cannot mistake. The first heralds of the gospel were men, whose minds were thoroughly convinced of the truth of God; who had felt the power of the world to come; whose whole souls were animated by the motives and inflamed by the desires of religion; who gave themselves wholly to prayer, and under the irrepressible energy of this inward faith, they spake to the hearts of their hearers. Whole volumes are contained in the, concise but glorious biography of Barnabas. "He was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord." Who, since their day have been the most successful preachers of the gospel? We think not first, of such men as Barrow, rich though he is as Pactolus with his sands of gold; not the courtly Tillotson, the silvery sweetness of whose speech made men forget the very salvation it was appointed to proclaim; not South, always over tempted by his wit and skill, as was the oriental Prince to display his adroitness, and the temper of his blade, by decapitating men at a stroke; not Horseley, moving only with measured step and solemn pomp, like a Castilian in his armor; not Paley, Alison, and Blair, clear, correct, ornate, but just as far as possible removed from the mode of reasoning on sin, and a judgment to come which made Felix tremble. The service which such men have rendered is of its own kind; nor is it of an ephemeral character. It has been justly claimed by Robert Hall as the peculiar boast of the English nation to have produced a set of divines, like these, who, being equally acquainted with classical antiquity, and inspired writ, and capable of joining to the deepest results of unassisted reason, the advantages of a superior illumination, have delivered down to posterity a body of moral instruction, more pure, more copious and exact than subsists among any other people; and had they infused a more evangelical spirit and life into their discourses, insisting more on Jesus Christ as the foundation of all morality, they would have left us nothing to wish and nothing to regret. But when we speak of preachers more readily do we think of Howe, Usher, Flavel, and even the Newtons and Doddridges of a later day; men who,' in the splendor of particular talents were more than equalled by the illustrious names we have just repeated; but the fra- . grance of whose piety has come down even to us, and will live forever. Baxter rises before us serious, earnest, pungent, the secret of whose power was that he abode with God; Whitfield, not unadorned with the graces of the schools, but whose fervid

piety was the chariot of fire in which he mounted upward to the sky; and our own Edwards, than whom, if tradition does not mislead, no man has preached the gospel with greater effect, who, though he dwelt on the "top of metaphysical Niphates," made that the Tabor of prayer and transfiguration, the very mount of God.

It is a singular phenomenon in the process of education that many would rather be suspected of wickedness than weakness; and more patiently would they bear the imputation of a defective piety, than defective intellect. But why is it so? Is not the moral the higher property of human nature? Are not the affinities and gradations of immortal life to be decided wholly by moral qualities? Is there not truth in the trite expression of the poet: "The Christian is the highest style of man?" That, in addition to the temptations which are common to all, others of a peculiar kind are incident to the occupation of a preacher, cannot be questioned. Insensibly may he acquire the habit of looking at truth only with an intellectual and professional eye; and so starve his own soul, amid the abundance of bread which he dispenses to others. If these remarks should serve to deepen the impression on the mind of any one who is looking forward to the sacred office, that his duty and interest and hopes as an individual, and his entire success as a preacher are identical, they will not be in vain. If those who have already made trial of the holy ministry were asked, in what respects they would amend their course of preparation, if it were possible to recall it, their testimony, we doubt not, would be singularly unanimous; "We would not study less, but we would pray more. The intellectual study of the word of God, in all its parts, we would prosecute with double diligence; but much more time would we devote to its simple devotional perusal; partaking of the pure milk of the word that we might grow thereby, and often bowing the knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would grant unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of our calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among them that believe." God forbid, that the time should ever come when the churches of our beloved land shall be forced to choose between pious ignorance, and frigid scholarship. We believe that time will never come. The future wears to our eye a hopeful aspect. We are confident that the golden age of the

church and the world is not receding, but approaching. We look forward to the time when extremes shall meet and combine to form the true circle; when religion, enriched and adorned with all the spoils of science, shall put on her imperial robes and assume her unlimited sceptre; when the ministers of religion shall come forth to men, like the High Priest from the Holy of Holies, exalted and serene from communion with God, fragrant with the sweet odors of heavenly affections, their hearts suffused with human sympathies, and lips burning with seraphic fire. Isaiah's glowing lips, when foretelling the glories of the Redeemer's kingdom, first uttered what may be received as a description of every true minister of the everlasting covenant; "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord."

ARTICLE IV.

EXAMINATION OF CERTAIN POINTS OF NEW ENGLAND HISTORY, AS EXHIBITED BY PRESIDENT QUINCY IN HIS HISTORY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, AND BY OTHER UNITARIAN WRIters.

