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may be regarded as another proof of the demand which thinking men in France are beginning to make for a pure and spiritual religion, in unison with an improved philosophy and sound reason.

According to our author,* there has, in fact, been but one religion in the world. Revealed at three successive periods, it has not changed in passing from one revelation to another; it has only been more fully developed and manifested with increased authority and light. In the Gospel, it is not expressed in the same manner as in the Mosaic dispensation; nor in that, as in the primitive tradition; it is displayed in a purer and more complete form, in the teachings of Jesus, than in the teachings of Moses, and in the teachings of Moses, than in the imperfect language of the first man. But under these forms, it is always in reality the same; it retains the same fundamental truths, though differently expressed at different ages. Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian, at successive steps, it is perfected by being renewed. All the parts are connected; one prepares for the other; and when the fulness of time arrives, Christ advances the work of Moses, as Moses had that of Adam. The only difference is that which exists between the man and the prophet, between the prophet and the Son of God. The Son of God has done more than the man, more than the prophet; he has spoken with more authority, but he has not contradicted them, and the truth which he announced, is what they had announced before him; with this difference only, that it came from his lips with greater purity and power. In this sense, the human race has always had the same religion, though it has not always been manifested in the same way.

'From this view of our author, we derive the important idea of a new religious development. It is the natural consequence of the manner in which he regards the subject. According to him, religion has been manifested at three different epochs, which to this moment have shared between them the religious life of the human race. Will not the time also arrive, when what is mysterious and obscure in the last manifestation, will be displayed in a clear and intelligible light; when an improved faith, produced by Christianity and partaking of its character, will present the Christian doc

* La Mennais. We quote from Damiron's criticism on his work ontitled, Essai sur l'indifference en matière de religion,'

trines in new forms, more adapted than the preceding to the existing state of human thought? It seems to us certain that it will. We feel the need of this religious regeneration; and we have a presentiment of it. But when will it take place? What will be its character and object? This is a problem of which we are anxious to see the solution. If we may judge from premises, which though still incomplete, authorize us to venture an opinion, it appears to us that the time is not far distant, in which a new era of thought

must commence.

'As a proof of this, we need but refer to the general indifference to the old faith, of which the present age has been accused and convicted. This alone, added to the fact of a progressive developement of religion, would lead us to believe that the crisis is at hand; for indifference cannot be of long duration, and that of the present age has continued long enough to have reached its limit. It is now an hour of sleep and repose after the fatigues of an age of incredulity. The mind must soon awake and return with ardor to the truths, which have been permitted to slumber in neglect and oblivion. The mind will return to them; but not by the old paths; the truths themselves will be unaltered; their forms will be different. Faith will be founded on science; it will be the conclusion, made by reason, from the known to the unknown, from the visible to the invisible. As at the period of the first, the second and the third revelation, it would have been a strange anomaly, had theology been more philosophical than other sciences, so at the present day, it would be equally singular and contradictory, should it remain unaffected by their progress and results. We shall then study theology as we study science and philosophy. We shall study the Deity through nature and man, and a new Messiah will not be necessary to teach us miraculously, that which we shall be prepared to learn from the light of our own minds. Thanks to the christian religion under the discipline of which the human mind has arrived at the age of strength and wisdom, the education of the race is so far advanced, that we may be our own teachers, and having no longer need of an extraordinary inspiration, we may rest our faith on inquiry and knowledge.

With respect to the points of view, in which doctrines will be presented, it would be difficult to state them. We do not predict a creed; we wait for it. We can only say that in this spiritual regeneration, we shall be to christians what christians have been to the Jews, and what the Jews were to the patriarchs. We shall be

christians, but something more; we shall believe in the same God, but with enlarged views. We shall understand him better, since we shall be better instructed in his works. We shall derive our knowledge of God from that of our moral nature, and of the world around us; he manifests himself only in and through his works; he will then manifest himself more clearly to us, when we have not merely a confused and mysterious notion of his works, but an exact and real knowledge of them.

'We ought not then at this day to pass from indifference to blind faith. We cannot embrace religion, without the aids of knowledge. This would be to fail of our end and to lose our way. We must study and know better what we can of our own nature and of the external world. We must seek light from the magnificent spectacle of the universe, of which every feature, but above all, the grand whole bears witness so loudly to the Divine Artist, who has made it, and who has not only given it color, form, proportion and harmony, but has added life, action and soul. We must reason, and by that means, recover our faith. We must become enlightened, that we may become christians. We must be christians by inquiry and knowledge as our fathers were by feeling and inspiration. This is our task. Let us labor to fulfil it. It will be long; it will be difficult. But what then? our efforts will not be lost, for we repeat it, enlightened science is the parent of religion. Let us labor, but without prejudice, without party spirit, and the improvement of knowledge will lead to the improvement of religion.'

R.

UNITARIAN DEDICATION AND ORDINATIONS.

Nov. 3. The new Unitarian Church in Provincetown, dedicated. Prayers by Mr Davis, Pastor elect. Sermon, by Mr Hersey of Barnstable.

Nov. 10. Mr James Augustus Kendall, from the Cambridge Theological School, ordained as Minister of the First Congregational Church and Society in

Medfield. Introductory prayer, by Mr Allen of Northborough; Reading of the Scriptures, by Mr Hosmer of Northfield; Sermon, by Dr Kendall of Plymouth; Ordaining prayer, by Dr Ripley of Concord; Charge, by Mr Clarke of Norton; Right Hand of Fellowship, by Mr Wells of Kennebunk, Me; Address to the people, by Mr Ripley of Boston; Concluding prayer, by Mr Clarke of Sherburne.

Nov. 17. Mr William Barry, from the Theological School in Cambridge, ordained as Pastor of the South Congregational Church and Society in Lowell. Introductory prayer, by Mr Francis of Watertown. Reading of the Scriptures, by Mr White of Littleton ; Sermon, by Dr Lowell of Boston; Ordaining prayer, by Dr Eaton of Boxford; Charge, by Mr Allen of Chelmsford; Right hand of Fellowship, by Mr Barlow of Lynn; Address to the people, by Dr Thayer of Lancaster; Concluding prayer, by Mr Loring of Andover.

At the close of 1830, the number of Unitarian ministers settled during the year over Unitarian societies in New England will be about twenty-four; equal, on an average, to two a month. Most of them received their theological education at the Cambridge Divinity School.

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