the strict requisitions of God's law, and how much we need that mercy from which every man daily alienates himself. O! how can it be said-while such a voice as this is sounding from our high places, proclaiming a perfect law, commanding entire acquiescence to God's will-how can it be said that we Unitarians are looking to the crown of life as the merited reward of our own righteousness-and that we do not feel the need of the unbought mercy, without which we should all immediately perish! But, to misunderstanding and misrepresentation there is no end; and as long as we continue to be a small sect, we must be content to be vilified.

We make one more extract from the same Sermon, which will recommend itself.

"Besides, the rule is as equitable, as in the divine ordination. of things it is necessary. The judgment which ordains, that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, is a righteous judgment. It is easy no doubt to regret a bad life, when it is just over. When death comes, and the man must leave his sinful indulgences and pleasures; or, when he has no longer any capacity for enjoying them; when sickness has enfeebled the appetites, or age has chilled the passions-then, indeed, it is but a slight sacrifice, and a yet poorer merit in him, to feel regret. But regret, let it be considered, is not repentance!And while the former may be easy, and almost involuntary, the other-the repentance-may be as hard as the adverse tendencies of a whole life can make it. Yes; the hardest of all things, then, will be to repent. Yes; I repeat, that which is relied upon to save a man, after the best part of his life has been lost, has become, by the very habits of that life, almost a moral impossibility.

"And the regret, the selfish regret-can it be accepted? I ask not if it can be accepted by our Maker; I doubt not His infinite mercy; but can it be accepted by our own nature?— Can our nature be purified by it? Can the tears of that dark hour of selfish sorrow, or the awful insensibility which no tear comes to relieve-can either of them purge away from the bosom the stains of a life of sin? Let us never make the fearful experiment! Let us not go down to the last tremendous scene of life-there, amidst pain and distraction, with the work of life to do! Let us not have to acquire peace from very terror, and hope from very despair! Let us not, thus, trust ourselves to a judgment "that will render to us according to our deeds;" that will render-mark the explanation-to them who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glo

ry, honor, and immortality, eternal life; but tribulation and anguish to every soul that doeth evil." p. 220.

The above extracts are, perhaps, sufficient to answer the end we proposed in making them, although they give but a faint idea of the great excellence of the volume from which they are taken. There is another passage, by the same author, though not from the same volume, which bears so directly and strongly upon the point we have in view, and which is of such remarkable power, that we cannot forbear quoting it. It contains a stern rebuke and triumphant refutation of the charge already alluded to, that Unitarians are loose moralists, and attach little importance to religion. We extract from a Sermon on the Unitarian belief, preached in New-York, and lately published in the Christian Examiner, (Boston.)

"Once more, and finally: we believe in the supreme and allabsorbing importance of religion.

"There is nothing more astonishing to us, than the freedom of language which we sometimes hear used, on this subject; the bold and confident tone with which it is said, that there is no religion among us, nothing but flimsy and fine sentiment, passing under the name of religion. We are ready to ask,what is religion in the hearts of men? what are its sources and fountains, when they can so easily deny it to the hearts of others? We are inclined to use no severity of retort, on this affecting theme, else the observation of life might furnish us with some trying questions for the uncharitable to consider. But we will only express the simple astonishment we feel at such treatment. We will only say again, and say it more in wonder than in anger, what must religion be in others, what can be its kindness, and tenderness, and peace, and preciousness, when they are ready to rise up from its blessed affections, to the denial of its existence in the hearts of their brethren?

"We repeat, then, that we believe in the supreme and allabsorbing importance of religion. What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' is, to us, the most undeniable of all arguments: 'What shall I do to be saved?' the most reasonable and momentous of all questions: "God be merciful to me, a sinner!' the most affecting of all prayers. The soul's concern, is the great concern. The interests of experimental, vital, practical religion, are the great interests of our being. No language can be too strong-no language can be strong enough, to give them due expression. No anxiety is too deep, no care too heedful, no effort too earnest, no prayer too importunate, to be bestowed upon this al

most infinite concern of the soul's purification, piety, virtue, and welfare. No labor of life should be undertaken, no journey pursued, no business transacted, no pleasure enjoyed, no activity employed, no rest indulged in, without ultimate reference to that great end of our being. Without it, life has no sufficient object, and death has no hope, and eternity no pro

mise.

"What more shall we say? Look at it-look at this inward being, and say--what is it. Formed by the Almighty hand, and therefore formed for some purpose; built up in its proportions, fashioned in every part, by infinite skill; an emanation, breathed from the spirit of God-say, what is it? Its nature, its necessity, its design, its destiny-what is it? So formed it is, so builded, so fashioned, so exactly balanced, and so exquisitely touched in every part, that sin introduced into it, is the direst misery; that every unholy thought falls upon it as a drop of poison; that every guilty desire, breathing upon every delicate part and fibre of the soul, is the plague-spot of evil, the blight of death. Made, then, is it for virtue, not for sin, -oh! not for sin, for that is death; but made for virtue, for purity, as its end, its rest, its bliss; made thus by God Almighty.