By Enoch Pond, D. D., Professor in the Theological Seminary, Bangor, Me.

THE following article, as will appear from its plan and its peculiar phraseology, was prepared as a Review of President Quincy's History of Harvard University, with the intention of publishing it in the American Biblical Repository. But having been anticipated by the very able review of the same work "by one of the Professors of Yale College," I have consented, at the suggestion of the Editors of the Repository, to submit my article for publication, under another title. It will be seen, that the design of the two articles is very different, and that there is really no interference between them.

"This History," says President Quincy, "had its origin in the following circumstances. In March, 1836, the author accepted an invitation from the Corporation of Harvard University, to prepare a Discourse, to be delivered on the second centennial anniversary of its foundation, in commemoration of that event, and of the founders and patrons of the seminary. From the researches into which he was

led by this undertaking, it became apparent that these topics could not be satisfactorily investigated before the day fixed upon for the celebration. The author, therefore, decided to prepare such a general sketch of events and characters as might be comprised within the limits of an occasional address, and to announce his intention of attempting to do justice to the subject in a work of more enlarged form and permanent character."

As the result of this attempt, the public are presented with the volumes before us,-volumes which, for beauty and finish of mechanical execution, have probably not been surpassed by any that have issued from the American press.

President Quincy divides his History into" four great periods; each embracing about fifty years. The first period terminates with the college charter, granted in 1692. The second extends. from this time to the accession of Holyoke to the presidency, in 1736. The third includes the succeeding years to the accession of Willard, in 1780. The fourth embraces the time subsequent."

"During the first period," continues our author, "the college was conducted as a theological institution, having religion for its basis, and chief object. Although the charter of the college gave it no sectarian bias, it was, without question, regarded by both the clergy and the politicians of the period, as an instrument destined to promote and perpetuate the religious opinions predominating at the time," i. e. Calvinism.

This being the case, President Quincy is led to wonder that the seminary was founded without a creed.

"We might expect to find, in the early charters, some form of sound words, some creed, some catechism, some medulla theologiæ, established as the standard of religious faith, to which every one, entering on an office of government and instruction should be required to swear and subscribe." p. 45.

This fact, which seemed so strange to our author at the first, and on which he hazards the conjecture (which has no foundation in truth) that "the early emigrants could not agree concerning points of religious faith," is satisfactorily explained by him, in the progress of the history.

"In the form of government established" by our fathers, "neither subscription to creeds, nor declaration of articles of belief was required. Nor were they necessary. The principle, that none should be a freeman of the state who was not a member of the church, suffi

ciently secured the supremacy of the religious opinions of the predominant party. The inquisitorial power was vested in the church and its officers. The state thus enjoyed the benefit of that power, without the obloquy attached to its exercise.-Creeds and confessions of faith were equally unnecessary in the foundation of the college, either as a condition of office, or of obtaining the benefits of the institution. The magistrates of the jurisdiction, and the elders of the specified Congregational churches, were the overseers of the college. They were all necessarily church members, and on the uniformity of the faith of the churches they relied for the perpetuity of religious opinions which they deemed fundamental." p. 196.

To all this it may be added, that the early churches of Massachusetts actually had a creed, or public confession of faith. In proof of this we appeal to the original Preface of the Cambridge Platform.

"Being called upon," say the Synod, "by our godly magistrates, to draw up a public confession of that faith, which is constantly taught, and generally professed among us, we thought good to present unto them, and with them to our churches, and to all the churches of Christ abroad, our professed and hearty assent and attestation to the whole confession of faith (for substance of doctrine) which the Reverend Assembly" (the Assembly of Divines at Westminster) "presented to the religious and honorable Parliament of England; excepting only some sections in the chapters of the Confession, which concern points of controversy in church discipline; touching which we refer ourselves to the draught of church discipline in the ensuing treatise."

From this it appears that the Synod of 1648 as really adopted and recommended the Westminster Confession of Faith, as they did their own Platform of Discipline; and both were alike accepted by the churches and the government. The churches, having thus received a public creed or confession of faith, and the government being in the hands of church members, it was deemed unnecessary to multiply particular confessions. On the settled uniformity of the faith of the churches, as President Quincy remarks, our fathers thought that they might safely rely, " for the perpetuity of those religious opinions which they deemed fundamental."

The circumstances under which Harvard College dates its origin are most honorable to the early settlers of New England, and are eloquently set forth by President Quincy.

66 They waited not for days of affluence, of peace, or even of domestic concord. The first necessities of civilized man, food, raiment, and shelter, had scarcely been provided; civil government and the wor