authority should still be claimed over faith, and men be made to suffer for it; that in the pursuit of doctrinal concord, as Dr. Mason phrases it, the right of private judgment should be forgotten. The history of the church may teach us, that this doctrinal concord, the chase after which has produced little else than discord, is a beautiful vision, which may dance before our earthly eyes, but can be realized only in a more perfect state. There is a better concord of purpose and affection, for which alas, there has been too little effort, and attempts to effect which, are checked with reproachful repulse. There is the union of good will, of kindness, of mutual respect, of mutual forbearance, which is eminently the christian union, and in the spirit of which believers may easily walk helping one another;-in the spirit of which, at least, they may put aside evil speaking and reproach, and refrain from injuring, if they cannot benefit. If they cannot agree as to what is to be believed, they may at least agree as to much that is to be done. They may work together, though they may be unable to speculate together. At any rate, they may refrain from driving away any one from the common ground, on which all stand; they may suffer every man to go on-not indeed with his errors unexposed, for duty demands their exposure, but with his character and person unassailed-leaving him to his own conscience and the light which God affords him; not judging or setting at nought their brethren, but willing to wait for that day, which shall try every man's work, when we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and all need that forbearance which others have claimed from us.

We are very sensible, that all which we may urge on this topic must, of necessity, be entirely ineffectual in regard to many whom we could wish to lead to better views. We are proclaimed to the world as outcasts from the church, whose words are not to be heeded; infidels in disguise, who speak only to mislead. Be it so; yet we cannot cease from speaking. If the ears of men be closed against us, we must bear it, and can only say, there lies an appeal to Heaven. If any in their hearts believe us to be infidels, may God forgive them; the light of another world, we trust, will disclose to them their error; we cannot hope that argument or remonstrance will touch them here.-Yet, feeble and despised as our voice may be, we cannot but hope that it may reach some of that large class of our fellow christians, whose minds are not irrecoverably bound in party prejudice, and persuade them, that the essence of the gospel lies where we agree, not where we differ, and that no man has a right to make his brother suffer on account of his faith. We cannot but hope, that even the larger proportion of christians amongst us, are not yet

so dead to the vital interests of the churches, but that they may be roused by the portentous signs of the times, to unite in vindication of the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, and to rally round the banner of their threatened protestantism. Let them not shut their eyes to the attempts at ecclesiastical domination, which have been made and are still making. Let them be aware that the work of division, denunciation and exclusion is systematically going on. Let them remember the diligence, with which the hosts of orthodoxy have been gathered together the two last years to attend the Congregational Convention; the struggle which was made, and will probably be repeated, to introduce clerical discipline, to tear asunder this institution of our fathers, and make a formal and everlasting rent in the congregational church. This would be the final stroke to the work of disunion and alienation, which they have industriously carried on for years; in the course of which they have driven forth to combat in self defence, those who would willingly have lived and died in peace, and have given birth to passions and practices little congenial to the spirit of the gospel. They have supposed indeed, like Saul when he persecuted the believers, that they ought to do these things.' It is possible, that, like Saul, they may be in error. At any rate, let the friends of christian liberty, and all who desire, with pious Baxter, 'to see God's broken churches healed,' have their eye upon those who would make the malady worse and the breach more hopeless. If they believe it to be the work of God, to be promoting the interests of that kingdom which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy ghost; if they believe that it increases piety, charity, humility and meekness, and the other fruits of the spirit;' then, in God's name, let them encourage it. But if it divide the fold, and do not benefit the sheep, but teach them only to tear and devour one another; then let the hand of every devout well wisher to Christ and his cause, be raised to stay the evil; to cast down every human judgment-seat erected for the trial of faith, and maintain, as far as possible, peace and good will among men. But whatever may be the result,--and we suppose there is only one which can be rationally anticipated,--we shall have nothing to lament, but the dishonour and misery brought upon the church.*

Ask

*Divisions,' saith Baxter, are the deformities of the church. any compassionate christian, ask any insulting enemy, whether they be not our deformity and shame; the lamentation of friends, and the scorn of enemies. Who is there that converseth with the ungodly of the world, that heareth not by their reproach and scorns, how much God and religion are dishonoured by the divisions of religious people.'--And again-- The holy CONCORD of christians must be the conversion of the unbelieving world, if

We cannot suppose, indeed, that we have always been faultless in temper and expression, in the very trying part we have been called upon to act. But we have done nothing to hasten, and something at least to prevent, the disgraceful schism. If it come, we may apply with Mr. Field, the words of the patriarch, Ye thought evil against us, but God meant it for good.

ARTICLE VII.

Two Discourses, containing the history of the church and society in Cohasset. delivered December, 16, 1821; being the first Lord's day after the completion of a century, from the gathering of the church in that place, and the ordination of the first pastor; with a geographical sketch of Cohasset. By JACOB FLINT, Minister of that Town. Boston. Munroe & Francis, 1822. pp. 28.

