of them would probably denounce it as another gospel.'But this is not the general character of the people of this country, nor of any sect or denomination amongst us. When we call to mind the manifest virtue and intelligence of the great body even of professed Exclusionists, we bear them witness, that, in their general habits and prevailing dispositions, they are sensible, practical, independent, and well-disposed. We cannot doubt, therefore, but that, as the miseries attendant on their system and its utter failure as a measure of policy are more and more exposed, they will be persuaded to reconsider the steps which they have taken, and return, as far as may be, to the liberal and comprehensive plan of worship and christian fellowship, recommended and practised by our fathers.

We would say to them, Brethren, you misunderstand us. We have deeply at heart a desire to save from decay and ruin the religious institutions of the country, because we believe them to be enjoined by God, and absolutely indispensable to public order, and the public conscience. We intreat you not to push your experiments so far as to bring into jeopardy the very existence of what used to be accounted one of the principal distinctions and privileges of New England,-her free, united and flourishing village churches. The Scriptures say, it is true, 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?' But your own commentators will tell you that this passage means, Can two walk together, except they first agree to walk together? and this is precisely what we wish you to do, in those places, especially, where two religious societies cannot possibly exist and flourish. Again, the Scriptures say, 'A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.' But your own commentators will tell you, that in the language of the New Testament heretic' does not mean, one who holds erroneous opinions, but one who is factious and schismatical in asserting and propagating his opinions, no matter though his opinions, in themselves considered, be not erroneous. According to the injunction of the apostle, therefore, instead of rejecting a brother for an honest difference in opinion, modestly held and maintained, you ought rather to reject the man who is factious and schismatical enough to propose the step. Of course, you do not go to church, that you may subscribe yourselves slaves, expecting to assent blindly and unconditionally to whatever a fallible man shall utter. Can it be, then, that you have not confidence enough in your own faith, to trust yourselves to

hear occasionally what can be said on the other side? Do you not know that he who dares not hear and inquire, lest it should make him a skeptic, is a skeptic already? If you are afraid of being thought to countenance false doctrines by being present where they are sometimes preached, make no secret of your dissent. Avow yourselves Calvinists; read your Calvinistic books; bring up your children in that faith; exert whatever influence your character or information may fairly give you, to bring over the whole society to your way of thinking;-only give us back, at least in our retired country villages, the holy and peaceful days of New England, when neighbours andfriends took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company.'

The duties incumbent on Liberal Christians, in this exigeney, are not less important, or less imperative. Where they are the majority, they will of course assert and exercise the rights of a majority, temperately and generously, but firmly. With the power in their own hands, they would, as friends of liberality, be idiots and traitors to submit to the impositions of those by whom this very liberality is denounced and spurned. Exclusionists, as a party, must show a disposition to worship with Liberal Christians on principles of a fair compromise, and to redeem the pledges given in such cases, before they can expect the latter to make any, even the smallest, concessions. Perhaps, however, they are the minority in a parish which respects neither their feelings nor their rights; they are excluded from the christian ordinances; they are not permitted to hear, even occasionally, the preachers whom they prefer; and the preachers whom they do hear, scruple not to bestow the most opprobrious epithets on their creed, and on every man of eminence who is known to hold and defend it. Under these provocations, too, if they are strong enough for the independent support of religious worship, they have a right, nay, it is their duty, to proceed immediately to establish a church of their own. But, in small towns and villages, this measure should be forborne until they have been driven to the utmost possible limit of christian endurance. It often happens that individuals of the greatest influence in an Exclusive parish are Unitarians, and are known to be so without suffering at all in the public estimation; and this influence they can exert, as opportunities offer, and in various ways, in recommending liberal principles and measures. But let them undertake permanently to build up in the town a

Unitarian society, and they will be immediately marked and shunned by many of their former friends; an opposition of interests, as well as of opinions, will arise; they will be hated, because they are feared, and every effort will be made to break down their influence, not only in religion, but in everything else. It is, moreover, desirable, in many respects, that a reform in religion should be silent and gradual, affecting communities as whole masses. This can take place, only where the leading and influential members of society continue mixed up with the rest, and retain their hold on the public sympathies in the great religious movements of the day.

