tions are at war, when sovereigns negotiate, the agency of a third power is often introduced. This third power offers itself the mediator between hostile nations, and peace is restored. The dignity of both parties is supported. The votaries of the grand Lama, and the disciples of Boodh, whose religion is professed by more than half the human race, wor. ship their visible deities only as mediators with the one, invisible God. So does history confirm essential doctrines of revelation, and improve our moral feelings.

Does not Geography show the wisdom and goodness of God in adapting means to ends; in accommodating the climate to the inhabitants, or the inhabitants to the climate. In the frozen regions of the north, where the earth yields her produce with a sparing hand, our waters are enriched by the finny tribes, and men have hearts of iron, to encounter the cold, to toil in the earth, to sail the stormy sea. In the south men have neither courage nor strength; but the earth yields them a spontaneous support, and their trees are pleasant habitations. Saul abode under a tree in Ramah, and Deborah dwelt under a palm tree. By means of rivers and seas, what is wanting in one country is supplied from another. By means of traffic men are not only rendered more comfortable; but their characters are improved. Civilization, refinement, and a spirit of Liberty, are promoted by commerce. Hence tyrants are never the friends of commerce; as a mean of preparing their subjects to be crushed, and patiently to endure the deadly yoke of despotism, they begin by embar

rassing and destroying commercial enterprise. The page of Geography shows that the Father of all dispenses his favors with an impartial hand in the different climates of the world. The contemplation of this natur. ally excites love, and joy, and praise.

I need not enlarge. I need not remark, that the precise laws of crystallization, the symmetry of the angles, prove a designing agent, and display the wisdom of God. I need not remark that the canals of plants, which convey the sap to the different parts are in exact proportion to the space, which is to be nourished. Are not the upper and visible side of every leaf on the trees adorned with a beautiful polish, while the lower without a polish, displays the work? As the architect or cabinet maker gives beauty and ornament to the upper and more visible parts of his works, while the joints and ruder parts are concealed; so is it with every plant of the field, every leaf of the forest.

Minerals, so useful and necessary to civilized man, are all disposed in strata or veins, nicely lodged in magazines. Were the iron, and coal, and other miner. als of the world, scattered here and there, and every where, the loss would be immense. Every branch of natural history presents grateful views of God. Did not the warlike elephant, and terrible rhinoceros in summer drop their covering, they would suffocate and perish in the burning sands of Africa. Did not the camel, the ship of the desert, carry within him a cistern of water, he could never traverse the thirsty plains of the

East; their merchants would never divide the riches of the caravan. The rein deer laughs at the cold of Lapland; because he is muffled in the warmest fur. The arctic birds sport on their mountains of snow, for God has wrapped their feet in the richest down. "He tempers the wind

to the shorn lamb."

"The serious mind adores the mighty band,

That ever busy wheels the silent spheres. An undevout astronomer is mad."

Who can recollect, that the world, as Job says, is hung upon nothing, that the planets are worlds like the one, which we inhabit, perhaps vocal with the songs of immortal felicity; that the sun is the fountain of light to a system of worlds; that the stars are so many suns, giving light and splendor to countless millions of worlds: that the bold. est imagination can fix no limits to the works of God, or say, "Yonder world terminates the work of creation." Who can thus reflect and not bow before

the great Eternal, and in silent wonder ""muse his praise?" But we forbear. The astonishing wonders of the electric fluid, the various mysteries of chemistry, the holy transports of music, with a numerous retinue of sciences, the handmaids of religion, we pass by in silence. Philosophy opens a temple of divine wisdom, which none but the hallowed ministers of science can describe. To them I resign my feeble pen. Let ignorance

and enthusiasm boast of their

visions and lights within, our way to heaven is the path of knowl. edge and science.

