shall be rec mmended by two or more actual members; and if any question arise thereupon the same shall be determined by ballot of the members then present.

3. Applications for admission shall be made to the committee of management, and be by them communicated to the Society.

4. Contributors to the funds of the Society, who have not subscribed the rules, cannot be considered as members nor be entitled to vote, except in the choice of a Pastor, for which a contribution to any amount shall qualify; provided it have been regularly paid quarterly for twelve months previous to the election, and the contributor have been in the habit of constant attendance on the meetings of the Society.

5. Any member whose contribution shall be twelve months in arrear and, receiving notice from the Treasurer, does not within fourteen days discharge the same, shall be considered as having with drawn from the Society although he have not explicitly declared his intention so to do.

6. As it is the duty of every Christian Society to watch over the moral conduct of its members, and cases may occur in which admonition or exclusion may become necessary, it shall be lawful to have recourse to either of these expedients provided, that of whatever nature the complaint may be, it shall be distinctly stated in writing, signed with the name of the complainant, and exhibited to the committee of management, who shall employ every proper means to remove the cause of offence. If their endeavours prove ineffectual, the case may be brought in the like form before the Society at large, who if they see fit, may appoint a special committee to examine the business and make specdy report thereon. Judgment shall be given by the Society, in the way of baliot, for acquittal, admonition or expulsion, as the case may of right and justice require-if for expulsion, it shall be carried into effect by the erasure of the offender's name from the list of members and exclusion from the Lord's Supper. A record of the whole proceeding shall be entered on the books of the Society, and the unanimous vote of a general meeting shall be necessary to the readmission of such excluded member.

7. A similar course shall be pursued when any member, feeling agrieved, shall demand an enquiry into his or her

conduct; and in either case, the vote of the person or persons immediately inte. rested shall not be admitted.

III. Election and dismissal of a Pastor. -I. When any person desirous of undertaking the office of Pastor, shall have given satisfactory proof of his qualifications for the same, any three members of the Society may nominate him for es lection at the conclusion of a public meeting for worship. The election shall take place at the like meeting next following the nomination, and if no contrariety of opinion appear he shall be considered as duly elected-if otherwise, it shall be determined by way of ballot; and the votes of three fourths of the whole number of qualified electors present shall be necessary to a choice.

2. The pastor immediately upon his election shall sign the declaration and rules, if he have not done it before.

3. He shall not be eligible as one of the committee of managenient, but may give his vote as any other member of the Society.

4. In case of his declining the office, he shall give as early notice of his intention so to do as circumstances will admit.

5. If any cause of complaint arise as to the conduct or public services of the Pastor, the same shall be distinctly stated in writing, signed by at least three mem bers, and exhibited to the committee of management, who shall take it into ma ture consideration; and if the complaint be persisted in, it shall be their duty to lay the same before the Society at the con clusion of any public meeting for worship. A day for a special meeting shall then be fixed, at which the business shall be fully discussed, and order be taken by way of ballot, by a majority of voters present, having the same qualifications as for the choice of a Pastor, for discon tinuance of the proceedings, for suspension of the Pastor's functions, or for his final dismissal-and in the latter case the pecuniary emolument to which he may have been entitled for his services, shall be continued, in proportion to the annual amount, for six months from the time of decision.

IV. General Meetings-A General annual meeting of the Society shall be held on the fourth Sunday in the month of December, immediately after morning service; and special meetings may he at any time held, such previous notice being given for that purpose as the business to be transacted may appear to require.

WILTSHIRE CONFERENCE OF GENERAL BAPTISTS. On Tuesday the 25th and Wednesday the 26th of last month, the ninth half yearly meeting of this Conference, was held at Trowbridge, Wilts; where, according to previous appointment, Messrs. Smedley, Aldridge and Kingsford, preached; the subject of Mr. Smedley on Tuesday evening, was "The Doctrine of Regeneration," that of Mr. Aldridge on Wednesday afternoon, "The Advantages of Religion," and that of Mr. Kingsford on Wednesday. evening, "The Excellency of the Christian Temper."-Messrs. Hook, Jones, and Webley, also assisted in the devotonal parts of the service,

The extreme unfavourableness of the weather prevented several ministers from attending, but the audience on the whole was numerous.-At the conclusion of the public service on Wednesday evening, Mr. Jones announced that the Lord's supper was about to be ad ministered, and invited all professing Christians present to join in the parti cipation of it, regardless of all party distinctions; but such was the force of Calvinistic prejudice, that, though a numerous company of spectators remained, not many besides General Baptits communicated.

A COMPLETE LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS ON MORALS AND THEOLOGY IN DECEMBER, 1808.

A Sermon, occasioned by the death Walks of Usefulness in London and of the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey M. A. its Environs. By J. Campbell. 2s. Preached at the Chapel in Fosex Street, half-bound. Strand, Nov. 13, 1808: To which is added a brief Biographical Memoir, by Thomas Belsham, Minister of the Chapel. 8vo. 2s.

CORRESPONDENCE.

MRS. CAPPE'S CORRECTION OF HER MEMOIR OF MR. LINDSEY. The following Letter did not arrive in time for the proposed correction. We cannot do better therefore than print it as sent to us, hopin. that the amiable writer will excuse our inserting a communication not intended for the public eye. To the Editor of the Monthly Repository.

