Is it asked "what shall be done, and how shall these urgent wants be supplied?" We can only say, for we should deem it presumption to say more, it is for the authorities and the patrons of the college to consider. But if we may be permitted a suggestion, it would be, that provision be made for the appointment of a public preacher and pastor for the university, who should have the whole office of the religious worship and instruction; who should not only preach on Sundays to the members of the college, but should at other times and in various ways be devoted to their religious and moral culture, as their teacher and pastor; who would visit in the families of his congregation, and, as far as might be expedient or practicable, encourage personal intercourse with the students. Such an one might come to them with an influence, unmixed with academic restraints or associations, and be the minister to successive generations of the sons of Harvard, of spiritual blessings, in comparison of which mere intellectual glory and the richest stores of human knowledge are of little worth.

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F. P.

ART. VI.-Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Lant Carpenter, LL. D., with Selections from his Correspondence. Edited by his Son, RUSSELL LANT CARPENTER, B. A. Bristol: Philp & Evans. London: Green, Newgate St. 1842. 8vo.

pp. 516. More

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THOSE, who have long been familiar with the name and writings of the late Dr. Carpenter, will greet with pleasure these memoirs by the hand of his son. They will eagerly turn to the pages, that shall give them trustworthy memorials of one, for whose character they have conceived, from his works, the highest respect. No name, among modern English Unitarians, is heard with more respect, on this side the Atlantic, than that of Carpenter. They will not be disappointed on

reading the volume before us; no otherwise, at least, we are very certain, than by the new claims, by which they will be surprised, upon their veneration and love. Many among us have had the happiness in their travels abroad, to know personally one, whom they had before known through his writings, and by familiar intercourse, face to face, to become acquainted with traits of character, and qualities both of the mind and heart, which raised him still higher in their affections, but to which others, not enjoying the same opportunities, remained strangers._The biography of the son places us all on the same footing. They, who read the book, will feel as if they had seen and known the man. And if its readers express any regret on finishing the reccord, it will be, we will venture to predict, that more complete and minute details of some parts of his father's life were not given, rather than that in any part they have exceeded a just and proper measure. From his letters, for example, and his diaries, we would gladly have seen more copious selections, as throwing the clearest and strongest light upon his religious character, the great interest of the volume, - and bringing the reader into a closer personal union with him, than can possibly be done in any other way. And, in the whole of Dr. Carpenter's character, there was such a beautiful truthfulness and simplicity, such perfect honesty, that we are sure, a line of his most private meditations or devotions could not have been printed, that would have had any other effect than to increase our general admiration of the man, and of these very qualities in particular. They were too genuine in him for any contradiction of them to be apprehended in anything he ever wrote. Often in the biographies of religious men, the "Diary" is that very thing, from which we shrink with distrust, because the general character wanted truth, and the record therefore must want it. But in the case of Dr. Carpenter, we look with eagerness for his own words in relation to himself, as the best possible authority; there is such a stamp of absolute honesty on the whole character, we feel that we can confide in him even better than another.

We do not make these remarks by way of complaint. Far from it. We think the son has completed his difficult, yet pleasing task, in a way that must satisfy his friends, and his father's friends, at home and abroad. He has given a true and faithful likeness, we are led to believe, of his parent, and,

In

at the same time, furnished a model of Christian excellence, on which all, but especially the young student of theology, may fix their eyes and gain wisdom and strength. his preface he expresses the apprehension, lest the natural partiality of a son should endanger or corrupt the truth of his representations, and unfit him for the task he had undertaken. This ground of fear is so obvious and so natural, that we suspect the effect of it in practice would be, that while guarding against error on one side, he would fall into as great or greater on the other, and paint his picture with colors far more timid and cold than even a stranger would have used. We cannot say that in the present instance the true medium has not been hit and preserved, for we had no personal knowledge of the subject of this biography, and have no other judgment than such as we have been enabled to form from a perusal of his works. But we can easily conceive, that the sensitiveness of so near a relation would naturally enough have the effect of which we speak. We should sooner look for partiality or flattery in a friend, or acquaintance, than in a son.

Without further preface, we shall proceed to offer a sketch of the life of Dr. Carpenter, relying for our materials entirely upon the volume before us.

