at the time, were considered as stamped with a character which would secure universal respect and confidence, if they were ushered forth with his approving signature. Cotton Mather's great work, the Magnalia, is graced and hallowed by a delightful prefatory commendation, written by the good man at the age of eighty-two. His grey hairs were adorned with that crown of glory with which a virtuous old age always encircles the brows. The light, which had beamed from his pure and holy example during his long life, was collected and concentrated with a supernatural lustre around his venerable form. The generations as they passed, knelt to receive his benedictious; they crowded round him that that they might enjoy, before he was taken away, that conversation, which a contemporary declares to have been glimpse of heaven.' He always welcomed them as they approached. And when they retired from his presence they felt that it was good for them to have been there. We can imagine the hoary and benignaut patriarch, standing among his younger brethren and successors, and saying, in the language of Jacob, before his departure, while his children and children's children were gathered around him, Bring them unto me, and I will bless them.' At last he was called home by his Heavenly Father His dust reposes in our soil-let his memory be treasured up in our hearts-let his character be honoured in all our churches." -Pp. 29, 30.

The remainder of the list would less interest our readers. The preacher thus concludes it, and passes to the consideration of his principal topic:

"Before relinquishing the subject, it is proper to mention the interesting fact, that, although there have been fourteen regularly ordained Pastors of this Church, the ministry of my venerable friend and colleague, (Dr. Prince) who has been permitted to preside over and conduct the solemnities of this service, covers one quarter of its whole duration. It has been protracted beyond that of any of his predecessors; and, in a few weeks, if his life shall be preserved through them, it will have extended itself to half a century. Let us join with him, my friends, in rendering thanks to that good Providence which has thus lengthened out his days. May philosophy and religion continue to shed a calm and holy lustre upon his path-And may God bless and illumine the evening of a life which has been spent in discovering and adoring his perfections, as they are revealed in his works!

a

"In looking back along the history of this Church, our attention must not be engrossed by the contemplation of individual characters, however interesting, or of transient events, however important. We must extend our vision until it reaches the very foundation upon which it was built; and if we examine that foundation, we shall find that it rests upon a few great principles. To these principles let us give our attention.

"It has always been allowed that this was the First American Congregational Church. It is true, indeed, that those excellent and pious men at Plymouth, who were worthy of the glorious dis. tinction, which they rightfully possess, of being the first and foremost of the Pilgrim race, had maintained Christian worship for years previous to the organization of this Church; but for some time they considered themselves only as a branch of the church whose pastor, and a majority of whose members, remained in Leyden; and, owing to various causes, they did not become a distinct and fully constructed religious society for some time after the establishment of the church here. It is upon grounds like these, that our claim to the character of the First Ameriacn Congregational Church has been uniformly presented, and alway sallowed.

"But we go further, and maintain that this should be regarded as the mother of the Congregational Churches throughout the modern world. It is well known, to every one conversant with the history of the Protestant Churches, that Robert Brown, more than forty years before, conceived, and endeavoured to put into operation, a scheme of Christian social worship and ecclesiastical government, similar in many points to that adopted by our fathers. It is also well known that John Robinson, on the continent of Europe, and that Henry Jacob and John Lathorp, in England, had adopted substantially the same principles as those of Brown, and were the Pastors of Churches somewhat resembling our own, before the year 1629. But either these attempts were crushed in the beginning, or, if independent churches were formed, they were repressed by persecution, or restrained by authority, and thus finally exterminated, so that no traces of them are now to be found. And, besides, they were not, in all points, conformed to the principles which were here defined, and declared to belong to a Congregational Church.

"While inquiring into the principles upon which this Church was established,

we are, then, inquiring into the fundamertal principles of a denomination of churches, which is spread widely over this part of our country, and which, we firmly believe, if its original principles shall be perpetuated and observed, is destined to become a universal denomination. It is, indeed, a momentous inquiry. May our minds be liberated from prejudice, that we may be prepared to enter upon it! May they be filled with light, that we way accomplish it by the attainment of the truth!"-Pp. 33–36.

The "Principles of Congregational. isa" are stated by Mr. Upham to be the three following, in connexion with which we deem it needful to give a few sentraces selected from his proofs and illustrations of them :

"1. In the first place our fathers defined the matter of a Congregational Church to be a body of men gathered by voluntary association, proposing to form themselves into an organized community for social worship as Christians, and possessing in theatres, previous to a covenant, or profession, or to the assumption in any form of the ecclesiastical estate, all the powers, rights, faculties, and privileges, which are needed to construct and constitute a church of Christ.

