some pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ;"-was not to be restricted to the Primitive Church, but was intended to continue till the coming of Christ to reign personally and visibly over his kingdom. Hence, they contend that the church is still to be governed by the fourfold ministry of “ apostles," "prophets," "evangelists," and "pastors." Besides which the presiding minister of each congregation is called by them after the designation employed in the apocalypse, "The Angel." Under him the elder, evangelist, and pastor perform certain functions of rule, teaching, and visiting the sick. The apostles are the supreme authority to whom "the angel" is subordinate, and by whom his decisions may be controled or revised. The apostles bear no special relation to any particular congregation, being intended as office bearers for the whole church, and have each distinct portions of the country and of the globe allotted to them as the sphere of their influence and duty. This mode of government makes them, of course, in principle opposed to the union of Church and State, as now maintained in the English Church. In doctrine this body of professing Christians accord pretty nearly with the theological articles of the Church of England and other sections of orthodox Protestantism. They hold in the firmest manner the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Baptism is in their view a most high and sacred privilege, being the introduction of the subject of it as a member into the true Catholic Church. All persons baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whether by their own ministers or others, whether by Protestants or Papists, constitute the Catholic Church. But this Catholic Church being grievously defective in

its views of Christ's spiritual kingdom; it is their vocation to be a witness for the truth to those who have erred, and to call and gather them back to the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as revived by them. They are Millenarians in the modern sense of that term, as signifying a belief of the pre-millenial and visible advent of our Lord. In their public services they use a liturgy partly selected from other formularies, and partly composed for their own special use, in which there is a collection of very beautiful and spiritual devotional exercises mixed up with a few of a questionable character; such, for instance, as prayers for departed saints. Their ministers use the sacerdotal costume of the alb and the surplice: and they also observe many of the days held sacred by the Churches of Rome and England. Still they would contend that no representation of their sentiments in this manner can convey an adequate idea of their ecclesiastical system: it is only they who have received it by a divine teaching can altogether comprehend its spiritual nature.

Many will recognise, or think they do, in their system, a mixture of Popery and Protestantism; of sound theology and erroneous ritual; of conformity and nonconformity; of scriptural truth and the ordinances of man; but still it is instructive and impressive to observe in their liturgical forms how they deplore the broken unity, the tarnished beauty, the prostrate honours of the one True Church of God, and how, with deep humiliation for this state of things they breathe out their desires after its healing and re-union. Whether their views of what constitutes the unity, and of the means by which it is to be effected, are the right ones, will be doubted by multitudes, but no right-minded and righthearted Christian can do otherwise than add his amen to their prayers for the manifested unity itself.

Such is a general view of the opinions and practices of the body of professing Christians, meeting in the handsome building standing at the end of Newhallstreet, which as we have already considered was opened for the worship of the Scotch Church, by Mr. Irving, before he had embraced the theory of a divine and miraculous inspiration, and the continuance of other miraculous gifts. They are said to have about a hundred members in fellowship. The present "angel" is Mr. Erle, formerly a clergyman of the Church of England; and the evangelist is Mr. Godfrey.

As a sequel to what I have written of the various bodies of Nonconformists in this town, it may not be uninteresting to present to the reader a short statistical account of the present number of churches and chapels in Birmingham, and of what has been done during the last century in providing them. Including the suburbs of Aston, Moseley, and Edgbaston, there are twentyseven places of worship belonging to the Established Church; and about sixty belonging to all other bodies of Christians. Of these, all have been erected within the last century with the exception of St. Martin's, St. John's, St. Philip's, St. Bartholomew's, in the Church of England, and the Old and New Meeting Houses, Cannon-street Meeting House, and Carr's Lane Chapel, among the Dissenters; and all these dissenting places of worship have during the century been re-built or enlarged.

This account is not only calculated to gratify curiosity, but to furnish instruction. It will appear that the increase of places of worship has been in much the same ratio as the increase of the population. If we assume

that the latter in the year 1749, amounted to thirty thousand, and that the number of places of worship was ten, we find there was a place for each three thousand persons, taking adults and children together. And if the population be now two hundred and ten thousand, and the places of worship are eighty-six, we find a place for every two thousand four hundred and fortytwo persons, so that on this scale of computation the balance seems rather in favour of the provision made for public worship, above the increase of population, as compared with the commencement of the century. But as many of the places included in the present number at the conclusion of the century are much smaller than the ten were with which the century commenced, we may justly presume that the proportion of church and chapel room is somewhat smaller in relation to the population than it was then. Still it is gratifying to find the instinctive want of man's nature, after religion and public worship has been so far operative and successful, as to have provided even to such an extent, though still inadequately, for its supply. And have we not in these statistics a proof of the power and efficiency of the voluntary principle in religious matters? All the places of worship in Birmingham, which have been. erected during the last century, whether in connexion with the Establishment or with Dissenters, have been raised chiefly by the free-will offerings of the people. In this work the members of the Church of England have borne a conspicuous and a generous part.

What a noble conception was it on the part of Mr. Garbett, the Rural Dean, when he thought of and suggested the erection of ten new churches in this town, and how nobly also has the town responded to his appeal. There wants, I believe, but two more to com

plete the number, and it is my hope and my prayer that Mr. Garbett may live to see them added to the present list, and many more besides. The members of the Establishment mistake if they suppose that their zeal and liberality in this way are witnessed by their Nonconformist brethren with any other feelings than those of pleasure and good-will. As long as they build churches where the gospel is faithfully preached, and take all the charges of worship upon themselves they have our good wishes for their success. There is little cause for the exercise of envy and jealousy between us where the united efforts of both are so incommensurate to the numbers and moral condition of the population. Let any impartial Churchman imagine what must have been the state of our population, and what would be now the provision for their religious instruction, but for the labours of the Methodists and the Dissenters; and on the other hand, let any candid Nonconformist say what must have been the ignorance, the wickedness, and the misery of the people, but for the labours of the clergy; and also think what an amount of instruction, comfort, and moral improvement is perpetually flowing from the various churches of the Establishment among the dense masses of immortal beings which crowd our streets, courts, and alleys.

Perhaps I shall be considered by many of my Nonconformist brethren as too little sensible of the objections to religious establishments. I plead not guilty to the charge. I see them in all their magnitude, and feel them in all their weight, and the composition of the first part of this little volume instead of reconciling me to them, was likely to make me more than ever sensible of their grievous nature; but then I am so affected with a sense of the evils of infidelity and immorality—of sin