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Mill Hill Chapelill Hill Chapelill Hill Chapel

City Square Leedsity Square Leedsity Square LeedsLS 5EBS 5EBS 5EB

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Letter from the EditorThinking back to this me last year, we had to cancel

our Palm Sunday service for the rst me, due to the

snow at the me. Hopefully that wont happen this year! We

have been fortunate in missing the worst of this winters bad

weather, although I write this with some trepidaon in case I

have now jinxed us for March and April. Such is life when wring

in advance!

A couple of advance nocesdont forget the Le Tour Grand

Depart is the weekend of July 5th/6th. We are not currently

ancipang problems with that Sundays service at Mill Hill, asthe rst stage, Leeds-Harrogate, takes place on the Saturday.

Town will be more or less shut down on the 5th, but so far as we

know should be open as normal on the 6th. Well let you know if

we hear anything to the contrary.

Even further in the future, Heritage Open Days 2014 will be the

weekend September 11-14, and the current plan is to open the

Chapel on Saturday 13th. Wed like to aract even more peoplethan last year, so let me know if you have any bright ideas on

events or publicity we might be able

to put on!

Unfortunately the Editors crystal ball

is sll a bit foggy about such useful

things as winning loery numbers...

Eleanor ickenson

The Record Mailing ListsIf anybody would like to receive their copy of The

Recordby email or by post, please pass your details on

to the Editor, either in person at the Chapel, or by email

to millhillrecord@gmail.com

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Organ Concerts

On Tuesday, April 22nd, at 1pm our Director of Music, Anthony

Norclie, will give his annual Concert of Organ Music for Passionde

& Easter. It has always been deemed appropriate to not onlypresent a selecon of the glorious and celebratory music associated

with the Easter season, but, also, to intersperse it with pieces

special to the two weeks prior to that great event, i.e. Passionde

and, in parcular, Holy Week, when composers were profoundly

inspired by the events leading up to Christs death and for which

they produced some beauful and very moving works.

May 13th at 1pm sees the launch, by Dr. Simon Lindley, of this

years Grand Series of Summer Organ Concerts here at Mill Hill.

There are 12 weekly Tuesday lunchme concerts on oer, to be

given by disnguished guest players and our own, Anthony

Norclie. Indeed, this will be the 20th year of these ever -popular

feasts of music in the citys musical calendar. As usual, admission is

free with a rering collecon taken to defray any expenses incurred

and for the organ fund. We hope to see as many Mill Hill members

as possible. Details of the series will appear in the next issue of The

Record.We would also like to say thankyou toKeith Newell for presiding at

the organ whilst Anthony was on holiday in January.

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When is Easter?

The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter forcontention. By the later 2nd century, it was accepted that

the celebration of the holiday was a practice of thedisciples and an undisputed tradition. The Quartodeciman

controversy, the first of several Easter controversies, thenarose concerning the date on which the holiday should be

celebrated.

The term Quartodeciman refers to the practice of celebrating Easter on Nisan 14 of

the Hebrew calendar, "the Lord's passover" (Leviticus 23:5). According to the churchhistorian Eusebius, the Quartodeciman Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna, by tradition adisciple of John the Evangelist) debated the question with Anicetus (bishop of

Rome). The Roman province of Asia was Quartodeciman, while the Roman andAlexandrian churches continued the fast until the Sunday following (the Sunday ofUnleavened Bread), wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Neither Polycarp nor

Anicetus persuaded the other, but they did not consider the matter schismatic either,parting in peace and leaving the question unsettled.

It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice continued. But both those who

followed the Nisan 14 custom, and those who set Easter to the following Sunday hadin common the custom of consulting their Jewish neighbours to learn when the month

of Nisan would fall, and setting their festival accordingly. By the later 3rd century,

however, some Christians began to express dissatisfaction with the custom of relyingon the Jewish community to determine the date of Easter. The chief complaint wasthat the Jewish communities sometimes erred in setting Passover to fall before the

Northern Hemisphere spring equinox.

Because of this dissatisfaction with reliance on the Jewish calendar, some Christiansbegan to experiment with independent computations. Others, however, felt that the

customary practice of consulting Jews should continue, even if the Jewishcomputations were in error.

