of the word of truth, many places barren and thirsty, where the waters of life have not yet flowed, and which can be made fruitful and glorious, only by the unremitted exertions of believers to convey them there. But the Committee trust that it cannot be needful for them to repeat to the Society considerations which have been long so familiar, or to urge them to perseverance in so good and great a work. To the Christian, no cause can be dearer than the spreading abroad that word which is his own comfort and light, and by which the world is to be reformed and saved. He must esteem it a happiness to aid, however feebly, those efforts, in which the whole Christian world is zealous and active, to send the Bible to every family, and leave not a soul unvisited by its holy influence. The anniversary sermon was delivered in the evening at the Old South Church, by the Rev. Daniel Sharp of Boston, from John xvii. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth-thy word is truth. A collection was made of 188 dollars 27 cents. The donations to the Society during the past year have been 1193 dollars 15 cents.-The officers elected for the coming year, are His Honour WILLIAM PHILLIPS, President. Rev. JOHN T. KIRKLAND, D. D. Vice President. Mr. JOHN TAPPAN, Treasurer. Mr. EDWARD PHILLIPS, Assistant Treasurer. Rev. Henry Ware, Jun. Edward Tuckerman, Esq. Rev. Benjamin B. Wisner, Executive Committee. Christian Register.-We beg leave to recommend strongly this paper to the notice of those of our readers who are not acquainted with it. It has now been published for almost a year, and we have been not a little gratified by the good sense, the talents and industry, with which it has been edited. It is a publication honourable to the Unitarian cause; and well adapted to promote the progress of true religion. It contains a large proportion of interesting and valuable matter; and may be recurred to hereafter as a faithful and important document in the religious history of our times. THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION AT CAMBRIDGE. [The following remarks were written by one of the officers of the Theological Institution at Cambridge, and are inserted at his request.] We have seen a circular letter, calling the attention of the liberal to the wants of the Theological Institution at Cambridge; and proposing a subscription, particularly for the erection of an edifice for the accommodation of the students. We earnestly hope that the proposal will be favourably received by the public. The respect paid to religion in a community depends in a great measure upon the respect, esteem and affection, which its ministers are able personally to command. In this country, the public estimation in which they are held, will depend solely upon their piety, their exemplary lives, their catholic spirit, their good sense, their talents, and their learning. Every one knows that they will command no deference as a privileged order. There is among us no establishment with its gradations of wealth and rank, and its associations of antiquity and grandeur, to give any additional weight, or any degree of worldly authority or power to religion. With us, it can only make a direct appeal to the heart and the understanding; and its ministers must rely for influence altogether upon their personal qualities. But the existence of these personal qualities, especially all those of an intellectual character, must depend very much upon the means of cultivating them which the country affords. Learning cannot be acquired without books and instruction. Intellectual eminence of any sort can hardly be attained without long and judicious discipline. It is very true, that the highest virtues may exist in a private station without learning and without any uncommon intellectual powers, natural or acquired. But in a clergyman, those qualifications are necessary to his usefulness. What is more, they are often necessary to prevent him from doing far more evil than good. If he be ignorant and narrow-minded, there is great danger that he will injure rather than serve the cause of religion, and the community in which he lives. The best intentions will not save a physician unacquainted with the principles of his art from destroying the health and lives of those exposed to his practice; and mere blind zeal will be as little security, that a minister of religion will not be the means of still more important mischief. If the clergy of a country, especially such a country as ours, be deficient in those qualities which command respect, there is extreme danger that religion itself will fall into contempt. But New Series-tol. IV. 19 in order to give them true learning, and to cultivate their intel lectual powers, it is necessary to make public provision for these purposes. Schools and libraries and all the means of study must be afforded. A If a man have no sense of the infinite value of religion, as it regards our highest relations and eternal existence; yet one would think that not much enlargement of mind, and not much observation of human affairs were necessary, to perceive its importance in a mere worldly point of view. The cause of religion is the cause of good government and good order. Without religion, human laws alone would not have the strength of a spider's web to protect personal rights and liberty. country wholly without religion would be a country abandoned to hopeless anarchy, and to every form of violence and evil. With us, all our institutions rest upon the good sense and good principles, the moral feelings and habits of the community. The whole structure of society has no other foundation or sup port. But good morals depend upon the direct or indirect influence of religion. They never have existed, and never can exist, without it. What would be the state of things among us, if we could not appeal forcibly and effectually to the sense of justice, and to the strong feeling of right and wrong, which exist in our country, more perhaps than in any other; and which have always prevented any considerable outrage upon the rights of individuals or of any portion of the community? Without such a state of feeling among us, what security would there be for any thing which we most value? Without it, we should have occasion enough to use the language of Cicero, Nos hic in republicâ infirmâ, miserâ, commutabilique versa. mur.' But for the state