been interwoven in its progress from the beginning, is a state of things, of which the eastern continent, and the records of past ages, furnish neither an example nor a resemblance. Nor can it be questioned, that this state of things presents one interesting feature in the human character; or that it exhibits man in one advantageous attitude, and his efforts in a light, which is honourable to our nature. "In New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, the public worship of God has always been established by law, and for a long time, without the commu. nication of peculiar privileges to any class of Christians. Here only, in the history of man, has this experiment been made. The first practical answer, therefore, to-the great question, whether such a state of things is consistent with the public peace, good order, and safety, has been given in these states. Speculations on this subject have never satisfied either the understanding or the fears of inquisitive men. An experiment was absolutely necessary. "Here the experiment has been ex tensively made; and, to say the least, has gone far towards proving, that Christians of different classes can live together harmoniously under a government which confers on them equal privileges. Facts, continued through a sufficient period, have solved the problem. Hereafter it will scarcely be doubted, that, where the blessings of rational liberty and universal protection are securely enjoyed, men, of very different religious views, can all be strongly attached to the government. In "In these countries what may be called parochial schools are every where established; and all children are taught to read, write, and keep accounts. this important fact it is seen without a doubt, that ignorance is not necessary for the preservation of good order among the multitude. Future genera tions will at least believe, that the knowledge derived from this education, instead of making men worse citizens and subjects, certainly makes them better; while it enables them, also, to discharge the duties of parents and children, of neighbours and friends, in a manner more useful, pleasant, and praise-worthy."-Preface, pp. xii.-xiv. While expressing our accordance with the Doctor's principles, we cannot give an entire assent to his inferences. Facts cannot, we think, be fairly said to have "solved the problem," until a longer period shall have passed away. Suffi cient time will not have been allowed, until the Americans shall begin to experience some of the inconveniences of a crowded association. At present there is ample space for the harmless evaporation of inflammable feelings, the people are not sufficiently in contact for the complete intercommunication of moral infection; but when their present advantages cease, and the average casualties of redundant population come to be felt, then, and not till then, can the problem be considered as solved. Centuries must elapse before the experiment can be fully tried, and it is difficult to imagine the unbroken harmony of the United States through so protracted a term. It is, of course, quite impossible that we should undertake to give any thing like an analysis of four fairly printed 8vo. volumes, of which the matter, though not absolutely unconnected, is exceedingly scattered. The only way in which we can conyey an idea of the character and contents of the work, is by extract, of which we shall be as liberal as our limits will justify. Dr. Dwight commences with New England, and vindicates for its inhabitants the honour of their descent from the puritans, who, rather than submit to tyranny, sought civil and religious liberty in a desert. Retorting on the contemptuous treatment which those excellent men have received from posterity, he asks, "Is it then more honourable to have derived one's birth from men who followed in the sycophantic and brutal train of Charles II. the English Sardanapalus, who corrupted the British nation with a moral pestilence, than (to use the customary language of your country) to have sprung even from the whining, Cromwell? Would a sober man, when canting followers of the hypocritical looking back after his genealogy, congratulate himself more to find his forefathers crouching to the despotism of James II. and co-operating either by active efforts, or tame submission, with this wretched papist, or with his predecessor Laud, to re-establish popery in his hative land, than to spy them out on the register of persecution, discover them in the purlieus of a prison, or wander after them into a foreign country, whither they had fled from the iron rod, to preserve an unreproaching conscience and a pure religion? Do you not believe, Sir, that many an Englishman reads with no small regret the declaration of Hume, that to the puritans Great Britain owes the liberty, by which she is so honourably distinguished, and of which she boasts with equal complacency and justice?"