We are no advocates for concealment, or for indefinite views; and we are not afraid, or ashamed, of the name which properly designates our views. Still, we should remember that our object is not to convert men to our party, but to our principles; and to our principles, not because they are ours, but because they are the truth. Unitarians have done more, and are doing more for the cause of truth, by promoting a real though gradual change for the better in the opinions of other sects, than by building up their own denomination. Their expositions of Calvinism, for example, have contributed, even among Calvinists themselves, to the avowed abandonment of many, and the virtual abandonment of still more, of the most offensive dogmas of the Genevan school. We do not measure the progress of Unitarianism, therefore, nor the good it is doing, by the number of Unitarian churches. Nay, a church which does not prosper, is a dead weight on the party to which it belongs,-a monument of its failure, and not of its success, bringing the cause into sharp collision with other interests, and discouraging all from connecting themselves in any way with a feeble, obnoxious, and discomfited opposition.

Some may think, perhaps, that if Unitarians continue to listen to Calvinistic preaching, they, or at least their families, will probably be won over to the prevailing errors. But is that

preaching, which could not keep them in Calvinism, likely to convert them back to it? If a large and respectable minority of Unitarians have grown up under Calvinistic preaching, what reason have we for supposing, that they may not, in good time, and under the same preaching, become the majority? So circumstanced, they will, of course, feel more disposed than others to avail themselves of the instruction and encouragement to be derived from Unitarian publications, and take care to circulate

these publications among their neighbours; and in this way the bad tendencies of the preaching will be in some measure counteracted, and its defects supplied. It may also allay our fears on this subject to remember, that more persons, at least in this country, have been made Unitarians by Calvinistic, than by Unitarian preaching; and, indeed, to strong and discriminating minds, what better refutation of Calvinism can there be, than a full and fair exposition of all that it inculcates and implies? Besides, what is the preaching of the pulpit, where people think for themselves, to the preaching of the Bible, and the preaching of nature, and the preaching of common sense? Let the minority pursue the course which we have pointed out, and the simple fact of their moderation and liberality will preach, and powerfully recommend, their views to the intelligent, dispassionate, and well-disposed. Admit, however, that under the circumstances which we are considering, the mass of the people may, in some cases, retain a little longer their old names and old associations, still we protest, as has been hinted before, against the assumption, that none are Unitarians but those who call themselves so, and join the Unitarian party. It should be known that there are Unitarians everywhere, of all denominations, and in all connexions. The distinctness with which party lines are sometimes drawn, makes their passage so much the more a terror to the weak and timid, so much the more an innovation to the prejudiced and opinionated, and so much the more a risk to the time-serving and worldly-minded. Paradoxical as it may seem, we cannot help believing, that, but for the existence of a Unitarian sect, there could be no obstacle among a free, intelligent, and inquisitive people like ours, to the rapid, and universal prevalence of Unitarianism itself.

We are aware how much we expect from Unitarian minorities in small towns, when we conjure them, wronged and insulted as they have been, not to separate. They may say, and say with truth, that it is a misery to hear doctrines preached, Sunday after Sunday, which they can neither believe as true, nor respect for the ingenuity with which they are defended, and which sometimes outrage their best feelings. They may also insist on the bad moral tendency of hearing such preaching, as it must lead them insensibly to regard the whole subject of religion with less respect. They may further urge, that they have always shown a willingness to compromise existing

difficulties, but that they have no notion of a compromise, in which one party concedes everything, and the other nothing. Finally, they can say, that they have been literally driven off, and throw back the whole responsibility for the present state of things, and the evils that follow from it, on the authors and abettors of the Exclusive System.-All this is true; but it does not prevent the distraction and ruin of our churches from being a great public calamity, an evil of incalculable amount and extent, which, by a noble sacrifice of private feelings and private interests, they can do much to avert. Let it not be said, that the community cannot reap any advantage from religious institutions, so long as they are used as the instruments of error and intolerance. It is a perilous problem to solve, how far religion must be corrupted, before it ceases to be a public blessing. Bad as some systems appear, and are in theory, we still believe that there is no form of Christianity, as actually understood and held among us, which is not greatly to be preferred for its influence on the public morals, to a general skepticism and indifference. We repeat, moreover, again and again, that if the course which has been recommended be adopted and persisted in by Liberal Christians, it will, in the end, approve itself as politic, even in a sectarian point of view, as it is generous and public-spirited. This is not a community to be blinded and shackled forever. Sooner or later a re-action will take place in favor of the friends of peace and order, and the churches which they have saved by their moderation, will be given them by an over-ruling Providence, as the reward of their forbearance and magnanimity.

ART. II. Professor Stuart's Remarks on an Article in the Christian Examiner, concerning the Meaning of the Expressions, Everlasting Punishment,' and 'Life Eternal,' in Matthew xxv. 46.-A Letter from the Writer of that Article.

I HAVE read, with much interest, Professor Stuart's Dissertation in the Spirit of the Pilgrims' for August 1829, on the meaning of phy in Hebrew, and day and avios, in scrip