agreed upon that quarterly meetings of ministers should be set up, to circulate by rotation in their several churches, in which there might be an opportunity freely to profess and openly to vindicate those precious gospel truths which others so openly opposed and calumniated. This is the true original and rise of the quarterly meetings." In the " proposals for the holding circular quarterly meetings," the practical objects aimed at were "1. The establishing and confirming of ministers and churches in the fundamental principles of the gospel. "2. To make some inquiries into the rule, order, and discipline of the New Testament. "3. All with the view of promoting holiness and the practice of Christian piety in the Churches." The method to be observed : "1. A sermon tending to the illustrating and confirming one or other of the doctrinal points to be insisted upon, the subject and practice to be settled by the ministers the meeting next before. The allegations thereon and the explanation thereof to be clear, genuine, and simple, free from all ambiguity. Not insisted, it should be strictly controversial. "2. A practical discourse adapted to vulgar taste, the subject at the discretion of the preacher, and he to be fixed upon by the minister of the place where the meeting is held. "And in the afternoon a conference tending to the solution of doubts that may be proposed, all in subserviency to the above intentions. In testimony of our approbation, etc., etc. "JOHN GRIFFITH. THOMAS DAVIES. JOHN DAVIES. BENJAMIN DAVIES. RICHARD DAVIS. THOMAS DAVID. STEPHEN LLOYD. Much was accomplished in gathering Congregational Churches by individual effort. WILLIAM William SHRUBSOLE, a ship carpenter at Sheerness, Shrubsole. after a series of Christian operations continued for years, erected a chapel and formed a Congregational Church, of which he became the efficient and devoted pastor. THOMAS TUPPER was first led to serious thoughts on the subject of personal religion, by a sermon he heard Whitefield preach under a Tupper. tree at the back of "White Lion Inn" at Brighton, and attended afterwards the Tabernacle in London. He was invited to preach by a few serious people in Portsea. In a letter to Whitefield, dated June 30, 1769, he says: Thomas "I have never preached on a Lord's-day, but on some parts of it I have had five hundred hearers-many times double that number; and on the week days never less than two or three hundred, which I think some encouragement; and there is reason to believe that the Lord owns and blesses His word, and that He has many people in this place." After overcoming many difficulties, Tupper was ordained April 10, 1770, to the pastoral office at Portsea. For several years he was laid aside by affliction, but on his restoration to former health another sphere of ministerial labour was opened to him. Some serious persons in Bath formed themselves into a body for public worship as Dissenters; but in consequence of the fewness of their number, and the opposition they encountered, the service was continued with much difficulty for four years, when THOMAS WELCH, a banker in London, and some other Independents came to their aid, and in 1785 Tupper became their first pastor. These instances may be deemed sufficient to illustrate the methods employed by Congregationalists to advance the cause of Christ in the midst of discouragement and direct opposition. They sought to combine Church order with sound Evangelical instruction, and more active zeal to diffuse the truth around them. With this revival of religious interest it was determined by a few Christian friends to form a new institution in London for the Education of Young Men for the Ministry. HENRY BURDER writes: New English "ISLINGTON, May 22, 1778. "Mr. Welch and myself have met Mr. Wilson and several ministers and others, to consider of establishing an English Academy, wherein we propose the instructing proper persons in the English Grammar, in Divinity, and in the best method of composing sermons. Eleven articles have been agreed to, a tutor and treasurer chosen, and we are to meet again in a week, to pursue our plan. Do not our Churches in our day need a fire to purge the floor? not need a something to rouse up our sleepy souls? on others with grief, more so on myself." He writes again, December 26, 1778: Do we I look "There is a new society under the appellation of the New English Academy.* Your worthy friend, Mr. Wilson, of (124) 'Wood Street' (father of Thomas Wilson), and Mr. Welch, the Rev. Messrs. (Samuel) Barber and (Joseph) Brewer, and one or two more with myself, were the first projectors of this (I hope very extensively) useful design. The two divines are the tutors. The plan is this. Persons wishing to be admitted must be recommended by one of the society, or must bring written testimony from the pastor or deacon of the Church to which they belong. They are also to give in an account of their faith, experience, and reasons for going into the ministry. They are to be examined by a committee appointed by the society, before whom they are to engage in prayer, and to give a specimen of * Afterwards Highbury College. their abilities, and if approved, they are to be admitted as students, to continue under instruction not more than two years, and not to preach in less than one year from the time of admission, unless the tutors think proper. They are to be instructed in English grammar and in a course of Divinity, and to be assisted in understanding some of the more difficult parts of Scripture and in the best methods of study for the pulpit. We meet with much encouragement. Several respectable persons, both Dissenters and Methodists, have joined us, and several have subscribed five guineas per year. I think our subscriptions amount to nearly or quite one hundred and fifty pounds a year; but though we have had so much encouragement and unanimity, we are not without those that snarl at us, and start objections and difficulties; but I hope it will please God to smile on this design, and make it the happy means of spreading the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ and of gathering in His elect." The first meeting of the new institution was held at the "Castle and Falcon," October 9, 1778. In. the minutes the following entries are made: "1. That the students, encouraged by this society, shall be sent to any destitute Churches amongst Protestant Dissenters or Methodist congregations, wherever the Lord, in His providence, evidently opens a door for them. "2. That wherever, by the rules of the society, the students are allowed to preach, they shall be permitted to do it among of the Lord's people that shall ask for their assistance." "July 9, 1799.-Each student presented with Ridgley's Body of Divinity, Scotch Edition, at the expense of the society. any "Committee appointed to consider of a proper place wherein students may exercise their gift." CHAPTER XVII. General Independence. In his resistance to American Independence, George III. by no means stood alone. For a long time the majority of the nation was with him, until the enormous cost of the war and the increased taxation rendered it unpopular. American John Wesley wrote fiercely against the colonists. Cowper, the poet, decidedly opposed their views. Dr. Johnson offered a fanatical resistance to their claims; and, to add only another name in this enumeration, that might be largely extended, Chatham, the most eloquent advocate of the American cause, in his last speech vehemently opposed the dismemberment of the Empire. In a letter dated "Kew, Nov. 14, 1778, 1 min. pt. 1 p.m.," the King wrote: "If Lord North can see with the same degree of enthusiasm I do, the beauty, excellence, and perfection of the British Constitution as by law established, and consider that, if any one branch of the Empire is allowed to cast off its Letter of the King to dependency, that the others will infallibly follow the Lord North. example-that, consequently, though an arduous struggle, that it is worth going through any difficulty to preserve to the latest posterity what the wisdom of our ancestors have carefully transmitted to us, he will not allow despondency to find a place in his breast, but resolve not merely out of duty to fill his post, but will resolve to meet every obstacle that may arise |