themselves the order of their church and the doctrines of their faith; and that spontaneous reformation is surely, beyond all others, the most desirable. This enterprise, by planting an American institution, like that proposed, at Argos, or at Athens,or on one of the bright isles of the Egean, will perhaps afford by and by, to the directors of missions, the best central point for their operations; a safe spot where missionaries of every name may learn the languages, and become somewhat habituated to the climate, of the east, before entering on their toils; a refuge to which they may flee in the hour of peril, or whither they may sometimes send their converts to study the scriptures in safety. This enterprise, while it calls on the humane to aid in educating the orphan children whom their timely bounty once rescued from starvation, promises more, far more, than the mere instruction of so many poor children. It aims to illuminate the popular mind of a nation; and by illuminating Greece it will, indirectly but necessarily, throw light, as from some great pharos, over all the regions of the Mediterranean. Such an enterprise will not be forgotten or neglected by the christian public, if the Committee are faithful to their trust; and who that reads their names, some of them so well known to the churches, can question that they will be?

ART. IX.-REVIEW OF CHANCELLOR KENT'S DISCOURSE.

An Anniversary Discourse delivered before the New-York Historical Society, Dec. 6, 1828. By JAMES KENT, President of the Society. pp. 40.

CHANCELLOR KENT has given to this address the freshness and interest of a biographical sketch, while it bears throughout the impress of the author's political wisdom and purity of taste. He has imparted unity to his discourse, and thrown a charm around it, by selecting General Philip Schuyler for its main subject; and while reviving old associations and creating new ones, he brings before us one of the master springs, which pushed forward the colony of New-York into a state, and these states, into a lasting confederation. Anniversary discourses have been too often a wild thicket of facts, as little exciting as annals, or else a flow of vapid declamation; but the age mends as it grows older, and light has risen in the east. Mr. Webster's Plymouth discourse opened a new era, and is unrivalled in that region. Its appearance may sig

nalize our literature, if besides giving dignity to this kind of composition it shall call out a sufficient number of kindred efforts, to make a volume worthy of such a preface. Let each competent artist take a few years' history, or a single character, and work well the materiel, and we shall soon have a column more durable than Trajan's, to commemorate the honors of the republic. Upon each layer let there be the costume, the true relief, and the precise connection of its own subject; and when the eulogium of Washington can be worthily written, like Trajan's statue, it may crown the wholea monument which posterity will never overturn. It may be said for the thousandth time, (and with whom can the truth ever grow so old as to be tiresome?) that the national feeling of our revolution, like electricity, which not water, air, or distance can impede, has already struck upon the chords of millions of hearts, and is now upon its circuit round the whole earth.

Christians will never forget, and the fact may help to christianize the world, that puritan churches were the germs of this commonwealth. Who does not remember Webster's eloquence where he alludes to the pre-existent state of these republics on board the ships of the Plymouth colonists? With equal truth, in the discourse before us, the prosperity of New-York is traced to the protestant faith, eminent learning, and acquaintance with Roman laws-of its first Dutch settlers. With an integrity which puts to shame the conduct of some other states, the settlers of New-York always respected the rights of the Indians; and they breathed into that vast state a health and spirit, and laid the foundation of moral habits, with which only an immigration from New-England could harmonize.

We shall not ourselves write an essay upon this copious theme. We only design inviting our readers to lay up this discourse among their literary treasures. It merits preservation for many reasons.

In a masterly sketch of the early history of the colony of New-York, our author describing the efforts of the House of Assembly for triennial elections, makes the following most happy classical allusion. "This character of the house was a consequence naturally flowing from the healthy and vigo rous principle of popular election, which, like the touch by Antæus of his mother earth, in his struggles with Hercules, always communicated fresh strength and courage to renew the contest."

We will quote a few sentences before we leave these pages.

The history of the campaign of 1777, and especially the condition of this State at the lowest point of its depression, the energy with which it rose, the efforts of our heroes and the spirit of our people, would together form one of the noblest subjects for the graphic pen of the historian. I can speak of the events of that year with some of the impressions of a contemporary witness. I heard the noise and fury of the assault upon the fortresses on the Hudson, and I perfectly recollect the general distress, terror and bitterness of grief that were visible in the earlier parts of the campaign, as well as the tones of joy, admiration and gratitude at our final and triumphant deliverance. Having brought this rapid review of prominent events in our domestic history down to within time of memory, the limits of this discourse will not permit me to continue it. My desire has been to place in fresh remembrance before you the merits of your ancestors, and to rescue some of their names, though it should be but for a moment, from the dust and “dumb forgetfulness" of the record. The distinguished men of the last age have nearly all passed away, and a new generation have occupied their places and are enjoying the rich inheritance of public freedom and prosperity bequeathed to them by the fathers of the revolution. p. 32.

The image of personal freedom, of order, of security, of happiness, and of national prosperity, which our country presents, has had its influence wherever learning and commerce have penetrated. When our revolution began, despotism prevailed every where, except in Great Britain and her colonies, or if civil liberty existed at all on the continent of Europe, it dwelt in timid retirement in the romantic valleys of Switzerland, within the shade of the loftiest Alps. *** We are assured that in our own hemisphere, from the head of the gulph of Mexico, through all the good and bad forms of government in Spanish and Portuguese America down to "the farthest verge of the green earth," the force of our great example is strongly felt, and the eye is turned with respect and reverence to the character of our power, and the splendor of our rising greatness.

