The Christian reformer; or, Unitarian magazine and review [ed. by R. Aspland].

to this length by the interest which I take in your welfare. Perhaps you will frankly tell me by what steps and with what progress you have arrived at your

Trinitarian conclusions."

Mr. Webley sent a rejoinder,* and assured Mr. Aspland that he took his letter in good part, and regarded it as a new proof of his friendship. The Committee, in reporting to their constituents Mr. Webley's change of faith, said of him, "Whatever be thought of his opinions, he cannot be too much esteemed for his integrity and openness and gratitude."

The increased demand for ministers fitted for missionary labours, and disposed to undertake the charge of the less important congregations amongst the Unitarians, led Mr. Aspland and many of his friends about this time to take active measures for founding an Unitarian Academy for the training up of popular rather than learned ministers.

The subject was first discussed at a meeting of the Unitarian Fund Committee, held May 16, 1811, at which Messrs. Eaton, Richard Taylor, Rutt, Christie, Burford, Hall, Freeman and the Secretary, were present. At a subsequent meeting of the same persons, their deliberations were assisted by Mr. William Frend, who took a warm interest in the subject. On the 30th of May, a meeting of "friends of the Unitarian cause took place, at which resolutions were passed declaring it to be highly expedient that an Academical Institution should be established to educate a succession of useful and acceptable preachers; that it should be denominated THE UNITARIAN ACADEMY; and that its objects should be to teach the students theology and the branches of study immediately connected with it, and to exercise them in and habituate them to the best methods of communicating religious instruction. The plan was speedily agreed upon, and adopted by a general meeting held June 6. It prescribed that the students should be under the care of a Principal Tutor who should board and lodge them; that the young men eligible as students should (except in special cases) be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five; and that the period of study to each pupil should be limited to two years.

The founders of the Academy believed that it might be so conducted as to provide a succession of teachers qualified for communicating scriptural instruction to the common people; that, with the means and within the time allowed, the students might acquire a fair portion of general knowledge, and might learn to read the Scriptures in their original tongues. They proposed to make the instruction purely theological. In this respect and in the limited period of instruction, it differed entirely from the higher and more important institution at York, then and for so many subsequent years presided over with such eminent success by the Rev. Charles Wellbeloved.

The name UNITARIAN was given to the Academy, not for the purpose of pledging either its students or supporters to any particular system of faith, but because it expressed the leading opinion of those who interested themselves in its formation, and their expectation of its results. They used the term Unitarian in its broadest sense, including under it all Christians that agreed in the sole worship of one God, the Father, whatever might be their views on minor topics, or their practice in less important matters. They desired that the freest inquiry should be

* The correspondence is printed in the Monthly Repository, VII. 722.

accounted all-sufficient both for the honour of Jesus and for the efficacy of his mission? It is not enough, then, according to the apostolic doctrine, that 'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, and was always with him as he went about doing good!'-You may not, indeed, go all lengths with the believers in the divinity of Christ; but you cannot, in my view, consistently stop short of the horrid nonsense of God Almighty dying, in order to make God Almighty good and kind.

"Believe me, good Sir, I do not state these things thus strongly in order to harass your mind, but merely to warn you of the tendency and consequences of your new faith, of which I would fain persuade myself you are not fully aware. If, indeed, you see all these consequences, and can look at them and the Scriptures at the same time with an undaunted face, I shall admire your courage, whatever I may think of your creed.

"You seem to intimate a belief that you have been led in your inquiries by the Holy Spirit. That you have not been guided by an evil spirit I am fully prepared to admit; but I must demur to your statement of divine influences when I see you adopting sentiments so offensive (as I cannot but deem them) to the clearly revealed will of God. Divine teachings, you know, are claimed by men of almost all sentiments, and claimed most eagerly by the greatest fanatics, by the followers of Joanna Southcott more than by Calvinists, and by them more than by you;-this assumption, therefore, goes no way in a controversy; the only proper question is, what is the doctrine of Jesus? His word is spirit; he teaches me that God is One; that he himself is not God, but man; and that God is a Father, and always acts a fatherly part towards all his children: and if an angel from heaven were, in spite of these divine teachings, to preach to me the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the incapacity or unwillingness of the Almighty to pardon sin without full satisfaction, I should, as I valued my soul, hold his doctrine accursed.

