A SERMON, preached in King's Chapel, August 6, 1843, the Sunday after the Funeral of the Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D. By N. L. Frothingham, minister of the First Church. Boston: Little & Brown. 1843. pp. 28, 8vo. THIS is not a sermon to be carefully abridged. It must be read. We can give no abstract of its topics; they will not show the beauty with which the work is executed-the justness of the thought, the terseness of the expression, the tenderness of the feeling. Dr. Frothingham knew him of whom he spoke through the intercourse of a long friendship, and he said what was true in the words of an admiring and bereaved love. He but incidentally alludes to Dr. Greenwood's personal history, but he portrays the features of his character, as they were reflected from his private life and from his exercise of the public functions with which he was clothed. His intellectual endowments and habits, his moral sensibilities, his manners so simple yet so fitted to secure esteem, his exercises and tendencies as a theologian, his gifts as a preacher, are sketched in lines which remind us of one of Retsch's drawings, where a few touches of the pencil tell more than the crowded pictures of other artists. It is an exquisite memorial, of chaste but costly elaboration, which is here inscribed with the name of the departed. A DISCOURSE, preached to the North Church and Society, Salem, Mass., August 20, 1843, the Sunday succeeding the death of Hon. Benjamin Pickman. By John Brazer, D. D., Pastor of the North Church and Society. Printed by request-not published. Salem. 1843. pp. 25, and vi. 8vo. MR. Pickman was a man whose character and services during a long life entitled him to special notice from the pulpit after his death, and are a sufficient reason for our noticing this Discourse, though "not published." "The memory of the just is blessed," and should be honored. The examples of the good who have departed are guides and encouragements to the living. Mr. Pickman had almost completed his eightieth year when by the overturning of his carriage his system received a shock which in a few weeks occasioned his death; but though he had been for several years removed from public observation, he was once an active and honorable merchant, an upright member of various political bodies, where his influence was felt upon the affairs of both the State and the nation, a prominent citizen of his native place where he was held in honor, and an efficient friend of the religious interests and institutions of this part of the country. His intellectual powers and acquisitions placed him among the distinguished men of his time, his moral principles secured universal respect and confidence, his benevolence was large and various, and his religious persuasions were held with a strength of faith which sustained him through the trials of infirmity and in the hour of death, as well as amidst the scenes of responsible duty. In opinion, "he was an enlightened, decided, thorough, consistent Unitarian ;" and his position as President of the Directors of the Divinity School at Cambridge showed how little he was disposed to avoid a confession of the faith which he cherished. Dr. Brazer's Discourse is, in greater part, devoted to the correction of an error into which many persons fall-some from modesty, and others from indolence-" an under-estimate of the importance of our influence as individuals.” While he cautions his hearers against the opposite vice of undue self-esteem, he endeavors to make them receive and feel the truth concerning the relations which every one holds towards society. "All the good and all the harm that prevail," he remarks, "are to be traced ultimately to the agency of individuals”—not of "persons of high and authentic genius" alone, but of every man, in whatever condition of life. No one is without influence, and no good example is lost. Nor is the possession of rare and efficient talent demanded, only by the claims of high station; ordinary circumstances often require not less of energy and resource. A bad influence, moreover, emanating from an individual, is even more extensive in its effects than a beneficent influence, and reaches far beyond its immediate action, while it involves the consequences of unfaithfulness to a solemn trust. He then adduces the character of his late friend and parishioner in illustration of the value of individual agency and exam ple, and describes this character, especially in its prominent features of conscientiousness, benevolence, and veneration. a delineation which justice required and affection prompted. THE CHILD'S FRIEND; designed for Families and Sunday Schools, THE announcement of a new periodical publication, designed especially for the young, and conducted by Mrs. Follen, was welcomed by all who remembered the Teacher's Manual when under the care of the same accomplished editor. That such a publication may be useful, or that it is in fact needed, no one can doubt. Other religious denominations besides ours have availed themselves of this means of influence-only the more efficient, because it is addressed to the unformed mind and tender heart. The present undertaking is, we think, sure of a cordial reception. There are marks of haste in the preparation of the first number, which do not lessen our confidence in the future character of the work. The criticisms which we have seen upon this number, compared with those which we had made in our own minds, remind us how impossible it is to please all tastes. We do not, for example, object to the account of the Pic-nic at Dedham, and see in it no occasion to fear that the Child's Friend will be made the organ of a onesided Abolitionism; but we do disapprove of giving a child legends, whether in prose or poetry, respecting Jesus, and we more than question the justice of the epithet "beautiful" as applied to the spurious tales of his infancy or "boyhood." One fault, which needs only a little attention for its remedy, we notice in the carelessness of the punctuation, which renders some passages obscure, and converts others into nonsense. There are other evidences of a negligent perusal of proof-sheets. We mention these blemishes not for the sake of finding fault, but because they seriously affect the favor with which a book is received, and may hinder its success. We have no hesitation in commending the Child's Friend to a wide circulation. INTELLIGENCE. DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE OF THE MONTH.