This controversy between those who advocated independent computations, and thosewho wished to continue the custom of relying on the Jewish calendar, was formallyresolved by the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which endorsed the move toindependent computations, effectively requiring the abandonment of the old custom

of consulting the Jewish community in thoseplaces where it was still used.

Some scholars have concluded that nodetailed method of determining the date of

Easter was specified by the Council. In any

case, in the years following the council, thecomputational system that was worked out by

the church of Alexandria came to be

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normative. It took a while for the Alexandrian rules tobe adopted throughout Christian Europe, however. TheChurch of Rome continued to use an 84-year lunisolar

calendar cycle from the late 3rd century until 457. Itthen switched to an adaptation by Victorius of Aquitane

of the Alexandrian rules.

Early Christians in Britain and Ireland also used an 84-year cycle. From the 5thcentury onward this cycle set its equinox to 25 March and fixed Easter to the

Sunday falling in the 14th to the 20th of the lunar month inclusive. This 84 -yearcycle was replaced by the Alexandrian method in the course of the 7th and 8thcenturies. Churches in western continental Europe used a late Roman method until

the late 8th century during the reign of Charlemagne, when they finally adoptedthe Alexandrian method. Since 1582, when the Catholic Church adopted the

Gregorian calendar while the Eastern Orthodox and most Oriental OrthodoxChurches retained the Julian calendar, the date on which Easter is celebrated has

again differed.

Reform of the dateIn the 20th century, some individuals and institutions have propounded a fixed

date for Easter, the most prominent proposal being the Sunday after the secondSaturday in April. Despite having some support, proposals to reform the date havenot been implemented. An Orthodox congress of Eastern Orthodox bishops, which

included representatives mostly from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the

Patriarch of Serbia, met in Constantinople in 1923, where the bishops agreed tothe Revised Julian Calendar.

In the United Kingdom, the Easter Act 1928 set out legislation to allow the date ofEaster to be fixed as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April (or, in

other words, the Sunday in the period from 9 to 15 April). However, thelegislation has not been implemented, although it remains on the Statute book and

could be implemented subject to approval by the various Christian churches.

At a summit in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997, the World Council of Churches (WCC)proposed a reform in the calculation of Easter which would have replaced the

present divergent practices of calculating Easter with modern scientific knowledgetaking into account actual astronomical instances of the spring equinox and full

moon based on the meridian of Jerusalem, while alsofollowing the Council of Nicea position of Easter being

on the Sunday following the full moon. Therecommended World Council of Churches changeswould have sidestepped the calendar issues andeliminated the difference in date between the Eastern

and Western churches. The reform was proposed for

implementation starting in 2001, but it was notultimately adopted by any member body.

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Joseph Priestley FRS 1733-1804

Joseph Priestley was an English theologian, Dissenting clergyman,natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who

published over 150 works. He is usually credited with the discovery ofoxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state, although Carl Wilhelm

Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery.

During his lifetime, Priestley's considerable scientific reputation rested

on his invention of soda water, his writings on electricity, and his discovery ofseveral "airs" (gases), the most famous being what Priestley dubbed "dephlogisticated

air" (oxygen). However, Priestley's determination to defend phlogiston theory and toreject what would become the chemical revolution eventually left him isolated withinthe scientific community. Priestley's science was integral to his theology, and he

strongly believed in the free and open exchange of ideas, and advocated tolerationand equal rights for religious Dissenters.

Priestley was born to an established English Dissenting family in Birstall, nearBatley. He was the oldest of six children born to Mary Swift and Jonas Priestley, afinisher of cloth. To ease his mother's burdens, Priestley was sent to live with hisgrandfather around the age of one. He returned home, five years later, after his

mother died. When his father remarried in 1741, Priestley went to live with his auntand uncle, the wealthy and childless Sarah and John Keighley. Because Priestley was

precocious, his aunt sought the best education for the boy, intending him for the

ministry.

Around 1749, Priestley became seriously ill and believed he was dying. Raised as adevout Calvinist, he believed a conversion experience was necessary for salvation,

but doubted he had had one. This emotional distress eventually led him to questionhis theological upbringing, causing him to reject election and to accept universalsalvation. As a result, the elders of his home church, the Independent Upper Chapel

of Heckmondwike, refused him admission as a full member.

