Review-Flower's Letters from the Illinois, 1820, 1821. truth, but very partially, and not the whole truth, and on that account are not to be depended on. At the very time he was visiting us, a person from Kentucky assured us that we were better off than they were at Kentucky and Ohio."-Pp. 32-35. The moral portraits of the whole American people, drawn by travellers, are very inconsistent. We really fear that there are some dark shades in the character of our Transatlantic kinsmen. Boston, in New England, is likely from various causes to present the most favourable specimen of American manners and morals; but this northern metropolis of the union would seem to prove that these young states have already attained the maturity of social depravity, if we may rely upon the following statement in a recent number of the North American Review, the first without dispute of the American Journals, published too in Boston itself: "In the town of Boston, which is as well-governed and as sharply watched as any city in the Union, it is supposed there are two thousand men and women who live by profligacy, fraud and felony; and that they obtain in one way or another, at least one dollar per day each, making in the whole the enormous sum of 730,000 dollars per annum." If such be the laxness of morals at Boston, we cannot expect any extraordinary purity in the back settlements where the restraints of law must be very lightly felt. Mr. Richard Flower exhibits the true Christian temper, in being more disposed to combat the immoral habits of some of his neigh. bours than to deny or disguise them. "The reports of the wickedness and irreligion of our settlement, with a view to prevent individuals from joining us, have been industriously spread far and near. That there is a diversity of character in every part of the globe, will not be denied; that this diversity exists here is equally true; and that a portion of its inhabitants is of an immoral cast, will be as readily admitted; that we have not left human nature with its infirmities and propensities behind us is equally a fact; and even if it should be admitted that, unhappily, a larger portion of the dissipated, the idle and the dissolute are to be met with in new countries than is usually to be found in old ones, yet we have the same antidote for these mischiefs-the light shining in a dark place. VOL. XVII. 2 I 241 We have public worship, and ample supplies of sermons from pious, practical preachers, from the Catholic to the Socinian Creed, which are read on the Sabbath. But, above all, we have the incorruptible seed of the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever; and it is with pleasure I can assure my readers, that there is an increasing congregation, and, trust, increasing religion amongst us. be rather an argument for persons of But if it was otherwise, surely this should religious zeal to join us, who have emigration in view; to come over to Macedonia and help us, rather than shrink from such a task. At least it is not apostolic or evangelic feeling that would draw a different conclusion. "When I was at Philadelphia, a lady of the Society of Friends addressed me most emphatically on the subject: Wilt thou, friend Flower, take thy family to that infidel and wicked settlebe a Christian; how wilt thou answer ment in the Illinois? Thou appearest to to thy God for endangering the precious souls of thy dear children?' " answered I, my destiny appears to be in Madam,' the Illinois settlement: and rather than turn from thence on the account you have mentioned, you have furnished me with a forcible argument to proceed. I trust I am, as you have supposed, a sincere Christian, and as it is my special duty to go where reformation is so necessary, I for the blessing of the Most High. It is will endeavour to perform it, and hope it is to command success in our present for us to use the means. We know who state and future prospects.""-Pp. 42-44. In a note on this passage, Mr. B. Flower makes some just and important remarks upon the absurdity of infidelity and the improbability of its prevailing to any great extent, except where "the alliance between Church aud State" supplies it with arguments and motives. He quotes in a sub-note Dr. Gaskin's description of the Church of England, extracted into one of our early Volumes, (II. 102,) in which “the governors of this society" are said to "form a kind of aristocracy respecting the community at large, but each particular governor in his proper district is a sort of monarch, exercising his function both towards the inferior ministers and laity, according to the will of the supreme head of the church," and to this curious text adds the following no less curious commentary : - "How any man, with the New Testament before him, could possibly call such an aristocratical and monarchical church, one formed according to the will of the Supreme Head,' when he well knew that it was diametrically opposite to the letter and spirit of the most solemn, particular and repeated directions of the great Head of the Church on this subject-Call no man your master on earth; one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren, &c.'