ordaining vote, which was unanimously adopted by the Society, and signed on the spot by the wardens in their behalf. Mr. Freeman next declared his acceptance of the office to which he had been chosen, and signed the same. The ceremony of ordination was then performed by the senior warden, who, as the representative of the Society, laid his hand on Mr. Freeman, and declared him to be their Rector, &c.; in testimony of which he delivered to him a BIBLE, enjoining upon him 'a due observance of all the precepts contained therein.' He then blessed him in the name of the Lord, and the whole assembly, as one man, spontaneously and emphatically pronounced, Amen!'

"After this, Mr. Freeman read the second ordaining prayer, and, an anthem having been sung, preached on the duties and offices of a Christian Minister. Another anthem closed this affecting and appropriate service.

abuse was

"The validity, of this ordination was furiously assailed in the newspapers of the day, as might have been expected, and vehemently protested and argued against by some of the former proprietors of the church. The newspaper sufficiently and pleasantly answered in a short piece attributed to the Rev. Dr. Belknap, always a truly liberal and charitable man. The protest was triumphantly refuted by an unpublished reply of the wardens of King's Chapel, distinguished for good sense and sound argument. A sort of repudiation or excommunication of Mr. Freeman and his church, was also circulated by the clergymen of five episcopal churches of NewEngland. But all the notice which Mr. Freeman took of this, was to send it to the Columbian Centinel, requesting its insertion in that paper." —pp. 140 – 142.

The Appendix contains a selection of old and curious, or otherwise valuable papers and documents. The volume is also embellished with an engraving of the present Chapel, and of the old Chapel, as in 1720, with Beacon Hill in the distance. The form in which Mr. Greenwood has published these memorials, and the mechanical execution generally, may be recommended as a model to the preachers and publishers of century, and other historical and elaborate discourses.

THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

ART. I. The Biography of Intelligent Reformers, and History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century. From REES'S CYCLOPEDIA. Being Vol. iii. of the New Series of the Christian Monitor, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity. Boston. Samuel G. Simpkins. 1833. 24mo. pp. 213.

We are glad to see that the abovenamed religious society continues its labors with so much spirit and punctuality. This is the third volume issued under its auspices, which we have had occasion to notice within the space of a year; and though it cannot have cost nearly the same care in preparation as the two others, indeed none at all but that required in selecting the articles from Rees's Cyclopædia, yet we are pretty certain that it will be more read than either of them, on account of the interest invariably belonging to narrative. It contains the lives of Wickliffe, Huss, Jerome of Prague, Luther, Zuingle, and Calvin, to which is added a short history of the Protestant Reformation. We have read the collection with great pleasure, and commend it to those who do not possess the tomes from which it has been taken.

And now let us inquire, What is the spirit of reform? What is it that has animated and enabled men from time to time to become reformers, not disturbers, but true reformers; and not religious reformers alone, but moral reformers of all descriptions? Has it not been a sense of independence and personal responsibleness, and of superiority to what are usually termed existing circumstances and the spirit of the age? A very large proportion of the evil which has always exist

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ed in society, may be traced to the want of personal independence, and disregard of personal responsibility. We do not mean by independence, that fiery essence of pride and selfishness, which is quick to resent a slight or wrong; which is always ready to meet aggression more than half way; and which delights to show itself in rudeness or haughtiness, as its condition may happen to be low or high. For such independence we have little sympathy and less respect, and so far from thinking that there is a want of it in the world, can only lament that there is such a superfluity. By independence we mean another and a far different thing. We e mean the resolution which adopts, and maintains, and obeys its own standard of right and wrong; which refuses to render an unquestioning homage to the voice of the many; which, being based upon principle, is not to be driven to and fro by the popular breath, even should that breath rise into a whirlwind; which, acknowledging allegiance to a higher than any mortal authority, will not forfeit it at the behest of any. This is the independence which leaves to a man his own views and convictions, his own conscience, and his own conduct. Without inciting or suffering him to be forward or boisterous, it makes him steadfast and sure. Without obliging him to feel an uncharitable scorn of public opinion, it offers a rule to his admiration and observance which is alone worthy of his serious study, and entitled to his faithful submission,-the great rule of right, the solemn law of God. It teaches him to consider himself as responsible for his thoughts and actions, in the first and highest place, not to the multitude, but to his Maker; and in the second place, not to the multitude, but to his own soul. It leads him into a safer, happier, and more glorious path, than the broad, dusty, soiled, and soiling road, which is beaten by the multitudinous and crowding world. It sets his feet and his heart at liberty, and breathes into his soul the consciousness of individual existence and value, and the sense of individual duty.

