We wish we had room to give specimens of this writer's prose, which is equal, if not superior, to his verse. Gentle, pious Herbert comes next in the gallery of old worthies and sacred poets. At one time he had hopes of political preferment, but these were blasted by the death of many of his noble friends, particularly of James; and, although much disappointed, he brought himself, at length, to a surrender of the "painted pleasures of a court life," that he might devote himself to the work of a Gospel minister. The following lines on Grace are from his "Temple ": 'My stock lies dead, and no increase "If still the sun should hide his face, "The dew doth every morning fall, "O come, for Thou dost know the way, We conclude our selections from the work we have been noticing, with the following version of the 137th Psalın, by Richard Crashaw: "On the proud banks of great Euphrates' flood, While unhappy, captived we, Lovely Sion, thought on thee. "They, they that snatcht us from our country's breast, In Hebrew numbers, then (O cruel jest!) Sing! Play! To whom (ah!) shall we sing or play, If not, Jerusalem, to thee? Ah, thee, Jerusalem! ah, sooner may This hand forget the mastery Of music's dainty touch, than I "Which, when I lose, O may at once my tongue A withered leaf, an idle guest.' The author of the "Lives of Sacred Poets" evidently entered upon his task with pleasure, and he has succeeded in collecting from the rubbish of old times many a jewel to adorn the fair forms of Virtue and Piety. "I have walked," to use his own beautiful language, "through the burial ground of our elder poets with no irreverent footstep; and I shall not have lingered there in vain, if I have renewed one obliterated inscription, or bound one flower upon their tomb." NOTICES AND INTELLIGENCE. Scenes and Characters illustrating Christian Truth. No. I. Trial and Self-Discipline. By the Author of "James Talbot," "The Factory Girl," &c. pp. 100.- No. II. The Skeptic. By the Author of "The Well-Spent Hour," "Words of Truth," &c. pp. 144. Boston and Cambridge, James Munroe and ComBoth of these little books have appeared since our last pany. number was issued; and the approbation with which the public have received them has been so decided, that we are conscious that our own is hardly needed. Our approbation, however, and our welcome, and our hearty thanks we must give, if it is only to gratify our feelings with regard to them, and to show that we are not insensible to the merits which have won the universal suffrage. We look on these books as commencing, and under the happiest auspices, a new era in our religious literature. We know of no previous work, in our own country certainly, which has so happily presented and illustrated important religious truth, under the forms of interesting narrative, and adorned with the graces of cultivated composition. "Their beauty makes us glad." The first of these works sets forth in a manner truly touching and deeply impressive, the influence of religious principle in some of the most trying sorrows of life. It is a series of sketches rather than a continuous narrative; but each sketch has its object, and effects it. It appears to us to be an admirable book to put into the hands of the afflicted and distressed,—of all those who want something to support them, and inspire them with strengthening principle. We should not know what to think of the person, who should read it faithfully through, and not feel improved by the perusal. The second of these volumes also attains its end by an equally excellent way. We say equally, though we are aware that some prefer the one, and others the other, because we perceive that the whole style of execution is so different in both, and in both so good, that it would be hard to say, in fairness, which is the best. People will decide, according to their peculiarities of taste, and according to their state of feeling, and their spiritual needs, at the time of reading them. We shall only say that we are delighted with both. "The Skeptic" is intended to exhibit the influences of Christian faith, and of infidelity, as they work in the fortunes of common and domestic life. Perhaps the book will have no good effect on confirmed and hardened unbelievers, there are very few things that will;'. but we are inclined to think, that on those who are halting between belief and unbelief, who are standing on the confines of light and darkness, it may exert a great and saving power. Sober Thoughts on the State of the Times, addressed to the Unitarian Community. Boston. E. R. Broaders. 1835. 12mo. pp. 66. The anonymous author of this able and spirited pamphlet deals for the most part in admonitions and warnings; but he is not the less to be heeded on that account; and besides, he sees much to hope as well as much to fear in the aspect of the times. He undertakes to recount and explain the influences under which the Unitarians of this country have become in many respects a community by themselves, to define the position which they now hold in the religious world, and to indicate some of their peculiar dangers and responsibilities. As the tract has not been very extensively read, we hope that a short passage or two, taken from it almost at random, will serve the double purpose of illustrating the author's manner, and inducing a curiosity to know more of his "Sober Thoughts." "In all our congregations," he tell us, "and throughout every part of the country, there is a class of men, who have attached themselves to us simply because we are not Orthodox; men, who dislike Calvinism, but like nothing else; who think religion a good thing, that ought to be supported, and are glad to find some form which they can support