ligion were skeptical and unsettled. "But as he became more aware of his own frailty, and found by sad experience how prone he was to fall short of his ideal, and as the mystery of sin in mankind at large forced itself upon his attention, he asked himself whether there was not a deeper significance than he had been apt to credit in the doctrines of redemption." It was at this period that he found in Coleridge a guide, and Coleridge he always regarded as his Christian father. He did not receive all his theological opinions indeed, but as early as 1840 he spoke of a "Unity in Trinity which all may receive: God the Creator and Governor, seen in Nature; God the Redeemer, seen in Revelation; and God the Sanctifier, purifying the heart through Reason, one God in Three Forms."

He began to preach in an informal way to the congregation of which Mr. Channing was the pastor, and in 1841 was invited to succeed him. He accepted the invitation with great reluctance, being greatly diffident of his worthiness through deficiency in character to speak of the Christian life and of Christian truth." He fulfilled the trust with great acceptance, and was esteemed a most instructive and powerful preacher. The secret of his success lay in the richness of his mind and character, and in the simplicity and earnestness with which he inculcated that and that only which he believed, because he had found it true in his life. It was not in the originality of his topics, nor in a style of pleasing oratory, for he "had no tricks of imposing form, as too many have, to eke out deficiency or inanity of substance." "His chief power as a preacher consisted in the fact that he was a practical man, and as such felt a deep and earnest sympathy with the spiritual wants that pertained to the current life of every class."

During all this period his religious views were more and more confirmed in the right direction. Mrs. H. B. Stowe, who knew him well, has given the following account of his opinions and feelings at the time of his death, in 1849:

"Mr. Perkins' position, religiously considered, was one to which few will do justice. He, whose inquiries after truth are so strictly individual and eclectic as were his, finds little sympathy in our religious community, where it seems to be an essential requisite that a man should class somewhere, and be enabled to state his creed under some one name of the various recognized parties. When, therefore, Mr. Perkins ceased to be a Unitarian, and yet could not embrace in toto any of the formurlaies of orthodoxy, his position was in many respects painful.

"He was capable of a hearty. settled, genuine belief, and such, on many questions, he had attained to. He first approached the land of moral inquiry from the side of entire skepticism; and how different are the views of one who enters it on that side from his who glides in upon the tranquil stream of 24

VOL. IX.

traditional belief! It was by earnest wrestling, by vigil and careful inquiry, that he attained to every successive conviction; but he did attain to many points, which he looked upon as firm land, and not bog or mirage.

"The points on which, I think, Mr. Perkins had attained to settled conviction, were, the entire ruin of the human race morally: the entire dependence of man on Divine assistance for any upward progress; the necessity of a thorough radical regeneration of every individual heart, through the supernatural influences of the grace of God.

"He also believed in Christ as so united to the divine nature as to be truly and properly God manifest in the flesh, a proper object of the highest religious homage and worship and I remember a very beautiful and eloquent description which he gave of the influence of the living faith in Christ in the transformation of human character. He believed also in the fact of an atonement by the death of Christ, though he stated that he could not as yet see truth in any of the philosophical theories by which the doctrine was supported." -pp. 273, 274.

In 1847 Mr. Perkins proposed to his congregation to abandon "the dogmatic, sectarian ground of Anti-Trinitarianism, and to assume that of a more practical Christianity, having as its basis these points:-1st. Faith in the perfect trustworthiness of the gospels, in their essential inspiration. 2d. Faith in Jesus, as God revealed through man. 3d. Faith in God's constant presence and ceaseless intercourse with human souls. 4th. Faith in regeneration and the forgiveness of sin; and 5th. Faith in a fu ture life of retribution. 6th. Faith in the power of Christianity to cure the evils of the world." October 8, 1848, he preached a discourse in furtherance of this design, from which we extract the following remarkable passages:

"When modern Unitarianism first found expression in our land, it was the earnest protest of devout hearts against that real or imagined form of faith which of the Triune God had made three Gods, which to the fallen man denied the mere power of receiving God's spirit, which sunk the great Reconciler of God and man in the victim of divine wrath, which petrified foreordination into a pagan fate, and election into the capricious mercy of a tyrant.

"I am not, as you well know, a disbeliever in the value of theology. It is not a mean, or mysterious, or unpractical system of truths, as I view it. Nothing, I believe, is so universally and constantly practical, sensible and noble, as theology. It not only ought to govern, but does govern, the merchant in Main street, the lawyer at the bar, the mechanic in his shop, the farmer at his plow. When you leave this city for New York or New Orleans, your life will depend very much upon the theology of the engineer who holds the safetyvalve of the steamboat, or modulates the speed of the locomotive. No matter what his skill, his energy, his knowledge the man's conduct will be finally determined by what he really believes in reference to God and the relation of God to man; in other works, by his theology.

"It is not, then, because I despise or disregard this science-if we may fitly degrade it by such a term-that I say a platform of to-day must bear mind free upon it. Neither is it because I would tolerate all views and bear with all errors. I would bear with no error; I would tolerate no false view ; I would discard as an insult the name of liberality when it implies, as it too often does, the quiet sufferance of lies."

