rence, and wretchedness on the other, are equally spiritual in their nature, and will endure as long as their respective characters endure. This, you will say, is nothing but opinion. True; it is nothing more; and I write it in order to explain what I think to be the true meaning of the text, Dan. xii. 2. And I believe it capable of demonstration, that the "coming of the Son of Man," or of "the kingdom of God," which is thought to have been referred to by Daniel in this place, and is often named in the New Testament, represents such a state as has now been attempted to be described; however inadequate the description must be acknowledged to be.

I have now gone through the twenty-one first instances produced by Professor Stuart, as evidence that the usual meaning of hy, in the Hebrew Scriptures, is eternity or eternal. I willingly submit it, without further comment, whether, even in any case, they certainly prove that meaning; and, with equal willingness, whether they do not far more abundantly make manifest a sense of spirituality in that word.

Professor Stuart next produces some other instances of hy in different forms of expression, the consideration of which I reserve to another opportunity. Yours in good will,

E. S. GOODWIN.

Sandwich.

ART. X.

A History of King's Chapel, in Boston; the first Episcopal Church in New England; comprising Notices of the Introduction of Episcopacy into the Northern Colonies. By F. W. P. GREENWOOD, Junior Minister of King's Chapel. Boston. Carter, Hendee, & Co., and Allen & Ticknor. 1833. 16mo. pp. 215.

THE substance of these memoirs, as we learn from the Prefatory Notice, was preached before King's Chapel society in a series of eight discourses, in the spring of 1832. Mr. Greenwood has judged right in publishing them, as the history cannot fail to be peculiarly interesting to the members of his own congregation, and will be regarded by readers in

general, as an important and valuable contribution to the ecclesiastical history of New England. He may also, as he says, be "almost sure of the favor of antiquaries, to whom facts are never unimportant or dull."

The Introduction contains the best account that has come under our notice, of the early struggles of Episcopacy in New England, and of the controversies that grew out of them. The first serious and organized efforts to erect an Episcopal Church in Boston were made in the year 1686, the history of which and their results, as regards King's Chapel, is given in the body of the work, the whole being divided by Mr. Greenwood into seven Periods. The first Period contains an account of the formation of the society under Robert Ratcliffe, the first Rector; by whom the service was conducted for some time in the library-room in the east end of the Town-House, which then stood where the Old State-House, or, as its present name is, the City Hall, now stands. In the second Period the history is continued to the building, in 1689, of the first Chapel; which was of wood, and stood on the spot covered by the present church, but did not occupy nearly so much ground. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Periods, bring down the narrative to the erection of the Stone Chapel, the name by which the present church is now familiarly known. Notices are given of the successive Rectors and their Assistants; of the spread of Episcopacy, and the attempts, early in the last century, to introduce American Bishops; of the enlargement to twice its original size of the old Chapel in 1713, and the setting up, the same year, of an organ, given by Thomas Brattle, Esq., undoubtedly the first ever heard in a New-England church. The present Chapel was so far completed, August 21, 1754, as to be opened with appropriate religious services on that day. The seventh Period gives an interesting account of what has since occurred in the Society, and particularly of the change which has taken place in their religious opinions and ecclesiastical connexions.

Mr. Greenwood, though alive to the wrong done the Episcopalians in the early days of New England, does not think to deny or palliate the overbearing manner in which their pretensions were sometimes urged by the officers of the crown. Of Sir Edmund Andros he says:

"The new governor was not long in showing his arbitrary dispositions, and the strong hand with which he intended to rule. One of the first acts of his despotism is connected with the history of our church, and indeed comes in regular continuation of it. The very day of his landing and the publication of his commission, he had a conference in the library of the town-house with the ministers of the three congregational churches, concerning the accommodation of the Episcopal society, and suggested that it might be so contrived that one house might serve two assemblies. The ministers, with four lay members of each congregation, held a meeting the next day, to consider what answer to give to the governor, and it was agreed, as Judge Sewall says in his diary, that they could not with a good conscience consent that their meeting-houses should be made use of for the common-prayer worship. On the evening of the following day, December 22, Mr. Mather and Mr. Willard waited on the governor at his lodgings, and "thoroughly discoursed his Excellency about the meeting-houses, in great plainness, showing they could not consent." The governor, either from an unwillingness to hurt their feelings too rudely, or from a fear of displaying his power too suddenly, seemed to say that he would not impose upon them what was manifestly so disagreeable. And so the matter was suffered to rest, but only for a short time. On the 23d of March, 1687, the governor sent Mr. Randolph for the keys of the South meetinghouse, now called the Old South, that the Episcopalians might have prayers there. A committee of six, of whom Judge Sewall was one, thereupon waited on his Excellency, to show that the house was their own property, and to repeat that they could not consent to part with it to such use. This was on Wednesday. The following Friday, which was Good Friday, Sir Edmund Andros sent to command the sexton of the South church to open the door, and ring the bell for those of the Church of England. The sexton, though he had resolved not to do so, was persuaded or intimidated into compliance, and the Governor and his party took possession of the house, and the church service was performed there.

