192 Sketch of the Life, Character, &c. of the late Francis Webb, Esq. The Altars whence the incense should A year or two before his death, Mr. Webb amused himself with preparing a curious work, which he terms Panharmonicon. It consists of a large engraved plate, (delineated by his ingenious friend, Mr. John Nicholetts of South Petherton,) with a quarto pamphlet, designed as an illustration of it. The author states it as his object, to prove that "the principles of Harmony more or less prevail throughout the whole sytem of Nature, but more especially in the human frame; and that where these principles can be applied to works of art, they excite the pleasing and satisfying ideas of proportion and beauty." If it be true, as here maintained, that there is an harmonious connexion between lines of beauty in natural objects, and notes of music, it is evident that the latter, should the mode of application be correctly ascertained, would greatly contribute to exact proportions in the Painter's delineations. To prove that this is not a merely speculative idea, devoid of all utility to society, Mr. Webb makes his appeal to a well-attested fact. The ingenious artist, the late Giles Hussey, Esq. of Marnhull, in the County of Dorset, (who died suddenly in 1788,) an intimate friend of our author, used to correct and improve his drawings by applying them to the musical scale. His mode of doing it is particularly pointed out in a letter of this celebrated painter. Mr. Webb, it appears, adopted in younger life the sentiment which he endeavours to prove and This letter, which I hope other readers can understand better than myself, is also inserted in the late edition of Hutchins's History of Dorset. illustrate respecting the harmony of first undertaken merely for amusement, nature. "This work," says he, "was sition, was unable to exercise his mind when the author, from bodily indispo by more serious study and closer application. The subject ever was, from his earliest days unto those of his present very advanced years, pleasing and attractive. He feels indeed at the present moment of recital, though with experienced when, in the course of his abated energy, the rapture which he light was first darted into his mind juvenile studies, that beam of celestial from the great luminary of science, and beautiful discovery, that a ray of Sir Isaac Newton, in the astonishing light transmitted through a prism, exactly answered in its differently refracted colours, to the divisions of a musical chord; or in other words, that the breadth of the seven original colours, were in the same proportion, as the seven musical intervals of the octave. And further delighted was he with the no less wonderful discovery, that if we suppose musical chords extended from the Sun to each Planet, in order that these chords may become unison, it will be requisite to increase or diminish their tension, in exactly the same proportion, as would be suffiPlanets equal." Webb's Parhon. p. 1. cient to render the gravities of the As Mr. Webb was delighted in tra- Must come to pass. All creatures in degree, Copy of a Letter from Dr. Watts to the Rev. Mr. Alexander. (While shouted all the Sons of God for joy) Pronouncing all was good, th' Almighty Sire His awful consecrating nod shall give WEBB'S POEMS, p. 33. Should this very imperfect sketch of the life, character and writings of the late Francis Webb, Esq. be in the least degree interesting to your readers, and induce any of them, qualified for the undertaking, to favour the public with a more particular and correct account of this ingenious aud excellent man, the design of this communication will be fully answered. I am, Mr. Editor, THOMAS HOWE. N.B. Mr. Webb has left a widow behind him of a very advanced age, still residing at Barrington in Somersetshire. Tletter, is in the possession of a HE autograph of the subjoined lineal descendant of the gentleman* to whom it was addressed: and I am permitted by its respectable owner to transcribe it for your pages. It's contents suggest many a reflection: I submit it however, without a comment, to the attention of your readers. In the copy the orthography varies from that of the original, which otherwise is exactly followed. Yours, &c. JOHN KENTISH. Cory of a Letter from Dr. Watts to the Rev. Mr. Alexander. REV. SIR, I return you thanks for your Essay on Irenæus, wherein you have effectu • The Rev, John Alexander, of Stratford upon Avon, afterwards of Ireland, and father of the Rev. John Alexander, of Birmingham. A short notice of the elder Mr. A. will be found in the Biographia Britannica, (edited by Dr. Kippis), in a communication towards the end of the article Benson; where also is a fuller account of the sou. 193 ally proved that Irenæus believed the proper Deity of Christ. As I frequently make remarks in perusing the books I read, I have taken the freedom to do the same thing with regard to this book: but having left both your book and these papers in the country, I cannot possibly send them by your friend. If you come to London this year, I should be very glad to talk them over with you, and enter into some further disquisitions on the same subject. With regard to Irenæus, the only thing I shall mention at present, is that you have made it evident, beyond all contradiction, that Irenæus supposed the Logos, or divine nature of Christ, to be the very vs or mind of the Father, and in that sense to be the Father himself, as in one place you yourself express it: and this is manifestly the sense of Irenæus in many places. There are also other passages in Irenæus wherein the Logos is represented as the Son of God, and as a distinct person, or distinct conscious mind or spirit. Now I beg leave to inquire, 1st, Why the last of these senses, i. e. the Son of God, may not be interpreted into a figurative personality, and so be reduced to the first, as well as the first of these senses, viz. the vas, be raised up to a real, proper, distinct personality, and so reduced to the last? Whether there is not as much reason for the one interpretation as for the other? I cannot but think that it is much more inteliigible to represent the v85 or mind of God in a personal manner (which is very agreeable to the Scriptural idiom) than to make a real, proper, distinct person become the vgs of the Father, or the Father himself, as Irenæus speaks. 