public mind. He spoke in behalf of freedom, in behalf of truth, of righteousness, of education, of good order, and respect for law. He has done a good work by his strenuous and suc- cessful efforts in behalf of temperance, and made his name known as a friend of freedom by his Christian testimony against slavery, especially since his winter's residence in the regions of that shadow of death. His lectures and writings have also made glad the hearts of our common-school teachers, and his faithful and active services as a member of school-committees have been a public benefit in the towns which have enjoyed his presence. As a pastor, Mr. Whitman was very dear to his people. Early in his ministry he made the subject of parochial duty a matter of earnest thought, and held much consultation with several of the wisest fathers in the ministry upon the best mode of action. He was reremarkably kind to the sick and the afflicted, and very frank, plain-spoken and direct in the oversight of souls. For his usual parish visiting, his plan was, to become acquainted with his people, that he might adapt his preaching to their wants. But he conceived that acquaintance could never be gained by visiting each family successively, and not repeating the visit until the whole congregation had been seen. He therefore divided his people into sections, and became acquainted, by frequent visits, with one section at a time, while to the others he paid less attention. This course, said he, may produce a little unpleasant feeling in the section whose acquaintance is longest deferred, but not necessarily. And when the parish has thus been thoroughly examined by sections, and its character is known, the advantage to the preacher is great. The plan, however, presupposes the continuance of the ministry for several years. Mr. Whitman's preaching was marked by clearness, simplicity, directness and earnestness. His style was as transparent as his heart. No man could misunderstand his meaning, or doubt the purity of his motives. There was no attempt at display. He moved towards the attainment of his object with a steadiness and singleness of aim which shewed alike his good sense and his Christian fidelity. He forgot himself, and thought of his hearers and of his message. Like his brother, the Rev. Bernard Whitman, who was called before him to his reward, he never wrote to win admiration for himself, but preached and published his most important thoughts without a careful revision of the style, simply because they were important, and he could not delay their utterance for so light a consideration. This may have made his power less over a portion of his hearers, but with the majority it only gave additional weight to his words, by giving them a stronger conviction that he was in earnest. We say that he forgot himself and thought of his hearers; a sincere desire to do good being the prompter of his words. He spoke in love; he spoke also in humility, moved by faith and trust in God. There was no infidelity in his heart; Jesus was living with him; and his heart burned at the sound of the Saviour's voice. He had constant access unto God, and those who heard him felt that his word was from heaven spoken in the Father's name and by his authority. In the sermon preached after his decease by the Rev. Mr. Dorr, his fellow-labourer in the adjoining parish of East Lexington, we have an interesting memoir of his life, from which we draw our information as to his earlier days. The Rev. Jason Whitman, brother of the Rev. Nathaniel and the Rev. Bernard Whitman, was born in Bridgewater, Mass., April 30th, 1799, and was the youngest of the family. Feeble from infancy, he was also subject in childhood to diseases which left permanent affections of the throat and lungs. But in his case, as in a thousand others, though the outward man was perishing, yet the inward man was renewed day by day. Confined to the house more closely than other children, he also loved books better, and sought wisdom through them. His earlier schooling was at the Bridgewater Academy, then kept by Mr. David Reed; he afterwards studied with his brother, the Rev. Nathaniel Whitman, pastor of the First Congregational Society in Billerica, Mass., and at the age of nineteen went to the Academy in Exeter, N. H., where he continued three years previously to entering Harvard College. He was graduated at Cambridge in 1825, with high honours, and immediately took charge of the Academy in Billerica, which he taught for three years. His college vacations had been partly employed in school-teaching, and this was the provision which his friends wished him to pursue, thinking that the diseased state of the bronchial tubes would prevent him from speaking in public. But his heart was fixed to serve God in the sanctuary, and he steadily kept his determination to be an ambassador for Christ. He entered on the study of divinity at Cambridge, and in two years, being licensed by a ministerial association at Dover, Mass., began to preach. He was invited to settle in the town of Canton, Mass., but afterwards being called to Saco, Maine, he was ordained at the latter place in the year 1830. Here he remained three or four years, in a happy and successful ministry, when he was appointed General Secretary of the American Unitarian Association. For one year he filled this post acceptably to the Association and the public. At the urgent request of the Rev. Dr. Nichols, of Portland, Maine, he then yielded to pressing invitations, and was installed over a second Unitarian society in that place, in 1835. The engagement with them was for five years, and at the end of that time it was renewed for another period of five years. These ten years were spent in most active service, and were fruitful of the highest good. His ministry was not confined wholly to Portland, but, being obliged to spend one winter in a warmer climate, he went to Savannah, Ga., and there built himself a monument of enduring praise by his faithful labour among our brethren in that city. On the 30th of July, 1845, he was installed over the First Congregational Society in Lexington, Mass., where he remained till the close of his life. Being called to Saco, to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law, the Hon. John Fairfield, of the U. S. Senate, and finding that the burial could not take place for several days, he determined upon a visit to his numerous friends in Portland. It was from exposure to the cold upon this journey between Saco and Portland, that he contracted the disease which terminated his life, on the 25th of January, 1848. It seemed fit that he should end his days among the people to whom the best days of his strength had been given. Their attachment to him was fully manifested by their watchful care during his illness, and by the substantial proofs of kindness they have shewn, since his death, to those who were dearest to him in life.