form which skepticism or infidelity has ever assumed. A want of faith, I say, in the practical principles of the Gospel. By this I mean that men do not believe, that the practical principles of the Gospel are adapted to the ordinary business transactions of society, or are calculated to promote the best interests, and the greatest good, of either individuals or the community. They profess to believe these principles to be beautiful in themselves, beautiful in theory, and admit that, if they could be carried out into practice, they would produce a state of society on earth, far exceeding most men's conceptions of heavenly purity. Still, they content themselves with this avowed admiration, and neglect the endeavor to carry them out into their own, individual, every-day practice. They go on, manifesting an outward respect for the gospel and its instructions, while they regulate their conduct by the maxims and practices of the world. This, I have said, is the most dangerous form of skepticism and infidelity. It encrusts the soul with indifference, hardens the heart, and puts the conscience asleep. Those who adopt these views will listen to the most earnest appeals upon these subjects, and admire the spirit and fervor of him who makes them, while they console themselves, under acknowledged deficiencies and deviations, with the thought that the clergyman knows nothing of the difficulty of applying these principles in practice; that they are appropriate to the pulpit, the house of God, and the Sabbath, but that they are all unfit for the market place, the store, the counting room, or the work shop. I enter then my solemn protest against this most dangerous form of skepticism and infidelity. If our religion be of any value, it is especially valuable, because it is adapted to the regulation of men's conduct in their week-day business transactions. It was intended not merely to fit souls for a state of purity and holiness, and consequent happiness beyond the grave, but to produce a state of society on earth, marked by its purity and peace, by its uprightness, honesty, aud holiness. Believing this, I contend that the principle of Gospel honesty to which I have alluded, the principle of doing to others as we would have others do to us, is the best possible principle of honesty, which men can adopt in their common transactions of business.

“To this important question, then, whether this principle of Gospel honesty was intended to be carried out to the regulation of the details of men's ordinary transactions with each other, whether it can be so carried out, and whether, if so carried out and constantly adhered to, it will promote the prosperity, the success, the best good of him who thus carries it out and adheres to it? To this question, I answer that, if it was not intended to be thus applied to every-day and business affairs, it has no meaning or force at all. If you can show any one case, in which it is proper for men knowingly and wilfully to disregard this principle, then I will undertake to show that, in no instance, is it proper to regard it. I answer, still further, that this principle can be carried out into practice; that, although the community may have generally most sadly and most widely departed from it in the spirit of their dealings with each other, still, if an individual will firmly adopt and perseveringly adhere to it, he will find no difficulties, which he will not he enabled, by the aid of prayer, in the exercise of faith, and of unwavering confidence in God, in his

veracity and in his goodness, easily to overcome. To this question I answer, still further, and finally, that if this principle be adopted and adhered to, it will promote all reasonable prosperity in business, will secure the respect of all around, and inward peace and happiness. I would say to every man of business, that, if he will enter his place of business, whatever it may be, with the determination there to show himself the Christian, with the determination that he will, in all cases, adhere to this Gospel principle of honesty, and will persevere in this determination, he will find, that it will secure the confidence and the respect of those with whom he may deal, and will add tenfold to the enjoyment of what he may gain. For Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. But let him adopt this principle with reasonable expectations, as to its influence. He may perhaps, by his adherence to it, be occasionally prevented from securing accumulations, which he might otherwise have gained. He may not acquire riches so rapidly as he otherwise would; he may forego many opportunities of taking advantage of his neighbor, from a regard to his principles. But let him look at his own peace of mind, at the moral complexion of his character, at the state of his spiritual affections, and he will see that he has gained more, in these, than he has lost of pecuniary profit."” — pp. 183 – 190.

We offer another passage in the same connexion.

"I have said more upon this point than I otherwise should have done, because, in the first place, I have feared that men do not seriously and conscientiously intend to practise upon this principle, and because, in the second place, unless this principle be adopted, unless it be established, that it was intended to be carried into practice in business transactions, it would be utterly useless to say anything further upon the subject. We have no common ground to stand upon, no fixed point from which to start. What was honorable yesterday may not be so to-day; what is honorable to-day may not be so tomorrow. And if we determine the question, as to what is honorable, it will be but a matter of opinion, resting on no authority, even when most firmly fixed, and constantly liable to change. Let this then be regarded as the fixed and unalterable law of Christianity, that, in all the various intercourse of men with one another, in all their traffic and barter, in all their bargains and trade, they are to do as they would be done by. I have known the conscientious young man, who left the store in which he was placed, and renounced the thought of continuing in mercantile pursuits, because he was told that he could not succeed, if he adhered to this principle. And I fully believe that every one, who is possessed of the Christian spirit, who is governed by Christian principles, would at once renounce any pursuit, in which he might be engaged, just as soon as convinced that he could not expect to succeed in it, without disregarding or violating this fundamental principle of Gospel honesty. Suppose you, that he, who intends to be a follower of Jesus, will continue on, day after day, and year after year, in a pursuit, in which he feels that he must disregard the principles of the Gospel? Most surely not. For myself, I do not believe that business transactions cannot be conducted upon Gospel

principles. I believe that there may be, that there are now, and that there have been in times past, Merchants, Lawyers, and men in all the various pursuits of business, who have acted upon this principle, and who, under the guidance of this principle, have been in as religious and pious a frame of soul, as truly conscious of the presence of God, and as mindful of their accountability to him, while making a bargain or engaged in other transactions of business, as while offering a prayer. I believe the assertion, that business transactions cannot be conducted upon Gospel principles, to be a libel upon business life, uttered by those, who understand neither the true principles of the Gospel, nor the best modes of business. And, I beg of all, especially of all young men, who are now forming their opinions and establishing their principles for a life of business, to spurn every such thought. I would say to those who make this assertion, will you tell us, yourselves, that the whole process of business, in which you are engaged, is one continued succession of knavery, cheating, and fraud? Will you say to a young man, 'you cannot be a business man and remain an honest man?' Will you say all this, and still expect to enjoy, yourselves, the confidence and the respect of those, to whom you say it? It is not so. There are honest and Christian men in the various walks of business; we have known them, we have seen them tried, we have had the proof of their honesty before us.

