advance, it is the opinion of many teachers, that the Bible alone should be used as a text-book. We cannot think so. We believe that to do this with advantage, requires long and diligent preparation on the part of the instructer. If explanation is not to be attempted at all, the pupils may as well confine themselves to solitary study; if it is, too much caution cannot be used by a conscientious teacher. Questions will be asked by children of inquiring minds, which the instructer would be glad to answer as satisfactorily, as correctly as possible; and he will be himself surprised to find how many passages of the New Testament he has read again and again, without deriving any very definite meaning from them, or without understanding them as he does on more careful inspection. And even should his previous habits have familiarized him with the task of exposition, his pupils, we believe, will be better fitted to enter on this noblest, and most interesting of all studies, if they ascend to it gradually. Such admirable works as Miss Adams's "Letters on the Gospels," and Ware's "Life of the Saviour," are capable of being understood by children from eleven to thirteen years of age, will be sure to interest them, and prepare their minds for those researches into the word of God, which it is to be hoped will occupy not only the remaining portion of their religious pupilage, but many of their retired hours through life. Works calculated to employ the young mind, at this period of its progress, are scarce; but the "Life of St. Paul," before us, has been used with much acceptance, and we venture to recommend it for adoption by those who have felt the deficiency of some book, which might properly succeed Ware's "Life of the Saviour."

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We are aware that some objections have been made to it; but they do not appear sufficiently weighty to exclude it from use. We doubt whether a leaning towards credulity, on the part of the author, is likely to affect very juvenile minds injuriously. dencies towards skepticism, induced by excessive demands on faith, seldom develope themselves until a period when the mind is sufficiently mature for such investigations, as in these enlightened days must lead to devout confidence.

Unitarian Hymn Book. We copy the following notice from the August number of the London "Christian Teacher and Chronicle." We have no doubt of Mr. Beard's ability to make a collection on the principle here laid down, which shall contain many beautiful hymns, and be respectable throughout. At the same time, we do not participate, in the smallest degree, in his reluctance to use the hymns of Watts or Doddridge, of Bishop Kenn, or Henry Moore, or Charles Wesley, if unexceptionable in themselves, or if by abridgment, or some other slight alteration, they can be made

unexceptionable. Accordingly, the plan systematically to reject, on the ground that the writers belonged to another denomination, the great majority of the very best hymns in the language for public worship, strikes us, we must say, as most extraordinary.

"From the circumstance that the Hymn Books used in Unitarian congregations, contain in each case, a large proportion of compositions by authors holding what are deemed Orthodox opinions, occasion has been taken by the unfriendly, to cavil at Unitarians, as persons whose religious sentiments or literary skill were unequal to the task of composing a Hymn Book for themselves. And certainly some inconvenience has been experienced; perhaps some injury done to taste and feeling, if not to justice; in consequence of the alterations which a regard to truth has, in many instances, compelled those to make, who from Orthodox materials compiled Hymn Books for Unitarian worship. The natural resource is to prepare a collection of hymns composed exclusively by Unitarians.

"To those, indeed, who have not given close attention to the subject, this step may appear somewhat difficult. But materials have, for a long period, been accumulating of such abundance and worth, that with the aid he is receiving from many living writers, Mr. Beard has no doubt of being able to compile a work, which shall combine, in no ordinary degree, the several qualities which truth, devotion, and taste require; and when he recalls to the reader's mind the names of Taylor, Moore, Butcher, Roscoe, Smith, and Barbauld, and directs his attention to Ware, Pierpont, Bowring, Johns, Wreford, and Drummond, - not to mention other living authors whose aid he has, and others, again, whose aid he hopes to have, he feels assured that his confidence will be shared by no small portion of the Unitarian public. And should he, as he fully expects, succeed in compiling a Hymn Book answering the demands which the various states of human and Christian feeling make, there will be supplied a practical answer to those who either deny to Unitarians the name of Christian, or charge their views of God, Christ, and eternity, with coldness and inefficacy; and at the same time no mean assistance will be afforded to all, who place the essence of Christianity in conformity to the image of Christ, for the developement and culture of the religious affections. In order that the work may bear the implied character, the compiler will spare no effort to make it, in the true sense of the word, Evangelical, both in its topics, and its tone, as well as ample in its contents; while, with a view to secure for it extensive circulation, cheapness will be studied with no less care than neatness of execution. As, however, the cost must depend, mainly, on the probable sale, the compiler will feel obliged if any congregation, who may contemplate adopting the work, will put themselves in correspondence with him, when further details may be ascertained. He also most respectfully solicits literary aid and suggestions from friends, to whom he may not have made a personal application, addressed to the care of the publishers of the Christian Teacher, by whom subscribers' names will be received."

