me exceedingly by informing me how things go on, especially as I see no company, and only a weekly newspaper, except now and then. Dissenters, I think with you, will not be losers by a change of ministers. But the dislike of the coalition will never go entirely off in the country. How fatal are some single wrong steps, and how much is honesty the best policy! I hope you will be able to get me Mosheim de rebus-ante Constantinum.

Our best respects to Mr. and Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Rayner, &c.†

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.

MR. URBAN,

Birmingham, Dec. 24, 1788.

I BEG leave, through the channel of your Repository, which comes into the hands of most men of letters, to inform my friends and the public, that though I proposed to make an annual reply to all those who should controvert what I have written, and have undertaken to defend, against the doctrine of the Trinity, I see no reason to make any publication of the kind at the close of this year, because it has produced nothing that appears to me to require any answer. Nothing has been advanced by any of the writers who have appeared in favour of this doctrine, in reply to my repeated assertions, that it was not the faith of the primitive church, that it arose from the principles of Platonism, which were adopted by the philosophizing and learned Christians, and made its way very slowly among the unlearned; and, also, that the present system of orthodoxy on this subject was formed by degrees, and was not completed till after the council of Nice.

I would observe farther, that no Arian has as yet attempted to controvert what I have maintained, viz. that their doctrine was unknown to both the learned and unlearned Christians till about the time of Arius; and of this I shall produce much additional evidence, (shewing that what is now called Arianism had no existence till the latter part of the reign of Constantius,)

* On the projected regency, during the mental malady of George III. + Orig. MS.

in my History of the Christian Church till the Fall of the Western Empire," which is nearly ready for the press.

The Trinitarians, who are principally concerned to support what they have maintained in this controversy, are Dr. Horsley, Bishop of St. David's; Mr. Howes, of Norwich; and Dr. Geddes; all of whom have been frequently called upon, in a manner that appeared to me to be the best calculated to engage them, to produce whatever they may have to allege against what I have advanced with respect to each of them, and they have all had time enough for the purpose.

Dr. Horne, the Dean of Canterbury, stands particularly pledged for a large work on the subject. He, indeed, required time, but time sufficient has been given him; so that, if nothing come from him very soon, it will be concluded, that, upon second thoughts, he found himself engaged in a business to which he was not equal: but then it will become him, as an honest man and a lover of truth, frankly to acknowledge this. However, the impartial public will easily perceive the real situation of all these gentlemen, whether they have the ingenuousness to own it or not, and will be influenced in forming their opinions, on the question in debate, accordingly.

Things being in this situation, I shall wait another year; and if nothing then appear deserving of particular notice, I shall close this controversy with the serious address which I proposed to make to the bench of bishops, and to the public, on this interesting subject.*

TO REV. T. LINDSEY.

DEAR FRIEND,

Birmingham, Jan. 27, 1789. THE Cook's maxim, of taking care of the two ends, and the middle will take care of itself, has not answered with respect to my work, as you like the two ends better than the middle. However, I will do my best to make that also to your taste.

I send you a few more additions, and a specimen of my pulpit expositions of scripture,† which, having a good amanuensis, I take the opportunity of writing out in part, but shall + See I. 16, 339, 340.

* Gent. Mag. (1789,) LIX. 10.

not continue long. It will be some years before I shall finish or think of publishing this work. When I do it, I shall dedicate it to Mr. Russell.*

I am sorry to hear of Mrs. Rayner's indisposition, and beg my own and my wife's particular respects to her. You will, of course, tell her what I am about, and I hope it will not be displeasing to her. I hope she liked the Life of M. Marolles, &c.

You never returned Mr. Hutton's letter to me,† and I know not how to direct to him. When you send him any thing, do not fail to send, in my name, the Theological Repository, 3 last vols., and the "History of Early Opinions."

I like Mr. Frend's Second Address no less than his first. I greatly admire his spirit and ability, and hope much from him. Get me Mosheim, if you can, or borrow it. Please to return the MS. within the week, as usual.§

DEAR FRIEND,

TO THE SAME.

1789.

You expect originality where it is not to be had. In a general history many things must be said which have often been said before, and cannot be said better. For example, a brief account of the principal writers is absolutely necessary in all the periods of the history, as well as a particular account of all, in the earlier periods; but those I shall profess to take, for the most part, from Cave or Dupin.

