Payson's dismission, but in the dismission of the senior pastor of his church, his colleague and patron, and in the formation of a new congregation in Portland.

On the whole, we have read this memoir with much interest, and, as we hope, with an impartial mind. It is the history of one, whom the Father of spirits had endowed with many eminent gifts for the ministry of

his

son, and with much earnestness of soul to advance its interests in the world; whose heart was deeply penetrated by the 'great things of God's law,' and a sincere desire to bring men to the obedience of it; of one, moreover, who, as we fully believe, was faithful to his convictions, and was himself an example of much of the zeal, self-denial, and sacrifices, which his preaching enforced. Had it pleased God to unite these gifts with a firmer frame; had not the natural infirmities of his constitution, mental as well as physical, been aggravated by the early bias of his education and a heartwithering faith; had not his early success fostered within him a love of applause, and with it a love of dominion; had he lived more among men, who might have instructed him, and less amidst the musings of a melancholy soul; in fine, had he given the due place to the claims of social life, as well as to those which concern our intercourse with God;-he would have exhibited more of the beauty of charity; a more complete and attractive exemplification of the christian life and ministry.

MR HAMILTON'S LECTURES.

REASONS FOR THE UNITARIAN BELIEF, plainly stated in nine Lectures. By Luther Hamilton, Minister of the First Congregational Society in Taunton.

We have read Mr Hamilton's book with much satisfaction. In his introductory lecture, he treats of the utility of religious inquiry and discussion, and offers some reasons why Unitarian christians, especially at the present day, should be ready to publish, explain, and defend their views of the revelation which God has given of his truth.' The subjects of the others are, the Unity of God; the Father alone is God Supreme; Christ not God, but an inferior and dependent being; the meaning of the phrase, holy spirit; the evidence chiefly relied on to prove the doctrine of the Trinity; the death of Christ; the character of man as a moral being; and the sufficiency of the Scriptures. After a classification, in his fifth lecture, of the senses in which the expression, holy spirit,' and other equivalent expressions are employed in the New Testament, the correctness of which we shall not stop to examine, Mr Hamilton goes on to notice some texts, in which the phrases in question cannot be used to designate a person, a sense, which we fully concur with him in believing, they never in a single instance bear in the sacred writings, unless when applied to God the Father.

'I proceed,' says he, to point out particularly a few of the many passages in which the phrase cannot denote a person. Acts x, 38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power.' Does the author mean that one person, who is God, anointed another person who is God, with a third person who is God? It seems more reasonable to suppose the meaning of the passage to be this;-

UNITARIAN DEDICATION AND ORDINATIONS.

May 23. The new Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, dedicated. Reading of the Scriptures, and Prayers, by Mr Briggs of Lexington. Sermon, by Mr Whitman of Waltham, from Acts xxviii, 22.

June 9. Mr George W. Hosmer, from the Cambridge Theological Institution, ordained as Minister of the First Congregational Church and Society, in Northfield. Introductory Prayer, by Mr Cole of Kingston; Reading of the Scriptures, by Mr Whitwell of Walpole, N. H.; Sermon, by Mr Walker of Charlestown, from Revelation iii, 2; Ordaining Prayer, by Dr Kendall of Plymouth; Charge, by Dr Ripley of Concord; Right Hand of Fellowship, by Mr Goodwin of Concord; Address to the Church and Society, by Mr Ripley of Boston; Concluding Prayer, by Mr Ripley of Waltham.

June 10. Mr Artemas B. Muzzey, from the Theological School in Cambridge, ordained as Pastor of the First Congregational Church and Society in Framingham. Introductory Prayer, by Mr Francis of Watertown; Reading of the Scriptures, by Mr Austin of Brighton; Sermon, by Mr Gannett of Boston, from Titus iii, 8; Prayer, by Dr Bancroft of Worcester; Charge, by Mr Greenwood of Boston; Right Hand of Fellowship, by Mr Thompson of Natick; Address to the People, by Mr Stetson of Medford; Concluding Prayer, by Mr Sanger of Dover.

RELIGION, ILLUSTRATED BY A COMPARISON OF IT WITH OTHER QUALITIES AND OBJECTS.

IV. CONVERSION.

It will help us to understand the subject of Conversion, and will prepare us to make the comparison proposed for its illustration, to take a brief historical view of that language, by which, among theologians, the doctrine has been most commonly expressed; I mean that language which is founded on the figure of a 'new birth.' Three views are to be taken of it; first, of its signification among the Jews; secondly, of its use among the early christian teachers; and thirdly, of its application to modern christian communities. And corresponding to this distinction, there are three kinds of conversion to be considered, the Jewish, the ancient christian conversion, and that conversion which is to be urged among men, already christian in their education and general belief.

Let me observe in passing, that the phrases, 'born again,' new creation,' &c, are not the only expressions

in the New Testament, which are applied to the same subject; for men were required to be changed, to be turned from the error of their ways, were said to have passed from darkness to light, from the power of sin and Satan, to the service of God and to the wisdom of the just. In short, a very great variety of language was used to describe the process of becoming a good man and a disciple of Christ.

But the figurative expressions just referred to, have been most constantly used in modern times, to express that change which is meant by conversion. The reason of this, I suppose, is obvious. There has been a striking and manifest disposition, ever since the primitive simplicity departed from religion, to regard and treat it as a mystery; and therefore the most obscure and mysterious expressions have in preference been adopted to set it forth. And yet, the figure in question, I shall soon have occasion to observe, if we regard its original use, is less adapted to set forth the spiritual nature of religion, than almost any of the representations that are current in the New Testament.

On every account, therefore, it is desirable that this language should be explained, and that the explanation should be fixed in our minds, even though it should require some repetition to do it.

What, then, is the meaning of the phrase, being born again?'

I. When our Saviour said to the inquiring Nicodemus, Except a man be born again,' we may well suppose, that he did not use language altogether new or unintelligible to him. Nor would it comport with a proper view of our Saviour's character to suppose