truth, of which the Church should be the
living organization, has no existence, that it has no mission in this
world, that the Bible is to be trampled under foot, that the Saviour is
to be abolished, and that for man, instead of the narrow path and the
heavenly crown, nothing is left but that he should eat, and drink, and
die. Such, however, I believe, is Mr. Holyoake's Gospel. As to his
utterances on Sunday when I heard him, they were of the poorest character
possible. The subject was the common people; and after describing three
or four classes of them, he finished with the inculcation of the by no
means original idea--that they were not so bad as they seem, that we had
to respect in them the humanity which, under favourable circumstances,
might be developed into something better. I never heard Mr. Holyoake
preach before, and I shall take care never to hear him again. As a
speaker, one of Mr. Spurgeon's rawest students would beat him hollow.

THE INDEPENDENT RELIGIOUS REFORMERS.

The Theists in London are, we are told, very numerous, and yet, till
about ten years since, no steps had been taken by them to provide public
buildings in which to assemble for instruction and conversation, and no
church had been opened in which they could invite their friends to hear
the principles of Theism explained and defended. In order to supply that
want, Dr. Perfitt, a layman, resolved upon renting South Place Chapel,
Finsbury Square, for the purpose of delivering lectures and discourses
upon various religious topics. In 1858 the Society of Independent
Religious Reformers was organized out of the hearers he had thus gathered
around him. A committee was elected, rules were passed, and the
following were declared to be the objects of the Society:--

1. To secure the association and co-operation of all persons who are
desirous of cultivating the religious sentiment in a manner essentially
free from the evil spirit of creed, from the intolerance of sectarianism,
and the leaven of priestcraft; of those persons who respect the authority
of reason, and reverentially accept the decrees of conscience.

2. To discover and methodize truths connected either with the laws of
nature, the progress of thought, or the lives of good men in all ages and
countries, so that they may be rendered of practical value as guides to a
healthy, moral, and manly life.

3. To assist, as in the performance of a religious duty, in the
regenerati