Loughborough and Mountsorrel Fel- A List of the Committee of Deputies lowship Fund. That this Committee sees the importance of an unity of action in whatever assistance is given to India, and, therefore, gratefully avails itself of the very valuable offer which Dr. Thomas Rees has made of his personal services, who, from his official situation as Secretary to the Unitarian Society, and from his correspondence with William Roberts, of Madras, is eminently qualified to apply to the best purpose whatever money may be raised in England. That Dr. Thomas Rees be requested to accept the thanks of this Committee for the offer of his assistance, and to receive the sum of 57. to be applied in a manner most conducive to the dissemination of Unitarianism in India. The Committee takes this opportunity of again calling upon those Societies for aid, who have not yet announced their intention of co-operating in the design. Unitarian Association. THE public will no doubt give the Committee of this Society credit for every disposition to forward the wishes of the body of Unitarians, with regard to the proposed alteration of the Marriage Law. They will be aware, however, that in the present state of affairs, with Parliament so near its dissolution, it is impossible to do any thing with effect. The Committee will, however, eagerly embrace the first opportunity that shall offer, on the assembling of Parliament, to renew the discussion of the subject, hoping that the commencement of a new reign may be auspicious to the success of their earnest efforts in the task confided to their care. THE Annual Sermon, recommending the useful purposes of the Society for the Relief of the NECESSITOUS WIDOWS AND CHILDREN OF PROTESTANT DISSENTING MINISTERS, will be preached by the Rev. T. C. Edmonds, of Cambridge, at the Old Jewry Chapel, removed to Jewin Street, Aldersgate Street, on Wednesday the 5th of April next. Service to begin at Twelve o'clock. Appointed to protect the Civil Rights of the Three Denominations of Protestant Dissenters, for the Year 1820. William Smith, Esq. M. P. Chairman, Philpot Lane; Joseph Gutteridge, Esq. Deputy Chairman, Camberwell; James Collins, Esq. Treasurer, Spital Square; Samuel Favell, Esq. Camberwell; John Addington, Esq. Spital Square; John Towill Rutt, Esq. Clapton; Edward Busk, Esq. Pump Court, Temple; James Esdaile, Esq. Bunhill Row; W. Alers Hankey, Esq. Fenchurch Street; William Hale, Esq. Homerton; David Bevan, Esq. Walthamstow; William Burls, Esq. Lothbury; Joseph Bunnell, Esq. Southampton Row, Bloomsbury; James Gibson, Esq. Lime Street, Fenchurch Street; James Pritt, Esq. Wood Street, Cheapside; Thomas Wood, Esq. Little St. Thomas-Apostle, Queen Street; John Christie, Esq. Hackney Wick; Samuel Jackson, Esq. Hackney; William Titford, Esq. Turner Square, Hoxton; William Shrubsole, Esq. Bank; William Freme, Esq. Catherine Court, Tower Hill; Robert Wainewright, Esq. Gray's Inn Square; John Bentley, Esq. Highbury; William Marston, Esq. East Street, Red Lion Square. Quarterly Unitarian Meeting of Ministers in South Wales. On the 30th of Dec. last the Quarterly Meeting of Unitarian Ministers was held at Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, and notwithstanding the severity of the weather, was attended by ten ministers. Mr. B. Philips, of St. Clears, introduced the morning service, and Mr. John Davies, of Capel-y-Groes and Ystrad, Cardiganshire, preached from Acts iv. 19, on the principles of dissent from established religions. Mr. Davies was requested to publish the sermon by many that heard and admired it; but he declined to comply with their wishes. As soon as the service was concluded, a conference was held, at which the subject proposed and discussed was, "The Sin against the Holy Ghost:" Mr. Thomas Evans, of Aberdare, in the Chair. The next meeting is to be held at Carmarthen on the first Thursday after Easter Sunday, Mr. J. James, of Gelli-Onnen, to preach. In the evening, Mr. J. Thomas, of Pant-ydefaid, Cardiganshire, delivered a sermon, in English, on the goodness of God, from Psalm cxlv. 9, and Mr. J. James, of Gelli-Onnen, spoke in Welsh, on the kingdom of Christ not of this World, from John xviii. 36. In the evening of the 29th, a meeting was held at Aberdare, about four miles west of Merthyr, at which Mr. J. James, of J. JAMES. The next Meeting of the Gainsborough, Hull, Thorne, &c. Association, will be held at Lincoln, on Wednesday, March 29th. There will be service on the Tuesday evening, on Wednesday morning, and also in the evening. Irish Schools. It may not be known to all our readers that the BAPTISTS of this country have a Society for supporting SCHOOLS IN IRELAND, with a view to the introduction of the Scriptures amongst the Roman Catholic children. These schools have been violently opposed by some of the Roman Catholic priests, whose conduct on the occasion has been declared illegal by the Grand Jury of the county of Mayo. In reply, Dr. KELLY, the titular Archbishop of Tuam, has written several letters against the schools, in the Dublin Weekly Register. He has also addressed a Pastoral Letter on the same subject to the clergy and laity of his diocese, accompanied by a letter from the POPE to the Irish prelates, warning them against "Bible-schools, supported by the funds of the heterodox," and complaining "that the directors of these schools are, generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles translated into English by the Bible Society, and abounding in errors, with the sole view of seducing the youth and entirely eradicating from their minds the truths of the orthodox faith."