with early religious training. During his long and eminent public life, he was ever the open friend of the Sabbath and the sanctuary, a daily student of the Bible, and a man of prayer. If on any point his faith was imperfect or unsettled, he was ever drawing closer up to the Scriptural rule; and in his last years, he avowed that, in theological opinion, he came nearer to the standards of the Presbyterian Church than to any other. He always owned his indebtedness to religion, which had made him all he was.

Few men have a better right than Mr. Adams, to adopt the language of Dryden, when speaking of his old age: "What judgment I had increases, rather than diminishes; and thoughts, such as they are, come crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose, or to reject; to run them into verse, or to give them the other harmony of prose."

No man among us ever had such funeral obsequies. He was borne from the seat of government to his grave, by the nation. A congressional representative from each State and territory attended his remains to the family-vault at Quincy. The whole journey was an extended funeral procession. At Philadelphia, his remains were guarded in the Hall of the Declaration of Independence, where our national freedom was consummated. And at Boston, they rested in Fanueil Hall, where our freedom was cradled.

Mr. Adams is stoutly claimed by the Unitarians as a bright ornament of their order. If he really belonged wholly to them, they must regard it as a strange blot upon his religious character and memory, that he should bestow, at Washington, where he mostly resided, the weight of his influence against what he regarded as truth, and left his own faith to suffer and languish. For twenty-seven years, there has been a Unitarian chapel at Washington. It has always been feeble, and in no very high repute. It has needed all the sympathy and support of its real friends. But Mr. Adams, for nearly twenty years, has been known as a member of a Presbyterian congregation in that city. He has represented it repeatedly in public conventions. He so announced himself at a Unitarian Festival to which he was invited in New York. He advanced, at one time, two thousand dollars to relieve the Presbyterian church from embarrassment, and expended the whole sum in supporting its public worship. During all this time, he was either out of sympathy with Unitarianism, or else he was ashamed to give his faith that pecuniary and personal aid which it needed.

While we are upon this point, we will further allude to the fact, that many of the famous men, under whose shadow Unitarians delight to dwell as the bulwarks of their faith, have been very unwilling to do homage to that system. Dr. Channing, in a published volume, makes an apology for allowing his name to be used by the Unitarians. Judge Story, while at Washington, rarely attended the Unitarian chapel. Mr. Webster, when leaving the ministrations of that sect, is said to have compared its preaching to the "throwing of shot on shingles." Dr. Lowell, in an official document, ordered by the West Church in Boston, of which he is Senior Pastor, has repudiated, for himself and his church, the name of Unitarian. Dr. Pierce, at the last

Convention of the Congregational Ministers of this State, indignantly repelled the charge of being a Unitarian. And yet, we suppose, that no one doubts that all these were Unitarians. Such facts are very unaccountable, if their system is really reputable, or has anything worth defending. Unitarianism seems to have no martyrs.

A Rhetorical Monopolist. Rev. Dr. Bushnell of Hartford, is invited to deliver the oration before the Phi Beta Kappa, at the next Commencement of Harvard College. He is also invited to preach before the graduating class at the Divinity School in Cambridge, where Unitarian ministers are trained under the auspices of Governor Briggs and the Commonwealth. We learn also, that the Porter Rhetorical Society in the Theological Seminary at Andover, after several unavailing attempts to procure an orator elsewhere, have applied to Dr. Bushnell, who favored them in the same way a few years ago, to give their address at their next Anniversary. We hope, that he will accept and fill all these honorable appointments, for no man is better able than he to afford it. He has a broad and "comprehensive" mind. He is a full man. He is, to employ a sublime comparison, like a sack of beans; stick the knife where you please, and they will be sure to run! Though he has no occasion to use economy in such matters, we wish that he would make the same discourse answer for the divinity schools both of Cambridge and Andover. It will be curious and instructive, to see which class of hearers will relish it the most.

Meadville Theological School.. This is a Seminary in Pennsylvania, where four professors train some two dozen students for the ministry. It is supported by the Unitarians and the Christ-ians. The former furnish, as we understand it, most of the money; and the latter, most of the men. Seven of the Christ-ian students have withdrawn, on account, as they allege, of the unfavorable influences of the place. No doubt, their case must have been a hard one.

