wrong doers; and while unitarians plead not guilty to the charges preferred—while they retort them-while they assay to justify their conduct by the very principles from respect for which the charges are brought, it is plainly a want of knowledge, at least, which secures their continued presentation. Next to the mistake and mischief of imputing opinions which are not held, is that of assigning reasons for opinions which do not exist. To ascertain either, it is necessary to pay careful attention to the writings in which alone they can be fully found. Unitarianism, or any other system of belief, is not, as a matter of course, and in all respects, just according to the popular impression respecting it--nor, which is nearly the same thing, what its most noted and bitter antagonists represent it to be, and we would therefore earnestly advise all who may have it in their hearts to attack it, to obtain a personal and familiar acquaintance with the publications of its advocates.

Closely connected with this, is the spirit in which the controversy should be conducted. Every thing like rudeness and abuse-discourtesy and unfairness-should be avoided. The gentleman and the Christian should never be forgotten in the polemic. No end sanctifies the means. Pious frauds' are, of all frauds, the most impious. Truth needs but truth for its defence. It is dishonored and desecrated by any other weapon. The tactics of worldly policy are not fitted for the conduct of a spiritual contention. It is a solemn, tender, and noble thing, to befriend the faith once delivered to the saints, and he is not meet for its advocacy who has not been baptized with its spirit. The source of many of the evils that disgrace religious controversy, is a sense of infallibility, and this should be ejected from every mind with careful and energetic zeal. This would be-not scepticism, but humility. It is one thing to believe that we are right, and another to believe that we must be. A conviction that we have the truth, and a conviction that we may not have it, are perfectly compatible. Most men admit that they are fallible, but no man admits that he fails. The nature of doctrinal discussions forbids the assumption of oracular certainty, and all displays of it are as absurd as offensive. We can conceive of no religious argument which should not be prosecuted with a desire to elicit truth, as well as to defend it. If we are not absolutely incapable of mistake, which perhaps no one would affirm, it is possible that we are mistaken, and it is due to this possibility that, while we maintain the truth we think we have, we should look out for the truth that may yet be hidden from us. The very reasons for which we love and hold our present opinions should lead us to respect and weigh the arguments of those who deny them. If this were felt, all neglect in seeking for the real idea of an opponent—all unfairness in representing it—all modes of attacking it,

which, though successful to other men and even to himself, we know to be without legitimate application and force, would be avoided. Every pains would be taken to put ourselves in his position to look at the subject from his point of view, and through his medium.

It is common for orthodox controversialists to present prominently the penal consequences of unbelief before their opponents to repeat the denunciations of final wrath which they suppose applicable to their case. This, to say the least, is impolitic. Whatever may be thought, it is unwise thus to treat an adversary. Men are to be convinced by arguments, not by accusations of criminality which they believe to be unfounded, and threatenings which they believe will never be fulfilled. The way to create faith, is to show the evidence of the truth, not the results of error, because those results are not objects of fear until the truth is established. The likelihood is, that solemn maledictions will only weaken and not enforce the reasoning employed. They may express pity, but appear to express scorn, which is no means of winning a favorable attention. They may result from a strong consciousness that we are right, they may be regarded as one proof that we are wrong. It is necessary to consider not only what is due to fact, but what is due to the views of those whose faith is sought to be corrected.

A careful distinction should be made between what is true and what is false in unitarianism. Considered controversially in the points in which it is opposed to the essential principles of trinitarianism, we reject it, and desire its extinction; but considered in its entirety as a system of belief, there is much in it that demands respectful recognition; and it is but justice, not only to its adherents, but to truth, to separate the evil from the good. We go further. Every error is a truth abused.' Most erroneous sects have been characterized, not so much by the absolute groundlessness of their peculiar opinions, as by the exaggerated importance and unreal relations which they have assigned to them. Truth has become false by the manner in which it has been viewed and treated. There is great and constant danger of this in human beings, who are incapable of a full and perfect survey of truth, whose perceptions are powerfully influenced by their passions, and who display an endless diversity of mental constitution and temperament. Hence different doctrines become the distinctive badge of different denominations, the evils of whose existence and collision are, in part, compensated by the security they furnish for the development of the various elements of the Christian faith. Perhaps few denominations exist which do no good service to Christianity in this way, however great a portion of truth they may disfigure or conceal. Has unitarianism no function? Is there nothing in it which tends to the peculiar

manifestation of some truth? Or, if this be esteemed too strong a mode of representation, is it not allied, in fact, though not of necessity, with forms and phases of moral and Christian verities, which demand not only concession but respect? May not the orthodox be instructed by the prominence and way of treating of some sentiments of unquestioned truth and worth, in unitarian theological literature? Notwithstanding the number and magnitude of the scriptural principles which we believe it to reject,principles which we cannot separate from the full and efficient adaptation of Christianity to human sinners, are there no views which its abettors, from some cause or other, peculiarly excel in exhibiting? Some of our sentiments, which we think are derived from the Bible, possess such a special significance and worth in our estimation, that we are in no little danger of maintaining and enforcing them to the neglect of other sentiments, which, though not equally valuable, are equally parts of Christianity; and the danger is increased, when the greater sentiments are matter of vigorous and wide-spread controversy, and the lesser of little or none; while, on the other hand, unitarians, who reject the former, acquire a facility and force in presenting the latter, which however desirable and useful, is attended with this danger, that the truths and principles of which they make so frequent and efficient mention may become, in popular estimation, identified with their peculiar system, and serve to recommend it. need not specify instances. They will occur to most persons familiar with the subject. We have been powerfully impressed with the fact of their existence, while comparing the writings of the opposite parties, and not least, while comparing the publications on both sides of the Liverpool controversy. We wish to call attention to the fact, and its lessons. Let trinitarians guard against the tendency to neglect admitted truths while contending for disputed ones, and let them honor and imitate whatever is forcible and excellent in the views or modes of their adversaries.

