still less acceptable to Dr. Clarke than even the former; as assuming the affirmative of the simple humanity of Christ-an assumption which Christians, claiming the appellation of orthodox, are, of course, not yet prepared to admit. SIR, A. C. Portsmouth, Feburary 15, 1820. sure the different conduct of those preachers, who thought that such were the occasions on which it was necessary and proper for the doctrines of Unitarianism to be elucidated and defended. I was not aware till now, that I belonged to such a water and milk Society. Mr. Belsham's observations did not appear to me to apply to any societies which had not associated on Huma nitarian principles. The ALLOW me to state, that at the Unitarian Society certainly Southern tarian Society, no preamble was admitted, or even thought of, for this, among other reasons, that the great majority of those who were expected to become members, were Arians. Dr. Toulmin preached the first sermon, at the General Baptist (Arian) Chapel in Portsmouth, "" on the Unity of God and the character of Jesus Christ." This discourse was considered as too doctrinal and too much on the Humanitarian scheme. Some of its Vectian members became alarmed; and to avoid the scandal, as they then thought, of belonging to a "Socinian Society," proposed and carried the resolution, "that, by calling ourselves Unitarians, we mean only to avow our belief of the simple Unity of God: thus departing from the principle on which the Society was established, of avoiding the public avowal of any particular sentiment, beyond what was included in the term Unitarian. Mr. Belsham, if I recollect rightly, was invited to preach before the Southern Unitarian Society;" he complied with the wish of the Society; and was afterwards informed of the nature of the Society's Unitarianism. As a gentleman and a Christian, Mr. Belsham would avoid giving intentional offence to the Society, after the intimation which had been given him; and, therefore, recommended to its members, "the study of the Scriptures." Some of them have, with advantage and credit to themselves, followed his advice; and, particularly, two of them, who were the most active in procuring the adoption of the above resolution, and who are now zealous preachers of the humanity of Christ. Your Correspondent "Vectis" observes, [p. 21, "several of our succeeding preachers, like Mr. Belsham, adapted their discourses to the character and design of the Society." By this remark he holds up to public cen if associate on those principles, for the A MEMBER OF THE SOUTHERN Liverpool, SIR, January 31, 1820. HE following extract will, perT your readers, who may wish to peruse haps, be interesting to many of the testimony of eye-witnesses to the progress of religious truth in the quarter of the world to which it refers. It is taken from the Christian Disciple, odical publication conducted at Boston, a highly interesting and excellent peri(United States of America,) where a society has recently been established for the printing and distribution of books and tracts, controversial and practical, on a plan similar to many of our own institutions. In New York also our Christian brethren are not inactive, and papers from that city, announce the opening, by the Rev. Francis Parkman, of Boston, of a chapel there for the worship of the One God. T. "We shall limit our remarks to the progress of Unitarianism among ourselves, because, though the course has been similar in the parent country, the facts which we might state would not be so familiar to our readers. It has grown up here under every circumstance of discouragement. The soil was parched and the sky inclement, and nothing but the ctures of our “TROUT. never enough saimented firmy, ve now ma beng better informed, for gr esteem them as highly ipernit J. T. RUTT. The Sermon "On the DocDivine Influence," concerning Z. Z. (p. 13) inquires, was preached at the ordination of the Hey Messrs. Thomas and John Jervis i 1779." It was published that year, and again in 1787, among " Discourses on Various Subjects." I have just now reprinted it in the Fifteenth Volume of Dr. Priestley's Works. I ought sooner to have mentioned that I have withheld the remainder of tion from that care, the Translation of Locke's Letters, from an apprehension that they would not be sufficiently interesting to the generality of your readers. March 2, 1820. in m res or . of I mea in t trine yun contit. Exary on the mutual Relation of Christianity and Learning. Bune incre forcant, sacris arctissimo T J. A. ERNESTI HE interesting subject wach I propose to consider, in the preat ssa, will be treated not ab statently but historically. I shall therefore take a short eview of the esmu of the world, as to Literature and Scene, at the introduction of the Gospel of the influence of this religion, in is best and earliest period, on the bore them, on The Tomsong of C serion it has it is ne Wester stifled a learn, b. limbs, wi multiply. council di crime of er Mansfield, wishes of h 1811, after years, Mr. A his example and, nothing son, of Broo course somethi Nor is the doct tion of the counte wedge of the are, of the proofs of the line that were afforded at the beau of Letters, and of the mise of these lessings in our own times. From set a stesen of facts, rapid and impets as it must be, some general, inburnt and seasonable conclusions turion. The period which Divine Wisdom fixed upon for revealing the gospel, history shews to have been the fittest that could be chosen. That age of the world, for example, was eminently learned nor did Christianity shrink from submitting its pretensions to the most enlightened nations, and to cities renowned for the attachment of their inhabitants to Science and the Arts. At the æra of our Saviour's birth, the Romans were masters of nearly every part of the civilized globe; Judæa herself being a subject province, though destined soon to wear the badge of a still more abject and galling slavery." It was during the reign of Augustus Cæsar that Rome chiefly boasted, nor without reason, of her literary productions. From Greece, whom she had subdued, she received rich advantages, in