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one, I think, will envy the reflections of these "professing Unitarians," when the victim of their verdict shall, as is too probable, be torn from her husband and infant family by a sentence to a prison, and perhaps that family beggared by a moderate fine.

Mr. Ramsay remarks that “ master and slave are in every respect opposite terms; the persons to whom they are applied are natural enemies to each other," and that "to make a man capable of religion, we must endow him with the rights and privileges of a man; we must teach him to feel his weight in society, and set a value on himself as a member of the community, before we can attempt to persuade him to lay in his claim to heaven." Then "to shew the necessity of advancing the slave in the scale of social life," he proceeds to "relate the little efficacy of such attempts as have been made to communicate religious knowledge to him in his hitherto debased state."

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But there are, in the conclusion of your correspondent's letter, some important considerations, which have not yet received the attention they deserve. I am incompetent to decide on their application to the case in question; but of this I have no doubt, that jurymen, especially in the cases of libel, ought, as S. C. recommends, to examine more minutely than they have generally done, and upon moral rather than on legal principles, the accusations of a prosecutor, who, by the Among Mr. Ramsay's testimonies wordy vituperations against a defen- is "Robertson, a minister of Nevis," dant, with which he is allowed to who " wrote professedly on the concharge his weapon of warfare, whe- version of slaves in our colonies," ther a declaration, indictment or infor- (about 1734,) and seems to have mation ex officio, often becomes him- laboured honestly in it himself." He self the publisher of "a false, scanda- appears, "from his observations," to lous and malicious libel." have been "of opinion that the maThat interesting letter, (pp. 492-nufacture of sugar and the practice 495) the result of much attentive ob- of religion were things incompatible; servation and mortifying experience, is and that before we began to deliberate calculated to make a humane English- about the conversion of slaves, the man blush for his country, and wish previous question had need to be disthat the Protector's Admiral in 1655,in- cussed whether we should maintain stead of conquering Jamaica, had, steer- this manufacture, or apply ourselves ed homeward in an opposite direc- to promote the growth of Christition. The following representations anity." may serve to confirm Mr. Cooper's opinion respecting the hopelessness, or rather the impolicy, if not the injustice, of attempting to communicate religious instruction to Negroes, while they "are to remain the victims of a disgusting tyranny," under a perpetual hereditary bondage, which shews how incomplete was the applauded triumph of humanity in the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

"The Rev. James Ramsay, M.A., Vicar of Teston, in Kent," (where he died in 1789,) published in 1784, " An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves, in the British Sugar Colonies," among which he had resided 20 years. This author, described by Clarkson as "the first controversial writer, and one of the most able and indefatigable labourers" in the cause of the Abolition, has a chapter entitled, "The Advancement of Slaves must accompany their Religious Instruction."

This just view of the subject seems to have been well understood by the privileged orders in the West Indies. Mr. Ramsay relates, that, on his "first settlement" there, besides instructing Negroes in his own family, he "made also some public attempts to instruct slaves." It was, however, "quickly suggested, and generally believed, that he wanted to interrupt the work of slaves, to give them time, forsooth, to say their prayers; that he aimed at making of them Christians, to render them incapable of being good slaves." Thus "he stood, in opinion, a rebel convict against the interest and majesty of plantership." And as, "in the bidding prayer, he had inserted a petition for the conversion of slaves, it was deemed so disagreeable a memento, that several white people on account of it left off attending divine service;" so that "he was obliged to omit the prayer entirely, to try and bring them back."

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Mr. Ramsay has, I think, been quoted on this subject in one of your early volumes [VI. 452]; also the opinion of that ambitious statesman and polite scholar, or rather that let tered barbarian, Carteret Lord Granville, who died in 1763, according to Biog. Brit., (III. 278,) with à verse of Homer on his lips, leaving papers on various subjects, among which is expressed his hope never to see our Negroes in America become Christians, because he believed that this would render them less laborious slaves." Lord Granville, however, was neither so inconsistent nor self-convicted, as those West-India proprietors who support Bible, Tract, or School Societies; for "at home he was not for having the vulgar taught to read, that they might think of nothing but the plough and their other low avocations." (Ibid. IV. Addend. to III.) Happily, the barbarous monopoly of knowledge has now scarcely a noble, clerical, or untitled advocate; for Church and State have at length judged it expedient, no longer to discourage the education of the people, even though the Duke of Richmond's dreaded universal suffrage should, one day, be the unavoidable consequence.

