change be effected? The Unitarians, a sect of recent origin, which has crept in upon us by concealment and artifice, and which constitutes but a small part of the whole Commonwealth, have so managed as to obtain exclusive possession of the College, and have so modified its original, legal constitution as to feel secure beyond the possibility of change. The institution is now in their hands, and doubtless they intend it shall be. In these circumstances, what course does it become the tried and best friends of the College to pursue? What measures will an enlightened and extended regard for THE GOOD of the institution incline them to adopt? I reply, without hesitation, Let them withdraw. Let them, for the time, withhold their patronage, and send their scholars to other seminaries. Not only do their principles, and the spiritual safety of their children, require this procedure,―the best good of Harvard College requires the same. By such a course, entered on and persisted in, the eyes of those who now direct the affairs of College may at length be opened. The question will, at least, be submitted to them, whether Harvard College shall be in fact, what it is in right, and what from the first it was designed to be, the University of Massachusetts, doubling and trebling its present number of students, collecting them from all the different denominations, and enjoying the confidence and support of all; or whether it shall continue as it now is, a Unitarian, sectarian College,-lauded and supported by a few, but by the great body of the people suspected and shunned, destined to see other much younger establishments towering above it, and leaving it, in point of numbers and influence, a second or third rate institution. This is the question which the different denominations in our country (the Unitarians excepted) have it in their power to put to the present Curators and Governors of Harvard College, and which, in my judgement, ought to be put to them, very distinctly, and without delay. Nothing will so directly tend to open their eyes, bring them to a sense of their duty and interest, and hasten the change for which we are all waiting, and without which the institution cannot rise and prosper, as this. But in order to the full success of a measure of this kind, the excluded denominations must be of one mind on the subject, and must consent for a time, (though some may be called to make a sacrifice) to stand aloof from the perverted institution, and educate their children at other seminaries. Nor can Unitarians consistently complain of such a procedure. Is it not enough that they have taken possession of the College, instituted and endowed for the benefit of the whole State, excluded the other denominations from any share in its government, and are using it for the furtherance of their sectarian views?* Must the excluded denominations now come forward and help them support it? Must they consent to give up their children to be educated in it, and there to be moulded into a belief of Unitarianism? If Uni *In support of this last assertion, it may be stated, that the (Unitarian) Divinity school in Cambridge is instructed almost solely by the University Professors, Ware, Willard, Norton, and Follen, who receive their compensation chiefly (some of them entirely) from the College funds. See Unitarian Tract, No. 32, pp. 19, 20. tarians expect the countenance and patronage of other denominations, then let them give them a due share in the government of the institution. Or if they are resolved that Harvard College shall retain its sectarian character, and continue, what it now is-' the pure, uncorrupted fountain head of Unitarianism;' then let them expect to support it themselves. The most, certainly, which they ought to expect of the excluded denominations is, that they will quietly withdraw, and give their support to institutions of a different character. You are aware, doubtless, that the views expressed in this letter are not new. They have been entertained and acted on by the majority of Evangelical Christians for several years. And this fact suggests another reason why all should unite in them. All must unite, in order to impress more deeply the necessity of a change, and to induce those who have the direction of College to restore it to its original destination with the least possible delay. In these circumstances, therefore, for dissatisfied individuals (like yourself) to continue their patronage, is not only to protract the evils of which you complain, but is practising a sort of injustice upon those brethren who, from motives of conscience, have already withdrawn. It is placing the restoration of their privileges at a needless distance. It is shutting them out (perhaps at great personal sacrifices) from the benefits of Harvard College, longer than would otherwise be necessary. At the same time, it is fastening a disease upon the institution itself, under which it may long languish, but can never rise, and flourish, and prosper. And perhaps this last consideration, to which I again recur, ought to have more influence with us than any other ;—an enlightened and extended regard for the prosperity and usefulness of Harvard College. Notwithstanding all the perversions and evils it has suffered, we still love and honor this venerable seminary. We remember what it has been-we know what it might be-and with sadness we are constrained to see what it is. In the increase of population, wealth, and public education, why has the number of its under-graduates, for the last several years, been rather diminishing than increasing? Why are other institutions, less ancient, less favorably situated, less liberally endowed, outstripping it and going beyond it in this respect? Why are some, of but a few years' growth, already treading on its heels, and threatening soon to pass beyond it. Fast by the Capital-the centre of influence-in a State which educates more scholars than any other in the Union, why does it receive but a small part of them?