William Henry Furness, I). P., an American clergyman and author, born in Boston, Mass., April 20, 1802. He studied at the Boston Latin school, graduated at Harvard college in 1820, completed his theological course at Cambridge in 1823, and was ordained pastor of the first Congregational Unitarian church in Philadelphia in January, 1825. One of his constant labors as a preacher and author has been to ascertain the historical truth and develop the spiritual ideas of the records of the life of Christ. To this end ho has published Remarks on the Four Gospels" (Philadelphia, 1830; London, 1830 and 1851);Jesus and his Biographers" (Philadelphia, 1838); a History of Jesus" (1850; new ed., Boston, 1853);

"Thoughts on the Life and Character of Jesus of Nazareth (Boston, 1859); " The Veil partly lifted and Jesus becoming visible" (Boston, 1864); and lastly,Jesus" (Philadelphia, 1870). These works reveal a highly cultivated intellect, impelled by enthusiastic ardor and enriched by a.glowing fancy, and present a peculiar humanitarian view of the character of Christ."Aesthetic considerations," says a writer of his own denomination, weigh more with him than historical proofs, and vividness of conception than demonstration." Dr. Fur-ness has published a volume of prayers, entitled 'Domestic Worship" (2d ed., Boston, 1850), and a volume of discourses (Philadelphia, 1855). He has also written hymns and other devotional pieces in verse, and has made exquisite translations from the German, among which are the Mirror of Nature" from Schubert, the Song of the Bell" from Schiller, a volume of Gems of German Verse (enlarged ed., 1859), and a volume entitled "Julius, and other Tales, from the German" (Philadelphia, 1850). He edited for three years the "Diadem," a Philadelphia annual, has contributed a few articles to the "Christian Examiner" of Boston, and is the author of a large number of published occasional sermons; one of these, on the Right of Property in Man," appeared in 1859. During the anti-slavery conflict Dr. Furness was a prominent supporter of the abolition cause.