path of the just, like the shining light, shineth more and more unto the perfect day." In brief, if this correspondence shall have had the effect of rendering us more tolerant towards each other, it will have answered a valuable purpose. I do not call upon you to give up any opinion which you may have formed, merely at my dictation; but I do earnestly exhort you to direct your attention to those passages which speak of the loving-kindness of our heavenly Father, and of the promised extension of the kingdom of his dear Son. We live in times when almost all sects of Christians are actively engaged in spreading the knowledge of the glorious gospel, and when their hopes run high, as to the near approach of the days when God's ancient people shall be gathered in, and the fulness of the Gentiles be collected into the fold of the good Shepherd. Surely our Saviour has at length challenged the performance of his Father's promise:"Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." These expectations which, by the providence of God, have of late been so generally excited in the Church, afford a sort of rallying point-a neutral ground, where all who call Jesus Master, may meet, and give to each other the right hand of fellowship. "Charity, which hopeth all things, prayeth also for all men. For whatsoever the mind of man apprehendeth as good, the will of charity and love is to have it enlarged in the very uttermost extent, that all may enjoy it, to whom it can any way add perfection. Because, therefore, the further a good thing doth reach, the nobler and worthier we reckon it, our prayers for all men's good, no less than for our own, the apostle, with very fit terms, commendeth, as being a work commendable for the largeness of the affection from which it springeth; even as theirs, which have requested at God's hands the salvation of many with the loss of their own souls drowning, as it were, and overwhelming themselves in the abundance of their love towards others, is proposed as being, in regard of the rareness of such affections, more than excellent. But this extraordinary height of desire after other men's salvation, is no common mark. The other is a duty which belongeth unto all, and prevaileth with God daily." (Richard Hooker.) N to I. 3rd October. I am as well assured as you are, that God is every thing that he ought to be, and does and will do all that is right, in time and eternity; and, therefore, I leave to him the destinies of man, and all intellectual beings. I do not believe that man, in his fallen state, is capable of discerning the true meaning of the terms under consideration. I am happy in believing that you will go to heaven, although you should die in the possession of your creed. I accept your reproofs. After the warnings I have had, my short-comings fill me frequently with indescribable awe. I am not satisfied with myself, as to my convictions or spirituality: neither do I perceive in you a knowledge of your state as a partaker of the fall, or spirituality or earnest striving with God for thorough vital experience, as I perceive in those persons whom you think in error. I feel that it is an awful subject that we have in hand. Neither of us prays over the discussion as he ought. I to N. DEAR N. 3rd October. 1. The first sentence of your present communication expresses all that I can desire of you, and more than I expected. I am quite content to leave you in possession of the impression under which that sentence was written, and I sincerely hope that it may abide with and comfort you. Be assured I shall never obtrude my speculations upon you, unless any sudden occurrence should throw me off my guard. 2. The Scriptures are addressed to man in his fallen state, with a view to his recovery, and are able to make him wise unto salvation. If they were not intelligible, our Lord would have scarcely expected the unbelieving Jews to search them. Nor would Paul have commended the Bereans for suspending their judgment regarding the doctrines which he taught, until they had ascertained their consistency with the tenor of the law and the prophets -the only inspired writings which they possessed. "The law of God," says David, maketh wise the simple; and to him who ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God." And again, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." 3. Your hopes in my behalf are in the spirit of Christian charity; mine for your salvation are very lively. For myself I see cause to be exceedingly humble, and very, very far from confident. 4. I also accept your reproofs. It is almost superfluous to add, what is above stated, that I am deeply sensible of the dulness and weakness of my affections for spiritual things. I mix so little with the world, (professors included,) that I have not opportunities for comparing my feelings with theirs but I will honestly confess, that the very few with whom I meet, fall very short of my ideas of spiritualmindedness. One meets with the same sort of temper and disposition as is to be found in those who mind earthly things, although conversation may turn upon those that are spiritual. It is now the fashion to be evangelical. But although I may not have been so fortunate as to find many who are renewed in the image of their minds, I presume not to question your acquaintance with such persons. May their numbers daily increase. 5. The subject is indeed important, but while I admit that it may not have been treated in our correspondence with becoming seriousness, my conscience acquits me of wilful levity. If you and I should live to enjoy the consolations of religion, we shall, with quite as much seriousness, manifest rather more cheerfulness of spirit than at present. N to I. I. 4th October. It is agreed we pray for all men, wishing that there may be no sinners against the Holy Ghost, and that such persons as he that said, "Don't give me any of your damned godly books," do not mean what they say. In the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, many who partook of the common mercies of the Alinighty, were not led to repentance; and when, through Christ's miracles, they saw more of God's mercy and goodness, they were filled with rage and madness. The more they saw of God, the more they hated him. Now have they both seen and hated, both me and my Father." 