further success than a promise from Mary Pratt that she will remain single till his return. The polemic maid gives him a Bible, in which she has duly marked every text she supposed could prove the deity of Christ. The Sea Lion of Oyster Point, Roswell's ship, is soon involved in fearful danger. A sudden and altogether unlooked-for change of current or of the wind saved her and all her crew from shipwreck and destruction. "God is with us!" exclaimed the young master; "blessed for ever be His holy name!" At this moment of excitement the devout exclamation of the master is echoed by one of the crew, "one Stimson, a Kennebunk man," with an "orthodox" addition,-"And that of His only and true Son!" The fervour with which the rough tar uttered his response produced on Roswell a deep impression. After a long series of adventures, the Sea Lion, with a cargo of seals, is chained fast, during the icy terrors of a Polar winter, by adamantine chains to the sealing island. During the long watches of this tedious winter, Mary Pratt's Bible is her lover's daily study and comfort; and the result is, his adoption of her "orthodox" creed. Through incredible difficulties and dangers he steers the poor remnant of his ship, which he had been enabled to save from being converted into fuel, safe to Oyster Point. He finds the Deacon dying. There is an amusing picture of the hopes and fears of the selfish relatives of this man as to the disposition of his property. Of course he leaves all to Mary Pratt, accompanied with an injunction on her to wed the brave young mariner; and as Roswell Gardiner now adds orthodoxy to his other merits, her uncle's dying injunction meets with her dutiful compliance.

Theologically viewed, Mr. Cooper's incidents and plot have been arranged with singular infelicity. It may be conceded that an ardent lover would naturally enough be impressed with the fervid zeal and deep convictions of the lady to whom he was attached. But to represent Gardiner, as Mr. Cooper does, adopting the perplexed confusion of a mysterious and profoundly metaphysical creed through the impression of an hour of intense danger, and when surrounded by the sublimest manifestations of the omnipotence of God, is a process strangely unnatural, and betokening little acquaintance with the workings of the human soul. In the hour of danger men forget all their differences, and feel, as they never felt before, their common brotherhood under the Heavenly Father. The song of gratitude bursting from the heart in the moment of unexpected deliverance, will be pitched in a key far above the janglings of conflicting creeds, and will swell in a common chorus of thanksgiving to that Omnipotent Mercy which all alike adore. Again, it is very true that the contemplation of Nature in its more awful scenes and terrific forms is well calculated to put infidelity to flight and awaken devotion. In the sacred books of the Jews there are sublime illustrations of the being and power of Jehovah, derived from the works and scenes of creation. Nature is again and again made to rebuke, by its sublime revelation of One Supreme Power, the folly of polytheism and the wickedness of idolatry. In the midst of Nature's grandeur, the work of men's hands and the imaginations of their hearts shrink into insignificance. The novelist, therefore, could scarcely have selected a school less favourable to the Trinitarian creed than the storm of the ocean or the glories of the firmament.

Again, Mr. Cooper has, in his ignorance of theological opinions and of the boundaries of religious sects, represented his heretic hero as believing the Atonement while rejecting the Trinity.

"I understand you to believe that such a being as Jesus of Nazareth did exist; that he was crucified for our redemption; and that the atonement was accepted and acceptable before God the Father."-I. 205.

"Were you to deny the merits of the atonement altogether, your position would be much stronger than it is in believing what you do."-I. 208.

He has got over the grand difficulty which commonly makes orthodoxy repugnant to men of thoughtful minds and gentle affections, and yet is told by Mary that he wants faith-as she considered faith alone could exist. In

the fervour of her argument the heroine is represented as saying to her lover -"My God is not your God; and what can there be of peace in a family where its two heads worship different Deities?”

Mr. Cooper was of course quite unaware of the very dangerous character of the weapon which he thus pressed into the service of his faith. We are willing to believe and admit that Unitarians and Trinitarians worship, though in different modes, the one true God; but if a Trinitarian advocate insists on it that they worship different Deities, he must be reminded that the Unitarian, at all events, worships the same Omnipotent Being, the Father, whom Jesus Christ worshiped. Does, then, the Trinitarian worship a different being from the God and Father of Jesus Christ?

Of course Mr. Cooper's hero puts no such difficulty in the way of the orthodox maid of Oyster Point. Our author seems to have felt that he was making him somewhat too accommodating and complaisantly feeble in the argument.