different from that which they have been taught heartily to hate. They are anti calvinists, anti-orthodox, anti-zealots, anti-everything severe and urgent in religion. They will not forsake it, because to do so would put them out of good society; indeed, they are not without a vague traditional respect for it. They maintain a pew in the church, for the same reason that the worldly-minded merchant asks his minister to say grace when he has company to dine. It is decent and is expected of him. Such men are found among the loose hangers-on of every sect. A sect in the church militant is made up like an army going forth to war. There is the select body of the wise and hearty, who enter zealously into the merits of the cause, and give themselves to it soul and body. There is the larger number of considerate and faithful adherents, bound to it unflinchingly, but who are merely followers of the opinions of their betters, and take on themselves none of the responsibility of judging the merits of the case, or deciding on the propriety of the measures. There is still another class, who care little about the matter, who are in this army merely because it so happened, but are no more interested in its movements or success, than as they increase or diminish their own personal comforts. And lastly, there are the loose retainers of the camp, now here, now there, now nowhere, who like the protection of the flag and swell the numbers of the march, but who own no allegiance, perform no service, and are but a pestilent hindrance to those who are earnest in the cause. Such men, I say, are hanging about the skirts of every sect, they hang about ours; would to God we could make good Christians of them! they are far enough from it now.". - pp. 13-15. In speaking of another "crying enormity," he says: "The agitations of society have disturbed the foundations and weakened the strength of the churches in all parts of the land, and threatened some of them even with extinction. In many humble and impoverished parishes, numbers are few, means are small, and the Gospel is costly. It is an alarming problem yet to be solved, what shall be done to keep alive the fire on those lesser altars; and now that the law has forsaken the church door in this as well as in the other States, a new era has arrived, when the wise must contrive how the Gospel shall be supported among the thinly scattered and feeble, so that its light shall continue to burn, and our children of the coming generations shall be born to the enjoyment of Christian worship. Let those who are able, devise; let the favored and wealthy be ready to contribute; let all ponder and pray; and God forbid, that, through our remissness, one cottage shall remain upon our blessed fields, whose inmates are beyond the reach of the Sabbath-bell and the pulpit exhortation. There are some who do not feel this aright;some, blessed by God with property as well as liberty, who fancy that both are for themselves only, and who meanly withdraw from the support of his worship. There are congregations made up, in considerable part, of men who are more willing to live without the preaching of the Word, than to tax themselves so much for the means of salvation as they do for sugar in their tea, or for needless ornaments on the dress of their daughters." - pp. 35, 36. The Western Examiner. - Proposals have appeared for publishing at Cincinnati, Ohio, a monthly magazine, under this title, to be mainly devoted to the exposition and inculcation of Christianity as understood by Unitarians, with a particular view to the social and religious condition of the West. Ample space will, however, be allowed for general discussions respecting education and the various benevolent enterprises of the day, and for intelligence in regard to all local topics of interest. The work is to be conducted by the association of Unitarian ministers in the West, one of whom resides at Buffalo, New York, another at Louisville, Kentucky, and another at St. Louis, Missouri; the Rev. Mr. Peabody, of Cincinnati, being the responsible editor. Each number will contain seventy-two large medium octavo pages, making, at the end of the year, two volumes of four hundred and thirty-two pages each; the subscription price of which will be three dollars, payable on the reception of the second number. From our knowledge of the character and abilities of the gentlemen engaged in this undertaking, and of their peculiarly favorable position for understanding and supplying the wants of those for whose benefit the work is especially intended, and of the great need there is of precisely such a work to serve as a point of union and support to the western Unitarians, and a channel of communication and sympathy, between them and their eastern brethren, and also as a check on the efforts made for the spread of error and skepticism, throughout an immense, rapidly extending, and most interesting portion of our country, we cannot doubt that the friends of liberal Christianity, here as well as there, will be willing and eager to give it every encouragement and aid in their power. James Munroe and Co., 134 Washington Street, Boston, are general agents for receiving subscriptions. Professor Palfrey's Academical Lectures on the Jewish_Scriptures and Antiquities. The annunciation of this comprehensive and much needed work has been received with strong expressions of favor and sanguine anticipation. According to the prospectus, it will consist of four volumes, octavo, of between four hundred and fifty and five hundred pages each; and be furnished to subscribers, handsomely printed and bound in cloth, at the price of two dollars and a half a volume, payable on its delivery. The first vol |