intolerance on the part of the Orthodox of this Commonwealth, which produced at the time so much excitement, or called forth so loud an expression of indignation, as their refusal, a few years ago, to continue the practice of allowing the Liberal members of the Convention their turn in selecting the preacher. The measure was resisted by the minority then, and has been resisted by them from that time to the present; and, as a proof how entirely the moral sense of the community has gone along with them in this resistance, it is remarkable, that a charity, which used to be favored above all others, has sunk, since the change of policy above referred to, and because of that change, into comparative insignificance. One would think it enough that the "Widows' Fund," for Dr. Reed is right in what he says of the nature and objects of the Convention, has been sacrificed to the narrow views of a few leading men in the majority: it is, we humbly conceive, a little too bad to make the Unitarians accessory in any way to this betrayal of a sacred trust.

As a specimen of the accuracy of the information given to these gentlemen as regards the statistics of Unitarianism, we copy their report of the relative strength of the different religious denominations in Plymouth.

"As you will have a strong interest in this place, I will aid your conceptions of it by briefly stating, that the township has a population of 5,400 persons. There are four orthodox Congregational places, having 1,200 hearers, and 400 communicants; there is one Baptist, having about 350 hearers and 100 communicants; there are one Unitarian and one Universalist, having together about 600 hearers and about 40 communicants." Vol. 1. pp. 71, 72.

Now it happens that the Unitarian society alone, in this ancient town, is larger than any two of the Orthodox societies, put together, and has a church of a hundred communicants. There is besides a Christian society, not noticed in the account, numbering a hundred communicants more, all of whom are understood to be Unitarians. The Unitarian and Universalist societies, instead of numbering together, as Dr. Reed would, have it, just half as many as the Orthodox Congregationalists, actually contain, it is said, considerably more than half the legal voters in the town. Again we are told ;

"The Unitarians have, in the United States, 170 religious societies, and 150 ministers. In Massachusetts, they have about 130 societies, and 110 ministers. In Boston, which is their VOL. XIX. -3D S. VOL. I. NO. II.

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stronghold, they have twelve societies, and seventeen clergy, including two who are assistants, and three at large. With the exception of Boston, the congregations are very small; in that city, they average about 600, and out of it, about 100. Their communicants are still lower, in comparison with other denominations." Vol. 1. p. 62.

Did not Dr. Reed know, that the effect of this paragraph would be entirely to mislead his readers in regard to the amount of opposition made, in this country, to the doctrine of the Trinity? Has he yet to learn that the Christians, as they are called, with their seven or eight hundred congregations, are anti-Trinitarians; that the Universalists, another powerful and growing sect, are also generally anti-Trinitarians; and that a large secession from the Quakers in the Middle States, and a still larger one from the Baptists in the Western States, are understood to be anti-Trinitarian? Besides, even in regard to the Unitarian Congregationalists in Massachusetts, it is notorious that some of the largest and most flourishing societies in the denomination are out of Boston. We have seen it stated on the best authority, that in the County of Worcester alone, which is wholly interior and almost wholly agricultural, there are twenty-one Unitarian societies, numbering, by satisfactory computation, six thousand stated worshippers in all; that is, two hundred and eighty-five to a congregation.

But what signifies it? for, according to Dr. Reed, the very name will soon be extinct.

"Everywhere," he says, "they [the Unitarians] are going down. They still retain what endowments they held; and in Boston, they have the wealth and fashion of the place about them; and they have the honor of being considered as the friends of the elegancies and literature of more refined life; but, as a sect, holding certain peculiarities which distinguish them from others, they are impotent indeed. Rich, but inefficient,' as it has been used by one of their zealous champions to characterize that portion of their body in the father-land, may be employed with equal significance here. Since they have avowed themselves, they have taken the field in their own defence. But, with perhaps a decided superiority in letters and in adroitness, they have been beaten from every post. - Vol. 11. p. 68.

So much for the swagger of the polemic. And now for his proofs. He is so good as to inform us, that,

"When this system was in its power and progress, it managed to get the Massachusetts Bible Society under its control. The

consequence was, that the Orthodox quietly retired, and formed a society for themselves. The original society, in the hands of the Unitarians, actually disposed, last year, of twenty-one Bibles! " - Vol. 11. p. 69.

We confess ourselves to be 'utterly at a loss to conjecture what is aimed at in this strange fabrication, or what could possibly have given rise to it. The government of the Massachusetts Bible Society is now, as it always has been, in the hands of Trinitarians and Unitarians, without regard to sectarian distinctions, and its activity during the year referred to was as great, we believe, as usual. The Unitarians never managed, nor attempted to get the Society under their control; neither have the Orthodox quietly retired, and formed a society for themselves; furthermore it appears from the Annual Report made May 26th, 1834, that the Society, in the year preceding, instead of limiting its operations to the paltry charity mentioned above, had distributed no less than two thousand eight hunded and twenty-five Bibles and Testaments. On our consciences, we are sometimes tempted to suspect the worthy deputy of being a wag.