-pp. 77, 78. "By a body of French and Indians, under the command of Hertel de Bouville, and Whoop Hood, a sachem. About thirty of the inhabitants were killed, and more than fifty carried into captivity. The invaders were followed and attacked on their retreat by a body of English, consisting of about one hundred and forty men. A few were killed on both sides, when night terminated the conflict, and enabled the enemy to escape. The English were destitute of snow-shoes, and therefore unable to pursue them. "One of the prisoners, named Robert Rogers, a corpulent man, being loaded with a heavy pack, found it impossible to keep pace with his captors. When he had fallen behind them, thinking himself out of their reach, he threw down his load and attempted to make his escape. The savages pursued him to a hollow tree, in which he endeavoured to conceal himself; and, forcing him out, stripped him, beat him, and pricked him forward on the journey, until the evening arrived. They then made a feast for themselves; and, tying the prisoner to a back), sang, shouted, and danced around tree (his hands being fastened behind his him. When they had sufficiently amused themselves in this manner, they made a great fire near the unfortunate man ; bade him take leave of his friends, and allowed him a momentary respite to offer up his prayers to God. After this, they moved the fire forward and roasted him by degrees; and, when they found him failing, withdrew the fire again to a greater distance. Then they danced around him; cut, at each turn, pieces of flesh from his perishing frame; laughed at his agonies, and added new pangs to this horrible death by insults and mockeries. With a refinement in cruelty not obvious to civilized man, they placed the rest of the prisoners just without the fire, that they might be witnesses of the catastrophe. With the same spirit, after his death, they seated his body, still bound to the tree, on the burning coals, that his friends might, at some future time, be racked by the sight."—p. 387. In fact nothing can be more interesting and impressive than all the fair accounts of the first settlers of New England. Their patience, their industry, their honourable character, the strict integrity of their dealings with the native Americans, distinguished them from nearly all other classes of emigrants, and originated a new era in the history of colonization. While others planted their national off-sets for purposes of avarice or ambition, these admirable men had for their objects, that they might serve God peaceably in a strange land, since in their own they were reviled and persecuted, and that they might carry the knowledge of divine truth to regions of ignorance and idolatry. The difficulties encountered by the earlier colonists were excessively severe. Every thing was to be done. Forests were to be felled, tracts covered with stones and rocks were to be cleared, roads made, houses built, and, after all, innumerable privations to be endured. In addition to all these sources of inconvenience and suffering, they had to sustain the harrassing and Another anecdote, relating to destructive vicissitudes of Indian warfare; not the conflict of set camsame subject, is fraught with paigns, scientific manoeuvre, and interesting_recollections. In the fair fighting, but the war of amtown of Hadley, in Massachusetts, bush and assassination, the tomahawk, the knife, the torturing fire, and the bloody stake. Of the general character of these contests, we shall insert the following specimen. In the year 1690, the town of Berwick was attacked, the "Resided for fifteen or sixteen years the celebrated regicides, Goffe and Whalley. They came hither in the year 1654, and lived in the house of the Rev. Mr. Russell, the minister. Whalley died in his house. Some years since, the house was pulled down by Mr. Gaylord, the proprietor, and the bones of Whalley were found buried, just without the cellar wall, in a kind of tomb formed of mason work, and covered with flags of hewn stone. After his decease Goffe quitted Hadley; went into Connecticut, and afterwards, according to tradition, to the neighbourhood of New-York. Here he is said to have lived some time, and, the better to disguise himself, to have carried vegetables at times to market. It is said, that, having been discovered here, he retired secretly to the colony of Rhode-Island, and there lived with a son of Whalley during the remainder of his life. "The following story has been traditionally conveyed down among the inhabitants of Hadley. "In the course of Philip's war, which involved almost all the Indian tribes in New-England, and among others those in the neighbourhood of this town, the inhabitants thought it proper to observe the 1st of September, 1675, as a day of fasting and prayer. While they were in the church, and employed in their worship, they were surprised by a band of savages. The people instantly betook themselves to their arms, which, according to the custom of the times, they had carried with them to the church, and, rushing out of the house, attacked their invaders. The panic, under which they began the conflict, was however so great, and their number was so disproportioned to that of their enemies, that they fought doubtfully at first, and in a short time began evidently to give way. At this moment an ancient man with hoary locks, of a most venerable and dignified aspect, and in a dress widely differing from that of the inhabitants, appeared suddenly at their head, and with a firm voice