whose very essence is freedom, and how any wise man can attempt to determine his own precise state of feeling at any future moment, - how he can resolve at what hour to be penitent, at what to rejoice for others, at what to mourn for himself, while, at the same time, devotion is made professedly to consist in impulses, we do indeed wonder. A few words from the Diary will suggest all we would say.

vestry,

Alone in the

"Till near one, I addressed myself to God in suitable thanksgivings, humiliations, and confessions; then nearly three quarters of an hour was spent in prayer for the increase of the church; in pleading many select promises before God, and interceding for my brethren and their societies, as well as for my own; nor shall it, I trust, be altogether vain. Then till twenty minutes past two, I drew up some maxims, agreeably to what I had intended to think of in relation to my daily conduct in general, and as to my behaviour as a husband, father, master, tutor, pastor, and correspondent, and some miscellaneous purposes, which then I turned into prayer, beseeching of God resolution and prudence; and concluded by recommending to him the labors of to-morrow."

- p. 522.

We have not the heart to extract the record of one of these days of retirement, (dated June 1st, 1751,) which is one of the most afflicting confessions we have ever met with. We are glad to see it here, nevertheless; because it affords an unquestionable proof that bodily indisposition was the cause of much of the spiritual grief which this pious man experienced. The adherents of his theology will hasten to cast the burden of his conflicts on the peculiarities of his physical constitution; and it is very true that he was so framed as to be naturally indolent, yet excitable, subject to alternate raptures and deadness of feeling. What we complain of is, not that Doddridge was thus predisposed; but that his religion was one which incessantly aggravated, instead of alleviating, these natural evils. When in society, where he was exposed 32

VOL. II.

to the salutary checks arising from a diversity of opinions and sentiments, the religion of Doddridge exerted its pure and genuine influences. He was cheerful as innocent, and dignified as meek: but when removed from these restraints, he was wrought upon by the corrupt conceptions which carried fear and darkness into the deepest recesses of his spirit, or illumined them with a fitful and artificial light. Had Doddridge known God only as a tender Father, Christ only as his holy and approved messenger, sin and sorrow as finite and limited influences, holiness and peace as the natural and ultimate elements of being, how serene, how exalted, might have been his mortal life! As it was, how was it made up of extremes! Now weak, now mighty; in some things narrow and puerile, in others lofty and enlarged; now in raptures, now on the brink of despair; sometimes commanding our reverence, and sometimes pleading for our compassion. This is not what life is intended to be: such is not what the gospel is designed to make us. None ever surrendered himself more unconditionally to the workings of the Spirit than Doddridge. Alas for him that its operations were disturbed and perverted by human intervention!

We may say alas! for others also, to judge from the abstracts of his devotional services given in his Diary. We have never seen examples of a more imaginative, and less solid and profitable, style of preaching. Upon occasion, no doubt, very strong impressions must have been produced; but there is throughout an assumption of a very excited state of feeling in the hearers to begin with; and of a kind of excitement merely factitious, in very many instances. Such preaching is equally unlike the apostolic method, to which Doddridge would have done well to refer more frequently; and inapplicable to the spiritual state of men in this or in any other age.

The Editor of this volume will probably be as vehemently assailed on occasion of its appearance as he was when the first came out, to scandalize so many good people. We think him perfectly right, however, in presenting us with the whole truth, unacceptable as it will be to many, and painful as in some respects it must be to all. It is high time that some one should set an example of intrepid fidelity in the article of biography; and in no instance could the example be more useful than in the present. No wise man will think the worse of Doddridge for any thing he may have said of himself. What blame there is lies with his theology: what scandal there is rests with those who have hitherto misrepresented him. Doddridge is now proved to be, not exactly what he was thought to be, but something more. He is proved to have quite as strong a right to our admiration; quite as close a hold on our affections; while to these is added a new and irresistible claim to our compassion and respectful sympathy.

WEST INDIA SLAVERY.*

Ir a spirit from some higher region were moved by curiosity to visit our planet, what, in the circuit of the globe, would most excite his wonder and dismay? There is much in every inhabited clime which to a celestial mind must appear "most strange, most pitiful ;"—much which cannot but draw down "tears such as angels weep." Here, oppression and answering degradation; there, lawlessness and violence; here, abject superstition; there, rebellion against

The Death Warrant of Negro Slavery throughout the British Dominions. London: Hatchard and Son, and Arch. 1829. pp. 38.

the common Father. In one country, the heavenly visitant would behold how the natives of the soil are driven back into the wastes to perish, not by destitution merely, but by the vices and diseases imparted by their usurping conquerors. In another, he would mourn to see how the imperishable mind is shrouded in thick darkness, and the immortal soul buried in sensual degradation. In a third, he would wonder at the dominion of an idolatry, whose rites, too impure to meet the eye of day, are lighted by the unholy fires of human sacrifice. But he would remember that these slaves, these sufferers, these agonized victims, have not yet been offered the liberty, the security, and the peace of the gospel. He would joyfully anticipate the hour when the announcement of these glad tidings should be the signal for universal emancipation. He would count the days till the influences of Christianity should protect the Indian in his forest glades, spiritualize the relations of savage society, exalt the apathy of the Hindoo into heroism, and tame the ferocity of the Tartar into gentleness. He would expect with confidence that wherever this influence was acknowledged, freedom and purity would prevail. He would expect to see the limbs set free from chains, and the mind only subjected to that mild yoke which was not imposed by human hands. He would suppose that common rights would be respected, universal gifts equally shared, and domestic relations sanctified by the benignant operation of a power adequate to these purposes, and ultimately destined to fulfil them; and with this hope he would turn to Christian lands. What would he see there? Much to disappoint, and much to encourage. Much external inconsistency, weakness, and depravity; but also much internal purity and strength; many abuses, but a secret power of rectification; great cause for mourning, but more for hope. But if he should at length arrive at a region where all the

degradation, all the cruelty, all the sensuality, all the impiety of the worst heathen lands prevail, notwithstanding the influences of Christianity, and under its pretended sanction, what could he think of such an anomaly? If he found that this region was closely connected with one more powerful, where a continual war is waged with oppression and vice, would not his wonder increase? If he further saw that the oppressed were many, the oppressors few, and that these few were under the control of a power which professed to advocate truth and justice, how could he account for the existence of such an abomination? If England is free, how can she countenance slavery in her West Indian dependencies? If England loves justice, why does she permit oppression? If England is Christian, why does she encourage the temporal and spiritual degradation of her brethren? The anomaly has long appeared no less strange to mortal than celestial eyes, and the question has been rung in the ears of men till many are heart-sick and some are weary but it must be asked again and again, till the insolent bravado, the irrelevant complaint, the contemptible excuse, are silenced; till not a single minister of the gospel can be found (we hope there is but one) to declare that slavery is sanctioned by the law of liberty; till the indignant remonstrance of millions ceases to be withstood by the puny insults of individuals; till appeals to the heart are no longer answered by appeals to the purse. Let us not be told that enough has been said already, that men are disgusted with details of barbarity, and wearied with the repetition of facts which every body knows, and arguments which there are few to dispute. It is true, we are thus weary and disgusted, and therefore should we labor the more diligently till the abuses are removed of which we complain. It is most painful to think on the condition of our Negro brethren; of their tortured bodies, their stunted