Justin Martyr was the first who suggested the idea of Christ being the logos.* But I must speak tenderly on this subject, as I know you are all Arians at Bristol.† To MR. W. FREND. DEAR SIR, Birmingham, Aug. 12, 1790. YOUR account of the university at Cambridge has given me great satisfaction, and has rectified some mistakes that I was under on the subject. You own, however, that much reformation is wanted, and certainly £50,000 per annum might be better appropriated for the purpose of education, and the promotion of literature, though it must be owned that the same sum in private hands is in general not employed near so well. I see in it no such provision for teaching theology, as there is for teaching mathematics, &c.; and certainly the advantages of the university, whatever they are, ought to be open to all the country, and not confined to the members of the Church of England. You must excuse our railing a little at that we cannot come at. I am sticking pretty closely to our translation, as I hope you do. Besides my proper part, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, I fancy I shall have something to do with the prophecies, except Isaiah, which Mr. Dodson will take care of. § He thinks it will be sufficient if we take the versions of Blayney and Newcome for the rest; but I am of a different opinion. Shall you find time to divide this task with me, so as to take Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets, with Daniel? If you can, take your choice, and I will take one of the other very happy the Second Address was well approved, in any degree, by such judges as you. I wish Unitarians could come to any solid and satisfactory faith about the interpretation and rendering of the preface to St. John's gospel, and upon such grounds as might approve themselves to common readers, who will continue to think that he is speaking of Christ as God, if nothing level to their capacities is laid before them to the contrary." MS. copy, by Rev. B. Mardon. * See Address, pp. 147-216; Mem. of Lindsey, pp. 211-213. + Orig. MS. Jesus College, Cambridge. See supra, p. 11. § See supra, p. 45. parts. Perhaps Mr. Garnham, or some other of your friends, will not object to a part. Please to consult him, and let me know in time. We must have all the parts ready before the next April, and this I hope will not be very difficult. I thank you for Mr. Rogers' sermon, which I admire much. I hope the number of such men is increasing. 's last sermon is evidently the production of an unbeliever. Mr. Garnham's papers in the Repository† supply an easy answer to all his difficulties. Our Saviour declared that he did not know the time of his second coming, and therefore whatever he said on that subject must have been his mere conjecture, in which he might be, and I doubt not was, mistaken. § We had a melancholy scene in the death of Mr. Robinson. The son forgot a pamphlet I gave him for you. However, we are reprinting all the Familiar Letters, and I will then send you a complete copy. We are also going to reprint Collins on Necessity, which has been long out of print, and much wanted. Il I have desired Mr. Johnson to get, if he can, Michaelis's New Translation of the Bible.¶ To REV. T. LINDSEY.** DEAR FRIEND, Birmingham, Aug. 18, 1790. I HAVE received a copy of Mr. Dexter's letter for the new edition of my Familiar Letters, and therefore shall print it off immediately. I have written a pretty large preface. I introduce Dr. Withers's letter to me in such a manner as you will not disapprove.tt I have also persuaded Mr. Johnson to give an edition of A Clergyman, Sproughton, Suffolk; one of the Society, described I. 394. + Four have been attributed to Mr. Garnham: "Observations on Isaiah vii. 10-23; viii. 5-19;" "An Illustration of various Texts of Scripture;" "On the Oblation of Isaac, as Figurative of the Death of Christ;" "An Inquiry into the Time at which the Kingdom of Heaven will commence." Theol. Repos. V. 38, 273; VI. 60, 244. Mark xiii. 32. See W. XIII. 298. § See W. XV. 309. See W. IV. 257-310. Orig. MS., which Mr. Frend very obligingly communicated. ** Essex Street. ++ See W. XIX. 531-533. Collins on Liberty and Necessity; and I have written a preface to it. It is exceedingly scarce, and ought to be preserved. I lament, with you, the fate of Daventry academy,† and the more, as the place of my own education. It had many disadvantages; but certainly afforded little opportunity of dissipation, and, on that account, was favourable to study. The students had little or no society, except with themselves. I have just received Mr. Robinson's book.§ It seems to be curious, but has much that is foreign to his purpose. When I have seen more of the book, I shall give you my thoughts of it more particularly. I am much pleased with your account of Mr. Bedell. I hope there are many such, forming silently. I shall be glad to see the account of the Unitarians in South Wales. I have received "The Book" from Mr. Thompson, but doubt whether it be so much to the purpose as has been imagined. Dr. Furneaux has given an account of it (2nd ed. In which "popular declamation against the doctrine of necessity" is thus exposed: "If persons have strength of mind not to be frightended by names, and be capable of attending to things only, the strongest objections to the doctrine of necessity will not affect them. If they be unequal to this, they had better desist from the consideration of the subject, and content themselves with popular ideas and popular language. Only let them cease to censure what they do not understand, and what they see does no real harm. "When young necessarians, who wish to prolong their lives, shall neglect the necessary means of preserving them, by taking wholesome food or poison promiscuously; or when they shall carelessly throw themselves down precipices, or walk indifferently where there is danger and where there is none, I shall then acknowledge that the doctrine of necessity, simply considered, has, indeed, dangerous consequences. But if necessarians, whether virtuously or viciously disposed, take the same care of themselves in these respects as other people do, I shall say that, if they do not pay the same rational attention to their conduct in a moral respect, so as to guard against inconveniences equally foreseen, whatever else be the cause, their inattention and misconduct did not arise from their being believers in the doctrine of necessity." W. IV. 258, 259. + See Mem. of Lindsey, p. 286 note. See I. 22. "The History of Baptism." See W. XV. 409; XX. 476–482. pp. 89, &c.). I shall, however, make some remarks on the subject in my preface. Mr. Toulmin has called, as I was writing, and desires to be remembered to you. I inclose my letter to Mr. Dodson, and beg you would forward it.