following clause: "Item specialiter tu jurabis, quod inter nullas communitates vel personas istius Universitatis, impedies pacem, concordiam, et amorem, Nec conventiculis interesse debes, nec eis tacité vel expressé consentire; sed ea potius, modis quibus poteris, impedire. Excerp. e. Corp. Statut. Universit. Oxon. Tit. IX. Sec. 11, § 1. Will any of your readers have the goodness to say whether that oath is now taken, and if it is, what sense is put on the word conventiculis? X.* DEJECTION REPROVED: AN ANECDOTE. POOR Mary was returning home, the picture of penury and want, thoughtful, yet serene and placid, when she was joined by a lady of affluence and piety, but who was the subject of some afflictive visitations, and was threatened with more. She immediately began to relate her sorrows and apprehensions to poor Mary, who heard her with much attention, and then with all the tenderness of Christian sympathy, besought her to be com *The above query reminds us of our having somewhere heard the following anecdote. Complaint having been made to a head of a college at one of our Universities, that some of the students of his college had behaved improperly at a Dissenting place of worship, he summoned them before him, and thus addressed them; "Do you know, young gentlemen, that you are between two fires? In the first place, you have violated the Toleration Act; and in the second, you have acted contrary to the canons of the University, which forbid you to be present at conventicles." EDIT. forted, reminding her of the goodness and fidelity of that God who has promised never to forsake his people, and exhorting her to be grateful for the many mercies she now enjoyed, and to confide in the unchanging mercy and love of God for all future ones. By this time they had reached the door of her humble dwelling. Mary begged the lady to walk in, and taking her to a closet, said, "Pray, Ma'am, do you see any thing?" The lady replied "No." "You see, Ma'am," said poor Mary, "all I have in the world. But why should I be unhappy? I have Christ in my heart, and Heaven in my eye. I have the unfailing word of promise, that bread shall be given me, and water shall be sure, whilst I stay a little longer in this vale of tears; and when I die, a bright crown of glory awaits me through the merits of my Redeemer." ANECDOTE OF MR. BENJAMIN BENNETT. THE pious and learned Mr. Benjamin Bennett, author of "The Christian Oratory," being solicited to preach when he was once in London, seemed inclined to excuse himself, when Mr. Timothy Rogers, who was in company, broke out into some such expressions as these, "Oh preach, by all means preach, I would fain preach, but cannot: how do you know, but you may do some good, which you may never hear of till the day of judgment?" Wilson's History and Antiquities of IN perusing a recent volume of Travels in North America, I was much gratified to learn, that the people of colour, who are very numerous in the city of New York, have instituted what they call "A Wilberforce Society." It is indeed pleasing to reflect, that this distinguished senator, who has devoted his whole life to the great work of abolishing the accursed traffic in the flesh and bones of our fellow-creatures, has not laboured in vain. Wreaths of never-fading laurel, undrenched in human blood, do indeed adorn his brow; and he enjoys an enviable fame, unsullied, and as much above that of the mere conqueror, however numerous or splendid his victories, or vast his conquests, as the heavens are higher than the earth. Much however remains to be done, before this infamous trade (trade shall it still be called, which is nothing but the vilest robbery, oppression, and murder, on a large scale?) is completely exterminated. The friends of God and man should still employ their influence and exertions at home and abroad. The period, I fear, is yet distant, when they may be permitted to rest from their labours. It is a horrible and an alarming fact, that the slave trade yet exists in many parts of the world, and immense multitudes of the human race are still bought and sold like cattle in a fair, and involved in all the terrible calamities of interminable slavery; and the sentiment cannot be disguised, if ever it be destroyed, it must be through the instrumentality of the British people. Nothing can be more disgusting than to perceive, that this infamous system of oppression exists and flourishes, where we should least have expected to find it, IN THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA-yet such is really the case. The following advertisements are actually taken from their newspapers, and similar ones pollute most of their public journals "To be sold. A servant woman, acquainted with both city and country business, about thirty years of age, and sold because she wishes to change her place." New York paper. Twenty dollars reward will be paid for apprehending and lodging in jail, the following slaves, belonging to Joseph Irvin; Toм, a light mulatto, thirty-five years of age, can read and write, and preaches occasionally-and Charlotte, his wife; who decamped from their owner's plantation the 14th of September, 1817." “Negroes at auction. This morning, in front of our office, at eleven o'clock, will be sold for cash, four likely negroes." 