NEW CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LOZELLS, BIRMINGHAM.

About seven years since a member of Carr's Lane Church, Birmingham, residing at the Lozells, established in that neighbourhood a Sabbath School, and erected, at his own expense, a school-room, capable of holding about 100 children; in which place public worship was conducted iu the afternoon and evening of the Sabbath. After a few years the room was found too small, and it was proposed to erect a new chapel, which proposition was cheerfully responded to by the excellent pastor and the members of Carr's Lane Church. By the munificent liberality of the promoter of this cause, together with the assistance of other members of the above-mentioned church, a new chapel has been erected at a cost of about £1,100, the greater part of which has already been subscribed. The chapel, which is a very neat building, capable of holding (in its present form, with a gallery in the front only) nearly 500 persons, was opened for public wor ship on the 1st of May, 1839, when Mr. A. E. Pearce, on the joint recommendation of his pastor, the Rev. H. B. Jeula, of Greenwich, and the Rev. Thomas James, of Woolwich, was invited by the trustees to become the minister of the place, with the view of presecuting his studies at Spring Hill College, in connexion with his ministerial duties, a privilege which the committee of that institution very readilily granted him. A very encouraging congregation has been collected at the new chapel, and most gratifying evidence has been afforded of the presence of the Great Head of the Church, in the conversion of souls to Him. The state and prospects of this new interest have rendered it desirable that a church should be formed, and on Thursday evening, the 13th ult., the Rev. J. A. James attended, and conducted the interesting formalities connected with the formation of a christian church, in the presence of a large and deeply affected audience. After singing, reading of the Scriptures, and prayer by the Rev. R. Richards, and a brief statement explanatory of the nature of a christian church by the Rev. J. A. James, an account of the rise and progress of the new interest was submitted by one of the proposed members, and the Congregationalists' "Declaration of faith," &c. was read and responded to; after which thirty individuals, consisting chiefly of persons dismissed from Carr's Lane Church, for the purpose of being united in this place, and including also the Rev. Messrs. Brook and Richards, lately pastors of churches, were united together in "the apostle's doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread," several members of other churches present participating with them in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. The Rev. J. A. James then delivered a solemn and affectionate address to the newly formed church, and the deeply interesting service was concluded by an address to the spectators by the Rev. A. E. Pearce, the minister, and anticipated pastor, of this new, and it is hoped flourishing, church. At an early church meeting it is expected that several other persons will be proposed for admission.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND MINOR CORRESPONDENCE.

Favours have been received from Drs. Matheson - Fletcher-Urwick-J. P. Smith-J. Clunie.

Rev. Messrs. W. Davis -W. Owen-J. Kennedy-O. T. Dobbin-J. Jukes -Thomas Durant-W. J. Cross-Algernon Wells-J. Orange-J. N. Massie -A. Bishop-S. Robarts-A E. Pearce-A. Tidman-C. Gilbert - G. Taylor-W. Spencer-J. Rogers.

Also from Sir N. J. Willoughby. W. Stroud, Esq. M.D. Messrs. J. M‘Gaa -Thos. Thompson-C. Lewis-Joshua Wilson-Hull Terrell-T. E. Thoresby -R. Tibbot-E. Philips.

We see no reason for entering again upon the subject to which Mr. K.'s letter refers.

The paper of Mr. Philips on Missions we hope to publish in our next. We shull be glad to hear from him again.

THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE.

APRIL, 1840.

THE NEW INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FOR
LANCASHIRE.

THERE are certain parties, both within and without the established church, who are apt to imagine, that because a few rich professors of religion have chosen to abandon their dissenting connexions, and to conform to the ecclesiastical institutions of the state, that the cause of christian liberty, as identified with our churches, is reduced to such a condition of pitiable weakness, that only a few more acts of apostacy on the one hand, and of hostility on the other, are necessary to extinguish dissent in this country for ever!

Now though we shall not attempt to calculate the amount of damage our cause has actually sustained by the withdrawment of the intelligent adherence and munificent patronage of these wealthy seceders, yet it will be desirable to advert to a few facts which may show that, after all the injury it has suffered from open enemies and treacherous friends, still it is not in that state of languor and decay which our opponents so fondly dream, but rather that there are many indications of a renovated vigour, the strength of which will yet be proved to the surprise, not to say the confusion, of croakers and prognosticators of every class.

The last twenty years, we are thankful to say, have increased the churches and institutions of our denomination at a ratio perfectly unprecedented in any former period, and under circumstances, too, that have tested the principles of our friends with no ordinary severity. Still, within that period, we have seen the number of our churches nearly doubled, and our Sunday-schools and our missions at home and abroad multiply in the same proportion their numbers of scholars and subscribers. New means of usefulness and new orders of agency have been devised and called forth which promise, by the blessing of the King of Zion, to give increasing strength and stability to our churches. Nothing, however, supplies a more sure and N.S. VOL. IV.-VOL. XXIII.

D d

satisfactory proof of the progress of our denomination than the present state of our academical institutions, as contrasted with their condition five and twenty years ago.

At that time, if we do not greatly mistake, the Independent churches did not possess a single freehold site on which they had built an edifice for collegiate purposes. Since then we have seen Homerton and Highbury, Coward and Airdale Colleges rise at a cost of more than £50,000, while some new institutions of equal, if not of greater promise, have recently sprung up. The foundation of Spring Hill College, by the munificence of a single family, is a striking instance of this sort, and the measures recently taken for the erection of THE LANCASHIRE INDEPENDENT COLLEGE, and which we have now to record, are still more animating, as they illustrate the wealth, intelligence, and christian liberality of the Congregational churches of that important county.

We cannot give our readers a more satisfactory account of the origin and progress of this effort than will be supplied by the following extracts from the reports of its devoted Committee for 1838 and 1839.

"Without any extended review of the origination or progress of the Blackburn Academy, it may here be stated, that it was at first established with a view to the supply of the religious wants of the county at large, and was organized in the years 1815 and 1816, at successive meetings held in Manchester, Preston, and Blackburn. The gentleman chosen to superintend the principal departments of tuition being the Rev. Joseph Fletcher, D.D., then minister of the Independent church in Blackburn, that town was fixed upon as the proper place of location. The academy was opened with four students, in December, 1816. Its prosperity since has been fluctuating, and the number of students receiving education in it has greatly varied at different periods. It has been the means of introducing about forty persons to the work of the ministry at home and abroad; it has been of essential service in the formation of new congregations in its vicinity; and has promoted the general interests of religion throughout the county in no inconsiderable degree. During recent years its funds have been adequately sustained, and the number of its students is greater at the present period than it has ever been before. But still the conviction has gained ground among the majority of the constituents, that a different locality is essential to its extension and prosperity, and that, in an age of general improvement, it must secure an increasing adaptation to its objects in all its arrangements, or fail to be regarded by the public as corresponding to the character of the times. It has become evident, on the one hand, that a collegiate building, adapted to the purposes of the institution, can no longer be dispensed with, while it is found on the other to be the pre

Our readers who wish to see these statements illustrated and confirmed, will do well to consult Dr. Bennett's History of Dissenters during the last thirty years, from 1808 to 1838, Chap. III.-On Seminaries for the Dissenting Ministry. We sincerely regret that we have not yet been able to do justice to that valuable addition to our Dissenting History,