How is Paul's persecution of the Christians to be reconciled with his christianity? How is the sunshine of the day to be reconciled with the darkness of the night?

"But it is alleged by some, that he afterwards altered his mind."

If the writer would for one moment have paused to think, this sentence would have reminded him that all he had been saying was wasted; and then by blotting out the whole he would have saved both himself and his readers the pain of so idle a show of argument.

"I have heard much on this subject; but nothing that deserves to be considered as supporting the allegation, has ever met my eye; nor do I believe that it was a fact."

This is a very summary way of jumping over the matter. It would have been but fair to have given the public a little opportunity of judging of the weight of what he had heard, instead of thus deciding upon it all in one sentence. Were not his readers

to be trusted? Would not some of them think the cause a little suspicious, when a whole page had been spent in proving that Dr. Watts was a trinitarian in that part of his life when every body allows that he was so; while the evidence that he finally became otherwise is dismissed in one small sentence-with a mere assertion and no argument?

But there is one argument.

"That a man so pre-eminently conscientious and disinterested as he is confessed to have been, should have left the world, without disavowing and calling in, his psalms and hymns, and especially his Doxologies, in all which the Trinity is so strongly acknowledged, is proof enough for any candid mind, that he continued, to the end of life, to receive and glory in that doctrine."

Here we allow there is a strong antecedent presumption. But we cannot admit that the strongest argument a priori is of the least weight in a case of fact, where testimony can be produced. It is altogether nugatory. The question is not what we should think he would have done, but what did he do? We want proof. And proof enough there is to show that this, this only argument in the case, is wholly unfounded.

It is a well known fact, that Dr. Watts did express a regret of many things which he had written in his Psalms and Hymns; he greatly desired to alter them; and it was matter of grief to him, that he had so put out of his hands the copyright of the book, that he could not alter without consent of the proprietors; and to them the book, from its wide circulation, had become so profitable, that they would not consent to any changes which might injure its sale and diminish their profits. This is stated in Palmer's New Seriesvol. III.

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Life of Watts, and fully established in Belsham's Life of Lindsey. It was asserted too in the preface to one edition of the Psalms and Hymns by the editor, who professed to have received it from a gentleman who had it from Dr. Watts himself, that he had "undertaken and finished a revisal of them" with the view of making such alterations. And although Mr. Palmer doubts the fact, since the copy would probably have been found after the Doctor's death; yet, at any rate, it serves to show what the general impression was respecting his wishes on the subject. So that we are abundantly warranted in saying, that he did virtually "disavow," and desired to "call in," his psalms, hymns, and doxologies.

It may serve further to satisfy us on this point, to be reminded, that the Rev. Martin Tompkins wrote to Dr. Watts on this subject, and put to him this very question; "whether, upon your present notion of the Spirit, you can esteem some of those Doxologies you have given us there, I will not say, as some of the noblest parts of christian worship, [the Doctor's words] but as proper christian worship? And if not, whether you may not think it becoming you, as a lover of truth, and as a christian minister, to declare as much to the world; and not suffer such forms of worship to be recommended by your name and authority, to the use of the christian church in the present time and in future generations ???

The doctor replied thus: "I freely answer, I wish some things were corrected. But the question with me is this: as I wrote them in sincerity at that time, is it not more for the edification of christians, and the glory of Gop, to let them stand, than to ruin the usefulness of the whole book, by correcting them now, and perhaps bring further and false suspicions on my present opinions? Besides, I might tell you, that of all the books I have. written, that particular copy is not mine. I sold it for a trifle to Mr. Lawrence near thirty years ago, and his posterity make money of it to this day, and I can scarce claim a right to make any alteration in the book which would injure the sale of it." But it should be remembered further, even if it were otherwise; if there were no evidence that he ever expressed disapprobation of a single verse; still Dr. Miller's inference would be far from infallible. Positive evidence, in another form, of a change of opinion, would destroy it. And as it was only at the very close of life that he was fully established in the change, his silence in regard to his hymns would breathe no imputation against his "conscientiousness or disinterestedness." So that allowing the Doctor his best ground, his argument amounts to nothing.

But let us set it against the positive proof derived from the account which Watts himself has left of his opinions.

He denied altogether any distinction of persons in the Godhead; or, in fact, any distinctions, by whatever name they might be called; holding that Jesus was the Son of God in his human nature only, becoming possessed of divinity, because God the Father [not God the Son] dwelt in him, and was united to his human nature;—and that the Holy Spirit is not a person in any sense except as Wisdom, Law, Righteousness, are persons, (that is, figuratively,) but "the real, almighty, operative power, or principle, of knowledge or action in the true Godhead."

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Now this, we say, is plain, unequivocal unitarianism. presses, not perhaps in the very words that we should select, but in the general sense, our own opinions; and it is impossible by any ingenuity to torture or twist it into the authorised doctrine of three persons in one God.

These were well understood to be his opinions before his death, and many consequently looked upon him with suspicion, and called him an Arian.

