With a few additional remarks I shall close this article.

1. General Jackson, in theology, was a decided and thorough Calvinist. That sublime system of divinity, so clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures, and so accurately epitomized in the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, was the joy and the rejoicing of his heart. His ordinary conversation abounded with references to the hand and counsel of God. When rehearsing facts that had occurred in his military or political life, he would repeatedly pause and say, “It was the hand of God." “Divine Providence ordered it so." "Such an officer was cut down; he was a noble man. I felt his loss much, but it was the hand and counsel of God." This continual reference to divine Providence, in all the events of life, was a strongly-marked feature of his conversation. I must here give an anecdote. An able jurist, born and educated at the east, had emigrated to the west; and, by diligence and fidelity in his profession, he had become prosperous and popular. He was now a candidate for an important office, in a district where the popularity of General Jackson was absolutely overwhelming. It was well known that the candidate, whose friendship for Jackson was in the subjunctive mood, would most certainly be elected "to stay at home." It was indispensable to success that the voters should know before the election that the candidate was the friend and admirer of Jackson. Our jurist was very hostile to the doctrines of Calvinism. Indeed, I fear his hostility went further; for I had been told how he worried some young preachers, with sceptical objections to the Bible. I was thrown into his society not long before

the election day. After a few moments' conversation, said he, "Calvinism degrades the human mind. I say, it degrades the human mind!"

"Yes, sir," was my reply "yes, sir, Calvinism degraded your New England man Jonathan Edwards, as all Europe and all America confess, into the most distinguished theological writer who has ever put pen to paper in the English language. Both hemispheres maintain that Jonathan Edwards is unequalled among English theological writers. How Calvinism degraded him! Again, Calvinism has degraded General Jackson, as you maintain in all your public addresses, throughout your electioneering canvass, into the most eminent military and political man which the world has produced in the present age. How degrading is the influence of Calvinism!"

2. General Jackson, in his intercourse with his neighbors and with society, was "the good man " and the perfect gentleman. It is to be regretted that heated politicians and crazy fanatics should be so successful in misrepresenting men and things, as to keep worthy citizens in one section of our country under injurious mistakes relative to their fellow-citizens in another section. Christianity, common sense, love to God, and benevolence to man, are the same, east and west, go where you will, throughout our great country.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of sitting for a number of successive days in the senate chamber at Washington. I looked on Webster from Massachusetts, Wright from New York, Calhoun from South Carolina, Burges from Rhode Island, Preston, a native of Virginia, Clay from Kentucky, Judge White from Tennessee, and all their fellow-senators; and I said,

"Be you Whigs or be you Democrats, be you from the east or from the west, from the north or from the south, any country on earth might be proud to call you her citizens. And I will rejoice that the beloved land where I was born, nurses in her bosom such a body of men."

3. Let me close with repeating, that General Jackson, from early life, was characterized by reverence for sacred things. He spoke reverently of the word of God, the house of God, the ordinances of God. He honored God in word. And God blessed him while he lived, and blessed him when he died.

THE EAGLE AND THE GNAT.

THE following article was prepared for a highly practical purpose. In the region where the author lived, that scriptural and sublime system of Christian doctrine, denominated "Calvinism," was most bitterly assailed, and that too, in many instances, by persons who had taken no pains to have their minds expanded by searching the word of God. There is a curious.

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fact here. The man who has never looked into a law book, knows that he is ignorant of law. The man who has never read a medical work, knows that he is ignorant of medicine. But the man who has neglected to read the Bible, is not equally conscious of his ignorance on divine subjects. Tell that man of the "sovereignty of God," the "doctrine of election," or any kindred doctrine, and his heart will rebel against it at And he will be "wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. 22 The fact is, men are born with hearts opposed to the sovereignty of God, and the system of doctrine that maintains it. In this controversy, the depraved heart decides, and not the understanding. Now, when I have encountered persons who were eager for argument, while they evidently "loved darkness" and "hated the light," persons who would "glory in their shame," while they were "willingly ignorant" of God's word and the

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sublime system of eternal truth unfolded there, I have sometimes rehearsed to them the story of "The Eagle and the Gnat;" and the result, generally, if it has not been conviction, has certainly been silence.

The reader, if he chooses, may consider the ensuing story as an extract from "The Book of Nathan the Prophet," mentioned 2 Chron. ix. 29, detailing "the acts of Solomon first and last." A very valuable volume, containing an authentic and instructive history of the times, but not being divinely inspired, it has been lost amid "the war of elements and the wreck of matter," which have intervened between the age Solomon and the present day. The following extract alone has come down to our time a mere fragment, still floating on the waves, the only remaining memorial of the noble vessel that has perished forever.

EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK OF NATHAN THE PROPHET.

"When Solomon had completed that greatest work of his life, the building of the temple of God, on Mount Moriah, it excited much interest through a wide extent of country. Persons who had a highly cultivated taste for architecture those who were fond of beholding fine specimens of the building art-came from far, and feasted their eyes on this beautiful house. And while they gazed, they spoke one to another of the immense blocks of white marble that appeared in the wall, the tall pillars that rose in front of the building, the symme→ try and the splendor of Solomon's Porch, and, indeed, the grandeur, the consummate proportions, and the unparalleled perfection of the entire edifice.

"But the fame of this wonderful house not only