that he has lately become, with his excellent friend and colleague Mr. Tayler, joint minister of the Portland-Street congregation, which was established by the late Mr. Agar as a Unitarian congregation, and which cannot be regarded as an offshoot of the old Presbyterian stock. Are we then to conclude that PortlandStreet is no longer a Unitarian church? We have nothing to do with any arrangements which have taken place between Mr. Martineau and his congregation, and we have asked the question above merely because we think the words quoted are not to be interpreted in what appears to be their meaning. Taking them in their ordinary signification, we should conclude that the respected minister of Portland-Street chapel was not precluded from prayers and sermons inconsistent with Unitarianism,-that he might use a Trinitarian prayer or preach a Trinitarian sermon. This we cannot believe to be his meaning; and we should gladly and gratefully receive such an explanation as would shew that Mr. Martineau's words were intended to express something different from what they seem to us to import. We are encouraged to believe that such explanation may be given, because in the early part of the same letter it is admitted that every church must agree in some things which form a bond of union among them.

We cannot but deeply regret the state of things among the Unitarians, believing that infidelity is making rapid advances among the educated classes of the country; that Unitarianism alone affords a chance of stopping its progress; and that the rejection of the miraculous part of the Gospels and indifference to religious doctrines are fitted to do incalculable injury to Unitarianism and to Christianity.

POSTSCRIPT BY THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN REFORMER.

L.

As the letter of our respected correspondent "L." (to whom the readers of this Magazine have been indebted on more occasions than one for sound and liberal counsel) was written before Mr. Martineau's "Second Letter," designed to explain the first, had come into his hands, we think it just to Mr. Martineau to quote one or two passages which intimate that he is a believer in the doctrine of the Divine Unity, however strongly he dislikes the name "Unitarian,” and whatever may be his estimate of Unitarian literature, plans of organization, &c. &c. "I did not dream of 'disparaging' the doctrine of the Divine Unity, in which I myself believe," &c. (p. 22). "I have never expressed disapproval of the individual 'fixing his creed.'. My protest is against a church fixing its creed..... I know well that to believe a thing true is to believe it immutable; that earnest conviction naturally excludes all suspicion of possible change, and carries in it a confidence of spreading to other minds, and attaining universal recognition. Within the limits of his proper rights, I would have every man surrender himself freely to these impressions, utter them, and act upon them" (p. 27). On the relative importance of the doctrine of the Divine Unity and of some other Christian truths, our views and Mr. Martineau's have, we fear, little in common.

....

THE ULSTER REVIVAL OF 1859.

FROM the subjoined list of publications,*-though it embraces none but those which have emanated from evangelical sources, and even of them includes but a selection,-it will be seen that a great deal has been printed on the subject of the "Revival movement" which, during the last summer and autumn, went

1. Revivals in Ireland: Facts, Documents and Correspondence. By James William Massie, D.D., LL.D., Secretary to the Irish Evangelical Society. London-Snow. Pp. 68, 8vo.

2. History and Prominent Characteristics of the present Revival in Ballymena and its Neighbourhood. By the Rev. S. J. Moore, of Ballymena. Belfast. Pp. 36, 12mo.

3. The Revival at Ahoghill; its Narrative and Nature. By the Rev. D. Adams, Ahoghill. Belfast. Pp. 30, 8vo.

4. The Revival Movement in Lisburn: the "Strikings-down" and the "Marks" vindicated, as the Pure and Genuine Work of the Lord. By Alex. M'Cann. Belfast. Pp. 64, 8vo.

5. Revivalism: Is it of God or of the Devil? With Observations on the "Sleeping Cases." (3rd Thousand.) Belfast. Pp. 8, 8vo.

6. The Revival: a Weekly Record of Events connected with the present Revival of Religion. London-Morgan and Chase. (Each No. contains 8 pages, sm. 4to.)

7. Thoughts on the Revival of 1859: a Sermon. D.D. Belfast. Pp. 12, 8vo.

By the Rev. James Morgan,

8. Brief Narrative of a Visit to the North of Ireland during the Awakening. By H. C. Binns. London. Pp. 15, 12mo.

9. Bodily Effects of Religious Excitement. (Reprinted from the Princeton Review.) Armagh. Pp. 23, 12mo.

10. Revivalism Reviewed. By the Rev. W. M'Ilwaine, A.M., Incumbent of St. George's Church, Belfast. Pp. 16, 8vo.

11. The Work and Counter-work: or the Religious Revival in Belfast; with an Explanation of the Physical Phenomena. By Edward A. Stopford, Arch. deacon of Meath. Dublin. Pp. 92, 8vo.