"I don't know how it is,' answered Roswell Gardiner, influenced, though unconvinced; but when I talk with you on this subject, Mary, I cannot do justice to my opinions, or to the manner in which I reason on them with my male friends and acquaintance.'"'—I. 204.

The following brief passage will suffice to shew how these lovers talked polemics:

"Do you class me with the idolaters and pagans of Palestine?' demanded Gardiner, reproachfully. You have said it, Roswell. It is not I, but yourself, who have thus classed you. You worship your Reason, instead of the one true and living God. This is idolatry of the worst character, since the idol is never scen by the devotee, and he does not know of its existence.""-I. 202.

Mr. Cooper will doubtless learn that he has himself departed very far from the true faith, as expounded by Athanasian divines, in representing as he does (I. 199) the Redeemer as not merely "the equal of the Father," but also "as a part of that Divine Being." Mr. Cooper becomes obnoxious to the Athanasian censure of "confounding the persons." That symbol declares, in direct opposition to the fanciful statement of our author, "There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost;" and again, "There is one Father, not three Fathers."

We fear the Sea Lion has forgotten the declaration of this mysterious symbol, which goes on to say, "He, therefore, that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity." But these profound and incomprehensible mysteries have perplexed and confounded wiser and clearer heads than those of our Sea Lion; and, with all his courage and seamanship, we fear he will not escape shipwreck of his faith if he venture a second time to steer his tiny craft in the stormy sea of polemical controversy.

The Salt of the Earth. A Sermon, preached on Wednesday, May 30, 1849, before the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, at its Annual Meeting, held in Essex-Street Chapel, London. By J. Scott Porter. 8vo. Pp. 26. E. T. Whitfield.

WE have already described and characterized this appropriate and excellent sermon. We now commend it to the thoughtful attention of the Unitarian public. As its best recommendation, we select the passage in which Mr. Porter remonstrates with those who, influenced by an amiable but morbid dread of Sectarianism, dissociate themselves from our organization and renounce the Unitarian name.

"What_man of independent mind would consent to take a part in labours, even for the most important plans of social improvement ever yet proposed,whether on behalf of temperance, education, slave-emancipation, or for whatever other end,-on the degrading condition of renouncing all zeal for what he holds to be religious truth, and even of discarding the simple adoption of its name? And how can any reasonable man lead himself to imagine that by so doing he

takes a sure way to advance its progress? Not for a moment questioning the sincerity of those who take this view, I must not conceal my own opinion, that if their course were generally adopted among us, our cause, instead of advancing, would retrograde, and that rapidly. An open avowal and advocacy are essential to the propagation of any doctrine, involving an important change in the minds of men. Without this, the salt' will truly have lost its savour; and thenceforth it becomes good for nothing.'

"Not such aid, not such defenders, do the present times demand. All around is life, activity, earnest enterprize. He must have looked with a superficial glance on society as it now presents itself, who cannot see that this is no time for timidity, lukewarmness, supineness."-P. 17.

The Prose Works of Henry Ware, Jun., D. D. Edited by the Rev. Chandler Robbins, Boston. London-Simms and M'Intyre. 8vo. Pp. 752. 1849. NOT only to every Unitarian Christian, but to every friend of practical religion, a cheap and carefully prepared edition of the works of Henry Ware, like this, ought to be a very acceptable announcement. Without possessing the genius of Channing or the impressiveness of Dewey, Henry Ware was a wise and truly good man, a sound thinker, and a clear and instructive writer. In the form of tracts his publications have enjoyed, and still enjoy, as many of our missionaries know, a wide circulation. In their collected form we trust they will find their way to every vestry library, and to a thousand hearths on both sides of the Atlantic. No volume could be more safely and advantageously put into the hands of a religious man whom we wished to convince that Unitarianism is a religion of holiness and love.

Spiritual Blindness and Social Disruption: a Sermon preached in EssexStreet Chapel, May 3, 1849, on behalf of the London Domestic Mission. By John Hamilton Thom. Pp. 27. London-Chapman.

IN the cheerful spirit of Christian philanthropy, Mr. Thom does not look without hope on the present age of the world, notwithstanding the prevailing spiritual blindness and the wide social disruption. He believes that mankind are awakening to their holiest work, and giving unquestionable signs of a brotherly solicitude for the spiritual welfare of the people. He sees in Christianity, spiritually received and practically applied, a cure for the deeply-seated evils of society. This sermon deserves a much larger notice than we are now able to give to it, being full of truly Christian thoughts beautifully expressed.