A History of the Presbyterian and General Baptist Churches in the West of England. By JEROME MURCH, Minister of the

Trim-Street Chapel, Bath.-This work is intended to do for a distinct portion of the Nonconformists in the West of England, what Walter Wilson, of the Inner Temple, did some years since, with such commendable research, for the whole body in the metropolis, in his "History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches." No copies, we believe, have reached this country; but from the terms in which it is spoken of in the liberal journals at home, we are persuaded that it would be read here, as well as there, with interest and advantage.

The Sunday School Teacher and Children's Friend. Boston: Otis, Broaders, and Co. - This little work is published on the fifteenth of every month, each number containing 54 pages, 18mo. Three numbers have already appeared, many of the articles of which are written with skill, and the whole is edited with judgment and ability. It promises to be a welcome auxiliary to Sunday School teachers, and a valuable contribution to Sunday School libraries.

"Das

New Publications.· A work has recently appeared in Germany, and created considerable alarm, even in that country, for its extreme Rationalistic assumptions, under the following title : Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitet von David Friedrich Strauss, Dr. der Philos. und Repetenten am evangelisch-theologischen Seminar zu Tubingen.

In England, the Rev. J. B. White's Law of Anti-Religious Libel reconsidered; and Frederick C. Bakewell's Natural Evidence of a Future State, derived from an Examination of the Properties and Actions of Animate and Inanimate Matter.

In this country, Dr. Robinson's translation of Gesenius's Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, and Professor Keith's translation of the first volume of Hengstenberg's Christology. The Rev. Mr. Cunningham's translation of Gieseler's History of the Church, in 3 vols. 8vo. is also announced.

We regret that a biographical notice of the Rev. Mr. Goodwin, of Concord, was not received in season for insertion in this number, without abridgments which we could not bring ourselves to make. It shall appear in our next.

ART. I. A Memoir of the Rev. Hersey Bradford Goodwin.

By the death of the late Rev. Mr. Goodwin of Concord, a large circle of friends have lost an object of uncommonly strong affection; his parish, an able, faithful, and devoted pastor; the community, the services and example of a truly good man. His memory will live, so long as any remain who have known him or had any connexion with him. The love which he inspired was strong and deep. The influence which he exerted in his own sphere was powerful. The traces he has left in the memories and characters of those who came under that influence will not soon be lost. We would provide for him a visible and more enduring memorial. We would record here, in simplicity and sobriety, our conception of his character and our sense of his worth.

Hersey Bradford Goodwin was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, August 18th, 1805. His father, William Goodwin, was a highly respected citizen, and held many years the office of Cashier of the Plymouth Bank. His mother and step-mother were daughters of Captain Simeon Sampson, who was distinguished by his valor and success as a naval officer in 1776 and 1777. He received the rudiments of his education in his native town, and was prepared for College at the Sandwich Academy, where he was a short time under the instruction of that eminently useful man, the late Bernard Whitman, of Waltham, of whom he always spoke in the warmest terms of affection, as a teacher VOL. XXI. 3D S. VOL. III. NO. III. 35

whom at the time he "looked upon as a personal friend." He entered Harvard University in 1822. In College he was distinguished for uniformly correct conduct, for the activity and versatility of his intellectual powers, and for his universal popularity among his cotemporaries. Very few have enjoyed that dangerous distinction in an equal degree, or won it by so unexceptionable and even unconscious means, or been so entirely unharmed by it. He maintained the purity and seriousness of his character amidst the various temptations of college life, and was graduated, with a high rank in his class, in 1826.

Immediately after the completion of his academic course Mr. Goodwin entered upon the study of divinity in the Theological School in Cambridge. The profession which he adopted was his early choice. His mind and heart had been directed in childhood to religion, and he entered the University with the intention of becoming a minister of the gospel. In the Theological School he devoted all the energies of his ardent and clear mind to the studies there pursued. He examined with anxious attention and great thoroughness the leading questions which divide the church, but the study in which he most delighted was the interpretation of the Scriptures, which he justly considered a necessary preliminary to a sound and enlightened faith. In the summer of 1829 he received the approbation of the Middlesex Association, and immediately began to preach. The first Parish in Concord, Massachusetts, had at this time determined to procure a colleague for their venerable pastor, Dr. Ripley, whose increasing age required the assistance of a younger hand. Their choice was soon fixed on Mr. Goodwin. He, however, was unwilling immediately to take on himself a pastoral charge, and before he would permit any decisive step to be taken by the people of Concord, complied with a request to preach for a season in Rochester, New York, whither he went in September, 1829. A body of Unitarians in Rochester had formed themselves into a religious society, and at that time were attending worship in a court-house. Great zeal was manifested by them in the cause they had espoused, and hopes were entertained, that, if they could obtain the services of an able and zealous minister, a large society might be established. They saw that Mr. Goodwin was well qualified to build them up, and to promote Unitarianism in that region, and were desirous of retaining him as their pastor. He was not insensible to their claims, but after having seriously weighed them, the result