Public Character of the late Rev. Joshua Toulmin, D.D. violent fermentation was excited in many parts of this kingdom, which partook of the character both of a political and of a religious persecution. And it is not a little remarkable that, although our religious views are entirely detached from all political considerations, yet it pleased some persons in this country to identify Unitarianism with a freedom of thinking which is inconsistent with the safety of the state. There is only one way in which I can conceive such a mistake to have originated. It is this :-The grounds upon which we form our religious opinions are the inductions of reason and the plain dictates of common sense. By these we interpret the word of God. And it is probable that by these also we interpret the word of man; and that we are not previously disposed, as all time-serving men around us are, to submit our wills to the will of those in power, and to believe that only to be politically true and right which men in power have imperiously announced for the public approbation and support. There cannot be a doubt that, when a man dares to think freely and honestly upon subjects of the very first importance, upon those grand questions of duty which connect him with his God; and to act up to his thoughts and his principles on these; he will not for a moment hesitate to examine with freedom, and, if there is occasion for it, to expose without ceremony, the unjust pretensions of men in power. And therefore it may with the greater reason be admitted, that, amongst the class of English dissenters who have been generally known by the denomination of Rational Christians, there have been found very few who have been inclined to flatter the vices of great men, and avow themselves the approvers and the patrons of plans of government which would trench upon the liberties of the people, and lessen that influence which every good subject has a right to enjoy in a well-ordered society. There are some members of society who are naturally timid; there are others who are fawning and mean; there are many who are anxious to obtain the profits of civil government, or afraid of losing what they already hold, and there is, perhaps, * If those men who cloak their senti, ments, and barter their religioas principles for a maintenance, do not betray the best 195 yet a larger portion of the community who wish only to remain quiet, and peaceably pursue the line they have marked out for themselves, in which they may exist and breathe out, with out commotion, the few years which are allotted to them upon earth. I scarcely feel myself authorised to give to any one of these the honourable denomination of the righteous man. If to do the duty of an enlightened member of society be to be righteous-and what can be right but to do our duty in its fullest extent?-neither he who is afraid of saying what he believes to be right, nor those who crouch before. the great and powerful, nor those who sacrifice the slightest duty for the sake of reward, nor those who will spend their lives like moles or like bats, in an ignoble, in a despicable privacy, can possibly merit the title of the righ teous man. He only can be righteous, whether we consider the question in an economical, in a political, or in a religions point of view, who says and does all that he believes to be right, after that he has taken pains to inform his mind, and to imbibe the principles of truth and of the general welfare. I believe that, not the great body of serious thoughtful Christians alone, but also the great body of thinking people in this country, indulged, at the period to which I have alluded, an excessive joy upon the occasion of the French Revolution;t in which they saw the promise of a mighty people, shaking off the yoke of ignorance, of superstition, and of slothfulness, about to form a constitution in which the rights of man, but more especially, in interests of society, I cannot conceive what men do so. All human duties are marked upon a scale, which distinctly points out their relative importance. Some are of greater influence than others; and those of the greatest influence demand the greatest care and the steadiest fulfilment. And who will say that the duties of religion are of the least importance? They are indeed placed by some men very low in the scale; and, while other duties are deemed imperious, the duties of religion and the support of laid altogether aside. Precept is neglected truth may be tampered with at pleasure, or by them, and their example is hurtful: as though the world ought to be diligently taught the commandments of men, but it is no matter whether or no they are informed "what the Lord their God has said unto them." !! + Which took place in 1789. which the rights of conscience would be respected and honoured, and under the influence of which they would rise from the state of degradation in which they had been long held by a race of princes, whose favourite maxim had been that the people were made for them, to the enjoyment of the rights and liberties of intelligent moral agents, 'and to a distinct view of the requirements and duties of revealed religion. It happened also, that about the same time some of those conspicuous events took place which have been, under the blessing of God, the occasion of giving, in later years, a more extended spread to Unitarian principles. I refer particularly to the bold and fearless writings of Dr. PRIESTLEY;-to the establishment of the Unitarian Tract Society in London ;-to the publication of various books and pamphlets upon Unitarian principles;-to the application which was made to parliament by a numerous and enlightened association of clergymen for an enlargement of the grounds of admission into the Established Church,-and to the departure, in consequence of a disappointment, of several highly respectable, learned, and popular men, from the pale of the church, and an open avowal, on their parts, of the principles of their dissent from a church whose foundation does not, as they conceived, rest upon the prophets, the apostles, and their great Master. A considerable alarm was raised in consequence of these circumstances amongst all the orders of society in this kingdom.