-It is clear, my dear Sir, that there is a disease upon this institution-which, unless removed, must greatly impair, if not destroy it. Those who alone have the means of applying a remedy begin to be sensible of this; but it is necessary that they feel it more and more. They have already administered some little palliatives, but nothing which goes to the seat of the difficulty, or renders it safe for those who would avoid infection to place their children within its walls. The best which you, and I, and the great body of Evangelical Christians of all denominations can at present do for it, is to leave it. We will not forget it in our 330 Divine Influences consistent with the Use of Means. supplications-we will stand ready to do anything for it which can be done, without pampering the disease which is destroying it—and when the existing experiment of folly shall have been fully tried, the reign of Unitarian exclusiveness shall have come to an end, the College shall be restored to its original destination, and be placed in a situation in which it can be safely patronized-in which it ought to rise and prosper; then we will show our attachment to it, by contributing our influence, with the thousands of our brethren, to make it the glory of our land. Pardon me, my dear Sir, if, by the length of these remarks, I have put your patience to too severe a trial. I have written freely, and in as few words as I could, consistently with my sense of the importance of the subject. I have expressed not only my own views, but those of several judicious friends, whom I have taken the liberty to consult on this occasion. You will bear in mind the great importance of the question which you are about to decide-will endeavor to view it in all its bearings-will carry it often to the throne of grace and will thus be enabled, I doubt not, to come to that conclusion, which will be most for your own comfort, and that of your family, and for the honor and interest of the Redeemer's kingdom. With much affection yours, &c. CHAUNCY. NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. In our last, we published a Review of the "Natural History of Enthusiasm.” Our limits did not permit us to give all the extracts which we intended. We now add the following, as deserving the attention of our readers. The Doctrine of Divine Influences consistent with the Use of Means. "If it be true that the agency of the Holy Spirit in renovating the heart is perfectly congruous with the natural movements of the mind, both in its animal and intellectual constitution, it is implied that whatever natural means of suasion, or of rational conviction, are proper to rectify the motives of mankind, will be employed as the concomitant, or second causes of the change. These exterior means of amendment are, in fact, only certain parts of the entire machinery of human nature; nor can it be believed that its Author holds in light esteem His own wisdom of contrivance; or is at any time obliged to break up or contemn the mechanism which He has pronounced to be "very good." Two causes seem to have operated in maintaining the notion that divine influence is dissociated from concurrent means of suasion :The first of these is an ill-judged but excusable jealousy on the part of pious persons for the honor of sovereign grace; and is a mere reaction upon orthodoxy from the Pelagian and Semi-Pelagian heresies. Such persons have thought it necessary, for the safety of a most important doctrine, not merely to assert the supremacy of the ultimate Evangelical Christians improperly called Enthusiasts. 331 agent; but to disparage, as much as possible, the intermediate agency. The second of these causes is the imaginary difficulty felt by those who, having unadvisedly plunged into the depths of metaphysical theology, when they should have busied themselves only with the plain things of religion, cannot adjust their notions of divine aid and human responsibility; and, therefore, if they would be zealous for the honor due to the first, think themselves obliged almost to nullify the second. If any such difficulty actually exists, it should be made to rest upon the operations of nature, where it meets us not less than in the precincts of theology; and the husbandman should desist from his toils, until schoolmen have demonstrated to him the rationale of the combined operations of first and second causes. Or if such a demonstration must not be waited for, and if the husbandman is to commit the precious grain to the earth, and to use all his skill and industry in favoring the inscrutable process of nature, then let the theologian pursue a parallel course, satisfied to know that while the Scriptures affirm in the clearest terms whatever may enhance our ideas of the necessity and sovereignty of divine