eral charity with firmness of principle. He was inflexibly attached to his own views of truth, because he believed, that those views were in accordance with the Scriptures. He acted on the principle, that all revealed truth must be believed, and that every precept of God must be obeyed. In his opinion, there are no non-essential doctrines or commands, for if it were true, that a certain truth, or duty, is not essential to salvation, yet obedience is necessary to salvation. He made no sacrifices to expediency-no compromises. He was frank, decided, consistent. His judgment on questions of duty was settled, and nothing could move him. Yet he was not a bigot. He loved good men of every name. He held familiar intercourse with ministers and laymen of all denominations. To such men as Legh Richmond, Erskine, Chalmers, and Wilberforce, he was drawn by the affinities of a kindred spirit. Among all those who wept over his grave, and uttered his eulogy, no one shed tears of more sincere regret, and honored his memory with more affectionate and touching eloquence, than the Rev. Mr. Toller, the pastor of the Independent Church in Kettering, where, for nearly thirty years, they had labored together for their common Lord, with the uninterrupted harmony of brothers. The upright firmness and consistency of Mr. Fuller unquestionably secured for him more true respect, than a vacillating, pliable policy could have gained.

But we must close this article, with a brief comment on that feature of his character, which was its crowning glory— his true and vigorous piety. That he was a man of God—a man of prayer-a most sincere, devout Christian-is proved by his whole life after his conversion-by his diary-his letters-his daily demeanor-his patience under sore trials-his abundant labors as a pastor, as an author, and as the Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society. Love to God and man glowed in his heart. This softened the natural ruggedness of his character. This made him a reformer, without dogmatism, and a controversialist, without asperity.—It stimulated and sanctified his powerful mind. It impelled him to toil, with unremitted activity. It constrained him, in concert with that noble band of congenial souls, Carey, Pearce, Sutcliff, and their associates, to commence the sublime enterprize of proclaiming Christ crucified to the ends of the earth. It prompted them to begin, in weakness, the Baptist Missionary Society, the pioneer of modern missions, and to establish

and sustain, amid opposition and difficulties, of the most formidable kind, the mission to India. This urged him to preach, and write, and travel, on its behalf, till he sunk, under his accumulated toils, into the grave. His life was a comment on his doctrines. His death was an appropriate termination of such a career. He dwelt not, in his last hours, on the integrity of his conduct, or the magnitude of his labors. He said, "I have a hope, in the strength of which I think I could plunge into eternity;" but that hope was founded entirely on the atonement of the Saviour. Among his last words, was this precious text: "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

We cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of adding the beautiful sketch of Mr. Fuller's character, drawn by the lamented Hall:

"I cannot refrain from expressing, in a few words, the sentiments of affectionate veneration with which I always regarded that excellent person while living, and cherish his memory, now that he is no more; a man whose sagacity enabled him to penetrate to the depths of every subject he explored, whose conceptions were so powerful and luminous, that what was recondite and original appeared familiar, what was intricate, easy and perspicuous in his hands; equally successful in enforcing the practical, in stating the theoretical, and discussing the polemical branches of theology. Without the advantages of early education, he rose to high distinction among the religious writers of his day; and in the midst of a most active and laborious life, left monuments of his piety and genius, which will survive to distant posterity. Were I making his eulogium, I should necessarily dwell on the spotless integrity of his private life, his fidelity in friendship, his neglect of self-interest, his ardent attachment to truth, and especially the series of unceasing labors and exertions in superintending the mission to India, to which he most probably fell a victim. He had nothing feeble or undecisive in his character; but to every undertaking in which he engaged, he brought all the powers of his understanding, all the energies of his heart; and if he were less distinguished by the comprehension than the acumen and solidity of his thoughts-less eminent for the gentler graces than for stern integrity and native grandeur of mind, we have only to remember the necessary limitation of human excellence."

ARTICLE VII.

PRESENT SYSTEM OF JURISPRUDENCE.

Address delivered at the Dedication of Dane Law College, in Harvard University. By Josiah Quincy, LL. D., President of the University. 1832.

It is our object, in this article, to demonstrate the absolute necessity which exists to human society of our system of jurisprudence, under its present organization. We are induced to undertake this work, because there is in this age and country a large measure of influence, strongly prejudiced against the legal institution, and as its agents, against the members of the legal profession.