* It originated with the clergy, the motives of whose anxiety we scarcely need describe. The necessary connection of church and state with each other was then loudly vociferated throughout our island, and it was most industriously rumoured that a conspiracy was formed against the church and state, and that the most active in this rebellion were the Unitarian Dissenters. A pretext for this assertion was readily obtained from an admirable sermon, which had been published just before by Dr. Priestley+ accompanied with some Reflections on on The Importance of Free Inquiry, the present State of Free Inquiry in this Country. His object in that sermon, and in his reflections, was to shew the imperious duty, and the probable consequences of, a fair and candid investigation of religious truth. Nor do I see how any one can at the present time read what he wrote near thirty years ago, without acknowledging, that he appears to have been almost endowed with a spirit of prophecy, and without feeling a high gratification in the prospect which is held out in his just and irresistible reasoning, of the continued progress of religious scriptural truth, and the accelerated advance it will make, till it has overcome all the opposition of igno. rance and of interest. Birmingham were the inmediate ofYou will recollect that the riots at fect of this fermentation: persons of distinguished character took the lead in them, who hoped to put down the accused party by noise, persecution and cruelty. The cause of religious truth was assuredly paralysed by these measures. For, although the same cruelof Birmingham, yet the terror of them ties were not extended beyond the town spread throughout England; and many who were immediately connected with the church or the state seem to have thought it writ down in their duty" lence all who avowed the religious to mark out, to stigmatize, and to siprinciples which Dr. Priestley had publicly maintained. It is not surprising, that a town of which I have now the happiness, so great public importance as this, in openly and without fear, to preach the doctrines of the gospel to a numerous and highly respectable society, should have felt this political and religious shock; nor that a neighbouring town, still more of a public character, and more under the influence of goentire loss of an institution which the vernment, should have sustained the ignorance and the bigotry of that day deemed a profanation of Christianity country.|| and an eneiny to the government of the + Preached at the end of the year 1785. In no part of his present Majesty's Public Character of the late Rev. Joshua Toulmin, D.D. On perusing the history of mankind, we find that such has been the reign has there openly appeared, in those who immediately surround his person, a disposition to persecute on account of religious differences; which may fairly be ascribed to the antipathy of his mind to every thing like religious persecution. But it has not been uncommon for those who served under him at a distance, and who were not themselves aware of the purity of his mind, to misconceive his wishes, and to imagine that they should render a service to the state by vilifying and by injuring those who follow a religion different from the religion of the state. It has been thought, also, that they were secretly instigated by men high in power. Hence arose, in some parts of England, subsequent to the riots of Birmingham, a disposition to exclude from all public works those Dissenters whom hotheaded Churchmen have marked as obnoxious. Commissioners and other state-agents have been known, who have actually refused to admit to the public works any person who avowed dissenting principles; certainly through a most unaccountably mistaken idea, that, because they were not of the Established Church, they were not the friends of government. In the Dock-yards it is usual for the shipwrights and other workmen to have apprentices under them, who are brought up to their work within the yard. These apprentices must be approved by the commissioner, and must produce certificates of their baptism, in order that their age may be ascertained. In one of our dock-yards, in a subsequent year, all the youths were refused admittance into the yard who could not bring a certificate of baptism from the Established Church. This occasioned great alarm in a town, a considerable portion of whose population are Dissenters. It became necessary, therefore, to make application to government to remedy this cruel grievance; and Mr. William Smith very kindly undertook to do so. Upon a statement of the facts being made by him to Lord Melville, (1801) his lordship assured Mr. Smith that Government would sanction no such partiality, and that the commissioner should be immediately written to. He was forthwith directed to allow, in every respect, the same advantages to Dissenters of every denomination as to the professed members of the Establishment, and charged to make no distinction amongst his Majesty's subjects on account of religious