Farewell! Farewell! This earth is not my home! Earth, I have loved you! Now, once more set free, I wander through the realms of endless space, Oft will I visit thy enchanting scenes; Oft will those dear ones, dwelling with thee still, List to my voice upon the passing breeze. In shady groves, solemnity shall fall Upon their hearts, and memories arise And lead them on to aspirations high C. S. C. TESTIMONIAL TO THE AUTHOR OF "SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNITARIANISM," AND THE 66 CONCESSIONS OF TRINITARIANS."-Entertaining sincere respect for the character of Mr John Wilson of Manchester, as well as feelings of gratitude for the valuable publications he has produced, with so large an expenditure of labour and research, in behalf of the Scriptural truth and authority of Christian Unitarianism, we have much pleasure in making as widely known as we possibly can the following circular, addressed to our Unitarian brethren. We respectfully urge on all our friends the claims of Mr Wilson to the expression of their Christian thankfulness. "DEAR SIR AND BROTHER,-You are doubtless acquainted with the two works published by Mr John Wilson, of Manchester; namely, Scriptural Illustrations of Unitarianism,' and Concessions of Trinitarians.' "The singular excellence and practical worth of these works seem to call for some special acknowledgment on the part of Unitarian Christians, the rather because, owing to the limited circulation which Unitarian books can command, the author has received nothing which deserves the name of compensation for his time and labour, the value of which to himself and family must in his circumstances be very great. "Influenced by these considerations, we, the undersigned, are desirous of procuring Mr Wilson some pecuniary aid, and, with this view, respectfully suggest that a subscription of one shilling and upwards from each contributor, be made for Mr Wilson, as a token of gratitude for his valuable, arduous, and unrequited labours on behalf of our common cause. "Allow us, dear Sir, to entreat your active co-operation in bringing this matter before your friends. Contributions will be received by Mr John Armstrong, 17 Market Street, Manchester; by Mr John Chapman, bookseller, 121 Newgate Street, London; or by any one of us. March 1844. Your humble servants, George Lee, Hull. John R. Beard, D.D. Manchester. John Colston, Styal, Wilmslow. R. Brook Aspland, A.M. Dukinfield. W. H. Drummond, D.D. Dublin. Wm. Gaskell, A.M. Manchester. Robert Wallace, Manchester. John Jas. Tayler, A.B. Manchester. Wm. Turner, Manchester, late of New castle-upon-Tyne. Charles Wicksteed, A.B. Leeds. George Armstrong, A.B. Bristol. Hugh Hutton, A.M. Birmingham. REV. LAWRENCE HOLDEN OF Tenterden, Kent.—We had completed the last half sheet of our present number, when we learned the decease of this venerable man. The intelligence came as a shock upon our minds, for we had not heard of his previous illness. We felt we should do violence to the respect and affection we entertained for the departed, if we allowed our magazine to go forth without recording his death. He was the friend alike of our boyhood and our manhood. He was the friend of our father. The hours and days spent in his society, in his home of Christian peacefulness, are among the cherished and hallowed recollections of our being. His courtesy and kindness of manners, his benevolence and piety, were learned in the school of Christ. His entire character was eminently Christian. His conduct through life was an admirable exemplification of the virtues, the labours, and the usefulness of the faithful Christian pastor. The oldest minister of our denomination, his lengthened pilgrimage of upwards of ninety years, has been one of exemplary Christian diligence. For threescore years and ten the minister of one religious society, he grew grey amidst the children's children of those whom he originally served, as the preacher of Christian truth and righteousness. And they honoured the face of the old man, they reverenced the hoary head; it was in their sight a crown of glory, because it was sanctified by goodness. Throughout his course, unfalteringly he testified of the grace of God, and the divinity of Christianity. His outward eye became dim, but there was no darkness on his soul. He outlived all to whom he came to minister in things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and stood as a patriarch among his people. Stretched on the bed of sickness, his beloved flock were near to his spirit. Sunday, March 17, he addressed a message, by his excellent coadjutor in the ministry, to his children in the Lord, testifying his faith in Jesus, his calm reliance on the Father of mercies, his prayers for their present and everlasting welfare. His benediction was similar in spirit to that of the aged and beloved disciple of our Lord," Little children, love one another." On Tuesday, March 19, in peace and holiest hope, our friend breathed his last. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." At the religious service in St Mark's Chapel, Edinburgh, on Sunday afternoon, March 24. Mr Harris paid a brief but heartfelt tribute to the memory and character of his revered friend, at the conclusion of a discourse from 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. A REPLY TO IMPUTATIONS MADE BY THE HON. AND VERY REV. W. HERBERT, DEAN OF MANCHESTER, AT A MEETING OF CLERGYMEN AND OTHERS, HELD ON TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 18. 1843, IN THE CORN EXCHANGE, MANCHESTER,— FOUR DISCOURSES, BY THE REV. J. R. BEARD, D.D. NO. IV. And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.-ACTS xi. 26. It would be one of the most difficult of tasks to recount and estimate the good which the Almighty Disposer of events has educed from the evil designs and wicked arts of tyrannical, cruel, and persecuting men. The redemption of the world was, under God, wrought out by one who in life was despised and rejected of men, and who died the death of a slave and a malefactor. And so the proclamation of the gospel, and the evangelizing of the world, were, to no small extent, caused by the hatred and bitterness with which the early Christians were pursued, first by their Jewish, and afterwards by their heathen adversaries. Our text records a result which had a like dark origin. Antioch heard the sound of the gospel, and was first to give to the disciples the name of Christian, in consequence of persecutions, whose earliest victim was the martyr Stephen. The immediate consequence of his death was doubtless satisfactory to his enemies. The yet small band of believ 8 ers in Christ, those enemies saw driven from Jerusalem, and heard to be scattered abroad. But though the persecuted disciples fled, they bore with them precious seed, and wherever they went, they were diligent to sow it broadcast over the land, till at length, first the tokens, and then the reality of a golden harvest saluted their eyes, gladdened their hearts, and rewarded their disinterested efforts. Noble-minded men! Fleeing from peril, incurring peril, by naming the name of Christ, they spared not, they ceased not, wheresoever they came, to proclaim the glad tidings of great joy of which they had become the happy possessors. The difficulties of their task it is now not an easy matter for us to measure, living as we do in a country where Christianity is universally professed and generally honoured, and where the Chris tian name is a passport to distinction and power, if not to opulence. How dissimilar the condition of one of those who, having been rudely expelled from their country and home, went forth, bearing their lives in their hands, and "travelled as far as Phenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch." Some few poor Galilean peasants, or humble natives of Cyprus and Cyrene (v. 20), they approached, in coming near to Antioch, one of the three great centres of classic civilization; a city which had been the abode of native kings, and was then the residence of the Roman proconsul, which was distinguished for its eminence in the arts and sciences, was celebrated for its schools of philosophy, and esteemed for its strong attachment to the established idolatry of the day. What could these lowly individuals expect but obloquy, suffering, and death, when, with their minds full of their holy purpose of preaching the gospel in Antioch, they first caught a view of its palaces and temples from the mountain which in their way they had been obliged to pass, and saw the city lying in the rich and well watered plain below, in all the pride and pomp of its power, mistress of a vast suburban district which spread, with its dense population, till stopped and hemmed in by encircling mountains, nay, queen, sole and despotic arbitress of entire Syria. Had it been one of the villages of the land that these primitive heralds of the gospel |