stood, and applied without party bias, will necessarily lead men to believe, that the apostles inculcated, for substance those doctrines which are now called orthodox. And as there probably will be not a few, who will reject these doctrines, my apprehension is, that to take the German ground will, ere long, be deemed both ingenuous

and expedient. pp. 152, 153.

That these apprehensions will, to some extent, be realized, we see no reason to deny. Nor should we, judging merely from facts in other countries, and from the principles which the Unitarians of this country have avowed, entertain a doubt of the prophetic talent of the Professor, had he predicted results still more extensive and lamentable. At the same time, when we reflect on the thousand ways in which error can be consistent with itself, and the countless paths in which this "decensus Averni" may be trod, by those who once venture on the declivity, we feel at some loss to decide on the specific course which may be ultimately adopted by Unitarians in this country. That they will not long remain stationary in opinion, after the late developement of their scheme of doctrine, we have no doubt. Among those who now professedly believe in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, and who reject the doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the ground of their supposed inconsistency with other doctrines, it would not be strange, should some, convinced at length that the Scriptures, according to just rules of interpretation, do teach a plurality in the Godhead, or, at least, the divinity of Christ, should deny the humanity of the Saviour, maintain that he was God in reality, and man only in appearance, and go into "bald tritheism;" it would be no more strange, should some adopt the opinion, that only certain parts of of the Scriptures are inspired, and if, to relieve the book from its supposed burden of absurdities, they should, in "a new and improved version," expunge either the passages that speak of the divinity, or those that speak of the humanity of Christ, or if some should

do one and some the other, the wonder would not be greater, should others deny the authority of the Bible, and go openly into the ranks of infidelity; nor would our astonishment be greatly heightened, should another class, still yielding their faith to the plenary inspiration of the Book, proceed to impugn the veracity of the God that inspired it. So far as their fundamental principle is concerned, it is obvious that either of these courses might be taken with the same mournful consistency. Deism is, perhaps, the most perfectly consentaneous with the feelings of the carnal heart; and, judging from facts which have occurred, the stronger probability may be, that deism is one point, if not the ultima Thule of Unitarian degeneracy.* Amid the vacillations of sentiment, however, to which they are exposed, who subvert foundations, it is impossible to foresee results, while nothing is too strange to be expected. So changeful is the human mind in such cases, and so common are the most abrupt divergencies, and the widest and most frequent vibrations of opinion, as to become the subject of infallible calculation. The absurdities and difficulties of error, when brought into conflict with truth, are so many and so pressing, that they often drive its abettors through every change of religious belief, which is consistent with hostility to the true doctrines of the gospel; nor should we be surprised at all, since the conflict is begun, should many an apparently devout Unitarian be shortly known as an avowed deist, and many a rational, cold-hearted humanitarian become a profound and cordial adept in the mysticism of Baron Sweden

*If the judgment of the discerning D'Alembert and Diderot are worthy of regard, it will afford no slight confirmation of this conjecture. "A man becomes a Protestof the essential principle of Protestantism, ant. So, on discovering the inconsistency be resorts to Socinianism for a solution of his doubts and his difficulties; and he be

comes a Socinian. From Socinianism to gle step to take, and he takes it."-Encydeism there is but a slight shade and a sinclopédie de Diderot, &c. art. Unit.

borg. Be this as it may, Unitarianism seems, almost without exception, to be doomed to progressive degeneracy. That pride of philosophy, which finds the Word of God replete with absurdities, according to the just and plain principles of interpreting its pages, we should naturally expect would proceed, without a conscientious scruple,at least to the formation of "another gospel." Accordingly, the denial of the doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ are inseparably connected with the denial of all that have been deemed by the christian world (unless Unitarians themselves are to be named as anexception) the distinguishing truths of Christianity. Nor is this a point in debate; the whole discussion of the present controversy is a direct confirmation of the justice of Dr. Priestly's remark, "if you are right, we are not christians at all."* The doctrines of the depravity and guilt of mankind, of an atonement for sin, with all its bearings on the work of our salvation, of the necessity of the regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit, are those which constitute the leading truths of one system, but are utterly excluded from the other. At the same time, those views of the holiness, and justice, and mercy of God, which exalt him as the righteous moral governor of the intelligent universe, and are deemed essential, by one party, to the very perfection of the Godhead, are denied with equal pertinacity by the other. The very law of God, the standard of right and wrong in one system, is as diverse from that of the other, as spiritual obedience to God is from the empty morality of the world. Sin, which, in the one, is represented as an evil deserving the wrath and curse of God, is regarded in the other as a foible of the creature, whose claim on the forgiveness of a benevolent creator is undeniable. What there is in one scheme to abase the pride of man, to produce holy relentings of heart for sin against God, is in the other commuted for the pal