of public morals which now exists, we are indebted to the strong action of that religious faith which we have derived from our illustrious ancestors. But unless we provide proper means for the public support of religion, and proper schools in which useful and able teachers of it may be formed, we cannot expect that the principles of religion should continue to have that influence, which has been the blessing and safeguard of our country. We live in an age when ancient opinions are in a state of revolution and change; when old errors and prejudices, which have been blended with the constitutions of human society, are losing their hold upon the minds of men ; and when many are willing to confound with them the most fundamental and important truths, of which we may say, that If these fail, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, Within the last half century, Christianity has been attacked in every form, by open enemies and pretended friends, by French atheists and German theologians; and at this very moment, the literature of England is disgraced by a school of writers, one of them, at least, of great celebrity, and some others of considerable notoriety, who have assailed the first principles of morality and religion, with a sort of diabolical spirit of derision and blasphemy. We cannot expect to escape altogether the contagion of this dreadful evil. It is a state of things, which calls upon all those who have any care for our highest interests, to provide the means of bringing forward men of the first talents and respectability, as expositors and defenders of our faith,-of those truths which lie at the foundation of human happiness in this world and in that to come. It is not long, since the horrors of the French revolution, which exhibited the most ferocious passions of man in their natural alliance with impiety and atheism, roused the most indifferent and the most worldly to some sense of the value of religion, as the main security of human rights and happiness. We fear that this sentiment has in some degree lost its force. But we fear, too, that the state of the world is not such as to afford a pledge, that scenes will not again occur, well adapted to teach us, what man is and what he can perpetrate, when he regards no sanctions beyond this life. Christianity, in order to be successfully defended, must be well understood. It must be presented to men in its true character. The errors which have been connected with it in ages of darkness, and which there is now such a struggles to defend, sometimes by the most dishonourable means, are the enemies from which it has most to dread. If the defenders of these errors should succeed in establishing the belief, that they really make a part of our religion, they will have succeeded in presenting religion in a form, in which, in the present state of knowledge and improvement, it is impossible it should have its proper authority and influence; it is impossible, on the other hand, that it should not be regarded by a large portion of the community with contempt or horror, and consequent incredulity. The inquiries and discussions respecting the doctrines of our faith, which now so generally prevail, and which will, of necessity, prevail in a still greater degree, before they cease, render it more than ever necessary, to afford the means of forming correct opinions upon the subject, especially to those who,from their office, must be the guides and instructers of their fellow-men. But the full examination of the topics in controversy, is not a work which can be accomplished without many facilities, for which we must look to public liberality. We, Unitarian Christians, believe that there is much in our views of religion to recommend it to the hearts and understandings of men, which is not to be found in other forms of faith. Believing this, it is a most solemn duty to endeavour to give our opinions a wider diffusion. It will be disgraceful to us, as men and as Christians, if other sects discover a zeal for what we think error, greater than that which is felt by us for what we believe the truth; if they are willing to make sacrifices and exertions from which we shrink. There will be no plea by which we can ward off the dishonour. If, in avowing the opinions and feelings which we have done, any one should accuse us of a proselyting spirit, we call upon him to explain what is meant by this very indefinite charge, this cant term, which has been used so idly, and often with so little meaning. Does he intend to say, that we are so earnest to propagate our opinions, which are but means and motives to goodness, that we forget the great end of all faith, real virtue and holiness of heart and life, and regard a correct belief as any substitute for them, or as anything excellent in itself, supposing them not to exist? We assure him that he is altogether mistaken. Does he mean, that we are such zealots for a correct faith, that we are willing to disturb the worship of humble and unobtrusive piety, and unsettle the faith of individuals, not so learned, nor so well informed, as we fancy ourselves to be, for the sake of removing speculative errors? We think neither our principles nor our conduct justify the charge. But if he intend to say, that we are very zealous to present religion to men in general, in its true character, in that form in which we think it adapted to produce the greatest possible blessings; then we earnestly hope that he is not mistaken about the fact, and have only to object to the improper language in which he has stated his meaning. We repeat our strong hope, that the appeal which has been made to the liberality of the public will not be made in vain. We wish that in the present, and in other similar instances, means had been adopted to interest the friends of true Christianity of all classes, in the object proposed. Those in moderate circumstances, we believe, would give at least their fair proportion, and as readily and heartily as the more affluent. We think that for their own sakes, and for the sake of the Institution, they should be interested in this good work; nor is it too late to take the proper measures. The advantages of the building proposed are thus stated in the circular letter, to which we have referred. "It might be named as an important benefit of such a building, that it would relieve most of these students from an expense |