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 as cribed 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 VOL. XI. 2 D 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 animation and of increase. 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 inedical friend, a man as upright and as righteous as himself, he could seldom pass through the streets without insult:†-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 disscifting chapels and made them his own. And so much has this circumstance weighed on their minds since that period, that Dissenters 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 Establishinent. If these latter have any serious views of Unitarian principles, it may be questioned how they can, consistently with the principles of couscience, thus introduce 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 196 A Roman Catholic's complaint of Mon. Repos. 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. The man resolv'd and steady to his trust, The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles, And with superior greatness smiles. He lived to see things take a very different turn: nor did he quit the place in which he had been thus ill 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 man who could, under such trying circumstances, support and justify them, and triumph with them in the end. In him was seen, and confessed to be, THE RIGHTEOUS MAN; and he enjoyed the high delight of knowing that he was recognized as such, and of receiving the respectful attentions, 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 Meet. ing, at Birmingham ? MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. SIR, Exeter, March 12, 1816. tion to your last number; but I solicit for it a place in the next. I am sure that if it had been addressed to you, (as it should have been,) it would have been readily admitted into the Reposi tory. I trust it will never be said with justice, that the Monthly Repository refused admittance to a correction of THE following letter I received by post, too late for a communica 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 refinquish 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 propositi virum, &e. HORACE, its errors. I regard your work as of high value to the cause of free inquiry and religious liberty. It has undoubtedly con tributed, in an important degree, to the spread of Unitarianism, and to the union of those professing it: and we are ready to acknowledge our great obs ligations to you for the perseverance, exertion and ability with which you have so long conducted it. But the opponents of our religious views are widely mistaken when they consider the Unitarian body, or any individual among them, (except yourself and the writer of the particular article,) as answerable for the contents of the Monthly Repository. When I looked at the article [p.35] which led to the letter of my anonymous correspondent, I regretted the expres sion" Popish Renderings." The enlightened 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 labours 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 resent 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 Testa ment 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 common rendering does. 199 system of the present tomahawk warfare against us, to write down our reputation 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 congratu lations 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 inad missible? 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." 1 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, pubfished 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 200 Explanation of the "Angels," Rom. viii. 28. brethren, and that for strangers:" no "Pilgrim" mentioned. Now, Sir, whenever you or your friends quote, do let me desire of you to keep in view our blessed Saviour's golden rule, "Do as you would be done by." As I wish no controversy with you, (but merely to set you right, that you fall not into the like again,) I subscribe myself your obedient servant, It seems best to add, that the handwriting of the above is unknown to me; but that I am persuaded it did not come from the respectable Catholic clergyman of this city, of whose Christian liberality we have had repeated and impressive proofs, and who would I am sure have taken a different mode of pointing out these errors. I am, Sir, Yours truly, L. C. SIR, Bath, 10th December, 1816. Iation a highaders, if T will, I presume, be a high gratifisome of your ingenious correspondents will favour them with a clear explication of the doctrine of angels which is contained in the whole scriptures. The angels who kept not their first estate to whom Jude refers, I take it for granted, were the lying spies who gave a false account of the land of Judea; and the angels who are mentioned in the first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, to be prophets who went before and predicted the coming and character of Christ. But what I intend at present, is to attempt an explanation of the word angels, which we find in Romans viii. 28. The apostle had declared in the context, that he was so fully satisfied of the truth of the Christian religion, and of all its promises to the righteous, that neither the fear of an immediate death, nor of the most tragical life, nor the malice of principalities or of their delegates, nor any afflictions which they could impose upon him at present or threaten him in future, nor any dangers present or to come, not even the being made a spectacle to the world in lofty situations, nor being drowned through violence in the sea, nor any possible occurrence in this world, should be able to separate him from he love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He said also, that angels should not have this effect upon him. Expositors explain him, as saying evil angels, meaning exalted beings who surrounded the throne of God, and who were degraded because of their apostacy, but were now suffered to traverse the regions of the air, to tempt men to imitate them in their