creation and of the church, of exercising all authority, and of inheriting all things; so that all manifestations of the Deity are through him. It is his province to declare the word, and to shew the works, of God. Many good works have I shewed you from my Father.' These operations and effects, which are peculiar to Deity, he would present before them, because he was not alone; but the Father was with him. All his knowledge and all his power, above what is, or may be, appropriate to men as such, are the knowledge and power of the Father, and not of the Son; though the Son is appointed a medium, through which they are to be displayed.

But, I need not enlarge. My principal object was only to show you, that the absurdity (and I do admit it to be absurd) of considering two or more personal identities, &c. as going to constitute but one, is not predicable of my mind, if it be implied in the language have used.

And now, Sir, whether I had a right to expect any fruit of my labour, in discussing the doctrine of the Trinity, except what should turn to my own confusion, I will not say. I will not dissemble, however, that in some things I am disappointed, while in others I am not. I am not disappointed, that my treatise has not mounted, among the many theological tracts of the day, as upon the wings of an eagle; but I am disappointed, that every bookstore in Boston, where liberality is so much the order of the day, should be resolutely and contemptuously shut against it; and that the Weekly Recorder, professedly open to all denominations, would not even admit the title page. I am not disappointed, that men should not declare themselves convinced by my reasoning without examining it; but I am disappointed, that so many are so prompt and cager to condemn the thing without seriously and candidly inquiring into it. And if I should declare to you my discouragement at being so repulsed by the public; would you marvel? You gently attempt to provoke me vigorously to labour for the truth; and I profess to have the willing mind; but my pen must be laid aside for the plough and the mattock, until the printer's bills are paid. And if not, why should I waste any more in filling his ware-houses with uncurrent sheets, which must be damned to ignominious neglect, because Unity is to be seen in one line and Trinity in the next? I think we need not hope for much progress in the investigation of truth and in the correction of error, until our party obliquities and sourness shall be a good deal mitigated; so that a Trinitarian shall not turn indignant from the sight of Unity; nor a Unitarian kindle into jealousy and scorn at a word so equivocal as that of Trinity.

You will excuse me, Sir, for not rejecting the latter term, since, though not sanctioned by Scripture use, it has been long appropriated, in the church, to distinguish the three, whose existence and offices are acknowledged by all. You judge me to have given up the essence of the doctrine, though not the name of Trinitarianism; and this I do not deny, if Trinity means three persons, or distinctions, in one God. But history has not yet informed me, that this is the only idea, that has ever been annexed to the term. And I should think it a question in Ecclesiastical history not yet settled, what exclusive sense belongs to Trinity, as a term of distinction, long used in the christian church. But, at any rate, let substance and not shadow, truths and not empty names, be the grand subjects of inquiry. J. FIELD.

Charlemont, May 10, 1822.

We cheerfully give publicity to the above letter from the author of a Treatise, which was reviewed in our first number of the current year. As it was then our wish to give a fair and true account of the author's scheme on the subject of the Trinity; we are happy now to allow him the opportunity of explaining himself a part of it, of which he thinks we have mistaken the meaning, and to give our readers also the advantage of having his own exposition of his views.

We are sorry to learn, that he finds so little encouragement to pursue his inquiries, and to publish the result of them; and that he has so much reason to complain of the want of interest in the community, and of liberality in our booksellers. We are indeed not a little surprised and mortified, that it can be said, that every bookstore in Boston is resolutely and contemptuously shut against his book.' We are confident that the writer must have been misinformed on the subject. That even its title-page 'should be refused a place in the Recorder,'--and that it should not be permitted to stand on the shelves of bookstores of a certain description, devoted to the interests and views of a sect, does not surprise us. But although the writer professes to be a Trinitarian, and his book purports to be a Trinitarian publication, we are confident, that it will meet with very different treatment at any Unitarian bookstore, to which it shall be offered.

It is a subject of some regret, that the respected writer should allow himself to express so strong feelings of disappointment and dissatisfaction at the neglect of his book by the public. He ought to have known, and we think he has put himself in the way to learn, enough of the spirit of orthodoxy, not to be sur prized at a rejection of his work without examination. Should

he experience in his person no part of that hostility, which has been excited against his opinions, it is more than the course of things for a few years past would warrant him to expect. In Unitarians we trust he will meet with a different spirit. Though not able to fall in wholly with his opinions, they will listen to them with attention; will do justice to the arguments by which he supports them, and honour the spirit of free and liberal inquiry, which he brings into the discussion.

DOMESTIC MISSIONS.

I HAVE been strongly interested in the perusal of a sermon by the Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, delivered at the annual meeting of the society for propagating the gospel among the Indians and others in North America. It contains some views on the importance of effort in the cause of domestic inissions, which deserve to be generally made known and attentively considered, and which I am persuaded will be acceptable to the readers of the Christian Disciple.