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SIR,

J. T. RUTT.

Swansea, Sept. 10, 1822.

the N all probability many of your

of a late reply to my Remonstrance, with "answers to the questions by a Trinitarian," and a reference in your pages to this work may be deemed an attention due from me to the Unitarian public. Beyond this reference, however, it is not my intention to give any consideration to this publication; and to this determination I have been led by the two following reasons: first, because I have but too much cause to think that the precaution of the author in not having openly advanced into the field, is little better than a tacit acknowledgment of his insufficiency to meet the subject. He has warily and prudently, as concerns the nature of his reply, placed himself in ambush, since in truth the work is stamped generally with a spirit which all true Christians must reject; and it does not come within the

scope of my intention to subject myself to the pride and contumely of any disingenuous anonymous writer. This opponent, whoever he is, has indulged in misrepresentation, imputation and misquotation; the character of the work at once displays itself. Let but the subjects of its second and third pages be compared with their respective heads in the Remonstrance, and the reason why this "Trinitarian" has shot his arrow in the dark, will immediately stand manifest. Secondly, as to sound argument, I deem the work altogether too frivolous to be deserving of a lengthened attention. The evasions are generally so palpa ble and puerile, that any man of sense might truly be ashamed to subscribe his name to them. Against such a reply, I leave the Remonstrance charged with its own vindication, sufficiently satisfied that under any thing like a fair comparison, its merit, be it what it may, will be found to have lost little or nothing by the test of this "Examination." I have no desire, however, that my opponent's work should be given over to die a natural and sudden death; on the contrary, should it not be found to hang inconveniently heavy upon its leadingstrings, I could wish it to be held up for a time, that Trinitarians of sound understanding, on viewing the ricketty offspring, may turn aside their faces for shame. As to Unitarians, were furnish they in want of any materials for ar

them with an ample supply, besides, perhaps, no small amusement; for the varied, studied and endless contrivance and subterfuge is diverting enough, and must have cost the author no small pains, for, as may be seen, instead of plain, concise answers, he has occupied upon some single questions more pages than the whole of the questions themselves would require.

The attempt, however, may not be without its use, and it will serve me in stopping up a few insignificant crevices through which an approach has been sought. An answer to Unitarian questions was what I particularly desired to see, having an assurance (and in which I am fortified by the “Examination”) that such an adresturous course could not fail greatly to expose the weakness of the Trinitarian cause, and in like degree to display

the strength of ours; for what does the Unitarian want but to force his opponent to a close contest, to draw him from a waste of time and words by desultory controversy, and to bring him within such an open, yet circumscribed field, as shall oblige him to meet the weight of the arguments tendered against him, as well as to exhi

bit his own?

The author of the "Examination" takes his ground upon an assumption of the suffrage of the immortal Locke (chiefly) and of Newton, and upon the use of two ostensible golden keys of his own manufacture, for the purpose of unlocking my questions; but the instant we begin to handle these keys, we plainly discover them to be nothing better than brass, and truly brazen ones they are. As to the Unitarianism of Locke and Newton, in so far as regards the question of the Trinity, I assert, and am ready to maintain it, that the proofs we are now enabled to bring forward, are so ample and decisive in their nature, that when duly presented, no Trinitarian of sound judgment and having a proper regard for the character of his understanding, as well as for the character of these two great men, can venture to resist the conviction; and as for the two keys or "propositions," they are not only mere trumpery, where they are placed, as serving to "exhibit the foundation of (Unitarian) objections," but, in truth, may admirably serve to unlock the arcanum of Trinitarians, and, in my conviction, to expose such a degree of awful responsibility as no man, holding the doctrines Trinitarians actually do, can possibly entertain, except under the grossest delusion and the most irrational conceptions of the Supreme Being. I feel satisfied that no man of acknowledged ability and having a due regard for it, will take up Unitarian questions upon the ground this "Trinitarian" has done; and at the same time I am as fully persuaded, that, being founded both upon scripture and reason, they are not to be met but by means of the same nature, and perhaps not much less palpably evasive.

