ART. I.-The False Accusers of the Brethren Reproved, and the Accused instructed how to Reply: a Sermon, preached before the Supporters of the Unitarian Association. By Joseph Hutton, LL.D.

UNDER a heavy title, we have in this Sermon a noble specimen of the Christian piety and charity of its author, which reflects credit upon the body to which he belongs, and whose spirit he may be considered to represent. It is a just, beautiful, and, in many parts, eloquent exposition of the well-chosen text, 1 Cor. iv. 1-5; and without being a formal defence of the doctrines and spirit of Unitarians, or a direct reply to specific charges against them, contains a full and decisive refutation of the calumnies so widely circulated, and so quickly caught up in the world. It is not so much an harangue upon the nature of that charity" which beareth all things, hopeth all things," as it is an exemplification of that charity itself. It is not so much a plea in behalf of Unitarianism as of genuine Christianity. It is a proof that Unitarianism does contain the cssence of true evangelical religion-that it coincides, in its view of the mutual duties of Christians, with the universally admitted principles of the gospelthat its spirit is in unison with that of the Apostle in the text, with that which has the sanction of the Author and Finisher of faith. It is, indeed, exactly the sermon which we should put, and which we hope will fall, into the hands of those who through ignorance believe, or through wilfulness maintain, that Unitarianism has nothing in it of a truly religious and Christian spirit. If deliberately perused, it would alter, not to say reverse, their opinion; and if it did not lead them to examine into the evidences for the truth of Unitarian principles, would probably conviuce them of the wisdom of applying to Unitarians the advice of Gamaliel, "Refrain from these men and let them alone for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight against God."

After some introductory observations on the practice too common amongst the followers of Christ, for the profes

sors of different opinions to vilify the conduct in order to prejudice the cause of their opponents, he proceeds to illustrate the duties of Christians when assailed with a calumniating tongue, by the sentiments of St. Paul in his reply to his Corinthian accusers, and to deduce a practical lesson from the conduct and counsel of the Apostle. The following extract from this part of his Sermon, relating to the character of faithful stewards, cannot be read without profit:

"In the first place, let all of us so account of ourselves. If, as professing Christians, we constantly bore in mind our relation to our great Master-if we remembered that our sole object, as members of different sects, is to discover, by serious and diligent examination, and to promulgate, by calm and conclusive argument, that true religion which our common Lord once delivered to the saints,-if we never lost sight of the important truth, that we are stewards, under God, of all the treasures, intellectual and spiritual, physical and temporal, which he has committed to our care, and that He will expect all of us to render a reason of the hope that is in us, and to shew cause for the opinions that we have professed, as well as the actions that we have performed, in the last day,-nethinks we should enter with a more calm and charitable, a more serious and earnest spirit, into the investigation of heavenly truths; we should discover that religion is much too im. portant a subject to be made the occasion of hasty aud angry disputes; we should conduct our own, and aid each other's search, with awakened minds, and hearts made one by the love of God and Christ, and of that truth which they invite us to search out and contemplate for our souls' benefit."-Pp. 27, 28.

We would make other quotations if our limits would allow us: and we must particularly recommend to the reader's attention the passage from p. 40 to p. 42, on the view in which it is a very small thing to be judged of man's judgment, concluding with this beautiful sentence:

"The curse causeless, as the swallow in its flying, will not light;'-the censures of the frail and fallible will play like harmless lightnings round us, illuminating whom they cannot injure; and

mascus; we have not an Ananias, to cause the scales to drop from our eyes; we have no demonstration of the spirit and of power;' if we have the assistance of the Spirit of God, it is to our own efforts that it is promised. For the common believer, who has only to answer for himself, it may be sufficient to possess piety, humility of mind, and a heart-felt faith: but these are not sufficient for us, whose office it is to heal so many wounds, and to provide for so many wants. To execute all our commission, to convince the incredulous, to refute the impious, to strengthen him who doubts, to bring back him who wanders, firmly to establish the faith in the minds of the young, and to revive the faithful himself, we have need of a cultivated reason, of extended information, of deep and conscientious researches, of all the arms of intellect and knowledge. We must be ready to answer every thing and every person, when we are called upon to give a reason for the hope that is in us.' Beware, then, of regarding your ministry as one of servile transmission, in which but little has been left for your understandings to do. Doubt less, all knowledge as well as all grace comes from the Father of lights; doubtless, his word is truth,' and there is no other but this is the very circumstance that makes it of importance to know that divine word effectively and for yourself; not to take for it what is not it; and to separate it, with a firm and steady hand, from all human dross, and from your own imaginations. For this purpose exert all the powers which you have received; study the gospel long and constantly; compare it with itself; call to your aid the study of the language, the country, the manners, and the times of the apostles, in order that you may distinguish what ought to be distinguish ed; let your reason serve you as a rampart against the charm of human authority which has so great a power over a modest spirit and an affectionate heart; let it preserve you from the wanderings and the illusions of imagination and sensibility-those noble and precious powers, which give to the true faith its life and its fertility, but which are so unstable and deceitful, that they ought not to be allowed to hold the helm of our souls, because error has almost as much influence over them as truth.”—Pp. 8— 10.

