The evening preacher delivered a very excellent discourse on the free grace of God; a doctrine which all Unitarians most cordially embrace, but in which Mr. La Croix very inconsistently believes; considering as he does that mankind can be justified from their sins only by the merits of Christ, and that by his sufferings and death the salvation of sinners was purchased, and an equivalent paid to God for receiving them into his favour.

Unitarian Lectures at Devonport.

SIR, Devonport, Jan. 15, 1826. Ir the subjoined letters he not inadmissible, the friends of Unitarianism in this town will feel obliged by their insertion in your valuable Miscellany. The Course of Lectures alluded to commenced September 25, and terminated December 11, 1825, and they embraced the following subjects: 1. Freedom of Inquiry and the Use of Reason. 2. Mystery. 3. Heresy. 4. The Doctrine of the Trinity. 5. Christ Crucified. 6. Christ not composed of Two Natures... 7. Christ neither God nor a Pre-existent Spirit. 8. Christ testifies to his own Inferiority. 9. Christ gradually raised to Deity. 10. Christ the Son of Man. 11. Christ the Son of God. 12. Christ an Example. They were remarkably well attended, the large room which we occupy for public worship (which is capable of seating about 300 persons) being full, or nearly so, every evening; and a new impulse seems to have been given to the cause by their delivery.

NICHOLAS RUNDELL.

DEAR SIR, Devonport, Dec. 18, 1825. We, the undersigned, belonging to the congregation meeting for public worship at the large room, 98, Fore Street, desire to present you our sincere thanks for your kindness in conducting the services, generally, in that place for several years; but more particularly for the very excellent course of Lectures you have lately delivered on the Trinity, and on the Person and Character of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, &c.

In those Lectures you very powerfully enforced the superior motives to a virtuous life, which we, as Unitarian Christians, derive from our views of his person and character. May we, therefore, more fully express our estimation of these views by the improvement of our temper and lives!

May God bless you for the instruction you have so readily

and freely 'bestowed; may you see the opinions you so ably advocate become more extensively prevalent; may he give you every needful blessing in this life; and "when the Chief Shepherd shall appear," may you 66 receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away"! This is the earnest wish of

Your very much obliged Friends.

(Here follows fifty signatures.)

To Mr. Silvanus Gibbs,

28, Charlotte Street, Morice Town.

Morice Town, 28, Charlotte Street,
Dec. 21, 1825.

MY CHRISTIAN Friends,

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your kind letter in testimony of your approbation of my public labours generally, and particularly of the course of Lectures recently delivered on Sunday evenings. This voluntary and unexpected favour is, I assure you, duly appreciated; and I trust that it will excite zeal and animate my future exertions in the cause of uncorrupted Christianity.

I regret that my abilities are so inadequate to the important work in which, by your suffrage, I am engaged; but it will ever be my study to endeavour to compensate for deficiency of talent by industry and perseverance. It was not a confidence in my own powers which at first induced me to stand forward as a public advocate of the pure gospel; but a deep and feeling sense of the prevalence of error, and an anxious and, I trust, a laudable solicitude to diffuse "the truth, as it is in Jesus." Had a more efficient person presented himself for this purpose I should not have obtruded inyself on your notice, as it would have been more agreeable to my natural disposition to take my station among the audience. It, however, appeared to me altogether useless merely to lament a deficiency of zeal among the professors of Unitarianism; the most effectual method, I considered, would be, to put my own shoulder to the wheel and exert all my strength (feeble as it is) in order to extricate the waggon out of the mire; for it is by our united and well-directed efforts, and not by lamentations, that the reign of error will be overthrown and the progress of truth and virtue be accelerated.

Thanks to the great and good men who, under the Divine blessing, have preceded us in the honourable career of REFORMATION, our labours are far less arduous than they would otherwise have been; for by their deep researches into the Holy Scriptures and Christian antiquity, and by their luminous expositions and illustrations, our task is comparatively an easy

one.

We have little more to do than use our judgment in selecting from their treasures, and in moulding their arguments

and criticisms into a popular form. A learned ministry is unquestionably of eminent advantage, where it can be obtained; and I hope the Academy at York will long flourish under its present excellent tutors, and continue to supply our opulent churches with learned and exemplary young men, who, by their talents and virtues, will do honour to themselves and to the Unitarian cause; but a great deal might be done by those that have not been favoured with a classical education, if they would make the best use of the means which the Almighty has graci ously put into their power. May all perceive and feel the importance of their respective situations, and act accordingly, as probationers for eternity! As the labourers are still very few, and the fields are already white for harvest, let us ardently pray the Lord of the harvest that he will speedily furnish an ample supply.

