any property of mind or of matter. Every prediction and every calculation on the future, is in fact an inference from causes to effects, and implies two things; first, a knowledge of the past sequences of causes and effects; and secondly, an assumption that the same sequences will take place hereafter." (p. 249.) Now, if the defined meaning of uniformity of causation be adhered to, is not something else implied besides the two things mentioned? To predict the commonest occurrence, it is not enough to know that such and such causes invariably have produced such and such effects, and to assume (as we unavoidably do) that the same causes will hereafter produce, whenever they operate, the same effects. We must also know what causes will, in any case, be in operation; or must assume, that the causes which decide their sequences, will be the same as they have been. There is no doubt, that, in reasoning from the past to the future, we do make the assumption of the continued uniformity of causes. But this is quite a distinct thing from the assumption of the uniformity of sequence. One assumption is, that if

the causes are the same, the effects will be the same; the other is, that the causes will be the same; and the conclusion hence arises, that the effects will be the same. With what propriety the one assumption can be styled the "fundamental principle of evidence and expectation," when the other is equally necessary, I cannot comprehend; and I believe it might be fairly presumed from the mere title of the Essay, together with the definition so often quoted, that there must be some flaw in the argument. For who would not say, on hearing the principle explained to be, that the same causes produce the same effects;" "from this principle by itself, I can form no expectation, nor judge of any evidence. A conditional sequence tells me nothing, without a positive antecedent with which to connect it.' A careful reader will perceive, that the fundamental principle of uniformity of sequence, though defined as has been stated, is made to include, in its application to the subject of evidence, the other principle also of uniform antecedence, being veiled under the ambiguity of uniform causation, and partaking by degrees the import which cannot easily be dissociated from such terms as the uniformity of nature's laws, and the observed and usual course of nature.

(To be concluded in our next.)

Education of Scottish Unitarians for the Ministry.

To the Editor of the Christian Pioneer.

SIR,-There lately appeared in your valuable and highly useful Magazine, a notice of the resignation of the pastoral charge by the Rev. William Smith of Dundee. I read the notice with the same feelings with which I am sure it was penned, those of sincere admiration for the exertions which that gentleman had made in the sacred cause which he advocated, and sincere regret at the necessity which put a period to those exertions in Scotland.

That it is no trifling sacrifice for a young man of good education, to forsake the prospects which a further residence in his own country, and among his own connexions, might reasonably be supposed to hold out to him, in order to undertake the pastoral charge of a small congregation in another land, professing opinions everywhere spoken against, will be readily granted by all whose nerves are not made of iron-whose hearts are capable of feeling warm attachment to the friends and associates of their youth—and whose memory lingers round the place of their nativity. On reading the notice to which I have alluded, I could not forbear picturing to myself, the change which such a settlement must necessarily make in the habits and feelings of him who accepts it. I contrasted the numerous friends on one side the Channel, with the strangers on the other; the comparative wealth and station which perhaps distinguished the members of the household of faith in his native place, with the fewness and poverty of those among whom he was about to sojourn. I reflected on the cold looks of hatred and contempt which would greet him on almost every side, from those who regarded him as a thief climbing into Christ's fold; and I thought of the damp which would strike his own heart, as he felt that there was something more of bitterness in those looks than he had been wont to encounter when he had numbers and influence on his side.

Sorry should I be to think or say, that the animating consciousness of being engaged in the holy cause of divine truth, would not be amply sufficient to support any man of strict integrity, under all the trials of such a position. But nevertheless, those considerations which I have mentioned must increase the weight to be endured by the Unitarian minister, brought up in the bosom of a flourish

ing society, and settled where the struggle of the society is a struggle for existence.

If a minister so educated and so settled, had to encounter, by the force of contrast, greater difficulties and hardships than another would, brought up under different circumstances, the questions occurred to me: What was the reason that there should be a necessity for subjecting any one to such trials? Why should Scotland be obliged to send to Ireland or to England for ministers? The obvious reason, that there are no young men, natives of Scotland, educated expressly for the Unitarian ministry, is not sufficient. I want the reason of this reason. It is true, that there are no such young men; but why are there not?

If I have been rightly informed, there is at present not one young man among the Unitarians of Scotland, even designed for the Unitarian ministry. I cannot but regard this as a singular anomaly. Would there be any means so likely to be efficient in promulgating Unitarianism in Scotland, as a supply of native Unitarian ministers? Would not a youug Scotchman enter upon the office of Unitarian minister in Scotland, with peculiar fervour and with the most flattering prospects of success?-on the very ground where the giants of the Reformation struggled and died!— on the very ground where religious truth early reared her sacred standard, undaunted by persecution, and unchecked even by the inroads of death!-on the very ground where his sainted countrymen, his forefathers it might be, stood firm and devoted in the cause of God's glory and man's salvation. Sir, if the amor patriæ has its use, for what nobler purpose could the Scottish Unitarians stimulate it into vigorous exercise, than for this?

