vanity may have been the cause of his incessant travels and labors; and that, in collecting subscriptions and contributions, he may have" a fellow feeling with some of the orphans in Georgia !!"

President Quincy is mistaken, however, in supposing that even Chauncy was at this time an anti-Calvinist. In the work to which I have here referred, he indignantly repels the charge of Arminianism, and professes to " approve of the Confession of Faith agreed on by the churches of New England, and by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster."*

REMARKS ON PRESIDENT EDWARDS.

The representations of President Quincy in regard to President Edwards are not quite accurate or fair. He speaks of his sermons as extemporaneous effusions ;"- -a statement which will be surprising to the friends of Edwards, it being well understood that he generally, if not always, preached from notes. II. p. 58.

Another alleged characteristic of his preaching will be thought equally strange, viz., that he "took captive the imagination," while he "paralyzed the action of human reason, by denying its authority." p. 55. That Edwards was not destitute of imagination is very true; though with him, this seems to have been rather a neglected, than a cultivated power. But that a man who taxed so severely and incessantly his understanding—who, in all his performances, whether philosophical or theological treatises or sermons, was accustomed, beyond almost any one that ever lived, to exercise his reason, should have "denied the authority of human reason," or paralyzed its action," is very strange.†

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Moreover, we think it hardly fair to select from the works of Edwards his more exceptionable, perhaps we might say fanciful passages, and hold them up as specimens of the entire man.

* Seasonable Thoughts, etc., pp. 398, 417.

The Christian Examiner chracterizes the preaching of Edwards very differently, and much more accurately. "Grant him his premises, and you are led on, step by step, to the conclusion. The mind struggles in vain, but is obliged to submit ; and then comes the terrible application." Vol. IV. p. 468.

Still more unfair is it, to select what seems to have been altogether peculiar to him, and with him was only matter of conjecture,-I refer to the passage in which he suggests the probability that this earth, in its state of conflagration, may be the place of future misery-and exhibit it as one of the doctrines of Calvinism. pp. 53, 57.

We scarcely see the propriety of bringing in the name of Jonathan Mayhew, in connection with the revival controversy; as he was not settled till the year 1747, and published nothing for two or three years afterwards. That he possessed a vigorous and highly cultivated understanding, a ready wit, and a fluent tongue, all which served to render him a most formidable controversialist, none, who are acquainted with his works, will be disposed to deny. But that these were associated with a proud, untractable, bitter spirit, will be equally obvious to every unprejudiced reader. We have long considered Jonathan Mayhew and Charles Chauncy as the great corruptors of the religion of Boston. To be sure, they did not operate alone; nor did they attempt to mould uncongenial minds; but on them, more than on any other two individuals, rests the responsibility of breaking down the ancient, Puritan landmarks, and of revolutionizing, for a time, the religion of the metropolis of New England.

President Quincy represents "the controversy with Whitefield as the last of a theological character, in which the governors of the college have directly engaged." p. 52. We know not whether Dr. Ware and Prof. Norton, during their connection with college, were reckoned among its "governors." They were as much so, it is to be presumed, as was Prof. Wigglesworth, who wrote in opposition to Whitefield. That they have been deeply engaged, at times, in theological controversy, their publications are a standing proof.

MORE RECENT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF HARVARD COLLEGE.

The length to which this article has been already extended, renders it necessary that we pass more briefly over the remaining topics in the history before us. The fact, too, that the narrative is now approaching the times in which we live, may be a reason for less prolixity.

President Holyoke died in 1769, at the advanced age of

eighty, and was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Locke, pastor of the church in Sherburne. He held the office but a few years, and these few were disturbed by political turmoils-precursors of the approaching revolutionary struggle. He resigned suddenly, in December, 1773; and in July of the next year, Rev. Samuel Langdon, of Portsmouth, N. H., was appointed his suc

cessor.

The halls of the college had been previously occupied by the provincial legislature, in order that it might be removed from the presence of the British troops, which were quartered in Boston; but in 1775, Cambridge became the head quarters of the American army, and the college buildings were turned into barracks for the soldiers. It was here, July 2, 1775, that Gen. Washington first took the command of the assembled forces of New England. In the autumn of this year, the college was temporarily removed to Concord; but in the summer of the next year, when the British troops had evacuated Boston, the students gladly returned to Cambridge.

The principal difficulty which the college had to encounter, during the remainder of the war, was with its treasurer, who was no less a personage than the Hon. John Hancock. His political engagements and long absences (being president of Congress) rendered it impossible that he should discharge the duties of treasurer; and for some unexplained reason, he refused either to resign his office, or to settle his accounts. The probability is, that he was pressed rather unduly on the subject, as he thought, at first; and to show his resentment, was willing that the college should be subjected to some inconvenience afterwards. His accounts were not finally adjusted, until after his death.

