6

laughter, as their fathers with grotesque humor narrate the hardships and strange adventures of their early settlement, or dwell upon their favorite theme, the wonders of the old country, and especially the preeminence of Ireland,' against which all their anger is now forgotten. At length the time for retiring has come; apples and cider, after taking their station for a time upon the hearth, are served up. And now (for the guests, though neighbours, are expected to remain till morning) a candle is lighted; the big Bible is brought out, the oldest man receives it with reverence, and after reading a chapter with a voice of peculiar and unaffected solemnity, all join in prayer, and the elder people withdraw. Now is the time for the young. No longer with suppressed laughter, but with loud and boisterous merriment, the evening is prolonged. The call from the sleepers, whose slumbers they have broken, produces only a momentary check. How long they sit up nobody knows; but before light the young men are gone, for they must spend the day in the woods. The common mode of neighbourly visiting among the women was, to go in the morning, carrying with them, not unfrequently a mile or more, their little wheels, and returning before dark; thus enjoying all the advantages of good fellowship without loss of time.”

NOTES ON SCRIPTURE.

HERE is a little book reprinted by the family of the late Dr. Carpenter from the sheets which he had prepared for his "catechetical classes." Imperfect as it is, it is valuable; but it particularly reminds me of the efforts of this faithful minister of Christ to diffuse among his people and others a knowledge of the Christian Scriptures. The title of the volume is—" Notes and Observations explanatory of the first part of the Gospel History: with Remarks introductory to the New Testament, and Questions for Catechetical Instruction." Let me copy one short note.

"The expression, 'holy Spirit,' or 'spirit of God,' denotes in the Scriptures the agency, power or influence of God, in whatever way exerted, and in particular his miraculous agency and divine inspiration. Those holy and devout dispositions, which spring from the influence of God or of religious principle, are also devoted by the term 'holy spirit' or 'spirit of God.' Sometimes the Holy Spirit' seems to denote God himself; just as we say the 'Divine Mind.' Sometimes 'spirit' denotes the spiritual and intellectual part of our nature, in opposition to the flesh '—the animal desires and passions."

W. et AL.

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

THE CHRISTIAN PATRIARCH. A Memoir of Deacon John Whitman; who died at East Bridgewater, Mass., July, 1842, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven years and three months. By Rev. Jason Whitman, Pastor of the Second Unitarian Society, Portland, Me. Boston: William Crosby & Co. 1843. pp. 101, 18mo.

THE simple fact, that the subject of this Memoir attained to the extraordinary age of one hundred and seven years, and during nearly the whole of that period enjoyed his faculties, both bodily and mental, in healthful action, would seem of itself a good reason for presenting to the public some account of his habits of life. The information needful to gratify reasonable curiosity in this respect is contained in the book before us. But the author informs us, that his chief motive in writing was the desire of presenting to the community, especially to that portion of it sometimes denominated the middle rank of society, to which Deacon Whitman belonged, an example worthy of imitation. Such an example we have in the work he has given us; and it cannot fail, we think, to exert a salutary influence on a large class of readers. The concluding chapter contains a description, a just one in our view, of the practical effects which the study of such a character is suited to produce; and we cannot, perhaps, better indicate the value of the book, small though it be, than by repeating the lessons which Mr. Whitman draws from his father's life. 1. It will serve to awaken a deeper sense of the importance of an earnest attention to the religious education of children. 2. It will tend to deepen the conviction, that "the way in which men may secure great moral strength-deep, calm, and enduring inward peace, and outward universal respect," is adherence to principle, to the dictates of conscience. They need not be discontented with their condition in life. They need not seek to go out of that condition or to rise above it; they have only to draw their rules of duty from the word of God, and to cherish and manifest an unwavering devotion to the decisions of their individual consciences." 3. It illustrates

"the importance of Christian charity. There was never, perhaps, a higher and more consistent example of this than Deacon Whitman." "It is delightful," says his son, and we may add, "it must be profitable, to turn aside from sectarian controversy and hate, "and dwell, for a time, upon the character of one who, through a long life, and amid the warmest disputes and contentions going on around him, maintained a uniform and consistent devotion to his own principles, to his own views of Christian doctrine, while, at the same time, he was equally uniform and consistent in his enlarged charity toward others." 4. It teaches "the importance of a correct view of the true object of life." "With Deacon Whitman, the object of life was a cultivation of the spirit, the formation and maintenance of a religious character, the preparation for spiritual joys beyond the grave." And in his life, especially in the happi

ness of its latter years, we see verified the declaration of the wise man, Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' "There never, perhaps, was an individual who enjoyed religion more highly and more uniformly. His enjoyment consisted not in ecstasies and raptures, but in calm and serene cheerfulness. It was the natural result of his Christian character."

