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    letter written by him so recently & s August 25 , to one of that number , which is equally remarkable for soundness and excellence of thought , and for conciseness and sisjiiiiicancy of expression .

    In his adherence to Christianity , as the last and best revelation of the divine will , Mr . Edwards was inflexible and cordial . But his views of it were , in some respects the very opposite of those which he bad been led to take

    under his parent ' s * " root . The creed of his early education was that of the assembl y of divines at Westminster : the form of sound words to which he subscribed

    niter a diligent and repeated perusal of the scriptures in the original languages , was strictly agreeable to the lessons , the practice , of Jesus and of his evangelists and

    apostles . Mr . Edwards worshipped the one God , < the merciful Father of t } ie universe ; and he worshipped him in the name of the man Christ Jesus . He was

    even zealous in vindicating , and diffusing this worship . It was a favourite subject of his conversatiori ) his letters , his discourses ; and for such zeal he would have

    disdained to apologize : his language was that of the citizen of Tarsus , " Wo is unto me if I preach not the gospel . " Even they who do not receive his sentiments , must , jf they be consistent Christians , praise his ardour in the avowal and defence of them . / »¦• #

    « . a a x _ w T v- » i * 11 m . u-aj v * . * v . a v > 'vu * - * x ^» a m and sijli more that love of truth , which gaining the ascendancy over all the prejudices of education , and of some of the tenderest worldly attachments ^ conducted him at , length , to the habitation of this celestial guest , 1 he man

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    who can subdue the force of such a bias the most powerful" X imagine ., \ yhich nature knows , is at least disinterested and sincere : c 6 Whosoever lovcth father or mother more than me , " says our

    divine Master , " is not \ vorthy of rne . "

    Let it not be concealed that Mr . Edwards was a strenuous nonconformist . A nd had he been asked in terms , Why are you a dissenter ? " he would have replied , I am persuaded , " Because I aim at bring a consistent protestant . ' * The transactions which

    took place between his first- visit and his removal to Birmingham * particularly impressed him with a strong sense of the truth and moment of the principle of . separation from national

    churchesand no wonder that a mind like his conceived and felt and expressed it . self with energy upon so-interesting a topic . But though in the exercise of that liberty with which Christ hath made us

    hee 9 he avowed his dissent from the religious establishment of the country , he was far from lightly esteeming those of its members whose conduct becomes their pro - fession ; and he acknowledged , with pleasure on his own behalf , that some of the most amiable characters he ever had the honour

    of bein ^ acquainted with , were clergymen oi the church of Eng- * land * On . the uhole , in reviewing the character ^ of Mr . " Edwards , it seems impossible not to perceive that it was formtd on the best principles and w ** s distinguished

    b y Christian devotion , fortitude ^ integrity and love . That the efforts of such a mind should , in

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    - Memoir of the Rev . John * Edwards ] 6 ® 7

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 697, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1706/page/5/