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Elizabeth, the Puritans began to show themselves, in considerable numbers, as a consequence of the more profound Reformation they had witnessed abroad. The Puritans were desirous of peace, but Laud subsequently attempted to revive discarded rites, and bring back from the chambers of Papal imagery, the moth-eaten vestments of a lazy priesthood. At this, thousands revolted, and the act of uniformity did not extirpate this resistance to the exactions of power. This act deprived numerous ministers of their parishes, whose places were supplied by men devoid of seriousness-men who, in the costume of huntsmen, demoralized the rural districts of England, by the revels of the chase. But though power had thus placed its hermetical seal on the tongue of spiritual eloquence, it could not reduce into submission the pens of the Puritans; and if the press had given us nothing but the writings of these men, we should still be under immense obligations to the discoverer of the art of printing.

This may be a suitable place, in which to notice an objection lately urged against these divines by an eloquent writer. In reviewing the incidents which took place in the times of Milton, he remarks that the Puritan writers tasked their minds on subjects beyond the reach of the human intellect. This statement is equivalent to saying, that the Puritans might have written on politics or science, but that an Infinite Creator is not a proper object of contemplation for the limited mind of man. The same objection might be urged to men of science, especially where the love of science amounts to a passion, as it did with such men as Galileo, Davy, Pennant, and Buffon. In the exercise of mind, these men met with objects which baffled all its researches. Notwithstanding the many plants and herbs which have fallen under the notice of man, it is probable that the hand of industrious research may one day lift the curtain, behind which hundreds more are concealed. Linnæus, when he taught at Hammarly, distributed his pupils into bands, and ordered a bugle to be sounded by the pioneer of each company, when a flower before unknown should be taken captive. We doubt not, that many a future student of nature, is destined to sound his bugle, betokening that the bounds of discovery are enlarged. Addison, in some of his serious papers, expatiates on the fact, that all the objects of nature involve the mind in speculations on infinitude. Especially when we survey the skies redolent in wonders, are our powers lost in astonishment. We behold comets, constellations, and moons, and the sun who comes every morning like an eastern shepherd to disperse his planetary flock. He watches them as they wind all day on distant fields of space, and then leads them into their evening fold. In contemplating these magnificent orbs, Milton speaks with his usual enthusiasm of unsphering the spirit of Plato; but the Puritan divines remembered not the spirit of Plato. They sought to commune with the fountain of all existence, and to unsphere Him who, "because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, likewise took part of the same, that he through death might destroy Him that had the power of death."

The following summary will include some of the points of the Puritan theology. Man was created pure-he fell under a covenant of works-his posterity did not eat the forbidden fruit, but the guilt or penal consequences of their representative were imputed-that all men thus fell by the deed of one man-that the world, by the first transgression, became unequivocally ruined-that every descendant of Adam is by nature totally depraved-that sin consists in a destitution

of original righteousness, and a want of conformity to the law, as well as in a violation of the law-that the human will is not partially, but unreservedly hostile to holiness-that men are passive in the act of regeneration-that our Saviour atoned for all who repent and believethat repentance and faith are wrought by the Holy Spirit-that the Spirit is a sovereign agent-that repentance in the creature is not the fountain of election, but election the fountain of repentance-that the obedience of saints is imperfect, but that the righteousness of the Saviour, imputed to them, is complete. In this scheme of doctrine, the mass of reformers united. The Westminster Assembly of Divines, and the Synod of Dort, affixed to it their respective seals; and it is no where more ably defended, than by Witsius in his Economy of the Covenants. It took root by the lake of Leman, spread through the cantons of Switzerland and among the universities of Holland. It prevailed from the Highlands of Scotland to the Tweed, ascended into the palace of Lambeth, and sat down a welcome guest in the chair of Canterbury. The above sentiments are diamond points in the Puritan system. When we take up their works we look for their appearance as we look for the stars in the clear sky of evening.

It is not my intention to enter into any elaborate defence of this scheme of doctrine-much less is it my design to charge any of my brethren with dereliction in fulfilling their ordination vows. No one has made me the keeper of their conscience, but if their faith materially varies from that of the Puritans, it also varies from the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. It would be gratifying to my own feelings to write this communication with the same spirit of meekness which dictated many of the papers of Addison. In fact, we shall find a sufficient defence of this Puritan theology, in the writings to which we are giving a cursory examination. The Puritan divines took great pains to illustrate the covenant of works, and to place this part of the divine administratton in a commanding attitude before the people. The covenant of works was equal. Let a man of plain understanding read the account of its institution, given in Genesis, and it is impossible for him to draw any other conclusion than that a sublime moral transaction is detailed. If a command be given, a caveat stated, the types and symbols of a covenant marked out, a penalty threatened, we immediately infer, that all this cannot be a useless ceremony. But the book of Genesis is not the only portion of the Bible from whence we derive the federal relations sustained by Adam. The outline of the covenant of works may be found there, but when Paul wrote his Epis. tle to the Romans, this faint outline had waxed into a circle of perfect brightness. Nothing in Plutarch has been so much admired as his parallels; and nothing in Paul interests us so deeply as his comparison of the first and second Adam. He traces the points of resemblance and discrepancy with the hand of an inspired master. The first Adam failed in his integrity. The second in his temptation foiled the tempter, and Milton makes the action of Paradise Regained to turn on this event, because the Messiah bore that protracted trial in his representative character. The first Adam was made a living soul, but the second became a quickening spirit, to the moral death which had been introduced. In the first, all die, in the second, all shall be raised from the dead, and the saints be made alive to a felicity as lasting as the being of God himself.