grace, they no where give intimation of a suspended or a halved responsibility on the part of man; but, on the contrary, use without scruple, language which implies that the spiritual welfare of those who are taught, depends on the zeal and labors of the teacher, as truly as the temporal welfare of children depends on the industry of a father. The practical consequences of such speculative confusions are seen in the frightful apathy and culpable negligence of some instructers and parents, who, because a metaphysical problem which ought never to have been heard of beyond the walls of colleges, obstructs their understandings, have acquired the habit of gazing with indifference upon the profaneness and immoralities of those whom their diligence might have retained in the path of piety and virtue. Evangelical Christians improperly called Enthusiasts. All who are not wilfully ignorant must know that what is vulgarly called "the religious world," now includes, not only myriads of the lower, and middle, and imperfectly educated classes, in relation to whom self-complacent arrogance may easily find pretext of scorn ;— and not only many of the opulent and the noble; but a fair proportion also of all the talent, and learning, and brilliancy of mind, that adorns the professional circles, and that vivifies the literature of the country. What appropriateness is then left to language, if a phrase of super< cilious import is to be attached to the names of men of vigorous understanding, and energetic character, and eminent acquirement;-of men, successful in their several courses, and accomplished in whatever gives grace to human nature? When those, who are in no assignable good quality inferior to their competitors on the arena of life are, on account of their religious opinions and practices, called Enthusiasts, is it not evident that nothing is actually effected but the annulling of the contumelious power of the term so misused? We may indeed in this manner neutralize the significance of a word; but we cannot slur the fair fame of those upon whom so absurdly we have flung it. That this infatuation should, in any great number of instances, be dispelled by mere shewing of reasons, is what the religionist, the enthusiasts, are by no means so enthusiastical as to expect:-they too well understand the nature of the malady, and too well know its inveteracy, to imagine that it may be dissipated by argument, even though the cause were in the hands of a college of dialecticians. And yet, though they entertain no such expectation as this, theythe religionists-do very generally, and with some degree of confidence, entertain the belief that, ere very long, the error of irreligion will be seen universally, and that Christianity, or, for the sake of distinctness, let it be said the religion of the Reformation, the religion of Wickliffe, and Latimer, and Cranmer, and Jewel, and Hooker, and Owen, and Howe, and Baxter, will gain unquestioned ascendancy-will bear down infidelity and heresy, and absorb schism, and possess itself of Christendom ;—and of the family of man. The Power of Christianity. The early triumph of the Gospel over the fascinating idolatries and the astute atheism of Greece and Rome, has been often (and conclusively) insisted upon, as evidence of its truth. With that argument we have nothing now to do; but if the subject were not a very hackneyed one, it might well be urged, in all its details, in proof of a different point-namely, the innate power of the religion of the Bible to vanquish the hearts of men. An opponent may choose his alternative; either let him grant that Christianity triumphed because it was true and divine; or let him deny that it had any aid from heaven. In the former case, we shall be entitled to infer that the religion of God must at length universally prevail; or in the latter, strongly argue that this doctrine possesses almost an omnipotence of intrinsic force, by which it obtained success under circumstances of opposition, such as made its triumph seem, even to its enemies, miraculous. It is natural to look to the next occasion in which the opinions of mankind were put in fermentation, and to watch in what manner the system of the Bible rode over the high billows of political, religious, and intellectual commotion. It was a fair trial for Christianity, and a trial essentially different from its first, when, in the fifteenth century, after having been corrupted in every part to a state of loathsome ulceration, it had to contend for existence, and to work its own renovation, at the moment of the most extraordinary expansion of the human intellect that has ever happened. At that moment, when the splendid literature of the ancient world started from its tomb, and kindled a blaze of universal admiration; at that moment, when the first beams of sound philosophy broke over the nations; and when the revival of the useful arts gave at once elasticity to the minds of the million, and a check of practical influence to the minds of the few; at the moment when the necromancy of the press came into play, to expose and explode necromancy of every other kind; and when the discovery of new continents, and of a new path to the old, tended to supplant a taste for whatever is visionary, by imparting a vivid taste for what is substantial; at such a time, which seemed to leave no chance of continued existence to aught that was |