doubt; while it is equally certain that many of them have only engendered 'strife about words,' and have ended as they were begun, both parties claiming the victory; and often, too, at the expense of truth and a good conscience.

In respect to the subjects of dispute in the work before us, they have employed the tongues and pens of some of the ablest men in the walks of literature and theological knowledge for centuries. And though this long-continued warfare has not been without its beneficial results, the question still is mooted whether Calvinism or Arminianism shall prevail; for our readers must understand that it is against the Arminianism of Quakerism that Dr. Cox chiefly contends; against this feature of the system he seems to exert the utmost of his intellectual strength, as though this were the chief object of his displeasure. All those denominations of Christians, therefore, which are distinguished by the one or the other of these peculiarities, are less or more interested in the final issue of this debate.

It is proper that we should inform our readers that the author of 'Quakerism not Christianity,' was born a Quaker, and continued among them until he was twenty years of age; that then he renounced the system, and the people who hold it, and became a minister in the Presbyterian Church, where he still continues to occupy a conspicuous place among his brethren. Conscious, as he believes, that Quakerism had a pernicious influence upon his own mind, and fearing that a like injurious influence is extending among others in the community, he felt himself bound to detect and expose its errors, and thus to warn his readers against its deleterious tendency. And had he confined himself strictly to the points of contrast by which Quakerism is contradistinguished from other sects which are deemed orthodox, his claim to a simple intention to expose the more objectionable features of the system would be less equivocal; and had there been less of dogmatism in his book, and more of that 'charity which thinketh no evil,' it would have commended itself with much more amenity to the consideration of sober-minded and intelligent Christians. There is no accounting, however, for the manner in which some men do things; and we are very far from attributing an improper motive to Dr. Cox, in his various attempts to rescue the Holy Scriptures from that evident support which they give to Arminianism, and for endeavoring to press them, apparently against their inclination, and contrary to their most obvious intention, into the service of high-toned Calvinism; for if some have been so far blinded by a false zeal for religion as to think they 'do God service' by burning their fellow beings as heretics, why may not a learned man, and an able minister, be so far under the power of prejudice as to persuade himself that he is subserving the interests of truth by a tortuous interpretation of certain texts of Scripture, to make them speak a language in accordance with his creed? Having formed this creed before he had candidly weighed and thoroughly investigated those parts of the sacred text which bear upon this point, it is very natural for him to suppose that that exegesis must be false which turns its weight against a system which has already been adopted as true. We offer these remarks simply as an apology for Dr. Cox in his bold attempts, by what we consider unauthorized criticisms on the sacred text, to support his favorite theory of ultra Calvinism, which he says he knows to be true,' but which we fully believe to be false.

The author of the work before us is also a descendant from Quaker ancestors; but instead of imbibing a spirit of hostility toward his 'kinsmen according to the flesh,' he seems to have retained no little veneration for them; and believing that Dr. Cox had misapprehended, and very much misstated the views and opinions of Friends, he has volunteered his services to vindicate them from what he considered unmerited aspersions. How far he has succeeded the reader must judge. For our part, we think that the Quakers have erred in some important points of Christian doctrine; though we think that this censure applies with the greatest

force and justice to the Hicksites, who indeed form the largest portion of the sect in these United States. We have beheld with pleasure, that the party denominated Orthodox, hold fast all the great fundamental truths of Christianity as held by the Arminian portion of the Christian community, only differing with the latter as respects the ordinances of the Gospel, and the ministry of the word. From passing through the pages of the book in question, we think the author has succeeded in establishing the claims of this party to fundamental truth, and in vindicating them from the charge of heterodoxy, as well as from the foul aspersions which his antagonist had cast upon them.

But we have neither time nor space to go into a full examination of the book under consideration, but, must content ourselves by earnestly recommending a perusal of its pages to those who wish to appreciate the merits of the controversy, and to decide correctly on the points which Dr. Cox had assailed with so much violence. Those who do this will, unless we very much mistake the spirit of the age in which we live, regret most of all, that any minister of the sanctuary should be found who could degrade himself and the dignity of the subject concerning which he wrote, by such scurrilous abuse as Dr. Cox has heaped upon the Quakers; and moreover, will think that cause is to be suspected as to its truth and tendency, which requires, even admits of, such carnal weapons for its defence and support.

ر

SENTIMENTAL-THE POWER OF SYMPATHY.

Its Influence on our Life and Conduct.-For an evening's meditation, January 8, 1834.

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness [Heb.] I would choose rather to sit at the threshold of the house, &c. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly,' Psalm lxxxiv, 10, 11. THIS is a psalm of David, longing for communion of the sanctuary, showing the blessed state of those that dwell therein. He prays to be restored to its enjoyment and then says, 'Blessed is the man, who passing through the valley of Bacca make it a well [or of the mulberry trees make him a well] the rain also filleth (or covereth) the pools; they go from strength to strength, [or from company to company] in Zion they appear before God.

There is an association of ideas in this beautiful psalm, in its exhibition of the blessed state of the truly pious, viz. when the soul is filled with Divine love, all creation seems to rejoice. Among the shades of the wood there is a resting place, every gentle breeze fans the Redeemer's praise, and God is a sun and a shield.He will give grace; and He will give glory: the benefits are lasting, and no good thing will He withhold from them that love Him! How consoling, how soothing to a troubled soul!

I was musing on this subject this evening, when one singular circumstance in connection with another, passed in quick succession through my mind. We need not dive into the peculiar cases and circumstances of the ancient Christians or heathens, but we can frequently contrast them, and draw a line of comparisonthe one had in possession a strong assurance of immortality and eternal life; the other only a glimmering ray of a future state of existence :-the one was humbled at the threshhold of the house of God; the other sought the good things only of the present life.