But what advantage, it is asked, can arise from insisting frequently on the covenant of works. To this we reply, that nothing else can

account for universal death, display the nature of original sin, and strip men of an apology for transgression. Wicked men often plead that in their original formation they were created with propensities which impel them to sin. This position the covenant of works denies. It shows that in his original formation man was sinless; and that he fell from his original state by the defection of his federal head and representative.

It is important to ascertain what views were held by the Puritan divines, of the ability of sinners to comply with the overtures of the gospel, for this is another point on which the ministers of our church are divided. This ability is preached at present without limitation, by a certain class. The basis on which the doctrine rests is-That it would be unjust in our Creator to give a law or a command, provided there were no ability in the creature to comply with that command. To this the Puritans reply-It would be unjust to give man, in a state of innocence, a law which he had not power to keep, or a covenant which he had not ability to observe. But, according to their views, the fall of man changes the grounds on which the creature originally stood; and they think it not easy to tell how the depravity of man can take away the rights of the lawgiver. That the moral law ought to be kept, is held by all, unless it be denied by the followers of Tobias Crisp. But we deny the power, even of renewed persons, to render perfect obedience to the moral law-how much more strongly may we then deny the ability of sinners to render a perfect obedience to this law. Even the perfection for which Wesley and Fletcher contended was not perfect obedience to the law. In short, the perfection for which they contended, is the common attainment of all Christians. But it is supposed that a distinction ought to be taken between natural and moral ability. If by natural ability be meant that man is an intellectual being, capable of knowing the Divine will, and has all the natural faculties necessary to obedience, then the Puritan divines held this distinction. This distinction is mentioned by as sound a divine as Dr. Witherspoon, and enlarged on by as eloquent a preacher as Dr. Kollock. But the intellectual ability of sinners ought to be used to shed light on their moral inability. If not employed in this way, it may inspire false views, and our preaching may become like the chameleon. It may first take its hue from this innocent distinction, but presently it may change its colour into moral ability, and this moral ability may return continually upon the people, like a repeating decimal. Small errors may soon become great. From a few fractions we may extract a whole number, and from small errors we may take a whole one, which as it comes up from the process of addition, may bear on its front the name of Legion. Of the truth of this remark, the Rev. Edward Irving, of London, furnishes a striking exemplification. When this man appeared he excited an overpowering interest. The dukes of the British empire attended on his ministry; and what was a still greater honour, the troubadours of England convened to hear this singular personage. Campbell came from Sydenham, Coleridge from Hempstead, Southey from Keswick, Wordsworth from Grassmere, Montgomery from Sheffield, and stood round the preacher. But the preacher began to speak contemptuously of the catechisms of the Scottish church, and now he

"6 Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep."

But to return to the Puritan divines. They did not believe in the moral ability of sinners. They laid it down as an axiom, that one genuine conversion was worth a thousand spurious conversions. They did not suppose any person to be soundly converted unless he felt his moral helplessness, and to such an extent that he should seek and experience the agency of a sovereign life-giving Spirit. They did believe that the doctrine of moral ability was so much flattery addressed to the impenitent. That fallen men were not endowed with power to do all that God demands; and that repentance is not the easiest of all duties. They aimed to apply the law, not to human sympathies, but to the conscience, that they might produce genuine conviction. But now some imagine that giving correct views of the moral condition of man, will prevent the success of the gospel. To show the erroneousness of this statement, it is only necessary to select a few facts. Brainerd held the Puritan theology. He states that his heart rose in sinful rebellion against the imputation of Adam's transgression. But Brainerd not only became practically pious, and preached what he felt, but was a successful missionary, and the model after which succeeding missionaries have copied. His example influenced Henry Martyn in the University of Cambridge, and in the gardens of Shiraz. Vanderkemp in Africa, and Swartz in India did not proclaim man to be powerful enough for his own conversion. President Edwards was a successful preacher; and although he held the distinction between natural and moral ability, he never taught that men may convert themselves, without the supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. No-Let it not be forgotten that Jonathan Edwards was practically a Puritan in his theology.

