T K 1 believe what I could not find in my Testament, as I was always taught to believe that book to be the rule and guide of my faith. I could not find the word Trinity, nor could I find God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; but I could find a great number of passages where our blessed Saviour prayed to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, and where the blessed Jesus and his apostles taught prayer to be made to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and St. Paul says, There is none other God but one; for though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God even the Father.' Howbeit there is not in every man this knowledge. "Thus, Sir, I discarded that jumble of inconsistencies from my creed, for I could not reconcile it to my reason that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, should be three distinct persons, and but one God, because, Sir, I could not find it in my Bible or Testament: and I was therefore sure it was the thoughts of man, who was as likely to err as myself. I therefore laid it aside, not fearing its damnatory threatenings, and determined no longer to believe that one was three, and three oue; but, on the contrary, to worship the one living and true God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed Mediator and Redeemer. "Thus, Sir, I became a fixed Unitarian, before I knew that there was such a sect: which was not till nearly two years afterwards, the whole time of which I absented myself from any place of worship, except when duty obliged me to attend the Mayor; till, forming a resolution to go to all the Dissenting chapels at that time in the city, to try to hnd one that met my ideas, I began at that which was then called the Presbyterian Meeting, where, Sir, in that house of the devil, I found what I so ardently wished, the unmixed worship of the One living and true God. "Thus, Sir, I have given you the cause of my dissent, and the reason of the hope that is in me,' nor can any argument you can shake my faith, as it is in Jesus, to whom I give more merit as my Mediator and Saviour, than you for Christ died on the Press, to redeem give to him by worshiping him as sinners; but God cannot die. • The Unitarian chapel was so called by the Rev. S. B., of Chichester. "I cannot find in my Testament that he was a God-man; the passage you pointed out to me, to set the question at rest, as you were pleased to say, is, I fear, a sandy foundation, for I believe it was at first but a marginal note, and is now, I think, agreed almost on all sides to be an interpolation, and is the only solitary passage to be found. It is now nearly eighteen years since I left the bosom of my nursing mother, and wandered from the beaten path; since which, like the Bereans of old, I have 'searched daily to see whether those things were so, and I still continue one of that sect which is every where spoken against. I have read a great many arguments on both sides the question, and, aided by my Testament, I still retain the same opinion, which is, that the doctrine of the New Testament is Unitarianism, and is the doctrine that was taught by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles, who, whilst on earth, was the most meek and lowly, but is now exalted to the right hand of his Almighty Father; but I think it inconsistent to be Father and Son himself. "This, Sir, I think, must be the opinion of every considerate, impartial man, and is, I know, the opinion of many who, through fear or interest, dare not avow it. "Now, Sir, I would thank you to let me enjoy my own creed, without molestation, as I wish to live in charity with all men. I hope this will not make you think worse of me than you were wont: I shall always be glad to see you as gaol chaplain, but would thank you not to be harsh to my prisoners, because you are not aware what trouble you give by making them uneasy; for I consider laws of their country, and sentenced to after prisoners are found guilty by the au imprisonment, they have no right to be pressed to a confession of their guilt, unless such as are under sentence of death. "I am, Rev. Sir, "Your humble servant, "JOHN HUMPHRIES, "Gaoler of the City of Chichester. "To the Rev. good sense and manly avowal contained No comment could improve the plain in the above letter. Such firm and consistent believers are cheering, amidst the defectious from our religious assemblies which we sometimes have to lament, when pride, caprice, or fashion, sway the * In John's Epistle. 1 mind more than does the truth as it was MAURICE LOGAN, M. D. April 1, at Seacroft, near Leeds, "Thine be the art, the streaming wound To raise with healing arm the drooping repose, "So Hope exulting cheers my fearful The following record of the birth of "Well do I remember how exceeding- good and able man The life of the good It would trespass too much upon the The father of Maurice Logan was a merchant, who, being unfortunate in trade, went to Antigua to endeavour to obtain the means of maintaining his family; it was at that period that his son was born. The mother followed her husband, leaving her son and daughter uuder the care of the Rev. J. Harrison, the father of Mrs. Cappe. Mr. Logan died from the fever incidental to the climate, after which his widow returned to England. She resided with her children at Catterick, and continued there after that great and good man, the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, succeeded Mr. Harrison in the vicarage of that place. From that acquaintance Dr. Logan traced the principles which were his guide; an affectionate intimacy commenced, which continued till death put a stop to their earthly friendship. He received the rudiments of his education at the freeschool of Catterick, and early shewed au inclination for the medical profession. He was put apprentice to Mr. Lucas, a respectable surgeon at Leeds, and went to attend the hospitals in London in 1784. It was upon that occasion his sister wrote the verses from which the extracts at the commencement of this memoir are taken, and which address was published, with other poems, in a small volume, in 1793. Her poetry was chaste, simple, and beautiful. The period at which Mr. Logan arrived in London was one of great interest; his friend Mr. Lindsey had for couscience' sake surrendered his vicarage and all his flattering prospects of church preferment, and opened his chapel in Essex Street. There again Mr. Logau found his