point of philosophy and taste:† and these she diffused, in a considerable degree, through the countries which she had now united under her domition. The happy influence of this state of things, was felt even by the Jews, who, in consequence of the number of native Romans that lived among them, became better acquainted than they could otherwise have been with what passed in the capital, and in different quar ers of the earth. But if Christianity was first published in an enlightened age, may we not fairly presume that it is friendly Learning, and has nothing to dread, or rather has every thing to hope, from the exercise of Learning on its evidences and its nature? Can this ference be resisted or evaded? Was a matter of accident that our religion ppeared in such circumstances, and such a season? No believer in the providence of God will hold this lanThe fact, then, that the gospel not shun the light, does not frown the cultivation and improvement of intellectual powers, should at least pose every man to give the doctrine Christ a patient and candid hearing: dafterwards other and more direct ments may perhaps satisfy him of Our next inquiry is, what effects is rath. were produced by the religion of Jesus Christ, when taught by himself and his inspired followers, on the learning of the age? With this it did not attempt any positive interference: its great discoveries related to Eternity rather than to Time; and it aimed at improving the present condition of men by the gradual progress of its mild and benignant spirit still more than by express commands and prohibitions. Accordingly, it did not censure Gentile literature and science, as far as they were agreeable to sound reason, and consistent with moral purity. The illustrious apostle of the gospel among the Heathens, was even selected for his office on account of the large share of learning which he possessed, in addition to his other qualifications for the undertaking and of this attainment he frequently availed himself. Paul was what it is now customary to style a man of education as well as parts; no stranger to either the elegancies or the depths of knowledge. But the literature of that day was much better than its science. Although the Greek and Roman writers are still our masters, and ought to be our models, in nearly every kind of composition, yet we have unspeakably surpassed them in the philosophy of Nature. Here Revealed Religion has been eminently beneficial. From the moment that a Heathen became a convert to it, he was furnished with advantages which he had not hitherto enjoyed, for gaining a correct acquaintance with this philosophy. True Science conducts the mind to the acknowledgment of one God, the only Author, Preserver, and Lord of the creation it teaches us that, in strictness, there is no other will, no other energy, throughout the universe than his. And Christianity does the same : he who carefully reads Paul's discourse to the people of Lystra, † and that to the philosophers of Athens, I will have no difficulty in assenting to this remark. * Not the instructions alone but the miracles also of the first preachers of the Christian doctrine, contributed to put to flight the false science predo * Newton, Princip. Schol. Gener. strongest principle of growth could have urged it upward. Our early settlers answered exactly to the description of the venerated Robinson: They have come to a period in religion, and will go at present no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever part of his will our good God has revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace. And the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things.' "Thus it remained till the habits of the country were formed, till its institutions were well established, and had begun to operate with their mighty machinery on the forming mind, as if it had been the design of Providence to accumulate obstacles, and to shew how Scripture truth can bear them all away. A century ago there was not an avowed Unitarian of any note in the country. Now the doctrine has many advocates; men too of intelligence, learning and piety; men who read the Bible, and pray that they may read profitably. And it has not been forced on them by others, who have received it, and then busied themselves in making proselytes. It has made its way with nothing to aid it, but the careful study of the Sacred Writings, and with every thing else against it. The reception of it has been the result of the solitary inquiries of solitary individuals: of individuals, too, who have trembled as they learned it; for they knew that in becoming wiser than their neighbours, they must either lose their honesty and selfrespect by concealing their convictions, or by publishing them incur the forfeiture of reputation, friends, and often of the means of living. It has reared its head in the strong holds of the popular doctrine. In Boston, once the very Vatican of Calvinism, it is professed by many and serious Christians. Along our sea-coast it has almost ceased to be dreadful, and it is not a thing quite unheard of in our Western countries. In Connecticut it is stifled as fast as it appears; but they will learn, by and by, it is only cutting off limbs, which the body can reproduce and multiply. In 1805, an ecclesiastical council dismissed Mr. Sherman, for the crime of embracing it, from his charge in Mansfield, in that State, contrary to the wishes of both church and society. In 1811, after a quiet ministry of fifteen years, Mr. Abbott, of Coventry, followed his example in honesty and suffering; and, nothing deterred by this, Mr. Wilson, of Brookline, pursued the same course something more than a year ago. Nor is the doctrine confined to one section of the country. In Charleston, South Carolina, there is a flourishing church, the pastor and associates of which embraced it without communication from abroad. In Philadelphia, there is a temple to the only God. In Baltimore, a large and growing Unitarian Society have lately chosen for their pastor a gentleman, who, without any thing of the zeal of proselytism, has spirit and ability to defend their belief. Nor is