and represents the Son as the compassionate God, who offered up himself as a sacrifice, to "satisfy the justice of the Father, to purchase reconciliation, and to become our surety," or rather, the surety of the elect, "for the rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice."* The Unitarian who attends the Church of Scotland, is not only guilty of bowing down before false gods, but of worshipping the Father despoiled of all the attributes which entitle him to the veneration, the gratitude, and love of his rational offspring. It is, to me, surprising, that Unitarians can resist the force of such momentous considerations. Surely, they cannot have considered the object of the Mosaic dispensation, the denunciations against idolatry, and the design of the mission of Christ. Does a Unitarian joining in Trinitarian worship, worship the Father in spirit and in truth? does he worship him in the beauty of holiness?

This outward conformity to idolatrous worship seems to be not only a violation of the first commandment, but also to involve an infraction of the second, which is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This injunction requires, that we should not lead him into sin, by setting a bad example. But the conforming Unitarian, especially if he is a man of some standing in society, will very likely lead others of the same religious faith, to violate the dictates of their consciences. Powerful is the influence of example. The majority of mankind regulate their conduct by the prescriptions of fashion.

The consistent Unitarian will endeavour, with all humility, to let his light so shine before men, that they may be led to glorify his Father in heaven. Believing that he has come to a knowledge of religious truth, and having a deep sense of the great importance of pure religion to the present and eternal interests of man, he will endeavour to make known his principles. Rejoicing himself in the truth, he is not so selfish as to confine his cheering and purifying principles to his own breast. He believes them to be doctrines according to godliness, and well calculated to support the mind under the heavy pressure of affliction. As Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, and laid down

* Confession of Faith.

his life in behalf of it, he will not allow worldly considerations to deter him from the open and fearless avowal of his sentiments, which he believes are those which Christ and his Apostles communicated. Neither the fear of man, the dread of singularity, the clamours of bigotry, the reproaches of friends, the misrepresentations of neighbours, nor the love of ease, of quiet, nor a regard to property, will lead him to a Church the doctrines of which he disbelieves; but he will come out of it, and bear his testimony to the doctrines which he has seriously adopted, from an examination of the Word of Divine Truth.

Public worship is an act, and an important means of piety. It is sweet and pleasant to go to the house of God in company; but it is still sweeter and pleasanter to obey the dictates of the conscience, and worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Withdrawing, from conscientious scruples, from Trinitarian worship, the Unitarian may have worship in his own family; and some of his neighbours may join in adorations addressed to the one only living and true God. When two or three are gathered together for this important object, they may derive much religious edification, and they will also manifest to the world, that their absence from church does not proceed from indifference to religion, but from a sacred regard to the pious dictates of their own consciences. Thus, they will obviate the bad effects which would result to themselves from withdrawing from public worship, and to others from the influence of their example, and will form a nucleus round which other free and impartial inquirers will gather. Thus, a regular religious society may be established, and, by zeal tempered with knowledge, a flourishing congregation be raised. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. A UNITARIAN CHRISTIAN.

The Influence of External Objects upon the Moral
Character and Feelings.

THE mind of man is, perhaps, never seen to greater advantage, than when viewed in the act of carrying on a

patient and candid investigation into the nature, frame, and constitution of its own being-analysing its several powers and capacities-discriminating its distinctive faculties and pursuing the examination of its various and wonderful phenomena, to that point (be it where it may) to which experience and observation may direct it. It is from a survey such as this, that the mind returns ennobled and enlarged. And, exulting in the consciousness of an inherent dignity-and casting from it, the corrosive cares and jarring interests of a transitory existence,-the spirit breaks free from the restraints of an earth-born inclination-soars beyond the influence of a material organization, and holds communion with the Author of its being, in the breathings of a fervent and spiritual devotion. It is from such a survey, that the spark of Deity within becomes re-kindled in the breast, and throws across the path of its earthly pilgrimage, a steady and enduring lustre, which lights the child of mortality with a sure and unerring guidance, to the haven of his final destination.

From such an investigation, we learn that sensation forms one of the primary faculties of the human mind. Let us direct our attention to the phenomena presented to us, in the influence exercised by external objects upon the moral character and feelings; and for this purpose, contrast the savage with the civilized state of man,-the dusky warrior of the west, with the pallid artizan and livid dependent upon the charities of a manufacturing district.

