Advert to the faculties you have received at the hand of God, and say if it is not nicely adjusted to their nature, and if it does not open out before them the scope which they need, and for which they seem created. Human nature, as seen in the light of Christian benevolence, is invested with that perfection to which it is making advances, and for the attainment of which it seems to have been designed by its Creator from the first. There is unity and harmony, and good inconceivable, in the system of intelligent existence, when connected with, and under the influence of, the benevolence of Christ; otherwise, there is a mighty whole, if not without a plan, yet with an imperfect plan; and results are ever being produced, which have no conceivable object. The love of Christ in its present and in its final operation, is the harmony of the world. It vindicates God's ways to man; it raises man to that for which he is fitted, and for which he longs; and wherever it goes it brings peace and good will. Therefore it is true. In the record of the good it does and promises to man, it bears the stamp of divinity. It is worthy of God, for it is man's blessing. It came from God, for it agrees with all his arrangements, at the same time that it gives them a harmony and a completeness, of which apart from it they are utterly devoid.

(Letter V. to be concluded in our next.)

REVIEW.

Illustrations of Political Economy, No. 10.-Homes Abroad; a Tale, by Harriet Martineau. Charles Fox, London.

THE benevolent purpose of Miss Martineau in the present Number, is to show the advantages, national as well as individual, of emigration, as a remedy for the evils of over-population-that is, of a greater supply of labour in the market, than can be profitably employed. This object she succeeds in bringing before the reader with her usual force and effect, through the pleasant and instructive medium of another of her ingenious and beautiful tales. It is a pleasant thing to read and to be amused; but it is a much better thing to be made wiser, and to imbibe from the same source, and at the same time, pleasure and instruction. We can, indeed, imagine nothing more de

lightful, than thus to have the treasures of a benevolent and powerful mind poured forth like a river, not merely for the gratification of our higher intellectual tastes, but to enrich with their deposition the soil of our own mind, and to leave deep in them the fructifying seeds of wisdom and truth.

The materials of this tale are simple enough, being merely an account of the removal of a family of labourers from an over-peopled parish in Kent, to the fertile plains of Van Diemen's Land. The principal part of the members of this family had been fast sinking under the withering influences of ill-requited labour, and the gloomy approach of pauperism. Two of the sons were to be sent out as convicts to that settlement, and the family determined to follow them, and to locate themselves in their neighbourhood. To accomplish this, they hired themselves out as labourers for a term of years-the expenses of their outfit and transit being to be repaid out of their wages. The upshot of their simple adventures, is, that before the expiration of their contract, the whole family are placed by their well-requited industry, in a state of comparative comfort and independence. The daughter is married and happily settled; and the virtuous son, the sagacious and industrious Frank, is left in the act of erecting a comfortable wooden house for his parents, himself and his expected bride; one of the convict sons, by the produce of his leisure hours, having had no passage-money or outfit to repay, is become a farmer himself, whilst the other and more worthless, has turned bush-ranger.

Such is a brief outline of this beautiful tale, which is full of Miss Martineau's sagacity and enlightened benevolence, no less than of her inimitable touches of nature, animate and inanimate.

THE CHRISTIAN PIONEER.

GLASGOW, DECEMBER 1, 1832.

IN "the Unitarian Chronicle and Companion to the Monthly Repository" for November, appeared an account of a meeting of the Bolton District Association; at which, on "health and prosperity to the advocates of Unitarianism in Ireland and in Scotland" having been proposed, the Rev. W. Smith is reported to have talked about the toads and vipers which croaked in the marshes of Ire

land; and that such was the national closeness and caution of Scotsmen, that he was not certain he knew the real opinions of any one individual in Scotland with whom he had been acquainted. We have received a corrected report of the outline of Mr. Smith's observations, which we willingly insert.

"The Rev. William Smith, late of Dundee, and now supplying at the Meeting-house, Moor-lane, Bolton, deeply sympathised in the situation of the Unitarians, both in Ireland and Scotland. As a native of Ireland, he could not but feel much interest in the progress of liberal opinions, and unsophisticated Christianity in that distracted country. He could not anticipate much success to follow the efforts of those who advocated pure religion in Ireland, until his country escaped from the distractions of faction, and freed herself from the paralyzing system of misrule which pressed her to the earth. He did not condemn the Chief Governor of Ireland; he believed that Anglesey was Ireland's friend; but he was surrounded by the creatures of faction, his counsels were polluted by their vile suggestions, and the administration of law committed into the hands of the declared tools of a political party. Let the English Government banish from Ireland the faction which has so long preyed upon her vitals, and battened upon her miseries; let them be but for one short year as great strangers to her shores, as their counterparts in the animal creation, the toads and vipers to which Erin's green fields refuse sustenance or life; let Ireland be no longer cursed by a Church, national only in the taxes which she wrings from an impoverished people; let the administration of law be intrusted to those who will dispense it with impartiality, and not have one interpretation of the statute to suit the Protestant, and another to oppress the Catholic; let these benefits be conferred upon Ireland, and she will no longer weary England with her perpetual complaints, nor disgust her with narratives of the most shocking atrocities: let Ireland enjoy the repose which follows the impartial administration of law, and her agitators will be hushed into silence or perish in neglect; her feuds will cease; and her children joyously beat the swords and spears of unnatural warfare, into the ploughshares and pruning-hooks of moral cultivation.

