in which it can be used, without the appearance of affectation, especially in grave delivery, that we shall be excused in passing it over in silence. It is a species of stress, employed in the histrionic school, when scorn, indignant authority, sulien despair, &c. are expressed with convulsive emotion.

(To be continued.)

DEAR SIR,

MISCELLANEOUS.

SHALL I SEND MY SON TO HARVARD COLLEGE?

The question proposed in your last is one of great interest to yourself and family, and though considerations of a personal nature might prompt me to be silent, I could never excuse myself, should I refuse or neglect, on such grounds, to express to you my real sentiments. My son "you say, "will be prepared, in a few months for College. Where shall I send him? You know my partialities for Harvard, and were it not for the Unitarianism prevailing in that seminary, I should not hesitate. But are there no circumstances which render it more safe than formerly for the children of Orthodox parents to be educated there? You are in the vicinity, and better acquainted with the state of things than I am. Will you have the goodness to drop me a line on the subject?"

I could drop you a line, my dear Sir, with little trouble; but a line would not answer your purpose, nor satisfy my conscience. If I write anything, I must go into the subject, and endeavor to place it before you, as it presents itself to me; and if you have not time or patience to plod through a long letter, you had better stop where you are, and 'do what seemeth right in your own eyes.'

It is natural that you should feel a partiality for Harvard, as one of the most ancient and best endowed institutions in our country, and especially as the place of your own education. There are many who feel the same partiality, especially in this region, and whom nothing but the force of conscience and the fear of God could have induced to withdraw from it their countenance and patronage. You are apprized, it appears, of the Unitarian character of the institution, but seem to flatter yourself that some circumstances have recently taken place, which render it more safe than formerly for the children of Orthodox parents to be educated there.' I know not to what particular circumstances you allude. Sure I am, that nothing has come to my knowledge, which goes to remedy, or scarcely to modify, the previous religious character of the College. An honorary degree was indeed conferred on an Orthodox clergyman a year or two ago; another such clergyman has recently delivered the Dudleian Lecture; and two or three others have been appointed on committees of visitation and examination. Provision has also been made, by which students, at the request of their parents, can be permitted

to attend public worship out of the chapel. Circumstances such as these I do not overlook, or undervalue. As indications of diminished exclusiveness, of budding liberality, of a disposition to treat the Orthodox with some small degree of attention, they are deserving of notice. But how far, my dear Sir, do they go, towards changing or even modifying the fixed and all pervading Unitarian character of this Institution? The Corporation and the Overseers (so far as they are elective) are still, with scarcely an exception, Unitarian. The officers of instruction and government, from the highest to the lowest, are understood to be Unitarian.* Whatever religious instruction is afforded by the Professors will be, of course, Unitarian. A great majority of the students, and the whole current of influence proceeding from them, will be found on the side of Unitarianism. strong corps of resident graduates, especially those in the Divinity School, will exert their influence on the same side. Periodicals, tracts and books, inculcating the favorite doctrine, are freely circulating and with high recommendations. Indeed, the esprit

A

du corps, the pervading spirit, which has more influence in such an institution than anything else, is altogether in favor of this doctrine, so that Harvard College still is (what it has been denominated by its partizans in years past) 'the pure, uncorrupted fountain head of Unitarianism.'

Shall I advise you, then, to place your son-the child of your prayers and fondest hopes, whom you early dedicated to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and whom you are endeavoring to prepare for usefulness in the kingdom of Christ-shall I advise you to place him, during the four most critical years of his existence, at this Unitarian institution? No, my dear Sir, I cannot do it ;-and for the following reasons:

In the first place, you have no right to place your child in a scene of such extreme moral and spiritual danger. Under the most favorable circumstances, a Collegiate course is a morally hazardous one, so much so, that no Christian parent, who understands the subject, can enter his son upon it without deep solicitude. What, then, must this course be, under circumstances, I was about to say, the most unfavorable?

You will be told, perhaps, that no very definite religious instruction is attempted to be given to the under-graduates at Harvard.

And suppose this is true. What other objection to such an institution would the Christian parent need? Ought there not to be definite religious instruction? Ought the young, susceptible, forming mind to be left four years without religious instruction? Ought the deceitful heart to remain so long uncultivated, and the weeds of sin be suffered to grow unrestrained?

