Fishkill," has been established at Fishkill Landing. Here and at Glenham, Mr. Channing preaches on alternate Sundays. Occasionally he leaves these vacant, and preaches at Low Point, Hughsonville, and Franklinville, at two of them half the day. Some of the congregations number nearly two hundred people, and the spirit of earnest inquiry prevails and is increasing. To encourage that spirit, to maintain and promote the pure truths of Christianity, an Association was formed on the 25th June, 1831, for the purchase of books, the formation of a library, and the adoption of measures best calculated to ensure their circulation throughout the Township. IN the first volume of the Christian Pioneer, p. 139-144, we recorded the proceedings of the Glasgow Auxiliary Bible Society, in reference to the controversy then raging in Scotland as to the Apocrypha, and "the Socinian" agents employed by the Parent Institution. That controversy ended in the separation from the "Auxiliary," of the larger portion of its members, and the formation of another society, entitled, "The Glasgow Bible Society." Its proceedings in relation to the Trinitarian test proposed in the British and Foreign Bible Society, were exposed and reprobated in our present volume by "The Detector," p. 168-174, and subsequently in a reprint of that article, with additions, under the title of "Bible Faith, or Bible Society Test?" The Auxiliary institution held its annual meeting on the 17th of January, and on the motion of Dr. Wardlaw, seconded by the Rev. Gavin Struthers, the following resolution was unanimously adopted :"That regarding, as they do, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as an essential article of revealed truth, and those who deny it as subverting the Gospel, they must, notwithstanding, protest against the introduction, even to the extent that has recently been proposed, of any exclusive religious test of qualification for membership,-1st, Because any practical errors which have existed in the Society's administration, and have been now relinquished, were not at all the result of the influence which such test is designed to exclude.-2, Because, in point of fact, that influence has not been felt in the Society's Committee, nor has in the least degree impeded the progress of its great transactions; while any local and incidental annoyances that may have arisen from it, at meetings of subsidiary institutions, are too trivial to be pleaded as a warrant for so great an innovation.-3, Because, on the principle of regarding the Institution as a Religious Society, not only in the nature of its object, but in the qualification for membership, they are at a loss to conceive, were a test at all introduced, at what point consistency could admit a limitation; inasmuch as the principle which specifies the doctrine of the Trinity, must necessarily include in its proscription every doctrine equally essential to Christianity; and thus, moreover, with no less imperative a necessity, comprehend a test of character as well as of sentiment; an immoral Trinitarian being certainly as unworthy a member of a religious society, and as unfit a co-adjutor in the work of God, as any Arian or Socinian.-4, Because the principle of the Society being so well and so universally understood, no amalgamation of sentiment or compromise of conscience has ever, in the slightest degree, been associated with membership; while, on the other hand, the singling out of any one sect, as the special subject of exclusion and proscription, can have no other effect than to give that sect an undue notoriety, and, instead of diminishing, to augment its influence, by exciting in its behalf the indignation and the sympathy which persecution usually engenders.” In one view, this resolution may seem to merit the praise of liberality-when contrasted with that of the other Bible Society of this City. We confess our praise would have been warmer, had it been founded on principle instead of expediency-opposition to all religious tests, as irrational and antichristian, instead of unproved insinuation and sectarian policy. What "local and incidental annoyances" have been experienced, by Unitarians being members of "subsidiary institutions"? Of several of those institutions Unitarian ministers have been the Secretaries, and cheerfully have they undertaken, and faithfully have they performed the labour. "Annoyances," forsooth! Some bigot from a distance, may have been annoyed that he should have to appear on the same platform with a heretic; or perchance, some titled, and it may be, reverend chairman, may have declined presiding, unless a pledge were previously given that no Unitarian should address the meeting. But the annoyance clearly was on the part of the Unitarian, that such bigotry should mar the principle of a benevolent institution, and that men should prefer a Creed before the Word of God. "An immoral Trinitarian being certainly as unworthy a member of a religious society, and as unfit a coadjutor in the work of God, as any Arian or Socinian." Indeed! That, then, is the standing of the Christian Unitarian in the opinion of Dr. Wardlaw and Mr. Gavin Struthers; he is on a par with "an immoral Trinitarian"! And truth to say, if the assertion of Bishop Horsley is to be received as an axiom in theology, that "the moral good of the Unitarians sin," then are these doughty polemics justified in their resolution. But as they have acknowledged the possibility of "an immoral Trinitarian," they must either hold, that faith in the Trinity will ensure salvation, whatever be the believer's deeds, and then are they themselves the abettors of immorality—or, they must admit, that good works are more essential than mere faith; that virtue, benevolence, and holiness are essential requisites for the blessedness of eternity, and therefore, that even the Christian Unitarian "who feareth God and worketh right eousness, will be accepted with him," notwithstanding the deficiency of his creed when measured by their standard. The resolution commences with the assertion, that its approvers regard "the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, as an essential article of revealed truth, and those who deny it as subverting the Gospel.' In Sermons published by Dr. Wardlaw in 1825, and entitled, "Man Responsible for his Belief;" the Doctor states, that he considers "the Bible as giving the designation of THE GOSPEL, by way of eminence and of exclusive distinction, to a certain definite and clearly expressed assemblage of doctrines;" and then he proceeds to enumerate those doctrines. But amongst them, "the Holy Trinity" forms not one. It is not mentioned→→ it is not even alluded to. How is this? Is Dr. Wardlaw's Gospel of 1832, different in its teachings from "THE GOSPEL" of 1825? Or did he deem it necessary now, as a set-off to his seeming liberality to the Unitarians, to prefix a confession and an anathema? The conclusion of the resolution is equally worthy of its mover and seconder. There is nothing generous or Christian in its spirit. It is marked by sectarian craft, by worldly-minded bigotry. They would not exclude Unitarians, because the "singling out of any one sect," "can have no other effect than to give that sect an undue notoriety, and instead of diminishing, to augment its influence, by exciting in its behalf, the indignation and the sympathy which persecution usually engenders." A more frank acknowledgment than could have been expected. Those individ uals know its truth full well. "Discourses on the Socinian Controversy,' ," "Unitarianism Incapable of Vindication," were not penned in vain. "Singling out," as they did, "one sect," they have, aided by subsequent reiterated attacks from the pulpit of their author, given to "that sect," what, in Dr. Wardlaw's estitimation, no doubt, seems "an undue notoriety." And the refusal of the Rev. Gavin Struthers, to meet the Unitarian Minister of Glasgow at a funeral, has also tended, "instead of diminishing, to extend its influence, exciting in its behalf the indignation and the sympathy which persecution usually engenders." That those individuals see and lament their folly, we question not. It cannot now be retrieved. They have provoked discussion, but they cannot stifle inquiry. It will spread, and creed presumption and pharisaical intolerance, must give place to freedom of thought, and the charity which is the end of the commandment. THE Glasgow City Mission has now existed six years. It has, the last year, employed twenty-two agents. Twenty of these have been engaged on the objects of the Society, four hours a-day, during five days in the week. The persons employed have been students in theology, or preachers, but not resident or settled clergymen. They have visited 5643 families monthly, and have paid extra visits to the sick and infirm in 797 cases. The number of district meetings in which prayer and exhortation is conducted, are 258, and the number of attendants, 9502. A service |
