BURNAP'S LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.

ONE of the best books ever published in this country on the general views of the Unitarians, and the support they derive from reason and Scripture, is Mr. Burnap's "Lectures on the Doctrines of Christianity in Controversy between Unitarians and other Denominations of Christians," which appeared in 1835; a work to which, as we think, and we are not alone in the opinion, justice has never been done in our public journals. We cannot point to the book we would sooner put into the hands of one, who should be desirous to know what Unitarianism is, and how it is defended. Mr. Norton's "Statement of Reasons," a work unsurpassed and unapproached in its kind, contains a discussion of only certain points of the controversy, those relating especially to the "Nature of God, and Person of Christ." Other points of difference have been stated and argued in books, pamphlets, and sermons, among which, passing over those of a more recent date, we may mention Dr. Ware's Letters addressed to Trinitarians and Calvinists in reply to Dr. Woods, and Sparks's Inquiry into the Comparative Moral Tendency of Trinitarian and Unitarian Doctrines.

But besides that no one of these covers, or professes to cover, the whole ground, portions of them, having more immediate reference to the occasion which called them forth, are too purely controversial to be generally and permanently interesting. For popular use Mr. Burnap's, we repeat, is the best book on the subject now to be had. We considered it at the time as meeting the wants of the public more fully than any existing work; and certainly there has been nothing published since, explaining what Unitarianism is and defending it, which is to be compared with it in point of general merit and utility.

We are aware that this is using somewhat strong language, but not stronger, we believe, than truth warrants. We have never met a person who has attentively read the book of Mr. Burnap, who has not freely admitted its singular merit. It is true, it necessarily partakes in a degree of a controversial character; but in its topics and illustrations it has little or nothing which can be considered as merely local and temporary.

One of its great merits is its originality. Mr. Burnap gives evidence throughout that he has thought, and read the Scrip

tures, for himself. He has borrowed nothing; he does not repeat the common arguments and illustrations; he makes very little use of other men's ideas. He not unfrequently passes over texts often appealed to by former writers, or if he takes notice of them, he generally points to something in them which multitudes will be conscious of never having before noticed, and which gives the argument drawn from them a freshness and force equally striking and beautiful. On the other hand, he continually surprises the reader by an appeal to passages, which had been heretofore perhaps passed by as having nothing to do with the subject, but which, as it is soon made to appear, furnish evidence of the strongest kind, and the rather as it is wholly incidental. In this respect it resembles the evidence adduced for a different purpose by Paley, in his celebrated Hora Paulinæ.

This is one of the distinguishing features of the book, which may possibly have escaped the notice of the mere cursory reader. But let any one, we care not who, take up the volume and read carefully a few pages, relating, for instance, to the Trinitarian controversy, a topic hacknied enough, we venture to affirm that he will find it as we say. He will be made to see new force and significancy in language, which he has perhaps read a hundred times, without ever thinking of it in connexion with the subject on which, as he now perceives, it has a direct and intimate bearing; and he will wonder that he had never before viewed it in this light, which now seems to him perfectly natural and obvious.

In thus speaking of a former production of Mr. Burnap, we are sensible that we are doing him but tardy justice; but we could not suffer the occasion to pass without recording our conviction, which we know to be the conviction of many minds, of the great merit of the work, especially its freshness and originality, united with discriminating thought and searching criticism.

Mr. Burnap has since laid the public under obligation to him by the publication of Lectures to Young Men, and Lectures on the Sphere and Duties of Woman, both of them works written with ability, abounding in sound and vigorous thought, and altogether free from the extravagance which marks too much of the literature of the day. We know not what the success of these publications has been; but they are books we could wish to see extensively circulated and read, as fitted to

give just views of life, and help in forming a correct taste, and inspiring in the breasts of those to whom they are addressed elevated sentiments, and a high moral aim. Such books are useful in these times to correct the many silly notions, but too prevalent, on the subject of education and life, and especially to counteract the tendency of much of the fashionable reading of the day, the effect of which is anything but salutary.

The recently published work of Mr. Burnap, which has furnished the occasion of the above remarks, he calls "Lectures on the History of Christianity." We are not quite satisfied with the title. It does not clearly mark the character of the work, and may lead the reader to expect what he will not find. The general history of Christianity, in its progress and effects in different ages, is not treated at all in the volume. The author does not come down below the apostolic age and writings. He gives a history of the introduction of Christianity into the world, with some notices of its character and records, of the state of the world, of opinions and philosophy at the time, with various other matters, all tending to show what there is peculiar in the religion of Jesus, and the circumstances of its early diffusion.