“Who were the persons that took part in the transactions of that occasion? There were, it is probable, four ministers present, each of whom had been ordained, and two of them highly distinguished, as dergymen, in the mother country."-P.

36.

"Still, notwithstanding all this, they scem to have divested themselves, with one accord, of ecclesiastical character. The ministers threw off their official faculties, the church members were not recognised in that aspect. The whole Curapany descended, as it were, to that equal rank, in which a state of nature would have arranged them. They entered, not as church-members, but as Christian men, upon a free and open de liberation concerning the right method of erecting themselves into a religious society."-P. 37.

“They, then, having become a church, by a free election, appointed their Pastor, their Teacher, aud their Ruling Elder, ad, although the Pastor and Teacher elect had, as has been observed, exercised the powers of those offices in elevated and conspicuous spheres, before Ley left England, in order most implity to shew that, in the newly-formed church, they were to consider themselves as holding offices, and as invested with powers, which were wholly derived from

election here, and not from previous ordination elsewhere, the brethren directed, that they should be inducted into their stations in the church, and receive the pastoral character, by the imposition of the hands of one of their own number, the Ruling Elder."-Pp. 38, 39.

"When, forty-one years from the ordination of his father Francis, John Higginson was installed, the ceremony was performed by the laymen of the congregation. Major Hawthorne, assisted by the deacons, inducted him to office by the imposition of their hands. The ministers of neighbouring churches were present merely as spectators and auditors."-P. 39.

The

"The second principle which our fathers established on the 6th of August, 1629, was the Independence of the Congre gational Churches of all external jurisdiction. This principle is important beyond description or estimation. It was not only declared by the founders of this church, but, justice requires that it should be said, its whole history is crowded with evidence, that it has been steadily and resolutely maintained to this day. It was declared at its foundation. early writers inform us that, when Governor Bradford, with others, arrived during the solemnity of ordaining the first ministers, and it was proposed, that he should extend to the new church and its pastors, in the name of the Christian brethren at Plymouth, the Right Hand of Fellowship, he was not permitted to discharge that interesting and friendly service, until it had first been proclaimed, that no inference should ever be drawn from it, in support of the idea, that there was the least dependence whatever in this church upon others, the least jurisdiction over it in any external body, or the least necessary connection between it and other churches, wherever they might be."-Pp. 40, 41.

"The last great principle impressed upon the Congregational Churches at their origin was this-that while they take care, according to apostolic injunction, that all things be done decently and in order, it is their duty not to impose any thing, by way of subscription or declaration of faith, upon those who desire admission to the ordinances, which may not conscientiously be complied with by sincere Christians of all denominations.'

"Although the founders of this Church were zealous believers of that general system of doctrines, which, in their day, as well as in our own, was called orthodoxy, they took care to frame their covenaut without expressing in it their belief

of that system, or of any of its parts. You will look in vain through that admirable document for the hypothesis of the Athanasian Trinity, or the metaphysical speculations of Calvin. That covenant is a perpetual and a worthy monument of the wisdom and the liberality of the noble men who adopted it; and it will for ever demonstrate, in language which cannot be misunderstood, their adherence to the principle which has just been defined."Pp. 56, 57.

Many other passages deserve quotation, especially the spirited remonstrance against those encroachments on order, peace, and liberty, to which what is called orthodoxy appears to be so irreclaimably addicted. But we refrain, only hoping that this notice may have communicated to our readers some portion of the enjoyment which this Discourse, as connected with the interesting occasion of its delivery, has imparted to our own minds. They are such things as these which ought to be held in everlasting remembrance.

ART. II-The Proem of St. John's Gospel shewn to be strictly applicable to Jesus Christ, and perfectly consistent with Unitarian Christianity: a Sermon, delivered at Ditchling, September 9th, 1829, before the Members of the Sussex Association. By James Taplin, Minister of the Unitarian Congregation, Battle. London: sold by M. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and M. Bayley, Battle. 1829.

THE Trinitarian Exposition of the commencement of the Gospel of John may, we think, without much difficulty be shewn to be inconsistent with the passage which it professes to explain, with itself, with the dictates of reasou, and with the doctrines inculcated by Christ and his apostles, as well as those of Moses and the prophets. But it seems to be easier to shew what the evangelist did not mean, than what he did mean. Those interpretations which are most plausible and consistent leave us only a choice of difficulties. Mr. Taplin argues that "the beginning" is that of the gospel dispensation; that Christ is "the Word;" that he is, in the scriptural phrase, a god though not GOD; and that the "all things" which were "made" or rather "done" by him were all things appertaining to the introduction and promulgation of Christianity. That is to say, he inclines to the inter

ART. III.-A Sermon delivered at Crediton, on Sunday, Oct. 18, 1829, on occasion of the Death of Mr. Henry Rowe. By J. Johns. Printed by request. Roberts, Exeter.