The Prayer which follows the Discourse is perhaps better in its kind than any thing which precedes it. We trans

late the first part of it, as a specimen of the fervent and devotional style of the Geneva clergy, and, we may add, of what a prayer ought to be:

"Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the believers, thou great God, who hast made thy light and thy favour to shine upon us, who hast chosen us to be thy people, to know thy will, to seek thy face, and to inherit thy glory-since thou hast instituted the holy ministry for the preservation of thy church and the edification of the Christian body, behold here a new servant whom we present unto thee. He wishes to consecrate himself to thee; he wishes, after the example of thy Son, to preach the gospel of the eternal kingdom, and to point out to his brethren the path of salvation. Oh! who is sufficient for such things? No one, Lord, is sufficient: but what is impossible with man, is possible with thee.' It is thou who hast called him to this holy charge; it is thou who wilt render him fit for it. O God! accept and confirm him; shed upon him thy spirit in abundance; (here the imposition of hands takes place;) glorify thy power in his weakness; open the eyes of his understanding; put thy love in his heart, and thy word on his lips; so that he may preach it with full assurance, that he may not run in vain, that he may not labour in vain, but rather that he may enlighten, touch and convert the souls of men, and be to many a sweet savour unto life.' Strengthen him thyself for this great work which thou givest him to do; arm him with such patience and courage, that he may come out triumphant from all the difficulties which shall press around him. Sustain his heart in temptation; let him shew himself approved by thee in all things, and abundantly provided with all sorts of good works; let him take heed to himself; let him keep his body in subjection; let him render his ministry acceptable to all men; and when the great day shall come, may he be able to say to thee with confidence and with truth, I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished thy work; now, Father, glorify me.' May the Supreme Pastor then give him an incorruptible crown, and the testimony of a good and faithful servant."

In conclusion, we have to express not only our hope, but our expectation, that M. Saintes will not be the only one of the French Catholic clergy who shakes off the fetters of an enslaving faith, and avails himself of all the light, and liberty, and glory, of a Protestant communion.

France is awaking from her mental and moral lethargy; she is putting forth the energies of her quick and active intellect, and extending her inquiries into every subject which can interest man as a rational and accountable being. Religion must feel the benefit of this change. We look with confidence to more such conversions to Protestantism as that which is recorded in these pages; and we sympathize, by anticipation, in the joy which they who follow this course must feel when they reflect that there are in the neighbouring territory of Geneva honest and enlightened spirits, warmed with the love of truth and freedom, who will be ready to welcome them into the bosom of a more liberal church, and to promote, by every means in their power, their present and their everlasting welfare.

W.

ART. III.-Presumptive Arguments in favour of Unitarianism. By M. L. Hurlbut. Boston: Bowles and Dearborn. Pp. 42.

THE object of this essay is, by a comparison of Unitarianism with the popular system of orthodoxy in some of its leading doctrines, to point out the probabilities in its favour; presumptions that are antecedent to any direct proofs derived from the authority of scripture.

The first presumption in favour of Unitarianism that is noticed by our author is this, that "it harmonizes with the voice of external nature;" secondly, "its representations of the moral character of God accord with the dictates of nature and reason;" thirdly, another presumption arises from "the different views which the two systems present of the nature and condition of man;" fourthly," there is nothing exclusive in the spirit of Unitarianism; it permits and requires us to exercise charity towards Christians of every name;" fifthly, this system permits and inculcates the exercise of our reasoning powers on a subject of all others most worthy to employ them;" and, lastly, the presumption arising from "the simplicity of the faith which it requires as essential to the Christian character."

We shall give a specimen or two of the style of this well-reasoned and conclusive pamphlet, which well deserves a reprint in this country.

"Some advocates of Unitarianism seem to us to have adopted a style of defence somewhat too deprecatory. We have

sometimes thought that they seemed to be oppressed by the consciousness of being in the minority. We cannot sympathize with such a feeling. Were we compelled to regard ourselves as standing alone-single in the midst of the earth, we should regret the circumstance principally on the account of others. We should not feel the less satisfied with our system, or the less coufident of its ultimate triumph. We meet our opponents on the broad level of our inherent rights, as men, and as Christians; rights which they have not given nor can take away. What is it to us, if in a spirit of petulant and overweening vanity, they choose to deny our title to the Christian name? Their folly and arrogance is their own affair, not ours."-P. 8.

