of one who well knew the condition of the common mind of our country. And I rejoice that means are using to publish our views of Christian truth; it is our duty to do so, for we believe them true, and calculated better than any other views of Christianity to promote holy living. Let these views of Christianity be explained and published; let those who already embrace them adorn them by consistent conduct; and we may hope that Christianity will be honored by many who have been indifferent or opposed to every thing which has been named religion. Let Christianity be separated from its corruptions, and it will take a deep and a strong hold upon the common mind, and do much to purify and enoble it.

An important auxiliary to religion as a safeguard to the interests of a rising community, is found in common education. The pious founders of the New England states were wise as well as pious men, and as soon as they had provided a sheiter for themselves, reared humble temples for the worship of God; next they built school-houses, and established seminaries of learning. And so it should always be; the diffusion of knowledge and religion should go hand in hand: the former opens the mind for the reception of the latter, and they conspire to strengthen, to elevate, and to purify the intellect and the affections, and give to the spiritual its rightful supremacy over the material. As you love your country, then, and desire to promote its prosperity, look well to the interests of sound learning and pure religion.

If I have spoken of religion chiefly as a public concern, let none suppose that this is the most important point of view in which it can be regarded. Religion can do no good to a community except so far as the members of that community become religious. We must regard it as a personal concern. As individuals you are exposed to the peculiar temptations and dangers which beset your community; fly to the safeguards of religion; put on the Christian armor. Are you young!"take heed to your ways," covet earnestly the best gifts.Are you citizens?-"deal justly, love mercy." Are you parents? -shield your children from the evils to which they are exposed, and train them up to be the fit recipients of the noble inheritance which awaits them. You hold their destinies in your hands; you are creating the society in which they are to live. What you sow, they will reap. Be faithful, and the benedictions of posterity, and the blessings of God will be with you.

ART. 2.-MISSIONARY EFFORT.

"A man of Macedonia-saying, "Come over and help us."

Every Christian sect ought to have its missionaries, who should be sent to every part of the world where they will be favorably received. Christianity was from the beginning a missionary enterprise, and must remain so until the whole world is Christian. Its founder was a missionary; his apostles were missionaries, which is expressed in the name itself; and their only work was to bear witness to the truth among those who were ignorant of it. From their time to the present, the missionary spirit has never left the Christian Church, although it has at some periods produced very small results. The prosperity and enlargement of Christ's kingdom depend upon its still being preserved. The Christian sect which has no missionaries ought never to use the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come," except indeed it does so, as an acknowledgement of its own idleness, and an expression of good will towards those who are more faithful than itself. Such a sect is and ought to be an anomaly in the church universal, and there is no possible combination of circumstances which can justify it in continuing under the reproach. This we say, not because it is the duty of every sect to progagate itself, but because, if it is a Christian sect, it should obey Christ, and labor to spread Christianity. Sectarianism is a bad thing, and those who would compass heaven and earth to convert a pious man from one Christian sect to another, have more zeal than knowledge. But the true missionary spirit is something else. It does not impel one sect to labor against another, and fill its own cistern by draining a neighboring one, but it sends all sects to the same well of salvation, and commands every one to draw freely, and offer a cup to the thirsty lips of as many as will receive it. All will not drink from the same cup. Or to leave a figure which is already troublesome, men have different tastes and feelings, and every Christian sect will find many, who would always have remained unbelievers, if its particular form of faith had not been offered to them; therefore, all sects should labor, each in its own way; to spread the gospel; that which has most of the spirit of Christ, will ultimately make the most converts; but since all of them have a portion of that spirit, all will do good. There is no need of their laboring against each other; they have no commission to do so; Christians have no right to be sectarians, saying, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,"

for they are all of Christ, and no one is made a judge over the rest. But all should labor for the spread of Christianity, every sect in its own way, wherever it can find an opening. While the diversity of sects continues, this is the only method by which the words "Go ye and teach all nations," can be obeyed. But they who, from fear of sectarianism, or from any other fear, can see in their waking visions, "a man from Macedonia, saying, come over and help us," without going or sending, are inexcusable.

Unitarians have hitherto not been a missionary sect; or rather, we should say, their missionary efforts have been very limited. The causes of this are various, and many of them such as we need not be ashamed of; and upon the whole, we think that Unitarians are not much to blame for their past inaction. But in our apology for them, we stop here. They are to blame for their present inaction. For the case stands thus. There is a great work to be done, a portion of which, at least, they might do better than any other sect, and they are able to do it; yet they do nothing-not ignorantly, for the call has often reached their ears, and there are laborers ready to work, who are compelled to remain idle because "they are not sent" by those whose duty it is to send them. We will be more definite. These western states, which are the field of our humble labors, are destined to witness a struggle unto death, in which our whole country is deeply interested. It is the struggle be

tween faith and skepticism.