* Vide No. III. Spec. p. 27.

liatives of self-complacency and self righteousness. Where, in the one, we find an awakened conscience and a broken heart, spiritual affections, heavenly mindedness, and holy devotedness to the glory of God; we find, in the other, the most determined impenitence, a decent worldliness of deportment, and sneers, and ridicule, and sarcasm heaped upon the miserable delusions of a fanatical and rigorous religion. But, two systems of doctrine so totally unlike cannot both be Christianity. The God of one system is not the God of the other; the Saviour of one system is as far from the Saviour of the other, as God manifest in the flesh is from a mere creature of yesterday; the Sanctifier of one system is not even known in the other; the ground of hope for eterniy, the rule of faith and holiness, every thing which can give importance to Christianity, stands in irreconcilable opposition; and this, we believe, as the inevitable result of denying the divinity of its author. Our Unitarian opponents, then, must not be offended with us for saying, that the system of religion which denies the divinity and atonement of Christ, with other collateral doctrines, is not his gospel, but "another." Those who preach it, preach another gospel. It is not the day spring from on high which hath visited us, but a cloud of darkness from beneath, that covers the sun of righteousness in eclipse, and hangs with sackcloth the prospects of eternity.

Respecting the final prevalence of their opinions, Unitarians seem to entertain no doubt; the Reviewer, especially, has made large calculations on this subject with regard to our own country. We have however many reasons for differing from him in opinion on this topic. The first which we shall mention is the very nature of the religion which they adopt and inculcate. If we are not wholly deceived respecting the degree and the extent of moral illumination in this land, the period when this people can be satisfied without

something in the shape of religion, is too remote to be the subject of prediction, and if we are not totally ignorant of human nature there is not even that semblance of religion in Unitarianism, which can secure to it a general and lasting prevalence, in any community. It may extirpate all real religion from smaller or larger districts of country, but it has nothing of its own of a specific character, to substitute in the place which its ravages make vacant. It may, while its champions and adherents are contending as a minority, for the extension of their cause and their influence, draw around its standard, zealous abettors of its system from the ranks of hostility to the truth, who from the heat of party attachments, and the pride of party contention, or from the remembered hatred to their old enemy, and gratitude for the fostering care of their new friend, will chaunt the praises, and blazon the excellencies of such a benign religion. It may if fostered by wealth, and animated by intellectual ambition be known in seminaries and colleges, by its exploits in literary knight errantry. But let it succeed in displacing from a community, the knowledge and the belief of orthodoxy and its work is done; its name and memorial will soon perish forever. Separate from its active hostility to the humbling doctrines of the cross, there is not enough in it to prompt even curiosity to study its doctrines, to attend on its worship or to enquire what the thing is that remains. On the one hand it has nothing of that to foster superstition, or to captivate the imagination which pertains to the doctrines and ceremonies of the Romish church, nor on the other has it any thing of that to reach the conscience or the heart, which pertains to orthodox Christianity. It has nothing to touch those sensibilities of man, by which he must be moved as a religious being, either to play the hypocrite or act the christian. The God whom it makes known is so accommodating to human imperfections,