-Abridged from the Christian Examiner, May, 1848. February 25, aged 18, at St. Helier's, Jersey, CHARLES A. HARRIS, youngest son of the Rev. George Harris, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. To his parents, family and friends, the early death of this young man has been a source of deep affliction. He was of great promise. Truthful, affectionate, benevolent, he brightened Home by his sincerity, open-heartedness and innocent cheerfulness. Assiduous in the performance of every duty, those who really knew him valued him highly. His efforts in the Sunday-school were devoted and persevering, even to the detriment of his own health. Repeated attacks of illness injured the springs of life. Removal to a different climate was unavailing. The kindest attentions were paid to him and his afflicted relatives by the Christian minister at St. Helier's into whose family he was received, and his earthly remains rest amidst the lovely scenes in which he breathed his last. Funeral tributes, appropriate and affectionate, were paid to his memory at Jersey and Newcastle by the Rev. J. Taplin and the Rev. J. C. Meeke. MARRIAGES. 1848. July 25, at the Unitarian chapel, Dorchester, by Rev. J. L. Short, of Bridport, Miss CHARLOTTE NICHOLLS to Mr. JOSEPH WOODFORD, both of the former place. July 27, at Bishop Wearmouth, the Rev. GEORGE SMART, B.A., of Lincoln College, Oxford, and curate of Clareborough, Nottinghamshire, to MARY LUCY, eldest daughter of the late Laurence Jopson MARSHALL, Esq., of Upper Clapton, Middlesex. July 30, at the Unitarian chapel, Bridport, by Rev. Thomas Cooper, of Dorchester, Mr. GEORGE ANDERSON, of Pymore, to Miss EMMA RENDELL, of Bridport. August 16, at Upper Brook-Street chapel, Manchester, by Rev. J. J. Tayler, B. A., Mr. WILLIAM KEITH, of Higher Broughton, to ELIZABETH MARIA, daughter of the late Thomas WILSON, Esq., of Altrincham. MR. UNDERHILL, the able and energetic Secretary of the Hanserd Knollys Society, deserves the thanks of all who are interested in Puritan literature, and in the history of religious liberty, for the publication of the two works of Roger Williams which are named at the foot of our page. In rarity they approach near to Servetus's Christianismi Restitutio; of "The Bloudy Tenent" only six copies being known to exist, three in America and three in this country; while of the Reply to Mr. Cotton's Letter only two copies are known to exist in England, and the same number in America. Both are reprinted from the copies in the Bodleian Library. It is surprising that for more than two centuries a work of singular merit and varied interest like "The Bloudy Tenent" has been allowed to remain unnoticed, except by the occasional admiration of some solitary Nonconformist bookworm. Literary curiosity alone ought to have prompted a collection of the works of the founder of Rhode Island, the friend of Vane, the associate and fellow-student of Milton. That such a publication has not appeared in America, where of late so much attention has been paid to the early religious history of the States, is perhaps to be explained by the unwillingness of some of our friends in Boston (the seat of American literature) to throw the light of publicity on the violations of religious freedom committed by the founders of Massachusetts. The wrongs done to Roger Williams are the reproach of the first planters of the bay, and the persecution of such a man is an indelible stain on the reputation of the second pastor of the First Church at Boston, the celebrated John Cotton. The "Bloudy Tenent" is entitled to an almost reverential perusal, as one of the earliest,† as it is one of the ablest, of the works in defence The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience Discussed, and Mr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered. By Roger Williams. Edited for the Hanserd Knollys Society, by Edward Bean Underhill. 8vo. Pp. 439, London, 1848. †That there were some earlier defences of liberty of conscience is now well known. Three of them have been reprinted by the Hanserd Knollys Society, viz., Religion's Peace, or a Plea for Liberty of Conscience, by Leonard Busher, printed in 1614; Persecution for Religion Judged and Condemned, 1615; and A most Humble Supplication of many of the King's Majesty's most Loyal Subjects, ready to testify all Civil Obedience, &c., 1620. To the list of his predecessors in the defence of religious freedom must be added John Robinson, the father of the Independents, whose Justification of Separation from the Church of England was published in 1610; and the noted Arminian, John Goodwin, who published in the same year as "The Bloudy Tenent," A Reply of Two of the Brethren to A. S. (Dr. Adam Stewart); also, The Grand Imprudence of Men running the Hazard of Fighting against God. To 4 D VOL. IV. of the rights of conscience. If it followed Milton on "Prelatical Episcopacy" and his "Reason of Church Government," it preceded by several years his "Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes" and his "Treatise of True Religion." It anticipated by three years Bishop Jeremy Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying and Dr. John Owen's Discourse on Toleration, and gave a bolder utterance than is found in either of those works to the principle, that the rights of conscience are paramount and indefeasible, and that, as respects human laws, all religious opinions are entitled to equality. Bishop Taylor wrote his plea for Liberty when his own religious liberty as an Episcopalian was abridged; but he uttered no public remonstrance against the sad persecutions carried on by his own Church during the last five years of his life. Dr. John Owen's Toleration did not include Quakers or Socinians. One of the former sect he, during his Vice-chancellorship at Oxford, helped to punish even to death, and he "acquitted the zeale" of them that had put Servetus to death. Roger Williams, however, not only asserted the principle of religious liberty when his own was attacked, but maintained the principle throughout a long life, founded a State upon that principle, and, in the words of the historian of America, "stamped himself upon its rising institutions, in characters so deep, that the impress has remained to the present day, and can never be erased without the total destruction of the work."