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SiR , Bristol , Sept . 1 , 1821 . HAVE read with great pleasure I Mr . Wilson ' s entertaining work , entitled , " The History and Antiquities of the Dissenting Churches in London , " and I am sorry that he has not had sufficient encouragement to enable him to give the Dissenting public another volume or two , containing the History of the Religious Societies
in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis . I feel a deep interest in all such accounts , as recording the efforts made , from time to time , by the friends of religious liberty , in support of the great
Protestant principle of the right of private judgment in religious matters , and of what I conceive to be the duty of every serious inquirer into the true meaning of the Scriptures , to lay his convictions and discoveries , whatever
they may be , with charity and good temper before the public . What Mr . Wilson has done for the London churches , I wish some other friend to the noble cause of conscientious Nonconformity , would do for the kingdom
at large , at least for England and Wales ; and in order to furnish materials for such a work , I propose , what might be very easily accomplished , that every Dissenting Minister should draw up , and send to the Repository , a concise account of the church of which he
is minister , ascertaining , where it can be done , the earliest date to which the existence of his society can be traced , the names they have borne at different periods , where any change has taken
place , a list of their ministers , how long they occupied their respective places , where they removed to , if they did not continue their services in any one congregation for the residue of their lives—with an account of the
literary productions of such of them as appeared before the public as authors , and any well-authenticated and important particulars concerning them or the churches to which they belonged . Thus , Sir , I think a valuable addition
jnight be made to our stock of religious information , and the names and la ^ bours of many excellent and worthy individuals , both in and out of the ministry , be preserved from total oblivion . I am , Sir , with best wishes for the increasing circulation of your truly kberal and useful work , E . BUTCHER .
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History of Dissenting Churches . 525
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Brief Notes on the Bible . No . XVIII . MATT . x . 28 : " Fear not them which kill the body , but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell . " There are two subjects so fruitful of controversy , that the dome of St . Paul ' s Cathedral might not , perhaps , be found adequate to contain the volumes which have been written and
published upon them ; but which , in my humble estimation , have about the same degree of intrinsic importance as the publications on the sublime science of astrology .
The first I allude to is the question of infant or adult baptism ; the other is the ever-confounding question , whether the soul be a substance distinct from the body , or the result of its confluent particles .
If the free expression of my sentiments should pass unnoticed , well ! Otherwise , I may provoke a nest of hornets , whose buzzing , however , will not intimidate or disturb a mind , cased as mine is in the armour of
indifference . With the first question I meddle not , nor make , conceiving it to be of no imaginable consequence , whether the offspring of Christian parentage be baptized in infancy , in mature age , or
at all . The practice , at whatever period , is decorous and unexceptionable ; but the Judge of all mankind will consider only whether professing Christians have lived upon Christian principles ; and I may safely pronounce , that He will not condescend to ascertain
what rites and ceremonies they have either been submitted or spontaneously conformed to . Upon the second question , however , if the subject be not tbo beaten , I would indulge in a few very brief remarks . Uninteresting as it may be to me , it is not so to others ; and as I cannot well be refused the credit of
writing dispassionately , the little I have to say may have the better chance of an unprejudiced reception . Perhaps there is nothing that counteracts the notion of the separate existences of soul and body more than this consideration , that the structure of the mind is progressive , together with that of the body . Its deteriora-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1821, page 525, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2504/page/21/
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