We will give a few passages which will show that she has an independent spirit, and a deep vein of piety and charity. "How have we flattered ourselves, because we acknowledge not the Pope of Rome-because we bow not before the image that can neither see, nor hear, nor walk-because the Bible has been translated and given to our people-because we have thrown aside multitudes of the grosser absurdities of the Roman Catholic church; how have we flattered ourselves, I repeat, that we are entirely set free from the spirit of Anti-Christ, and that we have ceased to put glosses on inspired text, though we still look rather to the interpretations of those who have gone before us than to the examination of the original version.” p 174. "There is a sort of religion which I abominate, and such precisely is that of Darfield; a gloomy, unsociable principle, which leads him to condemn every one who does not think exactly as himself, and makes him desirous of pulling down every authority to his own level. He is either for bringing the whole world to one way of thinking, and that way is his way; or, failing of this, utterly denying the work of salvation, by condemning nine-tenths, or rather ninety-nine out of a hundred of the human race to eternal misery. Such a man is enough to disgust every one who knows him with the very name of religion." "I can bear, he thought, to hear worldly persons converse-I take no interest in what they say-they do not touch me in any way; but when people meddle in a bitter spirit with those things which have formed my happiness ever since I was a boy, I cannot bear it. When they tell me that God, who is the only being that can be called good, whose justice and mercy are infinite, is prepared to condemn vast multitudes of his creatures whom he has himself called into being, and whom he has reconciled to himself by such an act of omnipotent love as we cannot even now comprehend-when they tell me that he is prepared to condemn all who have never perhaps had an opportunity of hearing the name of Christ, to eternal damnation, and that he is ready too, to do the same by his own adopted ones if they offend, while at the very same time, these very same people acknowledge the entire inability of man to turn and prepare himself for any good, I am inclined to feel, if these are right, which God forbid, then wa. I in a dream through all my childhood." p 239. We should like to extract also from the xvi. chapter, over which is written "To be omitted by all persons incapable of receiving a new idea," for we suppose our readers are generally quite capable of this feat. It contains a scripture argu ment for the ultimate restoration of all beings. But here we must stop. 6. Emancipation in the West Indies. A Six Month's Tour in Antigua, Barbadoes, and Jamaica, in the year 1837. By James A. Thome, and J. Horace Kimball. WE received this very interesting book through the politeness of the Editor of the Cincinnati Philanthropist. We have not yet read it sufficiently to express an opinion as to its merits on the bearing of the facts related. But we can say this, that whatever allowance must be made for men who undoubtedly went wishing to see every thing couleur de rose in Emancipation, that still the book contains statements which cannot be doubted, tending to show that the great and supposed perilous experiment of emancipation has thus far worked remarkably well in the British West Indies. We think all slaveholders ought to see this book. They ought to be able to speak understandingly on the subject of these great events. Whether they admit or deny the assertions of abolitionists, they should know what they say on this West India subject. The book has been printed very cheaply in a pamphlet form, and can be procured for twenty cents a single copy, from Dr. Bailey, Editor of the Cincinnati Philanthropist, or from the Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society, New York. The postage on a single copy is only 10 cents for any distance. The price per hundred is $12 50. 7. Christian Reformer. Jan. 1838. London. THIS English Periodical seems to be a very well conducted one. The number before us reviews Professor Norton's work on the genuineness of the Gospels. We are amused to see that Jacob Abbott and his brother, are åccused in England of being Unitarians, constantly attending the Unitarian Church, and in conversation earnestly opposing the doctrine of the Trinity. Thus testifies the Rev. F. Ellaby, of Hastings. MONTHLY RECORD FOR JUNE, 1838. WE perceive by an article in and speech, because its conductthe Western Presbyterian Her- ors seem to have an enlarged ald, that one of the careful souls way of thinking, and its contriof the Presbyterian camp has butors to write with spirit, eartaken the alarm at finding the nestness, and some profoundness. New Haven Christian Spectator It is not wholly occupied with commended in our Magazine. cooking up again the cold dishes, He inquires of the editor whether ("the funeral baked meats," we he does not think it a sign that were about to say,) of Calvinism. the New Haven people are very. It does not spend the whole time like the Unitarians in their opin- at the old game of battledoor and ions. It does not occur to this shuttlecock-harping always on writer, as a thing within the "Ability" and "Inability." bounds of possibility, that we might speak well of a periodical which differed from us in its opinions. In the course of his experience, we suppose, he never knew before of such a thing being done. But to calm his fears, and also to relieve the New Haven people from the stigma of Unitarian approbation, we would inform "An old fashioned Presbyterian," that it is our fashion to find something good in most quarters, and to speak well of what we find good in those who differ from us in many points. We solemnly assure him that we do not agree in opinion with the Christian Spectator on points of doctrine. Let him cheer up-it is not a Unitarian work in disguise. We spoke well of it, because we find in it a certain freedom of thought There is one thing for which we have no "affinity," and never expect to have any. It is that kind of "old fashioned" faith, which prefers looking through its grandfather's spectacles to using the eyes which God has given it. It is that kind of suspicious orthodoxy