and an example of undaunted resolution, reanimated their spirits, led them again to the conflict, and totally routed the savages. When the battle was ended, the stranger disappeared; and no person knew whence he had come or whither ་ he had gone. The relief was so timely, so sudden, so unexpected, and so providential; the appearance, and the retreat of him who furnished it were so unaccountable; his person was so dignified and commanding, his resolution so superior, and his interference so decisive; that the inhabitants, without any uncom mon exercise of credulity, readily be lieved him to be an angel, sent by heaven for their preservation. Nor was this opinion seriously controverted, until it was discovered several years afterward, that Goffe and Whalley had been lodged in the house of Mr. Russell. Then it was known that their deliverer was Goffe; Whalley having become super CONG. MAG. No. 64. annuated some time before the event took place. "There is an obscure and very doubtful tradition, that Goffe, also, was buried here."--pp. 317, 318. One extract more, by way of illustration of the manners and habits of the descendants of the Puritans, and we close the volume for the present. At the general election for Connecticut, held at Hartford, 6 "An intelligent stranger is equally surprised and delighted to see, among such a multitude of spectators, so few persons who are not well dressed, and who do not exhibit the strictest propriety of manners and morals. One of the judges of the supreme court of the United States was present, a number of years since, at this election. As he was conversing with the governor, he said, Pray, Sir, where are your rabble?" 'You see them around you, Sir,' said the governor, Rabble, Sir,' said the judge, I see none but gentlemen and ladies.' We have no other rabble,' said the governor, but such as you see.' 'You astonish me,' replied he. Why, Sir, when General Washington took the oath of office in the balcony of the assembly-house in Philadelphia, the chief justice, who administered it, could scarcely be heard at the distance of ten feet, on account of the noise and tumult of the yard below. Among the thousands who are present, I do not discover an indecorum. These your only rabble, Sir! Well, I will say, that the inhabitants of Connecticut are the only people within my knowledge who understand the nature of an elective government."-pp. 234, 235. Literaria Rediviva; or, The Book Worm. Three Discourses ; one on the Parable of Dives and Lazarus, the Second on that of the unjust Steward, and the Third on that of the Ten Virgins. By the Reverend Mr. Clement Ellis, Rector of Kirkby, and Prebendary of Southwell. With a Preface, giving some account of the Author's Writings and Life. 8vo. pp. 456. London, 1705. As we are introducing to our readers one of the two principal works of a writer popular in his day, but now, we believe, not very extensively known, we shall commence with a few particulars of his life. He was born at Rose Castle, in Cumberland, in 1633. Dr. Potter, bishop of Carlisle, to whom his father was steward, was one of Clement's sponsors at the font, and seems to have directed his education. The civil war was injurious to the circumstances of the elder Ellis, who was a steady loyalist, and the expences of his son's education at Oxford were defrayed by Mr. Barlow, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, and Mr. Tully, both of them, at that time, Fellows of Queen's College, Oxford. The young man also received" several presents of gold towards his subsistence there, from unknown hands; with anonymous letters to certify, that those gifts were in consideration of his father's sufferings, and to encourage his progress in study." After the restoration he had reason to believe that these seasonable aids came, through the hands of Dr. Taylor and Dr. Hammond, from collections that were made among the more wealthy cavaliers, for the relief of those whose loyalty had deprived them of their property. "He has often mention'd those favours which he likewise then received from Sir Robert Southwell, a worthy member of the said College, and at whose request he published the first fruits of his labours, The Gentile Sinner. The occasion of writing that book was this; some young gentlemen, with Mr. Ellis, being met together one evening in the said College, after some free and ingenuous discourse among them, ter of a gentleman, which he did, withMr. Ellis was desired to give the charac out premeditation, in some entertaining manner to the company. He was desired afterwards to put his thoughts into writing upon that subject, and which he immediately went about, whilst his fancy was warm, and sat up the whole night: the next day he presented his papers to them, which were shown to his tutor, and so well approved of by him, that he put him upon a review of the same, in order to print them. When this work was performed by him, he was not above four years standing in the University, in which he gave an early specimen of his wit, as well as understanding in sacred matters, and what benefit the Church might expect from him hereafter."