VOL. II. New Series.

the

By learning the object of cducation, the reader is assisted in deciding between the merits of different modes or systems. The seaman by knowing the port of his destination, knows the point, which he is to sail. If he be alJured by hope of advantage, or driven by tempests in a thousand directions, he can instantly reassume his course. He that does not know the point of his destination may traverse ocean, till his ship decays with age. So those, who have not a specific object in education may wander from science to science, without order, and with little advantage. Those, who remem. ber that the grand design is to will know what mode to adopt. prepare immortals for the skies, They instantly see how ruinous to human hopes, how fatal to the eternal interests of children, how malignant in its nature is that atheistic system, which recommends the neglect of religious instruction, till the child has lived more than twice seven years. Bad habits are then formed, the chains of spiritual death are rivetted, and too late perhaps the hand of deliverance is offered. But to analyze different systems is no part of my design; but from a general principle to make several deductions. I only set the compass and ascertain the general course to be pursued, without proceeding on the way to mark the devious paths. That system of education is to be chosen, which most efficaciously recovers man from his apostasy, which most hopefully elevates him among the

blessed.

The Remedy for Duelling: a Sermon delivered before the Presbytery of Long-Island, at the opening of their session, at Aquebogue, April 16th, 1806. By Lyman Beecher, A. M. Pastor of the church in East Hampton. First published by request of the Presbytery: republished by subscription. New York, Williams & Whiting. 1809.

THOUGH Duelling is a crime which does not infest society in New England, and though there is little cause for apprehension that it will ever become prevalent here, yet most of our read. ers, we presume, have deeply lamented the existence of so dreadful a scourge in the other parts of the United States. Amidst the examples of the great, the connivance and participation of rulers, and the stupid admira. tion with which vast multitudes have gazed on these deeds of blood, all the tender ties of human nature, and all the sanctions of law, divine and human, have been treated with equal contempt. While envy and revenge have immolated their hecatombs, and murder of the most flagitious kind has been transformed into a brave, and honorable defence of reputation, men of real principle have looked around them to discover, if possible, some remedy for so tremen

dous an evil.

In this state of things, the discoverer or the improver of any plan, by which the exertions of

the good can be combined, and the opinions of the wise set in array against the practices of the unprincipled, deserves to be hail. ed as a benefactor to mankind. To this high honor, if we are not mistaken, the author of The Remedy for Duelling has attain. cd. The plan which he has pro. posed, and to the elucidation and enforcement of which his whole sermon is devoted, is simply this: That every voter who disapproves of duelling, should invariably withhold his suffrage, in our popular elections, from any man whom he has good reason to believe to be a duellist in principle or practice. We do not give his words, in the foregoing sentence, but the scope of the discourse, as it appears on perusal. When we speak thus honorably of Mr. Beecher, on account of the plan developed in his discourse, we are aware, that many well informed men through the country have always disapproved of elevating duellists to office; that this disapprobation has been often expressed in conversation, and sometimes perhaps in print; and that duelling is habitually numbered among our national sins. But Mr. Beecher advances further. He considers a regular and systematic opposition to duellists, when candidates for office, as the great, the efficacious, and the only hopeful method of sup pressing the crime; and he brings it home to the conscience of every voter, as a partaker in the guilt and the mischiefs of duelling, un

less he uses his right of suffrage for this salutary purpose. The subject is presented in a great variety of lights; objections are answered very satisfactorily, and with perfect ease; and conviction is forced upon the under. standing and the conscience, at every stage in the reasoning. The sermon is an exhibition of most persevering argument. The speaker holds you fast, and will not let you go unconvinced. When you think he has done, he arrests you again and again, with an additional host of powerful arguments and motives.

The style is, in a few instances, hardly correct. It is, however, always spirited to a high degree, and often indignant at the miser. able sophistry by which duelling is attempted to be defended. The word jeopardy is improperly us ed as a verb.

Sarcasm and irony are frequently well employed; but in the following cases rather Injudiciously. After proving, in a well written paragraph, (p. 13.) that education cannot excuse duelling, the author concludes by saying, "And when they mur. der, elevate them not to posts of honor, but to the gallows." The other instance to which we allude is found, p. 24, after a description of the alarming progress of this crime, as proved by the general preparation to use the pistol, in some parts of our country. "Expertness in firing the pistol is a qualification of indispensable attainment, and the Sabbath is often devoted to the most christian employment of learning to shoot expertly." Our readers will probably be gratified with a brief analysis of this sermon. The following ar

Under this head the feebleness of the restraint which honor imposes is considered. We quote a few sentences.