66 The following sentences are from "An Ordinance of the City Council of New Orleans." Any slave, or slaves, residing or sleeping in any outhouse or building, but such as belong to their owners, shall receive twenty lashes. Any slave who shall walk in the street, or open place, with a stick, or cane, or cudgel, shall be carried to the police jail, and receive twenty-five lashes.-The dancing and merriment of slaves shall take place only on Sundays, and if any continue dancing after sunset, they shall receive twenty-five lashes.-Any slave who shall be guilty of disrespect to any white person shall receive thirty lashes." Reader! all this, and much more of the same kind, takes place in a country, whose inhabitants boast perpetually of their freedom!! Would the English people, however the citizens of the United States may despise them, endure such laws, or such prac tices? Assuredly they would not. his assistance to whip Cæsar; of "At Natchez, in the State of Missouri," says an intelligent traveller, "I saw fourteen vessels freighted with human beings for sale. They had been collected in the several States by slave dealers, and shipped from Kentucky for a market. They were dressed up to the best advantage, on the same principle that jockeys decorate horses for sale." The same writer adds, "Blacks who are possessed of the rights of citizenship, are not admitted into churches visited by white people. There exists a penal law, deeply written in the minds of the whole white population, which subjects their coloured fellow-citizens to unconditional contumely, and never-ceasing insult. Even the white criminals in prison will not cat with the black culprits, but are driven to a separate table. | Though New York is professedly a free state, it is only such on parch-woman citizen"-was the impertiment-the black Americans in it are practically and politically slaves."* The people of America seem to be of opinion with Mr. Jefferson, and to act on the principle, that the poor blacks are of an inferior species to the rest of mankind. Mr. Fearon affirms, "that in the States of New York and Jersey, the treatment of Americans of colour by their white countrymen, is worse than that of the brute creation. A few minutes before dinner my attention," says he, "was excited by the piteous cries of a human voice. Looking into a log barn I perceived the bar-keeper, and a stout man more than six feet high, called Colonel ***, and a negro boy about fourteen years of age, stripped naked, receiving the lashes of these monsters, who relieved each other in the use of a horsewhip. The poor boy fell on his knees praying that they would not kill him, and he would do any thing they pleased. At length the master of the inn arrived, and bade them desist, as the boy's refusal to cut wood was by his orders. The Colonel said, That he did not know what he had done, but that the bar-keeper requested Sketches of America, by H. B. Fearon, p. 61, 168, 270. A work which Eail Grey has publicly noticed with his approbation. These are scenes frequently exbibited in this boasted land of liberty -in a country where the people are so ridiculously fastidious, that the very servants will not endure to be called servants, and they are usually termed " Helps!" "Be kind enough," said Mr. Fearon, "to tell your mistress, that I want to see her." "My mistress, Sir! I tell you, I have no mistress, or master either. I will not tell her. You may go yourself to her, if you want Mrs. ***. In this country there are no mistresses or masters. I am a neut reply. The poor blacks, however, greatly to their cost, can tell a very different tale. A slaveholder is a master, or rather, perhaps, a tyrant of a horrible description. It would scarcely be believed, though it is literally a fact, that the Constitution of most of the different States begins with the following article, "ALL MEN are born equally free and independent.” And although in the New England, and some other States, slavery is professedly abolished, it appears, that even the free blacks, however respectable or excellent in character, are, in many respects, outcasts from society; as if "God had not made of one blood all the nations of the earth." Well might even Mr. Birkbeck exclaim, “I want language to express the loathing I feel for personal slavery; when practised by freemen it is most detestable. It is the leprosy of the United States-a foul blotch, which more or less contaminates the entire system in public and in private, from the President's chair to the cabin of the hunter."§ How can any liberal individual eulogize such a people? In every encomium I hear on this astonishing country, I cannot forget that, how +Ibid, p. 242-244. + Ibid, 81, Sketches, p. 434. ever the citizens of it may boast of their liberties, a large proportion of them are detestable slaveholders. And whatever are the defects of our Constitution in principle or in practice, thanks be to God 'Slaves cannot breathe in England-if their lungs They touch our country, and their shackles fall; What are the friends of God and To the reflecting mind a slave is a shocking spectacle. Yet how awful the consideration, that every individual who lives in the violation of the divine commands, is involved in the most fatal bondage. The body of the poor negro may be bound, but "in thought" he may still be as free as ever"-the oppressor may fetter his mortal frame, but he knows not what a range his spirit