means of fully substantiating. He has done an acceptable service. That a multitude of facts existed, could they be brought together, which would conclusively prove the charge alleged by Dr Channing against the measures and spirit of the modern orthodoxy of our country, to be well founded, and Professor Stuart's attempt to ward it off to have been entirely unsuccessful, we suppose was the general belief of the more calm and reflecting part of the community. We feel no susprise at the number of such facts embodied in Mr Whitman's pamphlet. We believe that almost every parish and village in New England, where the views of the exclusive party have been acted on, for the last fifteen years,--could its annals be accurately written, in such a manner as to expose the real policy of the orthodox, and their various modes of operating on the minds especially of the more unsuspecting and credulous, by arts of insinuation and terror, by denunciation, by misrepresentation of the views of their opponents, by domiciliary visits, and other engines of influence,would contribute its portion of evidence, more or less, to prove that the tendency of orthodoxy, as it has exhibited itself of late, has been to discourage free inquiry and the free expression of sentiments. Enough of this evidence is capable of being presented in a tangible form, we are confident, to fill a score of pamphlets of the size of the present. Mr Whitman, far from having exhausted the subject, has merely dipped into it. He has done enough, however, to satisfy any reasonable mind of the truth of the proposition he attempts to establish. But we have not room, at present, for further remarks. We shall resume the subject in a future number,

48 UNI TARIAN ORDINATIONS AND INSTALLATION.

UNITARIAN ORDINATIONS AND INSTALLATION.

Dec. 8. Mr Josiah Moore, from the Theological School in Cambridge, ordained as Minister of the Congregational Church and Society in Athol. Introductory Prayer, by Mr Wellington of Templeton ; Sermon, by Mr Hill of Worcester; Ordaining Prayer, by Mr Allen of Bolton; Charge, by Mr Thompson of Barre; Right Hand of Fellowship, by Mr Hosmer of Northfield; Address to the Society, by Mr Willson of Petersham; Concluding Prayer, by Mr Harding of New Salem.

Dec. 8. Rev. Hezekiah Packard, D. D., installed as Minister of the North Congregational Church aud Society in Chelmsford, (Middlesex Village.) Introductory Prayer, by Mr Randall of Westford; Reading of the Scriptures and Concluding Prayer by Mr Barry of Lowell; Sermon and Right Hand of Fellowship, by Mr Allen of Chelmsford; Installation Prayer, by Mr Whitman of Billerica ; Address to the Society, by Mr Hull of Carlisle.

Dec. 9. Mr Jonathan Farr, from the Cambridge Theological School, ordained as Pastor of the First Congregational Church and Society in Gardner. Introductory Prayer and Reading of the Scriptures, by Mr Jones of Hubbardston; Sermon, by Mr Barrett of Boston; Ordaining Prayer, by Mr Bascom of Ashby; Charge, by Dr Thayer of Lancaster; Right Hand of Fellowship, by Mr Wellington of Templeton ; Address to the Society, by Mr Lincoln of Fitchburg; Concluding Prayer, by Mr Allen of Bolton.

CLAIMS UPON THE PULPIT.

The character of preaching is undoubtedly a good deal affected by the state of society in any age and region. The circumstances of intellectual rudeness or refinement of any people, have an influence, and ought to have an influence, upon the style of the pulpit and the modes of promoting religion. The amount and the direction of clerical labor are affected by these circumstances, and the preacher who would be useful in his calling and a faithful servant of his Master, must study and understand them, and adapt himself to them. The nature and extent of a people's claims upon a preacher depend much upon their intellectual character, and so far as these claims may be acknowledged and answered by the clergy consistently with christian truth and fidelity to its author, they ought to be acknowledged and answered. It is indolence, ignorance, or bigotry, to slight them or be blind to them. All preaching that is intellectually either above or below the

general intellectual tone of the hearers, is ill-judged ineffectual and useless in proportion to the degree of the discrepancy.

We propose to make a few desultory remarks on the claims of the liberal portion of the community upon their clergy in this vicinity, at the present time, and the corresponding obligation of the clergy, particularly of those just entering the profession.

It is the fortune of those who enter the clerical profession at this day, to have fallen upon times when the professional standard is very high around them. Many who occupy our holy places are the ornaments and shining lights, not only of the church, but of the country and the world. The pulpit has been growing eloquent and effective. Our churches have been seen thronged as no other places are. Accordingly the standard is raised high, and is rising. Heavy and growing claims are laid upon the pulpit. The wise, the cultivated, the intellectual, encouraged by the examples around them of what the pulpit may do, have learned to look to it for instruction and excitement for themselves, and to think that it does not fully accomplish its legitimate purposes if it come short of this. This state of things of course calls for corresponding power and exertion on the part of the clergy to meet the demand. Stores of learning, a fund of thought, devoted and untiring industry are required; and he who has them not, and is not in a way to acquire them, is behind his time; he has mistaken his place and calling-he is not wanted. If he does not task every faculty, and stretch every nerve, and fill up life with labor, he very soon finds himself behindhand in the race; his

brethren and the world have got before him, and he is forsaken and forgotten. He is an unprofitable ser

vant.

Let not the reader think that by these remarks we have been preparing the way for the very common and very disagreeable round of complaints and lamentations about the labors and difficulties of the ministerial office. We are not going to offend his understanding and sense of propriety by setting forth and magnifying the peculiar difficulties of our calling, by recounting its sacrifices and trials, and taxing his sympathies in our behalf. We know not how this came to be the peculiar weakness of the clergy. The intellectual standing, industry and progress demanded of the clergy in this age, and in this region, we regard as the glory of the profession, and we rejoice in it. We rejoice soberly and anxiously, but deeply and sincerely. To be required by circumstances to labor hard in an elevated sphere, and for noble objects, is a privilege and a blessing. It is an incitement to move a man to live and act as becomes his nature and faculties and accountableness. Men seldom do much more than they are required by some circumstances in their condition to do; and he for whom these circumstances are strong and pressing, is therein blest above the ordinary lot. He who owes many and high duties to others, and performs them faithfully, and so does great good in his day and generation, does a greater good to himself. That is a happy profession that is filled with such duties and is hedged about with a strong necessity to perform them. He is an unfortunate man who has no pressing inducement to live other than a life of worth