scribes the wicked as being lost as perishing-being everlastingly destroyed, and the righteous as obtaining life-eternal life—immortality: and this is his uniform language whenever he speaks on the subject. Now St. Paul can hardly have ventured to preach a doctrine contrary to the declarations of our Lord; we will, therefore, if you please, examine the meaning of those passages, when considered in connexion with the declarations of Jesus. "It is better (says our Lord) for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, than having two hands or feet, to be cast into everlasting fire (evidently a figurative expression to denote destruction as by fire,) for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it; for what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own life?" By a fair and legitimate construction of these texts, we find that the doctrine, as declared by our Lord and the Apostle, is in perfect harmony, and that their plain and distinct meaning is the same, that the wicked will be doomed to DEATHLOSS OF LIFE; and the righteous to the enjoyment of eternal life—immortality. This, Sir, appears to me to be the plain, unsophisticated doctrine of the New Testament, where its language is not tortured by verbal criticisms to support an hypothesis; for whilst there are more than a hundred texts in which this doctrine is plainly declared, I will venture to assert, without fear of contradiction, that there is not one plain or clear passage to support the doctrine of Universal Restoration. It does not appear to me, Sir, from the ground you have taken, on which you have built your conclusion, upon this doctrine, (confessedly without po sitive or clear evidence,) your mind can be so completely made up, as not to admit of a reconsideration of the subject; and if, from the arguments and evidence I have offered above, however imperfect as to the manner in which they are stated, you should, adhering to your own rule of interpretation, again examine the evidence, I cannot help believing you will be confirmed in the belief of the Christian doctrine, that the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life, promised to the righteous, (and the righteous only,) by Jesus Christ our Lord. J. S. "Some of you will have already anticipated the fact, that I have been led to this subject by the distressful event, which, this last week, has deprived a large family of their only surviving parent; society, of a wise and virtuous member; the state, of an able, enlightened and upright patriot; and mankind, of one who viewed the rights of men through the medium of justice and benevolence, and whose steadfast, earnest exertions had long been given to maintain and extend them. Of the soundness of some of his political views, there will be a diversity of sentiments; and on these I am silent, because the pulpit should not be the vehicle of party-politics; but of the principles which directed his public conduct, there can be but one opinion. The integrity and wild firmness which marked his private character, were visible in the whole of his political life; and none but the religious or political bigot can, I think, fail to yield him this tribute of praise, that, in the best sense, he loved his country, and that he was one of its brightest ornaments. "But the eye of bumanity follows him with the most cordial satisfaction, in his unwearied labours, in the midst of opposition and discouragements, to promote the great objects of political benevolence and equity. If the rights of the poor African were to be asserted, and his oppressors checked or punished, Romilly was his fearless advocate, careless of personal odium or fatigue. If the relations of our own to other nations required it, Romilly was among the first to bring forward and to defend, with the simple earnestness of conscious duty, those grand views of human society, which teach that all nations form a part of the great community of mankind, eạch having rights which should be re- "In all these objects, Romilly was and establish them. The time will "It is cheering to believe, that the him, (and her voice he would, I trust, have heard as imperative and decisive,) that his duty was patient resignation to the will of his heavenly Father; that he must trust in the name of the Lord; that he must rest his hope upon him; and, in the exercise of quiet submission to that will which is the wisest and the best, seck for some portion of the peace which they commonly possess, whose minds are stayed upon God." The preacher concluded with some directions of religious wisdom, which the mournful event can scarcely fail to suggest and enforce in the serious, reflecting mind. Letter relating to Mr. Fox, with his Remarks. [The following letter being anonymous, we had intended to make no use of it, especially as it was accompanied by a sort of menace, beyond sending it to the gentleman whom it concerned; but he having returned it, with remarks, we now give both papers to the reader. ED.] London, November 6, 1818. NDERSTANDING that the SIR, Mr. Fox's Remarks, W. J. Fox returns the letter of the Unitarian Baptist to the Editor of the Monthly Repository, and will be obliged to him, should he publish it, to subjoin the following remarks. 