frankness by his Lordship. 'It was objected to the Government plan, that the Inspectors in Church Schools, by assuming the functions of Theological Examiners, would be an accession of so much strength to the existing religious Establishment, and to this his Lordship replied, that it was the fixed principle of the Government in framing the Minutes of Council on this head, to treat all School Inspectors, whether lay or clerical, as simple State Officers, responsible to the State alone. His Lordship remarked, that there was no truth whatever, in the statement which had gone abroad, that the character of the present Minutes had been at all affected by Episcopal influence.-From first to last, they were drawn up by the Privy Council, independent of any consultation with the Bench of Bishops. His Lordship remarked, generally, but decidedly, that the great object of the Government was to raise the condition and qualification of the Teachers, and thereby, of the whole Elementary instruction of the country, through the agency of the state. "On the whole," observes a member of the Deputation, "the result of the interview has been to increase my confidence in the uprightness of the intentions of the Government, and at the same time, my sense of the immense difficulties they have to encounter from bigotry, jealousy, and unreasonableness, of almost all parties."-Abridged from the Christian Reformer. CHESHIRE PRESBYTERIAN ASSOCIATION. The twentieth meeting of this body was held at Dukinfield, in the month of April last. The religious services were introduced by the Rev. John Wright, of Macclesfield, and an admirable Sermon was preached by the Rev. D. Davis, of Stockport, from John viii. 12. At the business meeting, the chair was taken by Saml. Robinson, Esq., and the Government Plan of Education ably discussed. OPENING OF THE NEW UNITARIAN The Unitarian Church, High-street, Swansea, newly erected, was opened for public Worship, on Thursday, the 15th of April. The Rev. George Harris, of Newcastle, preached in the morning on the "Christianity of the Scriptures contrasted with the so called Christianity of the World." The Rev. W. James, of Bristol, was the evening preacher, and his subject, the " Adaptation of Unitarian Views of the Gospel to supply the various wants of the Human Soul." Immediately after the English service of the morning, there was a service in Welsh, at which the prayer was offered by the Rev. D. Lloyd, and the Sermon preached by the Rev. John James, of Gellyonen. The attendance at all the services was most gratifying. REV. JAMES MARTINEAU. A beautiful portrait of the Rev. James Martineau, minister of Paradise-street Chapel, Liverpool, has lately been painted by Mr. Agar, of Manchester, from which a splendid engraving has just been finished. The portrait has been on private view at Ellerbeck's Unitarian Depôt, Liverpool for a few days, with the engraving, and both have been much admired for their faithful and striking likeness. The portrait was presented to Mr. Martineau last week. A large number of the engravings have been sold, both in Liverpool and Manchester. REV. JOHN CORDNER. The "junior members of the Montreal Unitarian Congregation" have recently presented their Pastor, the Rev. John Cordner, with a miniature of himself, painted on ivory. It is of an extra size, and enclosed in a morocco case. It was given "as a token of the estimation in which he is held" by the donors. THE FRIENDS OF UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY IN BOSTON TO THEIR BRETHREN IN A COMMON FAITH IN ENGLAND AND IN SCOTLAND. Honoured and Beloved,-It is already known to some of you, that the anniversaries of many of our most important societies, religious and charitable, are statedly held during the last week in May; and the anniversary of our “American Unitarian Association" will be holden this year in Boston, on Tuesday, the 25th of that month. We number it among the satisfactions and benefits of these our anniversaries, that they assemble from distant places of the land our Christian friends; to reciprocate our views and feelings; to impart information, and to quicken each other in the sacred cause for which we are engaged. We write at the present time to express our earnest wishes, that some of you, our brethren in England, might be pres ent with us on these occasions, and more particulary on that to which we have just referred. And it would give us the highest satisfaction to welcome any of our Unitarian friends in your own or any other part of the United Kingdom, on this or any future anniversaries, who might be disposed and inclined "to come over and help us.' We can assure to you the heartiest reception that our houses and our hearts, our respect for your characters, and sympathy in your labours, can offer. We request that this invitation may be accepted by our friends, as well in Scotland as in England; and, with our most respectful regards to them and to yourselves, we are, Christian Brethren, Yours in the bonds of our common faith, Jas. Freeman Clarke. A. B. Muzzey. Alex. Young. Boston (N. E.), Jan. 28, 1847. P.S. The same invitation has been addressed to our Christian Brethren in Ireland, [We have not heard that such invitation has been received by the Irish Unitarians.