66 Our Lord Jesus Christ said, that such persons would not be forgiven in the world to come. Had you been present, would you have told them they would, and that they would be blessed in heaven to all eternity? Which attends most to his own interests, he who leaves these matters to God, and prays most earnestly for himself; or, he who, while he is stipulating in favour of sinners against the Holy Ghost, does not agonize in prayer for himself as much as the other does? Every one who goes to God, God will meet graciously. On the subject of what, I trust, God has given you, will you say, "My own arm hath gotten me this"? I to N. DEAR N. 4th October. What a strange compound is man! You attacked my opinions; I feebly defended them. I mean that in deference to the delicacy of your feelings, I contented myself with a few generalities. I said what, without any immediate shock, I thought might lead you to reflect a little, and examine the ground on which you stood. I knew that the pride of the human nind would not permit you to surrender your forts; but I thought it not very improbable that some year or two, or perhaps five or six years hence, you might possibly abandon them, and leave who pleased to occupy such indefensible positions. You, however, winced, and cried out at the firing of a few crackers. You said they disturbed your devotions; I therefore left off firing, and said, "You are there and I am here; and as we are both contented with our situations, let us occasionally advance to some neutral ground, and shake hands, or telegraph 'All's well.'" I would willingly refer the case to any rational man, (for by the law of the land no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause,) whether, without actual prostration, I could possibly have expressed myself in more conciliatory and deferential language than I have adopted in my late communications with you. I congratuhated myself upon the signature of peace, upon the terms of the statu quo, with a separate article relating to commercial objects, providing for the free exchange of all except a few prohibited articles. But how vain are human wishes, and human hopes and expectations! The parchment was engrossed, the seals were brought forth, mine was actually affixed, yours was apparently in your hand, when lo and behold, to my utter astonishment, appears upon the table a contre-projet, opening up the whole question at issue. I am called upon to give up all my points, and, like a poor fellow applying to the Bishop of Peterborough for orders, I must reply in five lines to each article of the projet. My dear Sir, do you not know that a child may in five words put a question which a philosopher could not answer in as many days or weeks? Papa, who made God?-Nobody, my dear.-Who made the Devil?-God, my dear. Papa, why does not God kill the Devili-Ah! that's a puzzler.-You ask, "Had you been present when Jesus Christ said that such persons (meaning such as sinned against the Holy Ghost) should not be forgiven in the world to come-that they should, and be blessed to all eternity?" The only answer which I can, just at present, return to such a question is, that as, without a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus, I nevertheless love and respect his character too much to gainsay his words, sure I am, that if I had enjoyed the distinguished honour of seeing his mighty works and hearing his wise discourses, this feeling of love and respect would have been so greatly increased, that it is very improbable that I should have ventured to contradict him, although it is possible that, like his disciples, I might have requested him in private to explain his ineaning. In the absence of the great Teacher, I must do, as all humble inquirers after the truth have done, diligently and patiently and candidly weigh and compare one saying with another, knowing that "no lie is of the truth;" that is to say, that the Scripture in general, and, by way of "DEAR BRETHREN, 'A considerable change having taken place in my religious sentiments, I deem it a duty which I owe to you and to myself, after my mind has arrived at a full conviction on the subject, to give you the earliest information respecting it. The change to which I refer respects the doctrine of the Trinity, on which, at the time of my departure from England, I conscientiously held the sentiments which I professed. Since my arrival in this country, however, the discussions in which I have been engaged, in the discharge of my duties as a Missionary, with the natives, both idolatrous and monotheistical, have convinced me that the doctrine referred to can be defended against those who reject Christianity, only by the same arguments which support all idolatry; and a renewed and diligent examination of the Sacred Scriptures has terminated in a no less firm persuasion, that it is equally indefensible against those who draw their objections and arguments from that source. I therefore consider that I can no longer be justi fied in teaching it to the heathen, or in professing it amongst my countrymen as an essential part of Christianity. "Such a declaration may, perhaps, in your judgment, be necessarily, as it is in fact too commonly, accompanied with a rejection of other doctrines, which I, notwithstanding, consider highly important, if not absolutely essential to the scheme of Christian truth. In order, therefore, to prevent all misunderstanding, (which I am particularly anxious to guard against,) I beg to assure you that the supreme, underived, independent Deity of Jesus Christ, and the distinct personality of the Holy Spirit, are the only doctrines belonging to my former system of belief, which I feel compelled to reject; and that although my first doubts respecting them were suggested by conversing with intelligent Hindoos on the principles of natural reason, (the only ground which it is possible to assume with such opponents,) yet it is not on that ground alone that I have finally rejected them. On the contrary, both in rejecting these and in retaining such as are cominonly considered either inseparably connected with or dependent upon them, I most unequivocally admit the entire subordination of reason to revelation. Proceeding upon this principle, I believe Jesus Christ to be the only begotten Son of God, that eternal life which was with the Father, by whom also God made the worlds. I believe in his miraculous conception, in his two-fold nature, as the Son of God and as the Son of man, in the sinless purity of his life, in his meritorious sufferings and death, in his resurrection from the dead, in his ascension to heaven, in his exaltation to the right hand of God, and in his prevalent intercession with the Father. I implicitly receive the doctrines and laws which he taught as a prophet; I trust in the atoning sacrifice