1. An anonymous writer who publicly calls on a preacher "to reconcile his assertions with truth and charity," and who characterizes those assertions as partially or altogether false, should, at least, be correct in his quotations. The only reference to Baptists, in the lecture on Antichrist, was in the following sentence, in an attempt to shew that the assumption of dominion over conscience was not confined to the Church of Rome or to Protestant establishments: Even Dissenters play their little game of tyranny, and make Christians pass to the Lord's table through the pool of Baptism, or under the forks of the Assembly's Catechism. 2. That what I actually did say gave offence, I know and lament, but cannot help. The fact is undeniable, that many Dissenting churches refuse the Lord's Supper to believers in Christianity, because they have not been baptized, or do not believe in UNDERSTAN, in opening the Assembly's Catechism, and on lecture on Antichrist, at Parliament Court, last Sunday evening, was pleased to speak of "the Baptists as dragging people through the water," I call on that gentleman to reconcile his assertion with truth and charity. He must know that Baptist ministers act on conviction, and those baptized by them are voluntarily yielding obedience to the positive command of Jesus Christ. I also understand that Mr. Fox added, that "the Baptists kept away from the Lord's table persons as good, if not better, than themselves!" As the former declaration was altogether false, so the present allegation is only partially true. The church over which he presides was (and it ought not to be forgotten by him) a Baptist Church, and held free communion, as also does the neighbouring General Baptist Congregation at Worship Street, under the care of Mr. Evans, who introduced mixed communion amongst them. It is, indeed, the case with respect to many churches amongst the Particular and General Baptists. AN UNITARIAN BAPTIST. various other pretexts; and it certainly is my opinion, that such exclusion is unchristian and tyrannical. There is no warrant for it in the New Testament. The great law of Christian fellowship is, Receive ye one another, as Christ hath received you, to the glory of God. My words could only refer to those who maintain that churches have power to "decrce rites or ceremonies," or confessions of faith, as pre-requisites to Christian communion; and if the Unitarian Baptist be one of this class, I advise him to study the subject of Religious Liberty in the writings of Robert Robinson. 3. That Mr. Evans introduced mixed communion at Worship Street, and that it is practised by his and other Baptist Churches, is very honourable to the liberality of the parties concerned. I hope they practise it on a better principle than some Pædobaptist churches, where Baptists, though admitted to the Lord's table, are yet considered as upon toleration only, and not entitled to full membership. The Baptists at Parliament Court give themselves none of these airs of supe riority; they reckon their sprinkled or unsprinkled brethren quite as good Christians as themselves; and knowing my high respect for the talents, piety and learning of many members of the Baptist deuomination, and my readiness to do full justice to the services which that party has rendered to the cause of truth and freedom, they have none of that irritable egoisme which discovers hostility where none was felt, and resents the honest notice of a defect as an injurious attack, prompted by spleen, and characterized by falsehood. this subject, and afford opportunity Royal Funeral Sermons. 4. I greatly respect the Baptist who THE following advertisement, believes that, by submitting to immersion, he is "yielding obedience to the positive command of Jesus Christ." Equal honour is also due to the conscientious Pædobaptist, Antibaptist, or Probaptist. But it is to be deprecated that any of these appellations, relating as they do to a subject of comparatively small importance, should be made badges of party, pleas for exclusion, or instruments of little, vexatious domination. It is against this intolerance that I protest; while, as to the controversies themselves, I am a mere looker-on. My wish is, to unite heartily and zealously with every friend to "the use of reason in matters of religion," (whatever be his opinion or practice as to the use of water in matters of religion,) in endeavouring to lead mankind to the knowledge of Christian truth, and the enjoyment of Christian liberty. SIR, TH Swansea, Nov. 16, 1818. HE scheme of Fellowship Funds, the happy suggestion of your late greatly lamented Correspondent, Dr. Thomson, being now adopted in so many places, and I hope likely to spread through the whole Unitarian body, it becomes the more desirable that some method should be adopted to unite and concentrate their strength. Much good, without doubt, may be done by the various associations of this kind separately; but is it not probable that much more may be done by a general union and co-operation? Strongly persuaded of this, and zealous for the cause, the members of the Swansea Fellowship Fund are exceedingly desirous that the pages of the Repository should keep up the attention of the Unitarian public to which appeared in "The Times" of the 20th of November, will perhaps furnish a clue for discovery to what quarter many of the loyal effusions, with which the public has been favoured from