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"If any one of the Missionary Gentlemen, for himself and in behalf of his fellow labourers, choose to profit by the opportunity thus afforded them of defending and diffusing the doctrines they have undertaken to preach, I request that an Essay on the Book of Genesis of the kind above intimated may be sent me by the middle of the month, and if confined within reasonable limits not exceeding a dozen or sixteen pages, I hereby engage to cause it to be printed and circulated at my own charge, should the Missionary Gentlemen refuse to bestow any part of the funds, intended for the spread of Christianity, towards this object; and also that a reply (not exceeding the same number of pages) to the arguments adduced, shall be published along with it by the beginning of the ensuing month. That this new mode of controversy by short monthly publications may be attended with all the advantages which I, in common with other searchers after truth, expect, and of which it is capable, it will be absolutely necessary that nothing be introduced of a personal nature, or calculated to hurt the feelings of individuals—that we avoid all offensive expressions and such arguments as have no immediate connexion with the subject, and can only serve to retard the progress of discovery; and that we never allow ourselves for a moment to forget that we are engaged in a solemn religious disputation."

Whether this work will ever be commenced and prosecuted, we know not. There will doubtless be many obstacles to it; some of them arising unexpectedly, and some purposely created by interested men. But it is enough to increase our former admiration of this wonderful Hindoo, that he has simply announced

such an undertaking. A periodical publication, devoted to the exegesis, as Professor Stuart would call it, of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, to be carried on by a Bramin of Hindostan, in the English language, at his own expense, with his own types, and at a press which is worked by his own countrymen! Who would have ventured to predict such a thing twenty years ago?

It has been for some time one of our most pleasing contemplations to mark the path of this man. It is a track of light in a dark sky. We cannot despair of the conversion of British India, at no very distant period, to a pure system of religion and morals, while we behold such a man as Rammohun Roy, labouring with all his heart and all his means in the cause of reason and knowledge and truth.

Installation at Brooklyn.

ON Wednesday, the fifth of November, the Rev. Samuel Joseph May was installed Pastor of the First Church and Society in Brooklyn, Connecticut. Introductory prayer by Rev. Mr. Wilson, of Petersham; sermon by Rev. Mr. Walker, of Charlestown, (from 1 Corinthians, i. 23, 24;) consecrating prayer by Rev. Dr. Bancroft, of Worcester; charge by Rev. Dr. Freeman, of Boston; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. Mr. Peabody of Springfield; address to the people, by Rev. Dr. Thayer, of Lancaster; concluding prayer, by Rev. Mr. Parkman, of Boston.

This installation is an encouraging sign of the times. It announces to the friends of gospel freedom, that

liberal principles of religion, and liberal views of Christianity, have at length gained a footing in Connecticut. The spirit of exclusiveness is passing away, the glory of consociations is on the wane, and we trust that it will wax no more. The people are beginning to resist the usurpations of a narrow-minded clergy, and to disregard the pretensions which have so long been made, and so long been admitted, to the exercise of an unhallowed authority over mind, and faith, and conscience. We devoutly hope, that the congregation at Brooklyn is not the only one in that state, which has determined to incur the disgrace no longer, of bowing down their souls in slavish submission to the men who have placed themselves on the spiritual judgment seat, and dared to arrogate a power over those thoughts and determinations of the human mind, which God alone can rightly discern, and which God alone will righteously judge. We hope to hear no more of ministers being haled before an ecclesiastical court, for studying the Bible, to discover its true meaning; or of their being torn from their parishes, for declaring the result of their honest convictions. We hope that the monstrous inconsistency will no longer exist, of a protestant people in a free land, submitting to a clerical dominion as despotic as that of Rome in the dark ages.

The gentleman who is now installed over the first church in Brooklyn, we are sure will labour effectually in sowing the seeds of an enlighted faith, and spreading abroad in his neighbourhood the simple and unalloyed truths of christianity.

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Doctrine of Two Natures in Christ.

IN N our last number we attempted a slight historical notice of the doctrine of the union of two natures in Jesus Christ, and expressed our intention to consider, in a future number, some of the most important objections to this hypothesis. We shall now proceed to state these objections, after observing, in order to prevent being misunderstood, that we fully admit the divinity of our Lord's character and mission. That he was the "Son of God," that he always acted and spoke with divine authority, is not doubted. Nothing we are about to offer is inconsistent with the supposition, that he holds the most exalted rank among finite intelligences, that he is superior to all other beings who possess only a derived existence, and inferior only to Him who "inhabits eternity," and fills the throne of the universe. We hope that we feel as deeply impressed with the excellences of his character, and the importance of what he has done for us, as any of our brethren who entertain different views of his person. All we attempt to show is, that there is no foundation for

the trinitarian distinction of two natures in him. We contend only for his unity. We maintain that he is strictly one-one person, one mind-in opposition to the doctrine which assigns him a double nature, supposes him to have two minds, an infinite and a finite, and thus, we think, introduces strange confusion into our conceptions of his character, and lamentably mars the simplicity of the sacred writings.

Our principal objections to the orthodox distinction of two natures in Jesus Christ are, that it involves an absurdity; that it destroys the personal unity of Jesus Christ; that it exposes him to the charge of equivocation and dishonesty; that it introduces the utmost confusion and uncertainty into the sacred writings; that it is unnecessary; that it receives no support from the scriptures; and that it is attended with difficulties, far greater than those which it professes to remove.

1. We think that the doctrine of two natures in Jesus Christ, as held by its advocates, is absurd, and consequently that no evidence whatever would be sufficient to establish it. Before we believe it, we must entirely abandon the use of our understandings; we must free ourselves from a disposition to weigh evidence; we must have that convenient pliancy of mind, that happy facility of belief, to which the good father had attained, when he said, "I believe, because it is impossible."

If we reflect for a moment on the qualities of the divine and human natures, we must, one would think, be convinced, that they can never be united in the same mind or person. They are absolutely incompatible with each other; they cannot possibly exist together in the same intelligent agent. What are the attri

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