ORDINATIONS.

Feb. 16. Mr. Abraham Jenkins, Jr., Fitzwilliam, N. H.
Mar. 1. Mr. Ezra Newton, Shutesbury, Ms.

66

66

"Mr. Josiah Merrill, White River Village, Hartford, Vt.
"Mr. Thomas Wilson, Second Church, Palmer, Ms.
9. Mr. Frederic A. Reed, Cohasset.

DEATH OF MINISTER.

Rev. William Pidgin, Portland, Me. æ. 76.

CHURCH ORGANIZED.

Mar. 16. Winthrop Church, in South Malden.

THE subscribers hereby express their conviction, that such a work as the Christian Observatory, set for the defence of the faith and practice of the Puritans, is needed by the Christian community; and that its extensive circulation would highly subserve the cause of evangelical truth, and of a pure and wholesome literature. From the ability and spirit with which it is conducted, they also believe, that it will prove an attractive, as well as an instructive and useful, visiter, in any intelligent Christian family that may receive it. They therefore commend it cordially to the confidence and support of all with whom their opinion may have influence.

EDWARD HITCHCOCK,

WM. S. TYLER,
AARON WARNer,

E. S. SNELL.

Amherst College.

I have examined, with considerable care, the first numbers of the Christian Observatory. The result, in my own mind, is a decided conviction, that the work is one of great value. It is a periodical for the times; and it will commend itself to all who love, and who would have others love, the faith of our puritan Fathers.

I regard it as especially adapted to the wants of this community, and should be glad to see it in as many of the families of my congregation as may feel able to take it. E. Y. SWIFT.

Northampton.

I have read, with much pleasure, the Christian Observatory. A periodical of this character is much needed at the present time, when such onsets are continually made upon the "faith delivered to the saints." This work is conducted with ability, and is sufficiently catholic in its spirit to meet the approbation of every lover of those religious sentiments which the Puritans of New England imbibed, and under whose influence the churches reposed and flourished for two hundred years. I hope it may receive sufficient patronage from the Christian public to ensure its success. SAMUEL OSGOOD.

Springfield.

I have read with much interest the numbers of the Christian Observatory. I heartily approve of its plan, its object, and its execution. It is just such a work as is needed in our churches; and I earnestly hope that it may obtain an extensive circulation, highly adapted, as it certainly is, to promote the cause of truth and piety.

J. HAWES.

NEW BRAINTREE, Feb., 3, 1848.

I have carefully and with much pleasure perused nearly the whole work. Its objects, and the manner of accomplishing them, are such as cannot fail of securing the approbation of those who love the great principles which led our pilgrim fathers" to seek a country," and who desire to see those principles sustained, and transmitted to future generations. I am especially pleased to find the Bible occupying so prominent a place on the pages of the Observatory, and treated as the Word of God, and defended from the assaults of semi-infidelity which it has had to encounter in these latter days. This is wha: I think to be needed by the people at large.

JOHN FISKE.

THE Christian Observatory has thus far fulfilled all my anticipa tions. I cannot doubt, that it will be eminently useful. I can most cordially commend it to the very favorable regards of all those friends of Zion, who have a peculiar pleasure in a sentinel, whose trumpet will never C6 give an uncertain sound."

Salem.

SAMUEL M. WORCESTER.

CHRISTIAN OBSERVATORY.

VOLUME FIRST.

THE first volume of this work, for 1847, contains a series of articles on the Inspiration of the Bible; another on the use and necessity of creeds; another exposing the mistakes and misstatements, in disparagement of Orthodoxy, made by ex-president Quincy in his History of Harvard College; and another of lives and sketches of eminent Puritans. Besides these, there is a great variety of articles and reviews, none long, and many short and condensed, relating to subjects of religious and practical interest. The whole forms a handsome volume, combining utility with entertainment. It may be had, on appli. cation at this office, neatly bound in cloth, at very moderate terms.