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    venture to guess that it would be neither Trinitarian , nor Arian , nor Socinian . Well , and what then ? The first question with your Correspondent , whatever it may be , with any of your readers , is , would it be a place of worship in which the Christ might

    haply be found " in the midst , " and his apostles , could they again appear on earth , pour forth their prayer and praise in all but vernacular language : the second , which he now repeats , what patronage might be looked for from the " Bible only" Unitarian ? J . T . CLARKE .

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    therefore , to have left this part of the question untouched , and to have confined himself to the task of proving , that the Devil is not invested with the powers which are commonly ascribed to him , that he is not able to work miracles , and can exert no influence over the human mind and conduct .

    There is certainly a difficulty in conceiving how Mr . Farmer , writing as he has done on this subject , or how any of his refaders who admitted the

    force of his observations , could believe in the existence and personality of the Devil— -because thus stripped of his essential attributes , he would necessarily , one would suppose , cease to be , at least in their estimation . The

    impression made by Mr . Farmer ' s writings upon his contemporaries , was precisely of this kind . He was gene * rally considered as having relinquished all belief in the Devil , and several jokes passed current in consequence , in connexion with his name .

    One of Mr . Farmer ' s opponents , oh the ground , I conceive , of this impression , rather than from any direct evidence , has charged him with this anti-diabolic faith ; and this charge drew from Mr . Farmer the most

    explicit declaration in reference to his belief , which he has perhaps any where committed to the press , and which I shall here transcribe , in compliance with the wish of your Correspondent . The passage occurs in his " Letters to the Rev . Dr « Worthington , " published in 1778 . " I cannot conclude this

    letter , " remarks Mr . Farmer , p . 81 , " without observing farther , that from the principle here contended for , viz . * that possessions were referred to human spirits , ' it cannot be inferred that I deny the existence of fallen angels , much Jess that I deny the existence of human souls in a state of separation from the body . You are pleased to tell the world * that 1 have made short

    work with the Devil and his angels , and have done more than all the exorcists put together ever pretended to ; that I have laid the Devil and all other evil spirits , banished them out of the world , and in a manner destroyed

    their very existence / There may be tnutii wit , but indeed , Sir , there is no truth in this laugtiage . I have never denied , nor could I , without great absurdity , take upon me to deny * the

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    /) r . T * JRees on Mr . Farmer ' s Opinions . d&t

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    Sir , Sept . 12 , 1818 . IN your last Number , page 489 , a . Correspondent , ( R . L . CO has adverted to a note of mine in the translation of the Racovian Catechism , ( p . 7 , ) with the vrew of introducing

    an inquiry concerning Mr . Farmer ' s belief as to the existence and personality of the Devil . In that note it was by no means my intention to place Mr . Simpson ' s Essay , and Mr . Farmer ' s two works , there referred to , on the same footing , or to intimate that they went the same length , in the

    discussion of the subject in connexion with which they are named . The note relates to the existence of the Devil , and to the powers usually ascribed to him ; and Mr . Simpson ' s Essay is referred to as comprising an able discussion of both these points . But Mr . Farmer ' s publications were meant to be recommended to the reader ' s notice , as

    exhibiting an able elucidation of the question , chiefly or solely as it related to the second point . This distinction has not certainly been marked as it ought to have been . It is , I apprehend , no difficult matter to ascertain how far Mr . Farmer , in the

    two publications mentioned in the note , meant to commit , or actually has committed himself on these questions . In neither of those treatises has he explicitly avowed his disbelief of the existence and personality of the Devil .

    On the contrary , whenever his subject led him to mention the name , he always introduces it in precisely the same way as the firmest believer in his personal existence would do 5 never in a single instance , as far as I can recollect ,

    accompany uigv it with any doubt or suspicion of his being the mere creation of the fancy . He appears to me ,

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    VOL . XIII . 4 C

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 561, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/25/