side near the village (one of whom is a Missionary preacher, and was the founder of the society,) and who have given me every assistance and encouragement.

"Astley I have frequently visited, and spent many agreeable days with this interesting people. The society here is a living proof of the great good which is sometimes found to attend the smallest beginnings. A few years since, Unitarianism was quite unknown to the inhabitants of this village, but now there are not less than eighty or a hundred, and often a much greater number, who meet regularly on the Sabbath, to "worship the Father in spirit and in truth." When the Missionary Society began its operations here, the religious services were conducted for a considerable time in a barn, as no better place could then be procured. The people flocked together for a while, to hear what this new doctrine was, but manifested no inclination to embrace Unitarianism; many, indeed, who are now its firmest friends, evinced the greatest opposition. I mention this, to show that the people of Astley were not forward in identifying themselves with Unitarians-their conversion was gradual, and therefore, I hope, the more certain. As soon as a few began to avow Unitarian sentiments, a more commodious place was taken-a room capable of accommodating near two hundred people, in which a Sunday school was commenced, and public worship regularly conducted. The congregation, from that time, has continued to increase, and the Sunday school consists of one hundred and fifty children. The teachers meet together weekly on Saturday evenings, for the truly commendable object of mutual improvement. It must afford to the benevolent mind the highest degree of pleasure, to visit this little community, and to witness their proceedings; with them I have spent some of the happiest days of my life.

"I have visited the district of the Methodist Unitarians three times, and have been pleased to observe the cause of truth advancing among them. My first visit to this part was in May, 1827, the second in January 1828, and from the third I am just returned. I have each time taken up my head quarters at Padiham, as I thought this society stood in need of my services. When I visited them last year, I found them active and zealous in the cause of religion though they were but just recovering from the very severe distress under which they had painfully labored. But on my last visit to them, I found their numbers greatly increased, and every prospect of further success. I preached on the Sunday, and sometimes

during the week, to congregations consisting of three hundred to four hundred people, who paid the greatest attention. They have, likewise, weekly prayer meetings, which are held in different parts of the town. I have attended some of them, and was delighted to see the decent and truly Christian manner in which they were conducted. A superintendent is appointed, who commences by reading and expounding a portion of Scripture; he afterwards, with as many others as feel desirous, reads a hymn, and engages in prayer. At the meetings which I attended, there could not be less than one hundred persons, though another of the same kind was held in a different part of the town, and which I understood was equally numerous. I feel persuaded, from what I have seen here, and at other places, that meetings of this or a similar nature, are admirably calculated to excite the best emotions of the soul, to promote the growth of genuine piety, and to extend the bounds of Christian benevolence. They have likewise held, during the winter, weekly meetings, for the investigation of certain passages of scripture, and which have been numerously attended. The society at Padiham, affords one of the best proofs I ever had, of the peculiar adaptation of Unitarian Christianity to the wants and capacity of the poor. They not only understand its principles, but likewise enjoy its practical influences. Several of them have told me, that during their late distress-when under the privations of want-their religion afforded them the richest consolation. Often have I heard them speak, with feelings of the liveliest gratitude, of the donations sent them by their distant friends; they were cheerfully given, and most thankfully received. ** During my visits to Padiham, I have often preached in the week, and sometimes early on the Sunday morning, in several of the surrounding villages. I have generally had large audiences, and never received the slightest interruption. I have had the honor of preaching the great doctrine of the Divine Unity, where it had never been preached before, at least, as it is maintained by Unitarians. On Sunday morning, April 27, I preached to between two and three hundred people at Downham, a most beautiful village situated under the eastern part of Pendle Hill The service was conducted in a garden, as the house was too small. In this retired village, eight miles from any Unitarian congregation, are living about a dozen intelligent and serious Unitarians, whom I recommended to meet together on the Lord's Day, for Christian worship.

At Rattonstall, I have preached twice to pretty good_congrega

tions. This society, a few years since, with their worthy minister, who is upwards of seventy, were avowed Antinomians. But such is the change, that they are now decided Unitarians."

British and Foreign Bible Society.-From the narrative of the proceedings of this body at their last anniversary, in May of this year, we gather the following particulars. By its own immediate funds, the Society has distributed about five millions and a half, of copies of Bibles and Testaments. It has caused Translations of the Scriptures to be printed, in about sixty languages or dialects, in which the Bible had not before been printed.