-Notwithstanding this rescript, Dr. WALSH, Roman Catholic Bishop of Waterford, has lately enjoined upon the people of his diocese, in an "Apostolic Charge," to peruse carefully the Holy Scriptures, of which he says the Douay and English versions are alike in matter. In agreement with this liberal opinion, a Bible Society has been formed at Dublin for the purpose of printing and distributing amongst the poor, a translation of the Vulgate, or authorized Scriptures of the Roman Catholic Church. The expense of a stereotype edition of 20,000 copies is borne by both Protestants and Catholice; but Protestant peers and gentlemen seem to take the lead in the Society. To oppose with success the Protestant schools, the prelates perceive that they must have schools of their own; and thus, from whatever motives, the poor Irish will probably be henceforward better educated; an effect which vors of their species and all true Christians, especially such as sympathize in the wrongs of Ireland, will fervently rejoice. FOREIGN. FRANCE. THIS country, doomed to agitations, has been recently convulsed by an atrocious crime, the assassination of the Duc DE BERRI, second son of Monsieur, in whose line the Bourbons hoped for the perpetuation of their family. He fell on the night of Sunday week the 13th inst. by the hand of a political fanatic, who plunged a poniard into his breast at the door of the Opera House. The desperado's name is Louvel. He avows himself a Bonapartist, and glories in the deed. At present, no one can foretel the consequences of this event. The party adverse to liberty in the two Chambers are endeavouring to profit by it, in order to forward their scheme of invading the Charter. Bills, similar to those lately passed in England, are proposed for curbing the press and stifling the public voice. The French improve upon the British ministers, and ask for a suspension of the Habeas Corpus; that is, in effect, for the restoration of the Bastille, where persons suspected of being suspicious or hateful to sycophants or dreaded by apostates, may be shut up, at the will of a creature of the Court, without explanation, without trial, and, if the imprisonment be merely malicious, without the possibility of redress. Thus it is that violence and crime, on the part of the pretended friends, but in truth the worst enemies, of freedom, strengthen the hands of governments, and give to their tyranny the momentary advantage of public sympathy. [While we write this, intelligence is brought us of some new plot, some meditated act of desperation, against the King's ministers, detected in a handful of our deluded countrymen, who are known by their excessive violence, wickedness and folly. Should the fact agree with the report, the occurrence will be most deeply deplored, not by the partizans of ministers, but by the enlightened and temperate friends of liberty. It is as if the conspirators designed to increase the influence of Government at the ensuing general election.] Egyptian Annals.-The publication at Paris of LES ANNALES DES LAGIDES has disclosed a fact that the learned in general are number of reigns of the Greek Egyptian not acquainted with. The kings, successors to Alexander the Great, has been generally fixed at ten; but proof is here adduced that they amounted to twenty-one. This work was crowned last year with the particular sanction of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, at the competition for prizes; and it has been justly recommended in various French periodical publications, as one of the most important that has appeared on ancient history for many years.-It contains, in fact, the history of Egypt, under the Ptolemies, from Alexander to Augustus; and, as those Kings had a share in almost all the great events that occurred either in Europe or Asia, for about three centuries, a chronological synopsis of their history serves also to illustrate that of the princes or states that were their contemporaries. A number of chronological tables are annexed, with two cuts or plates, of medals. The author is M. FIGEAC. Turkish Bible.-Through the indefatigable attention of Professor KIEFFER, the Editor, aided by the advice of Baron SYLVESTER DE CACY, the New Testament having been completed at Paris, preparations are making to accomplish the printing of the whole Bible, under the same superintendence, with all practicable dispatch. Parga. The proprietors of a public journal published at Boulogue, entitled The Telegraph, have offered a prize to the author of the best heroic poem on the evacuation of Parga. The poets of all nations are invited to the competition. The prize, a beautiful silver urn, with antique emblems, bearing this motto, from Virgil, Nos patriæ fines et dulcia linquimus arva, Nos patriam fugimus. Chronicle of Eusebius.-The public have been already apprized of the publication, in the Armenian language, of the Chronicle of Eusebius; to which may be added that Dr. ZOHRAB, who brought the MSS. to Constantinople, has assisted M. MAJO in the Latin translation, and in the publication, by augmenting it with a copious preface, with notes, and with the Chronicle of Dr. SAMUEL, an Armenian writer who lived in the thirteenth century. AMERICA. UNITARIANISM IN AMERICA.