I might state, as a further objection to any set reply to this "Trinitarian," that he has expressly identified himself with those who join in raising a cry of blasphemy, and who fly in the face

of our legislators for abolishing penal laws which, even as a dead letter, they deemed too disgraceful to remain any longer upon our statute-book. This consideration alone is sufficient to condemn his work, since it is now notorious that such men are uniformly as weak in judgment as they are violenț in spirit; and I must express my surprise and concern, that the respectable pastors of our National Church, and Trinitarians generally, should so long have stood by and witnessed with indifference the manifestation of a spirit, as hostile to the true interests of the Church, as it is injurious to pure Christianity.

The author of the "Examination" has evidently proceeded upon the haughty and most odious principle of infallibility, which gave birth to that sanguinary spirit which has proved to be the abomination of desolation, which, in the language of the amiable Watts, "has made a slaughter-house of the church of Christ;" which in former days crimsoned over our native soil, and which still haunts us; which, under a more efficient form, dictated the late horrible persecutions in France, and which now, leagued with despotism, thirsts to overthrow the altar of liberty in Spain, and to sink its ruins in the blood of its abettors. But if respectable Trinitarians can think that in our condemnation of this violence we are not guided by views to peace and good will, but only seek to ward off the weight of the accusation, then let their heated zealots proceed with redoubled ardour, let them blow their trumpets as it were in the new moon, let them vociferate in our market-places, let them proclaim blasphemy from our house-tops, under all the vehemence their rage would naturally dictate,-whilst Unitarians stand and look at them with equal surprise, pity and contempt. What a feast do these animosities and bitter revilings afford to the Deist! How have they continued to disfigure Christianity in the eyes of the whole Infidel world! It is high time then that Christians of every name should unite to put the perpetrators of such offences to utter shame, and to rescue Christianity from such a terror.

In common with every Unitarian, I proffer the right hand of good fellowship without reserve to all denomina

tions of Christians. I cannot imagine how any man, with a heart and mind duly imbued with genuine Christianity, can act otherwise. I cannot see what claim a man with an anti-christian temper can have to the title of Christian, for by their fruits ye shall know them. I cannot conceive any thing more hateful and disgusting than that assumed priestly infallibility, pride and presumption, which adjudges others' to eternal damnation as the worst of reprobates, upon an unavoidable difference of opinion; and, "for one, so long as life and health shall last," I will ever promptly place myself in the foremost rank against it, however great the authority or the numbers to which may stand opposed.

I

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No. CCCXCI. SADI: A Specimen of the Mystical Poetry of the Sufis.

One day as I was in the bath, a friend of mine put into my hand a piece of scented clay. I took it and said to it, Art thou musk or ambergris? for I am charmed with thy delightful scent. It answered, I was a despicable piece of clay; but I was some time in the company of the rose: the sweet quality of my companion was communicated to me, otherwise I should have been only a piece of earth, appear to be.

as I

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No. CCCXCIII.

ZOHAIR concludes the Third of his Pastorals with the following, among other Apophthegms.

Experience has taught me the events of this day and yesterday; but as to the events of to-morrow, I confess my blindness.

Half of man is his tongue, and the other half is his heart; the rest is only an image composed of blood and flesh.

How many men dost thou see whose abundant merit is admired when they are silent, but whose failings are discovered as soon as they open their lips!

An old man never grows wise after his folly but when a youth has acted foolishly, he may attain wisdom.

No. CCCXCIV.
GOD, from the Alcoran.