which is always looking for some more convenient test to apply than reason and scripture--which says, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" or, "Have any of the Elders believed on him?" or, "Birds of a feather fock together, and this man eate. with publicans and sinners." With those who differ from us in opinion, we are ready to hold a calm argument, seeking for truth. But for such Pharisaic bigotry as this, we keep our spear in rest, and shall lose no convenient occasion of exposing its absurdity, pusillanimity, and Galatian-like spirit of bondage. Mob Law. The burning of the Pennsylvania Hall, in the night, by a mob, is a melancholy instance of that disregard for law, and of the rights of individuals as opposed to the wishes of the majority, which is one of the most dangerous signs of our times. This tendency toward anarchy has been steadily increasing from the first. Let us look at its history in this country, and observe the fearful downward tendency of Lynch law. It began in those sections of our land where the laws were weak and inefficient. It seemed to justify itself by the necessities of the case. In repeated instances on the frontiers, there were men who defied the law, went armed to the teeth, shot down their enemies in the streets, and could never be convicted by a jury. After they had committed some half dozen murders, the community could bear it no longer. They seized them and hung them. In these cases, the following circumstances were to be noticed in excuse. 1. The guilt of the victim is excessive and undoubted. 2. The laws are utterly ineffectual to punish him. 3. The punishment inflicted is the sam which the laws require. But the 11th of August, 1834, a disgraceful outrage was committed in the burning down of the Ursaline Convent, by a mob in Charlestown, Mass. Here a new feature was introduced, that the crime was not certain, but suspected. Hereafter mobs act upon suspicion. Still however, life was spared, and no personal violence inflicted or threatened. And the mob also were firmly convinced that an actual and dreadful crime had been committed. But the principle of acting on suspicion being once established, it speedily becomes the custom. On the 9th of Aug. 1835, the city of Baltimore witnessed the sacking of houses in her principal squares, by those who suspected that they had been swindled by their inmates, through the fraudulent failure of the Bank of Maryland. Next, the country is shocked by the news of the Vicksburg gambler's execution; for life had thus far been held sacred. True, the men were villians and murderers, but we were horrified at the thought of five or six fellow beings hurried into eternity without a trial, without delay, without a moment's pause to prepare for judgment. The death how ever, was inflicted in the legal and usual way. But the next mob introduces a new feature. The common form of death will not slake its sanguinary thirst, and we hear, in June 1836, of the burning of Macintosh at a slow fire, in the streets of St. Louis. The dark ages and their savage cruelties, seem brought back upon us in an hour. meantime, another and more dangerous feature has been insinuating itself into these transactions. Men begin to be punished, not merely for real crimes, actual or suspected, but for doing what no law condemns, if it But happens to displease the majority of the community where they are. Thus, on the 31st of Oct. 1835, a mob of respectable gentlemen broke up an anti-slavery meeting in the city of Boston. It seemed a slight matter, this, a cloud no bigger than a man's hand. But a storm has been brewing from it, that threatens to sweep every institution from the face of our country. Riots in New-York and Philadelphia follow. No great mischief is done to person or property. But this fatal principle is perpetuated and strengthed by each of them, that a man may be punished for doing what the majority disapprove, whether it be legal or illegal. This principle once sustained, and all our personal rights are gone. The minority every where are the slaves of the majority. Our constitutions and laws are only parchments, to be nullified at will. This principle is openly taught by a Judge in St. Louis, as law, and is maintained in practice by the destruction of Mr. Birney's press in Cincinnati, in July, 1838, and of the Observer press in St. Louis and Alton. Till, at last, the final blow is given to our rights as freemen, by the death of Lovejoy, killed for doing what no law had ever forbidden. And now we hear of the Philadelphians, quietly destroying, as a perfect matter of course, a new and beautiful hall, because it was not put to such uses as they were pleased to allow. Let it be understood now, that I am not writing to defend abolitionists. Granting that their course was foolish and wicked, my argument remains the same. Legally, they had not offended' they had not committed the shadow of an offence against the peace of society, as by law established. See See where we are then! how fast and far we have come in a very few years! First a mob may punish an actual, atrocious crime; then it may punish on suspicion; then it may be allowed to inflict barbarous and horrible tortures; next it may punish whoever does what displeases the majority; yes, even by death, if they resist its will! And what will follow? The principle being fairly established, that no man must do any thing unpleasant to the majority, it will next happen, that if a political or religious party chances to be in the minority in any place, it will be put down by force. If the Van-Burenites have a large majority in any section of country, why may they not, on this principle, destroy a whig press, which should abuse Mr. Van Buren and his cabinet? Or when the Whigs have a majority, why should not they do the same? They might reasonably say "This Editor is a nuisance-he publishes what is offensive to the sentiments of the community-he must be abated: throw his press into the river." Is all this chimerical and imaginary? Let actual facts answer. Is it not a fact that in our large cities men have been prev. ted by force from voting in those wards where the opposite party was most powerful? Have they not been beaten for exercising the rights of citizens in opposition to the will of an accidental majority? And how far a re |