Priestley moved with his family to Leeds in 1767, and he became Mill Hill Chapel's

minister. When Priestley became its minister, Mill HillChapel was one of the oldest and most respectedDissenting congregations in England; however, duringthe early 18th century the congregation was losing

members to the charismatic Methodist movement. Priest-ley believed that by educating the young, he could

strengthen the bonds of the congregation.

In his three-volume Institutes of Natural and Revealed

Religion (177274), Priestley outlined his theories of

religious instruction. The doctrines he explicated wouldbecome the standards for Unitarians in Britain. This work

marked a change in Priestley's theological thinking that is

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critical to understanding his later writingsit paved the way forhis materialism and neccessitarianism (the belief that a divinebeing acts in accordance with necessary metaphysical laws).

Priestley's major argument in the Institutes was that the only

revealed religious truths that could be accepted were those thatmatched one's experience of the natural world. The Institutesshocked and appalled many readers, primarily because itchallenged basic Christian orthodoxies, such as the divinity of

Christ and the miracle of the Virgin Birth. Methodists in Leeds penned a hymnasking God to "the Unitarian fiend expel / And chase his doctrine back to Hell." Indemanding that his readers apply the logic of the emerging sciences and

comparative history to the Bible and Christianity, he alienated religious andscientific readers alikescientific readers did not appreciate seeing science used

in the defence of religion and religious readers dismissed the application ofscience to religion.

Many of Priestley's political writings supported the repeal of the Test andCorporation Acts, which restricted the rights of Dissenters. They could not holdpolitical office, serve in the armed forces, or attend Oxford and Cambridge unless

they subscribed to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England. Dissentersrepeatedly petitioned Parliament to repeal the Acts, arguing that they were beingtreated as second-class citizens.

Priestley's friends urged him to publish a work on the injustices experienced by

Dissenters; the result was hisEssay on the First Principles of Government(1768).An early work of modern liberal political theory, itunusually for the timedistinguished political rights from civil rights with precision and argued forexpansive civil rights. Priestley identified separate private and public spheres,

contending that the government should only havecontrol over the public sphere. Education and religion,

in particular, he maintained, were matters of privateconscience and should not be administered by the

state. Priestley's later radicalism emerged from his

belief that the British government was infringing uponthese individual freedoms.

Priestley's friends wanted to find him a morefinancially secure position. In 1772, prompted by

Richard Price and Benjamin Franklin, Lord Shelburne,wrote to Priestley asking him to direct the education ofhis children and to act as his general assistant.Although Priestley was reluctant to sacrifice his

ministry, he accepted the position, resigning from Mill

Hill Chapel on 20 December 1772, and preaching hislast sermon on 16 May 1773.

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Chapel Management Committee Susan CogganChapel Management Committee meetings will be on:

Wednesday 19th March and Wednesday 16th April

ANTHEMS DURING MARCH 2014

Mar 2nd: View me, Lord - Richard LloydMar 9th: Turn Thy face from my sins - Thomas Attwood

Mar 16th:Hear my prayer, O Lord - Jacob ArcadeltMar 23rd:God be in my head - John Rutter

Mar 30th (Mothering Sunday):Loving God - Peter Aston

ANTHEMS DURING APRIL 2014

Apr 6th:Ave verum corpus - W. A. MozartApr 13th (Palm Sunday):A Palm Sunday Antiphon - David C. MorganApr 20th (Easter Day):He is risen - Cecil CopeApr 27th: Good Christian men rejoice and sing - Ernest Bullock

Flowerslowers Welcomerselcomers for March April 2014or March April 2014Mar 2nd: In memory of Leonard & Harry Marston

and Maud Bailey (Auntie Maud)

Hunslet Memorial Flowers In memory of Ida & Herbert PerryRoy Coggan

Mar 9th: Flower Fund

Roy PerryMar 16th: In memory of Mr & Mrs Brightwell, Ernest, Susan Coggan

Emily, Clifford & Edna

Mar 23rd: Flower Fund Roy PerryMar 30th: Flower Fund Roy Perry

Apr 6th: In memory of Brian & Betty Rich Roy CogganApr 13th: In memory of Philip & Howarth Barran & Roy Perry

Stella Allison & Donald Barran

Apr 20th: Flower Fund Susan CogganApr 27th: Flower Fund Roy Perry

If anyone would like to make a donation to provide flowers in memory of a

loved one, to celebrate anniversaries or remember a birthday, then pleasecontactJoan Perry orSusan Coggan (Flower Secretary). A few dates in the calen-

dar are still available . . . . .