I now send the remainder of the work, and a few additions, which I foresee will increase as I read other historians, which I am doing, beginning with Nicephorus. I hope you will be

* A purpose accomplished, 1803. See W. XI. 3.

↑ Supra, p. 11.

Mr. Frend had printed, in a very cheap form, for extensive circulation, "An Address to the Members of the Church of England, and to Protestant Trinitarians in general, exhorting them to turn from the Worship of Three Persons to the Worship of the True God." This was now followed by "A Second Address, upon the same Subject."

$ Orig. MS.

Who wrote, in the 14th century, An Ecclesiastical History, from the Birth of Christ to the Death of Phocas, in 610. Nouv. Dict. Hist. (1789), VI. 475.

able to get me Mosheim, though I really expect little from him, and therefore do not desire you to be in any hurry about it. I have already so far looked into Fleury, or Sueur, as to see that I made no great omissions, and to be directed to authorities; and for some things, I have, at present, quoted the former, till I can verify what he has given, by some early writers; but some common-place matters I shall probably leave, as quoted from him. They will not make many pages. As to Lardner, I really think it better to leave what I have taken from him, on his authority, which no person will question.

I mean to introduce more of the history of the Jews, which I shall professedly take from Basnage. With all this there will be more that is truly original in my History than in almost any other, especially in what is of the greatest importance, the natural progress of opinions, which has always been strangely misconceived and misrepresented.

I inclose a letter and a book* from the Duke of Grafton, which I thought you would like to see. Please to return them. It is the only intercourse I ever had with him.† I wrote a civil answer to his letter, and recommended to his notice the Life-—‡

DEAR SIR,

TO REV. JOSHUA TOULMIN.S

Birmingham, March 23, 1789. I AM not able to recollect any thing about the piece you mention of Mr. Cardale. I do not know that I ever heard of it before. I am glad that you are drawing up an account of that valuable man.

Your "Letter to the Bishops"¶ I have not yet seen, but I

Probably the Hints. See infra.

+ Mr. Lindsey's personal intercourse with this nobleman "did not commence till about June, 1789, from which time the Duke became a frequent morning visitor at Essex House." See Mem. of Lindsey, pp. 321, 322. ↑ Orig. MS., which ends thus abruptly.

§ Taunton.

I See I. 133.

¶ "On the Application of the Protestant Dissenters to Parliament, for a Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, including Strictures on some Passages in the Bishop of Gloucester's (Dr. Halifax's) Sermon, on January 30, 1788." M. R. X. 671.

go to London in a fortnight, and expect to find it in Mr. Johnson's shop. I shall then say something more to him on the subject of your reviewing. Your son's review of the Reposi

tory was almost every thing that I wished.

I have reason to be thankful that my health, about which you obligingly inquire, is at present very good, so that if I do not work, I am criminally idle. Of late, however, my working has been almost wholly in the laboratory; having finished the outline of my Ecclesiastical History from original writers. I have, however, many modern ones to read and compare with mine, and shall begin to print on my return from London, in May next, if all be well.

I have heard much from Mr. Lindsey of your Life of Biddle,† and wish to see it.‡

TO REV. T. LINDSEY.S

DEAR FRIEND, Birmingham, April 3, 1789. YOUR account of Mr. Belsham || surprises and pleases me much. I am glad that his embarrassment is of so short continuance, and think he will make an useful addition to the corps at Hackney. But if he teach divinity, for which he is best qualified, what will they do with Dr. Rees? It will be an Unitarian academy, do what they will.

I am sorry to hear what you say of the flagging of disci

* In the Analytical. See supra, p. 10.

+ This instructive biographical narrative was reprinted by the London Unitarian Book Society, in 1791, and has been extensively circulated." M. R. X. 669.

+ Orig. MS

§ Essex Street.

|| Who, in March 1789, had introduced himself to Mr. Lindsey. "It was," says Mr. Belsham, "a visit of form, perhaps it may be said of curiosity, not, it is hoped, wholly unwarrantable in the new proselyte, to see the holy confessor and champion of truth, whose doctrine he had embraced, and whose dignified example he had endeavoured, in his humbler measure, to follow." Mem. of Lindsey, p. 292.

T See ibid. pp. 285-290; "Calm Inquiry," Pref. I have seen an original letter from Mr. Belsham's highly-respectable mother, written many years before this event, in which, with a most becoming maternal solicitude, on her principles, civil and religious, she says, I hope you will never take your politics from Junius, or your theology from Dr. Priestley."