storm. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.' Him would I trust. day, and grace to help in time of need."

Oh for strength for the

Tuesday, March 18, 1794. "It is a gloomy and dark day at present, and a bad spirit hath gone forth. Men mistake and greatly misrepresent one another. For a man to be a Dissenter in the idea of many is the same as being a Republican; nay, he is often secretly calumniated as such, and then has his reputation stabbed in the dark. Now I can appeal to the great Searcher of hearts, that having long since read over De Lolme on the English Constitution, and Blackstone's Commentaries, I not only approve but venerate the constitution of this country, and wish that not only the form but the spirit of it may be preserved. But I know not how to account for it; of late I have had strange forebodings of mind that some heavy storm is about to break forth upon the Dissenters, and that I may suffer thereby. I have, I hope, in faith committed myself, my family, and the people I have been connected with, to God."

Bull made similar complaints:

Could you
In his late

False Accusation of Newton.

"The times," he says, "are awful, and a day of persecution is not far off. Mr. Newton says all the Dissenters, even the orthodox not excepted, are republicans and enemies to the Government; and he thinks it the duty of the Government to watch over them all? think so good a man could be so weak? journey to Southampton, he met with Mr. Bogue, of Gosport, who he thinks is a very pious man, but he says he is as bitter against Government as any Frenchman or republican in the world! The truth is, a party spirit runs very high, and I have no doubt that it will come to blows soon; and as the weakest goes to the wall, it is easy to see how it will fare with Dissenters. It seems a settled point with the authorities that all liberty of speech on politics shall be taken away, and I fear liberty of conscience will soon follow; but everything is in the hand of God."

The evangelical academy to which we have already referred, formed in the house of Thomas Wilson, for some time occupied a room in

The Evan

Academy

Hoxton.

Gracechurch Street, and from thence removed, in 1783, to Grove House, Mile End, and was placed under the care of Stephen Addington, gelical a student of Doddridge. In 1790 he removed to resigned, and was succeeded in the tutorship by Robert Simpson, of Bolton, Lancashire. The Large House in Hoxton, vacated by Kippis and Rees, was obtained in March, 1791, on a lease from the trustees of Dr. Daniel Williams; and under the efficient supervision of Thomas Wilson, of Highbury, who became treasurer on the death of his father, in March, 1794, the institution continued to prosper.

Edward

EDWARD WILLIAMS, who entered on the pastorate of the Church at Carr's Lane, Birmingham, in January, 1792, was eminently fitted by his Williams. piety, learning, and matured experience, for that important but difficult sphere of labour. He was born November 14, 1750, at Glancyd, near Denbigh, and educated at St. Asaph and at the Grammar School at Caerwys. His parents opposed his association with religious people, and cast every impediment in his way. An offer was made to send him to the University at Oxford, on condition of his entering the ministry of the Establishment; but with unfaltering resolution, he persevered in his Christian course, and was received as a student into the academy of Dr. Davis, at Abergavenny. Whilst pursuing his studies he was exposed to severe temptation from the example and pernicious influence of a sceptical acquaintance, but escaping the snare, he "became rooted and grounded" in the truth; and on leaving the academy, he was ordained as

pastor of the Independent Church at Ross, in Herefordshire, in 1775. In this limited sphere he laid the foundation of his subsequent reputation as a divine by the diligent and systematic study of theology. On September 13, 1777, he removed to Oswestry, where his days were passed in uninterrupted activity.

In 1781, at the request of Lady Glenorchy, he undertook the education of a few young men for the ministry; and on the removal of Dr. Davies to the college at Homerton, at the invitation of the Fund Board, he accepted the care of the students at Abergavenny.

Whilst occupied in these various spheres of labour, his pen was practised in editing a new edition of Morrice's Social Religion Exemplified, and in writing a work on Pado-Baptism Examined, an abridgment of Owen on the Hebrews, and A Discourse on the Influence of Religious Practices upon Inquirers after Truth.