The society was constituted on the basis which he proposed, and the establishment of which he so ardently desired. Mr. Perkins was apparently as happy, as active, as hopeful, and as laborious, as teachable and desirous to teach others, as he had ever been, living in the midst of rural scenes, in which he so much delighted, and surrounded by a happy family, when he was suddenly called from life, December 14, 1849, lamented by all who had the happiness to know him.

Of such a man we are prompted to say, that he died too soon, because he was working out problems of the utmost interest for himself and his fellow-men. And yet viewed in its relation to himself, his death was not too soon; for Mrs. Stowe says, most beautifully:" Amid all the affliction of his sudden and most mournful death, I have never been without a mingling of solemn joy when I think of him individually. The divine longing was in him so strong, the yearning, the hungering and thirsting after light and purity so ardent, that I rejoice at his having at last found it. His was one of those souls whom a German writer describes as possessed by a home-sickness' which makes them perpetually long for a higher sphere, and forbids them any settled repose on the bosom of created things. Of all such when they depart, may it truly be said, 'If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I go unto my Father."

We have thus hastily thrown together such passages from this memoir as would give some idea of the character and history of this remarkable man. We fear that they convey but an imperfect conception of him, as he is presented in the extended biography. We ought to add that the accompanying writings are in every respect worthy of preservation, for their own value, and as illustrating the character of the writer.

We regret that we cannot pursue the many topics of thought which are suggested by our theme. We should have been pleased to dwell upon the advantages of a familiarity with country scenes and country sports, in the formation of character-upon the end for which the sons of the rich should be specially trained in order most effectually to promote the Christian civilization of the people-upon the methods appropriate to such a training. We should also have been pleased to remark at length upon the Christian socialism of our day, which is assuming a form more and more distinct, and upon the hopes and the fears which it excites. The evil of Unitarianism and of the dogmatism from which Unitarianism was a reaction, as illustrated by the long and sad career, through which Mr. Perkins groped his perilous way, opens a wide field for reflection. But all these topics we must leave to

our readers to peruse for themselves. We doubt not that some of them will be inclined to peruse the work of which we have given this imperfect sketch.

J. Eldridge,

ART. IV. THE RELATION OF BAPTIZED CHILDREN TO THE CHURCH.

An Exposition of the Law of Baptism; as it regards the mode and the subjects. By EDWIN HALL, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Norwalk, Conn. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. New York: Baker & Scribner, 145 Nassau street. 1850.

AMID many hopeful signs of the times, there is one alarming characteristic. The homes of our land appear to be degenerating. Is there not a decrease of household piety? and a weakening of domestic bonds and affections? The period of youth, that period once characterized by modesty and diffidence, by regard for parental counsel and authority, and by respect for age and experience, is well nigh abolished. Children spring up at once into men and women, they are precocious in their desires and passions, prematurely ambitious and avaricious, eager to cast off the restraints of home and set up for independence. A class of philosophers noticing this tendency of the times hail it as an auspicious omen, and anticipate the day when the conjugal relation shall be avowedly, as it now often proves in fact, a temporary arrangement when the love of parents and children, of brothers and sisters, amiable prejudices and excusable, perhaps useful, in a dark age, will give place to a democratic philanthropy in the strong light of a higher civilization.

To counteract this tendency, to redeem and save our homes, the gracious covenant of God with believers in respect to them and their households, needs to be restored to its legitimate place in the faith and regard of his people.

We propose therefore, to institute the following inquiry :— What is the actual position of baptized children, under the economy of redeeming grace, as regards the essential qualifications of membership in the church of Christ?

The original covenant made with Abraham was in these words: "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and

thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. 17: 7.) This covenant included the patriarch and his seed.

In Rom. 11: 16, 17, 18, the following occurs: "For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy and if the root be holy, so are the branches: and if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches; but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee."

Thus the perpetuity of that covenant and the extension of its privileges to Gentile converts are beautifully symbolized.

The original covenant embraced children. That covenant is still in force, and includes children now. This is the ground taken in this article. If it be maintained, then what is the position of baptized children, or in other words, children embraced in this covenant? We answer that it is such as to justify a strong expectation that they will early give evidence of piety.

It is to be shown first, that the Abrahamic covenant is still in force; and secondly, that being in force it authorizes the strong expectation that children embraced in it, or baptized children, will early give evidence of piety. It is to be understood, however, that we speak of children whose parents are true believers, not mere nominal Christians, and whose views, sentiments, and influence in reference to their children, in a good degree correspond with their obligations. The external rite of infant baptism, apart from its connection with such parental character and conduct, is without value; it is the seal of a bond the essential condition of which has not been fulfilled.

But before proceeding to the scriptural evidence of the proposition we have undertaken to maintain, we wish to present certain considerations that seem strongly to favor the same conclusion, and to prepare the mind to find such evidence in the scrip

tures.

First, God in the original constitution of things left the character and prospects for eternity of the whole human race dependent upon the conduct of the first human pair. Their fall involved their posterity in sin and ruin. Every individual of the race enters the world with a vitiated nature, some say with a sinful nature, others say with a nature that uniformly leads to sin when moral agency begins; all say with a nature, that would have resulted in the eternal ruin of all, had not God mercifully interposed with redeeming grace. This merciful interposition was no part of the original constitution of things, according to which the consequences of Adam's disobedience passed over, and affected