The author cherishes an ardent expectation of the final triumph of rational Christianity. "A thick cloud, we are aware, has long rested on the religious world; but we behold the bow of promise spreading its beautiful arch athwart the dark surface, and brightening as it expands. We see the lifting' of the mists, even from those tracts where they have hovered longest, and gathered thickest. Bright breezes, we doubt not, will soon spring up, and the dark masses roll away for ever."-P. 42.

ART. IV.-The Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. By the late Rev. John Cameron. London. 1828. 5s.

THE preface informs us that the author of this work, which is now first published, was for many years minister of the Presbyterian congregation of Dun. luce, in the northern part of the county of Antrim, where he died in December 1799: that he was originally a strict Calvinist; but the loan of Taylor ou Original Sin, by a dignitary of the Establishment, occasioned the commencement of a complete change in his religious opinions: that the MS. of the work before us was given by him to an intimate friend, now also dead, who allowed the editor to copy it, but with the wish that it should not be published unless the attempt should "be renewed to interfere with the rights of private judgment," and "bind Presbyterians to creeds which set reason and conscience at defiance;" and that this casus fœderis having arisen (as every body who has heard of the Synod of Ulster and its

proceedings very well knows), the book is accordingly sent forth into the world. It is published by subscription, and there is prefixed to it a highly respectable list

of names.

Novelty is not to be expected on this subject; nor do we find it here. But Mr. Cameron has bequeathed to us a plain and useful compendium of the principal arguments from Scripture for the proper unity of God and humanity of Christ, the circulation of which may do much good, especially if it can be made to circulate in Ireland. The proofs are briefly but satisfactorily stated, and well arranged. It may also be mentioned, as matter of commendation, that the direct and positive evidence of the Unitarian doctrine is made much more prominent than the reply to Trinitarian objections. One clear, pertinent, and decisive assertion of that doctrine from the Scriptures, is more likely to impress the minds of common readers than any number of explanations, however satisfactory, of passages which have been thought to assert the Trinitarian tenets.

ART. V.-Address to the Sons of Israel. London. 1828. 12mo. pp. 12.

THIS tract is only printed for gratuitous distribution. It is written by a pious and sensible member of the Jewish community, who is deeply affected by the degraded state of his brethren, and is anxious to do something for its amelioration. He complains of their habitual want of serious attention, of moral principle, and of religious feeling. He earnestly exhorts them to fix their minds upon the perfections of the God of their fathers. The declarations of Moses and the prophets concerning the divine Unity and Supremacy are largely quoted and impressively applied. We learn with pleasure from the advertisement prefixed to this Tract, that "if its reception by the public produces the effect hoped for, more Treatises are proposed to be issued by a society to be formed for that purpose, in which all the principles and articles of belief of the Jewish religion will be clearly made out and familiarly explained." If a small portion of the hundred and fifty thousand pounds said to have been subscribed and expended for the conversion of the Jews to Christianity during the last fifteen years, had been applied to the circulation of moral and devotional tracts like

ART. VI.-The Foreign Quarterly
Review. No. V.

WE notice this very interesting number of a very interesting work, merely to extract from the article on Karamsin's History of Russia the following amusing specimen of national conversion :

"After reigning thirty-three years, during which period he made two irruptions into the Greek empire, Igor was assassinated by the Drevlians, A. D. 945. His widow Olga, who governed during the minority of her son Sviatoslaf, revenged his death in a manner equally perfidious and cruel; but her subsequent conversion to Christianity atoned for all. Though that religion had several professors in Kief, into which it had been introduced in the preceding reign, she went to Constantinople, to be more accurately instructed in the new faith; and there she was baptized, the emperor himself (Constantine Porphyrogenitus) standing as sponsor. Her shocking treachery to the Drevlians was not considered any impediment to her canonization; as she was the first Russian sovereign who submitted to the holy rite, a grateful church has placed her in its venerable catalogue of saints. But neither Sviatoslaf nor his subjects were much influenced by her example: the golden-whiskered Perune, and a host of inferior deities, were still the objects of general adoration.

"Of the three sons left by Sviatoslaf, Yaropolk, Oleg, and Vladimir, the two former fell victims to their unnatural contentions, (Yaropolk, under the title of grand duke, held Kief, and Oleg the country of the Drevlians,) and the last, who had been ruler of Novgorod, succeeded to the undivided sovereignty. For his success in restoring the unity of