the press and the pulpit, owe their origin. Ad Cleros-Ecclesiastæ, quibus non satis [est] otii ad tempestivas conciones componendas, in memoriam defunctæ Regina Charlotte habendas, exemplaria varia aut MS. non ante prolata, ad rem ritè luctuosam idonea, consequi possint. Adeundum est ad The reference, which is to a bookselling-house of the first respectability, we are of course not able to give. Postscript to A Constant Reader's Letter, p. 687. (Which came too late for insertion in its proper place.) SIR, VINCE writing the above, I have SINCE seen Mr. Howe's letter [p. 625], to whom I beg respectfully to suggest two things which I hope will be deemed conclusive: 1. That the opposing party amongst the Independents have no connexion or influence with the Society, precisely because they would not agree to the comprehension of Unitarians, which I consider to be one of its rules as actually carried into effect. And, secondly, That a provision is made for the permanent operation of the same liberal principle in the future management of the society, by a law which declares that the Committee of Management shall always consist of an equal number of persons, part ministers and part laymen, belonging to each denomination. Ineed not say, that of the Presbyterian denomination, the Unitarians, peculiarly`so called, constitute by far the larger portion. REVIEW. "Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."-POPE. ART. I.-Systematic Education, &c. TH (Concluded from p. 637.) HE art of Logic is, we think, very properly deferred, til at least an outline of Mental Philosophy has been laid before the reader. The youthful inquirer ought to have some general idea of the powers of the human mind, before he is instructed how to exercise them. Logic is the art by which the understanding is directed in the ascertainment of truth, and in the communication of it to others. It is commonly divided into four parts, perception, judgment, reasoning and method. But the author adopts a division less scientific in form, but better adapted, as he conceives, to answer the leading object above stated. He arranges his matter under the following heads, Ideas, Words, Classification and Definition, Propositions, Evidence, Sophisms, Syllogisms and Pursuit of Truth. For Ideas, as the relics of sensation, variously combined by association, and modified by the exercise of the understanding, he refers to his former section in Mental Philosophy, pp. 249, &c., and only adds a few observations on Mr. Locke's phraseology respecting simple and complex ideas, which, though formed before the doctrine of association had been so thoroughly investigated, on the whole sufficiently corresponds with the Hartleian acceptation of them; on substances-their real essence, of which we know nothing but that, as their resulting properties differ, their essences must also themselves be different, and their nominal essence, which is that collection of properties from which our notions are derived; on modes, essential and accidental, simple and mixed; on relations, which are of great importance, the duties of life depending upon them, and which may be very clear, though the subjects of them may be imperfectly known. As on the right use of Words depeuds, in a great degree, the improvement and right direction of our intellectual and moral principles, the attention which is given by a wellconducted classical education to cali into exercise the power of discrimination, and produce accuracy in the choice and use of words, and consequent correctness and distinctness of ideas, is of greater importance than some who have derived mere verbal knowledge are willing to admit. The Author refers here as before to what he had said on words, as influenced by association, pp. 301, &c. He then proceeds to point out the three ways in which names are given to new combinations or modifications of ideas, viz. by the formation of names altogether new, by the combination of old words, and by the extension of terms already in use. Etymology is often of advantage in tracing out the import of words; and also of checking the changes that might otherwise take place in their appropriation. These changes, and the various senses consequent upon them, are a frequent cause of ambiguity; which often also arises from a figurative use of words, and from the intervention of the passions and affections. The meaning of a word may be conveyed in three ways, by observing how it is used in different intelligible combinations, wlrich is the way in which the meaning of most words is learned by association in the periods of early culture; by explaining it by some other combination of words, or by some one equivalent word, which is the definition of the name, or by stating the parts and properties of the objects which distinguish it from every other, which is the definition of the thing, or definition properly so called. An acquaintance with Classification is of great importance. A set of individuals agreeing in certain particulars, are thus formed into a species; a set of species, which, though ́distinguishable from each other, have certain points of resemblance, form a genus; several genera having common properties, form a superior genus; and several of these form a genus generalissimum. Modern naturalists have adopted more terms than these two; ! |