THESE belong to a class of discourses, which have arisen from the circumstances of our history, and are in a manner peculiar to this country. We have as yet but just past the second century of our national existence, and many of our institutions have barely completed the first century. The recurrence of the hundredth year, therefore, is an epoch which naturally attracts attention, for with us it is a long old age, and it leads the mind back through a period of peculiar interest. Hence it has easily become a custom in our churches, to notice the hundreth year from their establishment by sermons adapted to the season, in which the social and religious history of the century is detailed, and the characters and labours of the ministers, and matters relating to ecclesiastical order and discipline, are recorded. It is easy to perceive that this custom may be rendered of essential advantage to the future historians of the country, by preserving much minute local information, and many traits of the manners of former periods, which might otherwise be lost. By the multiplication of these documents, men of future years will be able to discern mere distinctly the features of past times, and return to them in imagination, and live in them, with a greater feeling of reality.

God have so great a mercy for the world: which is a consideration that should not only deter us from divisions, but make us zealously study and labour with all our interest and might, for the healing the lamentable divisions among christians, if we have the hearts of christians and any sense of the interest of Christ." Christian Directory 3d. part.

New Series-vol. IV.

16

It is true that the great mass of them can be of very little general importance, and may afford nothing perhaps of direct assistance to the public historian. The inspection of local records, the story of a retired village, and the biography of humble village pastors, can hardly be supposed to render very profitable additions to the essential stock of knowledge. Yet, although, separately considered, such compilations may be of small value to any except to those whose local and family attachments give them a charm; yet, taken collectively, and considered as indicating a laudable desire to record all which can be known of our fathers, and thus extending more widely a spirit of inquiry, causing the preservation of many bundles of old manuscript, and giving a strong impulse to those who live where important events have occurred and important service is to be done to history-in this point of view, not the humblest labour is to be despised nor, the obscurest parish to be overlooked. For thus the number of those who acquire a taste for this sort of study is increased, and the channels of information and communication are multiplied, so that advantage will be taken of unexpected opportunities, which would otherwise be lost for want of some one to know their value. And in fact it is this general spread of a historical taste and custom, if we may so speak, the giving an appetite to the public for this sort of food, which will bring into existence those important works on past history, manners, and opinions, which we so much desire to see. Where public opinion calls for them, they will come forth.

No nation ever had opportunity like ours, to preserve its antiquities, and keep the chain of its history unbroken without losing a link. One would suppose, at first thought, that it would be impossible that there should be any chasm in it, or any obscurity in regard to the characters and habits of our fathers. Yet in fact darkness is beginning to creep even over our young antiquities, and they may become indistinct and uncertain as those of other nations, if care be not taken for their preservation. Now is the time when exertion should be made; half a century hence many things will be irrecoverably lost, which it is in the power of this generation to snatch from the tide which is hurrying them to oblivion. It is highly gratifying to find the attention of so many directed to this subject, and a care taken to collect papers and rare books into public depositories, and to reprint decayed and curious documents. Our Historical and Antiquarian Societies are in this way doing a great deal of silent and unobserved good. Our Athenæum heaps together treasures for future use, which are now, by an

act of most honourable munificence, placed in a situation where they can be preserved to the highest advantage.

There still remains a great deal to be done, and we do not despair of seeing it done, if the public patronage is not withdrawn, and men of education and leisure will devote themselves to the work. To say nothing of what is wanting in our national and state histories, the ecclesiastical history of New England is a subject of the deepest interest, and needs to be written. The characters and labours and opinions of the early ministers, the forms of ecclesiastical polity and church discipline, the variations of custom and usage in our churches at different periods, and in different churches at the same period, the changes of opinion, the growth of sects, with the causes and occasions of all, and the various controversies which have been agitated on subjects of doctrine and of government ;-together with the other topics which such a work would embrace,-present a field, as yet but partially explored, of the very highest consequence and interest. Such a work is a desideratum. To complete it would be a long and laborious labour. It would require extensive research, a careful judgment, the most unpre judiced impartiality, and great accuracy of perception and discrimination. To be done well it must be the work of much industry and learning, exercised by a man of a very clear head and a very fair mind. It would then be invaluable.

In the mean time, we have come to that period of our history when occasions are frequently occurring, upon which it is natural to revert to our past history. A few years will complete the second century of many of our most important towns and churches, and the first hundred years of others are annually coming to a close. These opportunities ought, and we trust will be, used for the purpose of examining, weighing, and illustrating the characters and institutions of our fathers, of tracing the causes and progress of change, and of laying up in im perishable form, every thing which can tend in the slightest measure to throw light on the manners, feelings, principles, and opinions, of times past.

Such occasions have already produced discourses, many of which are valuable and among them those of Mr. Flint hold a very respectable place. The history of a town like Cohasset is not likely to be particularly striking or generally important. Yet our author has given it no inconsiderable interest, and has taken occasion from it to describe to advantage some of the characteristics of the manners of former times. Our readers will be pleased with the following specimen.

'The early condition of the society here was, in some respects, preferable to that of the settlers in many other new places. They