cannot palliate such barefaced hypocrisy? Shades of the martyrs! is this magnanimity! Is this nobleness of character! No wonder poor White scoffed at men who chose death, rather than to falsify their convictions. But the same writer goes on to say: "It is impossible for any one who reads these volumes to doubt that he was governed by the sincerest love of truth in every change of sentiment he made." And again; And again; "Who does not honor Blanco White more in his spiritual integrity and shattered faith, than though with a competent faith he had wanted a ray only of his moral brightness." But is it spiritual integrity and moral brightness "to exercise the office," of a Christian minister "during seven years of total unbelief?" or is it falsehood and hypocrisy? We have read these articles with grief and pain. Is this, we exclaimed, Unitarianism? Will Dr. Gannett, and other dignitaries of that denomination, which assumes for its distinguishing superiority over other sects, a supreme regard for character, endorse such sentiments? We answer, No! We do not believe that Unitarian clergymen or laymen generally, will justify downright hypocrisy, indulged for a long series of years, though its robes should happen to be worn by one in a transition state from Romanism to Unitarianism. We must think, that some gentlemen of this sect have placed themselves before the community in a false position; being led on by the erroneous principles of charity they had previously adopted, and by the singular strength of their prejudices. We would not judge of all Unitarians by the sentiments expressed in these articles. But we put it to them to say, Whether they are not perverting men's consciences, and breaking down the moral sense of the community? Especially, Whether they are not making it easy for the Voltaires, and Rousseaus, and Paines, to say nothing of the Parkers and Emersons of our own time, to minister as holy men and true at the altars of that Jesus whose miraculous religion they utterly reject, and whose high claims are despised by them? And what assurance can we have that the endorsers of Mr. White are not themselves preaching Christianity in an esoteric way? That is, if we understand it, preaching Christianity in public, and holding infidelity in secret, or confessing it only to the initiated? Charity is great. It is the noblest of the virtues; but there are such things as truth, as honesty, as integrity; without which no one can be a good man or a Christian. THE POWER OF PRAYER. PRAYER is mighty and prevalent. "No duty is more often commanded, or more highly commended." "Cold pleaders prove to be cold speeders," said an old Puritan, who was no stranger to the great" avails" of "the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man." In this grand struggle of the heart, God is the strength of his people. His invitations to the sinking soul are wonderful. "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." When Jacob grappled with the angel of the covenant, and wrestled through the weary night and till the breaking day, it was by his grasp that he drew from Omnipotence the might which enabled him to cope with Omnipotence. The unbelieving mind, in its various moods of presumption and despair, may question the efficacy of prayer, and start many difficulties as to its utility. It may be suggested, that God is too great and high to be reached by our petitions; when it should be considered that it is one of the most remarkable proofs of his greatness, that of so many millions of sincere suppliants, not one is unanswered. It has been objected, that God, perfectly knowing all our wants, needs not to be told of them; and being perfectly good, needs not to be entreated to supply them. But is it not a greater mercy, if we are made to know them ourselves, and are thus made ready to feel the whole benefit of his bounty? Sometimes the tempted soul is inclined to feel, that it is too sinful and polluted to speak to infinite Holiness. And truly, this thought may hush us into silence; but only till we turn away our eyes from self and sin, to the beholding of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. Says the judicious Hooker: "Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail." The devil, in trying to keep the miserable spirit from praying, will suggest that it is a vain attempt to turn the mind of an unchangeable Being or to alter the course of his eternal decrees. But He, who has had all things eternally in his sight, has had the prayers of his children eternally in view, with all their sweet, persuasive power. The prayer He is now answering, He has always heard. But it matters not how many theoretical difficulties may be thrown up to embarrass our prayers, the practical Christian feels them not. Be they imaginings of a corrupt and rebellious nature, or falsehoods begotten directly by "the father of lies," they vanish at once in the moment of peril or the hour of anguish. Terror and sorrow will enforce us to pray. When the soul is seized with dread, when the heart is broken with bereavement, there is a resistless impulse to call on God for help and pity. A scoffing Volney will tremble and pray, amid the horrors of the tempest and threatened shipwreck. A blaspheming Paine, on that dying bed whose horrors chased away his infidel crew of disciples, will utter, in shrieks of agony, that name he had so often cursed. At such times, no man thinks of the subtle objections which may be arrayed against calling on the name of the Lord. The man of prayer does not require the knotted scourges of fear and trouble to drive him to this employment. It is dear to his heart, since first, at his soul's new birth in grace, the breath of supplication was breathed into him; and he who had been spiritually dead "became a living soul." Behold, he prayeth!" These are the words in which the Holy Ghost announced to the astonished prophet, the conversion of that bloody persecutor, Saul of Tarsus. With many "vain repetitions," that zealous Pharisee had offended the ear of Heaven. But never, till now he is asking in submissive penitence: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" -has