In the constitution of Massachusetts, which was adopted in 1780, the interests of the college were duly regarded; and its existence and rights were firmly established. In August of the same year, President Langdon unexpectedly resigned his office. That he was a Calvinist, in principle, is evident from his "Summary of Christian Faith and Practice," which was published in 1768. He seems not to have had the faculty of making himself respected by his students, and wisely determined to retire from a situation which was both burthensome to himself, and disagreeable to them.

The next president of Harvard College was the Rev. Joseph Willard, minister of Beverly. He was inaugurated in Decem

ber, 1781, and continued in office till his death, in 1804. He was a man of great personal dignity, and of high literary attainments. He was thought by many to be an Arminian. He did not insist on some theological points so fully as most of his predecessors; still, if he used words and phrases in their customary acceptation, his principles were decidedly evangelical. The professors of divinity, during his presidency, were the younger Wigglesworth, and the late Dr. Tappan-both Trinitarian and Calvinistic. Among the other professors were Dr. Eliphalet Pearson, and Rev. Samuel Williams, afterwards the historian of Vermont. Until 1784, the senior and junior classes were required to recite, once a week, from Wollebius's Compendium Theologiæ, a text book of the old Calvinistic school. When this was laid aside, Doddridge's Lectures were substituted in its place.

CHANGE OF RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. UNITARIANISM.

President Webber, the successor of Willard, and Dr. Ware, the successor of Dr. Tappan in the professorship of divinity, came into office nearly at the same time; and from that time, the religious character of Harvard University underwent an almost total change. Almost immediately upon their appointment, Rev. Dr. Pearson, a Calvinist of the old school, who had officiated as president after the death of Willard, resigned his place; stating in his communication, that during a connection of twenty years, it had been his endeavor to exalt the literary, moral and religious state of the seminary; but as "events, during the last year, had so deeply affected his mind, beclouded the prospect, spread such a gloom over the university, and compelled him to take such a view of its internal state, and external relations, of its radical and constitutional maladies, as to exclude the hope of rendering any essential service to the interests of religion, by continuing his relation to it ;" he therefore requested an acceptance of his resignation. p. 287.

During the presidency of Webber, the religious concerns of the college were chiefly under the direction of Dr. Ware; and the opportunity was improved to create and extend an influence in favor of "the new doctrine." Unitarian sentiments were strongly inculcated; Unitarian ministers and lawyers were raised up and sent forth; Unitarian professors and tutors were

SECOND SERIES, VOL. VII. NO. II.

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appointed; and a system of measures was put in operation, to advance the cause of Unitarianism, make it popular, and give

it currency and favor. Still, however, the name was not avowed, and the existence of the thing, at times, was scarcely admitted.

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President Webber died suddenly, July 17, 1810; and on the fourteenth of November of the same year, President Kirkland was inaugurated. He commenced his administration, by attending a ball on the same evening, "given by the students." Dr. Kirkland had, at this time, made no open profession of Unitarian sentiments; and I have good authority for saying that he owed his elevation to the concealment which he had practised. In a letter from Rev. Francis Parkman to a friend in England, dated Feb. 20, 1812, we have the following candid and explicit avowal. You say that Dr. Kirkland is a professed Unitarian, and mention him, as if his election to the presidency of Cambridge University were a decisive proof of the prevalence of your sentiments among us. Dr. Kirkland was formerly one of the ministers of Boston, and whatever his particular friends may think of his opinions, he never preached these sentiments;" i. e. Unitarian. "Nay, I may venture to say, that had Dr. Kirkland been an acknowledged defender of Unitarianism, he would not have been elected to that place." "Had a decided Unitarian been elected, I really believe that the number of the students would have been diminished."*

To this statement of the grounds on which President Kirkland came into office, I need add nothing. His elevation was clearly an imposition on the public; for as Dr. Parkman well observes: "Had Dr. Kirkland been," at the time, "an acknowledged defender of Unitarianism, he would not have been elected to that place."

Of the measures taken to promote Unitarianism in college, during the presidency of Dr. Kirkland, suffice it to say, that all possible means were used. Periodicals were established; books in great numbers and variety were patronized and published; large sums of money were, in one way or another, expended; Unitarian officers were appointed; and the work of innovation was carried on, till the whole concern was revolutionized. That I do not overstate here, will be evident from the following testimony of a distinguished alumnus, given some dozen years ago.

* London Monthly Repository, Vol. VII. p. 201.