In all the conflicts in which religion has heretofore contended and been victorious, it has been aided by outward influences, but here it has no advantage ground, and the friends of truth must fight single-handed against the friends of error. It has not even the support of public opinion, for this is in a great degree yet to be formed, and the prejudices of the majority are rather against than for religion. This great region is peopled by men, who come, some of them, from countries where their freedom in speech and thought was restrained by the civil authorities; others from countries where a strong public opinion exerted a tyranny almost as harsh; here they find themselves under no restraint whatever, except that of their own will; they may think and say what they please; be Christian or Infidel, Protestant, or Catholic, without incurring public odium. As a first consequence of this freedom, every man acts himself out with singular boldness. His real tendencies display themselves. Whatever before he believed, merely from fashion or habit, he relinquishes, and even that which he sincerely believed, and never doubted, undergoes a

scrutiny, which is rather free than impartial. Remembering that his opinions were formerly under restraint, he takes it for granted that they were not much better than prejudices, and he forthwith doubts or rejects them, simply because he is at liberty to do so. Thus it happens that truth often shares the fate of error, and nothing in opinion is established. Every man's mind is unsettled with regard to all subjects of speculation and faith; the majority belong to no religious sect. They will tell you that before they came to the west, they were accustomed to attend such a church and were called by such a name; but since they have been here, they have not quite determined what society to join. The fact is, that very many of them have a previous question to determine,-Is religious truth a reality?-or this was not my Christian faith an hereditary prejudice? Upon this question their minds work freely, and they will not shrink from whatever result best satisfies their reason. They are bound to no system of opinions; they have hardly any preference for one more than another. They are not even seeking for truth; they are merely suffering their minds to work freely and come to their own conclusions. Into such a state of mind very many unconsciously fall: particularly the young, who come into this great west, where all things are in motion and all things free. At what conclusions shall the independent ramblings of their minds end? If they were actuated by the love of truth and the desire of finding it, we should be at ease, for we have confidence in the untrammeled action of an unprejudiced mind, when so guided; it may have some wild vagaries and undergo a complete revolution; but it will commonly find a resting place in God and Christ. But here is the difficulty: they are so engrossed in the physical, in what is called "business," that they give no attention to the working of their minds, and suffer them to wander about, without so much as even seeking after a home; and thus the impartial state of their minds, which might be made so favorable to the reception of truth, gradually becomes an absolute indifference about every thing which cannot be expressed in figures, or converted into money.

These are the facts which make the West a field of missionary enterprise. Christianity should be offered in all its diverse forms, which are, in general only different manifestations of the same spirit. Every means should be used to keep men awake, or if they have already gone to sleep, to awaken them to a sense of their spiritual existence. This must be done in part by foreign agency, we mean that of the older states, for the single reason that among ourselves, the majority either

have not concluded in what particular way to act, or have concluded not to act at all.

If our view of the state of western society is correct, two things are certain. First, That every Christian sect which has confidence in the truth of its own tenets, should have its missionaries, teaching and preaching, wherever they can obtain a favorable hearing. Secondly, That whatever system is most consistent with scripture and reason, will, if ably vindicated, be most favorably received. No system of religion will ever be generally adopted by the western population if it is not rational. We do not say that no sect but the Unitarian can ever predominate here. We would not monopolize the name of rational Christians, which is a kind of bigotry too common. But we repeat that none but a rational religion can ever prevail in the west. The choice is between a rational religion or none. It will not do here to say, "away with carnal reason! do not dare to touch with profane hands the word of God!" Men will think. They will not pretend to believe what they are told they must not try to understand. They are determined not to be priest-ridden or hood-winked, and they carry this feeling to excess. The majority keep aloof from all religion, because they have always been taught to think that religion requires a sacrifice of reason. It is a sacrifice which nothing will compel them to make. The great work to be done is, to convince them that they may be Christians and yet keep their reason. This is no easy work, because it goes against early associations; and it is becoming every day more hard, because continued indifference to the spiritual and eternal contracts the mind, and makes the standard of what is rational every day lower. There are many among us now who can conceive of no truth beyond the little circle in which they see and hear; so blinded are their minds to what is spiritual. Such are already beyond the reach of human influence. But the majority are not so, and will not become so, if now when their rational nature is healthy, they can be taught the harmony of reason with religion.

We feel that we are not doing our subject justice, and will therefore leave it for the present. We appeal to our brethren in the eastern cities, and ask them to think on these things. Could you have a more favorable opportunity of trying whether your faith is of God or of men? Is not the opening here just what you would have wished for? Are your eyes closed, that you do not see the immense importance of using all means for the advancement of religion and morality, in these wonderfully growing states, which must soon give laws to the Union?