-ED. I. U. M.] THE NEW UNITARIAN CHAPEL, MILLHILL, LEEDS. The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Unitarian Chapel, at Mill-hill, took place on Monday last, in the presence of a large number of persons, including many of the most respectable residents of Leeds. The Chapel is to be built in the Gothic style of the thirteenth century; and will consist of a nave with centre and side aisles, a chancel, and a transept projecting from the centre of the nave. It will be about 125 feet in length, and 55 feet in breadth, and the extreme height of the transept front will be 60 feet. The body of the chapel will accomodate about 800 persons, and there will be a gallery in the southeast end for the organ, choir, and Sunday-School children. The site of the new edifice is the same as the old Mill hill Chapel; and the principal frontage will be towards Park-row. Arriv Shortly after twelve o'clock a procession headed by Hamer Stansfeld, Esq., and the Rev. Č. Wicksteed, and including the principal members of the congregation, and the architects. Messrs. Bowman and Crowther, of Manchester, left the Unitarian School-Room, Basinghallstreet, and proceeded to the site of the intended chapel, near the Commercial buildings, where Hamer Stansfeld Esq., as chairman of the Building Committee, was to lay the foundation stone. ed at the site of the proposed edifice, an elegant silver trowel, bearing the follow. ing inscription, was handed to Mr. Stansfeld:" This trowel was presented by the Building Committee to their Chairman, Hamer Stansfeld, Esq., on the occasion of his laying the foundation-stone of the new Chapel, Mill-hill, April 26, 1847." The usual ceremonies having been duly observed, the stone was lowered to its destination, and a large glass bottle, hermetically sealed, placed in a cavity prepared for its reception, and was secured by a metal plate, screwed into the stone. The bottle contained lists of the trustees, treasurer, subscribers, building committee, and architects of the new chapel; copies of the Leeds Times and other local newspapapers; the INQUIRER; the Dissenters' Chapels Bill; a list of the Corporation of Leeds; five lecture serprior to the razing of the old chapel, enmons delivered by the Rev. C. Wicksteed titled "The memory of the just”; one each of the various coins of the realm, together with a parchment roll, bearing the annexed inscription :-" The cornerstone of this chapel, erected as a public place of religious worship by Protestant Dissenters from the Church of England, was laid on the 26th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1847; being the 10th year of the reign of Queen Victoria, by Hamer Stansfeld, Esq., chairman of the Building Committee, on the site of the old Mill-hill Chapel, which was erected from the indulgence of King Charles the Second, in the year of our Lord 1673. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. WE thank "Zethar" for his verses, but cannot undertake to publish them. They contain some good ideas, rather loosely, and obscurely, expressed. We regret that we have been obliged to postpone a notice of Mr. Haughton's pamphlet en Slavery, and of Mr. Marshall's Prize Essay, till next month. AFFLICTIONS, even when they are sorest, are for our good. All admit this so long as the tempest of adversity howls through the homes and the hearts of others, whilst they themselves repose beneath a cloudless sky, but the very moment the destroying angel visits their own dwellings, or sorrow wrings their own bosoms, that moment their faith begins to waver, and they can recognise no wholesome ingredient in the bitter cup which they are doomed to drink. Such should not be the melancholy case. Men should not only be able to say with their lips, but to feel in their hearts, "that although no afflictions are joyous but grievous at the moment, still they are intended and calculated to work out the peaceable fruits of righteousness, in them that are exercised thereby ;" and, in order that this desirable state of feeling may be promoted, I shall endeavour to point out a few of the good effects which naturally arise from those trials to which even the most highly favoured are frequently exposed in their passage through this vale of tears. 1. Afflictions prove to us the value and blessing of kind Friends. Now, if they serve to do this, they must be truly beneficial. We never love our friends so much as in "the day of adversity"—it is then we feel their worth, it is then we appreciate their sympathy and kindly offices. It is no uncommon thing for us to have associated for years with relatives, yet never discovered their amiable and excellent qualities of head and heart, until some untoward and afflictive dispensation of Providence came upon us, which called forth their affection in its full beauty and strength. As the rock of old required to be stricken before the refreshing waters gushed forth, so does man often require to be stricken by the rod of ad versity before the love of his fellow-man is displayed in all its