been adopted against the Calvinistic Methodists. These proceed "from the station famed for orthodoxy," from the Pastors of Lausanne, who had broken off all communication with the Unitarian Ministers of Geneva. Of M. Malan's dreadful persecution, to the severities of which his personal appearance and condition bear such goodly evidence, we shall say something hereafter. But if it can be proved, that the Unitarian Christians have used the unlawful means of persecution, we shall heartily unite in reprobating their conduct, and we shall show how directly opposed our principles are to the spirit of intolerance. Persecution we abhor and detest, in every form and under every pretence. Yes, we abominate the principle, that man is amenable to an earthly tribunal for his religious principles. Bigotry and persecution we hate, with perfect hatred; whether it proceed to overt acts of violence, or secretly undermines character, and misrepresents principles; whether it uses the arm of the civil magistrate, or displays itself in going about from house to house, gathering and circulating tales of scandal, exciting prejudices, poisoning the minds of congregations against their ministers, disturbing the harmony of families, and insidiously fostering, and exciting suspicions, evil surmises, backbitings, boastings, and malignity.

According to Mr. H. nothing good can come from Unitarianism. Unitarians are "the engineers of Satan!" God is our Judge. Before his tribunal shall we all appear, and then it will be seen, who have been the faithful servants of Christ.

(To be Continued.)

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REV. SIR,

To the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw.

FOR several years back-indeed, from the time I left your congregation-I have intended to write to you; but have always, from a variety of causes, been induced to defer it. My long and regular attendance at your chapel, rendered, I daresay, my abrupt off-break, matter of surprise among your constant hearers and admirers; and, on your part, it is possible you might, at the time, expect from me a statement of the reasons which made me leave your church, and become a member of the Uni

tarian Congregation. I do freely confess, that it was partly my duty to communicate such to you, and I trust you will pardon the procrastination, if, even at this late period, I should endeavour to satisfy you, in some measure, of the manner by which I was led to doubt the truth of your doctrines-to investigate the Bible for myself and, in the end, to become a firm believer in that religion which you so strenuously opposed. In doing so, I by no means intend to enter into a comparison of the Trinitarian and Unitarian creeds, and an examination of the scriptural passages by which they are respectively supposed to be supported, for that is beyond my ability, and not, at any rate, necessary in the present case:-I intend to lay before you merely, in as brief space as possible, an account of the first steps I made, in my progress to what I consider to be the truth; resting satisfied, that every individual, of whatever denomination, if he could, by any possibility, be induced to advance a single step towards free and unprejudiced inquiry, would infallibly be led to that result, at which I, with feelings of the deepest gratitude to God, have arrived.

I was brought up strictly in the Orthodox faith, and had reached manhood before a single doubt regarding it crossed my mind. I cannot at all describe my thoughts and feelings during the period in which my soul was wrapped in darkness; yet it is only by the recollection of these feelings, that I am enabled to sympathise with Trinitarians, and to attribute their apathy, under scriptural proofs clear as noon-day, and arguments conclusive as mathematical demonstrations, to education and habit, which, otherwise, I might attribute to very different motives. As an instance of my ineffable complacency (for that is the best term, by which I can convey any idea of my feelings) with myself and my creed, and my conviction of the impiety of all others, I may mention, what I well remember, of being taken, when a youth, by a friend, to the Unitarian Chapel, one Sabbath evening, and of sitting, during all the service, in bodily fear that the house would come down about my ears! I have no recollection of the preacher or his sermon; but though he had had the tongue of an angel, to me, then-incrusted as I was in my own conceit, and without one charitable or liberal feeling for any of a different belief-his words would have been but as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.”

