us to commend it to the public attention. Its usefulness is known throughout this country, and in other lands.

16. The College System of Education: A Discourse delivered before the Trustees of Hamilton College, May 8, 1839, by Simeon North, on occasion of his Inauguration as President of the College. Published by request of the Trustees. pp. 20.

Mr. North has been, for a number of years, a professor of languages in Hamilton College. He was formerly a tutor in Yale College, of which institution he is an alumnus. His predecessors in the presidency of Hamilton College were Rev. Drs. Azel Backus, Henry Davis, Sereno E. Dwight and Joseph Penny. The institution was established in Clinton, near Utica, N. Y. in 1812.

The features in the college system of instruction, which President North discusses, are, 1st, its liberal character; 2d, its regularity and system; 3d, its thoroughness; 4th, its practical nature; 5th, its popular tendencies or its fitness to the character and wants of the people; and 6th, its Christian aspects. The author then turns to a brief examination of the claims of colleges upon the support and favorable regards of the community. The colleges are identified with the interests of sound learning in our country, and also with the cause of civil liberty and of pure religion. The author, in the course of his discussion, makes some very seasonable and important remarks on the study of the Greek and Roman languages. He also touches on the indispensable importance of harmonious views and of united effort on the part of all who are intrusted with the concerns of our colleges; and on the equally obvious point, that colleges must be endowed; as, otherwise, they can never greatly prosper. Sound thought, and comprehensive views characterize this excellent address. We trust that under the auspices of its author, Hamilton College will enjoy many years of prosperity and usefulness.

17. A Self-Supporting System of General Education, the Theory and Practice, built much on the union of Oral Instruction with proper handicraft. Delivered before the American Institute of Instruction at Lowell, Aug. 1838, By Ezekiel Rich, Minister of the Gospel, Troy, N. H. pp. 32.

The objects aimed at in Mr. Rich's plan are, 1. radically to improve the common schools, and greatly to reduce their expense; 2. to afford to youth, without expense, except of time, a classical, liberal and even a professional education; 3. to furnish good homes, a competent support, a general and liberal education, to destitute orphans and other indigent children, from about five to sixteen years of age. Under the first mode, the pupils may be denominated district or village classes. Under the provisions of this mode, Mr. Rich, in eighteen months before the date of writing this lecture, had fifty day-scholars, who boarded at home or in the neighborhood, and united in study with the inmates of the family, six hours in a day. Under the second mode, temporary, manual labor boarding-scholars are received, at the age of twelve or over, of both sexes, who are expected by their daily labors, in ordinary times, to pay their way, clothing and all; in very good times, to do more than this. This department gives the institution the name of the "Grand Monadnock Self-Supporting Seminary for General and Liberal Education." About forty pupils joined this department between April, 1834, and August, 1838. Under the third mode of the establishment, indigent children, mostly orphans, are adopted. This is called "The New Hampshire Orphans' Home." It consists of twenty-four pupils. The main feature of the whole establishment is, that Mr. Rich teaches the children orally from book, or from mind, while they continue at work. The work in which they engage is braiding, knitting, sewing, etc. The results of the enterprise seem to be encouraging. The institution, Mr. Rich says, has well supported itself, paid six per cent. yearly on all the property used, and laid up besides, more than $200 a year; good health has been universal; habits of neatness, frugality, etc. have been acquired, and at least as great improvement made in knowledge

and mental discipline, as in the best academies. We should entertain some doubts of the ultimate success of institutions founded on the plan of Mr. Rich.

18. A Memorial of what God hath wrought: A Discourse, delivered at Peacham, Vt., March 31, 1839. By Leonard Worcester, Pastor of the Congregational Church. 1839. pp. 16.

Peacham was settled in 1777. The Congregational church was formed April 14, 1794. Owing to many difficulties, it was a long time before any pastor was settled. An aged female informed Mr. Worcester that he was the eightieth person whom she had heard preach in Peacham. Mr. Worcester was ordained Oct. 30, 1799. During his ministry, 645 deaths occurred among the people; he solemnized 303 marriages. The number of members of the church at the time of his ordination was 40. The whole number admitted by him is 566. At one revival of religion, (1818-1819,) 225 members were added to the church by profession. In addition to Mr. Worcester's other labors, it may be stated that he has educated several sons for the Christian ministry, one of whom is the excellent missionary, Samuel A. Worcester. Much of the external prosperity of the town of Peacham is to be ascribed to the influence of their venerable minister.

We regret that we have not room to insert in this number, notices of other publications sent us, which have been prepared. They will be given in the next number.

QUARTERLY LIST

OF

DEATHS OF CLERGYMEN.

JOHN FORD, æt. 52, Bap. Pickens Co. Georgia, June 5, 1839.
AUGUSTUS O. BACON, æt. 23, Bap. Walthourville, Ga.
July 3.