Permit me to add, that there is one part of your letter in particular which affords me the most sincere pleasure; it is that wherein you express your approval of the motives I have invariably urged to enforce the practice of a virtuous and holy life, which we, as Unitarian Christians, derive from our peculiar views of the person and character of our blessed Lord and Master. May we be duly influenced by these motives; and however zealous we may be for the eradication of erroneous opinions, and the dissemination of correct doctrinal sentiments, (and we can hardly be too zealous when we behold the formida ble phalanx of reputed Orthodoxy which is marshalled in array against us,) let us endeavour to imbibe the amiable spirit and temper of our great Teacher and humbly "trace the steps he trod." And may every day of our sojourning here below find us better prepared for uniting with the ten thousand times ten thousand who will, on the glorious morning of the resurrection, assemble around the throne of the ONE ETERNAL, to adore his matchless perfections and celebrate the abounding riches of his grace throughout the illimitable ages of futurity. I am, my Christian Friends, with sincere respect, Your fellow-labourer in the Gospel vineyard, SILVANUS GIBBS.

To the Members of the

Unitarian Christian Church, Devonport.

Negro-Slavery: Speeches of Lord Nugent, at Buckingham, and of Henry Cockburn, Esq., Advocate, at Edinburgh.

We are almost ready to reproach ourselves for not having brought the crying national sin of Negro-Slavery more frequently before our readers. A reform of this great evil is demanded by every consideration of justice and

humanity and national policy, and, above all, of Christianity. The reproach will not surely lie much longer at our doors. The People are aroused; the Parliament is awake to the enormity; and the Government is, we believe, sincerely disposed to do all that the complex interests involved in the question will permit. We look forward with earnestness to the approaching parliamentary discussions. In the mean time we lay before our readers the two following speeches, which cannot be read without admiration, delivered at public meetings; Lord Nugent's at a meeting of the county of Buckingham, Jan. 17, he himself being in the Chair; and Mr. Cockburn's, at Edinburgh, Feb. 1, the Earl of Roseberry in the Chair.

Lord Nugent's Speech.

of

His Lordship, in opening the proceedings, said, he should not detain the meeting with any expression of the pleasure and pride he felt at being called to preside where freemen were assembled in the cause of humanity, justice and liberty-in the cause of eight hundred thousand fellowmen and fellow-subjects, deprived of the best gift of God to his creatures-the blessing of personal freedom ; men, engaged in the cause of their country's honour, which was still unredeemed, while one slave or slave-master existed under the shadow of the British flag. Even the Colonial party had begun to relent, and, instead of uncompromising hostility to all change, had adopted a differ ent system, with the motto "gradual abolition." He did not like the phrase. Unprepared and sudden emancipation of a population of beings, whom the crimes of this country had, for centuries, taught to know no law but their mas ters' word—no government but that of the cart-whip, was not the object of the friends of freedom. The Planters knew it was not; but when they said, "gradual," they meant "above all things, and at all events, Mind you do not advance rapidly." When we, said his Lordship, say "gradual," we mean, "above all things, and at all events, Mind you advance." (Cheers.) Very important progress had been already made. About four years ago, on a mo tion of Mr. Wilberforce's, on a day honourable to the House of Commons, and auspicious to mankind, the phrase "ultimate emancipation" was first adopted there; and in 1823, the House of Commons resolved, that it was anxious for the accomplishment of this purpose at the earliest

period consistent with the well-being of the Slaves and safety of the colonies." That vote no circumstances could ever hereafter reverse or expunge. (Cheers.) The Colonial party asked for compensation. He would vote for compensation to-morrow, but never, never, as a matter of right. Never would he admit the right of one man to plunder another of his natural liberty-his heart was for ever shut against such a claim. England now paid £1,200,000 in increased price of sugars and bounties on export, for the maintenance of Slavery in the West Indies. He would willingly pay that sum directly to redeem 800,000 fellow-subjects from Slavery, and restore them to the right that God had given them, at the moderate price of 17. 58. per head per annum. (Cheers.) How often have we heard that the condition of the Slave is on the whole preferable to that of the English peasant! Oh, how often is this said, with a degree of gravity, too, which would be very becoming in any proposition a little less monstrously absurd! We see his hard life and scanty means of comfort, and even of existence, in this rigorous season too, and we are told that his condition is harder than the Slave's. Indeed! Then shame on ourselves! Attend to his wants, better his condition, raise him from the misery and degradation to which he is too generally reduced by that bad system called the Poors' Laws. But, in the name of common justice, common humanity, and common sense, use not his sufferings as an apology for the unspeakable horrors of Slavery. At least, if he cannot always find a tender consideration of his necessities, the English peasant can always find redress against barefaced outrage, nor can the hand of created man be raised against him unpunished. (Cheers.) Enjoyments few, comforts few, hardships many and difficult to endure; but rights, God be thanked, intact and intangible; rights which may look the proudest oppressor in the face, aud which would wither the hand that would so much as dare to approach them; rights which, if not imperishable, can perish only among the last expiring embers of the English Constitution. (Loud and repeated cheers.) But, Slavery, how can we picture to ourselves?-Scenes such as in this land eye hath not seen, and such as it hath not entered into the heart of freemen but most imperfectly to conceive! We cannot generalise we must take a single instance. Place the English peasant in his cottage; surround him, like the