tion of our country; but we have no evils which an Established Church would not have increased a hundred fold, and we have benefits which it would have destroyed. We have bigotry and fanaticism, it is true, enough and to spare; but we have no privileged bigotry we have no fanaticism with vested rights. If assumption urges its extravagant claims, it must make them good, unprotected in the free field of open struggle and under the broad glare of public opinion, an antisocial spirit retreats or expires. Where every man can claim a hearing on equal ground, each in self-defence learns to be moderate, for the justice that he claims, he knows he must concede. Although we have here, therefore, religious dissensions sadly to be lamented, they never proceed to the degree they do in England, in the disruption of all neighborly community and charity. We continually notice a spirit in the manner in which English sects and parties allude to each other, which seems little to imply a common country or a common faith. The English do not scruple much to paint other nations in their follies; we esteem the English too well to paint them in their factions.

We have no fear that religion cannot maintain itself. We have faith in human nature on this point, and this faith is justified by all that we learn in the moral history of man. Seeing that God has given immortal longings to the soul, and Christianity to satisfy them, we know that until these desires perish, the gospel cannot fail of the modest means it needs. We do not want the religion of a lordly brow, but of a lowly spirit; we want her to rebuke pride, and not to practise it; and we are unable to see why she should be overloaded with the wealth she must teach others to despise. The Gospel is diffused and supported among us; a sufficiency is furnished from willing hearts for the decencies of worship and the comfort of its ministers. The neat white church points with its spire to the skies from many a heaven-kissing hill; the Sabbath bell is heard awakening, with joyful sound, the quiet of our valleys; the village parsonage, embosomed in beauty and in peace, not too plain for simple tastes, and not too small for humble hospitality, testifies, everywhere, that he who ministers at the altar is not permitted to perish when from the altar; the pastor is not above his people nor below them; he is faithful to their spiritual necessities, and they are not unfaithful to his temporal wants; he does not seek for luxury, and he can seldom fail of contentment. As Americans, we permit no establishment to tax us,

To this prin

as Unitarians we permit no creed to enslave us. ciple we are eternally pledged, to this we trust to be eternally faithful. We close with the following extract which is impressive and to the purpose. Urging Unitarians to maintain inviolable the spirit of Christian liberty, Mr. Wicksteed observes : "This solemn duty devolves upon us. There is scarce another body of Christians in the world, would that it were not so, that stands upon this vantage ground; scarce another into whose spirit God has allowed to penetrate the light of this blessed truth. It sheds a halo of quiet repose and serenest confidence into our own bosoms. Why should it not shed the same into our brother's? Why not over the Christian world? We are persuaded that the supposition of God having attached damnation to the rejection or reception of any creed which churches have, however honestly, drawn up from what they considered the best sources, or to any doctrines which individual men have, however honestly, deduced to their own satisfaction from Scripture is one founded in mistake, and having no warranty in Holy Writ. And while we regard this supposition as the source of all our unchristian bickerings, animosities, and bigotry, and as inimical to the best interests of society and of religion, we regard no man professing it as our enemy, nor would we wish him to regard us as his. We sincerely believe there is no other remedy for the disquiet occasioned to the conscientious and the good, for the illiberality and narrowness which suck up and destroy the Christian kindness of the serious, than the diffusion of this glorious, liberalizing truth, under the protection of whose shade men may gather themselves in peace, and agree to differ, namely, that in every sect and every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is accepted of Him; that Jesus Christ came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

H.

ART. V.- Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia Petræa, a Journal of Travels in the year 1838. By E. ROBINSON and E. SMITH. Undertaken in reference to Biblical Geography. Drawn up from the original Diaries, with historical Illustrations. By EDWARD ROBINSON, D. D. With new Maps and Plans in five Sheets. 3 vols. 8vo. pp. 571, 679, 721. Boston: Crocker and Brewster. 1841.