instructor, aud one of his greatest pleasures, even to his latest hour, was to recount the delight and advantage he experienced with that great mau. Mr. Lindsey's house was open every Sunday evening for the resort of some of the most able and excellent men of the day, and at those meetings he encouraged young men to attend, where religious topics were discussed, and they were excited to the acquisitiou of knowledge and virtue. made After his attendance upon his professional studies, Mr. Logan was House Surgeon at the Lock Hospital, and from thence returned to his mother and sister at Leeds, where he established himself, and where his skill and his medical acquirements, his anxious and devoted attention, and his amiable and engaging manners, brought him into extensive practice; but his arrangements were so made that he seldom allowed i his professional avocations to interfere with his religious duties. He joined the congregation of the Rev. W. Wood at Mill-Hill Chapel. Mr. Logan was elected one of the Surgeons to the Leeds Infirmary, where he became the colleague of that eminent and excellent man, the late William Hey, Esq., F. R. S., who may be called the founder of that institution; but it was owing to the united talent and exertion of these two men that it became se celebrated and so extensively useful. Mr. Logan married Mary, the daughter of Hatton Wolrich, Esq., of Leeds, in 1791, who survives him; a connexion which continued in uninterrupted happi. ness, except from his ill-health, which she, by unwearied attention and sympathy, contributed to mitigate, and rendered a life of suffering even a life of enjoyment. He continued in the active pursuit of his profession till the year 1813, when, in consequence of increasing bad health, he was compelled to withdraw from it. He then removed to Seacroft, about four miles from Leeds, took out his diploma and practised occasionally as a consulting physician; but even that was prevented by his sufferings, which be endured about fifteen years, baffling the knowledge and experience of himself and the most able medical men both in London and the country; but in the agony he has undergone, he submitted with cheerfulness and without a murmur to the will of his Heavenly Father, an example of Christian patience and resignation; and retained the enjoyment of the society of his friends during his occasional intervals of ease. Dr. Logan was a man of strong natural feeling, thereby enabled to prepare his patients for what he knew they must undergo; but possessing complete and powerful self-command during the performance of painful and dangerous operations. He had a strong, enlarged, and well-cultivated mind. In his religious principles he was an Unitarian, imbibed during his early intercourse with Mr. Lindsey, and confirmed by his research and study; but he never allowed his religious or political opinions, though living during a period of great excitement, to interfere with friendly intercourse; he was strictly the humble but faithful follower of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Wherever distress was to be found which he had the power to relieve, there his duty and his inclination carried him; "he went about doing good;" and in looking back to the circumstances of his birth, and to the eminence and respect which he attained, a most useful lesson is inculcated, shewing that gloomy forebodings ought never to be harboured, but that, though we are for wise purposes sometimes humbled by affliction and deep distress, we ought to confide in a merciful Father, knowing that the righteous or his sced are never forsaken, though begging bread. ! INTELLIGENCE. First Annual Report of the Cork They feel assured, that where the great VOL. V. 2 c to exist; but, that every doctrine of religion, being submitted to the test of scriptural examination, must come out from the fire of trial purified from the dross which may have encumbered it, and shine forth in all the native beauty of gospel truth and they doubt not that those doctrines which appear to them contrary to truth, derogatory to the character and diguity of Jehovah, and calculated to enslave the human mind, and retard its advancement towards purity and happiness, have their existence only in the substitution of the dogmas of men for the teaching of God, through the absence of those convictions which this Society desires to deepen and extend. Let us therefore discharge the duties which devolve upon us as members of this Society, in the close investigation of every subject which comes under its notice that each having first cast out the beam out of his own eye, may see clearly to cast out the mote out of his brother's eye. Of the utility of association in a common cause, none can donbt. Man is a social being, and feels his heart lightened of its apprehensions, and his hand strengthened to vigorous exertion, when he exchanges the animating look of sympathy and resolution with his fellow. But it is too frequently the case, that while the end for which association is employed is urged forward by the joint impulse of the crowd, the man is lost in the mass, the individual merges in the multitude, and ceasing to possess that self-determining and self-acting principle which it is one great end of religion to induce, he becomes the passive echo of others' minds, and the passive agent of others' wills: but while we derive the support and encouragement which the principle of association is calculated to afford, let us never cease to remember, that it is as individuals we possess the right of investigation, and that it is as individuals we are responsible for the duties which its possession involves.