it confined to one order of Christians. Many of the communion of Baptists have received it, and some, we are told, of high literary name among them. In this town there is a society of professed Unitarian Baptists; and if we are not misinformed, some who repeat the Litany, would be well pleased with the omission of the three addresses following the first. Religious knowledge in its universal progress is diligently sowing the grain of mustard-seed, and our children, if not we, will be shaded by its magnificent branches." YOUR Clapton, SIR, February 1, 1820. VOUR Correspondent (p. 11) has discovered his good sense in paying no respect to the complaisant maxim, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, which, however conciliating to human feelings, is most unfriendly to human improvement. His just censure of Archbishop Tillotson's profane adulation" happens also to be peculiarly seasonable. We may now, indeed, fairly expect that such adulation will speedily proceed from the press in a fulsome abundance; too much of it originating in that place where, if any where, those who call themselves Christians, should be solicitous that, according to their Master's directions, their yea should be yea, and their nay, nay, because more than these cometh of the evil one. As to the flattering unction which Tillotson, more like an unprincipled empiric than a worthy physician of souls, applied to the seared conscience of the royal libertine of his day, it was, after all, little more than what every clergyman was applying, in the common service of the Church, where Charles II. was constantly recognized as our most religious king. But Tillotson was surpassed, or rather was left, at an immeasurable distance, by "Matthew Morgan, B. A., of St. John's College, Oxford." In a Dedication of Plutarch's Morals to Archbishop Sancroft, in 1684, this Oxonian 66 A wise thus portrays Charles II.: and discerning prince, who hath the quickest eye to find out a transcendent worth, and the most generous temper to reward it; a prince who hath the goodness of Trajan's, and the wit of all Augustus's reign. The image of the Deity is so closely impressed upon him, that the idea comes very near the original." Such profane adulation cannot be exceeded, and will probably seldom be repeated. Yet, till a nation generally reflect, that there is no royal road to what is really illustrious and most excellent, their language will be ransacked for superlatives to express, on certain courtly occasions, their unbounded admiration, gratitude and affection; while, too often, according to the burden of an old song, "Our neighbour sly, Still standing by, Cries-how this world is given to lying!" Respecting the conduct of Tillotson and Burnet towards Lord Russell, besides your very fair excuse for them, (note, p. 11,) there is no reason to suppose that either of them then surpassed their contemporary courtiers and divines, in any just views of popular rights, and the tenure of kings and magistrates. They probably, entertained most devoutly those notions of passive obedience and non-resistance, which, not without the hope of essentially serving him, they inculcated on their friend. These, whatever may have been pretended, are undoubtedly the notions inculcated by all the forms and observances of the Church of England. This sufficiently appeared from the documents produced in defence of Sacheverel, who proved himself a true Son of that Church which declares God to be "the only ruler of princes," while those more freely thinking politicians the bishops, lawyers and statesmen, who prosecuted and condemned Sacheverel, were discovered to be an illegitimate race. As to Burnet, there is abundant evidence that he brought with him from Scotland in 1674, at the age of 30, the political principles of Filmer, in his Patriarcha, rather than those of his illustrious countryman Buchanan, in the Dialogue de Jure Regni apud Scotos. This appears from a "Vindication of the Authority, Constitution and Laws of the Church and State of Scotland. In Four Conferences," which he had published at Glasgow, in 1673. The first Conference examines "Whether the King of Scotland be a sovereign prince, or limited, so that he may be called to account, and coerced by force." One of "the Collocutors" is Isotimus, a Presbyterian." He says, "The reason St. Paul gives for submission to superior rulers is, because they are the ministers of God for good. If, then, they swerve from this, they forsake the end for which they are raised up, and so fall from their power, and right to our obedience." To this "Basilius, an asserter of the king's authority," and evidently the author's favourite, replies, "The sovereign is a minister of God for good, so that he corrupts his power grossly when he pursues not that design: but in that he is only accountable to God, whose minister he is." The same respect for the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance appears also in Burnet's "Sermon preached at Covent-Garden Church, 1674," and especially "in a Sermon preached at the Savoy, on King Charles the Martyr's Day, 1675." This Sermon contains the most unqualified panegyric of Charles, and the most bitter reproaches on all who had presumed to oppose him. The text is from 2 Sam. ii. 12, and poor King Saul serves only as a foil to set off the Royal Martyr. The whole is in a strain as courtly as any Stuart could have desired. The following prettiness will serve for a sufficient specimen : "I will not enlarge on the whole field of that murdered Prince's virtues; for that were both endless, they being so many, and needless, they being so well known: but having, by a great happiness, seen not a few (I mean hundreds of) papers under his royal pen, I shall only now offer divers passages drawn out of those that will give some characters of his great soul. And as in the Indies the art of painting is only the putting together little plumes of several colours, in such method as to give a representation of what they design, which, though it be but coarse work, yet the colours are lively, so I can promise no exact work, but true and lively colours I will offer, |