In these diversified pursuits, he seems to have had a special preparation for the work before him in Birmingham. He opened his ministry there January 1, 1792, on "Glorying in the Cross of Christ." The Church and congregation at Carr's Lane were in a depressed and somewhat disorganized condition. Prejudice in the town was violent, but the new pastor gave himself wholly to his work. The meetings for prayer were revived. Classes for the study of theology were formed, and great attention was given to the instruction of young people.

In answer to a request of a brother minister, Williams furnished a reply to inquiries made by Dr.

Green, of America, on the state of religious parties in England, which may appropriately close this lengthened chapter:

Religious
State of
England.

"BIRMINGHAM, August 20, 1794.

"DEAR SIR,-As to Dr. Green's first inquiry, 'What proportion do the Dissenters bear to the Established Church? ' the answer is, as near as I can calculate, about one to eight, including the Friends, Baptists, and those who prefer associating with Dissenting Churches on the Lord's-day. Perhaps about two out of eight are perfect Gallios, who care nothing at all about religion, and frequent no place of worship except at a marriage, a baptism, or a burial. It then follows that about five out of eight are of the Established Church, taking town and country on an average through England and Wales. Of these Churchmen, about one in sixteen may be termed Evangelical or Calvinistic, including such Methodists as have not declared for the right of private judgment by actual dissent.

"The second inquiry is, 'In number and influence, do they appear to be on the gaining or on the losing hand?' In numbers, I think the Dissenters are on the increase; but we must distinguish upon the sources of that increase. Some congregations appear stationary for a number of years; some, especially among the less orthodox, on the decrease; and others on the advance, both as to the size of the congregations and the rising and supporting of new ones.

"As to influence, it is necessary to discriminate the objects of it. The Arian and Socinian have but little influence with either the Government or the populace; the orthodox Dissenters have much with the latter, and by the former they are considered as more innocent and well meaning, because they confine themselves more to religion. Their principles are more conformable to the articles of faith established, and they meddle less with the turbulent politics of the day; whereas the Socinians, or, as they prefer to be called, Unitarian Dissenters, have influence principally with the speculative class of readers, who, destitute of the fear of God and respect for vital godliness, pursue with avidity every bold attempt to pull down superstitions, or novel ideas and criticism, calculated to gratify unhallowed curiosity.

But, in the eye of Government, they are a party greatly suspected, not because of their number so much as their political investigations, their confessed learning and parts, their opulence, and especially their declared, open opposition to all hierarchies.

"Are Arianism and Socinianism still making progress among them, or are they declining ?" Arianism is hardly to be met with. Those who were wont to be denominated Arians are generally sinking into Socinianism, and almost universally associated with the latter. Religious associations of ministers are seldom heard of among either of them; and congregational discipline, as to what relates to the religious welfare of the societies, is generally neglected. To which we may add, family worship, and personal examination as to principles, temper, and Christian deportment, however extolled, are, there is reason to fear, but little attended to practically.

"What proportion of the Dissenters is probably made up of the denominations of persons just mentioned?' Probably, one in six of the Dissenters, or one in forty-eight of the community. But as their struggles for greater enlargement of liberty, by the repeal of penal statutes in force against Dissenters, and especially those whereby they are rendered incapable of civil offices under the Crown, have rendered them an obnoxious party in the view of the clergy, the Government, and their adherents; and as they almost universally are understood to disapprove of the coalition against France, they resemble a plant that lately made vigorous shoots, but now, through defect of moisture, begins to wither. It is remarkable that amongst all their complaints of hard treatment noticed in their sermons and publications (which, by the way, are fondly nursed by the reviews in general), we hear of no extra meetings for prayer among them, nor humiliations before God, seeking relief from Him-no, not during nor after those riots in which they were the principal sufferers. Indeed, prayer meetings are with them strange things.

"Has vital religion a general or remarkable prevalence in any part of South Britain at present ?' I believe it is generally allowed, by those who are best acquainted with the subject, that in Wales there has been for many years a greater prevalence of vital religion, and more frequent and glorious revivals, than in any other part of this kingdom. The spirit of hearing these,