-I shall not stay to inquire; but it may amuse the reader just to observe how this clerical pluralist exercises his function towards the laity,' and more especially as it relates to tithes,-that species of property which was first voluntarily given by the people for various benevolent purposes, but of which they were afterwards robbed by the clergy, who appropriated them to their own sole use. How they are sometimes raised, even in the present enlightened age, I lately discovered in a catalogue, at a sale of a pawnbroker's unredeemed pledges, where, amongst other names and descriptions of property, I read as follows: "Lots sold under a distress for tithes due to the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, Rector of the United Parishes of St. Benet, Grace church Street, of St. Leonard, Eastcheap [and of St. Mary, Newington].' "Then follow eight lots of writingpaper, silver table and tea spoons, &c. "The following sold under a distress for tithes due to the Rev. Mr. Parker, (son-in-law of Dr. Gaskin,) Rector of St. Ethelburga.' "Then follow five lots of yellow and mottled soap! "I cannot help expressing my surprise that my countrymen will not, on this subject, take a hint from that great and liberal-minded statesman, the late Lord Chatham, at the commencement of the American war, when our debt and taxes were not one-fifth of what they are at present. His Lordship, in a speech in the House of Lords, turning to the Right Reverend Bench, exclaimed,- Let the bishops beware of war; for, should the people be pressed for money, they know where to look for it It is a pity that amidst so much nonsense with which the nation is pestered at our agricultural meetings and in agricultural reports, and so much injustice as is proposed for relieving the public, by Mr. Webb Hall on the one side, Mr. Cobbett and others on the other, such as new corn laws, and breaking public faith, &c., ruining thousands by the reduction of interest of the national debt, our real resources should not even be hinted at. Is there no patriot to be found in either House of the Legislature, following the excellent example of Mr. Hume respecting state abuses, who will recommend, An in quiry into the nature and amount of our church revenues'? Would Christianity suffer if a Bishop of Winchester, or a Bishop of Durham, had not £30,000 or £40,000 a year! or if our over-grown church revenues in England, and more especially in that still more oppressed country, Ireland, where the bishoprics are in general richer, and many thousands are wrung from a long-oppressed and impoverished people, not unfrequently in places where little or no duty is pr formed, were inquired into? Let Britain look at the church reformation which has taken place in France, and is now going forward in Spain and Portugal, the abolition of tithes, and the resumption of the useless and hurtful revenues of the church, and blush at her bat and molelike stupidity !”—Pp. 63, 64. Mr. B. Flower hits some hard blows at Mr. Cobbett in the concluding note, which we observe that this practised literary pugilist endeavours in a late Register to evade by dexterous byplay. ART. III.-A Help to Scriptural Worship, containing the Principal Services of the Church of England, in some things altered, according to the Plan of Dr. Samuel Clarke: short Family Prayers: and a Selection of Psalms and Hymns: with an Appendix, exhibiting various Readings of the Text of the New Testament. 12mo. pp. 332. Exeter, printed and sold by Hedgeland; sold also by Hunter, London. 48. 6d. 1821. THE HE plan of this work is explained in the Title. It is a reformed Christian Common-Prayer Book, and also a manual of private and family devotion. The anonymous compiler seems to have wished to prepare pious offices for members of the Church of England, dissenting from their own church on the doctrine of the Trinity, but carrying their dissent no farther than simple Unitarianism implies. Hence this compilation differs from the Essex-Street liturgy chiefly in a closer adherence to the book of Comstill more particularly, we would say mon Prayer. If we must classify it that it is adapted to such as embrace the Arian hypothesis, and, generally, to such as are not scrupulous in the use of commonly-received theological language. The editor has preserved New Publications. the prayer against "the craft and subtilty of the Devil" (p. 35), and that for the conversion of heretics (p. 55). The "Family Prayers" are simple and fervent, and some of the best that we have seen: amongst them, are some forms of prayer for children, the highest recommendation of