sophers, and as scholars, and claim them as adding glory to the American name; but where are Everett, Sparks, Bancroft, and Palfrey? It was the unusual glow of Buckminster and Channing, which, forming an exception to the common style, raised them above their coevals. In reference to a sermon of the latter, the amiable and accomplished Henry Ware was led to say, in a letter to his father: "It appears to be powerful and impressive beyond example. It must be a treasure to young preachers, and ought to stop effectually the cold sermonizing of your rationalists, who maintain the strange contradiction of religion without feeling. If such a thing were possible, it would be scarcely worth having, I think."* It is not too much to say, that there is an anxious sense of something like languor and inefficiency, in the midst of the Unitarian body itself. The attempt to inject into the enfeebled circulation some of the hot blood of German pantheism, has well nigh brought on a crisis, if not that worst of monsters, a CREED. They who have long considered themselves as standing in the very Thermopylae of religious freedom, are fain to declare, of Mr. Parker, that in the judgment of most Unitarians, he “has proclaimed opinions, which not only cut him off from our sympathy and body, but from Christianity itself."† Yet this yearning for the transcendental is but a reaction against the coldness and ennui of a lifeless religion. How far the spirit of progress is animating the mass, especially to propagate their opinions among men, may be fairly gathered from the remarks made at the regular autumnal Convention of the Unitarian Denomination, held last October in Philadelphia. We do not augur great consciousness of vitality, from blandishments which passed so profusely, at the opening of that convention, between its members and the heterodox portion of the Society of Friends; any more than from the previous and analogous invitations toward union with the Christian body. In the course of the proceedings, we meet with more unequivocal tokens of a persuasion, that something is wrong, and with such marks of healthful Christianity set forth, as cannot be applied to their churches with any complacency. "Such a thing," said the * Memoir of Henry Ware, Jr., vol. I. p. 52. Rev. Mr. Briggs, "as a church having no interest in missions was an anomaly in the apostles' days. Every prayer is a mockery in those who are not solicitious to spread the gospel." He thought "that we had not given that attention to the subject that it required." "We have not sent our missionaries to the waste places of Zion."* The Rev. Mr. Bellows, a man of unusual learning, candour, and dignity, is reported to have said: "We are called, as a denomination, to exert ourselves for the spread of the Gospel, in its reality, simplicity, and practical power. The world will judge us, as it has full right to do, by our fidelity to this test." But Mr. Hill, of Worcester, admitted that they "had not done much for the conversion of the heathen."‡ Of the character and spirit of religion in the churches, the testimony was not more cheering. Lest we may have misapprehended the singular remarks of Mr. Hedge, of Bangor, we shall give a portion of them in extenso. "Rev. Mr. Hedge, of Bangor, said, that brother Lathrop had remarked, that it was easier to procure money for political purposes, than for religious ones. Why is it so? Is it not because men see a reality in politics, a present, living and life-warm reality in the objects for which their contributions are sought? and because they do not see this in religion? Mr. H. thought we erred very much, in taking Christianity and religion out of the sphere of common life. We thus take all blood out of it. When Jesus, after his resurrection, appeared as a spirit to his disciples, they were all afraid of him. Men are still affrighted for the same reason, because Christ is presented to them as a ghost. Religion has none of the blood of daily life in it. It is not of a piece with great nature. Our theology and religious action, how unreal and hollow they are! We use phraseology which once had a meaning, but which no longer has. 'The reality has gone out of the words and forms which we insist on still using. Thus the phrase, 'the saving of souls,' which his brother from St. Louis had used, was so indefinite and misguiding a phrase, as to be responsible for much of the ignorance that prevailed relative to the aims and purposes of the Gospel towards man. What an indefinite, hollow, and unmeaning phrase it is! and how much is the real truth once contained in it, lost sight of, for those very words' sake. •The Christian Inquirer, Vol. I. p. 11. Ib. page 10. Ib. page 10. How ghastly is the view of Christ, presented by our preaching! he is not a man, but a spectre." It would be a hypocritical affectation, if we were to say that we lament these symptoms of decay, in a system which we religiously esteem to be both anti-scriptural and dangerous: yet we would not insult over the miscarriages even of a cause which we do not approve. From such indications, the argument is good against all claims of sole propriety in that which is fruitful, heroic, and magnanimous. And the evil is inherent. The vital principles have been eliminated. Separate American Unitarianism from certain adventitious aids; from the diverted endowments of Cambridge, from the scholarship of its sons, and from the prestige of elegant society and social rank, and it becomes a stationary and deliquescent mass. Upon the common mind of the nation, it has not made, nor will it ever make an impression. The more its banner is unfurled, the less does its phalanx press onward. Its day of strength was when it was not revealed; "when the Unitarianism of New England (we use the words of Mr. Furness) was in its extreme infancy; when it was too tender to be brought out into the open air; before it had been baptized, when it was afraid of its name."