plenitude. I may suppose, dear Reader, that you have occasionally experienced affliction-for, to suppose it otherwise would be to suppose that you are not mortal, nor subject to the frailties of mortalityI may suppose that you have occasionally languished on the bed of sickness, and I ask you did not the never ceasing care and kindness of your Friends fill your heart with gratitude, and make you bless God for bestowing on you so great a boon. Think of the ministering angel in human form that attended to your every weakness and your every call. Think of the endearing words that were spoken, and the tender offices that were performed for you, in the hope that they would, to some extent, be the means of alleviating your suffering. Think of those who sat by you, and tended you, and cheered you, and who, in spite of all your remonstrances, would never relax their attentions, or confess that they were wearied by such constant care. Think of the anxiety which beamed in that eye that Think of the gentleness of Think of the affection dis watched over your feverish slumbers. that hand which smoothed your pillow. played in that arm which reached to you the healing cup, and then say was not your temporary suffering beneficial-was it not sanctified to your use-did it not make you value your friends the more highly, and prize, above all price, their services and kind offices in the season of pain and bereavement? Now, I do maintain, that if your afflictions made you think more highly of human nature and of your kind-if they showed you the friends of your bosom in a more amiable, endearing, and attractive point of view, they were, though painful at the moment, productive of incalculable good. 2. Afflictions are beneficial, inasmuch as they confirm our belief in Christianity, and make us feel the reality, the sustaining power of its hopes, and promises, and rewards. Afflictions, though dark in themselves, cast a bright light upon the Gospel. Were there no troubles in the world, Christianity would lose more than half its excellence. Afflictions test its truth. They extract the healing balm which it so abundantly contains. When, in the season of woe, we go to the Sacred Volume seeking for consolation and advice, and when we see how much it contains to repay our search; that its teachings are so applicable to our own case, we would almost imagine they had been written expressly to meet our peculiar wants, then we feel how real a thing Christianity is, then we welcome it as indeed "a glad message." Were this life one uninterrupted suc cession of enjoyment and prosperity, those which we now look upon as among the most valuable and divine portions of the Sacred Scriptures, would be almost without applicability and without use. Were there no sorrows to be borne, how vain and unintelligible would be the gracious invitation of our Saviour, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"? We would not then understand what he meant by "rest," or how he could give us greater repose than that which we already enjoy. Were we never to be annoyed and wronged by the wicked, what use would there be in Jesus speaking to us of a land "where the wicked will cease from troubling, and where the weary will be at rest"? Were the last enemy not occasionally to enter our dwellings and strike down the beloved ones of our hearts, of what avail would be all those delightful and soul supporting assurances which Jesus holds out to "mourners"? Why would he talk to us about "the many-mansioned house of his Father? about not " leaving us comfortless"? and to what end would he assure us that the friend for whom we mourn "is not dead but sleeping"? Why, such grand truths would then be a mass of unintelligible sounds. I therefore repeat, if there were no afflictions in the world, Christianity would lose half its beauty and value. It is to the weary and heavy-laden pilgrims of mortality that it is pre-eminently "a pearl of great price." From its deep fountains they draw the waters of consolation. From its rich mines they raise an ore which proves to be gold. In its promises they have a treasure which the world can neither give nor take away. It is an anchor to which they cling amid all the perils of life's stormy sea, and on which they rely for being moored in safety in a haven of peaceful rest. 3. Afflictions are useful, as they raise our thoughts and affections from this lower world and from ourselves, and fix them more upon Heaven and upon God. This is a most important good which they promote. Were there not something occasionally occurring to remind us of our duty, I fear we would be in danger of forgetting that there is a God at all from whom we have received, and to whom we consequently owe, so much. When the stream that supplies us with refreshing drink flows on clear and constant, we enjoy the cooling draught without ever inquiring whence it comes or whither it goes. We never trouble ourselves with ascertaining where that stream has its source, or by what means it is conveyed to our doors: all that concerns us to know that it is a fact that it does come, and that we enjoy the benefit of it; but, when this |