* In February, 1830, circular letters were received by some of your present members, from a number of gentlemen in Dublin, whose purpose was the formation of an Irish Unitarian Christian Society, in order that, by the more general diffusion of Christian liberty, the domination of human authority in matters of faith might be brought to a conclusion, and the many errors in religious belief which have arisen from that fruitful source, be gradually dispelled. As a mode of rendering more extensive the benefits of this institution, it was recommended that Provincial Branch Societies should be formed, to communicate with the parent association, and be entitled to certain privileges on subscribing to its support. Acting on this suggestion, a meeting was held on the 25th of February, at which Mr. James Lane presided, when the formation of such a Branch Society was resolved upon, and on Monday evening, March the 1st, your Soci ety's first meeting took place, on which occasion resolutions declaratory of the objects which it contemplates were unanimously adopted. Those objects are: "To endeavour to produce a more full and general conviction of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, as the sole rule of Faith and Practice. "To maintain the right and promote the exercise of Free Inquiry and Individual Judgment on religious subjects, as being alike the privilege and the duty of all. "To confirm in its members, and universally to promote belief in the fundamental doctrine of the Bible, that there is but One God, the Father;-a doctrine thus unequivocally expressed by our Saviour, in prayer to his Father and our Father, his God and our God,-This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' "To extend the influence of the devotional and practical parts of Revelation, that men may be doers of the word and not hearers only,' 'knowing, that as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." One of the means by which the attainment of those objects was aimed at, was holding monthly meetings for scripture and other religious reading, conversation, and prayer; and your Committee consider the wishes expressed by the Members of the Society for greater frequency in its meetings, [in accordance with which it was resolved, on the 14th of June, that they should take place once a fortnight, and, on a subsequent occasion, once every week,] as affording some evidence, as well of the adaptation of your Society to the purposes of Scriptural investigation, as of the increasing desire of its members for mutual improvement; and your Committee trust, that the zeal which has thus been manifested in the acquisition and dissemination of pure Christianity, may continue steadily to advance, removing in its onward course every obstacle to just conceptions of the attributes of the Great Being whom we worship-of the powers and capacities with which he has endowed us and of the responsibility which attaches to us, as their possessors. "the Your Committee desire to notice one feature in the constitution and practice of your Society, which is, that as adventitious distinctions of rank and station form no bar to admission," 80 when you meet to receive from the revelation of that Being, who is no respecter じ ! of persous, the guidance in faith and Early last year, the printed statement pressive of a friendly sympathy in your efforts. Your Librarian has also to acknowledge the receipt of liberal donations of Books and Tracts bestowed upon your Library, by the Western Unitarian Society, the Newcastle Unitarian Society, the Rev. Dr. Drummond, on two or three occasions, and by several of your own members. ber of visitors, amongst whom were the Rev. Dr. Drummond and Rev. Mr. Armstrong, ministers of Strand Chapel, Dublin; Rev. Mr. Hutton and Rev. Mr. Martineau, of Eustace-Street Chapel, Dublin, the latter Secretary to the Irish Unitarian Christian Society; Rev. Mr. M'Alister, one of the enlightened and independent Christians who formed the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, and Treasurer to the Irish Unitarian Christian Society; Rev. Mr. Crozier, of Clonmel; Rev. Mr. Hunter, of Bandon; Rev. Mr. Taylor, of Rivington; Rev. Mr. Palmer, of Waterford; Mr. Riall, of Clonmel; Mr. Rowlinsou, of Waterford; and several other gentlemen. Iu conclusion, your Committee desire to express their happiness at the unanimity of sentiment which prevails in your society respecting the principal doctrines of Christianity, as well as at the spirit of candour and forbearance which is cherished where differences of opinion on some less important questions exist; and would urge, that it is at all times, but particularly at the present season of controversial excitement, our bounden duty to cultivate towards those who differ from us, whether upon minor or on greater points, that Christian spirit of brotherly kindness and charity, which will teach us, while "ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh" us " a reason of the hope that is in us," to do so "with meekness and fear." Your Society at present consists of fifty-two Members and Subscribers, who are generally, if not uniformly, present at four meetings; and your Committee rejuice to see the constant and regular attendance of your intelligent and zealous Female Subscribers, convinced that while just notions of religion are of the highest importance to all, they are, perhaps, most eminently so to those into whose hands are committed by its Creator the first unfolding of the iufant mind, and who pos- Somerset and Dorset Unitarian Asso sess the opportunity of rendering reli gion as well the comfort as the guide of those thus entrusted to their charge, by associating its glorious truths, not with gloom and melancholy, but with the earliest and happiest impressions. During the year which has concluded, your Society has held thirty meetings for religious investigation, at which, in the course of Scripture reading, opportunities were afforded of comparing the declaratious of Holy Writ with certain doctrines commonly reputed orthodox; viz. Original Sin, the Deity of Christ, Vicarious Atonement, Election and Reprobation, the endless Duration of Future Suffering, and others of comparatively minor import; and it is hoped that the scriptural illustration which has attended the examination of these several questions, has not failed to produce deeper and fuller conviction of the great truths of Christian Unitarianism. One of those meetings possessed peculiar interest from the presence of a num ciation. THE members of this Association held their twenty-third meeting at Ilminster, on Good Friday, April 1. There were two religious services. The devotional parts of both were performed by the Revds. S. Walker and D. Hughes: the Rev. R. Cree, of Bridport, delivered the morning discourse on a passage in Isaiah xli. 21, Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the king of Jacob; and the Rev. W. S. Brown, of Bridgewater, discoursed in the evening on the Lord's prayer, Matt. vi. 9, &c. It may be necessary to give some of the resolutions which were passed at the meeting for business, held immediately after the morning service. They were: That the next meeting shall be held at Crewkerne, on Wednesday, September 21. Mr. Hughes kindly engaged to preach on the occasion. |