he ever PRAYED, in the strict sense of that sacred word. No unconverted man ever prayed in spirit and in truth. But when born again, from that hour, his life is a new life; it is a life of prayer. Prayer is the vital breath of spiritual existence. "It is the first thing wherewith a righteous life beginĥeth, and the last wherewith it doth end." 66 This free access to the throne of grace is the highest privilege which can be conferred on creatures in this world. It is the way to heaven. It is next to heaven. It has in it much of heaven. Thus to confide in God, thus to disburden the heavyladen soul, thus to bring the Lord of angels to our help, is, in this world, the chief among the joys of salvation. It opens a communication with the celestial City of God; for prayer is the arrow, with the message wrapped around it; and faith is the bow. And if the bow be strong, and strongly drawn, the winged missive is sped at once over the walls of the heavenly Zion. This hallowed. archery is beautifully described in one of the "Emblems" of Francis Quarles: "Dart up thy soul in groans! thy secret groan Shall find him out where Heaven alone shall know: Feathered with faith, and double-forked with fire; After all, the grand warrants and encouragements to prayer are found in the exceeding great and precious promises which are made to the petitioner through Christ. These promises are the covenants wherewith God has graciously bound himself to his suppliant creatures. And prayer is the suing out of these inviolable bonds through the intercession of our "advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Take this one example: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Take with this, the comment of a good old Puritan divine: "It is as firm as Heaven can make it; it hath a double asseveration upon it,- Of a truth, of a truth, I say unto you,' to you, whatsoever your case and condition, your trials and circumstances. Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name,' let your request be ever so large, let it grasp at all my Word hath promised, that my blood hath purchased, that my righteousness hath obtained, that my hand can bestow, or my heart can give. My 'name' hath an infinite authority with the Father. It is the door of every blessing, the way of every mercy, and the knocker at the gate of Heaven. If thy request be stamped with my name, thy plea will be granted in the court above. Yes, plead my person as your Mediator, my blood as your atonement, my righteousness as your hope, my power as your support. With these pleas, ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.' Fear not, the Father will give it you. He hath none else to bestow it upon but you. The angels do not need it, the saints in glory are in full possession of it, and hardened sinners do not ask for it; therefore, he will give it unto you. To whom else should he give it? Christian reader, lay hold of such sure promises as these, and learn the power of prayer. OBSERVATIONS ON MEN, BOOKS AND THINGS. THE COLLEGES. One of the most striking features of the times, is the munificence which, within a very few years, has been showered upon our higher seminaries of learning. Some twenty years ago, there was a disposition to depreciate them, in favor of common schools and instruction in practical science. The study of the classics, so long and so justly held to be the best means of mental discipline, was in danger of being abandoned by acclamation. Within that period, there has been a great and almost silent change of opinion on this subject, and the colleges and the classics have risen higher in the public estimation, than at any time since the days of our learned and godly fathers. Thus Bowdoin College, one of our oldest and best institutions, which had well nigh become the prey of Unitarianism, has recently, by a sort of treaty stipulation highly honorable to all parties, been ceded completely back to the Orthodox interest, in connection with a generous increase of its endowments, to the amount of fifty thousand dollars. Harvard College, already richly provided with the means of instruction in other branches, has very lately received a splendid gift of like amount, for the purposes of practical science. Would that a sense of justice might so far obtain in the management of this child of our fathers' fondest love, as to relax the cords of "antisectarian and liberal bigotry," in which it has been bound so long!. Within a few weeks, the College at Amherst, which last winter obtained from the legislature a grant of twenty-five thousand dollars, has received double that sum, chiefly through the bounty of a former generous benefactor, and enthusiastic friend of religious education. This institution, now free of debt, stands on a basis of support firmer than it ever had before. We have noticed with pleasure, that, at several recent anniversaries of important benevolent societies, the secretaries and all the speakers were Amherst men. We allude to this circumstance, not as intimating any superiority in the graduates of this institution over those of our other seats of science, which we would be very far from doing,- but as one token that Amherst College is in a good measure fulfilling the hopes and designs of its pious founders.— Of the ample benefactions made to Williams College, we need not speak further than to refer to the source from whence they have sprung, a heart where "liberal sentiments," in a high and honest sense, prevail.-Others of our higher seminaries, in different parts of the land, have been helped in their good work, by Christian generosity. For the men who have thus invested a portion of their wealth for the benefit of mankind, there is one strong text of Scripture: "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand." Let the people of God fervently pray for our colleges, that with their enlarged means of usefulness and influence, they may be more than ever consecrated" to Christ and the Church." DR. TYLER'S LETTER TO DR. BUSHNELL.-This pamphlet, called out by the "Discourses on Christian Nurture," is written both ably |