We

Let the truth be presented in all its bulk and fair proportions. While instruction is administered in the sacrificial purposes of Christ's mission, let the moral and inimitable charms of his character be commended; while the fact and need of a divine influence to enlighten and sanctify is urged, let the conviction be conveyed, that this influence is necessary to no responsibility, weakens no claim or call for present and intense exertion; while eternal punishment is employed as a strong engine of alarm to the wicked, let the rightness and glory, the immediate and moral advantages of religion, be presented with all possible strength; while the nature and importance of doctrinal truth is inculcated, let the spiritual faculties of men be cultivated, and as its only proper end; let all this be done naturally, not with the stiffness of system and barbaric technicality, but with a free and generous

style of thought and speech; not with metaphysical accuracy, but human warmth. Let each truth be brought out fully and alone, uncrippled and unchecked by the immediate presence of any other truth, which, though quite harmonious with it, may appear, unless explained at length and to the damage of the whole impression, to lack a perfect fraternity. It is time that men abandoned human models, and returned to inspired ones. The Bible, though it teaches truth which is a system, teaches no system of truth. In it, the immediate subject is treated with all the strength and zeal which, if there were no other, it could demand. This is at once the proof of its divinity and humanity; only men would have so felt the greatness of each separate theme as to need them, only men inspired, and not impostors, would have hazarded them. Let the examples thus presented be imitated; let the fulness, and energy, and native freedom, with which the scriptures express the truth, be copied, and a most effective, yea, the only service to which many are competent, will be rendered towards the direct prevention and ultimate destruction of unitarianism and every other form of religious error, while the thoughts and will of God receive a glorious manifestation, and His redeemed creatures become free indeed.

Art. IV. Narrative of a Tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia. With Observations on the Condition of Mohammedanism and Christianity in those Countries. By the Rev. HORATIO SOUTHGATE. In two vols, London: Tilt and Bogue. 1840.

THESE

HESE volumes are similar in character to those of Mr. Malcom on Eastern Asia, which were noticed in a recent number of our Journal. They contain the narrative of a tour of observation conducted under the auspices of the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, with a view to ascertain the best localities for the establishment of their missionary operations. The author, a minister of the American Episcopal church, appears to have been eminently qualified for the work to which his brethren appointed him; and to have executed his mission in a manner highly creditable to himself, as well as conducive to the noble object contemplated. We know nothing more of Mr. Southgate than we have learned from these volumes, but we have rarely closed a work which has impressed us more deeply

with respect for the judgment, fidelity, and Christian devotedness of its author.

It is an interesting feature of the American church, that while it has so much to do at home-a good part of which it is actively performing its zeal is sufficiently ardent and diffusive to contemplate the evangelization of the most distant tribes. The circumstances of the country are precisely those which might furnish a plausible excuse for the neglect of foreign missions; the growth of the population spreading itself out with unexampled rapidity over vast districts till recently unvisited by the arts of civilized life, might have been pleaded in extenuation, if not in actual defence, of a more contracted and indolent policy. Our capabilities, it might have been urged by our transatlantic brethren, are taxed to the utmost by the ever increasing demands of our home population. The vast plains of the west, and the recesses of a thousand forests where our countrymen are but just located, make the first and the loudest demand on our sympathy. The children of our young republic must be supplied with the means of religious instruction before our time or energy can be directed to the inhabitants of other lands; we must guard ourselves from infidelity at home ere we undertake to Christianize other people. Such would have been the language of the American church on the theory which is so popular amongst many of our countrymen. Happily, however, a different standard of Christian duty is recognized by our American brethren, and the result is full of promise to the world. The operations of their home missions are apparent on every track which their widening population takes, raising the monuments of a faith from which all their greatness is derived, and blessing with its salutary influences the various classes of their people. But while thus engaged at home, the American church is not unmindful of the darker regions of the earth, over which various forms of error and cruelty are dominant. The vital energy of Christianity is strikingly shown in the activity which characterizes every branch of this church. Her missionaries are to be seen in every region of the earth, and the converts who attend their ministrations bear witness to the blessing which has followed their labors. Their missionary operations have been characterized by the same energy which has distinguished their other proceedings-they move with the quick step and firm assurance of youth, undeterred by difficulties and undaunted by dangers. Mr. Southgate's mission is illustrative of this feature of American character. It was one of observation and inquiry preliminary to the actual commencement of missionary labor. A vast region but little known to the Christian church was submitted to his scrutiny, and he went forth in the fear of God to gather such materials as would enable his brethren to devise an efficient plan of religious