which is, that they are appropriate. ThePsalins and Hymns" are selected with less regard to Scripture than the Liturgy, and in several of them the editor appears to us to violate the principle laid down in the first sentence of his Preface," that the Bible, in its own text and language, is the one true and sufficient rule of religion." Something, it is true, must be conceded to poetic licence; but this plea will scarcely justify Psalm 51, from Watts, which asserts hereditary moral depravity; Psalm 68, from the same author, 243 which is founded upon the doctrine of Christ's actual descent into hell; or Hymn 39, written also by Watts, in "the days of his younger assurance," which represents the incarnation of Christ as changing the temper of the Divine throne. Two or three of the original hymns lead us to wish that the author had, without lessening the number, borrowed fewer. The "Various Readings" in the Appendix are from Griesbach: in reference to these the editor says, with truth and force, (Pref. p. 9,)—" He that truly loves the Bible must wish to see it freed from corruption; and there is a strange inconsistency in some, who are warm advocates for this divine book, while they discountenance every attempt to restore it to its original state." NEW PUBLICATIONS IN THEOLOGY AND GENERAL LITERATURE. 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Preached before the Congregation assembling in the High-Pavement Chapel, Nottingham, Feb. 10, 1822, on occasion of the lamented Death of their Pastor, the Rev. Henry Turner, who departed this Life, January 31st, aged 29. By Joseph Hutton, A. B. 8vo. The Influence of Heathen Philosophy on the Doctrines of the Gospel. Delivered at Collumpton, Devon, July 11, 1821, before the Western Unitarian Society. By L. Lewis. 8vo. A Picture of Genuine Calvinism, as exhibited in the Writings of the Illustri ous Reformer from whom it derives its name: with a View of its Peculiar Comforts and Edifying Consolations: Recollections of a Discourse delivered in Bishop Street, Portsea, Feb. 13, 1822. By W. Hughes. 18mo. 2d... OBITUARY. 1822. March 2, aged 72, at Tiverton, Mr. GEORGE DUNSFORD, for many years a most respectable merchant and woollen manufacturer of that town; and brother of the late Martin Dunsford, author of the Memoirs of Tiverton. views he stedfastly adhered through life. He was the intimate friend and frequent associate of that amiable and excellent man the Rev. John Kiddell, for many years pastor of the congregation of Unitarian Dissenters at the Pit MeetingHouse, in Tiverton, and afterwards one of the Classical Tutors of Hackney College. (See Mon. Repos. V. 263 and 273 If genuine worth merits remembrance, this memorial of a truly honest and upright man will not be deemed unworthy of being recorded. In the various rela--277.) tions of life, as a husband, parent, friend and member of society, his conduct and disposition were most affectionate, sincere, correct and benevolent. For a considerable period of his life, he was an active and useful trustee to several of the numerous public charities of Tiverton, and discharged the duties devolving on him, with great credit to himself, advantage to the institutions, and a cheerful and earnest desire to recommend and assist those whom he considered most deserving of relief from them. Descended from parents who were conscientious Dissenters from the Established Church, his mind was early impressed with a sincere regard for their principles. He was a Dissenter, however, not merely from early habit and education; he possessed an inquiring mind, and an ardent and sincere love for Christian truth, and from this motive was led to carefully examine the Scriptures for himself, and thereby, from mature reflection, was perfectly satisfied, that the doctrines of Unitarianism were the doctrines of the gospel, and to these On the formation of the Western Unitarian Society, Mr. Dunsford was amongst the first who enrolled their names as members of it; and having, for several years, no place of worship to attend that fully accorded with his own religious views, he regularly conducted a religious service on the Sabbath in his own house, which was open to, and attended also by, several of his neighbouring friends. On the subject of baptism, he coincided with the principles of the General Baptists, and was, in the earlier part of his life, baptized at Taunton, by the late venerable Dr. Toulmin. But though fully decided as to the truth of his own religious principles, he always exercised the most perfect Christian candour and charity towards all who differed from him. That liberty with which all are made free, he had well learnt; an attainment by no means general, but of great account in the Christian character. He had experienced many domestic afflictions and severe pecuniary losses in the latter years of his life, which greatly reduced his circum |