A body of men have sprung up in modern times, who allege, that its aim is not the establishment of justice, that it stretches out its broad meshes like the Serbonian bog, to entrap the unwary, that it is the refuge of rogues; and that lawyers, as a class, are commonly their accessories, before and after the fact. This charge we believe is destitute of foundation. There are men, no doubt, who are ready to take advantage of legal technicalities, in order to advance their own fraudulent objects, and there are lawyers who are dishonest enough to exercise their professional knowledge by aiding and abetting in these frauds. But this is not so far true as to substantiate any general charge against the system or the members of the profession. The acts of a few unauthorized individuals, furnish no solid arguments against a whole class of men, in a respectable calling, or any good reason why a whole system ought to be overthrown. Every body knows that black-hearted villains may be found in all professions. But does any man of common sense claim, that, because there are such individuals among the clergy, and these have been exhibited in all ages, the Christian fabric ought therefore to be demolished?

In the first place, we shall endeavor to show that law, as applied to the social condition of mankind, and as it is at present framed and administered, is the best organ for the

advancement of human justice. What is law? Blackstone says that "law is a rule of action." This of course is its broadest definition. It governs all matter and all mind. It is the foundation of the natural sciences. It regulates matter in all its relations and magnitudes, from the mote which glitters in the sunbeam, to the stupendous movements of the heavenly bodies. It controls all the intellectual operations of mankind, from the dawning thought of infancy, to the matured and mighty energies of giant genius. It governs men, as members of the social compact, in their life, liberty and property, from the minutest interest of the most obscure individual, to those great international rights which regard whole empires. To meet its own objects, it ought, in its action upon all these subjects, to be stable, universal, immovable. A suspension of the laws of nature, would throw the universe into chaos and thick darkness; and the suspension of municipal law, would, there is no doubt, bring upon the social system the same disorganizing consequences. The only difference in the two cases would be probably this -that whereas matter is passive, the effect produced upon the physical world would be negative, springing from a suspension of natural law; while in the other instance, the malignancy of human passions, and the desire of human aggrandizement, free from any bond of restraint, would occasion more tremendous influences. Such consequences have been exhibited invariably, where the social fabric has been so shattered as to weaken the force of the law. Every country in which there is a laxity of legal restraint, evinces a partial disorganization. During the passage of the reform bill, through the British parliament, the London mob were as reckless as a stormy ocean; and Paris, during the revolution under Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, was like a den of blood-thirsty tigers.

We hold, then, that it is necessary there should be some established law, which should operate with energy upon the whole body of the people, and that the existing system is the most stable, solid, just, and energetic. We shall endeavor to show the whole frame of the fabric, and, in order to ascertain whether its foundations are strong, of what doctrines they are constituted. These foundations were laid, we grant, in dark ages. The common law had its origin from the first establishment of the Roman empire, and before the full blaze of knowledge had been poured

upon the world; but the great body of those "unwritten reasons," which regulated all the rights growing out of social relations, were established upon sound and equitable doctrines. Indeed, the principles which were advanced in the Roman Institutes, the Pandects and the Code, were embodied into the English jurisprudence, in opposition to the most formidable national prejudices, because they were founded upon the broad doctrines of everlasting justice.

There is, in fact, a prima-facie evidence that the body of the common law is just, in the main, in the fact that it is established upon custom, which has been supported by the voluntary consent of the great mass of the people under its administration, from immemorial ages. It is indeed essential to the validity of the common law, that the customs upon which it is founded, should be reasonable. Hence, malus usus abolendus est, is an established maxim of the law. "Nothing which is against reason is law," says Sir Edward Coke, "for reason is the life of the law, nay, the common law itself is nothing but reason, which is to be understood of an artificial perfection of reason, gotten by long study, observation and experience, and not of every man's natural reason, for nemo nascitur artifex, no man is born an artist! this legal reason is the perfection of reason, and therefore if all the reason, in so many several heads, were united into one, yet could he not make such a law, as the law of England is, because by many successions of ages, it hath been fined and refined, by an infinite number of grave and learned men, and by long experience grown to such a perfection, for the government of this realm, as the old rule may be justly verified of it, Neminem oportet esse sapientiorem legibus, no man out of his own private reason, ought to be wiser than the law, which is the perfection of reason." Co. Lit. 97 b. If a custom is found to be unjust, the law, based upon it, is and ought to be abolished, for that which is not reason is not law.' Certain laws, therefore, grounded upon custom, which had grown up in dark ages, and which did not apply to the enlightened state of modern times, have been repealed by statute. The "lex scripta," has been gradually bringing about a reform upon the "lex non scripta," to suit the advancement of human knowledge, and human justice. If we examine the fundamental doctrines of the common law, as modified to present usage, we find them based upon the