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feel themselves conscientiously constrained to reject as unscriptural the two cardinal doctrines of his Church? We have some misgivings that such are not regarded by him as Christians, but as those, who, failing in "essentials," it is not possible should be received within even the true, catholic, comprehensive Church. The case, indeed, is not once alluded to, that we can discover, in the course of the volume. It is nowhere formally said that such believers are to be excluded, and, on the other hand, it is said that "all humble-hearted believers in Jesus" will be admitted. But, at the same time, and it is this that causes our doubt, the book of Common Prayer, which all of the true Comprehensive Church must alike worship by, is supposed to remain as it is. No hint is dropped, that its doctrine may suffer diminution or change, except by the vote of a majority of the Church. We must infer, therefore, that while this Church will enlarge itself to receive all who come under the category of "Orthodox Christians," it will contract itself on the approach of all who lie out of that definition. Its liturgy, remaining as it is, must necessarily act as a principle of exclusion. The Episcopal Church is not, therefore, and cannot be without further changes, a truly catholic, comprehensive Church. Let it reform its Liturgy, and bring it into harmony with the "Lord's Prayer," and the prayer of Jesus in the 14th chapter of St. John's Gospel, in which "all who profess and call themselves Christians can join, let it strike out its trinitarian ascriptions, let the litany be purged of its shocking, heathenish adjurations, let it expunge the Nicene Creed, and remodel its Baptismal forms-all which would not abridge it by the loss of a page, and the Episcopal Church would then indeed be liberal and comprehensive, a genuine catholic church. Till that is done, it will justly be charged as narrow and exclusive, repelling thousands who, for the sake of its otherwise "excellent liturgy," would gladly worship there, and compelling a still greater number of those who do worship there, to do so with discomfort and mental reservation.

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The author, in the course of his volume, speaks of "dissenters," in this country, inadvertently we suppose, as in any other than a philosophical sense the term is here wholly inapplicable. In our country, free of the incubus of an established Church, the Baptist or the Presbyterian is no otherwise a dissenter to the Episcopalian, than the Episcopalian is to the Presbyterian or the Baptist.

To those who wish to obtain a clear, and we suppose correct, view of the Episcopal Church as it is in this country, in respect to its government, ritual, and doctrine, we can recom

mend this little volume of Mr. Vail. It is written in an agreeable manner, and in a spirit of the utmost kindness toward all.

A Sermon, preached before the First Congregational Society in Burlington, Vt. By their Minister, GEORGE G. INGERSOLL, and published at their request. Burlington Chauncy Goodrich. 1841. 8vo. pp. 32.

THIS discourse, preached on the occasion of a State Fast, constitutes a very valuable addition to our religious tracts. It is much too valuable to perish, as too

many occasional discourses do, with the hearing, or the printing. It deserves a wide circulation, as perhaps the most popular argument on the subject of which it treats-The Death of Christ

that the press has sent forth. Not that it is deficient in other and higher qualities. If it is popular and striking in its form, it is not for that, any the less distinguished for comprehensiveness, for strength, and logical force. The friends of liberal Christianity have reason to be well satisfied with the manner in which the cause of the true faith is defended in this northern Diocese.

Mr. Ingersoll travels over a wide ground in his discourse, omitting hardly an argument or an idea of any value. He first states and describes the doctrine of the Atonement in the very words of its principal believers and defenders, following it up by a sketch of its history, and a philosophical account of its origin. He then shows, in several particulars, how it is in hostility to the conclusions of the best reason, and much more to the character of God, to the spirit and character of the Gospel. Next he looks into the foundations on which its advocates place it, and runs through the main Scripture arguments resorted to in its support, replying to them seriatim, and closes with a statement of what he conceives to be the true design of the Death of Christ. This is much in little; but there is no confusion or obscurity, everything is clear and intelligible, and the several parts well proportioned to each other, and the whole.

We give Mr. Ingersoll's account of the origin of the popular doctrine of the atonement.

"This doctrine owes its origin and continuance to the same unhappy principle, that has introduced but too many corruptions into Christianity that is, wrong views of the character of God. Before the coming of Christ, men made their own gods, and they made them like themselves. Even in that single people where only the true God was

known, He is represented as saying 'thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.' Men have retained since, but too much of the same disposition to fashion their God according to their own liking. The Pagan trembled before his god, and sought to win his favor or avert his anger. So he built his altar, and brought his sheaf, or slaughtered his victim; and as the flame ascended and the cloud of incense rolled, he felt happy in the thought, that he had secured the good will of his deity. He went to him, as among men the feeble go to the strong, with a gift in his hands to conciliate, to propitiate, to buy protection and kindness. He went to his god as the slave to his master, the subject to his king, and kneeled, and sung his song of praise, and offered his present, believing in his heart that his god would smile, even as the master and the king would smile. And this is a plain and rational account of the institution or custom of sacrifice. Precisely in the same way can we account for the doctrine we are considering. Christians were not called on to bring their first fruits, to pour out their wine and oil, or shed the blood of bulls and goats so the death of Christ was made a sacrifice. And since man, by his transgressions, was regarded as offending the only true God, the anger of that God was appeased and satisfaction made to his justice by the atonement of his well-beloved son. There is but too much melancholy evidence of the effect of heathenism over Christianity; and when it became the State religion of Rome's great empire, history tells us how sadly successful were the efforts to accommodate the Gospel to a pagan taste. The visiter at the great city, even in our day, plainly discovers the infusion and the influence, and tells a mournful tale of saints and festivals, which have changed the names, but kept the character, of heathen divinities and heathen revels. But alas! the influence over the spirit and doctrines of the Gospel was more subtile and less perceived; and many, who live at a distance from the showy ceremonies of a corrupted faith, are not aware that the doctrines they cherish are unhealthy grafts, and not the natural branches of the Tree of Life."- pp. 9, 10.

