66

On June 21st, 1776, he was elected, by the provincial Congress of New Jersey, to the Congress of the United States. He took his seat just before the Declaration of Independence, advocated the measure, and placed his signature to the immortal document. When a distinguished member of Congress said, we were "not yet ripe for a declaration of independence," Dr. Witherspoon replied, " in my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe, but rotten." He was, from 1776 to 1782, with the exception of 1779, a member of that illustrious body, whose counsels and plans resulted in the success of the American cause. The excellent publications of Congress, calling their constituents to seasons of fasting and prayer, were from his pen. He was on a number of important committees, and proved himself an able statesman. His essay on the nature, value, and uses of money, which contained the substance of his speeches in Congress, is universally regarded as an admirable performance. He opposed the paper currency which gave rise to so many evils; he was in favour of the Union of the States, and of a stronger government than the original confederation; and in the various discussions relating to public affairs, he showed the sagacity and discrimination which so strongly marked his character. It has been said that his mind became somewhat secularized during the war; but Dr. Rodgers, who knew him well, affirms "that, while engaged in serving his country in the character of a civilian, he did not lay aside his ministry; he gladly embraced every opportunity of preaching, and of discharging the other duties of his office as a gospel minister."

The exercises of the College of New Jersey had been suspended a short time during the war, but were resumed under the superintendence of the Vice-President, the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D. D. Dr. Witherspoon gave such attention to the institution as his other public duties would allow; and the College being destitute of funds, and the library having been destroyed during the summer of 1783, he was induced to visit Scotland in December, 1783, with the view of obtaining relief. This visit, it must be confessed, was a bold experiment, under all the circumstances; and the result disappointed expectation. But, although he obtained little relief for the College, he was welcomed at Paisley by large congregations of admiring hearers. On his return to America, he addressed the following letter to one of his old parishioners, which is worth an insertion in this place.

TUSCULUM, near Princeton, 12th August, 1786.

Dear Sir-I have within these fews days received your letter of the 22d May, and am much obliged to you for it, as it is a mark of continued and steadfast friendship, which is most agreeable to me. You may be assured, that my remembrance of, and attachment to the affectionate people to whom I formerly stood in the relation of a pastor, is still unabated; and though Providence from the beginning, blessed me with countenance in my new department, I have often said, that I would ride ten miles every Lord's day, to preach to such a congregation as I had left behind. It gives me much pleasure to know that you have faithful pastors, and particularly that Mr. Snodgrass is now in Paisley, my judgment of whom, in younger life, I find has not been disappointed.

I

We had dreadful convulsions in this country during the war, but now all things are settled in peace, and the College is thriving as much as ever. preach regularly at Princeton, and have the satisfaction to say, that both here, and other places around, there seems a greater eagerness for hearing the gospel than before the war.

Remember me kindly to all my old friends. I shall not cease to pray for them, and indeed, have accustomed myself to such forms of expression as to include them morning and evening in my family prayers. I am, &c. J. W.

In one of his introductory lectures to the students in divinity, Dr. Witherspoon makes some remarks, which throw light upon a passage in the preceding letter, and which illustrate his attachment to his Scotch congregations, and some of his trials in America.

'Notwithstanding," says he, "the many encouraging circumstances that have happened since my arrival here, and the evident smiles of Providence upon the College, yet I confess that I have often regretted the want of a pastoral charge. After having been for twenty-three years constantly employed in preaching the gospel to a numerous, obedient, and affectionate people, to be employed in a way of life so completely different, must have created some uneasiness. Just figure to yourselves, one that had been so long accustomed to preach to a crowded congregation of from twelve to fifteen hundred souls every Sabbath, and all subject to my private oversight and discipline, and now to have such a thin and negligent assembly, and mostly composed of those who think themselves under no obligation to attend but when they please. In such a situation, the sphere of usefulness seems to be greatly narrowed; for as one of great zeal and discernment expressed to me in Britain, 'You will be greatly mortified to see the difference between a small country society in America, and a large city congregation in Scotland, but if you be instrumental in sending out ministers of the New Testament, it will be a still more important station, for every gownsman is a legion.'"

Dr. Witherspoon had an important agency in organizing the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He was Chairman of the Committee to accommodate the book of discipline and government to the state of the Presbyterian Church in America; and he was also Chairman of two other Committees specially appointed to revise the chapters on church censures and public prayer. At the first meeting of the General Assembly in 1789, Dr. Witherspoon, by appointment, preached the opening sermon from the appropriate text, "So then, neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." 1 Cor. iii. 7. He was a member of the General Assembly in 1789, 1791, 2, and 4, in which latter year he died. Dr. Rodgers, speaking of Dr. Witherspoon's influence in our deliberative assemblies, says: "We have seen him in our own church judicatories in America, always upright in his views-remarkable for his punctuality in attending themand able to seize at once the right point of view on every question-able to disentangle the most embarrassed subjects-clear and conclusive in his reasonings and from habit in business, as well as from a peculiar soundness in judgment, always conducting every discussion to the most speedy and decisive termination. The Church has certainly lost in him one of her greatest lights, and, if I may use the term in ecclesiastical affairs, one of her greatest politicians."

