1848.] Demand for Liberal Preaching. 203 their fellow-Christians of the two older churches aid them with money and labor in the erection of their new edifice. The Baptists in other places hear with pleasure of the establishment of the new society, not as a triumph over Presbyterianism or Methodism, but simply as a gain to the cause of Christ in their branch of his service. But if, instead of Baptists, there are a few Unitarians in the village, it seems to be thought by many, almost by themselves, that they are guilty of schism and uncharitableness, if they attempt to organize a society of their own, until absolutely driven out of those which already exist. They cannot act on their preference for the theology of Cambridge without being thought "sectarian" and "illiberal." Yet the Baptist would willingly be received at the Presbyterian or Methodist communion-table, the scruple, if any, being on his own part alone; while the Unitarian would be either not received at all, or received because the controversy respecting his opinions had not reached that vicinity. We would respectfully ask those among our brethren who think it illiberal to spread Unitarianism, How else than by disseminating our own opinions can we do our duty to the cause of Christ? The world is to be Christianized; thousands in our own country need to have Christianity preached to them; and the command, from Scripture and from reason, to supply their want, comes to us as much as to our Orthodox, or Baptist, or Episcopalian brethren. Shall we leave our part unperformed? If not, how can we discharge it, but by preaching what we believe to be the truth? If it is said, that we can let controverted topics alone, we reply, that they are generally let alone by Unitarian preachers. It is our very silence respecting them that marks our Unitarianism. We must preach as believers in the personal unity of God, or not at all. We must preach Unitarian Christianity, or leave unperformed the duty of preaching the Gospel, so far as it devolves on us. And there is a greater necessity for our performance of this duty, from the fact, that throughout the country there are many who must have the Gospel from us, or not at all. There are individuals of Unitarian sentiments scattered throughout the land. There are still more, who, though not with us in name, and perhaps unacquainted with the history or even the existence of our denomination, are yet from various causes so averse to the popular representations of relig ion, that they cannot be brought to receive Christianity through such means. They are either deists, or if they believe in the Christian religion, it is with a despair of understanding the truth respecting it, and a feeling that they cannot unite with any of the dominant sects. Such men are to be found among the most thoughtful members of the community. They may be much to blame for not availing themselves of the light, imperfect as it seems to them, which other views of Christianity afford. Yet if we have a better light, or what they would deem a better one, shall we be blameless in withholding it from them? We have sometimes found with pleasure men of other denominations liberal enough to appreciate this argument, and to welcome the establishment of a Unitarian church in their vicinity from the belief that it might exert a beneficial influence on some whom their own religious ministrations could not attract. For the sake, then, of thousands throughout the country, who will have no access to Christianity except through our labors, it is our duty to preach the Gospel; and to preach it in the form which we believe to be true. We call, then, on Unitarian young men to do their part for the cause of Christ. It is still his cause, though the circumstances of the age are such, that we cannot, without what appears to us unfaithfulness to the truth, lay aside the distinctive title which we bear. Disowned as we are by our fellowChristians, it is idle for us to ignore the fact that we are a distinct denomination; and if we must have a name, we cannot find one more logically expressive of our views, more unexceptionable in regard to others, or more honorable in its past history, than that of Unitarians. But though a sect, we still are servants of Christ, we still are brethren and fellowlaborers with all his servants of every name. There is nothing in our position as believers in the personal unity of the Supreme Being, which should prevent us from doing justice to the merit of a fellow-Christian, whether he be laboring as a missionary in farther India, or wearing the tiara at Rome. We are to preach the truth, not in enmity to Calvinist or Romanist, but in enmity to error and sin. Heaven speed the day when all denominations shall feel and own the truth, that they are but different bands of laborers in the same great cause, free, indeed, to dissent from and to compare each other's peculiarities of faith, yet in the most important respects agreed, doing justice to each other's motives, care 1848.] The English Revolution. 205 ful for each other's feelings, and presenting a united opposition to the moral and spiritual evils that oppress mankind! S. G. B. ART. IV. THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION.* CERTAINLY there is no period of history to which the dispassionate critic, the philosophical thinker, the stern political economist, or the practical statesman of our day can turn with deeper interest and greater profit, than to the history of the struggles of English liberty from the death of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603, to the accession of William, Prince of Orange, in 1689,- a period denominated by Mr. Hallam"the great period of the seventeenth century." Not only was it the era when Whiggism triumphed over Toryism, and the latter lost many of its most repulsive features, while the Whigs at length found themselves in the uncongenial atmosphere of a court, and the recipients of court favors that almost made them forget the cause in which they had triumphed, but it was emphatically the age of great men and great deeds. To whatever part of Europe or to whatever department of literature we turn, we find the character of greatness stamped alike on the men and on the events. During this period, France produced its greatest generals, most powerful preachers, keenest satirists, noblest 1. The Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England, with a Treatise on the Popular Progress in English History. By JOHN FORSTER of the Inner Temple. Edited by J. O. CHOULES. