a competition which should have the honour of receiving the brethren next autumn. He (Mr. James) was quite sure there would be no difficulty in obtaining large rooms for such a provision, and it was his earnest hope that our autumnal meeting would always be held, for he was quite sure that it would tend greatly to promote the welfare of their institution. It was well known that he (Mr. James) was not very urgent that the brethren should meet at Birmingham, because he really was apprehensive either that they could not entertain so many as would come, or on the other alternative, that very few would attend. However, on both these points they were most agreeably disappointed, and it is remembered as one of the red-letter days in the history of the churches at Birmingham-that which witnessed the holding of a Congregational meeting. (Cheers.) He had intended to say one word in reference to Dr. Matheson, and he would take this opportunity of observing, that by his business-like habits, and, he must add, by his agreeable and brotherly disposition, which was not a little in this matter, (hear) he was, in his judgment, eminently fitted for the office for which he was proposed.

The Rev. JOHN SIBREE, of Coventry, said, that from what he knew of the friends at Bristol, and he had had the pleasure of meeting them very recently, he was persuaded that the Union would meet with a most cordial reception. He (Mr. Sibree) believed there was not a place in the world where there was so much real religion as in the city of Bristol.

ANNUAL ASSEMBLY.

The business commenced on Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock, with singing the 190th hymn in the Congregational Hymn Book,

"Not for a favourite form or name," &c.

The Chairman then read a part of the 4th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and implored the Divine assistance and blessing upon the engagements of the day.

Rev. Messrs.

Adolphus Ablett, Westerfield.
Ezra E. Adams, America.
Henry Leonard Adams, Newark.
Henry Addiscott, Maidenhead.
John Adey, Southwark.
Robert Ainslie, London.
John Alexander, Norwich.

John Arundel, London.
D. W. Aston, Buckingham.
Thomas Aston, Wingrave.
Robert Ashton, Putney.
Thomas W. Aveling, London.
S. Bannister, Epping.
William Beane, Herne Hill.
James Bennett, D.D. London.
S. B. Bergne, Lincoln.
Thomas Binney, London.
John Blackburn, London.
Robert Blessley, Highgate.
John Bodington, Bermondsey.
J. C. Bodwell, M.A. Weymouth.
Charles Brake, London.
James Brown, Bethnal Green.
Josiah Bull, Newport Pagnel.
W. Bull, Newport Pagnel.
John Bunter, Croydon.

PRESENT:
MINISTERS.

Rev. Messrs.

H. F. Burder, D.D. Hackney.
Robert Burls, Maldon.
Mark Butler, Islington.
J. C. Butteau, London.
John Campbell, London.
James Carlile, London.
Richard Castleden, Woburn.
Robert Chamberlain, Swanage.
George Christie, Finchingfield.
Jerome Clapp, Dursley.
Richard Connebee, Dorking.
Henry Cresswell, Canterbury.
S. A. Davies, Enfield.
John Davies, Daventry.
J. Davies, Aldermanbury.
William Davis, Hastings.
Evan Davies, Missionary.
Robert Davis, Willingborough.
James Dawson, Dudley.
O. T. Dobbin, Bow.

J. P. Dobson, London.

John Dorrington, Milton, Kent.
John Dorrington, Chishill, Essex.
James Drummond, London.

E. A. Dunn, London.

C. Dukes, M.A. London.

THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS.

Messrs.

Thomas M. Coombs, London.

John Davies, Daventry.
Samuel Denby, Debenham.
James Dinnis, London.
Joseph East, Walworth.
Malachi Fisher, Blandford.
Wm. Foster, Totham.
Robert Gammon, London.
J. Godwin, Bristol.
George Gull, London.
Benjamin Hanbury, London.
W. A. Hankey, London.
John Hall, Mill Wall.
Peter Jackson, London.
James James, Birmingham,
John G. Kidd, Hull.
John Lack, London.

G. Tradescent Lay, London.
Wm. Lowe, Forfar.
John May, Ipswich.
J. R. Mills, London.
John Morley, London.
S. Morley, Hackney.
George Ovenden, Walston.

John Paul, Ridgewell.

Thomas Piper, Denmark Hill.

John Radford, Winchmore Hill.

Messrs.

J. B. Rawlings, Sherborne.
Shepherd Ray, Ipswich.
William Reid, London.
Thomas Robinson, London.
Edward Ross, Rochester.
John Rowe, Little Moorfields.
Dr. Rowley, Litchfield.
John Rudhall, Deptford.
John Sard, London.

Sir C. E. Smith, Bart. Bedwell Park.
Ebenezer Smith, London.

George Soundy, Henley-on-Thames.
James Spencer, Greenwich.

James Spicer, London.

Robert Starling, Islington.

Thomas Tame, jun. Woolwich.
Hull Terrell, London.
Wm. Tice, Tipley.

Henry Clare Timpson, Lewisham.

J. G. Underhill, Hackney.

William Walker, Petistree.

Henry Wastie, Kennington Cross.
John Whitehouse, Dudley.

T. Whiteley, London.

Joshua Wilson, Islington.

Joseph Wontner, Islington.