AN elegant, pathetic, and impressive composition. The following passage is extracted, not as being distinguished from cimen of its style, and of the spirit by which it is pervaded.

the rest of the Sermon, but as a fair spe

"The science, the glorious science, of being patient under affliction, was once a secret and a mystery among men ;but, to such as are earnestly desirous to acquire it, Christianity has permitted it to be so no longer. No art indeed (if such an art were desirable) can render the human frame impassive to pain, or

the human mind insensible to sorrow. The searchers of wisdom in the ancient world dispersed, in pursuit of happiness, in various directions: one party placed it in the possession of pleasure, and another in the mastery of pain. But the disciple of the Stoic, when suffering from disease, made the memorable confession that pain was an evil; and the disciple of the Epicurean was deprived of his sleep, because a rose-leaf had doubled itself upon his voluptuous bed. The Christian, my brethren, has other and nobler arts for commanding pain, and for creating pleasure. Since he cannot be insensible, he makes it his object to be resigned; and since something will always occur to impair or to destroy the enjoyments of time, he will fix his eyes upon that sublimer existence, where alone there are joys that cannot pall or die. He will not expect that the fountain of tears shall throw forth the living waves of immortal joy: he will not mistake the cypress of earth for the tree of life

in the garden of God;' or expect that the swans of mortality, which only sing as they die, shall warble forth the same seraphic songs with those that float upon the waters of God. From the common frailty of all mortal things, he will not expect that he, or his, shall be exempted. His noblest treasure will be in heaven,' and his heart' will be with his treasure. Whether it be the will of the Eternal to give, to resume, or to deny, he will welcome, or endure it, as the will of a Being, who is infinite alike in power, in wisdom, and in love. He will resign in patience to the All-gracious Giver, what he has asked in prayer, and enjoyed with praise. Amid all the glooms that may Coscure his way, he will look beyond the fceting vapours of time, to the Star of Love walking in brightness' above them; and anticipate, with patient hope, the arrival of the hour, when every cloud shall be transfigured into a glory, when 'a new heaven and earth' shall receive the just made perfect,' and the Sun of Righteousness shall arise' upon the Paradise of God.'"-Pp. 20, 21.

ART. IV.-University of London. An Introductory Lecture upon the Study of Theology and of the Greek Testament, delivered at the Opening of the Theological institution, Suturday, November 21, 1829. By the Rev. Thomas Dale, M.A, Lecturer on Divinity at the above Institution, and Professor of the English Language and English Literature in the University of London. London: Taylor, 1829, pp. 38.

We have given the above title at full, that our readers may judge for them selves of the correctness of our opinion, that it has a deceptive tendency. Who would not infer from it that "the Theological Institution" is an integral portion of the "University of Loudon”? Mr. Dale has indeed explained, in the Advertisement and the Lecture itself, that there is no further connexion between the two than that the one is, or is to be, conducted, supported, and frequented, by certain of the professors, friends, and students of the other; but this very statement is itself the ground on which we condemn the implied assumption in the title. It may be thought that we are animadverting on a mere trifle; but we know the grasping spirit of the Establishment; we know that when the clergy connected with the Uni. versity were in treaty for a place of wor

ship, they announced that it would be "The University Chapel;" we know the heterogeneous elements of which the Council is composed, and how portions cf it may be acted upon by narrow creeds or a short-sighted, compromising policy; we know how the fundamental principle of the Institution, of complete non-interference with religion, has been already in jeopardy; and we are therefore jealous, even about such trifles as this may seem, in proportion to our solicitude for the honour, prosperity, and usefulness, of the London University.

Two courses of Lectures are proposed; one on the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion; the other, on the Greek Testament. The first is to be complete within the limits of each Session. The extent of the other is not defined, but two Lectures are to be delivered every week. There is nothing which particularly calls for remark, either in the way of praise or of censure, in what is said of either. A Theological Library is commeuced, for the use of the Students; they are to be frequently examined by the Lecturer; and there is to be a General

Examination and Distribution of Prizes

at the end of the Session.

As the professed object is not to make Theological Scholars, but to cultivate Religious Principle, this last provision is of a very questionable character.