Thou canst not alter it. Go, and bid the mountain walls sink down to the level of the valleys; go, and stand upon the seashore, and turn back its swelling waves; or stretch forth thy hand, and hold the stars in their courses: but not more vain shall be thy power to change them, than it is to change one of the laws of thy nature. Then thou must be virtuous. As true it is, as if the whole universe spoke in one voice, thou must be virtuous. If thou art a sinner, thou "must be born again." If thou art tempted, thou must resist. If thou hast guilty passions, thou must deny them. If thou art a bad man, thou must be a good man.

"There is the law. It is not our law; it is not our voice that speaks. It is the law of God Almighty; it is the voice of God that speaks-speaks through every nerve and fibre, thro' every power and element of that moral constitution which he has given. It is the voice, not of an arbitrary will, nor of some stern and impracticable law, that is now abrogated. For the grace of God, that hath appeared to all men, teaches, that, denying all ungodliness and every worldly lust, they must live soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present evil world. So let us live; and then this life, with all its momentous scenes, its moving experiences, and its precious interests,

shall be but the beginning of the wonders, and glories, and joys of our existence. So let us live; and let us think this, that to live thus, is the great, urgent, instant, unutterable, allabsorbing concern of our life and of our being."

ART. II.-MASSES, vs. INDIVIDUALS.

THERE is a tendency at the present day day to attach too much importance to masses of men, and too little to the persons forming those masses. The good of the race, of the nation, of the state, of the city, of the circle, are talked of and made too prominent; they hide the good of the men, women, and children, as individuals, having wants and interests beyond those which they possess as members of the various masses just named. We lose sight of the plain truths, that the mass has interests only, because its members, taken separately, have them; and that they have also others, as simple individuals. We see that, what is for the good of the whole, is for the good of each part; but fail to notice that, that is not the only good belonging to each part. The effect of this mode of viewing the subject, is, that too many of us spend our lives in speculating about the advance of the species, and seeking to contribute thereto; or in reflecting upon the state of the nation, its wants and defects, and how to remedy them. We look at our neighbor as a man and a republican, and seek in both capacities, to enlighten and advance him; but, as an individual, having an individual character, temperament, and education; prejudices peculiar to himself, and powers, and knowledge, also, peculiar to himself; we do not see him, and do not seek to improve and develope him. Indeed, it is very probable, we may look upon ourselves as merely members of the race, the nation, the party, and the church to which we belong, and fail to discover that we have peculiarities, good and bad, that should be nourished or rooted out-and thus, the most important part of self-education is neglected; and we go down to the grave, our capacities but half developed, our failings but half cured.

Again:-Not only do we act too little upon others, in their individual capacities; but, also, too little as individuals ourselves. We come to them as members of some mass; we join

societies, in order to do good; and our separate influence, though it does, and must exist, is too little noted and relied upon. "A corporation," says the law, "has no soul;" and men of business tell us it is true; for corporations, though just, are not merciful; the outer rule of right binds them, but they have no rule of mercy within. Something of this same soullessness belongs to all masses and societies; and when a society performs an act, it does often but half the good an individual would have done by the same act: for instance; a poor man is helped by a society-his want is supplied; bu there is no fellow, no one person, to whom his heart springs; his gratitude is like that which thousands feel to their theoretic God; but go yourself for yourself, and aid that man, and you give food, not to the body alone, but to the soul; and the good you do is tenfold that done by the unthanked giver. Or, ask the mechanic whose mind has been, by turns, lifted by the tracts of the Society of Useful Knowledge, and the little volumes of Harriet Martineau, what difference of effect they produced, and you will find him to the individual teacher, grateful: but the society is an abstraction—a thing, not a person-he values the gift, but the giver has no nook in his heart; his intellect has been raised by what he read, but his moral nature has not been advanced by what he felt.

Now, we hold all institutions of every kind to be but means to this one end-the full development of each individual in the community. Banks, corporations, governments, all are means -and means to this end. But the end is lost sight of. We argue about the policy of this measure, and the policy of that measure, but seldom attempt to trace out the ultimate influence of policies and measures upon the souls the intellects and hearts of our neighbors, A, B, and C. A boy is educated to be a lawyer, merchant, mechanic, or what not; but is seldom taught to make each and every employment of life, conduce to his individual growth in excellence; as a member of society, he is taught to walk in this or the other path; but as a child of God, for whose good society exists-he is not taught to walk. From the pulpit he is appealed to, as an individual, but where is it impressed upon him, that in every relation, in every situation, in every conceivable condition he is-and must act as, an individual?

Let us not be misunderstood. We do not wish men to act always with reference to their individual interests; but with reference to their individual duties, interests, and aims.

The King of Great Britain must consider, not alone, his duty to his people as a nation, whose interest (for instance.)