the demands of his law are so frittered away and so lowered down to the level of actual practice, its sanctions are so completely nullified, preparation for heaven is so much a thing of course and the measure of guilt that conducts to hell so nearly miraculous, that the character and prospects of men are not even remotely affected by such a Gospel. It discovers to men no such wants, it provides no such remedies, as to awaken the suspicion that they are not well enough without it. There is in its very nature such a prostration of moral influence, such a neutralizing quality, such a benumbing chilling aspect, imparted to the whole form and structure of doctrinal and practical christianity that the mind feels at once, if this be all, it is nothing. We are not now denying that Unitarianism may eradicate Orthodoxy within any assignable limits; but we maintain that if Orthodoxy dies as its victim, Unitarianism must die with it; and this because all that gives it the least worth in the estimation of man, yea all its strength and life are derived from its active hostility to the holy, humbling truths of the Gospel. As to any conflict with the radical corruptions of the human heart, or with the adversary of souls, it has none; and though both would greet, with thanksgiving and joy, its work of desolation carried through every region of Orthodoxy, yet the moment of its triumph would be the moment of its extinction. The human heart emancipated from the restraints which the faithful exhibition of Gospel truth imposes, would no longer need a pretended embassy from heaven to authorize its rebellion, and the highway of sin and death would be trod, with scarcely the remembrance of the name or the character of the mighty Deliverer.

Conceding therefore to Unitarians their fondest anticipations concerning the triumph of their system of religion, over all that they deem error in the land, still the glory of its becoming a prevalent religion we think is to be utterly despaired of. Something

more in the shape of religion, some thing more fitted in appearance to the wants and woes of men as sinners, whether it be the wild dreams of enthusiasm, the darkened wonders of mysticism or the pure revelation of God, will for ages that stretch beyond the ken of modern prophecy be the prevalent religion of America.

Nor ought we to conclude without reverting with gratitude to the tokens of the divine presence and favour. If we are not deceived our country is distinguished by the number and the power of those causes whose influence is hostile to Unitarianism. Among these causes might be mentioned, the general diffusion of knowledge, which by qualifying the great body of the people to discriminate between truth and error, like the diffused light of heaven, in the perception of material objects, becomes the medium of moral vision to all classes of the community. At the same time probably no country at so early a period of its existence, has been so distinguished by the number of its eolleges and seminaries consecrated to the cause of truth and righteousness. Every friend of that cause who has discernment enough to see, that the greater the talents, and piety which are brought to aid it, the more flattering must be the prospect of success, will hail these institutions as powerful auxiliaries to the King of Zion; and joyfully anticipate their unimpeded progress, and his accumulating triumphs. The number and efficiency of charitable institutions, directed in their operations by wisdom and piety, send abroad an influence which reaches almost every interest of the Redeemer's kingdom. The fire of charity and zeal that now glows in the church of God, was kindled from the altar on high; and the reasonable hope is, that it is destined to warm the bosoms and multiply and animate the labours of the saints, till the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be theirs.

The present state of the ministry of the Gospel also deserves peculiar notice. It was the opinion of one who

highly adorned the sacred profession, and whose death we have been called to deplore, that the clergy of this country were never so distinguished by the combination of piety, talents and orthodoxy as at the present age. In these respects there has been at least, for the last twenty years, a continued progress; and although there are other countries in which perhaps the profession is more eminent for learning and science, yet among the nations of christendom, this country is unrivalled in those qualifications of its ministry, which give it effect on the consciences and the hearts of men. Much indeed remains to be done, to promote its growing usefulness; much especially to meet the constantly increasing demand for its labours. Still we have no doubt that although there may be at the present time more that we should denounce as heresy in some parts of the country than formerly, the truths of the Gospel are exhibited in their purity, consistency and power from the pulpit, and embraced by the churches in a manner unknown at any previous period.

In the number and extent of the revivals of religion, which have so long prevailed and still prevail in the land, we trace in still brighter aspect the favour of God. New England, and many portions of the western country, have largely shared in this richest gift of heaven. Our schools and most of our colleges, (we know of but one exception in New-England,) have been remembered by the Great Head of the Church, who has there multiplied the vessels of his mercy, and the heralds of his cross. With this series of revivals, nothing is to be compared in any other portion of the globe. Nothing is to be compared with it in our own country, whether it be considered in the nature and magnitude of the blessing, or in its aspect on the future interest and prosperity of the church Heresy may boast of its successes or persecution may light its fires,but whil we can thus trace the footsteps of him who walketh amid the golden can