Religion in France. At the meeting of the Bible Society above named, the Rev. Daniel Wilson spoke as follows. "In presenting myself before your Lordship and this Meeting, I am sure I may anticipate the feelings of charity and joy with which the message I have to deliver will be received. I am entrusted with a message from the General Assembly of the Bible Society of Paris. I was present at the Annual Meeting a few days since, and was charged, by the Admiral Count Ver-Huell, Peer of France, the President, to convey to this Society the assurances of undiminished admiration and gratitude. The Admiral was supported on this occasion by the Baron Cuvier, and many other distinguished persons among the French Nobility and Gentry. The Protestant Pastors from every part of France also surrounded the noble Chairman: several of whom were Presidents of Consistories. One feeling animated the whole Assembly-that of devotion to the great cause of circulating the Holy Scriptures, and of affection towards the British and Foreign Bible Society.

"It was the first time I had attended the Annual Meeting of any Religious Society in France: and I can state, with sincere pleasure, that the spirit of unaffected piety-of simple regard to the one great object of diffusing the word of God-a sense of the infinite importance of religion to man-of its infinite importance to societies and individuals of its direct influence on the happiness and peace of nations-in a word, of the infinite importance of Revelation.

*

I saw several symptoms, which could not be misunderstood, of the increase of religious feeling generally amongst our French Protestant Brethren."

"There was another circumstance I observed, which appears to me of great moment. The public taste in France, generally, seems

more inclining towards Christianity. The popular Infidel Writers are losing ground: Voltaire and Rousseau are less thought of. I had an opportunity of attending some of the Lectures delivered at the Sorbonne, in the Academy of France, by the most distinguished scholars and philosophers of Paris. On one occasion there were perhaps eighteen hundred youths assembled: I heard the professor make an avowal of his belief in Christianity: I heard him ascribe to Christianity the civilization of mankind: I heard him assert the immateriality of the soul. I do not mean to say that these avowals were so full as I could have desired, or that many other things were not said which I could have wished omitted: but I mention it as a symptom of improvement which I am sure every Englishman will know how to estimate, when he recollects the materialism and scepticism which have pervaded the French schools for so many years. I was present at another Lecture, where the attendance was equally numerous, (and not of a select auditory like the present, but of the most indiscriminate kind,) where the professor exposed the scepticism and coldness of heart of our Hume, and pointed out distinctly how a regard to religion and a love to the institutions of his country would have improved and elevated his History. The same professor, in a preceding Lecture, contrasted the sympathy produced by our English Moral Writers, who recognised the Christian religion and wrought it into the characters they described, with that which Voltaire attempted to raise on the principles of Infidelity. I am not intending to say, that everything was stated by these professors which I could have wished; far, very far from it: but I mention these things as symptoms of that revival of religious feeling which I am persuaded is going on in France.

"In such circumstances, the operations of the Bible Society are of inconceivable importance. The good that may be produced by the 14,000 Bibles and Testaments circulated by the Paris Society, and the 50 or 60,000 issued through the means of individual Agents in France during the last year, is more than we can imagine. The public mind in France is turning towards religion: the Roman Catholics are beginning to examine: the influence of the priests decreases daily."

ERRATA. On page 75, near the bottom, for "permitted," read "submitted ;" and for " งา annoy, read " among."

BEFORE Peter became acquainted with our Saviour, he was a Jew. As such he had been born and educated. He must therefore have been a believer in the doctrine of the Divine Unity. He must have been a worshipper of One God in one person. This will be conceded by all who are conversant with the Jewish history, and whose opinion deserves respect. That Peter could have been a trinitarian before his conversion to Christianity, is as improbable as that he could have been an atheist. If he ever afterward departed from this fundamental principle of the religion in which he had been brought up, we may reasonably expect to find some notices of so remarkable a change, in the copious accounts we have of his subsequent life. These accounts are contained in the scriptures of the New Testament. We are told that, almost from the very commencement of our Lord's public ministry, to his ascension into heaven, Peter was his most talented and zealous disciple, and that subsequently, for the space of more than thirty years, he was one of the ablest and most successful advocates of the christian cause.