The first thing which staggered me, or which ruffled the satisfied placidity of my thoughts, was a remark made by a free-speaking acquaintance, upon your Discourses on the Socinian Controversy, at the very time when all the town was flocking to hear them. The remark, I confess, may be considered irreverent by some, and has really nothing very solid in it; but I mention it frankly, because from it I date the commencement of my inquiry after truth, and it furnishes one in addition to the many instances by which the Almighty is pleased, through apparently trivial means, to work out most important changes. Speaking of your Socinian Discourses, my acquaintance said, "How is Mr. Wardlaw-a man who believes that he would commit a sin in the eyes of the EVERLASTING and INCONCEIVABLE JEHOVAH, were he to eat the blood of any animal,-how is he qualified to teach correct notions of the Deity?" This observation made an impression on me at the time, stronger than, even to myself, I would admit. I had always considered you as the ablest minister in Glasgow, and perhaps I was not far wrong in doing so. You were a man of considerable talents and learning— your delivery was graceful-your style sweet-your character irreproachable,-above all, you were my family minister; and it was little wonder, that I, like too many, placed an implicit reliance upon your ipse dixit, and made your word not the Bible-the rule of my faith. The shadow of a doubt respecting your creed, or your capacity to teach, had never before, for a moment, flashed across my mind; but now, I doubted both in spite of myself. I became restless-uneasy-dissatisfied,—and felt, on the conclusion of your Discourses on the Socinian question, that my orthodoxy had gained nothing in sureness or strength, by your attempt to prop and establish it. I also judged, from your anxiety and fervour, that you had engaged in no ordinary battle-that you had the mighty intellect of many an honoured name to combat with,and I unconsciously inferred the weakness of your cause, from the defensive manner in which you conducted the warfare. Still I continued an attender at your church; and when your Discourses were published, I read them, but with even less satisfaction than I had heard them delivered. Arguments, which, in the heat of delivery, appeared strong and convincing, now, on re-consideration in the closet, became vague and inconclusive; and passages,

which, when read in your own honeyed accent, seemed soft and smooth enough, now appeared in legible pica, acrimonious and uncharitable. It is remarkable, that, with this conviction, or rather inward feeling, for I was not fully aware of its extent, I did not immediately betake myself to an examination of the other side of the question, but such was the fact; and with shame I confess it, I continued to dose on for a considerable period, disturbed in my dangerous slumber, no doubt, but not awakened to the glorious light that was bursting around me. By accident, I obtained a copy of Mr. Yates's Answer to your Discourses, and never shall I forget the impressions it made upon me. I had not gone through many of its pages, till I discovered that I had a writer to deal with very different from you-one whose style far surpassed yours in chasteness and precision-and whose manner of handling his subject appeared, in the highest degree, calm, dispassionate, and clear. This was my first impression; but this was a very trifle compared to those convictions which, as I proceeded in the perusal of the volume, assailed me in every quarter, and which, on closing the book, concentrated themselves into a force that I could not resist, and that produced a total and complete change in my feelings and belief, I felt that my eyes were opened, and I wondered that the Bible had so long remained a sealed book to me. "The ways of God to man," which, under my former creed, I could never to my own satisfaction "justify," now appeared to me in all their benignant and beautiful harmony; and the goodness of that Providence, which, in despair, I had sometimes been tempted to question, now shone on my soul in all its native and blessed lustre. I proceeded in my investigation of the truth; I read the Bible anew; I read your angry Reply to Mr. Yates; and also his Sequel, which yet remains unanswered by you, and is, perhaps, unanswerable; I studied the works of the ablest writers on both sides of the question; and became confirmed in the belief, that Unitarianism is the simple and undefiled truth, as it is in Jesus. It would have been sinful any longer to hesitate;-I left your ministry, and became a member of the Unitarian Congregation.

I do not intend, as I said, to specify any of those proofs and arguments by which I was converted. To you it would be needless, for you are aware of their number, and

have fully experienced their force, although the shackle of your education and profession, and the natural pride of the human heart, may prevent you from ever acknowledging it. Notwithstanding all that has been written and spoken against it, Unitarianism is spreading in Scotland, not rapidly, indeed, but steadily. It has difficulties to encounter here, which it has not in England or America; not that my countrymen are less clear-headed than their neighbours, but they are rooted in their prejudices, and peculiarly attached to the system of their fathers. If, however, they be slow in adopting a new faith, they will also be slow in abandoning it, when adopted; and I am confidently persuaded, that a generation or two will do much to root out our existing prejudices; and although we may not live to witness it, the time is not far distant, when TRUTH will spread herself triumphantly over the land, and the worship of the One God, the Father, be heard in every corner of our hills and valleys.

I am,

REV. SIR,

GLASGOW, Aug. 29, 1826.

Your very obedient Servant, &c.
AN OLD HEARER.

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One Hundred Scriptural Arguments for the Unitarian Faith:-recently published in Boston, by the American Unitarian Association.

UNITARIAN Christians believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Saviour of men. They believe in the divinity of his mission and in the divinity of his doctrines. They believe that the Gospel, which he proclaimed, came from God; that the knowledge it imparts, the morality it enjoins, the spirit it breathes, the acceptance it provides, the promises it makes, the prospects it exhibits, the rewards it proposes, the punishments it threatens, all proceed from the great Jehovah. But they do not believe, that Jesus Christ is the Supreme God. They believe that, though exalted far above all other created intelligences, he is a being distinct from, inferior to, and dependent upon, the Father Almighty. For this belief, they urge, among other reasons, the following arguments from the Scriptures.