In looking over a catalogue of American publications which are advertised as for sale by a book firm in London, we have just for the first time realized how faithfully the former colonies of Great Britain are repaying to her certain literary obligations. It is but lately that we read a statement made on good authority to the effect, that theological and biblical learning and science were at present farther advanced in this country than in England. The catalogue before us goes far to verify the statement, as it contains the titles and commendatory notices of many translations and original works on Theology by American writers. Among these works, Professor Robinson's Hebrew and English Lexicon is in well nigh universal use in all British universities and seminaries, from Aberdeen to Oxford, and has been everywhere received with unqualified approbation. To his already high claims upon our gratitude and respect he has now added others, which can scarcely be overestimated in issuing from the press of England, Germany, and America, the important work whose title we have given above. Of course we are unequal to the task of criticising this work, but being impressed with its high value, we would introduce it to our readers. Professor Robinson had cherished for more than twenty years a part of -the purpose which he has here fulfilled, but the success of his undertaking far exceeds his expectations. With the deep and enthusiastic interest in the Holy Land, implanted by an education under the best influences of New England institutions, long and deep study of the Sacred Scriptures, had excited in him an intense desire to see with his own eyes the places which are consecrated by the Jewish and Christian revelations. His biblical researches had introduced him to a knowledge of all that had been written by former travellers, and made him familiar with the difficulties attending the subjects upon which further information is desired. His main object was to prepare a work upon biblical geography; but he did not expect to make any

discoveries. He laments that he was not better provided with the proper instruments for exact observation. The work before us appears in the form of a diary, but, generally, upon important questions and subjects, the information attained at different times is brought together in one view. A personal narrative, embracing all the details and incidents of travel and adventure, is interwoven with the more solid matter of the volumes, and thus imparts lively interest to many pages which otherwise could scarcely fail to be tedious. "As here presented to the public, these volumes may therefore be said to exhibit an historical review of the Sacred Geography of Palestine, since the times of the New Testament, pointing out, under each place described, how far, and in what period it has hitherto been known." This applies to nearly the whole of Palestine west of the Jordan, comprehending of course all the scenes in Egypt which are associated with Jewish History, and a survey of which will illustrate the Scriptures.

An interesting introductory section records the particulars of the voyage across the Atlantic, of a visit to England and Germany, and then takes up his line of travel through Austria and Greece to Egypt. The arrangements for the journey are made with his companion, and good hopes seem to have cheered the stupendous undertaking before them. They knew they were soon to leave behind them most of the necessaries and conveniences of European travel, to carry their beds and their inns, their kitchens and their larders, and to change some long established habits for new customs which never would become familiar or agreeable.

Professor Robinson's companion throughout his journeys was the Rev. Eli Smith, his former pupil at Andover, and then and now, American missionary at Beirut. His residence at that station and his excursions over various portions of the east, had made him thoroughly acquainted with the mode of travel, and he had besides mastered the Arabic language, a qualification for Oriental researches which is second to no other. For the larger part of their journeys, the Rev. James Adger, of Charleston, South Carolina, was their companion. As their routes in their different excursions led them through the territory of various tribes of the Arabs, they were obliged, as a general rule, to change their guides and their attendants as the occasion demanded, the common law of the Bedouins, recognising the right of guidance through the different regions as belonging to its inhabitants.

Not unfrequently the head or Sheikh of the tribe was for the time being their attendant. The firmân, or passport of Mohammed Aly, was their chief security against violence and imposition. His authority is sternly exercised, and almost implicitly obeyed.

In some preliminary excursions around Alexandria and Cairo, Dr. Robinson examined the pyramids, sculptures, tombs, and mummy pits, and gives us information concerning them, which, if it embrace nothing new, may be depended upon for its exactness. All the requisite preparations for a journey of some thirty days through the desert being made, the travellers set forth on Monday, March 12, 1838, from Cairo, for Suez. We are pleased to notice in the very beginning of the narrative a characteristic which frequently appears throughout its whole length, we mean its strict veracity, its simple statement of the truth without any tendency to exaggeration for the sake of effect. Many of the bugbears, which the representations of former travellers have accumulated around a journey in the east, vanish before the common sense and honesty of the writer before us. There are here no horrific representations of danger to be apprehended from climate, beasts, or human beings. For appearance sake they took with them a pair of old muskets and pistols, with no intention of putting them to actual use; but they did not think it necessary to wear an Oriental dress, or a long beard; they did not find the plague in all directions, nor make any narrow escapes from crocodile's jaws; they discovered that the loud talking and the flourishes of the Arabs did not portend quarrel or murder, and they felt as safe in their journeys as if they were upon the best worn track of European travel. Their language and conduct in all these respects is a severe rebuke upon the descriptions of many preceding travellers, who would have us believe it wonderful that they have escaped with their lives from the various deadly dangers which surrounded them.

The following paragraphs present a brief and lively view of the travellers as they are about to start upon their wilderness march:

"The preparations for a journey of some thirty days through the desert occupied a good deal of time. A tent was to be purchased and fitted up; water-skins were to be procured and kept full of water, which was to be changed every day in order to extract the strong taste of the leather; provisions were to be laid in for a whole month, as we could hope to obtain little either