1848.] Unsettled Ministers. 201 ence of those who ought to do the work. At this moment, there is probably not a city or large town throughout our land where an able Unitarian preacher would not find a respectful and attentive hearing,—not one where he would not find persons who, dissatisfied with the common forms of Christianity, would receive with eagerness the views which Unitarianism affords of God as the Father, and Christ as the Brother, no less than the Redeemer, of the human race. Recently, too, Unitarianism has more than ever developed its character as the friend of peace, of liberty, of good order, and of education. While we lament or censure the moral evils that exist in the southern and western portions of our country, shall we do nothing for their correction? Or can we act for that purpose more efficiently than by furnishing them with that religious system which more distinctly than all others presents Christianity as identical with pure and elevated morality, — the system which restores the principles of the love of God and man to the place which the Saviour assigned to them? We know it is sometimes said, that the supply of Unitarian preachers is equal, or more than equal, to the demand. What is the meaning of this assertion? Are our parishes, not only our large and eligible, but our smaller and poorer ones, always supplied with regular preaching? Is there a ministry at large in every town which possesses the population to which that ministry is adapted? Is every city of the West and of the South supplied with a resident Unitarian preacher? Are Asia, Africa, and the savage portions of our own continent dotted with our missionary stations? By no means. The assertion can be true in scarce any other sense than this, that the supply is more than equal to the demand of Boston and its vicinity. "But," it will be replied, "are there not always a number of excellent men and good preachers waiting for employment?" We doubt as to the number. There are several who have constant, or nearly constant employment, without being permanently settled; being engaged by the week, or month, or year. There are generally more or less, also, who, having recently dissolved their connection with one parish, will soon be settled over another. There is another class of those who, possessing some pecuniary means independent of their profession, prefer to await the chances of settlement in some place altogether agreeable to them, rather than to establish themselves at once under circumstances less adapted to their taste. There probably are some, too, as in other professions, who, though good and able men, are better adapted for some other walk in life than for that which they have chosen. When all these are struck from the list, the number of unsettled ministers among us will be found, we apprehend, to be very small. Were the annual supply of Unitarian preachers doubled, it is probable that a demand, now silent from the utter hopelessness of the case, would be heard. Some would find their way to the cities and large towns of the South and West, and establish there permanent societies. Others would make such arrangements as are common in other denominations, giving their labor in turn to two or three villages, and receiving a part of their compensation from each. Some, perhaps, would turn their attention to foreign lands. India, Egypt, Algeria, the Turkish Empire, China, all offer at present a safe residence to the missionary, and the most interesting opportunities of testing the efficacy of simple Christianity for the conversion of the Mohammedan or the heathen. Nor do we think so poorly of the liberality of our men of wealth as to doubt that the means of support would be promptly afforded to able and devoted men who should select such fields of labor. - We have spoken freely of the demands and duties of the Unitarian denomination. It seems to be thought by some among us that any language of this kind implies a want of charity to others, that it is only in a spirit of opposition to other Christians that we can do any thing in the cause of our own opinions. We beseech such of our friends not to judge us more harshly than they do others, whose opinions differ more widely from their own. We will suppose a growing village at the West, already supplied with a flourishing Presbyterian church, and with regular and well-attended Methodist preaching. A number of persons, however, prefer to worship as Baptists; some of them from conscientious attachment to the opinions of that sect, others because their early associations were connected with it. They come together accordingly; send for a Baptist minister to address them; withdraw their support from the Presbyterian and Methodist societies, not from any ill feeling, but because they are now ready to form one of their own. Who blames them or wonders at their conduct? The probability is, that 1848.] Demand for Liberal Preaching. 203 their fellow-Christians of the two older churches aid them with money and labor in the erection of their new edifice. The Baptists in other places hear with pleasure of the establishment of the new society, not as a triumph over Presbyterianism or Methodism, but simply as a gain to the cause of Christ in their branch of his service. But if, instead of Baptists, there are a few Unitarians in the village, it seems to be thought by many, almost by themselves, that they are guilty of schism and uncharitableness, if they attempt to organize a society of their own, until absolutely driven out of those which already exist. They cannot act on their preference for the theology of Cambridge without being thought "sectarian" and "illiberal." Yet the Baptist would willingly be received at the Presbyterian or Methodist communion-table, the scruple, if any, being on his own part alone; while the Unitarian would be either not received at all, or received because the controversy respecting his opinions had not reached that vicinity. We would respectfully ask those among our brethren who think it illiberal to spread Unitarianism, How else than by disseminating our own opinions can we do our duty to the cause of Christ? The world is to be Christianized; thousands in our own country need to have Christianity preached to them; and the command, from Scripture and from reason, to supply their want, comes to us as much