This is the independence, to the want of which may be traced and referred very much of past and existing evil. Not possessing it, men lose themselves, their accountability, their dignity, all that constitutes them men, in the absorbing mass; where they acquire the color, and motions, and tendencies of the mighty vortex which has engulphed them. Instead of uttering a voice of their own, they wait for an acclamation, and then they join in; instead of having opin

ions of their own, they listen for the prevalent opinions, and then they repeat them; instead of having a morality of their own, a religion of their own, they are content to be just as moral and just as immoral, just as religious and just as irreligious, as other people; taking the tone of the world around them, which is seldom the highest, and imbibing its sentiments, which are not always the purest. They do not test and try opinions by any self-instituted process. They do not examine manners and actions according to a fixed and exalted standard. They trouble themselves with nothing of the kind. They fall in with the great procession, without inquiring whither it is going, upwards or downwards, to a good end or a bad one; it is enough for them that they are going with it. And thus it comes, that there are so many slaves to custom and fashion; and that there are so many expensive and monstrous sacrifices to custom and fashion. Thus it comes, that those who ought to be economical are extravagant, and those who ought to be industrious are idle, and the rich so often grow poor, and the poor so often keep themselves poor, or grow poorer, and strip themselves to destitution. Thus it comes that so many think evil is metamorphosed into good, when they see the multitude practise it, and good is turned into evil, when they see the multitude slight, or forsake, or forbid it. And thus it comes, that the amount of evil is so vastly increased, because there are so many who blindly and carelessly, or cowardly, without using their own eyes to observe, or their own minds to prove, follow the multitude to do it.

But must we be singular? Must we be eccentric? Must we do nothing that others do; say nothing that others say? Must we be perpetually quarrelling with society about its usages and habits? No. We are to do none of these things. It is best that we should follow the many in all ways which are indifferent; perhaps it is best that we should follow them in some ways which are inconvenient; but we must not follow them to do evil. "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." That is the simple commandment. It is very true that singularity and eccentricity, when they come from a causeless, wilful, diseased principle of opposition to general custom and sentiment, are no virtues; but even then they partake no more of the nature of sin, than does a servile acquiescence in general custom

and sentiment. Without doubt, public opinion, on most points, is worthy of respectful attention and examination ; but, after you have examined it by the great and permanent light within, after you have weighed it in the balance of truth and the gospel, and found it false and wanting, reject and oppose it, and if your decision is to be called singularity and eccentricity, let it be called so, and, in the name of all that is true and holy, be singular and eccentric. We are not required

to dispute with the world step by step; we are not required to be solitary and to forsake the world; we are rather called upon to do all the good we can in it, and receive all the good we can from it. But we are required to recognise a higher authority than the world's will; to obey a more sacred commandment than the world's law. We are required to form moral and religious principles of our own, and to regulate our commerce with the world by our principles, and not borrow our principles from our commerce with the world. If we will not do this, we shall do evil; for we shall do whatever the multitude does, and the multitude often does evil. The very reason why so many follow a multitude to do evil, is, not that they take any particular pleasure in evil, but that they are in the weak and silly habit of following a multitude, as a matter of course, without considering whether it is for evil or good. That is to say, they want moral independence, and do not hold themselves individually accountable to their own spirit, or to the Father of Spirits.

This want of independence is manifested by some, who yet would repel the charge of following a multitude. We care not for the multitude, say they. We are not governed by the popular voice, or the popular taste. We acknowledge no such vulgar dominion. We go with the select few, and not with the many, whom we avoid and despise, and feel no disposition to follow.

Such persons are to be told, that their distinction is merely verbal. Their select few, or the fashionable world, or whatever else it may be termed, is to all intents and purposes a multitude, for it is a multitude to them, acting upon them by all the influences of a combination, and with all the despotism of general example. So that we surrender our conscience, and our right of judging, deciding, and acting, it matters not whether the surrender is made to a well-clad or an ill-clad collection of people, to the fashionable or unfashionable world. These