takes"-perhaps it rises to keaven and holds converse with the Eternal Majesty, and anticipates, with unknown rapture, the moment, when-set free for ever-he shall have an inheritance where the slaveholder has no admission--where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." But the sinner, who is the slave of his evil passions, is a voluntary bondsman of the worst kind-his mind is his present awful and degraded con- "Which whoso tastes, can be enslaved no more!" "If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed!” regions of darkness and woe, or Reader! eternal slavery in the liberty in the realms of light and victory, will be thy portion. Examine thyself, whether thou art in the faith. Hast thou been brought into the glorious liberty of God's dear children? A liberty from tyrannizing evil passions, and the due to thee on account of thy transcurse of God's righteous law, justly master, hast thou devoted thyself to gressions? Renouncing every other the service of the Lord Jesus? Has the grace of God effectually taught thee to deny ungodliness, and righteously, and godly in this preworldly lusts, and to live soberly, sent evil world? deserve! Great Liberator, that you may O come to the "have life, and have it more abunfettered as well as his body. Sin glorious salvation of the Son of God, dantly." How, if you neglect the and Satan tyrannize over the under-will you escape the misery, death, standing, will, and affections of their and utter ruin, which your iniquities votaries. Living and dying in this wretched bondage, as appears from No eye but his will pity, -no arm but his can possibly resa multitude of passages of Revelation, they are undone eternally to be gracious. Arise! Go to him cue you from destruction. He waits The present scene is a state of pro-without delay-go instantly-tobation, and the character that is formed in this world will survive the grave, and is unalterable. There is only ONE-O that all eyes and all hearts were directed to himwho can raise the moral slave from he calls thee,-and for thine infinite morrow may be too late. Hark! cometh to me I will in no wise cast encouragement he says, "Him that out!" Obituary. MRS. LYDIA ANN GREEN, OF COSELEY, whether I bring forth the fruits of holiness. O thou God of love! search and try me, and cleanse me from all iniquity. I hope I can experimentally say, that I do love God; and though I am a sinful creature, and prone to all that is IT pleased God to open her heart evil, and my best performances want early in life, to attend to the things washing in the blood of the Repertaining to her everlasting peace. deemer, yet I do love the ways of Under the affectionate ministry of holiness, and wish to walk therein. my valued friend, the Rev. Elisha I cannot be happy in any pursuit Smith, of Blockley, her mind was displeasing to my Redeemer. savingly impressed with the import- "This day I followed my dear ance of the great and sublime truths Lord in the ordinance of baptism.— of the Gospel of Christ. At the age I left my fears behind me. It was of fourteen she commenced a diary, indeed a comfortable opportunity to which she continued for some years, my soul. O how sensibly did I feel in which she recorded the dealings of the warmth of God's love animating God with her soul. In these inter- my heart! Though after I was inesting pages her habits of retirement, dulged with this blessed privilege, I self-examination, and devotion, are was led into the wilderness of tempevery where apparent. It may be tation, yet I can raise my Ebenezer, 'Hitherto the Lord hath perhaps of service to make a few and say, extracts. "I have reason to lament my many transgressions. When I went up to thy house, O my God, this morning, I found my heart wandering from thee. My sins might long since have plunged me into hell, had it not been for thy boundless mercy. "I wish to be deeply humbled, that I can ever contemplate my Redeemer suffering on the cross for me, and yet not feel 'one soft affection move.' What base ingratitude! How astonishing his grace, who condescended to take on him the 'form of a servant,' and to expire on the accursed tree for guilty sinners! O may I live to his glory! "Blessed be God, who has supported me under my trials, by enabling me to cast my whole care on him. I know that he did all things well; and I have reason to bless his holy name, since my afflictions have brought me nearer to himself. "In the presence of the Judge of all the earth, I would diligently search my heart, that I may know helped me!' To-day the Saviour removed my doubts, so that I could see the evil of sin, and a suitable fulness in Christ my righteousness. I am looking up to him for strength and grace, that I may hold fast my profession, and live to his glory 'Wither'd and barren should I be, "The subject to day was Gal. ii· 20.' He loved me, and gave himself for me.' I trust I could utter the language of the Apostle. Sitting at the Lord's table, I found my heart much affected in beholding the sufferings of my Saviour: it was a time of love, and I felt an ardent desire to give up my whole self to the Lord. "Revel. vii. 15. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple,' was the subject of this Our dear morning's discourse. Pastor treated of the happiness of the saints in glory. Unworthy as I am, may I be admitted among that hap |