The author of this discourse is no longer Chancellor, because he is a sexagenarian. But he still unites the youthful qualities of sentiment and poetry, with the enlightened experience and matured wisdom of age; and with à profound knowledge, not only of his own profession, but of general literature.

ART. X.-REVIEW OF PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY.

Natural Theology; by WILLIAM PALEY, D. D. Illustrated by the Plates and by a selection of the Notes of JOHN PAXTON, with additional Notes original and selected, for this edition. Boston: Lincoln & Edmands. 1829. pp. 564. $1,25.

NOTWITHSTANDING the uncommon clearness of Dr. Paley's style and the felicity of his illustrations, many of the arguments in his Natural Theology have failed of their desired

effect, for want of an adequate knowledge of the objects from which those arguments were derived. The design manifested in a given contrivance, can be understood by those only, who clearly comprehend the nature of that contrivance. Mr. Paxton has, therefore, added greatly to the force of Dr. Paley's argument, by exhibiting, in thirty-nine engravings, the structure and mechanism of the various objects from which the illustrations are drawn. Their value is farther enhanced by judicious explanations, which leave very little to be desired by the reader. A few errors into which Dr. Paley had fallen are corrected in this edition; and new illustrations are occasionally derived from facts which had either escaped his notice, or which have been discovered since his time. As a specimen of these improvements, we give the following reniarks on the structure of the spine, extracted from Bell's treatise on Animal Mechanics.

But there is another very curious provision for the protection of the brain; we mean the curved form of the spine. If a steel spring, perfectly straight, be pressed betwixt the hands from its extremities, it will resist, notwithstanding its elasticity, and when it does give way, it will be with a jerk.

Such would be the effect on the spine if it stood upright, one bone perpendicular to another; for then the weight would bear equally; the spine would yield neither to one side nor to the other; and, consequently, there would be a resistance from the pressure on all sides being balanced. We, therefore, see the great advantages resulting from the human spine being in the form of an italic f. It is prepared to yield in the direction of its curves; the pressure is of necessity more upon one side of the column than on the other; and its elasticity is immediately in operation without a jerk. It yields, recoils, and so forms the most perfect spring; admirably calculated to carry the head without a jar, or injury of any kind.

The most unhappy illustration of all this is the condition of old age. The tables of the skull are then consolidated, and the spine is rigid: if an old man should fall with his head upon the carpet, the blow, which would be of no consequence to the elastic frame of a child, may to him prove fatal; and the rigidity of the spine makes every step which he takes, vibrate to the interior of the head, and jar on the brain. pp. 59, 60.

This work, in its present form, is farther recommended to general use, by the correctness of its execution, and by the moderate price at which it is sold, considering the number and value of the plates. Paley's Theology will hereafter be read with an interest scarcely less intense, and far more beneficial, than that which belongs to the best works of fiction. It should be found in the library of every sabbath school, and have a place among the studies of every well educated youth.

ART. XI.-REVIEW OF TAYLOR AND HARVEY ON HUMAN DEPRAVITY.

Concio ad Clerum. A Sermon delivered in the Chapel of Yale College, Sept. 10, 1828. By NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR.

A Review of a Sermon delivered in the Chapel of Yale College, Sept. 10, 1828; by NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR, D. D. By Rev. JOSEPH HARVEY, Pastor of a church in Westchester, Conn. pp. 40. Hartford: 1828.

Nor is

THE illustrious Edwards, early in life, recorded in his diary the remark, that " old men seldom have any advantage of new discoveries, because these are beside a way of thinking they have been so long used to:" and, to this remark, he subjoined the resolution, "if ever I live to years, I will be impartial to hear reasons of all pretended discoveries and receive them, if rational, how long soever I have been used to another way of thinking." The importance of the habit contemplated in this resolution, must be obvious to all men, who would not say "we are the people, and wisdom shall die with us." there less occasion for it in theological inquiries, than in other investigations. There are, indeed, truths in theology, as in physical science, which no person, who has once understood them, and in view of their proper evidence has become convinced of their certainty, can be supposed afterwards to doubt. The perfection and universal government of God, the spiritual and immutable obligation of his law, the entire sinfulness of unrenewed man, the deity and atonement of Christ, with other doctrines connected with these, are so clearly wrought into the christian system, are so powerfully commended to the conscience, and are so essentially involved in each other, that when they are once received as they are exhibited in the scriptures, they may be expected to remain, with no hesitation or doubt, forever established in the mind. We accordingly find abundant historical evidence, that in respect to these, real christians from the first have had but one faith. But these doctrines have in all ages been accompanied with philosophical speculations, many of which have been clothed with the authority of first principles; have been admitted without examination; and have had no inconsiderable influence in corrupting the simplicity of the gospel. It is more especially in respect to these, that the lover of truth, after the example of Edwards, will hold himself bound impartially to examine whatever doubts may be suggested as to their validity and correctness. Whatever we plainly see to come to us with the authority of "thus saith