WILLIAM V. THACHER, Unit. Savannah, Ga. July 12.
THOMAS J. RAWLS, æt. 23, Miss. Savannah, Ga. Sept. 17.
OLIVER T. HAMMOND, æt. 26, Bap. Irwinton, Alabama,
Sept. 6, 1839.

P. L. McABOY, Pres. Washington, Kentucky, Aug. 29, 1839.
JOHN HAMRICK, F. W. Bap. Highland Co. Ohio, Nov. 24,
1838.

MARK H. SHEPHERD, æt. 29, F. W. Bap. Albion, Maine, JEREMIAH OSBORN, æt. 61, Cong. Munroe, O. July 20, May 5, 1859.

AARON BANCROFT, D. D. æt. 84, Unit. Worcester, Mas-
sachusetts, Aug. 14, 1839.

DANIEL FULLER, æt. 89, Cong. Sheffield, Ms. Aug. 23.
ALBERT G. WICKWARE, æt. 32, West Stockbridge, Ms.
Sept.-

JOHN N. GOODHUE, æt. 29, Cong. Marlborough, Ms. Sept.
13.

JOHN TURNER, æt. 70, Cong. Dorchester, Ms. Oct. 2.
JAMES A. PEABODY, æt. 34, Pres. Lynn, Ms. Oct. 12.-
Agent B. E. Gen. Assembly.

NICHOLS JOHNSON, æt. 45, Bap. Fiskville, Rhode Island,
Aug. 20, 1839.

JAMES WILSON, æt. 80, Cong. Providence, R. I. Sept. —

HENRY GLEASON, æt. 37, Cong. Durham, Connecticut,
Sept. 16, 1839.

1839.

NATHANIEL PAUL, æt. 46, Bap. Albany, New York, July
-1839.

NATHANIEL MERRILL, æt. 57, Cong. Wolcott, N. Y.
July 4.

JOHN LORD, ret. 66, Cong. Buffalo, N. Y. Aug. 23.
WILLIAM LUCAS, Cong. Auburn, N. Y. Aug. 27.

Not specified...

MOSES BENJAMIN, æt. 45, Meth. Hempstead, L. I., N. Y. Total................
Sept.-

THOMAS MORRILL, æt. 91, Meth. Elizabethtown, New Jer-
sey, July

1839.

JOHN PLOTT'S, Pres. Mount Holly, N. J. Aug. 24.
ELI BALDWIN, D. D. et. 48, Ref. Dutch, New Brunswick,
N. J. Sept. 6.

WILLIAM B. SLOAN, æt. 68, Pres. Greenwich, Pennsylva-
nia, July 3, 1839.

TIMOTHY ALDEN, æt. 68, Pres. Meadville, Pa. July 5.

CHARLES OGBURN, æt. 80, Meth. Mecklenburgh Co. Vir-
ginia, Feb. 22, 1839

SMITH SHERWOOD, Bap. Portsmouth, Va. July —
THOMAS T. HARRIS, æt. 52, Bap. Green Lawn, Va. Sept. 25.

NATHANIEL BOWEN, D. D. æet. 60, Epis. Bishop,
Charleston, South Carolina, Aug. 25.

ABRAM KAUFMAN, Epis. Charleston, S. C. Sept. 28.

Sum of all the ages speci

6 Maine.......

4 Massachusetts....

4 Rhode Island.......
Connecticut..

5 New York......

2 New Jersey...

2 Pennsylvania.......

1 Virginia.....

7 South Carolina....
Georgia....

35 Alabama....

Kentucky.
Ohio....
.1,548 Illinois......
Average age.......... 52 Michigan..

fied......

JOURNAL

OF

THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SOCIETY.

NOVEMBER, 1839.

WISDOM IN CLERGYMEN.

[By Rev. CHARLES B. HADDUCK, Professor in Dartmouth College.]

AMONG the qualifications of a Christian minister mention is made of wisdom. A degree of prominence is given to this trait of character by the remarkable counsel of our Saviour to the Apostles, "Be ye wise as serpents." That the nature of the quality might not be mistaken he adds the caution, that they be "harmless as doves." St. Paul recognizes the same trait and the same limitation of it in his frequent contrast of "the wisdom of this world," with "the wisdom that is from above "-"the wisdom of men," with "the wisdom of God." He, also, in an eminent degree, illustrated this feature of ministerial excellence by his own example. He became all things to all men, without violating his consistency; and caught them with guile, without making gain of them.