"Hence the honor of a duelling legislator does not restrain him in the least from innumerable crimes which affect most sensibly the peace of society. He may contemn the Savior of men, and hate

and oppose the religion of his country. He may be a Julian in bitterness, and by swearing cause the earth to mourn. In passion a whirlwind-in cruelty to tenants, to servants, and to his family, a tiger. He may be a gambler, a prodigal, a fornicator, an adulterer, a drunkard, a murderer, and not violate the laws of honor. Nay, honor not only tolerates, but in many instances it is the direct and only temptation to crime.

4. The system of duelling is a system of absolute despotism, tending directly and powerfully to the destruction of civil liberty.

"5. The inconsistency of voting for duellists is most glaring.

6. To vote for the duellist is to assist in the prostration of justice, and indirectly to encourage the crime.

"7 The contempt with which duel lists treat the opinions and feelings of the community, is a reason why we should cease to confide in them.

"8. Withhold your suffrage from the duellist, and the practice of fighting duels will speedily cease."

We cite, as a fair specimen of the author's reasoning, a page under this division.

"The reason why men of honor, (falsely so called,) pay homage to the law of honor, is because the maxims of this ghastly code are, among a certain class of

men,assumed as their opinion; which opinion is made to affect,in a sensible manner those who presume to disregard it. The opinion of the great mass of the people is also just as well known; but with this important difference, that it inflicts no penalty on those who disregard it. It is vague, feeble, and inefficacious. But let the opinion of society, on the subject of duelling, be collected, combined, and expressed in the votes of the people, and it will operate most sensibly upon that class of men who now most despise it. It will involve a penalty which they cannot but feel, and which they evade. No defect in the law-no absconding of witnesses

no flaw in the indictment--no connivance of the great, can come to their assistance in this dilemma. If they will violate our laws, they shall not be intrusted with power. If they will murder, we will invest with power, men who will punish them. In this way we cut the sinews of duelling and bind to good behavior by the motive which before impelled to the crime. The opinion of the people, that which is in fact public opinion, becomes prominent, assumes influence, and overwhelms the absurd opinions of bloody men.

"Motives of compassion,and of justice, both demand this expression of the public mind. These honorable men admit the sin and the folly of their deeds. They disclaim all motives of revenge or hatred. Their only plea is necessity; and the only necessity is the imperious mandate of public opinion. They even lament [that] such a state of things should exist but while it does exist they must fight or encounter disgrace. Is it not our duty to undeceive these deluded men--to rescue from death the reluctant martyrs of honor? Must they be haunted all their days, and be driven to desperation by a mere spectre of the imagination--by a public opinion which has no being? Are we not bound to teach them their mistake, if it be such--to wrest from their hands this mere pretence, if it be no

"Finally, the appointment of duellists to office, will justly incense the Most High, and assuredly call down the judgments of heaven."

All these divisions are amplified with much force of reason. ing, and much natural eloquence. The sermon concludes with an animated peroration, and an address to professing christians of all denominations. From the latter we extract the following

sentences.

"My brethren, for what purpose are you placed in this world? Why do you sustain the character, and enjoy the priv ileges, and anticipate the rewards of the children of God? Is it that you may stand idle spectators of the sins and miseries of mankind?"Holy and beloved," have you no "bowels of compassion?" And are tears, and sympathy, and prayers, the only labor of love which can be rendered, and which you are bound to bestow, to limit the prevalence of crimes, and mitigate the miseries of man? Is no intelligence to be exercised? Are no plans to be adopted? Is no concert of influence and labor to exist among those who are denominated the light of the world, and the salt of the earth? Can the world be enlightened and the earth preserved, while christians whirl away life in noise and bustle, or dose away their days in sloth? Or, divided and subdivided, exert the little influence they possess in watching one the other, and counteract ing each other's designs? Is their no common enemy to combat? and are there not points enough of common interest and common sentiment, to unite us in one great and vigorous attack?"

On the whole, we most cordi. ally unite with the reverend clergymen, whose recommendation is prefixed to this edition of the sermon, in which they say: "We are persuaded that no man, over whom cogent reasoning, political rectitude, and religious principle, have not lost their power, can rise up from an impartial perusal of Mr. Beecher's Sermon, without being convinc