* It has a Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania: but how many churches? Wealth and art may give noble architecture and subduing music; but architecture and music cannot fill the vaulted house with ardent worshippers. Having thrown away that which draws and melts the heart of the people, it needs beyond all religious bodies upon earth, the succedaneum of vestments, incense, processions, statuary, and painting. In default of these, the easy grace and balanced melody of classical essays, though read with every intonation of art, will not cheer the dulness of an afternoon-service. The elements of Christian eloquence have been alienated. The fervour even of their noblest preachers is rather moon-light than day. Dread of systematic discussion has excluded the great source of intellectual excitement, even as felt by common minds, which love the ardency of argumentation. Similar causes have led their writers to sacrifice science to what is called literature, and energy to correctness. Great as is our abhorrence of certain errors in the Church of Rome, we never recur to the pages • The Christian Inquirer, Vol I. p. 9. VOL. XIX.-NO. I. of Bourdaloue, Massillon, or Bossuet, without some elevation and perhaps some transport. But who can thus feel, under the most symmetrical and faultless of Unitarian discourses? And with what hope can the system be expected ever to produce, in respect to pathos, fire, and sacred urgency, a Chalmers, a Tholuck, or a Monod? These observations we do not apply, in their strictness, to the work before us, which in character is didactic, and therefore subdued in its tone. Yet several, if not most, of these discourses were pronounced from the pulpit. Perhaps we should do no injustice to the author, if we should take them as specimens of his public ministrations. They are, to an extraordinary degree, exempt from every vulgar fault; classic in the purity of the English diction, and alike free from harshness and obscurity. They abound in passages which evince a taste cultivated even to fastidiousness. But these, after all, are negative virtues. There is a marked absence as well of rapid, trenchant, irresistible ratiocination, as of vehement and passionate entrance to the strong-holds of the heart. It is the reigning and characteristic evil of the system itself. It is high time for us to remember, that we have sat down to write a critique, and not a book. Several portions of the volume before us yet remain untouched. Our readers could not be relied on for patience equal to a longer train of observation, at this time. We have not willingly misrepresented the author. But our admiration of his system has not been increased by his labours. They have resulted in no misgiving, as to the foundation or the defences of catholic Christianity. "Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide, even unto death.” ART. II.-Baptism in its mode and subjects, by Alexander Carson, LL.D., minister of the gospel: with a sketch of his life by John Young. First American edition. Philadelphia. American Baptist Board of Publication. 1845. pp. 502. THE short account of Dr. Carson by his friend Mr. Young, states the fact, that he was at first a Presbyterian clergyman, settled at Tubbermore, a small town in the North of Ireland. In consequence of some difficulties with his congregation, and the church courts, as to discipline, he seceded from the Synod of Ulster, and became independent. For some years he continued to occupy his old church, until his mind became agitated on the subject of Baptism. He finally became a Baptist minister, and organized a congregation of similar sentiments with himself, at Tubbermore, of which he became pastor, in which relation he continued until his death in 1844, at the age of 69. His biographer, however, could not permit the opportunity to pass, without recording sentiments, and opinions which we very much regret to see. For example, he gravely informs us that the Westminster Confession was not formed to regulate the conduct of a spiritual body like the primitive church; but to hold together the unnatural amalgam of saint and sinner. This is certainly a very grave charge against a very respectable body of men; and should not have been made without proof. But none was given, for the best of all reasons, because there was none. It is scarcely necessary to refute so gross a slander. It is contradicted by history, and by the very face of the instrument which he so unhesitatingly condemns. Mr. Young farther informs his readers, that his charity struggles against the conviction that forces itself upon him, that pedobaptists do not need light, but "religious honesty." This is in point of fact charging the majority of the Christian world with downright hypocrisy. It is wonderful that it did not occur to Mr. Young, that pedobaptists might have arguments for their belief of which he had never heard, or if he had, that he might not be capable of appreciating them, and that there were some persons, who differed from him in opinion, who were nevertheless possessed of "religious honesty." The book whose title we have given, is, we understand, regarded by Baptists generally as one of the ablest defences of their peculiar views, which has appeared. It comes forth to the world with the imprimatur of the American Baptist Board of Publication. Indeed it is only necessary to read the book in order to be convinced that the writer is a man of ability. He |