Why should Scotland be obliged to import her Unitarian labourers? Why should they trust to the Calvinistic Divinity Hall, for a supply? Why grudge the trifling expense of keeping a small number of her sons a year or two longer at home, and availing herself of the great, and yet not expensive advantages of her admirable Universities? Would the prospect of a future livelihood be so precarious, as to render such a step imprudent in the Unitarian parent? I must think that if the son was possessed of fair average abilities, of industry, piety, and zeal, there could not be a question of final, of brilliant success..

We have Societies in existence even now, unsupplied

with Ministers, who would, with an effort, offer at least a subsistence to any person competent to undertake the pastoral office among them. If one was unable to do this of itself, two would join together; and fresh Societies would spring up, and the old ones would increase; and the young man that commenced with being the Minister of two congregations, might possibly end in being one of two Ministers to the same congregation. In fact, even supposing that the love of the great cause, was not sufficient of itself to stimulate him to make the necessary exertions, he would at any rate, be obliged to make a living by some means or other. That he must make, that he could make, and that therefore he would make.

If a congregation was not ready made for him, among an increasingly intelligent and inquiring population, he would make one for himself. At any rate, Sir, a few experiments would not be amiss. But supposing the most unfavourable result, the whole evil would amount to but a few years lost. Lost I should not have said, for lost they would not be. The effects of those few years, spent in preparing for, and discharging such an office as that of a teacher of truth and piety, would be lost neither in this world nor in the next. But suppose that a young man, making the experiment which I recommend, were to fail of success in Scotland, would he not be very likely to succeed in England or Ireland, where our religious opinions have a firmer footing? They of the south sometimes say, "Set a Scotchman anywhere, and he will light on his feet." In other words, to whatever plough a Scotchman puts his hand, his industry, cleverness, and perseverance will secure him success. Why, then, should he not put his hand to the plough of Unitarianism? I have little fear, but that the soil being so rich, the seed so sound, the harvest so promising, he will do any thing sooner than look back.

I sincerely wish, Sir, that some more able correspondent would treat upon this matter, for I am convinced that it is one of great, of vital importance to the success of Unitarianism in Scotland. I have given but a hasty, and I fear a carelessly expressed statement of my own feelings and convictions on the subject. But I should like to see it discussed in the pages of your Magazine, by some one who with the requisite information, would unite a warmth of zeal in the cause of God's truth, which without overlooking the real difficulties attending the execution of some

such plan as I have now been proposing for the spread of Unitarianism, would be superior to the timidity which will doubt and waver till the end of all things is come.

Nov. 14th, 1832.

I am, Sir, yours with great respect,

PHILO-SCOTUS.

Remarks on Paine's Age of Reason, in a series of Letters addressed to the Readers of the Christian Pioneer.

(Letter V. concluded from p. 137.)

THE benevolence of Christ, is original as well as good. Search the histories of ancient date, inquire of the wise who lived before the Saviour, was such an object as that of living and dying for man, ever even conceived, much less formed? Prior to Christ, benevolence had never extended itself beyond the limits of a country, scarcely the walls of a town. There had indeed been instances of strong and tender personal friendship, but none of large and pure benevolence. Socrates is almost, if not quite the only one who emerged from the universal atmosphere of selfishness, and he did not extend his views beyond one city. Whereas Jesus, while he felt and manifested the purest and tenderest feelings of private friendship, embraced in the object of his life the whole race of man, and ever cared most for those whom others despised. He came to seek and save that which was lost. whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." These were his principles, and by these was his conduct shaped. Whence this unapproached superiority in Christ? Whence the universality of his benevolence? Whence did he learn his merciful attention to the poor and depraved? What state, what philosopher of Greece or Rome was his instructor?

"The

The originality is the more striking, if you regard him as a Jew. Narrow-heartedness was the national characteristic of Judea, as much as the military spirit was that of Rome, as much as pre-eminence in letters distinguishes the memory of Athens. Illiberality and Judaism are indissolubly blended in the mind of him who has studied its spirit. Judea put all the rest of the world under the ban of its Pharisaism, and was in return despised by all civilized nations. " Where," I ask in the words even of an unbeliever, I mean Rousseau, "where among his own people did Jesus acquire that pure and elevated moral tone of which