This wisdom is the combination of different traits; and more easily described by its effects, than analyzed into its elements. It seems to involve sagacity, prudence, common sense, and a knowledge of the world. It supposes integrity of principle, benevolence, and self-control. And, in point of fact, as it must naturally be from its constituent principles, it is, in its higher degrees, a rare endowment. Learning, the choicest and deepest, does not imply it; zeal, the purest and warmest, does not secure it. There may be strong intellect and ardent love without it. It is not showy in its exhibitions. It has not the prominence of a bold individual attribute, like imagination or reason. It is rather a happy temperament of all the powers; a beautiful proportion among the different features of the character; an invisible spirit of propriety diffused throughout the entire constitution and action of the man. Washington had it in an eminent degree in civil and military life. No man felt able to tell, in a word, wherein his great strength lay, and yet every man saw and venerated it. Our blessed Saviour was the perfect model of it. He needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what is in man. He could speak as never man spake. He was in the world, and yet above it; among men, at their feasts, and marriages, in the tumultuous assembly, insulted by the taunts and goaded by the violence of a mob; and yet he was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. He was Wisdom. Happy the man who has learned in this school.

The nature and value of this qualification will be more clearly seen, by considering some of the occasions on which it is needed.

And, first, it is necessary in the study and application of theological truth. In every profession, theoretic truth admits of infinite variety of exhibition and application. The great principles of government and political economy are, in themselves, as permanent as the truths of mathematics; the essential principles of medicine are for the most part settled and universal; the law of the land is fixed by statute or by general consent. In all these departments a studious man soon acquires a tolerable accuracy and compass of theoretic knowledge; and in all of them, may still, with the greatest learning, be to every practical purpose, a madman or a fool. There is, besides, and beyond all theory, a 25

VOL. XII.

certain tact, a certain judgment, a quick and nice perception of fitness, in a word, a practical wisdom, without which the strongest minds are weak, and the best principles often lead to absurdity and defeat. There is, in reality, no such thing as a general principle. All reality is particular. General principles are mere abstractions. In nature and in life, we find these always modified by circumstances. The mechanical powers are never applied without being affected by friction, changes of temperature, and other accidental causes, which modify their operation, and affect their result. A skilful mechanic makes the necessary allowance, and, by means of a practical wisdom acquired only by observation and experience, estimates with surprising exactness the kind and degree of modification, to which the principles of his art are subject. This modification becomes more important as the circumstances become complicated; and is most of all important in reference to intelligent beings, whose ever varying feelings, condition, and volitions, present a striking contrast to the simple and uniform character of inanimate matter. A man, who should regard nothing but his general truths, in the practice of the manual arts, would expose himself to failure and ridicule. He who should apply the lessons of history, the doctrines of medicine, or the laws of the land, with the same disregard of the varieties of condition, time and character, among men, would be justly deemed a visionary, and properly held responsible for his folly and presumption.

The Bible is a book of faultless principles. To discover and systematize these revealed truths, in their simplicity and beauty, requires no ordinary study and discernment. To apply them to the changeful forms of society, to make allowance for new varieties of character and new circumstances, without sacrificing or marring the principles themselves, demands even higher and rarer qualities. Because Paul directs Timothy to bring with him the cloak, which he had left at Troas with the books and the parchments, no one would think of urging the same duty on the body of Christians in all ages. And because the same apostle advised the primitive preachers not to marry, we do not all hold the unlawfulness of marriage among the clergy. In such plain cases the consequence of applying the precept beyond the circumstances to which it was originally adapted, renders any such application a gross absurdity. But it is possible one might see such an absurdity, and yet not discover, that a similar liberal interpretation may with equal propriety be given to the prohibition against going to law before unbelievers, to community of goods, to unquestioning subjection to government, to holding property in men, to the command to give to him that asketh, and to many similar usages and precepts of apostolic authority. To distinguish the spirit, the essentials of Christianity from what is local or temporary, and incidental in it, and to give its doctrines the form and complexion, which adapt them to particular times and circumstances, and yet to preserve untarnished and unmixed the vital truths of revelation, requires a happy mental constitution, too rare not to attract attention, and too important not to command respect. A pure Christianity, at once glowing with the hues of original thought, and redolent with the odors of a fresh blown piety, a system of doctrines and a mode of preaching, true to inspiration, and yet moulded to the demands of the times, and fitted to the great ends of the gospel, how seldom has God given to this world the enviable treasure in an earthern vessel, since the perfect Man was heard in Judea.

There are men of a single principle, some ism or other, to which every thing else pays obeisance; they preach it; they pray according to it; they talk of it when they rise up and when they sit down; they are, in short, the very incarnation of it. To them nothing is good in faith or practice, in which this principle is not the main element; and nothing too wrong to be sanctified by it. Whether it be anti-slavery or anti-abolition, anti-masonry or moral reform, it is with them first and last and midst and without end. If it take the form of a favorite doctrine, as of the sinner's ability or inability, of foreordination, or freewill, of submission, or perfection, it seems to the diseased vision of its victim, to be the one thing revealed, written all over the volume of Divine Truth, within and without. If it be a principle of interpretation, that of the analogy of faith, for example, or of accommodation, or the double sense, it is the golden key that