which he offered as a priest; I submit to the government which he exercises as a king; I anticipate with joy and gratitude the sentence which he will pronounce as my final judge; and I believe that both on account of the original dignity of his nature, the high offices which he has sustained, and the stupendous work which he has accomplished, he will be an object of eternal veneration and praise to saints and angels in heaven. In short, I consider that as there is only one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in us all, so there is only one Lord, one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; and on the supposition that the latter both in his original and in his assumed nature, is a being derived from, dependent on, and inferior to, the former, whose son and servant he is declared to be, I perceive in the whole scheme of redemption a fitness and intelligibleness, a glory and beauty, which render the doctrines of the gospel doubly dear to my heart. "With respect to the doctrine of the Spirit, although I am unable to discover any satisfactory evidence in the Scriptures for its distinct personality, yet I believe in the necessity of divine influence to renew the mind, by removing the natural bias to evil, and implanting in its stead a ruling desire. for pure and spiritual enjoy ments. I also believe, that salvation is to be ascribed to the free and sovereign favour of God through the faith which is in Christ Jesus, a faith which, as it is produced by divine influence, so it works by love, purifies the heart, overcomes the world, and brings forth in the life and conduct those fair fruits of the spirit by which the peculiar genius of Christianity is discovered, and its doctrines recommended to the acceptance of unbelievers. "Having thus fully explained my views on these points, I trust that the candour which you know so well to exemplify, joined with the particularity of my statements, will effectually prevent all misconception on the subject. It will give me much pleasure to receive and consider any remarks with which you may favour me, the more especially as proceeding from those whose characters I esteem and whose piety I wish to imitate, although I feel compelled to differ from them in some of their doctrinal sentiments. In the mean time, as I no longer profess doctrines which are commonly considered fundamental and indispensable, and as on this ground you may, probably, object to apply to my support any part of the public money entrusted to you, I shall from the date of this letter, until I hear from you to the contrary, discontinue drawing from your funds the sum which I have regularly received since iny arrival in India. If, in the public accounts of the Society, you should find occasion to refer to the subject of this letter, I must beg as an act of kindness, what you, I am persuaded, will be disposed to grant from a principle of justice, that you will publish the whole of it. The official mention of my change of sentiments on such a subject in any other language than my own, or the publication of a part only of my statements, I would sincerely deprecate as likely to create misapprehensions and prejudices, which may be prevented by an opposite course. "With fervent prayers for your prosperity as a Society, and for your happiness as individuals, and earnestly intreating a continuance of that friendly and affectionate regard which I bave ever experienced from you, "I am, dear Brethren, When I was writing the above letter, I knew that no language I could employ to express the necessary meaning, would be altogether acceptable to those to whom it was addressed; but, after the guarded and conciliating manner which I adopted, I did not expect those broad charges of a proud and indocile spirit which have been brought against me both in private and in official communications. I am willing to leave the letter to make its own impression upon every honest and candid mind-an experiment which those with whom these charges originated do not appear to have been desirous of attempting, notwithstanding the permission they received to publish it. Upon the immediate subject of this letter, I wish only to add, that it does not now correctly express my religious sentiments. The simple humanity of Christ's person and the unpurchased mercy of God, are doctrines which, since writing it, have fully recommended themselves to my understanding and my heart, by an accumula tion of evidence which it is my chief wonder how I could so long resist. I shall probably have occasion to refer again to the above letter in the animadversions which I now proceed to make upon the letters addressed by Mr. Ivimey to the Editor of the Morning Chronicle, respecting Rammohun Roy and myself, and since inserted in the Number for November 1822, of your Repository. To Mr. Aspland, I beg to make my sincere acknowledgments for the spirited manner in which he replied to Mr. I.; but there are some points on which he did not possess that information which I shall endeavour to supply. Whether Rammohun Roy is or is not a Christian, I shall leave to himself to declare, as he informs me that, if his other engagements permit, he intends to address you upon this subject. 1. The writer in the Morning Chronicle states that I was "awakened by the arguments of" Rammohun Roy. In this he is perfectly correct. It was he that first shook my belief in the doctrine of the Trinity. It was he that first made me doubt its truth. This I thankfully acknowledge; and if he had never rendered me any other benefit, if he were to be my enemy the remaining part of his life, I should still have abundant reason for gratitude to him during the remaining part of mine. Mr. I. says, with a sneer, that it is not for him to deny that I became a Unitarian through Rammohun Roy, and seems to consider it derogatory to a Christian Missionary, and much more, of course, to the minister of Eagle Street, to learn any thing from such a person. To say that Rammohun Roy is not perfect either in knowledge or in virtue, is saying only what is true of all mankind; but saying this, I do not hesitate to add, that there are few who might not derive some accession to their information from the stores of his erudition, and some additional incentives to goodness from his shining example. Mr. I. is now well advanced in years, and would seem highly to estimate his own attainments; but profound and extensive as they no doubt are, let him be assured that he has yet to learn the value and loveliness of truth-a value which is not diminished in the esti |