-Our correspondence with the United States is considerably increased, and we expect to be able to furnish our readers with a more regular series of articles of intelligence from this country, interesting on so many accounts, but particularly as opening a door to religious truth. A respectable Correspondent, writing from Charleston, S. C. Dec. 13, 1819, says, "Unitarianism is rapidly increasing in this country. Prejudice is strong, but it is gradually yielding to the power of truth. Mr. CHANNING'S Ordination Sermon at Baltimore (see Mon Repos. XIV. 635, 648) went through eight editions in four months. Not less than 15,000 copies were sold in that period, and it is yet in high demand." Our Correspondent also sends for our work the following notice, promising further particulars in addition to those given (XIV. 241) respecting the rise of Unitarianism at Charleston:"ORDINATION. On Wednesday, Dec. 1, Mr. SAMUEL GILMAN, late an officer in Harvard University, was ordained to the pastoral charge of the Second Independent Church in Charleston, S. C. The Introductory Prayer and Sermon, by the Rev. Mr. TUCKERMAN, of Chelsea, Mass. The Ordaining Prayer and Charge, by the Rev. Mr. PARKS, Minister of the Independent Churches at Stoney Creek and Saltketcher, S. C. The Right-hand of Fellowship and Concluding Prayer, by the Rev. JARED SPARKS of Baltimore." The gentleman last-named is the minister of the new Unitarian Church, Baltimore, at whose ordination Mr. Channing preached his celebrated sermon, which, as we have before announced, is republished, in a cheap form, in this country. CATHOLIC MISSION IN KENTUCKY.The French mission in this state prospers to a degree almost incredible. The bishop, who assumed the direction of it in 1810, in the short space of four years procured the erection of twenty-seven churches and founded forty-three distinct congregations. He is now raising a cathedral, and the Protestants readily second his wishes. The missionaries are spreading over a territory of 500 leagues adjacent to the Missouri. SPAIN. A cloud of mystery hangs over this ill-fated land. It is known that for weeks there has been an insurrection amongst the troops destined for the subjugation of the revolted South American Colonies, and that the Insurgents have been able to make a stand against such troops as FERDINAND can command. But what is the strength, or what the design of the Insurgent troops, how far the rest of the soldiery feels with them, and with what sentiments the people look on, is at present matter of conjecture. Viscount CHATEAUBRIAND, the French Ultra, has discovered that the insurrection at Cadiz is the work of the English Radicals! This discovery is worthy of the sagacity of a writer who pronounces FERDINAND "the best monarch in the world"! THE Monthly Repository. No. CLXXI.] MARCH, 1820. Vol. XV.] Translation from the French of a Biographical Notice of PAUL RABAUT, who was upwards of fifty years Pastor of the Reformed Church of Nimes. [Extracted from a work entitled "Réflexions Philosophiques et Politiques sur la Tolérance Religieuse, &c. Par J. P. de N***."] ALTHOUGH we name of PAUL RABAUT with names rendered illustrious by great learning or high station, we mean not to assert that he equalled a Melanchton or a Fénélon in talents and erudition; he was, nevertheless, their equal in virtue; and if the proscription, which barbarous and tyrannical laws had pronounced against his sacerdotal functions, prevent his ministry from appearing in that imposing splendour which graces the dignitaries of the Romish Church, he is the more entitled to our esteem: we regard him with especial admiration when we find that, deprived as he was of the support of authority, proscribed, destitute of the grandeur and wealth which dazzle the vulgar eye, whilst confined to the duties of his humble station, he acquired by his virtues alone as strong a claim to the gratitude of Frenchmen, as could have been acquired by the possessors of the highest dignities and the most distinguished talents. His Christian virtues, exerted during his long ministry, gave him an influence over a numerous, active and ardent people, exasperated by the most cruel persecution; and enabled him to restrain all the Reformed of France, whom the impolitic fanaticism of the government seemed desirous of driving to extremity. Like our worthies and knights of old who took for their motto, God and the King, Paul Raband never swerved from those two immutable principles-obedience to God, and submission to the sovereign; and when he and his colleagues and the whole sect were suffering persecution from the king or his agents, he ever opposed tyranny by patience, cruel violence by unexampled moderation, and atrocious slander by inexhaustible charity. It must be apparent to the reader of our work, that we render not a blind and servile homage to all the clergy of the different sects. We pay little respect to the erudition, the reasoning powers and the genius of a Luther, a Calvin, or a Bossuet, unless evangelical mildness, that tolerating spirit, which distinguish a Melanchton, a Lascasas, a Fénélon; and which alone are able to make religion appear lovely: we shall not then be accused of prejudice or partiality if, whilst cherishing the hope that an abler pen than our own will pay the debt of gratitude, owed by the nation at large, and more especially by the province of Languedoc, to Paul Rabaut, we attempt a slight sketch of the life of that respectable pastor, and of the services which he rendered to his country and to the government which had proscribed him. Had he been a Lutheran, a Jew, or a Mussulman, we should have paid as honourable a tribute to his memory: it is not our object to extol the speculative theologian, or