I presume there are no very open, direct means used by the officers with the children of Orthodox parents, to convert them to the Unitarian faith. Such means, if resorted to, would defeat themselves. They would excite suspicion, create repellency, and bar the heart of the pupil against further efforts. Palpable persuasions

A young gentleman, at present a tutor, ought, perhaps, to be excepted.

need not be employed. A current of influence, too strong ordinarily for youthful energy to resist, can easily be put in motion without them. Suppose your son should to-day become a member of Harvard College. He could not be there a week, without discovering what kind of religion was fashionable, was popular, and what religion he must embrace, if he intended to secure general approbation. He would see where the multitude of his companions thronged, and where his instructers led the way; and the respect which you would wish him to accord to his instructers would be easily transferred to the principles which they professed. He would see what preachers were admired, and what hated; who were spoken of as men of enlarged and liberal views, and who denounced as stupid, ignorant, and bigoted. He would soon find, that he must break loose from some of the restraints of his education, must visit his closet less frequently, keep the Sabbath less strictly, lay aside his devotional books, and regard the institutions of religion with less seriousness and reverence, or he must become, at least to many, an object of suspicion, if not of scorn. He may indeed be permitted, at your request, to attend an Orthodox meeting; but this very circumstance would separate him from his companions, expose him to an odious name, and identify him with a hated sect; and unless blessed with more purity of principle, more strength of character, than falls to the lot of some young men, he might not long be willing to gratify you in this respect, but would prefer to remove suspicion, and restore himself to favor, by sitting down quietly under the Unitarian droppings of the Chapel. In short, he would first be ashamed of his orthodoxy, and then, probably, renounce it; and you would ere long hear from others, if not from him, that he had learned to trifle with the great and precious doctrines of the Gospel.

That I do not exaggerate the dangers of a four years' residence at Harvard College will be evident from the following account, published two years ago in Philadelphia, by a young gentleman who had experienced them.

"The most able description can convey but a very imperfect impression of the thousand influences which are there brought to bear upon the heart of every stu-. dent, to chill his piety, to weaken the hold which the great truths of the gospel may have had upon him, to induce him to look upon the scriptures (except in name) with a skeptical mind, and some portions of them with a sneering infidelity. And all this is effected in the bosom of the incautious youth almost imperceptibly. Whilst the poison of error is insinuating itself into his mind, and the sleep of spiritual death is coming over him, his ears are charmed, and his fears lulled, by the captivating notes of charity, liberality, the improvements of the age, and the requiem that is forever sung over creeds and confessions, bigotry and superstition!

"Since 1805, the time of the election of Dr. Ware to the Professorship of Divinity, few young men, even of the most devout and faithful parents, have been able to recover from the shock which their early religious education there sustained: A melancholy interval, when surveyed in its results by the eye of Christian benevolence, during which Unitarianism has ingulfed in its dark flood nearly all the sons of Harvard. Within a few years past however, several, after having made shipwreck of their faith at Harvard, have been restored. I am personally acquainted with a number of this description, who look back upon dangers escaped with amazement, and upward with overflowing gratitude to the Eternal Spirit as their deliverer.

"This I consider myself bound to testify before the world, that the influence there exerted against sound religious sentiments and vital godliness, is like a sweeping flood; to the unfortified minds of youth it is resistless. I am acquainted with no situation, where, in my view, (and I speak from sad experience,) a principle of evangelical piety, and faith in the doctrines of the cross, would be less likely to be obtained, or, if possessed, would be placed in circumstances of greater peril."

Since the publication of this solemn testimony, I know of no diminution of spiritual dangers at the University, nor indeed of any considerable change for the better. A fuller developement of Unitarian principles has since been made, showing that they go to a denial -not only of most of the doctrines of the Bible, as those of depravity, atonement, regeneration, justification by faith, and eternal punishment,*—but of the inspiration of the Bible itself.

