stantiating the views I have given of their doctrines; but this is unnecessary, as they are easy of access to all. Let us review what we have now brought forward. Unitarianism admits that Christ is the Messiah-that he is the Son of God -that he suffered--had a divine commission-that he is the Saviour that we are fallen, guilty sinners-that repentance and amendment of life is necessary that there is to be a life after death, which has been made known to us by Jesus Christ. Now, Satan has no objection that all the world would believe all these statements, at least in the manner they are held by Socinians. There is something like the skeleton or frame-work of the Gospel in them, but this is all :-all that is valuable and dear to the Child of God, and that causes him to rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory-all that is calculated to bring peace, and ease the troubled soul-all that can sustain in time, and prepare for eternity-all that can overcome the sharpness of death, and cause the believer to triumph in the prospect of the grave-all is wanting, the Deity, the omnipotence of the Saviour; for there must be no doubt of his ability to deliver, else there is no peace for the soul; the fulness and freeness of his finished work-the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, to revive and sanctify, and thus to transform the believer, and prevent him from fallingspirituality and communion with God, by his Spirit; all these are wanting, and the system that wants them is not divine. No; there is a chilling heartlessness, a deadening influence, an utter want of comfort and security about their system, which tell us plainly that it is not of God. Surely Satan would endeavour to take the life out of the Gospel; he has done it, and given the world Unitarianism. Satan would endeavour to take away all that is valuable, and saving, and sanctifying, out of the true Gospel, which is the power of God to salvation; he has done it, and given to the world Unitarianism. Scripture, in the hands of Satan, would have no joyful sound-nothing speaking of atonement and sanctification. No; the Gospel of Unitarianism is a body without a soul, a form without life, an empty, worthless sound, signifying nothing.

1

Such views, and who that knows the truth and rejoices in it will not perceive their propriety, are calculated to impress us deeply, respecting the tendency of all such attempts of Satan to introduce false versions of the Word of Life. If your pages permitted, I should like to follow up the view I have taken of the subject, by shewing how strikingly it is confirmed by the fact, that all the attempts of Socinians are levelled at the

TO PREVENT THE GREY HAIRS OF PARENTS FROM COMING DOWN WITH SORROW TO THE GRAVE, THROUGH THE MISCONDUCT OF CHILDREN. 1 2 11 10

1. SECURE the affections of your children for yourself, for each other, and for home. Do this by a pleasant countenance, pleasant tones, kind offices, orderly arrangements; good books, adapted to the age, capacity, and taste; and cheerful, enlightened, profitable conversation. Many children run from home to get rid of scolding, disorder, sour looks, or its dull, uninteresting monotony. They find little instructive, or pleasing in the conversation. They have no interesting books, or periodicals, and hence learn to murder time with cards, chess, billiards, vain stories, obscene songs, &c. &c, until, led from one haunt of vice to another, they become inebriates, idlers, and profligates, and end their days in sorrow or ignominy. 9. od law 9295T .aradt moi1 00

2. Maintain an authority over them. For this purpose, abide by your own decisions. Never allow teasing. Perform what you threaten, else they will learn lying from your own lips. Give reasons for what you do. Make them feel that correction is as painful to you as to them-(cruel parents will have bad children.) Look them full in the face when you speak to them, and teach them to look at you. Never allow

yourself to repeat a direction several times: and always enforce your precepts, counsels, and demands from the Bible.

3. Make it your constant care to inculcate piety. Let them see that this is the great desire of your soul concerning them: that you never lose sight of this object. Pray for it in the family; impress it upon them before special means of grace; cultivate in them a taste for Christian biography. To this end, select the most interesting and affecting biographies, and water your labours with many closet prayers.

"He that winneth souls is wise." And "he that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.' PHILO.

REVIEW.

A

The Life and Times of Alexander Henderson, giving a History of the Second Reformation of the Church of Scotland, and of the Covenanters, during the Reign of Charles 1. By the Rev. JOHN AITON, of Dolphinton. FRASER & Co., Edinburgh. p.p. 674. 1836.

THE title of this volume is happily expressed, the life of Alexander Henderson having had no small influence on the times in which he lived, while the times had, perhaps, not less influence in the formation of his character. He proved himself one of the most faithful friends of his church and nation, in one of the most trying seasons through which either of them was ever called to pass; and his biographer has done an act of justice to his memory, and laid the friends of truth and history under a deep obligation, by the publication of his life. Itis, truly, our desire to recommend his work to our friends and the pub. lic; and, therefore, instead of indulging ourselves in any general observations on the character of Henderson, or the spiritstirring scenes through which he passed, we shall devote as large a portion of our limited pages as we can possibly afford, to quotations from them. These will be the best recommendation of the author's labours, and the most useful subject for the perusal of our readers.

The period embraced by the History is thus put forth in the preface 4d3-971. A

"It embraces an obscure but most important period of our ecclesiastical history, during which Episcopacy was overthrown in Scotland, and those troubles ensued, which brought on the grand rebellion in England.

