and to most unwearied zeal. They cannot throw out random assertions without being called upon for proof. They are compelled by a constant influence from without, to look into the intricacies of the subject they discuss. The people are in the habit of demanding reasons, not assertions; and the acceptable preacher must be prepared with his strong reasons, and be ready to meet objections.-Pp. 66-69.

We would by no means deprecate the zealous tone of the above paragraphs. Doubtless the writer is in earnest, and doubtless he states not only what he believes, but what he observes. Still, whether New England's ministers be more zealous or not than Old England's ministers, the institutions of New England do not suit the constitutions of Old England; nor do we think, that if introduced amongst us, there would be even half as much orthodoxy as there is on the other side of the Atlantic; for whatever may be the proportion of the orthodox there, we hope, for the sake of conscience, the proportion here is somewhat more than a twelfth of the entire population, even if, like Americans, we manufacture upwards of five millions of professors for the occasion.

Our object is not to give an abstract of this volume, but merely to make an extract here and there agreeable to our subject: and, therefore, we shall leave the volume as we find it, with the sole exception of the passages implied.

The chapter on the much talked-of subject of "The Revival,"* though abounding in statements of a sober and sensible kind, a striking contrast to the caricature in Mrs. Trollope's America, we must pass over for want of room, merely taking the last sentences as satisfactory and sufficient.

If we ought to rejoice to see the worldly become spiritual, the profane prayerful, the impure chaste; if we ought to rejoice to see the family altar erected, the Sabbath obeyed, and the commands of God honoured; then ought we to rejoice with exceeding great joy over the result of this revival of religion. If there be any such thing as evidence of penitence, and amendment of life, we think it is to be perceived in many, who then resolved to forsake all known sin, and to live to the glory of God. We do therefore feel it to be our privi lege to share in that joy which we believe was awakened in heaven, as the angels there looked down upon the affecting scene of repenting sinners.P. 98.

But we quote with much gratification the opening sentence of the fifth chapter on "Slavery."

It may seem strange, that the subject of slavery is taken up in a treatise upon New England and her Institutions. There is not a slave in New England.— P. 90.

This chapter on slavery shews more strongly than any thing we have ever read the utter unfitness of such a constitution as the United States

Dr. Hecker, in his work on the Epidemics of the Middle Ages (Part II. On the Dancing Mania, p. 163, &c.) attributes the nervous excitement of these Revivals to a mental disturbance and epidemical insanity.—Vide Babington's Translation of Hecker.

enjoy, to confer what the inhabitants of those states so much boast of— liberty. The tyranny of opinion in England is bad enough, but the tyranny of law in America is ten times worse. The fact is, that though bound together by the Union, each state is independent of its neighbour, and of the whole as a body and therefore it follows, that legally no act of the Union can do that which all but one might wish. Slavery, then, may keep its hold in Carolina, whilst New England is free; and the extraordinary contrast be exhibited, which our author has so forcibly depicted.

The prospect before us is a dark one. Our only hope is in the interposition of that God who has already carried us through so many scenes of danger. The Lord has not a few in the land, who are the self-denying followers of his Son. Their prayers are daily directed to Him, that he will avert the approaching calamity. It cannot, it must not be that our country will long be disgraced with so foul a stain. Such a comment upon our declaration of independence; such a caricature of our loud vaunted freedom; cannot long be endured. God is overwhelming us with shame, in view of the inconsistency. The clanking of chains are heard at the very door of our Capitol. The negro-driver cracks his whip, as he passes the senators and representatives in the streets of Washington. The husband and the wife, the mother and the child, are sold at public auction in our southern cities, and by the power of the lash, torn from each other's embrace, and carried into hopeless bondage, never again to meet.-P. 105.

It is well known, that on the coast of Africa there is a colony called Liberia, where the slaves are sent to be emancipated, in order to avoid the effect of the laws respecting the detention of slaves in servitude, which by the law of the Union is a necessity, if they remain in America. Opposed to this Colonization and the Anti-Slavery Society, both of which are endeavouring to obtain the emancipation of the blacks, though, perhaps, differing somewhat as to the means to be employed, are the vast body of slave-owners, who hold in subjection "two millions of slaves," (p. 101,) and in an inferior degree of subjection (for a free black man in America is despised and slighted, and refused even the common intercourse of society,)* 300,000 free blacks. It is certain that colonizing Africa with them will never destroy slavery in America; for as the Anti-Slavery Society itself says-" While 150 free blacks have been sent to Africa in a year, 200 slaves have been born in a day. To remedy this evil, 60,000 a year must be transported." If the charges which are brought against Liberia be true, that vice reigns there unchecked, that pestilence is borne on every breeze; we certainly must agree, that the slave-trade is no worse, if not better, than the colonization scheme. But, be this as it may, there is a door of hope opened, in the impression which is made now upon the feelings of America in this respect.