Shortly after his return from Scotland, his health began to decline; and for two years before his death, he suffered the loss of his sight, which contributed to hasten the progress of his other disorders. "These," says Dr. Rodgers in his funeral sermon," he bore with a patience, and even a cheerfulness, rarely to be met with in the most eminent for wisdom and piety. Nor would his active mind and his desire for usefulness to the end, permit him, even in this situation, to desist from the exercise of his ministry and his duties in the College, so far as his health and strength would admit. He was frequently led into the pulpit both at home and abroad during his blindness, and always acquitted himself with his usual accuracy, and frequently with more than his usual solemnity and animation. And we all recollect the propriety and dignity with which he presided at the last com

mencement. He was blessed with the use of his reasoning powers to the very last. At length, however, he sunk under the accumulated pressure of his infirmities; and on the 15th day of November, 1794, in the seventythird year of his age, he retired to his eternal rest, full of honour and full of days."*

Dr. Witherspoon's presence was uncommonly commanding-second, as has been said, only to that of Washington. He was tall and well propor tioned, and dignified in his manners. His social feelings were deep and lively; he was companiable, full of anecdote, and particularly fond of the young. His personal religion was marked by a consistent, righteous and useful life. He was faithful in his duties to his household; and in all the relations to God and to man, has left behind him an example and a name which will be cherished to the remotest posterity.t

Review and Criticism.

Essays on the Primitive Church Officers. Rprinted by permission from the PRINCETON REVIEW. Charles Scribner, New York, 1851.

This volume contains six essays on important points of Church Government. I. On the origin of the Christian Eldership. II. On the powers of the Primitive Presbyters. III. On the perpetuity of the Apostleship. IV. On the official rank of Timothy and Titus. V. On the angels of the churches, and the false apostles. VI. On the Apostolical Succession. The discussions of Episcopacy have had in this country an armistice, which the volume before us will probably prolong. Every new invention in the art of war is an argument for peace. The reasonings in this volume cannot be overthrown by all the ingenuity of sectarian Tract publications. A strong position of Episcopacy is annihilated in the third essay, which is one of the ablest in the book. In fact, the Episcopalians abandon the position themselves, and do not pretend to call their bishops apostles. Occasionally a bishop, like * calls himself an apostle; but instead of magnifying his office, it only magnifies a universally perceived

* *

Dr. Witherspoon's works were published in Philadelphia by Wm. W. Woodward, in 1802. Dr. Green, who was his pupil, contemplated a new edition, and wrote a biographical sketch of his venerable preceptor, to be prefixed to the edition. It is to be hoped that our Board of Publication will be enabled, in the course of their prosperity, to publish a complete edition, with Dr. Green's sketch.

+ Dr. Witherspoon was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Montgomery, whom he married in Scotland. At the period of his emigration, his children consisted of three sons and two daughters. 1. James, the eldest son, held the rank of Major in the Revolutionary army, and was killed at the battle of Germantown. 2. John was a physician. 3. David married the widow of Gen. Nash, and practised law in North Carolina. 4. Anne married the Rev. Dr. Samuel S. Smith, and 5. Frances married David Ramsay, M. D., the celebrated historian. The Rev. J. Witherspoon, D. D., of Hillsboro, N. C., is the son of David, and grandson of the distinguished man whose name he bears. The Rev. S. S. Woods, D.D., of Lewistown, Pa., married a daughter of Dr. Witherspoon by his second marriage.

distinction. Episcopacy, regarded as a mere ecclesiastical arrangement and placed upon the same basis as holy days, gowns, reading prayers, &c. stands a better chance in an argument than when perched on the airy High Church pinnacle. The Essayist is an Assayer in the Theological Mint at Princeton, where the minutest intrusion of false pretension is detected by the old fashioned tests of Scripture. Presbyterians are under no appre hension of suffering from any discussions in this advancing age, especially in the United States, where the power of Puritanical and Presbyterian parity is read in history, seen in present progress, and foretold in every sign of the future.

The Listener, by CAROLINE FRY. R. Carter & Brothers, New York, 1851.

Caroline Fry is a very wise talker, as well as a quiet listener. The volume contains in the general sound, practical comments on the duties, incidents, errors, &c., of every day life. The author listens to what is going on in the world, and then discloses her own meditations. The work is the more interesting from being the production of a well-disciplined, homeloving female. Let us hear a few words from the Listener on music.