The Chairman, Dr. BENNETT, then addressed the assembly as follows:-My dear and honoured brethren; called by your kindness to this chair, it is my present duty to open the meeting with a short address. No body of men upon earth can be so dear to our hearts as the members of the church of Jesus Christ; and what shall we say of the élite of those members who are called by the suffrages of the faithful to occupy the post of bishops of the church, while others before me, not in office, are yet, by the voices of our churches, deputed to represent them or their associations at this meeting of the Congregational Union of England and Wales? To these I must add our honoured brethren who are deputations from other Unions, and who meet this day to declare their fraternal union with us. To be called to be one of the members of this honourable association, is more than I deserve; but to be called to preside in your assembly I can ascribe to only one thing-perhaps my age-that I have now for nearly half a century, ministered in your churches. (Cheers.) Perhaps I might say that I stand, however unworthily, in the pulpit of that great man, John Howe, (hear, hear) who not only adorned the list of the first ministers of our churches, but, we may say, adorned the name of Briton and of Christian. Few men have reflected so much honour upon our country. One of the finest writers of our language, he has combined the sublimity of Milton with the simplicity of Watts, who taught infant tongues to sing divine songs, and has also, by a strange combination, united a wondrous sacrifice to stern principle and sacred truth, with the most expansive benevolence, the most unruffled charity in harsh and severe times. (Cheers.) To address those who succeed to the principles and act in the spirit of such a man, is an honour that I so highly appreciate, that I do not pretend even duly to estimate it. But, my dear friends, let us reflect what an assembly we have before us. A larger body of pastors of churches, united together simply by the truth in the true love of it, perhaps it would be difficult ever to collect. The person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as "God manifest in the flesh," is dear to your hearts; his glorious atonement and righteousness, as the ground of our gratuitous justification before God, is the theme of your ministry; and the sovereign grace of God, applying that salvation by his Holy Spirit, is the ground of your dependance and the

source of your success. (Applause.) But you owe your union on these vital principles, wondrous as it is, unparalleled, perhaps, in the church of God, to no human creed, to no domination of man over your faith. (Hear.) Each one of you, standing on the Bible for himself, comes substantially to the same conclusions; and we rejoice to say, that we can travel from the Land's End, shall I say, to the Tweed or to Caithness, across England and Wales, preaching in other pulpits, and never for a moment thinking that we shall be discordant with other assemblies, or that we shall offend the brotherhood; but, feeling that we are in perfect harmony, and are in no danger of touching a discordant note, or of destroying that peaceful union which pervades the whole. And God having given us this union of our orthodoxy with our liberty, we shall teach the world a lesson that future ages will know how to improve. (Cheers.) Already those who disapprove of our principles are profiting by them: they derive benefit, although they give no thanks. We are not ambitious of obtaining their acknowledgments: we ought to serve a higher Master, to seek loftier approbation. But it is pleasant for us to know that, together with our unity, which perhaps is unparalleled, we have also a charity that is perhaps equally unparalleled. (Hear.) I know of no body of men that is so free from the sectarian spirit, or that does so much with others for the general good of the church of Christ without any specific regard to its own sect. But this is our privilege: let us remember what happiness we should feel in looking round upon a number of the bishops of the churches who were called to their offices by the unreserved suffrages of the faithful-suffrages which could be obtained by nothing but the evidence of fitness and worth. We owe our appointment to no worldly patron, to no dominant hierarchy; we are placed where we are by the voice of God's people, and we are supported there by their cordial affection. (Loud cheers.) We glory in this appointment, as being beyond all others. Having no patron but the churches, unless we should, with more propriety, say the God of the churches, we feel that we want no superintendence, no archbishop but that Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls to whom we must all give an account, and to keep that in view should be our perpetual solicitude. Oh that we had it more constantly in our minds, that we lived and preached more in expectation of that great account! But we are this day called upon to show that, while we love each other in the faith, (and the very sight of each other as pastors of the churches is to us a pledge of the christian character and the evangelical faith of our brethren; for scandalous or heretical ministers cannot live among us, where the churches of Christ are churches of Christians,) while we owe this attachment to each other, we come together to-day to exercise a privilege which is the result of a more extended and specific union than had formerly prevailed. This seemed to be the one thing wanting, to give us the power of aggressive movements en masse. Now, I am not surprised at the jealousy which some have felt on this subject; in fact, I have participated too largely in the feeling myself, to wonder at their jealousy. Many have supposed that our independence is in danger from this Union; but my own settled judgment is, that the character of the union of our churches will be exactly the representative of the character of the churches themselves; that just as Christians are united together in churches, and their union partakes of a certain character, so the churches united together will exhibit the same character on a grander scale. It is remarkable that the principle of union in our churches has been shown to be, of all others, most exposed to technical objection, and, of all others, most completely triumphant when it has been put to the test of practice. (Hear, hear.) That our spirit and polity were regarded, when revived at the Reformation, with great jealousy, every one of us who is acquainted with the history of our country must know. In fact, Independency was considered as anarchy. Wise and good men predicted that it would lead to the destruction of all true discipline. Men, who were in advance of their age, and who were great church reformers, yet dreaded this last step, to set the christian churches free, and to give them the liberty which Christ had originally given them.