opinions. But interest naturally sways in the minds of parents who are desirous of putting their children forward in the world, Before the decision of the ministers could be known, crowds of boys of all ages under fourteen flocked to the church at -, in order, by receiving Christian baptism, to be qualified for handling the hammer and 197 usual course of events. Persecution, of whatever kind, has chilled the ener gies of the friends of truth, and withheld many from uniting to promote it. But, in a little time, the storm has passed over, and has left behind it the fertilizing means of vigour, of anima tion and of incre se. Amongst the many who suffered in consequence of the violence of partyspirit at that period, was the friend whose memory we are now willing to consecrate, Residing at Taunton, in Somersetshire, he was at this time evilintreated, reviled and persecuted; and, together with a highly esteemed medi cal friend, a man as upright and as righteous as himself, he could seldom pass through the streets without insult:t-while to keep company with the adze in the dock-yard of —; and it is not a little amusing to think, that the clergyman received copies of registers from dissenting chapels and made them his own. And so much has this circumstance weighed on their minds since that period, that Dis senters generally, and avowed Unitarians amongst the number, have formed a sort of habit of taking their children to receive baptism by the hand of a clergyman of the Establishment. If these latter have any serious views of Unitarian principles, it may be questioned how they can, consistently with the principles of conscience, thus in troduce their children into life by making a solemn mockery of a religious rite. If, to them, baptism be a rite of no essential importance, and if they think it should be discontinued, it were better to use no baptism at all, and to avow themselves Anti-baptists, But if it be with them a duty, or if they wish to have their children registered in a place to which they may at any time apply for a copy of it, it ought not to be altogether indifferent whether it is done in a manner consistent with their Christian principles, or in a manner which to them must appear ridiculous and absurd, if not impious. Dissenters are not perhaps generally aware, that the registers of a chapel are legal documents: and that there is a place in London (Dr. Williams's Library in Redcross-street) where registers of the birth of Dissenters' children are kept. A copy of the register from this deposit, although it is not regarded as a legal instrument, yet is always received in our courts of law, and taken as valid evidence, * Dr. Cox. "During this fiery period of persecu tion he experienced unremitted insult and misrepresentation. At one time Paine was burnt in effigy before his door, and but for the interference and remonstrance of parti him was deemed contagious and impossible. Deserving none of the calumny with which he was loaded, in truth the best friend of his king and of his country, his conscious integrity bore him up. He knew that, safe under the Almighty's eye, the rage of his enemies would soon be spent, that the motives of his conduct would be fairly appreciated, and that a far different opinion would ere long be formed both of him and of his conduct, that his enemies would be covered with shame, while he would rise superior to them all. He lived to see things take a very place in which he had been thus ill different turn nor did he quit the used and persecuted, till there was scarcely one within it who did not respect the independent principles upon which he had acted, and revere the circumstances, support and justify man who could, under such trying them, and triumph with them in the end. In him was seen, and confessed he enjoyed the high delight of knowto be, THE RIGHTEOUS MAN; and ing that he was recognized as such, and of receiving the respectful atten tions, the friendly offices of many, who would once have been pleased to blot his name from the annals of the children of men. Where could a man be found more worthy to succeed the upright, the undisguised Priestley, in the honourable and envied office of teacher to the congregation assembling in the New Meeting, at Birmingham ? MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. Exeter, March 12, 1816. SIR, cular friends, he would have undergone a similar fate. The house of an interested neighbour was so closely connected with his, that, to save himself, he employed all his influence to save the doctor's premises from the devouring flames. But, although the persecuting spirit was in this instance repelled, it unhappily succeeded afterwards in breaking the windows of his house in every direction in which they could be assailed: and after he had been obliged, for the sake of peace, to quit his then abode, and to relinquish a concern in which Mrs. T. had been long engaged, he was still insecure, and was poisoned by the bitterest rancour. One evening a large stone was aimed at his head through his study window, where he was sitting, with an evident intention to strike a mortal blow. His agitation of spirits on this occasion was excessive; because the act manifested such determined malice. His bed-room windows were nightly beset; nor can one say what fatal event would have ensued if a professional friend had not taken up his cause, and, collecting a few more to assist him, watched these midnight foes, who finding they were thus watched, at length, through fear desisted." LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM. * Justum et tenacem propòsiti virum, &c. tion to your last