Behold the savage!-not as he is to be seen now, a mere wreck of former greatness-enslaved by the vices, and contaminated by the touch of a foreign and civilized people,-but behold him, when he ranged the forest-paths, the free and undisputed monarch of the wild! Behold him, when he trod the wilderness, the simple, unsophisticated child of nature!

What was it, that instilled into his uninformed mind, that stern grandeur of feeling-that wild sublimity of conception-that lofty endurance of suffering,-which prepared him for noble undertakings—which supported him through the trials of their execution, and prevented him from sinking into an effortless despondency, upon the failure of his fondest hopes-the destruction of long-cherished speculations? It was the habitual converse, the uninterrupted intercourse which he held, from the first dawn of infancy to the latest throb of life, with all that is grand,

and sublime, and elevating, in the material universe. That grandeur of feeling, had its rise, growth, and maturity, from the soul-awakening contemplation of the far descending cataract, which, shooting from a mountain's marble brow, falls, flaked with foam, embossed with bubbling froth, with hoarse-tongued thundering din, to abysses-fathomless and void. That sublimity of conception, dawned upon the opening mind, when the first impression was received of night's "proud heraldry". the "burning blazonry of God!" That patient endurance of fatigue and deprivation-from the necessities and trials so intimately and inseparably connected, with the migrations of an uncivilized and uncultivated people.

What is it that nerves the savage warrior, to bear, amidst the fiendish exultations and brutal triumph of his foes, the most revolting barbarities—the acutest suffering -the most agonizing pains, and not betray the torture of the soul-the throes of exhausted nature-by an involuntary groan;-no! nor the slightest convulsion of a nerve? which enables him to raise the war-song of his tribe, with an unpalsied lip, and an unquivering tone? It is the bright and animating hope, of meeting with a better state beyond the grave; where pastures will be fresher, and rivers brighter-and game more abounding, and where the white man will not come! Whence springs this expectation, so powerful-so enduring? Whence gathered this untutored savage, his hopes of an hereafter? It was from observing the phenomena of nature—from reflecting upon the revolutions of the very forest, under whose high arcades and thick embowering shade he erects his lowly cabin. He observes, that, if the icy breath of winter comes as a blast from the desert, and lays their green heads low, yet the spring returns with its showers, and the mantle of verdure is spread. Yes, it is from perusing the varied page of nature, that he is taught to direct his views beyond the dark curtain of the tomb; and to sustain, with unyielding fortitude, all that malice can inflict.

Now, let us change the picture, and view the pale and sickly habitants of a closely-piled and thickly crowded city,-shut out from the painted meads, the broomy knolls and clear blue streams, and excluded from the freshening breeze of heaven and the cheery glances of the sun.

See! the pallid train of sufferers issuing, wan and haggard, from the close confinement of some living sepulchre,

which swallows up the victims offered to the Moloch of an inordinate lust of gain-in whose thick and stagnant atmosphere, pestilence and desolation, sit and brood, till, thick encrusted with disease and death, they spread their fatal wings-rustle their poisoned plumes-and, taking their baneful flight, settle over the death-devoted citythen flap their heavy pinions, full charged with death, and shower down to earth, destruction, plague, and woe! Oh! once more gaze upon that exhausted crew!-disheartened, wearied, spiritless, they return to the bosom of their homes, from the dirt and loathsomeness of the manufactory, worn out with the labour and hardship of the day; but, no fond smile there meets the wearied man, to welcome back the guardian of the social hearth-no childish lispings break upon the ear, and drive away the harpies of despair, that home is the miserable purlieus of a workhouse-that greeting is the intoxicated laugh of the debauchee!

Whence, then, are to spring the defenders of a country's rights? Can the glad beam of liberty find access to such a care-worn breast, and charm away the ravening tooth of famine? Can that tortured frame possess a mind, with strength to dare, and power to resolve?

The mind turns in upon itself, and feeds upon its own sorrow; despondency usurps the place of the elasticity of youth; till, wrapped in the gloomy void of Atheism, the victim to sordid gain and illicit pleasure, breaks through all the restraints of virtue-forsakes the paths into which his feet were guided, in the unstained period of his boyhood, and unites himself with the degenerate beings, whose whole existence is a practical commentary on the words, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."

Unitarian Controversy in Alnwick.

We introduced to the notice of our readers, No. 5, page 188, the advertisement by the Rev. W. Procter, and the excellent answer of Mr. Wright. Mr. Procter seems determined to maintain his "blushing honours," and to do all in his power to bring ridicule and disgrace on the cause he pleads, and the University which educated him. The following extracts will show his lamentable spirit.