Imatges de pàgina
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and abound, not only in nambers, but also in knowledge, virtue, and benevolence ! Sunday, August 3d, preached at Cranbrook; on the 10th, at Biddenden; and the 15th at Appledore, to large companies of atten tive heaters. Here I was obliged to relinquish my intention of visiting East Kent, and return home, in consequence of a violent cold caught by preaching at: Woodchurch on the 12th, in a low-pitched room, uucommonly heated by the number of persons who at tended. I continued at home till the 29th,' and then proceeded to Chatham, where I preached on Sunday moraing, the 31st, and then went to Gravesend, where, agree ably to the request of the Unitarian Fund Committee, I continued five Sundays." During my stay there, I had the happiness of introducing Unitarian Christianity into Dartford, a populous little market town, 15 miles from London; and I do think, that, were my humble efforts followed up with spirit, the prospect of establishing Faq interest there is much bet ter than even at Gravesend

local circumstances being so much more favourable. From the observations I have been able to make. I a' decidedly of opinion, that it will require much time and great perseverance, 19

establish any thing like a respectable cause at Gravesend. The people have not only much to learn, but a great deal to unlearn; not only many virtues to prac tise, but many old habits to get rid of. On the whole, however, the prospect is by far too flattering to justify a precipitate abandonment.

Calcutta Anxiliary

We have lately received the Thirteenth Report of this Society from which we extract the following paragraph with reference to the remarks contained in a former number on the Calcutja, Bible Association,

"The experiment" says the Report, of what might be accomplished by such associated bodies, seems to have been first made on an extensive scale by the British and Fo reign Bible Society. The vast and simple object of that noble institution, the translation of the sacred Scriptores into eve ry language, and its [their] circulation in every region of the world, conld obviously be accomplished only by a degree of support as unprecedented in its extent, as the plan propos. ea was extensive. Without the most rigorous and perse vering exertions it possible to meet the demands. of a charity which should em, brace the world. And it was the happiness of the Society iu question, (a happiness attrịbutable under. Providence to the simplicity of its object, sud the wisdom with which it was originally constituted) that it

was not

Such, indeed,' is my coufi-i dence in the power of di-: vine truth, that I feel persuaded, if the efforts already made are but followed up with constancy and perse verance, its triumph over error, vice and supersti ion, will be complete.

M. HARDING.

Bible Society.
was susceptible of aid from al
most every contending seet of
Christians".

From this extract we learn, first, that the traus lation of the Seriptures into every language and their circulation in every region is the vast and simple object of the Bible Society; and, secondly, that, in the prosecution of this object, there is at least one sect of Christians from which the Bible Society is not suscept tible of aid, since we are expressly told that it is sus ceptible of aid, not from every, but from almost every, sect of. Christians. What is meant by this non-suscep; tibility of aid we are at some loss to understand. Is it meant to intimate that there is some sect of Christians with whose principles the translation or circulation of the Scriptures is incompatible, and who therefore cannot conscientionsly and do not in fact give their aid for the attainment of this vast and simple object? Or

is it intended to say that there is a sect of Christians who although, they approve of the translation and circulation of the Scriptures, are excluded by the Rules of the Bible Society from taking a part in promoting its vast and simple object? In either case we must confess that the information is al.

together new to us. We never before heard of any such Christian sect, nor of any such exclusive Rules, and we venture to assert that, on these points, most people are as ignorant as ourselves. We therefore think that the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society or those who are authorized to speak in its name are imperiously called upon to explain their own meaning, and to say either what sect of Christians refuse to give their aid in the translation and circulation of the Scriptures, or what sect of Christians are excluded from the privilege of doing so in connection with the BibleSociety. In Bible Society Reports we should least of all expect to meet with ambignous phraseology and farfetched inuendo. If its real object is what we

understand it to be, what its Rales express, and what the above paragraph explains, then no Society may with greater safety denounce by name before the world that most anchristian sect of Christians by whom its object is opposed. But if its supporters are conscious that they have swerved from its original object, that in their translations they either add to or take away from the genuine records of i. spiration, and that in their circulation of the Scriptures, in the consitation of their Auxiliary Societies and Branch Associations, and in the drawing up of their Reports, they employ the name and influence of the Bible Society to recommend the doctrines of one Christian sect in preference to those of another, then ins deed may the members of that other sect justly withdraw those contributions which would be only employed against themselves. and in retard expect to be held up to undeserved re. probation, in those obscure insinuations and half-expressed charges which a cona sciousness of guilt suggests

POETRY.

Sum of Trinitarian Controversy, in Verse.

Talk of Essence and Substance, and no one knows what,

God either made Christ, or else he did not;

If he did, he's a Creature, 'tis plain at one view,
If not, he's a God, and then we have two.

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The Editor of the Unitarian Repository regrets that circumstances beyond his power to controul have prevented the appearance of the Numbers for August, September, and October, and that the same circumstances will probably continue to operate in the same way for some time to come. All therefore that he will attempt at present is to publish an occasional number with a view to prevent the work from becoming entirely extinct and in the hope that more favourable circumstances will soon enable him to continue it in regular series. The recent proceedings in Parliament on the Unitarian Marriage Bill are deemed of sufficient interest and importance to occupy the whole of the present Number. The Report is taken from the Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature, and is more complete than any of those which have appeared in the Calcutta Newspapers.---ED.

HOUSE OF LORDS, APRIL 2d, 1824.
Unitarian Marriage Bill.

On the order of the day for the second reading of the Bill for granting relief to Unitarian Dissenters in the matter of their Marriages:

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE, in rising to make his promised motion, commenced by observing, that he should not have felt it

necessary to trespass on their Lordships' attention at any length, if it had not been intimated to him that an opposition was intended. The Bill which he was now about to propose for a second reading had originated in the petitions presented by the body of Unitarians to the Commit

tee, which had sat last ses.sion, on the Marriage Laws, and complaining that the marriage ceremony of the Church of England, to which they were obliged to submit, was such as, in their consciences, they could not approve. He could state to their Lordships that it was generally felt by the Members of the Committee, as he hoped it would also by the House itself, that some relief ought to be afforded them. Before he proceeded to consider the relief now proposed, he would state the principle on which it was founded. There were two duties incumbent on the Legislature in providing for the due regulation of marriages. Qne was entirely of a civil nature; the other was compounded of civil and religious considerations. It was a civil duty to provide against clandestine marriages, and to provide for due celebration and registration; and next it was of importance that the contract involving such import consequences both to society and to the individual, should be performed in a manner the most likely to bind the conscience. The Legislature had been called upon to provide against clandestine marriages; and on the ground he had already stated, of giving the

strongest religious sanction to marriage of which the contract was susceptible, they were bound to adopt the proposition which he should now make. The measure had been misunderstood both within doors and without. It had been represented as an alteration of the Liturgy, by law established: this was entirely a mistake. Their Lordships, however, would not wish to violate the consciences of those who differed from them in religious opinion, or to force them into the Established Church, in order to make them signify an approbation of its forms, which they would not acknowledge upon any other occasion. If it was of importance that the contract of marriage should be as binding as possible, with that view it should be solemnized in the manner most conformable to their religious feelings and belief, in short, in the manner most likely to impress itself on the mind. He should, therefore, propose, that the persons called Unitarians should be authorized to celebrate marriages in their own chapels, duly registered for that purpose, having previously given publicity by the publication of banns, and on the payment of dues in the Established Church. He would have

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