any chance of liquidating. In this state of things, Mr. Vidler referred the congregation at Parliament Court to his friends at Battle, determined to abide by their decision. With great generosity, they agreed to give up their much loved pastor, with a view to the great interests of Christian truth, but only on conditions proposed by the applicants themselves; viz. that Mr. Vidler should visit Battle several times in a year and spend two or three sundays there on every visit, and that the congregation in London should take upon themselves the responsibility of the debt lying upon the Battle Meeting-house. These conditions were unhappily never fulfilled, though the non-fulfilment of them cannot be attributed in any degree to Mr. Vidler. He accepted the leave granted him by his old friends to remove to London, under the firm persuasion that this step would be beneficial to both societies, and in the eager hope that he should be an instrument in the hands of Providence, of extending the knowledge and inAluence of the universal love of the Heavenly Father.

From the time of Mr. Winchester's departure, Mr. Vidler divided his services between Battle and London, until the month of November, 1796, when he removed his family to London. He was now considered as the head of the sect of Universalists and attracted scarcely less attention than Mr. Winchester. He had no avowed heresy but the doctrine of restoration, and this he maintained on popular grounds. Crowds flocked to the chapel in Parliament Court. A small party in the congregation considered themselves as the church and met together for the enjoyment of Christian ordinances and for mutual instruction and edification, and with this inner society Mr. Vidler regularly united as a brother amongst brethren, both teaching and learning. All was harmony, affection, prosperity; and no cloud overhung the prospect of the future.

Amidst these bright promises, a domestic affliction befel him, which painfully instructed him in the vanity of all earthly hopes. His eldest child, a fine intelligent youth, of the age of fourteen, was suddenly taken from him by a putrid fever on the 26th of January, 1797. On this melancholy

occasion, and while the disease yet raged in his family, he delivered funeral address to his congregation, of which the outline is preserved and which bespeaks the most tender affection and the greatest Christian fortitude. The loss of his son afflicted him doubly in the unhappy effect it produced upon the mind of his wife, whose spirits sunk under the bereavement and could never be fully recovered.

On his first coming to London, Mr. Vidler lodged at the house of Mr. Teulon, in Houndsditch; with whom he afterwards entered into partnership in the book selling business. His engaging in trade in London was rendered necessary by the inability or indisposition of his congregation to make good their agreement with regard to his salary: they had engaged to raise him £150 per annum, but for the few first years of his ministry his income rarely exceeded £100 per annum ; a mean stipend for so numerous a congregation to have contented themselves with giving to a minister whose labours were incessant and acknowledged by all to be in the highest degree acceptable, and quite insufficient for the maintenance of a numerous family, which suffered much in point of health by removal from an airy country town to a close street in the heart of the metropolis.

In connection with Mr. Teulon, Mr. Vidler projected and in January, 1797, began to publish a periodical work intitled, The Universalist's Miscellany: or, Philanthropist's Museum. Intended chiefly as an Antidote against the Anti-christian Doctrine of Endless Misery. It was sold at first at sixpence and afterwards at a shilling each number. The design was liberal and it grew more so as the work proceeded. The successive volumes mark the progress of Mr. Vidler's own. mind.* At no time popular, the

Without entering prematurely into Mr. Vidler's final change of opinions, the writer submits to the reader the following passage from the Preface to the Fifth Volume of The Miscellany, as truly charac teristic, and indicative of the point at which the Editor had arrived in his inquiries.— "We have not [confined] nor do we mean

bolder character of heresy which it gradually assumed diminished year after year the number of subscribers. It was ill supported by respectable correspondents, and it must be confessed that Mr. Vidler excelled in nothing so little as in the office of editor of a magazine. After struggling for existence, under various titles, throughout several years, the work, long oppressed by a growing weight of debt, expired at the end of the year 1805, and with it ended Mr. Vidler's editorial labours.* It may be

in future to confine ourselves to the universal doctrine. There are many other interesting subjects in theology which demand the attention of serious and thinking Christians. The popular systems appear to us far from being consistent with divine truth; and we solicit the assistance of any and every friend to truth, in our researches: we may have mistakes, but we have no secrets, and we would advise our friends to have none in religion. Let us think freely, but modestly, that is, in submission to the authority of Sacred Scripture: let no man make us afraid. It is the peculiar felicity of our Magazine to be open to all parties; to let Christians of every sentiment propose their difficulties and give their solutions. This liberality has given much offence to some narrow-minded men, but we mean still to pursue the same plan, being firmly persuaded that truth can never suffer by exposure: nothing but error is afraid of scrutiny. If some of our correspondents have used their liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, we are sorry for it; the blame be upon their own heads: we always recommend soft words and hard arguments.