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1846. 8vo. pp. xliv. and 647. 2. The Protector: a Vindication. By J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNÉ, D. D. New York: Robert Carter. 1847. 12mo. pp. 281. 3. Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham Castle and Town, Representative of the County of Nottingham in the Long Parliament, and of the Town of Nottingham in the First Parliament of Charles the Second, with Original Anecdotes of many of the most distinguished of his Contemporaries, and a Summary Review of Public Affairs: Written by his Widow LUCY, Daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower, etc. From the original Manuscript by the REV. JULIUS HUTCHINSON. To which is prefixed, The Life of Mrs. Hutchinson, written by herself. Fifth Edition. To which is now first added, An Account of the Siege of Lathom House, defended by the Countess of Derby against Sir Thomas Fairfax. London: Henry G. Bohn. 1846. 16mo. pp. xx. and 523. 4. History of the Counter-Revolution in England, for the Reestablishment of Popery, under Charles II. and James II. By ARMAND CARREL. History of the Reign of James II. By the RIGHT HON. C. J. Fox. London: David Bogue. 1846. 16mo. pp. xxii. and 458. poets, and acutest thinkers, though, with the exception of the proud and crafty cardinals who, during the early part of the period, governed both France and the king, few of its statesmen can compare with Guizot, Thiers, and the other prominent statesmen of the reign of Louis Philippe. For a considerable part of the time, Louis XIV. filled the throne, and around him all the greatness of which France could boast was collected. Condé, Turenne, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Fenelon, Boileau, La Bruyère, La Fontaine, Racine, Corneille, Molière, Pascal, Nicole, Richelieu, such were some of the men who, in France, adorned this remarkable period. Holland, too, sent forth Grotius, Spinoza, Rubens, and Vandyck. In Italy, Galileo made the Church tremble at his heresy, at the same time that Cardinal Bentivoglio wrote his elegant letters, and Guido painted; and while Spain remembers this as the era of Cervantes, Calderon, and Lope de Vega, Germany points to Puffendorf, Kepler, and Leibnitz. Nor was England behind Continental Europe as regards great men, while she surpassed it in great events. Pym, Hampden, Vane, Strafford, Clarendon, Cromwell, Sidney, Russell, Temple, Somers, Milton, Dryden, Taylor, South, Barrow, Fuller, Baxter, Owen, Chillingworth, Cudworth, Bacon, Browne, Locke, are but a few names from a list of unequalled brightness. All over the world the human mind was active, and the vital energy of genius ploughed its marks deep into the condition of the race. Everywhere men were up anddoing, shaking off the shackles that had weighed upon them for ages. The same year that witnessed the commencement of Hampden's Parliamentary career, and the impeachment of Lord Bacon, saw also the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth rock, facts whose importance has hardly yet been fully measured. Över the whole of this period the English Revolution stretches. Its primary causes are to be traced back to the time of Elizabeth, when Strickland and Peter Wentworth resisted the encroachments of her splendid despotism. Its consummation was reached only when William III. was quietly seated on the throne under the Act of Settlement. The seeds of discontent were already sown when Wentworth replied to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was expostulating with him upon the refusal of Parliament to pass certain laws upon the demand of the queen's ministers, 1848.] Sentiment of Loyalty. 207 "No, by the faith I bear to God, we will pass nothing before we understand what it is; for that were but to make you popes; make you popes who list, for we will make you none." These words were abundantly vindicated many years after, when the Convention Parliament voted, "That King James II., having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original compact between king and people, and having, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, violated the fundamental laws, and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant." The assembling of the "Addle Parliament," the impeachment of Bacon, the meeting of the Long Parliament, the trial of Strafford, the decapitation of Charles I., the usurpation of Cromwell, the restoration of Charles II., the execution of the Duke of Monmouth, and the flight of James II. must all be regarded as so many parts of a great whole closely connected with each other. Too few modern historians have viewed the English Revolution in this philosophical light, either from an inability to grapple with a subject of such complexity, or, more frequently, because their minds have been fettered by some historical theory, as difficult to break through as the creed of a bigoted religionist. Yet it is only by thus regarding it that we are enabled correctly to estimate the relative importance of the various events which marked its course, rightly to balance the merits and defects of the respective leaders and to poise each in his true position, or even to arrive at a clear understanding of the fundamental character of the struggle itself. Writers have mastered a single idea, studied a single event, or read a good deal about a single actor, and then supposed that that actor, event, or idea made the English Revolution, thereby showing a singular ignorance of the causes of revolutions in general, and of the characteristics of the English people in particular. The fallacy of such a supposition becomes apparent, when we consider how deeply the sentiment. of loyalty is imbedded in the hearts of most people in Europe, if not in this country, where it cannot so readily be traced in its objective relations. Long years of injustice and oppression alone can bring the great body of a nation to open rebellion and resistance. Such is preeminently the character of the English people. They will not fight to acquire new political or religious rights. Content with that |