In arguing against the doctrine from the Character of God, Mr. Ingersoll thus eloquently and conclusively reasons.

"Our Father in Heaven-here is my answer to this doctrine. Our Father in Heaven. I ask each parent, for a moment, to imagine his child before him. That child has offended, but he, now, kneels to him for forgiveness. With streaming eyes and lifted hands, he says, Father forgive me. He weeps over his past disobedience, he promises amendment—nay, he says, take me on trial, and if I do not reform, then cast me out to die. What human parent would spurn from him a child like this? What human parent would say, I cannot forgive you; but if one of my long tried, dutiful, innocent children, will come and give his limbs to the fetters, his back to the scourge, and suffer the punishment which you deserve, then, I will forgive you and grant you my blessing. And now I ask, what child on earth would accept a parents' blessing on terms like these? What man, with the true feelings of a man, would see his brother groan, and bleed, and faint, because, in his affection, he was willing to endure it all to save him from his father's

curse? Shall we dare to imagine such a situation for our Heavenly Father? Is this the interpretation that Jesus would have us give of his own beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son? Must we say, as this doctrine teaches, there is no forgiveness with the Heavenly Father for his repentant child?"— p. 16.

We learn with satisfaction, since the above was written, that the Committee of the Unitarian Association have determined to issue this sermon of Mr. Ingersoll as one of their tracts, and that it is already in the press.

An Oration delivered at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 17th of June, 1841, in Commemoration of the Battle of Bunker Hill. By GEORGE E. ELLIS. Boston: W. Crosby & Co. 1841.

MR. ELLIS in a clear, flowing, rapid style has in this address held up before the youth of the present generation a glowing picture of the great battle of the revolution. No one who reads it can fail to carry away from its perusal a conception of the scenes of the 17th of June, hardly less distinct than if he had himself been an actor. As its narrative is founded chiefly on the now classical authority of Col. Swett some new particulars being added from other sources it may be taken, we suppose, to be as complete and accurate a history of the events of that day, as existing documents can furnish. Little remains to be supplied by any future researches. If battles must be fought, or rather if battles have been fought, we would by all means have their histories truly related, and errors, however long descended, corrected. One delusion in relation to this battle of Bunker Hill was partly dissipated by the publications drawn forth by the controversy that sprang up several years ago, which made Warren the commander, and hero of the day; - an error occasioned naturally enough by his high station as President of the Provincial Congress, taken in connexion with the fact of his being in the fight, by his death on the field of battle, and hardly less, by Trumbull's picture of the "Death of General Warren," and the engravings from it which have spread through the country. There are very few even at the present time, after all the investigations that have been had, who from these causes do not associate with the name of Warren the glory of the battle. Mr. Ellis takes pains to set this piece of history in its proper light. "Prescott," "he concludes with saying, was the Hero of the day; and wherever the tale is told, let him be its chieftain."

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The account of the battle is introduced by an equally well told story of the civil and political events which drew it on.

The value of Mr. Ellis's publication would have been much enhanced, if accompanied by a military map or chart of the ground, and the several positions of the opposing forces, copied from the map prefixed to Col. Swett's pamphlet and drawn upon stone, and it would have added but little to the cost of the pamphlet.

Names and Titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. By CHARLES SPEAR. Fourth Edition. Boston: B. B. Mussey, 1841.

THE volume before us consists of short essays or sermons, upon each of the names or titles applied to our Saviour in the Bible. Of these names or titles the author, by the exercise here and there of some ingenuity, discovers the large number of eighty. The remarks upon them are principally of a practical and devotional character, with criticisms upon the passages used as texts intermingled, drawn from approved authorities. The work has already reached a fourth edition; which seems to prove an adaptation to the wants of a large class of readers. The religious opinions of the author are those, we believe, of the Universalists. The thought and the language of the discourses are sometimes striking and vigorous, as in the following paragraph from the first essay in the volume, on the title of the Advocate.

"It has been supposed by many, that the Judge was angry with the sinner, and that the Advocate came to reconcile Him. Admitting this view of the character of God, we must see that He is wholly disqualified to judge the world. To illustrate: suppose we enter a court of justice, and discover the judge on the bench full of fury and wrath, anxious to condemn the criminal. Would not every one say that he was unfit for his station? It would appear still more awful if the judge should stand in the relation of father to the culprit! And it is in this relation that God stands to every transgressor. It follows, therefore, that the Father of spirits will inflict no punishment, that is not intended for the best good of the sinner."— p. 17.

'Christian Union; a Discourse delivered before the Unitarian Society at Trenton, in the house for worship at the “ Public Square," Jan. 10, 1841. By EDGAR BUCKINGHAM. Utica : John P. Bush, 1841. 8vo. pp. 19.

MR. BUCKINGHAM has given to the Christian Public, in this Sermon on Christian Union, a discourse of great beauty, both

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