Some persons object to all controversy: whether their motives be right in this we will not determine. We only observe that with some people one great objection against controversy is that they cannot bear contradiction; others object to it because it brings certain truths to their minds which it does not suit them to embrace; others because it brings the trouble of thinking along with it which they are too idle to practise; a few may object to it from a better motive. It is clear, however, that the ministry of the prophets, of Christ and his apostles, was almost one perpetual controversy: and while truth and error exist, the controversy between them must exist also."

As the complete work is now scarcely to be obtained, it may be of use to detail the history of it. Five Volumes from the commencement were published, in so many

matter of information to some readers, that the Monthly Repository which is now the register of Mr. Vidler's death, was instituted in consequence of a pecuniary arrangement with that gentleman, as a continuation in its design at least of the former publication, the first number of it appearing in February, 1806, the next month after Mr. Vidler's magazine was dropped.

In the first number of the Univer salist's Miscellany, Mr. Vidler addressed a letter "To Mr. Andrew. Faller, of Kettering, Northamptonshire," the occasion of which was as follows. On Mr. V.'s embracing the Universal doctrine, Mr. Fuller sent

successive years, under the title given above, at sixpence each monthly number with several variations in the type and the quality of the paper: the First Volume is faced with a Portrait of the Editor," William Vidler, Preacher of the Universal Restoration, engraved by B. Reading from an approved Likeness by Richard Williams." There is a likeness in the en graving, but surely not a likeness to be approved. In the Sixth Volume, the title is changed to "The Universal Theological Magazine, for the Year 1802. Intended for the Free Discussion of all Religious Subjects, to which Persons of every Denomination are invited: Being a Continuation of the Universalist's Miscellany." The work under this title was raised to one shilling a number, and Two Volumes were published in the year. The title itself is a neat copper-plate engraving, and with it is given a decent Portrait of the "Rev. Robert Robinson." The paper and type in this volume are improved in proportion to the increase in the price. Vol. VII. the second for the year 1802, contains an engraving, "The Genius of Shakespeare corrected by Revelation." Vol. VIII. the first for 1803, contains an ill-executed Portrait of "Rev. John Evans, A. M." and Vol. IX. the second for the same year, contains a pretty allegorical Frontispiece. The next year, the title was changed to "The Universal Theological Magazine and Impartial Review: New Series," and the numbers of the past volumes were dropped. Two volumes were still published in a year. Vol. I. contains a silhouette Portrait of " the Rev. William Turner, late of Wakefield." There were Four Volumes of this Series, ending with the year 1805; making in all, from the commencement of the work in 1797, thirteen volumes, thin 8vo.

him a private letter of inquiry and remonstrance, to which Mr. V. returned no answer. For this silence, Mr. V. assigns two reasons, first, the number of letters which he received on the subject and the impossibility of an swering them all, and second, his natural love of peace and his wish to avoid all controversy with his former connections whom he highly respected. Two years after the letter was written it appeared in the Evangelical Magazine, with a postscript stating that it had never been answered. Here, by accident, Mr. Vidler saw it, and he opened his new periodical work with a reply to it, which extended to two numbers. Mr. Fuller's rejoinder was inserted in the third volume, and the controversy was continued through that and two volumes following. The letters on each side were collected and published in pamphlets in the years 1802 and 1803. Previous to the appearance of Mr. Vidler's Letters, a clergyman (Mr. Jerram), subscribing himself Scrutator published "Letters to an Universalist; containing a Review of the Controversy between Mr. Vidler and Mr. Fuller, on the Doctrine of Universal Salvation." Of the merits of this controversy it is not difficult to judge. Scrutator displays not the coolness of a reviewer, but the angry zeal of a partizan. Mr. Fuller entered into the dispute, uninformed of the Universal doctrine, and was hence betrayed into blunders, which he was compelled to acknowledge: it must be admitted, however, that he has advanced some strong Scriptural objections to the hypothesis of his op ponent, and that where he has the advantage he improves it with the dexterity of a practised polemic. In point of temper, Mr. Vidler was unquestionably superior to him; Mr. Fuller clearly shews that he could not think well of the heart of an erring brother. The letters of Mr. Vidler evince likewise a more intimate acquaintance with the scope and idiom of Scripture, and, as appears to the writer, a greater satisfaction in his own faith than those of his antagonist.