horrid degeneracy and disobedience. At first sight we may observe upon this explication, that the apostle knew nothing of suci angels, and that instead of any such being invested with a power over men, in opposition to the great Creator, we learn that every man is tempted by the indulgence of his own lusts. We should consider, therefore, that the word angels always signifies messengers, and that if it had been always translated messengers, one great difficulty would have been removed out of our way. Now, what were the messengers whom the apostle had to encounter, but the messengers of persecuting princes and of others, who by their murdering threatenings endearsilence, such messengers, therefore, oured to reduce all Christian preachers with all the terrors which he here introduces, could, he asserts, make no impression upon him, whilst he knew in whom he believed, whilst he professed the gospel, and such should be the resolution of every one of us, whilst we look not at things seen and temporal, but at things unseen and eternal. Hence, then, we should learn to employ ourselves in such studies as will most effectually terminate in our conviction of the truth of the gospel, and of the blessed hope which it sets before us, if we walk worthy of our heavenly calling. We should therefore search the scriptures with all piety and diligence, and be directed to lay hold upon that unfailing inheritance which will be the portion of all those who love God, and keep his commandments, when this world and all the things of this world shall be no more. We should, therefore, sedulously practise all the duties which are required from us as the disciples of Christ, worshiping God in spirit and in truth, and looking unto him as our only strength and refuge, whilst we do to all our fellow creatures, as we would have them do unto us; and we should particularly cultivate a charitable disposition towards those who most widely differ from us, blessing them Natural Theology. No. XIII. Of the Face, Complexion and Speech. 201 whilst they curse us, and exercising every act of humanity, whilst they do us every injury in their power. We should give no room to the most rigid Athanasians to speak any evil of us. Whilst they judge us and pass the sentence of condemnation upon us, we should pity them and pray for them, and so make our light to shine in all purity, peace and benevolence, that even they may gradually learn truly to glorify our heavenly Father. W. H. SIR, Norwich, 25th March, 1816. Igious truth, to assist in the preser vation of these monuments of human intellect, which inculcate the importance of Free Inquiry and defend the Right of private Judgement, when these monuments are wasting under the destroying hand of time. On this subject I quite agree with Dr. Carpenter, that the republication of works of sterling value of this description "may have great efficacy in weakening the influence of religious bigotry," and perhaps nothing is better suited to this purpose than the works which he mentions in his letter, dated Jan. 8, in the Repository for that month. Wishing therefore to lend my feeble aid in a cause which I deem highly important (particularly at a time when we seem to be relapsing into the bondage of a blind fanaticism,) I have sent to the press for republication, a Copy of Dr.D. Whitby's Last Thoughts, with his Discourses annexed thereto: to which will be added some Account of the Life and Writings of this learned Divine, the friend of Hoadly. As I hope soon to be enabled to announce its publication, I shall esteem myself greatly favoured by receiving such hints and communications from any of your Correspondents, as may assist me to render both the main work, and the biographical part as complete as I wish them to be. I am, Sir, Natural Theology. No. XIII. Thor is of an animal, and especially of a man, as being in him the only part of the body that is usually visible. The great variety ob servable in men's faces, voices and hand-writing, furnishes a capital argument in defence of a Providence. The human face has been denomi nated the image of the soul, as being the seat of the principal organs of sense, and the place where the ideas, mo tions, &c. of the soul are chiefly set to view. Besides the eyes, nose and ears, the other parts of the face present, separately, nothing very particular in their structure or uses. The forehead covers the greatest part of the frontal bone of the skull, on the inside of which lies the brain, descending as low as the orbits, and it is ornamented at its lower edge by the eye-brows, which also serve as defences to the eyes, and which are calculated to display the passions of pride and disdain. From the forehead the skin is con. tinued to form the eyelids, whose uses, together with that of the beauti ful row of hairs which grows from each of their edges have already been described. The cheeks serve as sidewalls to the cavity of the mouth, and also constitute the principal share of the face: in many persons they are tinged with the bloom of health; and often in the fair sex exhibit a most beautiful and indescribable something denominated modesty. The cheeks are lined on the inside with a menbrane full of small glands, for secreting a liquid to moisten the mouth. The lips complete the cavity of the mouth, and form its aperture; these are moved with several small muscles, and are covered at the edges with a fine red border, consisting of villous papillæ closely connected together and extremely sensible, being defended only by a very thin membrane. While the chin terminates the inferior boundary of the face, and completes the number of its divisions, The features of the face viewed collectively, present a striking and beautiful characteristic of the superior nature of man. In the whole creation there is not another object, probably, which breathes so many, such various, and such elevated influences as does the human countenance. To this we Took in conversation for the naturally full meaning of the words expressed, the emotions and feelings of others, and by it we are enabled to anticipate |