number; but I solicit that if it had been addressed to you, for it a place in the next. I am sure been readily admitted into the Repository. I trust it will never be said with justice, that the Monthly Repository refused admittance to a correction of its errors. I regard your work as of high value gious liberty. It has undoubtedly conto the cause of free inquiry and relitributed, in an important degree, to the spread of Unitarianism, and to the union of those professing it: and we ligations to you for the perseverance, are ready to acknowledge our great obexertion and ability with which you have so long conducted it. But the opponents of our religious views are the Unitarian body, or any individual widely mistaken when they consider among them, (except yourself and the writer of the particular article,) as answerable for the contents of the Monthly Repository. which led to the letter of my anonymous When I looked at the article [p. 335] sion "Popish Renderings." The en correspondent, I regretted the expreslightened Catholics of our country at least disclaim the appellation Papists: and as among the illiberal, it is a kind in a Letter to Rev. Dr. Carpenter. of abusive nickname, those who know the wide difference between distinctive appellations and party names, and especially those who protest against a similar act of injustice towards themselves, ought not to employ such terms as are made the vehicle of bigotry and intolerant abuse.-I believe that where the general progress of knowledge has been shared by the Catholics, their religious system is greatly ameliorated. Certainly as Protestants, prizing the grand principles of the Reformation, and rejoicing in the light which it diffused where before there was more than Egyptian darkness, we should be injurious towards those to whose la- · bours we owe so much, if we endeavoured to throw a veil over those great corruptions from which they cleared gospel truth; but we do a much greater injury, if we charge upon the enlightened Catholics of the present day, those corruptions, and that intolerance which, as far as they allow their existence, they join us in reprobating. I doubt not that most readers of the Repository, who knew of no other Catholic translation of the New Testament into English, than the Rhemish, would, like myself, take for granted, that the renderings which Middleton cited are to be found in that Version. The Gleaner must have done the same. He has quoted Middleton accurately; but he would have done well to have examined into the truth of his statement. The simple fact is, that as far as respects the Rhemish Version, it is utterly unfounded. And it may furnish us with a useful warning, to consult all important references, as far as we have the power; especially if they wear a party aspect. If we fall into any error, however trifling and purely unintentional, our opponents seize it with avidity to disgrace our character and our cause. If they would place the case fairly before the public, it would signify but little; but it is the This was made by the English Catholic College at Rheims, in 1582. It retains many words which need translation; and it is merely a translation from the Vulgate: but it is worth consultation. The render ing of John xvii. 5, is important: "And now glorify thou me, O Father, with thyself, with the glory which I had before the world was, with thee." This more readily allows the Unitarian interpretation, than the summon rendering does, 199 system of the present tomahawk warfare against us, to write down our re putation as critics and as men, in order to wound Unitarianism through its advocates. Such is the nature of that ungenerous attack which Bishop Burgess has for some time been making against Mr. Belsham: and I may be permitted thus to express my congratulations with our veteran and respected friend, on his recent masterly and honorable termination to his share in that contest. We must all feel on what high ground he stands in this controversy, and how successfully he has maintained it. Where is the recent opponent of Unitarianism who has taken up the grand question at issue, on the broad basis on which we rest it, and where it must stand immoveable, because our foundation consists of the plain, unambiguous, express, and often repeated declarations of the Scriptures, which, unless Revelation can contradict itself, render the common interpretations of a few dubious passages, utterly inadmissible? The letter which has caused my present address to you, is as follows. SIR, No. 121, for January 1816, of the Monthly Repository, has accidentally fallen into my hands. I should not address myself to you on this occasion, but supposing you to be a friend to that work, and that possibly you may correspond with its Editor. Do desire him to be careful in what he publishes, and remember that great commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." I allude to an article, p. 35, "Popish Renderings." The texts are stated wrong; I give you the exact words, as they are written in the English translation (a modern tongue) out of the Latin Vulgate, published by the English College at Rheims, 1582, published by Keating and Co., the only translation sanctioned by the Roman Catholic clergy. St. James v. 11, "Behold we account them blessed who have endured," &c. not a word about " beatify." Heb. xi. 30, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, by the going round them seven days," not "after a procession of seven days around it." 1 Tim. v. 10. says not a word about lodging "Pilgrims." 3 St, John 5. "Dearly beloved, thou dost faithfully whatsoever thou dost for the |