Mr. Latrobe gives a striking proof of this, in an account of letting a pew belonging to a free black man, Vol. II.

Can such things (asks our author) long exist in a land of Bibles and of Sabbaths, and of the preached gospel? At this enlightened period of the world, and in a country feeling, as America does, the influence of the light, and the learning, and the piety of all other lands, is it possible that slavery, in all these, its most revolting features, can long be sustained? It surely is impossible. Some means must be, and will be devised to remove the curse, and to let the oppressed go free.

The noble stand which England has made, with all her heavy burden of debt, in assuming new and weighty responsibilities, that the slaves of her colonies may be liberated, has produced an impression in this country, which can never be obliterated. It has quickened the zeal of those who were already zealous. It has aroused the slumbering energies of many who have heretofore been dormant. It has given to our country a solitude of eminence in guilt, which is far from enviable. When we rather rudely and unaffectionately tore away from the arms of our good mother, the empress of the ocean, she bequeathed to us this sad inheritance. And we have in some degree felt sustained by the reflection, that our slaves were the gift of a mother, who, notwithstanding our little bickerings, we do all most highly revere. And when we have seen that same parent, with all her maturity of wisdom and goodness of heart, fostering her affectionate children, who have remained submissive to her will, by the same gifts, we have felt strengthened by her example. It is natural for children to imitate the parent. But now, when we have seen our mother, who certainly if not proud, is very high-spirited, fall humbly upon her knees, and confess her faults, and take away from her children the possessions which she had fraudulently obtained, we feel sadly, sadly troubled. And in this her confessional, she compels us to respect her still more highly, by the magnanimity she shows, in fully remunerating her children, for the gifts she feels in conscience bound to take away.-Pp. 105-107.

Passing by this encomium upon the mother country, which we will say, with honest pride, whatever motives may have prompted the act of legislature, she deserves, (for assuredly the emancipation scheme was a noble one, however it may work at present,) we shall conclude our extracts from this chapter, with another passage upon the same subject.

There are, of course, in New England, as every where else, individuals who are wrapt up entirely in their own selfish interests, and care nothing for this subject or any other, which relates to the wrongs of the oppressed. These generally sneer at the efforts of both the above-mentioned societies, and call their supporters fools, for meddling with that which is none of their business. But the number of these is diminishing. There is too much light to be shut out. Conscience speaks too loudly to be silenced. Facts, most appalling and frightful, in view of which the finger of scorn is justly pointed at our boasted liberties, are continually spread out before the world. The slave-dealer goes unmolested in the land. The mother is robbed of her child, and there is no rescue. The clanking of chains is heard upon the persons of those who have committed no crime, and the lash falls upon the bleeding backs of those who are exposed to the irrepressible fury of a passionate driver. The virgin is violated, and there are none to deliver; nay, none to heed her complaint. But now the press begins to lift its voice in louder and still louder thundersthe pulpit begins to plead more earnestly-the mind of the community is excited, intensely excited, and it will not again be stilled, till the year of jubilee has come, and the slaves go free.-Pp. 108, 109.*

The North American Review for July, 1835, received since this was written, has the following expressive sentiments at the close of an interesting paper on "Slavery," (p. 198):

"That we must be rid of slavery at some day, seems to be the decided conviction

This chapter has occupied us some time, and with it we must quit the pleasing work in which it is found, to illustrate the other portions which we have noticed by a reference to the last of the four works which head our paper. Yet before we do so, we will mention that the recent affrays in America respecting slavery, are said to have been instigated by some observations of Mr. O'Connell, in the House of Commons. Our informant is a priest of the Romish Church, who has means of ascertaining pretty accurately the state of things connected with his church. If such be the case, we gain by it two helps in our investigation of the times—the one is, that slavery is on the decline in America, and the other, that popery is in the ascendant not only here, but across the Atlantic. The account of the slave insurrection of August 21, 1831, as given by the author of " New England," we have no room for.

The subject upon which the author of "The National Church Vindicated" (which is merely an analysis of the famous Glasgow Petition,) has written, naturally led him to America; and a great portion of his arguments as to the influence and spread of religion there, is taken from Dr. Dwight and other writers in New England, who have supplied objections incontrovertible to the voluntary non-legislative system.