"That the exercises of your mind have been very painful I am well persuaded; the operation of putting out an eye cannot take place without extreme anguish; and will you pardon me for saying that I consider you as having been employed of late in extinguishing the light of your mind. You, no doubt, think you have been, on the contrary, brought out of darkness. Be it so :let the Scriptures, then, determine between us; but, as we differ about their judgment on the points in controversy, let us refer our cause to the Judge of all the earth, who will do right and make truth manifest; in the mean time, not judging one another, nor claiming any dominion over faith, but helping each other's joy.-You will not, I trust, consider my remarks as angrily made or harshly enforced; you request to hear from me, and I give you, as a Christian friend and brother, my free thoughts. If they are good, treasure them up; if bad, reject them; but, at any rate, consider them before you determine upon their value.

"When you have thought over my letter, give me your answer; in which I shall be obliged to you to state whether the congregation at Wedmore have changed with you, or whether your new opinions will affect the connection between you? If you have declared your Trinitarian principles to the church, it would, perhaps, be candid to let them hear this letter.

"As to the future, you need not be under anxiety; for, besides the protection of a good Providence, which you have, in common with all the children of men, your new creed will make you more popular than you could have been with your old one, and, if not at Wedmore, yet elsewhere, will procure you warm friends and zealous patrons.

"My recommendation would scarcely be of service to you with Trinitarians, but if in any thing I can serve you, I shall be happy to testify that, notwithstanding your desertion of the faith which I glory in, I am your well-wisher and Christian friend and brother,

(Signed)

"ROBERT ASPLAND. "N. B. I intended to write a short letter, but have been insensibly drawn on

to this length by the interest which I take in your welfare. Perhaps you will frankly tell me by what steps and with what progress you have arrived at your Trinitarian conclusions."

The subject was first discussed at a meeting of the Unitarian Fund Committee, held May 16, 1811, at which Messrs. Eaton, Richard Taylor, Rutt, Christie, Burford, Hall, Freeman and the Secretary, were present. At a subsequent meeting of the same persons, their deliberations were assisted by Mr. William Frend, who took a warm interest in the subject. On the 30th of May, a meeting of "friends of the Unitarian cause" took place, at which resolutions were passed declaring it to be highly expedient that an Academical Institution should be established to educate a succession of useful and acceptable preachers; that it should be denominated THE UNITARIAN ACADEMY; and that its objects should be to teach the students theology and the branches of study immediately connected with it, and to exercise them in and habituate them to the best methods of communicating religious instruction. The plan was speedily agreed upon, and adopted by a general meeting held June 6. It prescribed that the students should be under the care of a Principal Tutor who should board and lodge them; that the young men eligible as students should (except in special cases) be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five; and that the period of study to each pupil should be limited to two years.

* The correspondence is printed in the Monthly Repository, VII. 722.

encouraged in the students, feeling assured that investigation properly conducted would end in the perception and acknowledgment of truth. The friends who united in founding the Academy were well aware that its success must in a very great measure depend on the abilities and energy of the Principal and Theological Tutor. From the first they looked to Mr. Aspland to undertake this laborious and responsible post. He might well have pleaded that his ministerial duties, the education of his large and rapidly-increasing family, his editorship of the Monthly Repository, and the conduct of the Unitarian Fund, involving him, as it in reality did, in a kind of general agency for the Unitarian body, were work enough for one man. But he was now in the prime of life, in his thirtieth year, his vigorous frame unbowed by sickness, and his mind eagerly intent upon promoting truth and religious knowledge, and without hesitation or fear he consented at once to enter upon the new and laborious path which duty opened before him. His friends, Mr. Christie and Mr. Richard Taylor, undertook respectively the offices of Treasurer and Secretary, and with them were associated Mr. Frend, Mr. Rutt and Mr. Dewhurst, as members of the Committee of Management. Of the last-named gentleman mention will presently be renewed in connection with a more important office in the Academy.