2. If Irenæus cannot be reconciled to himself this way, whether the proposal of reconciliation which I have offered, Dissertation 4. Sect. 7, does not bid as fair for it as any thing else? Or, in the third place, whether there is any need of reconciling Irenæus to himself? For he is weak times, or at least to speak words withenough to speak inconsistencies someout any ideas. Now the same thing which you have proved, and I grant, concerning Irenæus may be manifested concerning several other of the primitive fathers; if any inan would search into 194 Public Character of the late Rev. Joshua Toulmin, D.D. them with that diligence as you have done into Irenæus ; and I might make the very sanie remarks concerning them. They sometimes express themselves like the Arians, sometimes like the Sabellians. Now the query is, which of their ways of speaking must be reduced to the other, and interpreted by the other? I know no intelligi ble medium but what I have proposed, Dissert. 4. Sect. 7. With regard to the different expli. cations of the doctrine of the Trinity, I am very much of your mind; that is, it is necessary to distinguish the doc trine itself from the human explications. Let us but suppose a divine communion between the Sacred Three sufficient to answer the divine titles and characters and honours given them in Scripture, and a sufficient distinction to answer their several offices, and this is abundantly enough for our salvation; though we be much at a loss about any farther determination. Yet, amongst men of learning and inquiry, methinks 'tis not enough to say that God is an infinite spirit, which we all confess, and that the Sacred Three are one God, which we confess also, and yet that we cannot tell whether the Sacred Three be one infimite spirit or three infinite spirits. I would fain come something nearer to ideas. If we content ourselves with mere sounds without ideas, we may believe any thing: but if we seek after ideas, I think we must come to this determination, viz. that the great God is either one conscious mind or spirit, or he is three conscious minds or spirits. Now I have such arguments against the latter that I cannot at present assent to it. If therefore God be one infinite spirit, the word and Holy Ghost must either be the same whole and entire infinite spirit, with some relative distinctions, or they must be some really distinct principles in the one infinite spirit, and as much distinct as it is possible: now either of these two last agrees with my way of thinking: perhaps both these may be joined together; and there are. some places of scripture wherein the word and spirit may be represented as the same entire godhead under relative distinctions, and other places of scripture where they may be represented as distinct principles of agency in the same one godhead. These are the best ideas I can yet arrive at, after all my humble and diligent searches into these deep things of God: and I think both these have been counted orthodoxy these two hundred years. I am very sure that I can bring citations from several great writers, who have been counted very orthodox, to countenance and support both these explications; though of the scholastic account of generation and procession I have no idea. Dear Sir, let us not always be content to keep these great points of our holy religion in a mysterious darkness, if it be possible to obtain ideas of what we believe. But if there be any scripture which declares this doctrine to be entirely unintelligible, I will then cheerfully acquiesce in the sacred determination of scripture, and submit to believe propositions without ideas. In the mean time, I shall be very glad to receive any hints from Mr. Alexander which may give me occasion to relinquish any opinions which I have proposed: for I acknowledge I am still an inquirer into truth, and ready to learn. You may assure yourself, Sir, in affairs that relate to your great work, and in all other Christian offices, I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, Public Character of the late Rev Joshua Toulmin, D.D. [From the Sermon on his death, preached at Plymouth, by the Rev. Israel Worsley, and prefixed to "Observations on the Presbyterian Societies of England, &c." a duodecimo volume, just published.] HE case of our friend, whose THE death we now contemplate, with mixed emotions of concern and of firm Christian hope, furnishes a striking instance of the sufferings of an upright man in the faithful discharge of his duty. In order to form a proper opinion of the sufferings of himself, and of many others who were embarked in the sacred cause of integrity and of truth, at a period when this country was not prepared to do them justice or to hearken to their inspired voices, your recollection must be carried back at least twenty years of your lives, or perhaps a few more.* About that time a The period to which this refers, was the year 1792. 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 un. just 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-or dered society. There are some mem bers 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 sentiments, and barter their religious 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, without 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 righteous man. He only can be righteous, whether we consider the question in an economical, in a political, or in a religious 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; 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 religionare of the least importance? They are indeed placed by some men very low in the scale; and, the duties of religion and the support of while other duties are deemed imperious, 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 unte them," !! + Which took place in 1789. 196 Public Character of the late Rev. Joshua Toulmin, D.D. 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 aların was raised in consequence of these circumstances amongst all the orders of society in this kingdom. It originated with the elergy, 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+ on The Importance of Free Inquiry, accompanied with some Reflections on 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 ignorance and of interest. You will recollect that the riots at Birmingham were the immediate effect 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 cruelties were not extended beyond the town of Birmingham, yet the terror of them 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" to mark out, to stigmatize, and to silence all who avowed the religious principles which Dr. Priestley had publiely maintained. It is not surprising, that a town of so great public importance as this, in which I have now the happiness, 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 government, should have sustained the entire loss of an institution which the ignorance and the bigotry of that day deemed a profanation of Christianity and an enemy to the government of the country.|| ↑ Preached at the end of the year 1785. The riots took place 1791. In no part of his present Majesty's |