* The writings and the life of Roger Williams are inseparably blended, and a biographical sketch of the man is the best introduction to his works. The narrative may in part be told in his own language. On the 9th day of February, 1681, there sailed into the harbour of Boston, New England, a ship well known to the colonists, who had recently established themselves, under the protection of a Royal Charter, in the bay of Massachusetts. For some time had they been anxiously looking for the arrival of the "Lion's Whelp," which was to bring them not only news from "dear England," but a supply of many of the necessaries of life, the want of which had during that inclement winter introduced suffering and disease amongst the hardy Pilgrims. Since that ship first sailed into Boston, want and sickness had carried off nearly half of the early emigrants. Amongst the victims of the fever was Mr. Higginson, the minister of Salem. Doubly welcome was the good ship which had been for seventy days, after it left the port of Bristol, battling with the storms of the Atlantic. It brought a cargo of flour,† meal, beef, pork, cheese, seed-barley, rye, &c. But it also brought, what the earnest Puritans valued still more, a young minister, godly and zealous, having precious gifts." This was Roger Williams. 66 one or both of these works Williams refers in a note to his Chapter liii., stating that on the subject of toleration Mr. John Goodwin had excellently of late discoursed.-Bloudy Tenent, p. 135. *History of the United States, by the Hon. George Bancroft, I. 375. + Thomas Dudley, speaking of this cargo, values the wheat at 14s. a strike, "a higher price," he says, " than I ever tasted bread of before." There is preserved in the records of the Massachusetts Bay Company a list of more than forty articles to be sent to New England in 1629; the first is MINISTERS, and the last madder-seeds. He was about 32 years of age, robust in form and noble in appearance. He was accompanied by a beloved wife. Of his history up to this time there exist only doubtful traditions. It seems to be agreed that he was a native of Wales, and was born in 1599; but as to what part of the Principality had the honour of giving him birth, the tradition is silent. There existed in New England a faint tradition that he was a kinsman of Cromwell. If true, this would surely have appeared when Williams spoke of his intimacy with the Protector, and of " a close conference with Oliver." The existence of this intimacy is enough to account for the origin of the story. Tradition further assigns to him a patron in Sir Edward Coke. But there is little probability in this story, although it is not impossible. The connections of the Chief Justice lay not in the Principality, but in Norfolk, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. The story is, that Coke observed Roger Williams carefully noting down the sermon at some church, and was induced to ask for a sight of his notes, the ability of which so much impressed him, that he took the youth under his protection and sent him to Oxford to study at the University. Against this story are the facts, that Cambridge, not Oxford, was Coke's alma mater, and that Anthony A. Wood, speaking of Williams, says, " Of what university the said Williams was, if of any, I know not.' Wood gratifies the High-church spirit which seems to be the genius loci of Oxford, by adding-" or whether a real fanatic or Jesuit." Had Williams studied at Oxford, he would not have been undistinguished; indeed, the patronage of the Chief Justice would of itself have secured a record of his studentship. The language which Roger Williams in after-life used concerning the Universities does not decide the question. "Peace. The churches, say they, much depend upon the schools. "Truth. I honour schools for tongues and arts; but the institution of Europe's Universities, devoting persons (as is said) for scholars in a monastical way, forbidding marriage and labour too, I hold as far from the mind of Jesus Christ as it is from propagating his name and worship. "We count the Universities the fountains, the seminaries, or seed-plots of all piety; but have not those fountains ever sent what streams the times have liked? and even changed their taste and colour to the prince's eye and palate? "For any depending of the church of Christ upon such schools, I find not a tittle in the Testament of Christ Jesus."-Bloudy Tenent, Ch. cvii. Afterwards, speaking of the possibility of God's restoring to the church the gifts of tongues and prophesy, he adds, "If it be not his holy pleasure so to do, but that his people with daily study and labour must dig to come at the original fountains, God's people have many ways, besides the Universities, lazy and monkish, to attain to an excellent measure of the knowledge of those tongues. That most despised while living, and now much honoured Mr. Ainsworth, had scarce his peer amongst a thousand academians for the Scripture originals, and yet he scarce set foot within a college walls." This is scarcely like the sentiment of one who had studied at Oxford. However obtained, it is evident he had enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education. He himself records his early spiritual tendencies. "From my childhood, the Father of lights and mercies touched my soul with a love to himself, to his only-begotten, the true Lord Jesus, to his holy Scriptures." Whether he ever devoted himself to the |