12. The Evidences of the Work of the Holy Spirit: a Sermon, preached in St. Stephen's Church, Dublin. By George Salmon, D.D., F.T.C.D. With an Appendix. Dublin. Pp. 57, 8vo.

13. God's Work and Satan's Counter-works: a Sermon, preached in Killileagh Church. By the Rev. Edward Hincks, D.D. (2nd Ed.) Belfast. Pp. 16, 8vo. 14. The Ulster Revival; a Paper read before the Evangelical Alliance, Sept. 1859. By the Rev. Charles Seaver, Incumbent of St. John's, Belfast. Pp. 20, 8vo. 15. The Ulster Revival and its Physiological Accidents; a Paper read before the Evangelical Alliance, Sept. 1859. By the Rev. James M'Cosh, LL.D., Author of the Method of the Divine Government. Belfast. Pp. 15, 8vo.

16. Revivals:-"Covet earnestly the Best Gifts:" a Sermon, preached in Portadown Church. By Henry Bryan Carter, Curate of Clon-feacle. Belfast. Pp. 12, 12mo.

17. Words of Caution and Counsel on the present Religious Revival. By Thomas M'Neece, D.D., Rector of Arboe, &c. &c. Dublin. Pp. 23, 8vo. 18. Revivalism. By the Rev. Jer. Bowen, B.A. London-Rivingtons. Pp. 22, 8vo.

19. Another Stone in the Temple. Belfast. Pp. 4, 8vo.

20. An Impartial View of the Revival in Ireland. By the Rev. Francis King, A.B., Chaplain of St. Patrick's, Newry. Pp. 52, 12mo.

21. Person and Work of the Holy Spirit: a Discourse delivered to the (Calvinistic) Presbyterian Congregation, Donegall Street, Belfast. By the Rev. Ìsaac Nelson. Pp. 36, 8vo.

[It would be endless to enumerate the lectures, letters and discussions, which appeared in the local newspapers, magazines and reviews, during the prevalence of the agitation; but many of them contained useful, well-authenticated and very significant statements.]

on so briskly in the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh and Londonderry. Yet it is evident that in many quarters its real nature is as yet imperfectly understood. Judging from the statements which meet us in conversation, correspondence, and the proceedings of our religious societies, it would seem that misapprehension on this subject exists quite as widely among Unitarians as in any other denomination. Some of our friends to the eastward of the Irish Channel appear to have engaged in the pursuit of this spiritual bubble, after it had already burst. They have taken under their patronage a discredited and already ruined cause, when its early patrons and friends have grown heartily ashamed of it, and when the original propagators of the delusion, many of whom, however, were themselves deluded,are seeking, in silence and obscurity, a shelter from the shame which they have drawn down upon themselves. They come forward to enrol themselves under the banner of Revivalism, at a time when nothing but ridicule is to be gained by enlisting in the ragged regiment. The facility with which this moral epidemic has been hailed, by so many amongst us, as a sound and healthy action of the Spirit of God, seems to us another of the many facts which shew that the successors of Priestley, Lindsey and Belsham, whatever progress they may be supposed to have made in other directions, have not improved on the sober judgment, the penetrating sagacity and logical clearness of mind, by which those eminent men were distinguished. What is to become of Unitarianism, if those who are so easily made the dupes of transparent fallacies are to be henceforth its representatives and champions! The readiness with which the delusion has been welcomed as a truth of the most solemn and interesting kind, will excuse us for handling this topic at much greater length than its intrinsic importance would at all justify, though still very briefly, in reference to the abundance of the materials at hand.

Various accounts have been given of the beginning of the movement. The Rev. W. D. Corken, "Agent of the Irish Evangelical Society at Carrickfergus," traces it to the labours of an English lady, who visited the north of Ireland about two years ago, and succeeded in "converting" an elderly person "named M', and his wife," in the neighbourhood of Ballymena, from whom the influence spread. "Will not this circumstance," he asks, "gladden the hearts of our English ladies and all our dear friends in the Congregational churches of England? Will it not draw out their deepest sympathies towards us in Ireland? Will they not pray for us more fervently, and aid our mission still more zealously?" (Massie, p. 1.) The Rev. S. J. Moore, of Ballymena, states that the revival began with a society consisting of four young men, who met, for prayer and mutual exhortation, in a little school-house near the village of Connor, "two of

