North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1852, 1851-11-15
For the Standard.

Lives AwrRIcA. By JAMES WYNNE, VI. D. For sale
by Pomeroy.
Grotius has defined equity the correction o.
that wherein the law by reason OF It's unversailyi
nns;ont" Biography. particularly that OF public
n NAV he said TO bear the same relation to MS
nle", wb;ch equity does to law. Confined to space
loiy y short when compared with the wider range
OhstOy the S0gdP mnu Sa to he hs
INTO many you'd be tedious beyond endurance,
I"5 he seek to relate, not only an Ine acts' out
,;yes of the characters VINO JAKE Ihelf pace
the nlo"': m one could be found to read, much
on MS pay, history on this plan. And yet it is
less 10 in order justly to appreciate the &C.
oi'en nf nnbIic men, that we should have some In
uons ~ their private characters, and some know
slg"' s their motives. Biography, hlllng the out
iedge awn of them by history, renders the picture
hhe The work before valuable compan-
;n 70 the history OF the United States, showing far
hotter than the historian can de- the rapid advances
rr country has made in literature and SCIENCE till In
is than century il has grown from thirteen depen-
Jnt colonies to ;he inightiest republic of the world
Cambridge and Oxford, centuries in advance of
our infant Yale, never sent from their Alma Mater
more powerful reasoner than JONATHAN EDWARDS,
whose theological works have been pronounced the
most splendid triumph achieved by the force of
reasoning, unaided by any of the Establishments of
language" His Treatise on the Will, which g Du-
oal6 Stuart declares was, nor ever will be
swered," has placed his name high among those of
The Intellectual giants of his any other age
Spain, England, France, and Switzerland at different
periodS produced who failed in the attempt TO
nropel vessels by il remained for the patient
perseverance and enduring energy of Fulton to tri
umph the obstacles which had disheartened his
predecessors, and though not, is often supposed,
the inventor of the steamboat. he the first who
practically applied steam the ordinary purposes of
navigation. distinguished European astronomer,
speaking of the of DR.. franklin in the pre-
sidential chair of the American Philosophical Soci-
ety. said: There is not another society in the world
that can boast of such member Rittenhouse; the
fnr rim
ing the orbit of comet, and mechanic enough to
make with his own hands an equal altitude instru-
ment, transit telescope, and time-piece." Thus,
in the infancy of republic, eminent
men, under the most Instantaneous circumstances,
rank with any the world could at that time produce.
First on Mr.. Wynne's list of Literary and Scient-
fc Americans, stands BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, who may
Justly claim place in the ranks of both. We know
to be the fashion of the present day to consider his
abilities and attainments greatly overrated by the
generation which Immediately succeeded him. But
when remember the rank held by Franklin among
the diplomatic, literary, and scientific men of his age
age capable ofapPreciatinS genius and acquire
mens-we cannot but wonder at this. His discov-
cries in science not, has been asserted, the
effect of accident; no fortuitous combination of cir
cumstances induced him to assume the identity of
electricity and lightning, but those rigid deduc-
lions from analoges, which none but mind of the
highest order of reasoning powers is capable of car
ryng out to their ultimate conclusions, and he was
we'll satisfied in his mind of this identity, be-
satisfy others after the series had been completed
His reputation politician and patriot was deserv-
edy high, in the age of the greatest statesmen OF
England, and the purest patriots of America. Speak
ing of him, while delegate to the Provincial Assem-
bly, his biographer says, " there was probably no
public parsonage of the time who had SO many and
such multifarious political occupations whose SER
vices We're so eagerly sought for, or so much relied
upon as franklin" Why. after such proof. should
consider him unworthy the reputation he enjoyed |
while living, and for years after his death! Mr.. |
Wynne draws his character with an impartial hand,
bestowing praise and censure with discrimination |
rare amcng 6iographers.
We cannot say as much for his second biography, |
that of the Rev. JONATHAN EDWARDS, President OF
Princeton College. Here, with all Difference, we
must venture the opinion that prejudice has guided
the pen of the writer. Mr.. Edwards, one of the most
rigid among the Puritan divines, doubtless did carry
his interference with the private affairs of his congre
CATION not only to much greater extent than would
be tolerated al the present day, but farther even than
the time considered justi6able by disposition
ate judges, yet we cannot suppose man who bore
his high and unsullied character, capable of retaining
his pastoral charge after he had become dsagreeabe
to his congregation. merely from Pecunary consider
atoms, actuated in the discharge of what he deemed
his duty by the spirit of envy and revenge which
Mr. WYnne imputes to him. He tells US he was ir-
rtated by Mr. Buell's in getting up revival,
during his ABSENCE in the church of which he was
pastor, and was annoyed by the praises bestowed
on him, particularly by the younger portion of his
willing y to lend his 10 injurious
reports against members of his church, and seek
exclude them from communion in order to retain his
situation. But he shall speak for himself: I" He felt
that his position in the church daily growing r.
more insecure, and that the HUing which he So
anxious to retain, dispute the ground, inch by
Inch, with his congregation, long after he knew that
majority of them in favor of his dismissal,
vsbly receding from his hands. With bold stroke
Of policy, which he felt would be decisive of his fate,
he attempted to establish standard of fellowship in
the church, which would have excluded his oppon-
ens and compelled his congregation to retain him.
This was the inevitable tendency of the adoption of
MS new sentiments; but few would have stood the
searching ordeal, and those would have been the aged
friends upon whom he depended for support. He
Jailed In his purpose and was dismissed
Although we do not agree with MIR. Edwards in
MS views of the communion, we believe that most of
Inc Presbyterian churches of the present day have
adopted his standard in preference to that of his grand
ialher, Mr.. Stoddard. 1t but natural that, be-
leVlng portion of his congregation too lax in their
reading and conversation, his attention should have
Oeen turned to the examination of the qua ifcations
ieqnlslte in becoming member of the church and it
10 al best ungenerous to say he acted, not from a
sense of duty, but from desire to accomplish his
own private ends Q
our limits will not allow us to notice at length the
sketches OF Fulton, Marshall, and Rttenhouse. The
lives of the Chief Justice and DR.. franklin, from
er position as public men, contain more of the gen.
efa history OF the United States than any of the
o'hers. The account of Mr.. Marshall's diplomatic
services In France is pretty much the same that
given by Garland, in his life of John Randolph. We
cannot close, however, without few remarks re- {
Spec'ing ELL WHITNEY, the inventor of the cotton
e"' "ho' though native of Massachusetts, has done
oIe towards enrching the South than any other
:" tHe mon His father. small farmer, was too =
poor 20 give him collegiate education, and it was
G. ne was twenty-four that he was able, by a
WVdTnlng school and laborng as mechanic, enter
he mo