We little expected to meet in this Lecture with a declaration of war against Unitarianism. It was neither necessary nor decent. Not necessary, for the Evidences of Christianity are neutral ground on which polemics may hold truce without any compromise of principle; and not decent in a Lecturer who is about to avail himself largely of "the elaborate researches of Lardner." It would have been an odd situation for that excellent man, had he been now living, to have fouud himself turned away, for his he resy, from the door of a room in which a lecture was delivering compiled from his own publications. Very odd; aud not very creditable. His admission, it seems, would be a liberality beyond the bounds of prudence. "By members of the Church of England it was originated, by them it is principally supported, and they alone exercise any controul over its management. It is true, they do not confine its benefits to those of their own communion, but are willing to extend them to all who admit that vital principle of our common Christianity, the essential Divinity of the Son of God: but, while they thus adopt the principle of liberality to the utmost limit of pre

dence, let it be remembered, that to students of their own Church the Institution is primarily adapted-for such it was principally designed." Pp. 10, 11. The Professor of the English Language and Literature has, doubtless, his reasons for selecting the term prudence to describe the exclusion of Unitarian students; and we should like to know those reasons. There would be no imprudence in his converting them; none in his preserving them from Deism. Can he mean that it would not be prudent to allow them the opportunity of talking over his Lectures with their fellow-students; or to risk the replies which they might make in the course of a private or a public examination? It is rather too much for these Church of Englandists to make a boast of the liberality, which is bounded, not by principle, but by prudence.

In virtue of this same prudence, we suppose, the Lectures are to be incessantly directed to the inculcation of that very doctrine which must be previously held in order to obtain admission.

"But throughout these Lectures there is one object of which I shall never lose sight, and, consequently, which it is only candid and honest on the present occasion explicitly and unreservedly to avow; I mean, the constant investigation and exhibition of that immense mass of evidence, which tends collaterally or directly to establish the doctrine of the essential divinity of the Son of God. Persuaded as I am, that this is the primary and pervading doctrine of the Christian revelation; that it is the rock upon which our common Christianity is founded, and that without it we rise scarcely a single step above the disciples of Socrates, Confucius, or Mahomet; it will be my constant endeavour, by all honest and legitimate meaus, to fix a similar persuasion in the minds of the students. this purpose, I shall analyze minutely those passages in which the Version, falsely termed Improved, has disorganized the construction, obscured the sense, or neutralized the energy, of the Scripture. I shall demonstrate how widely the process to which these passages have been subjected, has deviated from all the approved and ordinary rules of interpretation. I shall not only shew the connexion between the various texts which have been thus perverted, but establish their true meaning by the corroborative evidence of manuscripts and of the Fathers."-P. 22.

For

So cautious a man as the Professor should have been reminded, by the mention of the Improved Version, of the ex

perience of its Editor, when explaining the texts cited in this controversy to his pupils. He may read a warning in the Preface to the Calm Inquiry. The demolishing analysis which he promises ought assuredly not to be confined to the Students of the London University. We hope it will be published.

The clergy of the Establishment who hold Professorships in the London University are undoubtedly in a delicate and difficult situation. We feel for them as individuals, and would not be harsh or captious in our animadversions. But we must ask the question, what makes their situation a delicate and difficult one? What, but the spirit and policy of the Church to which they belong?

ART. V.-The Christian Child's Faithful Friend and Sabbath Companion. Vol. II. for 1829. pp. 144.‍ Hunter, London; Philp, Falmouth.

WE have only cordially to repeat our former recommendation of this useful penny periodical, and our best wishes for its continuance and success.

ART. VI.-Unitarians not Socinians. An Appeal to the Good Sense and Candour of Professing Christians, against the Improper Use of the Term" Socinian." With a Brief Statement of Unitarian Sentiments. Printed for the Southern Unitarian Society. Pp. 12. 1829.

ONE of the very best Tracts of the kind which we have seen, and well deserving of general distribution.

GENERAL LITERATURE. ART. VII.-Memoirs of Simon Bolivar, President Liberator of the Republic of Columbia, &c. By Gen. H. L. V. Ducoudray Holstein. Colburn and Bentley.

DUCOUDRAY HOLSTEIN served in the French army during the revolution, and was afterwards attached to the staff of Napoleon. In common with many other military adventurers, when "Othello's occupation" seemed "gone" in Europe, he repaired to the Spanish Main, "attracted by the sacred cause," and having "been constantly attached to the cause of liberty in both hemispheres." He was then employed first by the local authorities at Carthagena, and afterwards by Bolivar, who made him