The subject is introduced with an inquiry into the causes which operate against the success of the preaching of the gospel to heathen nations. The great impediment is stated, in the words of the Abbé Dubois, to be, the unchristian character of most of those christians who visit pagan countries. The conduct of those, who, though born in christian countries, are now spread all over India, is often so unworthy of their faith, as to increase the prejudice and dislike which the natives entertain for every foreign religion, and, above all others, for christianity.' And this great difficulty, 'this great obstruction to the advancement of our religion, meets us in every direction in which we would extend its knowledge and its power.'

How is this impediment to be removed? The preacher answers, by extending the influence of our religion in countries already christian, and providing that our brethren who carry the christian name with them to unbelieving lands, shall no longer exhibit such false specimens of the christian character. In order to effect these desirable ends, he insists, among other means, on the importance of patronage to domestic missionary societies. It is this passage to which I have particularly referred.

'Is it necessary to state the fact, that there are parts of our country in almost equal moral darkness, as are many parts of the pagan world to which we are sending missionaries? The SabNew Series-vol. IV.

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bath, in these places, is scarcely distinguished even as a day of rest from ordinary labour; public worship is almost unknown; and children are growing up without any of the knowledge, or the discipline of a school; and consequently, without ability to read the bible, even if it should be given to them. Is it not then our duty first to provide for our own; and then, as we are able, for others? Is moral desolation, that is near to us, a smaller evil in our sight, than that which is distant? Have they a smaller claim upon our charity, and upon our exertions to bring them into the christian church, who, in our very neighbourhood, have no other knowledge of Christ, but of his name, than have the inhabitants of Africa, and of the Indies? Let it not be replied, that zeal for foreign missions does not diminish our interest in the cause of elevating the religious and moral character of christendom; that it does not divert from this course any of the streams of charity, nor appropriate labours that are wanted for moral culture at home. I am not pleading against zeal for the conversion of the heathen. No. Would to God that they were all persuaded to be followers of his Son! But let an appeal "be patiently heard, for sympathy in the condition of those of our countrymen, who would be taught, but have not the means of obtaining teachers; who ask for our assistance in establishing among them the institutions of the gospel, and schools for the education of their children; and whose loud, and reiterated calls are scarcely regarded. Here is a broad field for the toil of christian duty, in which a succession even of divinely commissioned apostles would find full employment. And great would be the change produced in the character of society among us, were these dark places to be enlightened by our religion; were these barren places to be broken up, and sowed with the seed of the word of God. Thus might something, and perhaps much be done, to efface the stigma that is af fixed, in the view of heathens, upon the christian character. And who, that is solicitous for the universal diffusion of our religion, can overlook, or lightly esteem, the paramount claims of associations for the accomplishment of these objects, upon his warmest regard, his most enlarged bounty, and his earnest efforts for their extension and their success?

'We have been accustomed to hear so much of the privi leges that are possessed in our happy country, in our constitutional provision for the education of children, and for the maintenance of religious institutions; so long and so often has it been our boast, that wherever there is a settlement formed, there, while yet our citizens have scarce provided for them

selves a habitation, a school has been established, a church has been gathered, and the ordinances of our religion have been administered; so long have we exulted in the sentiment, that there is no American who cannot read, and write, and provide for himself in the world; that our mental vision is obscured in the mist of our national vanity. Our sensibility is deadened to the privations and the ignorance of many thousands, on whom, in their poverty, neither constitutional provisions nor laws can exert any influence for their improvement. We are as indifferent, as inert in the cause of reforming popular ignorance and popular vice among ourselves, and of extending to those who have them not, the benefits of christian institutions, as if the number demanding this charity was too inconsiderable for our notice. That we are ourselves greatly distinguished by the means we possess of religion and of education, is true; and most devoutly should we bless God for them. But let us awake to the consideration that much, very much is to be done, if we would that privileges, any thing like our own, should be possessed and enjoyed through our country. If we would indulge the boast, that every hamlet has its school, its church, and its ministry, let us first look into our plantations and hamlets, and inquire in how many of them there is no provision, either for the instruction of children, or the social worship of God. And if the inquiry should humble us, let it also stimulate us to greater exertion for their rescue from the dangers that threaten them. The united charities of all our associations for the diffusion of the knowledge of Christ, would hardly, I believe would not,-meet the just demands upon us for missionary efforts at home.

'And, let me say one word in behalf of the poor, oppressed, and greatly injured aborigines of our country, towards whom a course of policy and conduct was so long indulged, the tendency of which was to make them as hostile to our religion, as to our countrymen; to drive them as effectually from our religion, as we have expelled them from our settlements. A tremendous account is to be rendered to God, of the injustice and cruelty with which the original owners of our soil, and their descendants, have been treated by those who have taken possession of it. Great as has been the desolation that we have extended among them by war, still greater has been that which has resulted from the vices, that were unknown among them, till they were instructed in them by those who were called Christians. And shall the remnants that still exist of the extensive tribes that once inhabited, and owned our country, be permitted to melt away, as dew before the sun; or rather, I would say, be permitted to perish miserably in ignorance, unpitied, and without any