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Dates for your diaryLeeds is a vibrant city with a great variety of events goingon. Some of those listed below may be of interest, all ofwhich are free. (The Editor receives no recompense for

mentioning events here, honest!).Leeds Steampunk Market 10am Sat/Sun 1-2 Mar Armley Mills MuseumTea and cake, and fancy clothes, birds of prey, films, artists and authorsA Cat & Mouse Story 2pm Sat Mar 1st S&A Burton Gallery, Leeds UniJoin author Jacinta Elliot to tell stories and make puppetsCassia String Quartet 1pm Weds 5th Mar Leeds College of MusicThe Cassia quartet perform music by Mendelssohn and HaydnArtspace: Sound is Art

10am Sat 8th Mar

Leeds Art Gallery

Family workshop based on the new exhibition by Bruce McLeanOrgan Recital 1pm Mon 17th Mar Leeds Town HallDarius Battiwalla performs music by Brahms and BachPhotowalk 1pm Sat 22nd Mar Kirkstall AbbeyBring your own cameraguided walk around the Abbey to take great photosCello and Piano Recital 1pm Weds 9th April Leeds College of MusicMusic by Schumann and RachmaninovTurn Yorkshire Yellow 2pm Thurs 10th Apr Kirkstall AbbeyFree seeds for yellow plants! Sunflowers, marigolds, yellow tomatoes to growThe Saviour 1pm Mon 14th Aprl Leeds Town HallThe Minster choir and Simon Lindley perform music by William Lloyd WebberEaster Organ Recital 1pm Tues 22nd Apr Mill Hill ChapelA recital of music for the Easter season by Anthony NorcliffePicture Borrowing 11am Wed 26 Apr Leeds City Art GalleryBrowse the works of art at the Gallery, and take one home if you like it!

Chapel ChatSunday services duringMarch and April 2014Always at 10.45am

Mar 2nd: Rev George Callander Apr 6th: Jo James

Mar 9th: John Goodchild Apr 13th (Palm Sunday): Jonathan Coggan

Mar 16th: Roy Coggan Apr 20th (Easter Day): Rev George Callander

Mar 23rd: Stephen Carlile

Apr 27th: Rev Jim Corrigall

Mar 30th (Mothering Sunday): Janet Gadsby

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Facilities Manager / LettingsMalcolm Clarke Chapel (0113) 243 3845

Chairman of the CongregationDirector of Music Anthony Norcliffe Home (01274) 637 535The Record Editor Eleanor Dickenson Mobile (0773) 631 7215

Email millhillrecord@gmail.com@millhillchapel

CONFLICTor UNITY?

There is no greater cause of conflict in our world todaythan the diversity of race, religion, culture and creed.Israel, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Russia, Spain, Africa,

India, Indonesia and elsewhere : this is fundamentally the case. Yetwhether we are Jew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai or a

member of any other religious faith, we share the same universe; thesame planet Earth; the same environment; the same human biology andthe same evolutionary process of nature. Clearly then, without a move-ment toward greater unity as one world and one people, there will be nopeace.

Leeds is a modern city, which incorporates people from a variety of cultur-

al and religious backgrounds. Their children sit alongside each other inschools, and lie alongside each other in hospitals. Yet the traditions of pre-vious generations present obstacles and barriers to the natural and neces-sary integration of modern-day communities. It is now imperative that hu-man beings everywhere embrace a vision of the oneness of God and ofHumankind. Peace and harmony for future generations depends directlyupon the success of this challenge. Of course, such unity will not comeeasily or overnight, and there will be many objections along the way. Nev-ertheless an attempt must be made, and where better to begin by way of

example to the world, than in our fine city of Leeds?

This matter will not go away, and it is of little use hiding in our Syna-gogues, Temples, Gurdwaras, Mosques and Churches, and thinking thatwe can continue safe in our exclusive, cultural and religious, traditions. Asintelligent and responsible adults, we have a duty to our children and toour world to address the problem now. If you share our vision, or are insympathy and agreement with our views, then perhaps you would like tomake contact with us, and together - whatever our differences - we might

begin to find and establish that vital path to greater unity.