Dr. Carpenter was born at Kidderminster, Sept. 2, 1780, the third son of George Carpenter, a carpet manufacturer of that place. Of his father little is said. The mother is described as a 66 woman of great natural vivacity, warm and affectionate feelings, and trustful piety, and remarkable for her cheerful endurance and perserverance in the midst of difficulties," and from her he seems to have inherited some of the best qualities which afterward distinguished him. His father, while he was yet quite young, proving unfortunate in business, left Kidderminster, and his youngest son was adopted by a friend and relative of the family, a Mr. Pearsall, intelligent, benevolent, and religious, yet, with all his excellent qualities, hardly making up, we imagine, for the separation from his mother. These new circumstances were, however, on the whole, quite propitious to the manly growth of his character. A Sunday School was established by his guardian on his estate, about the same time, it is observed, that Raikes founded the institution at Gloucester, and without any knowledge of his movements. Young Carpenter took part in the school as

teacher of the poor children, and, as an instance of how truly it may be said, that the " man is in the boy," it may be mentioned, that being extremely desirous to give to some of his scholars a more complete instruction than the time on Sunday afforded, he persuaded them to rise at four o'clock every morning, and devote an hour to study before commencing the day's labor at five, and this, at eleven years of age. Of his character at this period an elder brother says, "he was the type of what he was in after life— good, aimiable, and kind, always trying to please and make others happy, (and he always succeeded,) exerting his energies in instructing the ignorant, and, as far as he had the power, in adding to the virtue and happiness of the world. During the whole of his early years he did not live with his family; and his occasional visits were always hailed with joy, by the whole of us-certainly enthusiastically so by myself."

After an experience of various teachers from this time to his 17th year, it was then determined to place him as a student in the Dissenting Academy at Northampton, it always having been the purpose of the gentleman who had adopted him to educate him for the ministry. This was the same institution which, formerly at Daventry, was under the charge of Doddridge, Ashworth, Belsham, &c. It seems, at this time, to have been a wretched institution every way. The trustees, having been thoroughly alarmed by the desertion of Mr. Belsham over to the ranks of the enemy, and by the heresies that were creeping in among the students, imported a classical tutor from Scotland to restore the endangered orthodoxy of the school, of whom and his fitness for his office Mr. Carpenter thus wrote at the time to a friend. "His only recommendation seems to have been his high Calvinism. The students soon discovered his utter incapacity to instruct them; he was accustomed to employ literal English translations; when any of the class was unable to proceed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he did not know how to assist them, and by his gross mistakes incurred the contempt of the young men." No wonder such an institution was soon broken up. Even of the head of the institution, a Dr. Horsey of Northampton, of whom Dr. Carpenter in his letters speaks with great respect, it is yet said, that the lectures on Pneumatology, which he delivered, 66 were originally composed by Dr. Doddridge, but afterward greatly amended and enlarged by Mr. Belsham, VOL. XXXII. - 3D s. VOL. XIV. NO. I.

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by whom they were left as heirlooms to the Northampton Academy." Truly, a most convenient practice.

Things growing no better under the new Scotch teacher, but heterodoxy rather improving than otherwise, the trustees, losing all patience, suddenly dissolved the Academy. Of Mr. Carpenter, at this period, Dr. Horsey thus speaks; "Recollecting distinctly and vividly the impressions which lie back forty years and more, I would say that what struck me most in the mind and manners of my lost friend, at the age I first knew him, even more if possible than his intelligence, were his gentleness and sweetness, and the character of sanctity, natural, native, wholly unassumed and unassuming; there seemed to be one path of life suited to him that which he chose." Under Mr. Pearsall, a Unitarian, Mr. Carpenter had been educated in his own opinions; but while in Northampton, in a reply to a letter from an orthodox uncle, he says, "certainly, Sir, I have not studied the doctrine nor the evidences of Christianity; nor have I made up my mind on any of the systems of Christianity except the tenets of Calvinism." Being charged at the same time by the trustees with being a Socinian, he says, "from what source they drew this information I cannot tell; though I own that I was more decided in my opinions, and further from what is called moderation, than I am at present." From these hints it is pleasant to learn, that although he had been educated under strict Unitarian influences, he had not servilely adopted fixed opinions, but still considered himself as of the class of "Seekers."

Upon leaving Northampton, where, though the institution was wholly incompetent to meet the wants of those who resorted to it, he had, through his own active, untiring industry, made good progress in study, after much anxious deliberation, he determined in favor of Glasgow as the place where he would complete his education. Here, at length, during three years, he enjoyed excellent opportunities of study under amiable and perfectly competent professors. Of his literary progress we can take no note further than to say, that at the close of the course he left the institution with its highest honors. We can attend only to the state of his mind and opinions. Soon after arriving at Glasgow he was seized with a serious illness, which, while it seems to have left no evil traces on his constitution, was beneficial in its effects on his mind and heart. "In the days and weeks of solitude," says his biographer, “during