Music is the gift of God. Man did not communicate to the extended wire its vibrations: man did not give to the surrounding air its undulatory motion; man did not organize the ear to such exact responsiveness, or the brain to such acute sensibility of what the ear conveys. Man could not have made music had not God intended it. The power was his, and the gift was his man has possession, and thinks it is his own. It administers to his pleasures; it buys him the applause of men; it feeds his unhallowed passions, drives away thought, and helps to make him happy, in forgetfulness of what he is, and is to be. For these purposes, the worldly parent, if she finds this talent in her child, takes possession of it, expends upon it, as above described, no small portion of another talent committed to her keeping, and occupies with it a fourth, or a sixth, or an eighth part of her children's early years-perhaps the only years that ever will be theirs-and her heart never misgives her that she has perverted the gift, or defrauded the giver of this talent. The Christian mother follows her example, though not with the same motive. The talent is now divested of all unhallowed purposes and dangerous effects. It is acquired without vanity, and used without ostentation. Instead of leading the young performer into company, to exhibit herself for admiration, it now contributes to make the excitement of mixed society unnecessary, by supplying her with innocent amusement at home. Never let the Listener be supposed to say a word against the use that is made, in such families, of this delightful talent; the evening recreation of a well-spent day-the home festival of domestic cheerfulness and affection; or the solace, perhaps, of some anxious, lonely hour. I believe that music stands thus in many families, entirely divested of every injurious application, and administering to one part of the Creator's purpose-the happiness But I do question whether it is made any where, so much as it might be, subservient to the other: the service and honour of the Giver; or even to the first, in the best and highest sense of the word, "happiness.”

of man.

Closet Hours, or Aids to Spiritual Improvement, &c. By RAY PALMER, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Albany. E. H. Pease & Co., Albany, New York. We can cordially recommend this as a practical work of uncommon interest. Mr. Palmer has commenced his ministry in Albany with great acceptance and success; and his closet hours as well as his public hours bespeak the devoted Christian, the intelligent theologian, and the accomplished scholar. Mr. Pease shows that Albany is up to the spirit of the age in the art of publication.

Che Religious World.

CONGREGATIONALISTS AND NEW-SCHOOL PRESBYTERIANS.-There are signs of warfare between these two bodies. "The Independent," the able organ of the former, says: "There is now no attempt to conceal the determination on the part of the [New-School] leaders openly to discard, as they have for a long time practically, the Plan of Union. A thoroughly Presbyterian Theological Seminary is also to be established in the Northwest. I do not complain of these things, except that they are entirely inconsistent with the partnership relation which exists between them and Congregationalists in Home Missionary work. Let this partnership be formally dissolved, and then I have not a word to say against the most vigorous prosecution of their plans. But I do protest against using Congregational funds (see Mr. Coe's statements before the Assembly at Utica,) to extend Presbyterianism, and to build up Presbyterian colleges and seminaries. It is not known at all in New England that all the colleges and seminaries aided by the Collegiate Society, except Beloit and Iowa, are wholly under Presbyterian control. Even Western Reserve, for which $20,000 were raised in New England recently, is put down as Presbyterian in the list of institutions belonging to that denomination. The Plan of Union indeed is no longer regarded by our Presbyterian friends. I am convinced that the welfare of the churches, and the interests of the cause of Christ demand a change, and a separation for the sake of peace and increased efficiency, and in this I am not alone. Many of the most judicious men East and West, of both denominations, are of this opinion."

MASTER AND SLAVE BAPTIZED.-An interesting incident occured recently at the church of Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., in New York. Some eight or nine persons were admitted members of the church, and of three who were baptized, two were a master and his slave. The former was a tall, middle aged white man, though of rather dark complexion, and the slave was a very interesting, intelligent and good looking mulatto girl about seventeen years of age. They knelt and were baptized together-she in the name of Jessie Ackerman. In explanation of the circumstances, a short notice appeared in one of the papers, signed "Master," stating that for "her gratification, and the benefit incident to a six months' journey through a large part of our country, her mistress invited her to accompany us on our western and northern tour. She will, ere long, return to the South with us, as (legally) a slave."

PEWS IN METHODIST CHURCHES.-The Southern Christian Advocate says: Trouble is anticipated at the next session of the General Conference of the Northern M. E. Church, on the subject of pewed churches. The Western portion of the connection seems determined to make a stand against the policy of allowing churches of that description to be supplied with preachers, and to carry the question into the General Conferencethe election of delegates turning on that pivot. Zion's Herald has a long article on the subject, from which it appears that six annual Conferences