— Preface, pp. 10, 11. After the due term of diligent study and irreproachable conduct, he was chosen a Fellow of Queen's College, and in December, 1656, he was ordained by Dr. Skinner, the then deprived Bishop of Oxford. In 1660, he became domestic chaplain to the Marquess of Newcastle, and the following anecdote is related of his deportment while in that office. "A certain gentleman of extraordinary note, then dining with the Marquess, ac cording to his usual talent, was scatter ing some prophane jests against the Christian revelation, and the blessed Author of it, and in a sceptical way denying the same, &c. The Marquess spoke to his chaplain to reply to him; which at first he modestly wav'd, and said, that if the gentleman was in earnest, he would endeavour to give him satisfaction at a more seasonable time, in those points he pretended to doubt of, and not then, urged by the said gentleman, who went when they were at dinner; but being on with his discourse, Mr. Ellis told him, that he should be likely to offend him by that reply, which he judg'd then necessary to make. The gentleman giving free liberty of speech, and promising to take nothing amiss, Mr. Ellis said, that he would answer him, or do something towards it, by putting some questions to him, which he crav'd a direct answer to. -The first question was-Do you know your self to be Sir -! To which he answer'd, That he doubted of that, or might do so.- The second question was, Whether he knew that he was then talking with him, and asking the former question? To which he answered in the negative. Mr. Ellis then thought fit to put an end to the dispute by telling him, that when Sir,.. should come to know himself to be so, and so far returned to his understanding and senses as to be convinc't that he was then talking with him, and asking those questions, it would be time to dispute more scrious matters, and not before. The gentleman said he was rude and unmannerly, which the Marquess deny'd, from the liberty of speech before granted So nice are we of our own honour, and so regardless of God's. "This was a smart reply, as well as rebuke, to a person that was too prone to play upon sacred things, to turn them to jest and ridicule, and to pretend to act the part of the sceptick, (who doubts of every thing) upon all occasions. Yet another part of this story must not be omitted, more honourable for the said gentleman, who having, at the same time, a very good living vacant, made a tender of it the next morning to Mr. Ellis, in a letter, or by a message to the Marquiss: (no doubt in consideration of Mr. Ellis's merit, as well as his own un worthiness, in ridiculing the sacred truths of our religion the day before) But the Marquess would not let him accept of this preferment, hoping, in some short time, to make as good provision for him. As this was an argument of the gentleman's ingenuity and good nature, so it gives hope to believe, that his principles were better than his talk, and his serious thoughts very different from his witty or looser expressions in conversation. And when the same person came to die (as a reverend person then attending him hath witnessed) he declared, that he always believ'd the truth of Chris tian revelation, and Jesus Christ to be the Messiah, notwithstanding any seeming opposition given to them by way of discourse, for which he highly blamed himself, and begged of God to pardon it. "It is to be wish'd, that our bold retainers to atheism or deism, would more seriously consider from this ex ample, what they are doing, and not to insult our holy religion in so rude a manner, as they do; from the example of a person, that had as great a share of wit and understanding, as any of them can pretend to, and who was advanced to great honour, and eminent stations in the government, some years before his death."-Preface, pp. 12–15. After about two years residence with the Marquess, he obtained from his patron the living of Kirkby, in the county of Nottingham, where his prudence and skill are said to have converted republicans and antinomians to orthodox sentiments concerning Church and State, and to have wrought so thorough a reformation in "a pretty large country parish," that during the "last thirty years of his life, he did not believe that he had three dissenters in it." Statements of this kind are easily made, but we must have very strong evidence before we can persuade ourselves to believe in the ready transformation of any considerable number of Antinomians and Roundheads. Yet it would appear that Clement Ellis conducted himself with moderation and gentleness, and that he did not escape the imputations of lukewarmness and treachery, which zealots and ultras are prompt to lavish on men of amiable dispositions and sober That his judgments. conduct was, however, approved by his ecclesiastical superiors, may be inferred from his collation to a Prebend in 1693. He had previously lost his wife, whose death, in 1691, gave a severe shock to his constitution, which was originally infirm, and must have sustained injury from his habits of severe application. He died, after a lingering illness, on the 28th of June, 1700. From his works we should infer him to have been a man of talent and accomplishment, without any large allotment of the higher qualities of mind. He is by no |