Rev. Henry Giles is to give us through this firm a new volume, entitled "Christian Thoughts on Life," embracing the following topics: The Worth of Life, The Personality of Life, The Continuity of Life, The Struggle of Life, The Discipline of Life, Faith and Passion, Temper, The Guilt of Contempt, Evangelical Goodness, Spiritual Incongruities, Weariness of Life, Mysteries in Religion and in Life. — Mr. Hawthorne is preparing "True Tales from History and Biography for the Young." An elegantly illustrated edition of Professor Longfellow's "Evangeline will soon be published, with forty-five engravings by English artists. The same firm will very soon reprint two volumes of De Quincey's writings, embracing Confessions of an Opium-Eater, his Suspiria Papers, and five of his biographies, viz. Shakspeare, Pope, Goethe, Schiller, and Charles Lamb. Messrs. Phillips, Sampson, & Co. will publish very soon "Margaret Percival in America, a Religious Tale, edited by a Congregational Clergyman." Those who have read the Margaret Percival in England, by the famous Puseyite divine, Rev. Wm. Sewell, will find the other view of sundry questions of morals and religion in the American book. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Dudleian Lecture. - The annual Dudleian Lecture was delivered in the Chapel of Harvard College, on Wednesday, May 8th, by Rev. Dr. Edward B. Hall, of Providence, R. I. The subject in course was, The Validity of the Mode of Ordination in the Congregational Churches of New England. Dr. Hall evidently sought to avoid the treatment of his subject in a rigidly controversial way, and therefore availed himself of the full liberty left to the preacher by the Hon. Paul Dudley, the founder of the Lectures, who did not require that an assault should be made upon any other mode of ordination, but only that the validity of our own should be sustained. Nor is the audience before the preacher on such an occasion one that could be benefited by a strictly controversial discourse. Those of the audience who could appreciate and understand an argument on the subject do not need it, because already satisfied of the false, absurd, and unscriptural character of the high pretensions of prelacy. The young men, the students of the College, with very few exceptions, know but little, and care still less, about the controversy. Dr. Hall passed over the polemics of his theme so hastily, and with such evident distaste, as, perhaps, to do it injustice, though the moderation and mildness of his statements secured to them the true Christian tone. His main purpose was to present that view of the Gospel and its ordinances which aims to establish spiritual kingdom in the hearts of believers infinitely surpassing the power of a priesthood, a ritual, and a hierarchy. The Anniversaries. The attendance upon the numerous- - the too numerous meetings, which have made Anniversary Week more famous even than was the same period of time under its old title, was very large, nor was there any apparent diminution of interest in them. Our religious papers have given such extended reports of what was said and done in them, that we have left for us only the grateful task of record 1850.] Religious Intelligence. 159 ing such of them as come appropriately under this department of our pages. Unitarian Book and Pamphlet Society. This modest but efficient society was formed in 1827, its sole object being to stock a depository with books and tracts containing sound views of theology, morals, and Christian duty, for gratuitous distribution. Its gifts are not scattered indiscriminately in waste and unpromising places, but are freely bestowed upon such as seek them directly or indirectly. The poor and ignorant in our own midst, and wanderers far away, have been benefited by its judicious charity. The Annual Sermon in behalf of the Society was preached in the Church of the Saviour, on Sunday evening, May 26, by Rev. George E. Ellis of Charlestown. The Prison Discipline Society held its twenty-fifth annual meeting in the vestry of Park Street Church, on Monday, May 27, for business purposes, the Society voting to hold no public meeting. The Report of the Managers had a melancholy duty to perform, in commemorating many of its most efficient members and its most generous benefactors who have recently deceased, chiefly during its last financial year, including the late Hon. Messrs. John D. Williams, Samuel T. Armstrong, John R. Adan, and Dr. Edward H. Robbins, besides the President, Hon. Theodore Lyman. That munificent founder of the Massachusetts State Reform School at Westborough, which he endowed with more than $80,000, will ever be held in most respectful regard in this community, for his wise and devoted concern for the objects of this Society. The Hon. Samuel A. Eliot, his brother-in-law, and long a Vice-President of the Society, was chosen its President, his place being filled by the election of the Hon. William H. Prescott. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Piety, and Charity held its annual meeting at the house of its Secretary, Rev. Dr. Young, on Monday, May 27: its business consisting of the choice of officers to manage its pecuniary trust, and to continue its benefactions in its own chosen channel of Christian effort. The Massachusetts Bible Society held its forty-first anniversary in the Central Church, on Monday afternoon, May 27, the President, Hon. Simon Greenleaf, in the chair. Rev. Dr. Sharp offered prayer and read from the Scriptures. The Rev. Dr. Parkman read the Report of the Executive Committee. The Society, being now disconnected from the American Bible Society, stands upon its own original, independent basis, and is solely devoted to its own peculiar work. It has distributed during the last year 5,825 Bibles, and 12,790 copies of the New Testament: 941 of the volumes were in foreign languages. Resolutions were passed and addresses made by Hon. William Hubbard, Rev. A. Hill of Worcester, and Hon. Edward Everett. The American Peace Society held its twenty-second anniversary on Monday evening, May 27, in Park Street Church, and the report of the condition, agency, and prospects of the Society was of the most encour aging character. Its receipts for the past year have been double those of the preceding year. Three Peace Congresses have been already held in Europe since 1843, and a fourth is to be held at Frankfort-onthe-Main in the coming August, to which delegates have been commissioned from this country, so that the agency to which the Society looks with the greatest hope is vigorously sustained. Large numbers of the volumes on the Mexican War by Judge Jay and Rev. A. A. Livermore, besides numerous other books and tracts, have been widely distributed. Five agents have been employed by the Society. Numerous petitions, praying for peaceful substitutes for the sword, have been addressed to Congress, and but one vote was lacking in the House of Representatives to have secured a special committee to report upon them. Deacon Samuel Greele, a Vice-President of the Society, presided. Rev. Dr. Tucker offered prayer and read from the Scriptures. The Rev. Mr. Beckwith, the Secretary, read the Report, and the Rev. A. L. Stone, pastor of Park Street Church, delivered the Annual Address to a densely crowded assembly. Society for the Relief of Aged and Indigent Unitarian Ministers. — This Society, which was formed a year ago, and was incorporated by the Legislature at its last session, held its annual meeting, and organized itself according to its charter, on Tuesday, May 28, at the chapel of the Church of the Saviour. Rev. Dr. Nichols, the President, being absent, the Rev. Dr. Frothingham, a Vice-President, took the chair. The officers previously chosen were reelected. The Treasurer, Rev. Dr. E. Peabody, read his Report, from which it appeared that the permanent fund of the Society is already more than $4,500. This amount, considering that no very earnest efforts have been made to raise it, is certainly a very generous contribution from our friends thus far to a most worthy object. It may be confidently expected that bequests will from time to time be made to the Society, and that many small sums will still come into its treasury from churches and congregations that are but now informed of its existence. A vote of thanks was passed to those congregations and individuals that have already contributed to the fund. As it was thought wise and proper to fix some definite age which should have been reached by the objects of this charity, it was unanimously voted that its recipients must be at least fifty-five years old. American Unitarian Association. The annual business-meeting of the Association was held in the chapel of the Church of the Saviour, on Tuesday morning, May 28, the President, Rev. Dr. Gannett, in the chair. Prayer was offered by Rev. Nathaniel Hall of Dorchester. A quarter of a century having now elapsed since the Association was formed, the Report of the Secretary, Rev. F. W. Holland, as well as many of the remarks at the public meeting in the evening, made constant reference to that fact, as offering a point from which to review the work that has been accomplished, and from which to commemorate some of its most devoted friends who have passed away. The controversial, philanthropic, and spiritual agencies and efforts of the Association, when thus brought into review and presented in connection with the great occasions which have called them forth, did certainly 1850.] Religious Intelligence. 161 offer most convincing evidences of the vitality and efficiency of our Christian brotherhood. The Secretary did justice to the occasion and the theme. His Report was by far the most interesting one to which we have listened at our anniversaries. The feeble beginnings of the Association seem to us, in one point of view, to indicate its strongest period, because of the earnestness and devotion of the very few members who were its first supporters. It is a very remarkable fact, that, without the slightest concert of action, or even any mutual knowledge or communication on the subject between the two countries, the British and Foreign Unitarian Association should have been formed in London at precisely the same time that gave birth to our Association in Boston. No statistics from our records, such as an enumeration of the tracts issued, of the churches and societies gathered or sustained, of the missionaries sent forth, or of the sums of money collected and spent for the specific objects of our Association, would afford any thing approaching to a fair estimate of what it has effected for the cause of pure, Scriptural Christianity. Its indirect influences upon all other denominations around us constitute one portion of its most successful agency which we have no means of estimating. At least half of all the so-called Orthodox churches in this State are now under such liberal ministrations, that many of those who were