* DEAR FRIEND, To DR. PRICE.† Birmingham, Aug. 29, 1790. EVERY expression of your much-valued friendship gives me particular pleasure; and I hope our correspondence will never be wholly discontinued as long as we live. I have, indeed, no idea of greater happiness than what will result from the society of such persons as you are, in another world. I most sincerely congratulate you on the glorious effulgence of liberty in France, and especially on the share that is, with so much justice, ascribed to you, with respect to the liberty, both of that country and America, and of course of all those other countries that, it is to be hoped, will follow their example. I do not know any man who appears to have lived to better purpose. The commemoration of the French revolution at the Crown and Anchort was most happily conceived, and the success of it gives me the greatest pleasure. Your speech I admired exceedingly, but especially your toast.§ Little things have some Orig. MS. Earl Stanhope in the chair. + Hackney. § "Genuine Copy of the Introduction to a Toust, proposed by Dr. Price, on Wednesday, the 14th of July, at the Feast for celebrating the first Anniversary of the Revolution in France: “Gentlemen, the subject of the toast I am going to propose to you, appears to me very important. In consequence of five wars in which we have been involved since the Revolution in 1688, the kingdom is now bending under a heavy load of debts and incumbrances, which render it incapable of meeting another war without the utmost danger; for certainly there is a limit, beyond which if we go, in adding to our debts, ruin must follow; and one more war may bring us to that limit. "A long period of peace, therefore, to give us time for the redemption of our debts, is necessary to our security, and, perhaps, even to our existence. In France there is a disposition to unite itself to us by an alliance for main times great effects, and such I cannot help auguring from this. But I do not wonder at the hatred and dread of this spirit of taining and perpetuating peace. Such an alliance would be an union between the two first kingdoms in the world, for the noblest purpose. "It would be an effect worthy of that union of philosophy to politics, which distinguishes the present era of the world. It might save Britain. It would bless the world, and complete the hopes of all the friends of human liberty and happiness. I can say, from very respectable authority, that there has been a design formed in the National Assembly of France to make a proposal of such an alliance to this country. O heavenly philanthropists! well do you deserve the admiration, not only of your own country, but of all countries. You have already determined to renounce, for ever, all views of conquest, and all offensive wars. This is an instance of wisdom and attention to human rights, which has no example. But you will do more; you will invite Great Britain to join you in this determination, and to enter into a compact with you for promoting peace on earth, and good-will among men. "Gentlemen, such are the fruits of that glorious revolution which we are this day celebrating. It promises a new and better order in human affairs. The passions of kings and their ministers have too often and too long involved nations in the calamities of war; but now, (thanks to the National Assembly of France,) the axe is laid to the root of this cause of human misery; and the intrigues of courts are likely to lose their power of embroiling the world. "In this kingdom we have been used to speak of the people of France as our natural enemies; and, however absurd, as well as ungenerous and wicked, such language was, it admitted of some excuse, while they consisted only of a monarch and his slaves: but now, with a spirit that astonishes mankind, and that makes tyrants tremble, they have broke their yoke, they have asserted their rights, and made themselves as free as ourselves. In doing this we have been an example to them; they are now become an example to us; and we have reason to expect that they will soon crown their glorious work, by calling upon us to meet them, not, as formerly, in the fields of blood, at the command of a despot, but on the sacred ground of liberty, to embrace us as brethren, to exchange vows with us of eternal amity, and to settle the terms of a confederation for extending the blessings of peace and liberty through the world. Thus united, the two kingdoms will be omnipotent: they will soon draw into their confederation Holland, and other countries on this side the globe, and the United States of America on the other; and when alarms of war come, they will be able to say to contending nations, Peace, and there will be peace. "I have, therefore, thought that it would be worthy of this respectable company, on this most animating and joyous occasion, to express its wishes of success to the proposal I have mentioned, by drinking the following toast: "An Alliance between France and Great Britain, for perpetuating peace, and making the world happy." Single Leaf. "The notice taken in France," says Mr. Morgan, "of the speech made |