The controversialists were perhaps equal in understanding and generat knowledge. Mr. Vidler encumbered his defence with some interpretations of Scripture, common to him and most of the preceding writers on restoration, which it is well known that he gave up before he died; and both combatants entangled themselves in Hebrew and Greek criticisins, in which their education had given them little skill, and neither of them, as Mr. Fuller intimates, was at home. In one respect Mr. Vidler's candour is exemplary: he not only inserted entire the letters of his opponent in a work under his own care, but he complied with the request that his answers should not be published in the same number as the letters to which they referred. It may be presumed that Mr. Fuller would not have exercised the same liberality; for he communicated a private letter to a Magazine without apprizing the person to whom the letter really belonged of what he had done, and knowing that it was the rule of that Magazine to hear only one side of a question. A letter of Mr. Vidler's to the Evangelical Magazine in reply to Mr. Fuller's was of course rejected. It was Mr. Vidler's wish, and he made it known to Mr. Fuller, to be informed when the controversy was closed, as he intended to publish together all the letters in a separate work whilst, however, he was awaiting Mr. Fuller's determination, that gentleman's letters, which were strictly speaking the property of the editor of the Universalist's Magazine, were given to the public in a pamphlet, unaccompanied by Mr. Vidler's.

:

[It was the design of the writer to conclude the Memoir in this Number, but he has found it impossible to do so, without injustice to the subject. Another paper will include all that remains to be said in this compressed Biography. It will take up the third period of Mr. Vidler's religious history; from about the time of his be coming an Unitarian to his death.]

Letter I. from Dr. Doddridge to Rev. Mr. Toms.

Northampton, Feb. 2, 1750-51. MY DEAR AND Worthy BroTHER AND FRIEND,

Yo

YOUR letter received in a chamber of illness, has revived my heart and awakened my joy and my thankfulness. Blessed be you of the Lord, and blessed be your counsel; and may he in whose cause you bave exerted a zeal so truly Christian, not only accept it, as he undoubtedly will, but anticipate the reward that awaits you above, by giving you now to see the happy success of your scheme. I remember my faults this day. I have read and heard a great deal of the sufferings of our Protestant brethren in France. I have conversed with those who saw their assemblies dissolved and their teinples ruined, their dead bodies torn out of the graves and given to the fowls of the air. I have read the letters of their pastors and those of their martyrs, and the incomparable discourses of Superville and Saurin, which so pathetically represent their sufferings, and one of the last was before me when your letter came; and yet alas! I have in a great measure forgotten the afflictions of Joseph; and now and then a transient prayer for them, the telling of their sad sorrows (with a few tears) which I have often done to my pupils, children and friends, has been all the fruit of my compassion; while you but I will say no more of that, by the grace of God you are what you are, and I hope his grace will be more abundant to you to preserve this thing upon the imagination of the thoughts of your heart and to guide your counsel with regard to it. And to me I trust your letter will not be entirely in vain: it has in some measure awakened my compassion and my prayers, and you will find me ready to act in my little sphere to promote the good end you propose. I have considered of the matter seriously, and I have looked up to God for direction in it, and the result is this.