The Presbyterian reformation from Prelacy is, in the power and perma nency of its consequences, inferior only to that from Popery; and of all the great men of our Church, with the single exception of Knox, the deepest debt of gratitude is due to Henderson. The events in which he took so prominent a part are not treated of either by Calderwood or Wodrow in their histories. Calderwood has brought down our ecelesiastical history to the death of James, in 1625. Kirkton and Wodrow take it up from the restoration of Charles II. But between these periods there is a gap left in the history of the Church of Scotland, by its original historians, which has been partially supplied by Guthry and Spalding, and more lately by Stevenson, whose history is a work of industrious merit, but difuse, and now scarcely known. M'Crie has done admirable justice to the champions of the First Reformation, and of the Deformation period, as it is called by Presbyterians; but he who, for twenty years before the event struggled to attain the Second Reformation, and who at last effected it, has hitherto found no biographer, excepting in the pages of the Christian Magazine, and Scottish Biographical Dictionary. If the histories of Calderwood and Wodrow have been useful, a connecting link between these two works will make them still more interesting; and if the Lives of Knox and Melville have been acceptible to the public, there seems not only to be room but encouragement for the present attempt, which has for its object both to fill a part of this gap left in the history of the Church of Scotland by its original historians, and, at the same time, to form an addition, in Scottish Eeclesiastical Biography, to the Lives of Knox and Melville."

The particular work accomplished by the labours of Henderson, is concisely decribed in the following passage:

"Before Henderson became a leader of his party, the General Assembly had been long corrupted by the Court, and for twenty years suppressed altogether. He not only restored it to its original purity, but established our most important ecclesiastical constitutions, which have ever since guided our procedure in Church courts. The selection of our creed, and the form of our Church government, was the work of Knox; the founding of Presbytery in the hearts of our peasantry, as the platform of our worship, was the labour of Melville; and on Henderson devolved the task of rearing the superstructure of our Church, and fortifying it with its strong towers of defence."

To prepare his readers for a more intelligent perusal of the volume, the author has judiciously prefixed to it a condensed introduction, in which he details the origin and establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland, gives a brief sketch of the principal contemporaries of Henderson, and affords a brief insight to the secret agencies employed by both parties, during the Scottish troubles. The reader is thus enabled to form an accurate estimate of the value of Henderson's services, having placed before him the state of Presbyterianism in Scotland, when he entered upon public life, compared with the condition in which he left it at his death.

At the commencement of his Ministerial career, Henderson

was neither a zealous Minister nor a Presbyterian. By various means, he was led to a deeper consideration of both his own condition as a sinner, and of the nature and government of the Christian Church; and, while deeply engaged in such thoughts, a circumstance occurred, that determined his character for life. It is thus related :-

"Mr. Robert Bruce, of Kinnaird, is known to every reader of Scotch history, on account of his influence at the Court of James, and of his general merits as a Presbyterian Minister. His fame, as the champion of the cause, was at this period in the meridian of its splendour. Bruce happened to be engaged at a communion, in a parish somewhat distant from Leuchars,' probably Cupar. Henderson was informed of the arrangements, and naturally felt desirous to hear so heroic a servant of Christ preach. Counting, it is said, upon not being known, he went to the place, and seated himself in an obscure corner of the Church, that he might not be recognized. Bruce is described, by the writers of the period, as having been one of the most authoritative speakers of his age, and also as having at times manifested singular evidences of the Spirit. Above all men, ever since the apostles, he is said to have had the faculty of dealing with the consciences of his hearers. Although no Boanerges, yet, slow and grave, he delivered the oracles of God with a weight which made many of the most stout-hearted of his hearers to tremble. Henderson, from his lurking place, saw the veteran ascend the pulpit with his usual easy carriage and countenance, very majestic. In prayer, Bruce was short, but every sentence, like a strong bolt, shot up to heaven. When he rose to preach, he, as his custom was, stood silent for a time. This astonished Henderson a little, but he was much more moved by the first words the preacher uttered, which were those of our Lord, He that cometh not in by the door, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. Henderson, by nature pliant and pious, felt at once as if the opinions he had hitherto entertained were founded in quicksand. The text, and sermon which followed it, sent home to his conscience, and accompanied by the blessing of God, he afterwards frequently owned to be the instrument of his first conversion. Of the many thousands gained by the labours of Bruce, Henderson was justly esteemed 'the best fish caught in the net.' ”

For about fifteen years after this incident, Henderson devoted himself to the diligent discharge of his parochial duties at Leuchars, and it was in these peaceful but laborious duties he was qualified and trained for the part he was afterwards to act in public life. Though he was of a retiring and meek disposition, yet his intrinsic worth and high qualification brought him gradually into notice, until the rousing events of the times inflamed his soul, and urged him forward to the most prominent stations. In the latter part of his reign, James became more tolerant every year; for some time after his accession, Charles was occupied with foreign wars; and, in the mean