most earnest in forming the Unitarian Association would not find in them the doctrines and measures against which their zeal was kindled in former years. We by no means claim for Unitarians the whole credit of having Christianized and humanized Orthodoxy, but Unitarianism has done much of that benevolent work, and has not yet exhausted its power. The Rev. Dr. Gannett was reëlected President, and the Rev. S. K. Lothrop and the Hon. Stephen Fairbanks Vice-Presidents, of the Association. Mr. Holland withdrew his name as a candidate for reëlection as Secretary, and the Rev. Calvin Lincoln of Fitchburg was chosen to that office. He has since signified his acceptance of it. A vote of thanks was passed, expressive of the sense of the Association of the devoted and most laborious efforts of the late Secretary in discharging his arduous duties. The public meeting of the Association was held in the Federal Street Church in the evening, and was opened by prayer by the Rev. Wm. Mountford of England. After the Secretary had read a sketch of the Report, the President, by brief and felicitous remarks, indicating the topics which each speaker would present, called out successively six gentlemen. Deacon Samuel Greele reviewed the operations of the Association in its controversial, benevolent, and spiritual enterprises; during the whole period of its existence, he himself has always been an efficient member of it. The Rev. Mr. Osgood of New York, treating of our literature, of our present relative position in Christendom, and of our wants at this time, gave expression to many encouraging and stirring feelings. The Hon. John G. Palfrey held the audience in profound and sympathizing attention, while he called back from the shades many of his former associates in the ministry, and with rare beauty of diction and a constant variety of appropriate epithet, delineated the striking features of body, mind, and heart of those who are so tenderly cherished in our memories. The Rev. Mr. Bellows of New York spoke from a full breast and from a rich experience, upon our work, our growth, our rivals, our ministry, and upon the demands which the present stirring times make upon us. The Rev. Russell Lant Carpenter of England gave us much information concerning our brethren across the water, and in most vigorous and instructive tones proved to us how strong was our bond of union. The Rev. E. E. Hale of Worcester closed with some cheering remarks which prepared for and anticipated with hope the future before us. The Collation. This is the title of the entertainment which is annually provided on the day of the meeting of the Association, by the Unitarian laity of the city, for the ministers and their wives from town and country. It was held this year in the Assembly Hall, Beach Street, and the numbers gathered around the tables did not fall much short of one thousand. Besides the substantial elements used for such an occasion, rich flowers and wreaths offered their aid, and many portraits of those whom we revere and honor adorned the walls. The Hon. James Savage presided. A blessing was invoked by Rev. Dr. Gannett, and thanks were returned by Rev. Samuel Osgood. After the repast, the President, in behalf of the hosts, welcomed their guests, and invited remarks from the whole field of observation which the sympathies and memories of the occasion opened. Brief speeches were made by Rev. Mr. Osgood of New York, Lieutenant-Governor Reed, Hon. Daniel P. King, M. C., Rev. E. T. Taylor, Rev. Messrs. Henry Giles, R. L. Carpenter and William Mountford of England, Rev. John H. Heywood of Louisville, Ky., Elder Humphrey of Dayton, Oh., and Rev. Mr. Stone of Providence, R. I.__ Original hymns were sung at intervals, and at the close Rev. Charles Brooks offered a motion, which was responded to, that the thanks of the company be presented to the committee, and that they be charged with their pleasant though arduous office for the next year. Considering that the occasion has lost its novelty, it must be regarded as well sustained. Ministerial Conference at the Chapel of the Church of the Saviour. The new arrangement for the conduct of this Conference went into effect this year, and resulted, as was hoped and desired, in securing order, economy of time, and a division of topics, while much confusion, heretofore encountered, was wholly avoided. A meeting was held for devotional exercises early in the morning, and at nine o'clock, the hour appointed, the Rev. F. A. Farley of Brooklyn, N. Y., was called to the chair, the standing officers were reëlected, and the Rev. Mr. Burnap of Baltimore, Md., delivered an Address on the Importance of Systematic Theology and the Duty of the Unitarian Clergy in Relation to it. This address will appear in our next number. A brief discussion followed, and the Conferenee adjourned at one o'clock. The Conference met again at three o'clock, and the Rev. W. H. Channing delivered an address, in which he presented his view of the Divine order of society, of which Jesus Christ is the exponent. The address was characterized by the genial spirit, the elevation, sincerity, and singleness of heart, which are uniformly manifested by the speaker; and while it gave proof of the intensity and the full conviction of his faith, it was unintelligible to some, and too imaginative and impracticable in the views of others even to excite the hope that its ideal would ever be realized amid these anxious and toiling scenes of human life. |