recommend his doctrines, but to obtain admiration for the virtuous citizen, the benefactor of his country, by making known his public and private life. Above all, far be it from us to attempt, by recalling the idea of these persecutions, to revive the hatred and resentment which our present rulers have subdued, and which cannot exist towards a government like that under which we live. The laws that authorized those violences have been abrogated, and the men who were guilty of them are no more; we, therefore, write of such events, and the reader should peruse them, as we contemplate the proscriptions of Marius and Sylla; and the happy result must be to make us appreciate all the blessings of that peaceful state which we enjoy from the wise system of toleration adopted by NAPOLEON. PAUL RABAUT was born at Bédarieux, now in the department of l'Hérault, on the 9th of January, 1718, of a Protestant family, in which not riches, but virtue and piety were hereditary. In consequence of the perse cution endured by their sect, his parents did not design him for the ministry, nor endeavour to cultivate the taste for study which appeared in him at a very early age; they contented themselves with fostering his pious disposition, which, in their eyes, was all that is essential to man. The young pupil was so distinguished for love of study and aptitude for the sciences, that his schoolmaster was accustomed to call him the minister of Charenton. The religious zeal of his family led them sometimes to afford an asylum to the pastors, who, not being able to occupy any fixed dwelling, were compelled to wander from house to house, and more frequently to seek refuge among the woods and the rocks. One of these ministers of the desert, (so called, because they in fact lived and performed their ministry in deserts,) having been welcomed into the house of Rabaut, thought he perceived in the youth the disposition of an apostle, and he was not mistaken; for, since the days of the apostles no man ever possessed more of their spirit than he. The pastor invited him to enter the ministry, which amongst the Reformed had at that time no other recompense to offer than a wandering life, anxiety, suffering and martyrdom. Young Rabaut was but sixteen years old, and his preliminary studies had not been sufficiently profound; yet he felt himself called to the profession, and from that moment devoted his powers to it with astonishing ardour: he abandoned, with no other regret than that which filial tenderness inspired, the tranquil sweets of the paternal abode, to brave the dangers of a fugitive and proscribed state. He wished to begin a more regular course of study; but the continual agitations to which he was exposed, and the precautions he was obliged to take, rendered this laborious and even impossible; for the persecution was so barbarous and unsparing, that every minister who could be seized was led to the gallows. Unable to remain many days successively in the same house, and frequenting only remote cottages, Rabaut possessed no means of improving himself in the learning peculiar to his profession. The needful books were as rigorously proscribed as the pastors themselves; he was, therefore, limited to mere oral instruction from the minister whom he accompanied, who had not himself studied deeply. Whilst going from house to house among his hospitable friends, the subject of our narrative met with a young lady at Nimes who had the courage willingly to share his fate and partake of his dangers; and the house from which he received this beloved wife was a refuge which many times preserved his life. He was only a student at the time of his marriage, and he felt that, to render himself more worthy of the ordination to be conferred by the imposition of hands, it was necessary to perfect himself in the study of theology for that purpose he went to Lausanne, and after some time he was invested with the title of minister of the holy gospel. : The dreadful fate of a great number of ministers in France did not deter Rabaut from coming back into his country. He settled at Nimes on his return. He soon distinguished himself so much that people flocked from all parts to hear his preaching. A sonorous voice and distinct pronounciation enabled him to be heard at a great distance in the open air, by an auditory which was always numerous, and sometimes composed of ten or twelve thousands. His sermons were more remarkable for abundant zeal and pure morality, than for rhetorical ornaments, or for a display of erudition that was not required by his subject; but he possessed the erudition most essential to his calling, -a profound knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. His eloquence was of the best kind, the eloquence of the heart; and by that alone he frequently melted all his auditors into tears. But it was in prayer that his chief excellence lay: no one ever addressed the Divine Being with more humility, fervour and unction; he never failed to touch the heart and elevate the soul; he had also the happiest talent for exhorting the sick and the dying. He succeeded at length in gaining the confidence of the Catholics themselves; not of the fanatics, who, in every religion, grant it to those only who cherish their own opinions; but of the reasonable Catholics, and even of Becdelièvre, the Bishop of Nimes, who frequently consulted with him on the means of effecting a reconciliation, or on other subjects calculated to maintain peace between the two sects. The many virtues and the rare qua |