as to our Orthodox, or Baptist, or Episcopalian brethren. Shall we leave our part unperformed? If not, how can we discharge it, but by preaching what we believe to be the truth? If it is said, that we can let controverted topics alone, we reply, that they are generally let alone by Unitarian preachers. It is our very silence respecting them that marks our Unitarianism. We must preach as believers in the personal unity of God, or not at all. We must preach Unitarian Christianity, or leave unperformed the duty of preaching the Gospel, so far as it devolves on us. And there is a greater necessity for our performance of this duty, from the fact, that throughout the country there are many who must have the Gospel from us, or not at all. There are individuals of Unitarian sentiments scattered throughout the land. There are still more, who, though not with us in name, and perhaps unacquainted with the history or even the existence of our denomination, are yet from various causes so averse to the popular representations of relig ion, that they cannot be brought to receive Christianity through such means. They are either deists, or if they believe in the Christian religion, it is with a despair of understanding the truth respecting it, and a feeling that they cannot unite with any of the dominant sects. Such men are to be found among the most thoughtful members of the community. They may be much to blame for not availing themselves of the light, imperfect as it seems to them, which other views of Christianity afford. Yet if we have a better light, or what they would deem a better one, shall we be blameless in withholding it from them? We have sometimes found with pleasure men of other denominations liberal enough to appreciate this argument, and to welcome the establishment of a Unitarian church in their vicinity from the belief that it might exert a beneficial influence on some whom their own religious ministrations could not attract. For the sake, then, of thousands throughout the country, who will have no access to Christianity except through our labors, it is our duty to preach the Gospel; and to preach it in the form which we believe to be true. We call, then, on Unitarian young men to do their part for the cause of Christ. It is still his cause, though the circumstances of the age are such, that we cannot, without what appears to us unfaithfulness to the truth, lay aside the distinctive title which we bear. Disowned as we are by our fellowChristians, it is idle for us to ignore the fact that we are a distinct denomination; and if we must have a name, we cannot find one more logically expressive of our views, more unexceptionable in regard to others, or more honorable in its past history, than that of Unitarians. But though a sect, we still are servants of Christ, we still are brethren and fellowlaborers with all his servants of every name. There is nothing in our position as believers in the personal unity of the Supreme Being, which should prevent us from doing justice to the merit of a fellow-Christian, whether he be laboring as a missionary in farther India, or wearing the tiara at Rome. We are to preach the truth, not in enmity to Calvinist or Romanist, but in enmity to error and sin. Heaven speed the day when all denominations shall feel and own the truth, that they are but different bands of laborers in the same great cause, free, indeed, to dissent from and to compare each other's peculiarities of faith, yet in the most important respects agreed, doing justice to each other's motives, care 1848.] The English Revolution. 205 ful for each other's feelings, and presenting a united opposition to the moral and spiritual evils that oppress mankind ! ART. IV. S. G. B. C. C. Smith. - THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION.* CERTAINLY there is no period of history to which the dispassionate critic, the philosophical thinker, the stern political economist, or the practical statesman of our day can turn with deeper interest and greater profit, than to the history of the struggles of English liberty from the death of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603, to the accession of William, Prince of Orange, in 1689,- a period denominated by Mr. Hallam "the great period of the seventeenth century.' Not only was it the era when Whiggism triumphed over Toryism, and the latter lost many of its most repulsive features, while the Whigs at length found themselves in the uncongenial atmosphere of a court, and the recipients of court favors that almost made them forget the cause in which they had triumphed, but it was emphatically the age of great men and great deeds. To whatever part of Europe or to whatever department of literature we turn, we find the character of greatness stamped alike on the men and on the events. During this period, France produced its greatest generals, most powerful preachers, keenest satirists, noblest * 1. The Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England, with a Treatise on the Popular Progress in English History. By JOHN FORSTER of the Inner Temple. Edited by J. O. CHOULES. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1846. 8vo. pp. xliv. and 647. 2. The Protector: a Vindication. By J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ, D. D. New York: Robert Carter. 1847. 12mo. pp. 281. 3. Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham Castle and Town, Representative of the County of Nottingham in the Long Parliament, and of the Town of Nottingham in the First Parliament of Charles the Second, with Original Anecdotes of many of the most distinguished of his Contemporaries, and a Summary Review of Public Affairs: Written by his Widow Lucy, Daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower, etc. From the original Manuscript by the REV. JULIUS HUTCHINSON. To which is prefixed. The Life of Mrs. Hutchinson, written hy herself. Fifth Edition. To which is now first added, An Account of the Siege of Lathom House, defended by the Countess of Derby against Sir Thomas Fairfax. London: Henry G. Bohn. 1846. 16mo. pp. xx. and 523. 4. History of the Counter-Revolution in England, for the Reestablishment of Popery, under Charles II. and James II. By ARMAND CARREL. History of the Reign of James II. By the RIGHT HON. C. J. Fox. London: David Bogue. 1846. 16mo. pp. xxii. and 458. |