"He had resided for some time past in the land of the mountain and the flood.' He had seen there the strong power of early impressions. From infancy the people of Scotland imbibed the doctrines of Calvinism. Was it any wonder that the progress of other opinions was slow? That progress he felt persuaded was sure. A country that stood the very first in the scale of intellect, could not long remain behind in the more valuable attainments of religious knowledge. Many difficulties opposed the labours of the Unitarian preacher in Scotland. His residence had not been sufficiently long, to warrant him in speaking confidently of the prospects of the Unitarian cause in that country. There was something in the national character, which rendered it a matter of time and difficulty to become correctly acquainted with the sentiments of those with whom the stranger associates. In his opinion, which he gave in submission to the judgments of those more experienced, the

great obstacles to the advancement of Unitarianism in Scotland, were the existence of ancient prejudices, long cherished associations, and a national cautiousness of character, which rendered even those who were favourable to the Unitarian doctrine, unwilling to peril their reputation or resources in the support of unpopular truth. The few who had courage to struggle with these difficulties, stood in need of our warmest sympathy, and he thanked the meeting for the expression of their fellow-feeling in the labours of their northern brethren. He begged permission, before sitting down, to propose the health of the Chairman, to whose addresses during the evening, he had listened with satisfaction and improvement."

Calumny of Unitarians and Unitarianism.-It was long since said, let an individual have an opportunity of repeating daily the same remarks, and be they never so opposite to truth and fact, belief in their validity will ultimately be produced. Those who are attached to the common systems, whether in politics or theology, steadily and perseveringly act upon this principle. They know well the effect of misrepresentation on the popular mind. "I saw it in print, and therefore it must be true," is a delusion not yet banished from the thoughts of the many. "The statement has been made, and is uncontradicted; there must be some foundation for it," is another of the conclusions, as common as pernicious. The advocates of civil liberty and of Christian truth, have been very negligent on this mattter. They have allowed the enemies of knowledge and freedom the vantage ground. They have resigned to them, without a conflict, the possession of the public ear. And yet they express surprise that the public are prejudiced and ignorant. Let the public be disabused, let the "false accuser of the brethren" be exposed, let knowledge be disseminated, and ignorance and prejudice will exist no longer.

It will not do to say, "the writer is too contemptible for notice," "the calumny is too monstrous for belief." The pamphlet would not be published, the calumny would not be uttered, were it not hoped, that consequences injurious to the cause attacked or defamed, would follow their dissemination. There is no individual who has not influence in a particular circle, and if only one mind be perverted by mis-statement, it is a solemn duty to man and to truth, that that mind be set right. No misrepresentation of Unitarianism should be allowed to pass unnoticed. By whomsoever uttered, it can do no good; but it may do harm. may stay inquiry, and confirm prejudice, and rivet superstition. Its reprobation and exposure may excite investigation, and win the erring to truth and charity.

It

At the request of friends, and as an encouragement to others to vindicate their faith, and cause even defamation to issue in the dissemination and advancement of knowledge, we insert the following correspondence. In the Glasgow Courier of October 23, among a variety of "Cross Readings of the Newspaper, No. 2," reflecting on Lords Grey, Durham, John Russell, and others, appeared the following paragraph:

"On Sabbath evening last, an eloquent discourse was preached in the Unitarian Chapel, by the Rev. George Harris, to a crowded -assemblage of pick-pockets, prostitutes, and other disorderly characters who frequent the place."

On seeing this "Cross Reading," a letter was immediately addressed to W. Motherwell, Esq. Editor of the Glasgow Courier. "Sir,-In your paper of yesterday, there is a paragraph in reference to myself, and the congregation with which I am connected, which has deeply wounded my feelings. It purports to be one of a number of Cross Readings of the Newspapers.' If by any strange coincidence such a reading had occurred, a man of generous and Christian feeling would not have selected it for publication. To many readers the nature of Cross Readings' will be wholly unknown; and it may therefore happen, that the paragraph will be quoted, and believed as the statement of a fact. But, if the paragraph was not selected from the Newspapers, but fabricated for the occasion, surely no palliation can be pleaded in behalf of a statement as false as it is malignant.

"It will not do to attempt to pass it off as a joke. Religion is too serious and important a subject for newspaper ridicule. There are those who have sacrificed bright worldly prospects, and from whom friendship has averted its eye of affection, and on whom the cold world has scowled, and against whose principles the bigot has railed, because they thought that truth was with the few, and not the many; that it was more likely to be found at the feet of Jesus, than in splendid establishments, or in the Confessions of fallible mortals. Among the professors of Christian Unitarianism, many such individuals are to be found. By such a denomination, the ribald jests of a newspaper might be passed unheeded, were it not for the consideration, that such jests often make a deeper impression than sound reasoning or scriptural argument. For the sake of others, rather than of ourselves, is the paragraph noticed -that inquiry may not be stayed, and that the truth, as it is in Jesus, may have free course and be glorified.

"To those unacquainted with the principles and conduct of Christian Unitarians, a defence even of these is necessary. The connecting together the characters that paragraph associates with myself, and the Chapel in which I officiate, is injurious. In many minds it will bolster up sectarian prejudices. It may prevent many individuals from listening to expositions of doctrines, on which I believe the improvement and happiness of mankind is dependent. It can only foster bigotry and uncharitableness. There is one consolation, indeed, amidst the obloquy that paragraph casts upon us, the blessed Saviour was assailed in a similar manner. Of him was it said, 'Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine bibber; the friend of publicans and sinners.' And the servant cannot expect to be 'greater than his Lord.'

"But this recollection, though a consolation to us, is no justification of the paragraph, or its author.-Why was I selected from among the Ministers of this city, as the object of its venom? Why was my Chapel pointed out as the special resort of the characters enumerated? Was it not solely on account of my advocating a