t

however some christians may decry the use of reason, even they, and all other christian believers, unite in holding the doctrines which they do hold, upon a foundation which reason has built for them out of Scripture evidence. There is, there can be no exception to this. All christians believe what they do believe, because they find good reason for so doing in the New Testament; and we do no more.

Why and how do those christians who disparage the understanding, and cry down reason, believe their own opinions? By a process of reasoning; and many of them by a process so elaborate and abstruse, as to be level to the comprehension of but a small portion of those who nevertheless think it necessary to subscribe to them; or they search the scriptures, and find their doctrines there, or think they do, and therefore believe them. They prove all things, and hold fast what they think to be good. Why do the same christians disbelieve the doctrine of transubstantiation? Because their reason rejects it. Why do they refuse to unite in the worship of saints, relics, and images? Because their reason revolts at such homage. Why do they disbelieve all the multitude of doctrines which others believe with strength and sincerity? Because their reason can by no means approve them; because they satisfy themselves of the falsehood of those doctrines, and of the truth of their own. Why does a man believe in the doctrine of total depravity? Because he believes it to be taught, in the Scriptures. Why does he believe it to be in the Scriptures? Because he examines, and thinks he finds it there. Why does another man disbelieve it? Because he examines the Scriptures, and thinks he does not find it there.

The tri

So it is with all the doctrines of Calvinism. nitarian searches the Bible, and persuades himself that ne sees in it all the doctrines of orthodoxy, and therefore adopts them for his creed. Another, making use of the same means, searches the Bible, and cannot see them there, and therefore rejects them. One uses his reason no more than the other. All we can say is, that having minds of a different conformation, they have come to different results. They may have been possessed of equal diligence, humility, piety, and equally anxious to arrive at truth, but because nature has given them different degrees of capacity, and because evidence has been presented to them under different circumstances, and from different points of view, they can no more both of them see the same doctrines, than two men can see the same object, one of whom is short-sighted, while the other uses Herschell's telescope. As many minds as there are of a different construction, in so many various aspects will the Scriptures be viewed, and so many various results will be obtained. But they are all gained, in some mode or other of its exercise, by the self-same faculty-this much abused REASON.

From what has been said, many inferences and reflections naturally arise, but not to trespass, they are left to the reader. W. W.

Dr. Bancroft's Sermons.

We welcome the appearance of this volume with the greatest pleasure, satisfied as we are that it is calculated to enlighten and instruct the inquiring public,

on a great variety of the leading points of controversy, which now divide the Christian world.

Our knowledge of the author's character and reputation, and of some circumstances connected with his ministerial life, contributed much to interest us in the perusal of his work. Dr. Bancroft has been, during the thirty-six years of his ministry, the firm, the ready, and the consistent champion of rational Christianity, and liberal religion, in that part of the country in which he resides. Not that he has, however, been sparing of his concurrence, or personal exertions, in any measures, wherever they may have originated, for advancing the good and holy cause in which he laboured, and to which he gave his heart. His brethren in Massachusetts, and in many parts of New-England, have been the frequent witnesses of the alertness and cordiality with which he lent his aid to the common work. But he was sensible that the influence of a clergyman is always exerted, to the best purpose, in his own neighbourhood, and on those who can estimate his motives, observe his daily conduct, and be the objects of his personal attentions. In this sphere, Dr. Bancroft has laboured with the best of his strength, and with eminent and solid success. Both as a teacher of the pure doctrines, and the pure morals of the Gospel, he has served his Master, as it has been given but to few to serve him. Through the whole of that district of which he is the inhabitant, no name is better known than his, and none, we are sure, more highly respected. And this is not a mere worldly fame, as it was not sought in a worldly spirit, nor acquired by worldly means. It is that public acknowledgment of the good effects of well intended exertions, which the virtuous

man may innocently desire, and which is the only fame that he will think worth desiring.

In an orthodox region, and surrounded by an orthodox clergy, it is not to be supposed that Dr. Bancroft should have escaped religious odium and anathema. He has, in fact, been made the immediate mark of much bitterness and persecution that species of persecution we mean, which dares to show itself even in this age, and in this country. He has been denied the privileges of Christian fellowship, and a right to the Christian name. He has been talked against, and preached against, by his brethren, and reviled as a heretic, and an unbeliever, merely because he was not a believer after their fashion. They shunned and denounced, and taught others to shun and denounce him.

But the worst part of this spirit, or at least its worst. manifestations, he has lived to vanquish, and bring to silence. The state of things is wonderfully changed; and the change is in a great measure to be imputed to his exertions, his talents, his writings, and his unimpeached conversation and life; without which latter, all the others would doubtless have been vain, as they ought to have been vain. He is no longer alone and unsupported as a minister of religion. There are many clergymen in his vicinity who now profess a congenial belief; and there are others, who without doing so, are yet willing to invite him to their pulpit, and glad to cultivate his friendship. He has gained for himself an extensive and a valuable influence; an influence not jealously demanded on the one side, and grudgingly yielded on the other, but freely and unanimously assigned to his age, his services, and his worth.

We have not expressed ourselves in this earnest manner, merely because Dr. Bancroft is a Unitarian;for we despise the poor, sectarian spirit, which sees no good, and awards no praise, beyond the limits of its own narrow circle, within which every thing is good, and every thing is praised; but we were influenced by feelings which would not permit us to speak otherwise than we have spoken. We knew, that between the time of his settlement, and the present, an important theological revolution had taken place in the county of Worcester, in Massachusetts. We believed that this revolution was not barely the adoption of one speculative tenet instead of another, but a much deeper and more general change; a change of views and feelings, of temper and behaviour; a change from the exclusive and forbidding influences and effects of one system of opinions, to the mild sway of a more charitable and tolerant one. And we believed that so far as this could have been brought about by any single man, it was effected by him. As friends and advocates, therefore, of Christian charity, and Christian freedom, we have endeavoured to express our sense of the value of his abours.

Beside our knowledge of the above mentioned cir'cumstances, we had been led by the perusal of several excellent discourses, which from time to time have been printed by Dr. Bancroft, to expect gratification from the volume before us. We were prepared to find in these sermons, learning, perspicuous argument, and a candid spirit. Nor were we in the least disappointed. It was not to be expected, that in so wide a range of topics as the author has taken, each one, or any one of them, should be thoroughly discussed. The state