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whom had lately removed thither from Ballymena," (having been apparently members of his own congregation,) "where they had seen themselves and been found by their Saviour." "The special object of their society was prayer that God would bless the preaching of the gospel in the Connor congregation, and their own labours, and those of others, in connection with the prayermeetings and sabbath-schools throughout the district. . . . . The first observable instance of conversion occurred in December following. A young man became greatly alarmed. After some time, in answer to earnest prayer by himself and others, he found peace and confidence." (These, it may be here remarked, are universally the objects aimed at by those who labour for a revival: first to alarm the mind with the terrors of damnation, and then to bring it into a state in which it feels no farther uneasiness,-nothing but peace, confidence and a full assurance of salvation. When this is done, the end is accomplished.) Soon others experienced a similar process. Special prayer was frequently offered in the fellowship-meeting on behalf of two persons," (seemingly in their presence,) "who, some three months afterwards, joyfully professed their faith in the Lord Jesus." The movement spread. "In the beginning of this year a convert from Connor visited his friends near Ahoghill, and through his urgency and prayers the Holy Spirit awakened nearly all the family to a deep sense of their sins: these became missionaries to their neighbours and friends; and about the middle of February, hundreds through the parishes of Drummaul and Ahoghill were overwhelmed with convictions of sin, its dangers and demerits; and during the month of March, in private houses, and barns, and school-houses, and churches, prayer-meetings were conducted and addressed by recent converts, attended by multitudes in the houses and around them." (Moore, pp. 2-4.) The Rev. Mr. Adams, the minister of Ahoghill, is not disposed to admit the claim of Connor, (or of Ballymena vid Connor,) to the merit of having set the revival on foot. He says, "The present extraordinary religious movement in the north of Ireland began in the south-west part of the parish of Ahoghill, in the county of Antrim, about the commencement of the present year, 1859..... For a considerable period previously there was here, as at other places, a slow, silent work of salvation progressing satisfactorily. Some would call this a revival, and so it was in a sense. But the torrentflood of God's mercy did not come till the early part of this year, and then it was first manifested at Ahoghill. While I admit the existence of some prayer-meetings elsewhere, I deny that they were the beginning of the revival, properly speaking." (Adams, p. 1.) The Rev. J. Bain, unwilling to deprive any of the localities or agents of the credit which they are so anxious to assert for themselves, inclines to compromise the question of their re

spective claims, by expressing his belief that the revival, “like a mighty stream, has arisen from a number of springs, concealed, it may be, in the bosom of the mountains of Antrim, where for a season they continued to gush forth, seen only by a few, until now they have met in the valleys, and are pouring their floods upon the churches, sweeping sin and cold-hearted formalism before them. That the work is the Lord's I have now no reason to doubt." (Massie, pp. 2, 3.) It would seem that at first he doubted.

But wherever the movement may have originated, the means by which it was propagated admit of no doubt. In Ballymena, Ballymoney, Antrim, Coleraine, Belfast, Lisburn, Lurgan, Dromore, and other places into which it was desired to spread the contagion, the first step was usually made by ministers-Calvinistic, Methodist and Episcopalian-who were favourable to the agitation, announcing to their people the wonderful outpouring of the Spirit which had taken place in the localities previously affected. Prayers were frequently and urgently offered up in the houses of worship for a similar manifestation of the power of God in the neighbourhood; the people were exhorted to pray for it in their homes and families; and prayer-meetings were instituted in which the supplication might be reiterated from the whole district simultaneously. On all these occasions, the terrors of the Lord were denounced, not always vociferously, but in most cases with the most terrific imagery and "undisguised simplicity." The ground being thus prepared, "converts" from other places already "smitten" were introduced; sometimes they were sent for, at other times they came uninvited. They narrated the history of their own cases; the terrors they had experienced when first awakened; the agonizing prayers they had sent forth; the conflict through which they had passed; the gradual or rapid clearing away of the gloom from their souls; and the delight and joy with which they had at last been enabled to feel that their sinfulness was "washed away in the blood of Emmanuel," and that their final salvation was "sealed and sure." (Massie and the Revival newspaper, passim.) Some of these converts did not hesitate to acknowledge that, till a few months or weeks before the time when they stood forth as the messengers of Jesus to perishing sinners, they had been leading the most immoral and profligate lives. One of the two who were first invited from the neighbourhood of Ballymena to further the work of revival in Belfast, stated, rather by way of ostentation than of confession, that he was not long emerged from jail, to which he had been sentenced, not for the first time, for offences against the law. He made this part of his history the foundation of an appeal to his auditors. "If I, notwithstanding all my crimes, have so readily found peace and comfort, surely none of you need despair; only believe!" It would be extraordinary if among a multitude