-No event of special interest has occurred in our denomination since our last publication, except that which has clothed all our churches in mourning, and been felt as a bereavement by many in other portions of the Christian Church-the death of Rev. Henry Ware jr. D. D., which took place at Framingham on the 22d of September. He had for several weeks been so prostrated by successive attacks of a disease, which left scarcely a hope of his restoration even to the feeble health which alone he has for years enjoyed, that the final stroke gave no surprise, though it inflicted a keen pang on unnumbered hearts. The funeral solemnities were observed in the College Chapel at Cambridge, and the interment took place among the shades of Mount Auburn.-Our record of Ordinations and Dedications we shall resume in our next number. The new meeting-house at Charlestown N. H. is completed, and the days for the settlement of pastors over the churches in Jamaica Plain and Lynn are fixed, and will soon be determined, we presume, for Watertown, Brighton, and Nashua. The congregations in the city are resuming their usual winter appearance, and the various meetings, in addition to those held on the Lord's day, which were suspended by the summer, will be soon re-established. We trust they will be conducted with mingled fervor and charity. Our city seems to harbor every form of religious teaching. We have seen an advertisement placarded in the streets inviting people to attend in a certain hall, to hear "the ancient Gospel,” but we have not learned the character of this new inculcation of the Christian faith. We went however the other evening into a meeting conducted by a Mormonite preacher, who had succeeded in filling one of the largest halls in Boston with curious listeners. His discourse contained no allusion to the Book of Mormon, but was founded on a literal interpretation of figurative language of Scripture.-The increase of the Roman Catholic Church in New England is a fact which deserves attention, not as an occasion of alarm, but of inquiry into its causes. It was lately brought to our mind in passing an edifice the exterior of which is nearly completed in South Boston. It is intended for a Catholic church, is built of granite, in Gothic style, and though not large, will, when completed, be one of the most elegant buildings in the country. Other houses of public worship for the use of members of this Communion we frequently hear of as in progress, and the recent dedication of a "College" in the town of Worcester is a proof of the industry with which the Catholic clergy extend the means of diffusing their faith. SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY.-The fifteenth annual Report of this Society, of which we gave as full an abstract as our limits would permit in our notice of the meeting at which it was presented, has been printed, together with an account of the speeches and proceedings on the anniversary. The Report at the time seemed to us to possess unusual excellence, and the whole pamphlet will reward a careful perusal. We are surprised at the fact, that there are only ninety-eight annual subscribers. We should have expected to count them by hundreds rather than by tens. If the officers of the Society do not depend on money as the chief means of its agency, still we are confident that, they will find judicious methods of expenditure, when entrusted with funds; and whether it be human nature or the Yankee character which we must regard as the cause, there can be no doubt that men feel a greater interest in an institution to which they pay something. We advise the friends of this Society therefore for their own sake to put their names upon the list of subscribers. WORCESTER SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY.-The meetings and Reports of this Society are among the most valuable that are ever brought under our notice. Within its proper sphere it acts modestly but efficiently, and every year gathers new proof of its usefulness. The ninth annual Report is drawn up by the Secretary, Rev. E. H. Sears, and contains important suggestions, particularly upon an organization of the Sunday School which should cause it to "include a whole congregation, arranged in circles or divisions, such as age or convenience might suggest, in each of which there should be free communion upon the great interests of man." We entirely agree in the remark, that "the perfect Sabbath School would be one so organized, that its members should never leave it, but in which they would rise, from the first simpler elements, through the higher forms of religious truth, with textbooks adapted to every period of life, from the child up to the woman or the man." This Report gives the following statement of the number of teachers and pupils in the Schools connected with the Society, premising that in three of the towns the numbers are taken from the returns of the previous year, and showing that the whole number of persons connected with the fourteen schools is 2,433. We are particularly glad to observe that in all but four of the congregations Bible classes have been established. |