The Lectures are not all of equal merit; but they may all be read with interest; and it is impossible to read them without having trains of thought awakened in one's mind, which it will be found profitable to pursue, and without being convinced that the writer has attentively studied the writings of the New Testament, and gives the results of his own independent inquiry and thought. It is pleasing to find that the author does not write as a sectarian. In truth, he has that just abhorrence of sectarianism which marks a refined intellect, that has drunken largely at the pure fountain of Christ's teaching, rather than at the turbid streams which flow in the writings of theologians.

It is but fair, however, to let the author speak for himself. He thus writes in his Preface.

"Believing as I do, that the Scriptures contain a revelation from God, and that they are the main source of all that is most valuable in modern civilization, the only sure ground of hope for man here and hereafter, I have ever esteemed them the worthiest subject of study and investigation. To understand the sacred records completely, and to comprehend the wisdom of the Divine plan, which arranged the time, the place, and the circumstances of the advent of the Author and Finisher of

our faith, has never been granted to any human mind. To the understanding of this most interesting subject any original inquirer may contribute something, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that no particle of truth is ever lost. However humble the source from which it emanates, it is cast into the common treasury of the human mind, and does something to help forward the grand approximation towards the truth, which is constantly going on while the ages roll away.

"The first requisite to the understanding of the New Testament is a thorough knowledge of the circumstances, opinions, and expectations of the age of Christ and the Apostles. When these are ascertained, the darkest passages become plain and intelligible. We learn immediately to draw the necessary distinction between substance and form, between the essential truths of Christianity, and the mode of representation by which they were adapted to a particular people, between figures of speech and literal statements, between logical proof and analogical illustration, between the language of the heart and affections and that of the reason and intellect, between what is fundamental and eternal, and what is accessory and transitory.

"But the most precious fruit of biblical research is the entire prostration of the walls of sectarian prejudice and exclusiveness. No one can proceed far without discovering, that the principal controversies, which have divided the church, have been upon points either unimportant in themselves, or entirely foreign to Christianity. A moderate degree of critical learning, combined with any measure of candor and fairness, would suffice, either to settle most of the controversies in existence, or to demonstrate that it is of little importance which way they are decided." — Preface, pp. iii – v.

The first Lecture relates to the Mosaic Dispensation, and the various influences to which the minds of the Jews were subjected, the effects of which were visible on their literature, character, and habits of thinking. The second begins with the following just statement. "No one can open the New Testament without perceiving, not only that the world has changed since the closing of the Old, but that it has advanced. No one can read the first discourse of Christ, for instance, without discovering that it is adapted to a much higher state of intellectual cultivation than any part of the Old Testament. One is addressed to the childhood, the other to the maturity of man." The object of the Lecture is to show how this "intellectual advancement" was brought about, and the attention of

the reader is directed to the influence of the Greek literature and philosophy, which "made part of the preparation of the world for the advent of the Redeemer."

The next five Lectures treat of the Persian Empire, and the effects of the captivity on the Jewish mind and character; the conquests of Alexander and the Romans, and their results; the character of the Pagan religions; the religion of the Jews, and Jewish sects. The account of the origin and services of the Synagogue, in the sixth Lecture, will be read with interest, as our modern preaching, text and all, may be directly traced back to those time-honored services; and in truth, "the Synagogue was the cradle of Christianity."

"I turn now from the temple to the synagogue. Though the provisions under the first temple for worship may seem to us ample, those for religious instruction, compared with our present usages, must appear deficient. There is a tradition that this was the opinion of the Jews themselves after their return from the Babylonish captivity. It is said, that during their exile, they were led to reflect on the causes of their awful apostacy from Jehovah. And among them occurred as one of the most prominent, the ignorance into which they had fallen of the laws of Moses, and the fundamental principles of their religion. After their return they attempted to remedy the evil by building synagogues, or places of assembly, in every town and village throughout the country.

"A more probable account of the matter to my mind is, that after their return from Chaldea the difficulties of imparting religious instruction were greatly increased, and roused them to new efforts. The Hebrew had become a dead language, and of course inaccessible to the mass of the people, except by an interpreter. They could no longer read their Scriptures at home, and when they pleased. The office of religious instructor could no longer be performed by the Levite as such, but he was obliged to add to his other qualifications the accomplishments of a scholar, and be able to read the Hebrew and interpret it into the Chaldee. This might be done for a while in families. But the natural course of things would be for many families to assemble on the Sabbath, and listen while one interpreted. When the assembly grew beyond the dimensions of a house, a special building for that purpose would be the most natural resort. Thus originated the synagogue. How they sprung up may be readily suggested by what is recorded to have taken place immediately after the return of the Jews, and their reëstablishment in Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehe