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that it will be so as long as I live. It is a privilege enough to be employed for the building up of the Church." These were noble and ennobling sentiments. And with inimitable grace do they fall from the lips of such a man.

In the character of Dr. Rice, nothing was more remarkable than his unaffected modesty and humility. He could not, indeed, but be conscious of his own powers. And he tasked them to the very utmost, in pursuit of noble designs. But there was nothing in this, inconsistent with humility. If he expected great things, and attempted great things, his confidence was not in himself, but in God. He was highly esteemed by his Christian brethren; and he could not well be ignorant of it. But who ever saw him forget himself? When was he ever found arrogant or assuming? He had his share of honour from the world. But this honour seemed, often, rather to oppress than to elevate him.

With a dignified manliness of character, he united the simplicity of a child. And with all his peculiar independence and energy, he combined an almost feminine tenderness and sensibility. While his heart glowed with love to his whole species, it delighted to pour its intensest ardours into the bosom of Christian friendship. No man entered more deeply into the spirt of the communion of saints. To a beloved friend he writes: "The meeting of kindred spirits, and the interchange of affection and thought, is to me more like Heaven, than any thing I enjoy on earth. God seems to be nearer to me, when I am surrounded by his dear children, who have much of his spirit, than at any other time.”

He was extremely grieved at the contentions and divisions which existed in the Presbyterian church, in the latter period of his life, and which have been much increased and exasperated since. He did not view the points in debate as unimportant; but he conceived that the contest was often conducted with an animosity not only needless, but sinful and pernicious. And he conceived that if the controversy was ever to cease, the consummation would be effected rather by the spirit of love and Christian candour, than by the power of argument. Hence he was inclined to act the part of a peace-maker. And, probably, he experienced, in some instances, the usual fate of those VOL. III.

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who are guilty of attempting to reconcile parties determined to remain in mutual war.

For religious controversy at large, he had little relish. And, generally, he maintained a sacred abstinence from it. In one important instance he departed from his usual course-his debate with Bishop Ravenscroft, of North Carolina. He adopted the measure with great reluctance. Friends on whose judgment he relied, believed that the interests of the truth imperiously demanded it. And he himself apprehended, that, by declining, he might make an unwarranted sacrifice, even to the sacred cause of truth.

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He was tenderly and habitually alive to every thing which affected the welfare of the churches, and the prosperity and progress of religion. Nothing was more an object of his desire, than to see all the churches in the land forgetting their unseemly animosities, and enlisting in the sublime design of spreading salvation through the world. But his wishes, in this regard, were not limited to his own country. He wished that all Christendom, at least, all Protestant Christendom, might bring all its united energies to bear on the same glorious cause. This was a principal object of the excellent letter which he addressed to Dr. Chalmers." It is," says he, "by the zealous co-operation of Christians, that the glorious things foretold in the Bible are to be accomplished. The Romish church brings all its energies to bear on any point sufficiently important to call them forth. Cannot Protestants devise some means by which their united strength may be employed for the accomplishment of the great purposes and plans undertaken at the present day? Have not Christians in this age given a pledge, that they will neglect no measures within the compass of their ability, to make known the saving health of Christ to all nations? The Bible Society, wherever its branches extend, is but one association; and the wonderful favour shown by Heaven to this institution, seems to me to point to the adoption of other measures of universal cooperation. And I do think that such a correspondence between Protestant churches, as would cause all to recognise the unity of the Church of Christ, however its parts may be separated, and diffuse a common feeling through the whole body, would be productive of the happiest effects."

As a preacher, Dr. Rice was, in the truest and best sense, evangelical. He drew all his doctrines, and a great

portion of his illustrations, directly from the word of God. He believed that Christianity, as founded in the Bible, is the grand panacea for a diseased race;-the blessing which all need and which meets the wants of all. "There is no mind so great," says he, in his excellent sermon, preached in New York, "but Christianity can fill it with its truths; no reason so exact, that it cannot satisfy it with its evidences; no aspirations so lofty, that it cannot answer them with correspondent glory and felicity. Nor is there any ignorance of savage man, too profound for its instruction; any stain of guilt too dark and deep for its sanctifying power; any misery so extreme, as to be beyond the reach of its consolations."

With these views of the gospel, he aimed so to preach, as to give its fullest effect on the minds and hearts of men. He delivered it with simplicity, with energy, with tender affection. His preaching was the utterance of an active, vigorous, well-stored mind, and of a heart tenderly alive to all the guilt and wretchedness of fallen humanity.