God is mighty and wise. His is the kingdom of heaven and earth: he giv eth life, and he putteth to death; yea, he is the Almighty. He is the first and the last, the manifest and the

mysterious, and he knoweth all things.

It is he who created the heaven and the earth in six days, and then ascend

ed his throne. He knoweth that which entereth into the earth, and that which issueth out of it; that which cometh down from heaven and that which ascendeth to it; and he is with you wheresoever ye may be.

No. CCCXCV.

Asiatic Descriptions of Spring. Lo! at thy bidding Spring appears

Thy slave, ambitious to be seen; Lord of the world! thy voice she hears, And robes th' exulting earth in green.

Now had the stormy Winter departed, and the graceful Spring returned: the face of the fields was pictured by Providence, as by a painter. The birds sung from amidst the flowers, hundreds of nightingales and thousands of linnets ravished the ear and compelled mankind to listen; while the footsteps of heavenly benevolence recalled the earth from death to newness of life.

REVIEW.

"Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."-POPE.

ART. I.-Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions, and on other Subjects. Cr. 8vo. pp. 296. 8s. Hunter. 1821.

THIS is not a common book. The TE author (whoever he be) possesses an acute, discriminating mind; embraces comprehensive views of mankind; and asserts and maintains the most liberal and philosophical principles. His style appears to indicate a practised writer: it is free, perspicuous, manly, and often beautiful. We fall in so entirely with his speculations, that we have little more to do than to describe his plan and to quote a few passages as samples of his talents and illustrations of his design and spirit.

The first Essay is "On the Formation of Opinions." This is divided into eight Sections. Section I., is "On the terms Belief, Assent and Opinion." "Assent appears to denote the state of the understanding with regard only to propositions.' "Belief has a more comprehensive acceptation, expressing the state of the mind with regard to any fact or eircumstance, although that fact or circumstance may never have occurred to it in the form of a proposition, or, what is the same thing, may never have been reduced by it into words." "Opinion is seldom, if ever, used in reference to subjects which are certain or demonstrable;" it is employed by the author, "in reference to propositions of a probable nature, to designate that which is believed."

The IInd Section is "On the Independence of Belief on the Will." Here the Essayist examines and we think overturns the assumption of the voluntary nature of belief. He observes that there are a great number of facts and propositions in regard to our belief of which it is allowed that the will can have no power and motives no efficacy; e. g. mathematical axioms, propositions in geometry, and facts coming under the senses or supported by good testimony. If the will exercises any controul, it must be

VOL. XVII,

4 B

on those subjects that admit of diversity of opinion. But the belief, doubt or disbelief which a man entertains of any proposition, may be the spect as the belief, doubt or disbelief same in strength and every other rewhich he entertains of a proposition in regard to which there is entire unanimity; and if in the latter case his no reason to suppose it otherwise in opinion is involuntary, there can be the former. It is supposed that when the understanding is in a state of fluctuation between two opinions, it is in the power of the will to determine the decision: but all the various degrees of belief and disbelief, from the fullest to absolute incredulity, correspond to conviction to doubt, and from doubt the degree of evidence, or to the nature of the considerations present to the mind. The understanding, it is precisely the same evidence as that on clear, cannot believe a proposition on which it previously doubted it, and yet to ascribe to mere volition a change from doubt to conviction, is is affirming that a man, without the asserting that this may take place; it slightest reason, may, if he please, believe to-day what he doubted yesterday. The following distinction is obviously just:

"Belief appears to be the firmest when there are no hostile or contrary considerations for the mind to rest upon. In proportion to the number and importance of contrary considerations belief is impaired, and if they are increased to a certain extent, it fades into doubt. The latter is often a state of oscillation, in which the mind passes from one class of arguments to another, the predominant affection of the moment according with the arguments on which the contemplation happens to be fixed. The mind may also be said to be in doubt when it is acquainted with neither side of a question, and has therefore no grounds for a determinate opinion. The one may be called active or positive, the other passive or negative doubt."-Note, p. 11.

The author next meets the allegation that the will may have the power of changing the character of the evi

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