Some remarks here may be adduced concerning the effects of the voluntary system in America; for the continual cry of the advocates of that system is, To look at America." We therefore do look at that country, and perceive therein the failure and deplorable effects of their darling system, in spite of all the immense advantages which that country possesses for such a system, compared to our own, where an Establishment has always existed to furnish the means of enjoying the blessings of religious worship to the poorest and the most needy. In America, they never had any such national establishment, and virtually, they never had a national religion! In framing their constitution, they appear to have entirely omitted both the interests of religion, and their duty to the Almighty! The general government there profess a liberal indifference, whether there be any religion in the country, or none! And, surely, if what these Memorialists say is true, respecting the cause of Christianity being retarded in its progress, and dishonoured by the protection and fostering care of government, surely it ought to flourish in America till it covers the whole of that land, as the waters cover the sea."

But what

is the fact of the case?" The population is in a deplorable state, from the want of the means of hearing the gospel preached." There are millions of souls in the midst of the working of this most wonderful voluntary system, "utterly destitute of all religious ordinances and worship."

"In the United States," says Mr. Bristed," there is no National Church established, no lay patronage, no system of tithes. The people call their minister; few churches having sufficient funds to dispense with the receipts of contribution by the congregation. The law enforces the contract between the pastor and his flock, and requires the people to pay the stipulated salary, so

of almost every honest mind. But when, or how this is to be, God only knows. If in a struggle for this end the Union should be dissolved, it needs not the gift of prophecy to foresee that our country will be plunged into that gulf which, in the language of another, 'is full at once of the fire and the blood of civil war, and of the thick darkness of political disgrace, ignominy, and ruin.'"

This, let us remember, is the language not of an Englishman, but an American.

long as the Clergyman performs his parochial duty, according to the agreement between him and his parishioners. The general government has no power to interfere with, or regulate the religion of the Union; and the States generally have not legislated, further than to incorporate, with certain restrictions, such religious bodies as have applied for charters. In consequence of this entire indifference on the part of the State government, full ONE THIRD of our whole population are destitute of all religious ordinances, and a much greater proportion in our southern and western districts. The late President of the College, Dr. Dwight, declared in 1812, that there were three millions of souls in the United States entirely destitute of all religious ordinances and worship. It is also asserted, by good authority, that in the southern and western states societies exist, built on the model of the Transalpine Clubs in Italy, and the Atheistic assemblies of France and Germany; and like them, incessantly labouring to root out every vestige of Christianity."-Pp. 63-66.

One more extract may be given, in conclusion, from a profusion of a similar nature at hand. It is taken from the pen of one of the latest of our numerous writers on America; but one whose cool, dispassionate, and apparently impartial view of his subject, together with his acknowledged genius and talent, entitled it to a preference before almost any other. "In the country," says Mr Hamilton, " differences of religious opinion rend society into shreds and patches, varying in every thing of colour, form, and texture. In a village, the population of which is barely sufficient to fill one church, and support one Clergyman, the inhabitants are either forced to want religious ministration altogether; or the followers of different sects must agree on some compromise, by which each yields up some portion of his creed, to satisfy the objection of his neighbour. This breeds argument, dispute, and bitterness of feeling. The Socinian will not object to an Arian Clergyman, but declines having any thing to do with a supporter of the Trinity. The Calvinist will consent to tolerate the doctrine of free agency, if combined with that of absolute and irrespective decrees." And thus with other sects. But who is to inculcate such a jumble of discrepant and irreconcilable doctrines? No one can shape his doctrine according to the anomalous and piebald creed prescribed by such a congregation, and the practical result is, that some one sect becomes victorious for a time; jealousies deepen into antipathies; and what is called an opposition church, probably springs up in the village. Still harmony is not restored. The rival Clergymen attack each other from the pulpit, newspapers are enlisted on either side; and religious warfare is waged with the bitterness, if not the learning, which has distinguished the controversies of abler polemics."

"There is one advantage of an Established Church which only those, perhaps, who have visited the United States can duly appreciate. In England, a large body of highly educated gentlemen annually issue from the universities, to discharge the duties of the clerical office throughout the kingdom. By these means a certain stability is given to religious opinion; and even those who dissent from the Church, are led to judge of their pastors by a higher standard, and to demand a greater amount of qualification, than is ever thought of in a country like the United States. The result is undoubtedly of the highest benefit to the community. The light of the Established Church penetrates to the chapel of the dissenter, and there is a moral check on religious extravagance, the operation of which is not the less efficacious, because it is silent and unperceived by those on whom its influence is exerted.

"Religion is not one of those articles, the supply of which may be left to be regulated by the demand. The necessity for it is precisely greatest when the demand is least; and a government neglects its first and highest duty, which fails to provide for the spiritual, as well as the temporal wants of its subjects." -Pp. 69-71.

It may be truly affirmed, that the system of supporting the cause of religion in our own land, where the hearing of the word of God preached is freely offered to all who will accept of the blessing, is infinitely superior to that