But enough of this; and we should have said still less, had we not supposed that the book might be appealed to in some places as an authority in these matters. After giving us the "facts of the case," as we have seen, Dr. Reed condescends to favor us with what he calls "the philosophy" of the Unitarian defection; by which it appears, if we understand him right, that the old "halfway covenant" has been the principal agent in working all this mischief. We are so dull, however, as not to be able to perceive, even on his own showing, how a device intended merely to secure the rite of baptism to the children of non-communicants could do much toward introducing worldliness into the church itself; or, even if it could, how it was likely to give to that worldliness the form of Unitarianism. Accordingly we must think that the Doctor, notwithstanding his very luminous and satisfactory exposition of the whole matter, has still left the rise and early history of Unitarianism in this city and its vicinity a little in the dark; and, this being the case, we must go back to the old theory for explaining the phenomenon. The promulgation of the system in question, and the general favor with which it has been received, and the ascendency it has attained in this neighbourhood are sufficiently accounted for, when it is recollected, that from the

beginning the churches have been less fettered here, than anywhere else, either by creeds, forms, or ecclesiastical judicatories, and that here too, more than anywhere else, the Scriptures have been anxiously studied, not with a view to make them accord with the popular theology, but to make the popular theology accord with them, — laymen also of intelligence and standing, as well as divines, taking part in the inquiry and giving to it not a little of its liberal tendency and tone.

Much account is made in the "Narrative," of the half a dozen Orthodox churches which have been built in Boston during the last fifteen years; but no notice is taken of the fact that in the same time four Unitarian churches have also been added to the former number, and that the whole were never perhaps so well filled as at the present moment. Dr. Reed should have known too, that the call for new Orthodox churches has not been owing in any case to the decline of Unitarianism in the city itself, nor even to any check in its progress here, but almost exclusively to the constant ingress. of strangers from the country who have come with Orthodox predilections. Nevertheless, as was intimated in the outset, we are willing to suppose that the Deputation have reported but what they heard in the circles in which they moved; nay more, it is but justice to add, that the palpable nature of some of the most offensive misstatements, and the ease and certainty of their detection, are good evidence for believing that they were honest blunders. ED.

NOTICES AND INTELLIGENCE.

The Western Messenger, devoted to Religion and Literature. First four Numbers, from July to October, 1835. - We welcome with pleasure this new periodical work, which has entered the same field of labor with our own. It is not confined merely to religious topics, but is attractive through the character of its miscellaneous articles. It comes like a fresh breeze from the West, and bears a grateful odor of the literature of that part of our country. Should it continue to support its present character, there are few periodical works among us which will better deserve or reward encouragement. A community of thought and literary feeling in the different parts of our republic is adapted to be one of the strongest

bonds of our union; and it is especially promoted by such publications as the present.

The Editors say:

"A primary object of this work is to set forth and defend Unitarian views of Christianity. Our religious opinions are to ourselves of the utmost importance, and we feel that we cannot value them too highly. We shall therefore explain and illustrate them, defend them earnestly, show that they rest on revelation, and that they are in all respects practical. This is a part of our work, and it seems to us important, because we believe that these views are not only true, but suited beyond all others, to promote a practical Christian life. We deem it important in another respect. We believe that there are many whose minds hesitate between believing and rejecting Christianity, whose doubts would yield to a thoughtful faith, if the truth were presented in its original and divine simplicity. For it seems to us, that the exaggerated reports of infidelity in the West, have been founded not so much on the rejection of Christianity itself, as on the rejection of creeds, (i. e. the opinions of men about Christianity,)—which have been presented in its stead, and considered identical with it.” — p. 1.

The circumstances under which this publication appears are such as are likely to give it a peculiar and agreeable character, and to procure it circulation where it may do much good, though they are viewed under another aspect in the passage in which they are mentioned.

"The distance at which the Editors live apart is a disadvantage, which will, to some degree, affect this magazine. We are stationed at different points in an immense territory. From Buffalo to St. Louis, is more than twelve hundred miles; and from Cincinnati to Louisville, the two points nearest together, is a day's journey. Of course we can have little personal intercourse together, and absolutely no concert in regard to the articles which we prepare for the successive numbers of the Messenger. It must, therefore, sometimes happen that the same Number will contain two articles on the same subject, and perhaps different, or even contradictory opinions will be found in them. No one of us is appointed censor over the rest, or is responsible for any thing but what he himself writes. If any person, therefore, looks for unity or perfect consistency in our magazine, he will be disappointed. Ă book chiefly prepared by several persons, without concerted action, must be, in some degree, desultory. We flatter ourselves, however, that we are not the less likely, on this account, to arrive at truth, or to preserve in their purity the principles which we advocate." —pp. 2, 3.

The very next article to that which we have quoted, affords proof how much such a work is wanted, and of how much value it may be. We refer to a review of the noted Dr. Beecher's " Plea for the West." It is time that publications of this sort should not be suffered to run their course of mischief unchecked. We have been particularly struck with one passage quoted from it in the review.