Immediate and active measures were taken for conciliating to the new institution the required pecuniary support. In many quarters objections were felt, and in some were expressed. The preliminary proceedings were objected to as hasty, and confined to too small a body of persons. It might have been expedient to have enlisted a larger number of persons in both town and country as founders of the institution; but practically it is well known that any plan, to be successful, must be in the first instance devised by a few thoughtful minds, and afterwards carried into execution by a few intelligent and resolute persons. To some, the term Unitarian was objectionable. They wished a place of theological study to be free from a sectarian brand, which they regarded as unfavourable to the impartial search after truth. To a small number, the broad definition of the term Unitarian was unacceptable; the latitude which included Arians, high and low, and which might include some Trinitarians, seemed to them inconsistent with a proper regard for Scripture truth. Some of the more zealous friends of the College at York feared that the new institution might be the means of diverting some portion of the support given, or likely to be given, to their favourite institution. Others objected to the limited period of instruetion as utterly inadequate to the communication of a sufficient basis either of general or scriptural knowledge. This last objection was felt very strongly by Mr. Belsham. He had never, since the breaking up of the former College at Hackney, abandoned the idea of the re-establishment of a liberal academical institution in or near the Metropolis.* He watched with anxious interest the preliminary proceedings of the founders of the Unitarian Academy, prepared with considerable care the

Perhaps the finest passage ever written by Mr. Belsham was this pathetic lament over the fate of the Hackney College: "The spirit of the times was against it. It fell-and the birds of night, ignorance and envy, bigotry and rancour, screamed their ungenerous triumph over the ruins of this stately edifice; while virtue, truth and learning mourned in secret over the disappointment heir fond hopes and of their too highly elevated expectations."

scheme of an institution which might combine the support of all that were favourable to a Metropolitan Academy; and when his hopes were disappointed by the adoption of a period of education limited to two years, he thus expressed his feelings:

Rev. Thomas Belsham to Rev. Robert Aspland.

"Friday Evening.

My dear Sir,-I thank you for your obliging note. I am grieved at the resolutions of yesterday, which will, I fear, paralyze my exertions.

My object is the same with that of the gentlemen who then met. I wish for ministers eloquent, able, popular, zealous and well-informed, willing to adapt themselves to the capacities of the inferior classes of society; and this I consider as amply provided for upon my plan. My wish was to combine all parties and all objects, which appears to me very feasible. Let the plan of education be complete, and provision made for four, five, or even six years' employment of the student; but let it be left to the discretion of the Divinity Tutor, in connection with the Committee, to reduce the time in particular cases, and to direct the particular course that every student should pursue. My plan comprehends the whole of theirs, but theirs does not and cannot comprehend mine; and mine has the advantage of including a description of persons who will not support the other.

"If the two-year plan is adopted, I cannot wish you to be the Tutor; the country is better than the town; and Mr. Wright would conduct such an institution to great advantage. But to my plan your co-operation would be essential. You would do what I wish to see done; you would direct the attention of the pupils to theology; you would make them practical, popular, active divines, in which our London institutions hitherto have been wofully deficient.

"I should regret to see you at the head of a two-year institution, when the orthodox around us have abandoned that system, and have flourishing Academies for a complete education.

"I wish to see you take the lead in an institution supported by the great body of liberal Dissenters in the Metropolis and elsewhere, a situation that should be respectable, useful and lucrative; for, with a rising family, you ought not to be expected to give your labours gratuitously. In these circumstances I should be happy to give you all the assistance I could; and I should rejoice to have a Committee chosen which possessed your entire confidence, and with which you might act in perfect harmony.

"However, if the other plan be adopted, I shall comfort myself with the conviction that it must terminate in my plan at last, though probably not till it is too late for me to give it any aid. The impracticability of communicating all the knowledge which is requisite, in so short a period, will make it necessary to add another year and then another, till the course is complete. And perhaps this may be the better way. I have seen so many of these half-education schemes either come to nothing or terminate in a regular institution and a complete course, that I can have no doubt of the ultimate issue of this. At all events, I sincerely wish that your usefulness and comfort may continually increase-and am, dear Sir, most sincerely yours,

T. BELSHAM.

"I sincerely wish well to all the able, active exertions of such ministers as Mr. Wright, &c., to promote the great cause of truth and virtue; but you know my disinclination to public dinners.

"I am obliged to your friend Mr. Evans for his good hints, to which I shall attend as I am able.

"Can you send me the names of half-a-dozen worthy ministers to whom my 'Calm Inquiry' would be of use ?"

Notwithstanding his disapprobation of the term of study adopted at

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