But in speaking of success based on the maintaining of the moral inability of man, it would not be right to pass over that success which has followed Moravian missionaries. Of the Moravians or Unitas Fratrum, the following statements may be made with safety. They preach the spiritual impotency of men. They never permit their minds to be beguiled by novelty into deviations from what they deem revealed truth. They are never anxious that the church should advance one step, provided purity is to be sacrificed by the advancement. They are little concerned about the pomp of numbers; and in adding to the church, they would require the same proofs of piety from a German nobleman, an Egyptian pacha, or a Turkish sultan, as from a Caribbee. They not only begin their missions with circumspection, but continue them with a holy jealousy. In a few of their attempts, they have been defeated; but for the most part, difficulties have vanished before their holy zeal. They have awakened the hum of moral industry among the lazy Kraals of Africa; they have warmed into spiritual life the Greenlander, buried in his hut of ice; and have bound the rose of Sharon on the groves of West Indian bondsmen. The secret of Moravian success, lies in a simple dependence on the ministration of the Spirit.

We are aware of the objections which have been urged against our being passive in regeneration. We have seen some strictures on this doctrine by our brother, Dr. Cox, who, like Ulysses, has been journeying abroad. We know that this friend of ours can bear a good natured remark; and his getting into a ship and crossing the water to be taught abolition, does seem to us Virginians a little like the Knight of La Mancha getting into his enchanted boat. Nevertheless, for the intellectual powers of the doctor, we entertain high respect. His natural talents also have been improved by commendable industry. We

have seen too, more than once, from under his own sign manual, that the system of Theology, inculcated by the Rev. Thomas Scott, Rector of Aston Sandford, was a system which met his unqualified approbation. Yet Scott taught that because man is passive in the act of regeneration, it does not necessarily follow that he is passive in the means. In these man is active, and no preachers are so pungent in inciting sinners to the use of means, as those who believe that awakened sinners are passive in the new birth. We think it can be shown, that Russell, the author of the Seven Sermons, Alleine, who wrote The Alarm, and Baxter, who wrote The Call, held that a sinful man cannot regenerate himself; but we shall wait a long time, before we shall hear three more such appeals, as they made to men "dead in trespasses and sins." (To be concluded in our next.)

Literary and Philosophical Entelligence, etc.

Simple Remedy for the Asiatic Cholera. -PROFESSOR OERTEL, of Ansbach, (Germany) cures the Cholera extensively with cold water. He some time ago published a pamphlet on the subject, dedicated to the King of Prussia, who presented him with a gold medal. Among other things contained therein, is the following:

"The most severe fasting-much drinking of cold water-much washing with cold water. In short, a complete inundation of the whole human body with cold water, both inwardly and outwardly!

"If those persons which the Cholera has swept away at St. Petersburg, had been (at the commencement of the disease) washed and rubbed well with water, then dried, laid in a bed, and plenty of cold water administered for drink; what (inquires Professor Oertel) would have been the consequence? If there exists a remedy against the effects of this fatal disease, it is positive and singly cold fresh water!-courageously, properly, and perseveringly applied. Therefore, on such constitutions that apply cold water plentifully, both inwardly and outwardly, the Cholera will and can have no effect.

"If that does not help, nothing else can. The fresh water does not give a cold; it only creates a momentary chill, and produces thereupon warmth, evaporation, and even perspiration; it does not drive anything into the body, but expels it; it does not oppress the vital faculties, but promotes the ordinary discharges of the skin, and invigorates the whole nervous system; it penetrates the most minute vessels of the human body without irritation, only so much as to produce an equilibrium of the blood and other succulent fluids. It prevents and disperses inflammations, swellings, ulcers, lameness, weakness, and pains. Where now is ano

ther human specific of equal power and

effect?"

Shame enough that it has to be told to certain persons in this enlightened day! And at the conclusion, the Professor solicits in particular,—

"First, all practitioners of medicine, after having in vain applied all their artful remedies, to try this one and only sure remedy, (which nature has given us) in order that their otherwise organic well patients are not left to suffer and die of nervous, scarlet, and other fevers, and of inflammations of the brain, lungs, and bowels, as is the case in many instances.

"Secondly, requesting all governments to establish this safe and uniform cold water cure, and to charge all doctors and other persons therewith, thereby commencing a necessary reform of the present uncertain remedies of the faculty of physic.

"PROFESSOR Oertel,
"Of Germany."

Thunder Storms.-These remarks are intended to throw some light on the phenomena of thunder storms, which are most frequent at this season of the year; and in order to proceed understandingly, two things are necessary to be understood. First, it is one of the fundamental principles of electricity, that all bodies contain it in proportion to the quantity of surface which they have, and not in proportion to the quantity of matter. This being understood, we proceed to the next, which is the expansion that water undergoes in passing from its natural state to vapour or steam, which is 1728 to 1, or a square inch of water becomes a cubic foot of steam. From the foregoing remarks it will be evident, that as soon as the vapour in the cloud begins to condense and fall

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