Humility of soul excites sympathy. The language of the heart is, Teach me to feel another's wo; that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me!' My venerable father possessed a peculiar faculty of instilling into his children's feelings the powerful influence of sympathy. The mournful and dying shrieks of the feeble insect, expiring amidst the flames on the devoted wood on the fire, was not unfrequently called up as a subject well calculated to make a deep and lasting impression. Hear!' he would often repeat, (during a long winter's night,) 'hear

the poor insect amidst his distress. He cries-he shrieks,—but it is all in vain.How it suffers! It is almost gone! Now it is dying;-hear the last hissing sound! It is dead; and its body will soon be consumed!' How often I have witnessed the heaving and throbbing breast, and the tear of pity started in the eye! At other seasons, to make another impression, the story of the children in the wood was repeated until, on one occasion, I remember that one of the children bursted into tears!

Sympathy of soul is one of those strong cements which bind human society together-it should be cultivated by every parent and teacher, though, like other virtues, it may be carried to an extreme. But the results of those parental admonitions made a deep, a very deep and powerful impression upon the mind and feelings of the children. 'Just as the tender twig is bent, the tree's is inclined!' It ran through the whole family.

There are some persons that I have known, and even good Christians too, I have thought were wholly destitute of this distinguished virtue. I doubt not but that it is, indeed, one of those sensations of soul which is directly communicated, felt, and experienced. I remember that on one occasion, laboring under a severe affliction, it was expected that I would die. My will was written; and many friends visited me. I had one friend who, I heard, had been repulsed from a sick man's room, and when he entered mine I did not wonder at it, for I expect that I had the same feelings, but perhaps not to the same degree, but I felt that I had rather he had stayed at home! I even now, though near twenty years have gone by, doubt in my own mind, whether that worthy brother was conscious of a sympathetic sensation of soul! How important is this matter, with a physician; how much more important, in visiting the sick, for the Christian minister to enter into all the feelings and sympathies of the afflicted! This subject, some how, has made a deep impression on my mind. When I view a pious person entering the room of the afflicted, I see the wishful look, the soul sinking, and sinking in sympathetic emotion at every sigh, and with every groan-the heart is tendered, the voice is softened, the actions correspond, and the very power of sympathy takes hold, and ofttimes very strong hold of the suffering patient; and amidst their agony of body, there seems to be mitigation of pain and suffering. This is often carried to the dying hour; and soothes the sorrows amidst the gloom of death. If sympathy of soul be, as it is indeed, a Christian virtue, how little of it seems to be felt and experienced among the greater proportion of the votaries of the cross of Christ! Yet an age, (or to use Scripture language,) a day is approaching when the Christian world may be roused to a full discovery of the true condition of the sufferings of the human family. Holy angels sympathized with Jesus while His disciples slept; and in the dark hour of His agony they fled. As Christians, we ever should cultivate this virtue, as a germ from Heaven, and hold it steadfast by faith to sustain us, not only against dangers, but death itself.

If the powerful effects of sympathy could sway the turbulent and angry passions of the heathen, surely it ought to influence our Christian conduct and affect our hearts. In 1827, having lost my youthful companion, in March following, (1828,) I, with my eldest son, visited Augusta college, in Ky., with the intention of placing him there. Not being conversant with Latin poets, I was invited in the room. listened to a class reading in Virgil, under the instruction of the Rev. John P. Durbin, under whose superintendence the college flourished. The poet was describing the humble domicil and fields of his father, which were torn from his possession by a soldier of Augustus Cesar; the place of his infantile amusements was described; the cottage and sheep folds, the wheat fields and the groves, and all these were wrested from him by a ruthless soldier! He had resisted the soldier's attempt, and fled to save his life; and his pathetic description of the whole scene was so poetically portrayed, that Cesar ordered the premises to be restored to the family! I had almost conceived in my own mind the poet with his shepherd's flute, whistling and singing around his sheep fold, and gamboling among the lambs, now driven by the hand of the oppressor to seek for safety in some distant region. How many tyrants have been brought to feel the influence of the tender emotions of the human heart, which have been waked up to action from a poetical effusion or some striking and descriptive view. Such was the case with David in his backslidden state, when the affecting parable was told, the rash and vehement sentence was passed, and then said the prophet unto him, 'Thou art the man!'

There is a peculiar interest attending the tender emotions of the heart in public speaking. There is something in the voice, and in the very gesture, which speak the emotions of the heart. Let the speaker feel, let his soul be fired up with Divine

love, let him enter into all the sympathies of his audience-then the results are visi ble. There is not only a force and power in his words and gestures, but there are indescribable emotions passing through the whole audience! In Illinois I attended a court occasionally; and when a particular attorney began to address the court, there was a general run of all descriptions of persons to reach the bar. There was not only a melody in his voice, but there was a tender emotion of soul. If thus at the bar we discover its influence, let us cultivate this powerful and ennobling virtue, still more powerful in its influence from the pulpit. On opening a little spiritual song book, I found that the following piece illustrates my view of the subject :—

ERRATA. Page 26, line 6 from top, read commemorated for communicated. Pages 100 and 101 in the Hebrew words, substitute D (mem) for d (samech) and ▾ (yod) for (vau.)

Page 119, line 11 from bottom, substitute 1833 for 1823. Same page, line 13 from bottom, substitute 599,736 for 619,771; and line 12 from bottom, for 405,464 substitute 385,429. Same page, line 2 from bottom, substitute fifty-one thousand, one hundred and forty-five for seventy-one thousand, one hundred and seventy-eight.