SIR, I am very sorry to give you this trouble and more for the occasion of it, but I have just discovered on reading Mr. Bel ham's excellent Sermon and Memoir that my memory has played me truant respecting the time when Mr. Lind.ey

had the offer of going as Chaplain to the Duke of Northumberland to Ireland. Mr. B. places it before his leaving Piddletown-whereas I have said that it was whilst he was at Catterick-that I was there, and that I saw the letter.That I did see the letter is certain, but it must have been shewn me by Mrs. L. sometime after the transaction. The fact is that my father died in July 1763. Mr. L. removed to Catterick the latter end of that year; the Earl of Nd was appointed Viceroy of Ireland in September, about which time the offer must have

been made.

I must beg the favour, therefore, that the memoir I sent you a week ago, and which hope you have received, may be altered in the following manner, and I hope this letter will arrive in time to prevent your having a great deal of trouble. The former part of the paragraph, which succeeds that where mention is made of Mr. Lindsey's Sunday evening must be altered as follows. Although Mr. L. had so far quieted his scruples, as to continue in the Church, he had 1. ng firmly resolved never to accept any higher preferment, and had refused repeated offers from others, but especially from the Duchess of Nd, who was exceedingly solicitous to fulfil the promise made to her dying parent, of placing him in affluence. Accordingly when the Duke was appointed Viceroy of Ireland, about the time of Mr. L.'s leaving Piddletown, she wrote, &c." The narrative to scmain unaltered till after the words "new and untried,'-then the assertion that I was at Catterick at the time, in which my memory must have deceived me, to be erased. Then proceed thus, "Mr. Lindsey's reply was full of gratitude for the offered kindness, but the refusal was firm and décisive" leaving out the next two lines, go on "The Duchess made one effort more, &c." to the end of that paragraph. The beginning of the next must be changed and what follows substituted in its room. "After my late venerable friend had resided at Catterick sometime, a rheumatic fever which brought him apparently to the brink of the grave renewed his scruples about continuing in the Church, and as he himself states, he secretly, but firmly resolved to seek an opportunity to relinquish a situation that was now become not very supportable." The petition presented to Parliament not long afterwards, for relief in the affair of Subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, caused some delay in the execution of this determination till its fate should be finally decided; but Mr. L. had anticipated almost from the first, what would probably be the result, and was making silent and gradual preparation for the event that was to ensue," &c. &c.

I wish I may have expressed myself intelligibly, but I write in great haste, at night, after having been writing almost the whole day before this vexatious disI remain, dear SIR,

covery.

Your sincere friend,

C. CAPPE.

The Memoir of the late Rev. John Edwards, promised in the present number is unavoidably postponed for the SUPPLEMENT, which will be published on Monday,' January 16, 18c9, when the present Volume will be completed. Our Readers are requested to give particular orders for the SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER, without which their copies of the present Volume will be imperfect, and not to trust entirely to their booksellers, who may forget to procure it.

The Unitarian Christian's Letter, from the Isle of Wight has been received, and the note enclosed ! een applied to the purpose for which it was intended.

The following Communications have been received, and are under consideration. "W. C. on Mr. Higginson's Vindication of Dr. Percival." "H. W. on the Socinian Controversy." "Calculator, on the Account of the Tract Society." "John Lawn on Mr. Belsham's Letters to Dr. Smith." "Veritas and Laicus."

The following are intended for insertion.-"J. W. on the existence of the Devil." 2d part. "Anti-Baptistes." "A Yokshire Correspondent on Mr. Jones's Illustrations." " J. T.'s Address on the Death of Mr. I indsey." "Mr. Drummond, of Ipswich, on the refusal of Burial to Unitarians." "Sonnet to the Memory of Mr. Lindsey."

The Account of the "Meeting or Talk of Indians" shall be inserted in the Suflment, as requested, if we find it practicable.

* Apology, page 231.

OF THE

MONTHLY REPOSITORY

OF

Theology and General Literature.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN EDWARDS.

The following Memoir is extracted, by permission, from a Sermon delivered in the New Meeting-house, Birmingham, on occasion of Mr. Edwards's death, by the Rev. John Kentish. The form of an address to the congregation in which Mr. Edwards formerly officiated is preserved, as being more faithful to the author and more interesting to the reader. EDITOR.

THE HE REV. JOHN EDWARDS he began to realize the expectawas born January 1, 1768, tions which had been formed of at Ipswich, where his father him as a preacher. The conse-, was pastor at a dissenting church, quence was that when the years of the congregational denomina- and infirmities of the Rev. Sation. In the year 1783, he en- muel Blyth occasioned him, after tered upon his studies for the mi- a long, a useful and a most har nistry, in the seminary then sup- monious connexion, to resign the ported at Hoxton by the trustees pastoral character in your society, of Mr. Coward's will, and under Mr. Edwards was recommended the able direction of Dr. Savage, to you as his successor, and after Dr. Kippis and Dr. Recs: in officiating here, in April, 1791, 1785, he enjoyed the same pa- was chosen to be colleague with tronage at Daventry, where he Dr. Priestley. In the interval completed his academical educa- however, between his acceptance tion. His first settlement, as a of your invitation and the season minister, was at Gateacre, near which had been fixed for the comLiverpool: in this situation, re- mencement of his services, he was tired as it was, he manifested seized with a tedious and most that ardour of mind which he distressing illness, which con. afterwards more fully exhibited strained him to defer for some in defence of what he conceived months, his removal to this place. to be truth and duty: and here Events had in the meantime oc

VOL. III

The Rev. David Edwards. (See Appendix, No. 1.)

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