Christianity identified with Unitarianism: a Letter to the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Wriothesley Noel, M.A., occasioned by his Treatise entitled, "Christianity compared with Unitarianism." By Benjamin Mardon, M.A. THE first edition of this concise and excellently argued plea for Unitarianism was published by its learned author more than fourteen years ago. We are glad to see that he has now published a second and carefully revised edition of it, in a cheaper form. The noble step lately taken by Mr. Baptist Noel is calculated to enhance the importance and weight of his opinions; and if he is in any of his views seriously wrong, it is very desirable that his error should be pointed out. Mr. Mardon has done this with equal ability and candour; and should his pamphlet fall into the hands of any of Mr. Noel's disciples, it will assuredly give them much matter for their serious consideration. Appended to the Letter is a list of clergymen who have embraced Unitarian opinions. To this not short list Mr. Mardon may add Dr. Humphrey Primatt, the benevolent author of a "Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and the Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals," published in 1776. Of the Unitarianism of this divine we have lately met with some proofs, which at a convenient season we will lay before our readers.

Truth or Orthodoxy; to which must we sacrifice? A Friendly Address to the Wesleyan Methodist Preachers of Great Britain. By Henry Burgess. 8vo. Pp. 23. London-Green.

We know of Mr. Burgess nothing but what he has been led to say of himself in this Address. He describes himself as a minister of the gospel, in middle age, unconnected with the Wesleyan society, though indebted to its ministry and literature for some important mental and moral acquisitions, neither a Neologist nor a Latitudinarian, but a seeker for truth in the Holy Scriptures, and willing to go wherever they will lead him, but agreeing in most of the sentiments of the Wesleyan body. The object of his appeal is to persuade them to put aside Mr. Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, and his four volumes of Sermons, as the standard of their faith. He alleges that such a creed as theirs is both too "stringent" and too "extensive" to allow of freedom of thought in its ministers. He states his objections to the doctrinal standards of the Wesleyan Methodists under the following heads: 1. That they tend to produce a low estimate of the truth. 2. That there is a danger of their tampering with conscience. 3. That their influence is unfavourable to free biblical research. 4. That a fixed doctrinal standard keeps the pulpit in rear of the public mind. 5. That it begets persecution against those who can no longer receive it. 6. That by restricting truth and fettering conscience it grieves the Holy Spirit, &c.

It is with very great satisfaction that we listen to a voice, in the midst of an orthodox church, proclaiming arguments which, legitimately followed out, will allow of no creed whatever apart from the plain statements of the word of God; and declaring that Chillingworth's aphorism, The Bible alone is the religion of Protestants, should be universally applicable, and that no man should be required to do more than receive it as the standard of his faith to secure his admission into any church in Christendom.

Mr. Burgess adds, "If the Bible must be interpreted, let the Apostles' Creed be adopted as sufficient on the one hand to exclude mortal heresy, and yet so undeniably scriptural, that no believer in divine truth could reject it." He will probably upon reflection see the impropriety of any man's deciding for another what is "mortal heresy," and that his own arguments are as conclusive against the so-called Apostles' Creed, as against any other and more complicated symbol of faith.

We have said enough to shew our readers that, coming from an orthodox man, this is a very remarkable pamphlet. It will be an auspicious day for Christian charity when truths like these spontaneously grow within the pale of every Christian church.

The German Language, in one volume. By Falck Lebahn, Professor of the
German Language at the Robertsonian Institution. Second Edition.
London-Whittaker.

THIS well-arranged manual will be very serviceable to English students of the German tongue, especially to that happily increasing class who, though eager in the cultivation of their minds, are unable to purchase many or costly books. It contains, 1, a practical grammar, with exercises to every rule; 2, De la Motte Fouque's beautiful story of Undine in German, with explanatory notes of verbal difficulties; and, 3, a vocabulary of 4500 words which belong in common to the English and German languages. The Grammar rules are brief and precise, and the notes give all the help which an intelligent pupil requires.

Reverberations. London-Chapman.

IN this small volume of verses, the author assumes the character of a "poetic priest." There is good sense and generous feeling in some of the strains, but we cannot say that any of them reach to the elevation of poetry.

.

1

INTELLIGENCE.