"If then I were speaking to a young man, and an intimate friend, just about to enter upon a life of business, I would say to him, ‘you, should enter upon this course of life, with the firm conviction, that the Gospel principle is the principle by which you should be guided, that, on no occasion, are you to allow even the thought of a departure from that principle, or the wish to depart from it, to rest for a moment in your mind.' Therefore, I should further say to him, 'your first business is with your own soul. You are to see to it, that your internal man, if I may so speak, is in a truly honest frame. You are to ask, in regard to any business transaction, in which you may engage, whether you can say to yourself, before your own conscience, and before that God whose eye penetrates the inner man, and takes cognizance of all its various states, whether, in this view, you can say to yourself, without fear of contradiction from within or from above, that you have honestly endeavored to do as in an exchange of circumstances you would wish to be done by?' This is the first step, to deal faithfully with yourselves, with your own souls, your own consciences; to know whether, in the inmost recesses of your souls, there is honesty of purpose and intention." - pp. 194 - 199.

None, we believe, will be disposed to think upon reading Mr. Whitman's book, that we have overrated its value. We hope it will not have been written and published merely to lie on the booksellers' shelves; but that pains will be taken to place it in the hands of the young, and that it will help to give preaching a direction to some of the important topics of which he treats.

Collections of the Georgia Historical Society. Vol. I. Savannah. 1840.

WE hail this volume with more than ordinary pleasure; for its very appearance, and especially the materials and merits which appear in its three hundred ample pages on a little examination indicate, what to us is a matter of cordial satisfaction, the progress of that interest in American History, and in its preservation, which has long been so faint among us, that it might at times be considered no better than extinguished altogether; supposing, that is, that it ever existed at all. To account for this indifference and neglect would be much easier than to justify it; but instead of doing either, or of taking up time in useless lamentations over the past and the lost, we turn to the brighter prospects before us, suggested by these collections, and similar compositions, which have recently appeared in various quarters. And not by compositions alone. The formation of societies is another good sign. Judge Law, in his excellent oration, alludes to this subject in just and generous terms. He gives our own Commonwealth the leading honors, which she certainly deserves, for the establishment of an Historical Association as early as the year 1791, by some of our most distinguished citizens, (among whom were Belknap and Sullivan, the historians,) and the publication of now about thirty volumes octavo. We believe the New York Society, as the Judge reminds us, was organized in 1804, by Egbert Benson, the first President, De Witt Clinton, T. L. Mitchell, Dr. Hosack, and others. It has published four volumes; the last of which comprised the second volume of Smith's history of New York, left by the author in manuscript. The New Hampshire Society, formed in 1822, has issued several volumes. In 1815, a Committee of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia was formed expressly for historical purposes. More recently a new Society has been established in Pennsylvania, at the head of which is Duponceau. In Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, these associations also exist already, and we see that movements are making in New Jersey for one of the same kind at this moment.

Some of the Legislatures also have shown a disposition to do something in the premises. Of this spirit a gratifying illustration is now before us. It appears from the introduction to this volume, that by virtue of a resolution of the Georgia Legisture, passed December 23, 1837, the Governor appointed the Rev. Mr. Howard an agent of the State, to repair to London, for the purpose of procuring the colonial records, or copies VOL. XXIX. 3D S. VOL. XI. NO. I.

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thereof, now in the colonial department of Great Britain, that relate to the history and settlement of their State. By the further liberality of the same body, the same papers, which are the result of his mission are placed in the Society's library, subject however to their future decision. These documents fill twenty-two large folio volumes, averaging over two hundred closely written pages each; fifteen of them being from the office of the Board of Trade, six from the State Paper Office, and one from the King's Library. This is a most liberal and substantial patronage, and does great honor to Georgia.

It is out of our power to examine all these collections in detail. The old pamphlets republished are invaluable. The new "Life of Oglethorpe" will be read with much interest. This we are

told is by a gentleman venerable with age, but who still pursues the studies of literature with all the enthusiasm of youth, and the assiduity of the scholar. His residence is in the vicinity of the moss-covered trees of Frederica. These are the familiar scenes of his boyhood, linked in with those early associations, which are the last erased by time from the tablets of the memory; and with a heart venerating its great founder "Romulus of Georgia," he has prepared this tribute to his virtues and renown.

This Biography, though not very polished, is very rich. The material is such, that it could not be otherwise. And the same may be said of a large part of Georgian history. Though not what even we Americans call ancient, it is full of romance. The early situation of the settlers helped much to make it so. Their character and composition also were remarkable, and they were curiously gathered together. Witness the people of Ebenezer, just about one hundred years ago. We are told that many of these settlers were from Hernhutt, the singular religious establishment founded upon his estates by the yet more singular and eccentric Count Lindendorf, who was himself for a time banished from his country. From this place came Augustus Spangenburg, a man of learning, who had spent many years at the University of Jena, had been invited to Halle, from whence he retired to Hernhutt, and was finally sent out to Georgia, to regulate, as pastor, the Moravian establishment. "It was," says Judge Law," of these people that Mr. Wesley, being present at one of their religious and solemn ordinations of a bishop, said, the great simplicity, as well as solemnity of the whole scene, almost made him forget the seventeen hundred years between, and imagine himself in one of those assemblies, where form and state were not, but Paul the tent-maker, or Peter the fisherman presided yet with the demonstration of the spirit and of power."