If, as a minister, able, pious, indefatigable, possessing an unbounded influence over the Churches of an extensive region, and employing that influence for the best and holiest purposes, Dr. Rice acted a highly important part—his connexion with the Union Theological Seminary exhibits him in a light still more important. It has been already seen, that the founding of this Seminary was very much his own work. And surely, if to engage in the undertaking when most pronounced it hopeless; if to rouse the indolent, to inspire the timid, to fix the wavering, and to conciliate the hostile; if to collect, with immense toil, and from distant regions of country, the requisite funds; and if to secure for the institution the patronage and care of two large ecclesiastical bodies in different states-if all this merits the highest praise, such praise is due to Dr. Rice. His acceptance of the first professorship in the Seminary was marked with a singular disinterestedness. It will be remembered that, at the same time he had received an invitation to the presidency of Princeton College; a station of the highest honour, with an ample salary, and with duties probably neither severe nor exhausting. But to the mind of Dr. Rice, his beloved Seminary, though yet in embryo, unfurnished with funds, with buildings, with a library, and offering to himself a small and uncertain support, had superior attractions. His exer

tions and sacrifices in behalf of this Seminary were almost without a parallel. Nor can it be doubted, that by its care and management, his invaluable life was shortened many years. While he remained, his influence was most salutary. It was his favourite and governing maxim, that the great business of a Professor of Theology should be, to imbue the minds of his pupils with the knowledge of revealed truth. The whole course of study should, in his opinion, be so arranged, as to enable the student to understand and explain the sacred volume. Another object, still nearer, if possible, to his heart, was, that his pupils should imbibe a spirit of fervent piety. He writes to his wife from New York: "Give my love to the young men; and tell them from me, in the name of God, that the salvation of souls depends much on their making high attainments in holiness, and entering fully into the meaning of God's word. I see continually the difference, in this city, between the congregations of holy and devoted ministers, and those of a selfish, low and worldly character. O that God may make our students holy men."

It was a signal favour of Providence, that this infant Seminary should be indulged with such a man; that its early impressions, and, it may be hoped, its permanent character, should be instamped by his genius, his just and exalted views, and his fervent, active piety.

Such men as Dr. Rice constitute the riches of the Church, and the glory of the world. Our country has few such men to lose. He was taken away at a crisis when lamentable and portentous divisions were rising in the Presbyterian Church. But these divisions no longer afflict his mild and tender spirit. He inhabits a region of peace and love. From that region, he speaks-speaks in his high example; speaks in his invaluable writings; speaks to the brethren whom he so fervently loved, and to the churches over which his heart has so often bled. May Heaven, in its mercy, grant that he may not speak in vain,

ART. IV. REVIEW OF BEECHER'S PLEA FOR COLLEGES.

A Plea for Colleges, an Address delivered before the Union Literary Society of Miami University, September 29th, 1835. By Lyman Beecher, D.D. New York, Leavitt, Lord, & Co. Cincinnati, Trueman & Smith.

THE Address, with the above title, is called forth by one of the most deeply interesting questions which can ever engage the public mind. Whatever system of education may be pursued in our higher institutions of learning, that system will contain the elements of our national destiny. If it be based upon sound, philosophical, and Christian principles, it will secure to us intellectual and moral dignity. But if it be compounded from superficial and radical opinions, the fountains of national existence will soon be broken up, and a deluge of wild and reckless fanaticism must overwhelm us. A Vandal spirit has already sprung up, in relation to literary institutions, which the friends of learning have watched for some time with painful and intense interest. It is struggling to gain possession of the key of knowledge, not to use but to break it, and consign the hidden treasures of truth to deep oblivion. In opposition to this spirit, this Defence of colleges was written. We regard it as an omen of good, that its distinguished author has become so deeply aware of the evils of this spirit, and has taken, at the West, so early and decided a stand against it.

It is our design simply to present some of its leading thoughts, with a few cursory remarks, earnestly commending the Address itself to the careful consideration of every student, instructor, and friend of our literary institutions.

After some remarks upon the republican spirit and tendencies of schools of learning, the author thus presents the main subject of the Address: "It cannot be denied that astonishing advances have been made in the application of the arts and sciences to the improvement of the social condition of man; and some, in the delirium of their wonderment, ascribe these results of long accumulating knowledge to a new and revised edition of the mind itself. The mind, they say, has waked up from the slumber of ages-has burst her chains, and rolled off the weight which pressed her down-has stormed the arsenal of knowledge, and is driving old things away; and in its victorious career cre

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