My next reason for the advice here given relates rather to yourself, than to your son. You have repeatedly and publicly expressed your dissent from the religion inculcated by modern Unitarians. You have represented their system as defective and dangerous, and justified those who have come out and separated themselves from it. Now suppose, after all this, you send your son to be educated at Harvard College, and place him under the immediate direction and influence of Unitarian instructers. What use, think you, would be made of such a procedure? Would it not be said at once, 'See how much in earnest Mr. - — is, in the censures which he passes upon Unitarianism. He does not think so unfavorably of our religion, after all. If he really believed our views to be essentially wrong, and of dangerous influence, would he entrust us with the education of his son? Would he place his own child under our direction and care, and commit to us the formation of his mind, if he seriously regarded us as in fatal error? Impossible! These Orthodox pretenders may say what they please. Their actions are inconsistent with their declarations, and render them unworthy of regard.'--I well know, my dear Sir, what has been said in similar cases; and I know as well what would be said, and said with no little show of reason, should you decide to place your son at Harvard. You must expect, as the result of such a measure, not only to have your sincerity and consistency impeached, but to have your influence, in favor of truth and in opposition to prevailing errors, materially obstructed.

Allow me further to inquire whether, by extending patronage to Harvard College as it now stands, you do not countenance the perversions, the injustice, by which it has been brought to its present state. I need not inform you, that it is by a gross perversion of funds that Unitarianism has predominated in Harvard College-that the Hollis Professor of Divinity first obtained and still holds his responsible office. It was provided and ordered by Mr. Hollis, that his professor should be a man" of sound or orthodox principles,"

The conductors of the Christian Examiner inform us, that they look upon the Calvinistic doctrine of hell torments,' as 'beyond all question, the most horrible dogma ever conceived or uttered by man. Number for May, 1830. p. 202.

+ See Spirit of the Pilgrims, vol. iii. pp. 13-15 and 95-101.

and a solemn promise was given him that his orders should be obeyed. It was further provided by Deacon Henchman, who made an addition to the Hollis fund, that the Professor should "teach the principles of the Christian religion, according to the well known Confession of faith drawn up by the synod of the churches of New England." But is Dr. Ware a man "of orthodox principles," according to the views of the Calvinistic Hollis? Does he "teach the principles of the Christian religion, according to the New England Confession of faith?" Nobody can with the least reason pretend it. Why then does he receive the avails of these funds? Why is the faith plighted to the holy dead thus wantonly disregarded? Why are such perversions endured?-But I need not say these things to you, who are well acquainted with the facts, and who regard them as I do. The proper questions are, Does not every man, who patronizes Harvard College (as it now is) by placing his children there for education, give a sort of countenance to these perversions? Is it not so understood by those immediately concerned? Is it not because they have felt encouraged by such countenance, that these perversions have been persisted in? And can you, Sir, or can any one who views the subject as you do, encourage and countenance them in this way?

It may be urged, again, that the permanent good of Harvard College requires, that the Orthodox community should for the present stand aloof from it, and withhold their patronage.—We are accused of indulging hostility towards this ancient seminary-of pursuing it with a relentless persecution-of striving to curtail its influence, cut off its resources, and effect its overthrow. Perhaps this very Ietter, should you make it public, will be adduced as evidence of such a disposition. But our feelings, with those of thousands of our brethren, bear witness to the injustice of these accusations. So far from hostility, there is a strong and general partiality among the Orthodox of Massachusetts for this venerable institution. They cannot forget the high and holy purpose for which it was founded; the great good which, in former years, it has accomplished; and the many excellent men (now in heaven) to whom it has been an object of deep solicitude, and earnest prayer. Their warm affections still cluster around it; and though compelled, by its present infected moral atmosphere for a time to withdraw, they are waiting the hour when this shall be blown away by the pure breath of heaven, and when they can with safety return.

We are well satisfied that Harvard College cannot rise and prosper, as it now is. There must ultimately be a change. We do not claim that it shall become exclusively Orthodox, or wish that it may fall under the entire influence of any one denomination. Unlike those institutions which have been founded by different sects for their own particular use and benefit, Harvard College is in right, and ought to be in fact, the COLLEGE OF THE STATE, where all the religious denominations may have an influence, and to which all may send their children without the danger of their being perverted. only is a change of this nature just and proper, it is absolutely necessary to the prosperity of the institution. But how shall such a

Not