in his boyhood. It was indeed carefully cherished and universally observed. I well remember hearing a very old lady once say that, when the Rev. JOB ORTON* passed from the vestry into the chapel, at Shrewsbury, the people invariably rose to receive him, and stood until he had taken his place in the pulpit. These mere outward marks of respect for the clerical profession are not now seen in the Unitarian body. No sacredness is attached to a minister's vocation, to give it sanctity or dignity, independent of the personal qualities of him who enters upon it. But when his character and services are worthy of the position he fills, and such as become an ambassador for Christ, there is no church, as Mr. MADGE'S experience abundantly proves, in which an able and faithful Christian teacher will secure a warmer and more enduring affection and confidence.

There does not appear to have been any special religious service when Mr. MADGE commenced his ministry at Bury. The ceremony of ordination, as once practised,

His name, with that of Dr. DODDRIDGE, was intimately blended with the history and proceedings of Dissenters in the early part of the last century.

had then been very much laid aside by Unitarians, because it seemed to sanction the erroneous impression that some spiritual authority was communicated from those by whom it was performed. In the address delivered to the students at York, after the college examination in 1809, when Mr. MADGE left the institution, the Rev. WILLIAM TURNER, of Newcastle, laments the disuse of such a service, and points out its value and appropriateness. Rightly conducted, it certainly affords a suitable opportunity for speaking of the reciprocal duties of pastor and people, and for brethren and friends to gather round a young minister, and to implore for him the blessing of God. The occasion is one which naturally awakens sympathy and hope, and when accompanied by suitable religious solemnities, and looked upon simply as the introduction of a pastor to his work, who is not to be a lord over God's heritage, but "an ensample to the flock," it may well be expected to promote circumspection and diligence in the Christian ministry, and perhaps to add to its dignity and strength. But Mr. MADGE had always a strong aversion to anything like priestly pretension, and from a letter written with express reference

to Mr. TURNER's remarks, we learn that he was not quite satisfied with what had been advanced on this subject. "There will therefore be no censure conveyed," he says, upon the address at York, "if a remark be made that a clear and definite idea should be conveyed of what kind of ordination seems to him, and to enlightened Christians in general, most congenial with our duties as Protestant dissenters, and our obligations as Christians. It would surely be granted that we are to shun the appearance of exercising powers which we do not possess, whilst we would impress those most concerned in the interesting connexion that subsists between a religious society and him whom they appoint to conduct their devotional services. How this is to be effected, taking Scripture for our guide, and general good for the object in view, is," he adds, "the investigation of one who is ever solicitous to be a searcher after truth." The useful influence of the service, as it is now generally observed in Unitarian churches, he did not deny, but I am not aware that he ever took any part in it. The best way of magnifying the ministry he, to the last, felt, is by faithfulness in the performance of its duties.

D

And of the soundness of this view there will be no difference of opinion.

Mr. MADGE's ministry at Bury terminated before the second year had expired. The only record of it that I have seen, is a sermon which he preached on the importance of education to the poor, and which was printed in compliance with the wishes of a few friends, but not published. This discourse was from the words of Christ, in Matthew xxv., 40, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." It was a powerful plea for more and better instruction for the humbler classes. It has not the finish of his later compositions, but there are in it passages of much beauty and power, and such as were likely to move a popular audience. Sixty years ago, when the discourse was delivered, the friends of education had to contend against prejudice and bigotry in various forms. They sowed, and we reap, after a long period, the fruit of their labours. No uncertain sound did Mr. MADGE send forth, when he urged that to every poor child in the kingdom should a sound and

suitable culture be given, as the best means of preservation from folly and vice,-from infamy, irreligion, and impiety. He observes :

"The advocates of spiritual tyranny, and the enemies to civil freedom, those who wish to see the human mind the sport of visions and dreams, appalled and affrighted by spectres of its own creation, and invested on all sides by the trammels of blind submission, and implicit credulity, may tremble at the idea of imparting light and knowledge to the minds of the poor; by which they may be able to break in pieces the chains which bind them to their parent earth, by which they may be able to soar above flesh and sense, and take their place in the intellectual and moral firmament, where they may move free and unrestrained, in the orbit marked out by the hand of God. But those who have a proper sense of the dignity of our nature, and of the worth of an immortal soul, will rejoice to see every one who bears the stamp of reason display its native excellence, assert its inalienable rights, and unfold its glorious and exalted powers. They will therefore hail with delight and admiration the growing intelligence, the increasing knowledge of the human mind; convinced that this is the best, the only substantial, and solid foundation upon which pure religion, eminent virtue, and unaffected piety, can be permanently established. He who relieves the wants of the body, who gives bread to the hungry, and provides raiment for the naked, confers only a temporary and partial benefit upon his fellow creatures; but he who fills the soul with the treasures of divine knowledge, who teaches it to aspire after those acquisitions which no accident