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dominion held every country , east , west , north and south , in tranquillity and order ; which united every province in social harmony , blended together in congratulating' the return and in enjoyiug the blessings of
universal peace ; who , I say , on seeing this felicity under Caius , which it exceeds the power of words to describe , could not be filled with ecstacy at the sight ? " If then such was the happy state of every city , of every
place in the Roman empire , in consequence of the measures abovementioned , adopted by Tiberius , the churches in Judea , Galilee and Samaria , must have shared in the general blessing , and derived their repose from the regulations which produced it *
Eusebius also represents the tranquillity of the churches as proceeding from the same cause . " Tiberius , " says he , ( Eccles . Hist . Lib . ii . % ) " threatened death to such as accused the Christians ; this being- suggested to his mind by Divine Providence , that
the doctrine of the gospel , having the beginning of its race clear from obstruction , might freely run through every land . * ' Dr . Lardner , indeed , has entirely overlooked the operations of this edict j and he supposes the rest in question to arise from the distress which the Jews endured by the mad
attempt of Caligula to place his statue in the temple of Jerusalem . But the supposition is inadequate , and utterly foreign to the effect to be accounted for ; and it implies , withal , the severest reflection on the disciples of the benevolent Jesus . For it implies , that they were so unfeeling , so destitute of regard for their brethren the Jews * so
unconcerned for the great cause for which they suffered , as to enjoy rest at a time when the whole country was involved in one scene of horror and devastation - to he comforted and edified , when men , women and children lay on the ground with their breasts bare to receive the sword of the tyrant . Lard . I . 07 .
Josephus represents those of the Jews who enlisted , as sent into the island of Sardinia . But Suetonius asserts , in more general terms , that they were sent into provinces of a severe climate . > Some of them , no doubt , were conveyed to threat Britain , where at this time exinted military stations l and to this , island those vic-
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tims of cruelty and injustice must have brought with them the name and doctrine of Christ . And this" will account for the following passage of Grildas , which I extract from Cant dens Britannia , Gough ' s edition , page 50 :
u In the mean time , " writes he , ** fire island exposed to the severest cold , and , as it were , in the extremity of the earth , out of the reach of the visible sun , was first , under the reign of
Tiberius , favoured with the true sun , shining not in the material firmament , but from the highest heavens , before all time , enlightening the world with his beams in his apppinted time , i . e . Christ by his precepts . "
The most respectable and competent of the early fathers confidently affirm , that Great Britain was blessed with the gospel from the earliest
period ; and Philo , who witnessed its rapid and early diffusion , asserts , that it had then been conveyed through every part of the habitable globe , even in his days . JOHN JONES .
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Sir , Feb . 24 , 1818 . HAVE a small volume , published I in 1671 , and entitled , " The Present State of the United Provinces . Collected by W . A ., Fellow of the 1
Royal Society . * I mention the work for the sake of this concluding paragraph to Ch . xxiv . Of the different Religions in Holland ? *
" Besides all these religions , there is a certain assembly held at ltins ~ bourg , ten or twelve times a year , where every one that will , has the liberty of making an exhortation ; it is called the Assembly of the Freeminded . There are many others that
sit at home reading the Scripture * and never come to any church , except it be out of curiosity . The Arianisme has those that profess it . In a word , any body may follow his own opinion , but not profess it with a publick worship . There are A theists enough too " 2 d Ed , pp . 343 , 344 .
The concluding sentence deserves little credit . The charge of Atheism has been generally vague and ill supported , and loo often nothing better than a calumny against those religious
persons who refused to worshi p the great Diarta of some nominal Christians . Those who ** neveir 6 om «^ to church * ' * Were probably reputed ftei
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Of the Assembly of the Free-minded . 171
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 171, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/19/
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