"In looking back on this event, we are obliged to consider it, though not of itself of great political importance, as one of the most arbitrary acts ever perpetrated in this country, while it remained under the English government. No excuse is to be rendered for it. It was such a deliberate outrage on the common rights of property, to say nothing of conscience and liberty, that we may only wonder that Andros and his abettors, of whom Randolph was doubtless one, suffered no personal violence from

the people. But none seems to have been offered; and the proprietors of the South meeting-house, finding that they could not resist the imposition, submitted to it as well as they could. Both parties, indeed, after the intrusion was effected, and regarded as a settled thing, evinced some desire to accommodate each other with regard to the hours of their several meetings, though Andros was still the dictator. On Easter day, March 27, the governor and his retinue again met in the South Church, at eleven o'clock, word having been sent to the proprietors that they might come at half-past one; but it was not till after two that the church service was over, owing, as it is stated by Judge Sewall, to the sacrament, and Mr. Clarke's long sermon; so 't was a sad sight,' he continues, to see how full the street was with people gazing and moving to and fro, because they had not entrance into the house.' pp. 37-40.

The facts in regard to the changes in their doctrine and liturgy are thus given:

"On the 20th of February, 1785, the proprietors voted that it was necessary to make some alterations in some parts of the Liturgy; and appointed a committee to report such alterations. This committee consisted of seven gentlemen, in addition to the wardens, who were to consult and communicate with the Rev. Mr. Freeman. On Easter Monday, the 28th of March, they reported that some alterations were essentially necessary; and the alterations as reported were read, considered, and debated at several adjournments. On the 19th of June, the proprietors voted, "that the Common Prayer, as it now stands amended, be adopted by this church, as the form of prayer to be used in future by this church and congregation." The yeas and nays being called for, it appeared that of yeas there were twenty, and of nays seven; and three out of the seven dissentients had worshipped at Trinity Church ever since the year 1776. The alterations made in the Liturgy were principally those of Dr. Samuel Clarke, the celebrated English divine, and for the most part were such as involved the omission of the doctrine of the Trinity. The work as amended was immediately put to press, and was used in this church till the year 1811, when other amendments were made.

"Here was a most conspicuous, and as we must regard it, a most happy revolution; an auspicious turning from the dominion of creeds and phrases of men's device, to the easy yoke and authority of simple Scripture. This important change is to be attributed mainly to the judicious and learned expositions of

Mr. Freeman, who preached a series of doctrinal sermons to his people, and by the aid and influence of the word of God, moved them to respond to his sentiments. The first Episcopal church in New-England, became the first Unitarian church in America,* and our venerated senior minister, though not absolutely the first who held or even avowed Unitarian opinions, still on many accounts deserves to be considered as the father of Unitarian Christianity in this country." - pp. 137 - 140.

The influence which these changes had on their Episcopal and other ecclesiastical relations is thus stated:

"Although the congregation thus adopted a Liturgy from which all recognition of the doctrine of the Trinity was excluded, as being an erroneous and unscriptural doctrine, they nevertheless continued to regard themselves as Episcopalians, and desired to remain in connexion, if possible, with the American Episcopal Church. At a meeting held on Sunday, July 22d, 1787, they voted that a letter be addressed to the Rev. Bishop Provost at New York, to inquire whether ordination for the Rev. Mr. Freeman, can be obtained on terms agreeable to him and to the proprietors of this church, — and that this letter be drawn up by the Rev. Mr. Freeman, and signed by the Wardens.' The letter was written, approved, and sent; and an answer thereto was returned by the Bishop, in which he declined giving a decision in a business of such moment, and stated that it was to be referred, by advice, to the ensuing General Convention.

The congregation then determined to ordain Mr. Freeman themselves. A plan of Ordination was reported on the 4th of November, and adopted on the 11th, and on the 18th of the same month, 1787, it was carried into execution, and the Rev. James Freeman was ordained on the afternoon of that day, by a solemn and appropriate form, 'Rector, Minister, Priest, Pastor, teaching Elder, and public Teacher" of the Society worshipping at King's Chapel. The evening service being performed as usual, the wardens joined Mr. Freeman in the desk, and the senior warden made a short address to the proprietors and congregation, setting forth the reasons of the present procedure. The first ordaining prayer was then read by Mr. Freeman, after which the senior warden read the

"The writer does not mean to assert that King's Chapel was the first church in America, in which Unitarian opinions were to any extent entertained, but the first which came out and appeared before the world, in a body, as a Unitarian Church."