These opinions he published and defended, two years before he died, in a book entitled "Useful and important questions concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God;" and in another called, "The Glory of Christ as God-man displayed." Other writings on the subject he left in manuscript, most of which were suppressed, "because it was not judged necessary to publish them;" but of one of which, since printed, we have already given account in the place referred to above. To that article, and the books we have named, we refer for satisfactory evidence, that his opinions were such as we have stated them. He that will go to these sources of information, will soon be convinced, that however much this excellent man might have loved the form of sound words in which he had been educated, and been unwilling to abandon them; yet their spirit and meaning he abandoned entirely, and was an advocate for the doctrine, that the Father only is God. He was, therefore, so far as this fundamental principle is concerned, a Unitarian.

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS.

PULPIT ELOQUENCE.

THE description of the preaching of Dr. Mills, with the remarks upon it, in the little work lately published, entitled "No Fiction,"

appear to us very fine, and may help some of our readers to understand what true eloquence is. We have another reason for copying them, which is, that we may draw the attention of some to the work itself, which, upon the whole, is exceedingly worthy of perusal, and well calculated to do good.

"On Sunday I heard Dr. Mills. I had not many expectations, but how was I surprised and delighted! He is a real orator; quite an example of the eloquence of which we have been lately saying so much. No jingling antitheses—no unmeaning epithetsno periods set to music- -no meretricious ornaments-no tricks to catch admiration and applause. On the contrary, there was, occasionally, something in his manner, that a fastidious critic would have called awkward; and, sometimes in his style, there was a degree of carelessness that involved a sentence in some obscurity; but this seemed to carry forward the great effect of the discourse, as it convinced the hearers, he was intent on higher objects. His gestures were the most natural; dictated from present feeling, and not from studied attitudes. His language was plain and simple, such as seems at every one's command, but which, after all, few can employ: and, if images were introduced, they evidently rose to illustrate and enforce the subject, and were not called up to assert the capacity of the speaker.

"But Dr. Mills' forte is in the pathetic. He appears convinced, that sermons, addressed, as they generally are, to people who know more than they practice, should incline rather to exhortation, than argument; and he possesses, in a remarkable degree, that insinuating, affectionate earnestness, which the French call onction.

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"When he first announces his subject, there is nothing to observe, except, that every thing about him seems to say, he is in earnest. He gathers warmth and energy as he proceeds; and the prevailing sentiment of his heart evidently is→ 'If so be I may save myself and them that hear me !'

"I shall never forget the close of his sermon on Sabbath morning. He had been treating of the excellencies of the Saviour; and was addressing those who neglected them. Piety, anxiety, benevolence, rose to their fullest exercise, and his manner and language were most powerfully vehement. Now, he entreated like the tenderest of parents; then, he proclaimed the forgiving mercy of the Redeemer, with the authority of an apostle; and again, with trembling, he foretold, like a prophet, the unavoidable miseries of impenitence. He forgot himself, and his hearers forgot him. His style, his manner, his sentiments, were wonderfully eloquent and grand. They influenced all; but no one dwelt upon them. Nothing filled the soul of the preacher, but the im

mortal interests of his people, and he had succeeded in fixing their attention on the same object.

"As he was about to sit down, he paused; looked compassionately on his congregation, and said, "I have now fulfilled my commission. I have contrasted the world you have idolized, with the Saviour you have neglected. Say, my dear hearers, which will you serve? I will not receive your reply. The Saviour himself is in this place !-Answer as in his presence!-Do you hesitate ?-Hesitate to prefer bliss to sorrow-honour to disgrace-heaven to earth-heaven to hell-Oh! to hesitate, is to yield to the temper of your souls-to hesitate, is to defer your safety to a moment that may never, never be your's!-Yesterday is not your's. It is gone; and has recorded your transgressions before God!-To-morrow is not your's-it may never come to you. This moment alone is your's; and the very moment in which you should cast yourself on the mercy of the all-merciful Redeemer."

66 O, say not," he continued, "I am too ardent on this subject. Because you are too insensible to your salvation, blame not those who cannot imitate your indifference. I have a deep stake in your highest interest! I trust I can lay my hand on my conscience and say, I am clear of your blood; but this-this is not enough! I aspire not only to escape being accessary to your ruin-I pant to be the instrument of your redemption ! You are part of the charge which the hand of Providence has committed to my care; and, when 1 pen my fold for immortality,' how can I bear to find you wanting? I have prayed for you-and watched for you-and 'travailed in birth till Christ be formed within you the hope of glory; and how--O! how can I endure to subscribe to the sentence of your condemnation, and see you sink into hopeless, endless, unutterable wretchedness!--God Almighty, in his infinite mercy, avert from us such tremendous evils! and grant, that through His dear Son, we may all finally partake of that blessed salvation which we all so eminently need-which we have all so criminally abused!"

"He sat down. A solemn silence testified the feelings of the assembly-several were moved to tears. I trembled on my seat. But you should have seen and heard him to judge. I have not done him justice.

"I was greatly astonished, however, to find, that few of his regular attendants had power to appreciate the merits of their Pastor. They were all, indeed, strongly attached to him and his ministry; and would, perhaps, have refused to change it for any other. They admired his piety, and felt him to be a warmhearted useful preacher;' but they did not seem to think, that

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