I cannot take upon myself the conduct of this general design. My want of leisure for it, especially in this pre

sent crisis when I am so hurried with preparing my Family Expositor for the press, is something: but it is more that I am but one minister in the country, and think it would be great presumption to suppose that my brethren in London and elsewhere should act under my direction. The plan that has offered itself to me is this. That you should go to London as soon as you conveniently can, and consult with some of the principal ministers of all denominations, particularly Mr. Barker, Dr. Guyse, Mr. Stennet and Mr. Burroughs. You see I take in General as well as Particular Baptists, and though I mention these four, whom I look upon as men of distinguished wisdom and piety, I mean not to exclude any others. You may if you think it will be of any avail communicate to them what I now write, and you may know of them whether they in general approve of the design and will be ready to join their counsel and efforts for bringing it into execution. If they do approve it and will authorize me to do it, I will then apply to some of the principal ministers of Edinborough, and to the Earl of Leaven and Commissioner of the General Assembly, acquainting them with what is working in our hearts, and desiring they would attempt to procure a motion in the Assembly for a day of fasting and prayer on their account to be ordered throughout Scotland: and if timely notice be given of it, I think the influence of those gentlemen mentioned above, in concurrence with several leading men in the country, to whom with this foundation we may reasonably apply, will certainly make it as general a thing as we can reasonably suppose any thing of this sort among the Protestant Dissenters can be; and our concurrence with our brethren of the Scotch establishment, for whom as an establishment those of our own have something of a regard, will make the thing less exceptionable. And on this foundation it may also be extended to Ireland and our plantations in America. If God spares my life I will preach, and if it be thought proper will publish a discourse,

which, in consequence of my intimate correspondence with some of the Walloon ministers in Holland, I can easily have translated into French, as several of my writings already are, (and especially one which was never yet published in English, relating to the state of the church in Holland, which if I may guess by the many thousands dispersed through the whole country was remarkably blessed in a very peculiar crisis), perhaps God may send this sermon into France, and it may be introductory to some greater and better attempt: but this last part of the scheme I would choose at present to conceal, the rest communicate as you judge proper, and please to favour me with the result as soon as you can, that I may write to Scotland without delay, and set the machine in motion. In the mean time let us lift up our hearts daily to God for its success and let him do as seems good in his sight. I may in consequence of this in some future letter lay before you another scheme of great importance, as I apprehend, for the service of religion in the propagation of the gospel of our blessed Redeemer, which lies much on my heart, to which I think the Providence of God seems to be opening a way by some remarkable occurrences of extraordinary circumstances. In the mean time let me recommend to your reading the Life and Journal of Mr. David Brainard, if you know where to get it at large. Quick's Synodicon I have. The Icones I shall be very glad to see when you can conveniently spare them but I think whatever views we may secretly have with regard to their publication, it will be proper to reserve them in our own breasts till the first grand part of our scheme is brought into full execution, which may prepare way for the other. I have but one thing to add, which is, that whereas I have hitherto only thought of you as a most worthy brother whom I have sincerely joined with others in the general prayers I have been offering for persons of your character, I have now (touched to the heart by your excellent letter) inserted your name in a list of a few select friends, whom I esteem especially as the excellent of the earth, and whom I remember before God in seasons of solemn intercession. Let me con

I

London, Dec. 12, 1745.
REV. AND DEAR SIR,

RECEIVED your's of the 16th past, and am entirely of your mind that some short accounts of the tyranny and cruelty and enormous exactions of the Church of Rome, on a sheet of paper to be hung up in houses, would be exceeding useful, in the present conjuncture, and might be of standing benefit. I am determined to attempt something of this nature. But as the thing is difficult, because it must be short, and yet solid, I am not sure that I shall succeed. If I can please myself I will let you know. The five articles you mention_shall, if I can, be all brought in. By the persuasion of some friends here, I have published a small twopenny thing, called Great Britain's Memorial against Popery and the Pretender, proving from the canon law that the principles of Popery are perfidious and bloody, and the practice of Papists hath been answerable to their principles. Some thousands have been bought up and given away here. I wish it were got farther into the country, and hope it might have some tendency to prevent the spread of that wicked and impious superstition.

As to what you propose of a small piece, in opposition to the errors of Popery, only from Scripture proofs, I think it would be very seasonable. But care must be taken rightly to represent Popery, and to produce such texts of Scripture as are striking and plain, and don't need much explica,