Mr. Whitman's account of his father's habits of life shows him to have been a man regular and temperate, but not abstemious in his mode of living; of a singularly equal frame of mind, and therefore free from the unhappy effects which circumstances often produce upon persons of an ardent temperament; and in the exercise of the habitual religious principle and trust, which tend directly to prolong the life that now is, as well as to secure the happiness of the life to come. In his religious opinions Deacon Whitman was a Trinitarian, and "some things would seem to authorise his being classed with Calvinists;" but he refused to belong to any party, and wholly disapproved of both the feelings and measures of exclusionists. Mr. Whitman quotes many decisives evidences of his father's independence and liberality. We wish that in this, as well as other respects his "example may exert its appropriate influence upon the hearts of all those who become acquainted with it, and thereby may the Christian Patriarch, though dead, still speak."

THIRTY YEARS' MINISTRY. Two Sermons, preached in Dover, Massachusetts, September 18, 1842. By Ralph Sanger, A. M. Pastor of the First Church in Dover. Published by request. Boston. 1843. pp. 24, 8vo.

THESE Sermons have necessarily a local, rather than a general interest, but as the history of a diligent ministry, extending over more than a quarter of a century, in one of the most quiet villages of New England, they will afford a pleasant hour to any reader. They relate the changes which thirty years have made in the congregation, and town, and neighborhood in which Mr. Sanger has resided. In the language of the Prophet (Zechariah i. 5.) he asks, “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?" Of these last-the prophets, or teachers, with whom he was surrounded, the ministers of the association which he joined after his ordination-he "alone remains." All the rest 66 have been removed by death or otherwise." Among the inhabitants of the place Mr. Sanger notices the changes which death has made, in such a manner as strikingly illustrates the truth that mortality belongs to every age and condition of life. The statistics which he presents, however, show Dover to be a healthful place. Within the period which he reviews twenty-five had died between seventy and eighty years of age; twenty-three, between eighty and ninety; ten above ninety; two were ninety-five, and "one had reached the great age of ninety-eight;"-in a population of only 520. Changes in the households of his parishioners, arising from happier causes than death; changes in the church; changes in the condition of the common schools, indicating improvement and interest; changes in the condition of the religious Society, as they have passed through trial and disaster, yet have retained their integrity and stability; changes in the vicinity, which mark the restlessness of our times; changes too in wider circles of human action,—all these are made subjects of observation. It is a chapter of changes which the pastor of a single church has here given his people and friends-an instructive chapter, from the reading of which we have risen with a deepened sense of the familiar lesson, which the pulpit is continually yet with so little effect inculcating, of the uncertainty of all earthly things.

EVILS OF SECTARIANISM.

A Sermon, preached at Fitchburg, Sunday, April 9, 1843. By Calvin Lincoln, Minister of the First Congregational Society in Fitchburg. Printed by request. Fitchburg. 1843. pp. 20, 8vo.

MR. LINCOLN has here furnished a pertinent and useful pamphlet on the evils which grow out of party spirit in religion. From the incident recorded by Mark, (ix. 38, 39,) when Jesus rebuked the intemperate zeal of his disciples who forbade another to cast out demons because he followed not them, he shows how different a spirit actuated Jesus from that which governed his followers, when he was on earth. Unkind feelings and bitter jealousies have since prevailed among those who bear his name, and it is the object of this discourse to exhibit the mournful fruits of such division among brethren. It is neither from indifference to his own opinions, nor from a desire to repress inquiry or prevent discussion, that he treats the subject, but in the hope of guarding his people against the approach and power of such a mischief-worker. He specifies six evils, each in itself the title to a long list of evils, of which sectarianism is the source. First, "it is in direct opposition to the spirit of our religion"—to the benevolence and the humility which Christianity enjoys. Secondly, it renders them whom it controls "unjust to the religious principles and practices of surrounding Christians." Thirdly, it "produces false taste and wrong expectations in reference to the design and services of the Lord's day”—making the people assemble as controversialists rather than as Christians. Fourthly, it has an unhappy "influence on the minds of a large class who have never thoroughly investigated the authority and the principles of Christianity, and who have no just views of the value of Christian institutions"-inclining them to universal skepticism. Fifthly, it is "unfavorable to the progress of religious knowledge, and to a free and impartial examination of the sources of doctrinal truth," by diverting attention from the practical principles and life-giving truths of Christianity to points of doubtful disputation, and by clogging the mind with other influences than the love of truth and the weight of evidence. Finally, it has an injurious effect" on the intercourse of social and domestic life,"-bringing into exercise turbulent passions and creating feelings of distrust.