The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1852-05-13
COLUMBUS MISSISSIPPI THURSDAY MAY 10, 1859

himself sad about the deprasity offshis race.
De Tocqueville has chapter on the leaning
to pantheism in democratic nations, and the
thought may have been suggested by the
Unitarian writer on the dignity human
nature. If Claiming held vie,s on this
subject tending to the decay Of alteration, he
never apprehended such 2 consequence
His warmest friend ana eulogistS admit
that he was wanting in capacity for meta
physical analysis and in logical acuteness.-
In the whirl and tumUlts of this busy and
distracted age, the An pans would remem-
Der the sun itself only while arranging gas
lights by which to continue their occupa-
tons, and great mans. rarely spoken of
among them after the installation Of his sue
cessor. There was about Charming, how
ever, such real greatness, he commanded SO
much sympathy as impersonation Of the
Hottest spirit of his age, and he is so con-
nected with the present as prophet, that he
may be regarded as more than any one else
an exception to this humiliating truth
Still, ever since his death his fame has been
decaying, and it will soon cease in any de-
gree to obstruct the retrospective glances of
his countrymcn. Similar to Claiming, in
some respects, is DR.. Orville Dewey; and
here we must mention DR.. Bushnell, who
is remarkable for his powerful instincts and
strange incapacity to reason.
In no other departments American liter
allure so rich as in that of theology and reli-
gion. 1t would be curious to pass month
: in the perusal of those three hundred and
eighty works by Cotton Mather, of which
not half-a-dozen have been reprinted since
the Declaration of Independence, though
they abound almost as much as old Burton S
5 Anatomy in curious learning, and are fire.
quently eloquent or ingenious. We have
: looked through many of his discourses and
letters, as well as his immense folio on the
, Ecclesiastical History of New England"
his "Essays to Do Good" "Student and
Preacher" &C., and cannot help thinking
: that, with all his weaknesses, vanities, and
absurdities, he is underrated, and deserving
of at least partial elimination The New
Eng anders are directing attention to theil
Puritan "Fathers; ;" and we see in the latest
: journals from Boston advertisements Of an
edition in six volumes, of the writings Of the
q ''learned and renowned Thomas Shepherd,
i one of Mather' contemporaries. We hope
: it will be followed by selection of the mos
! rare, practical, and curious compositions o
Mather himself, who must always stand GU
more distinctly and largely than any othe
3 American of his times. The teachers of re
ligion, whether metaphysical theologians
IS Biblical critics, or serlnonizers, to whom tn
y present generation is wont to listen, are Ed
!, wards, the elder and younger, Bethany
e Hopkins, Dwight Ga grandson of the grca
r necessitarian,) Emmons Ga Boanerges NOR
n grim and hardly less powerful than his mas
: ter of Geneva, Saml. Davies, Asabel Green
c, John NJ. Mason, Daniel A. Clarke, Edwar
% Payson, the Wares, DR.. Miller, DR.. Alexan
If der, all of whom are dead-the last, at
20 great age, within few weeks-and the liv
/ ing lights of the churches, Leonard Wood
n (who, after having been half century pre-
a fessor of theology at Andover, has just pull
t. lished collection of his works in FIVE larg
IS volumes, Lyman Bcecher (who is now prin
s, ing complete edition of his writings,) NJ
e. ses Stuart, Charles Hodge, Addison Alez
es ander, Albert Barnes, George Bush, Al
e. drews Norton, William r. Williams, Pre-
Of fessor Park, Professor Hacket, Professc
s. Sears, Professor Ripley, Professor MClir
ty took, Professor Schaf, &C.; all but two {
~ three of whom are voluminous as we'll {
~ very learned and able writer's.
le In this list twill be observed that we hay
u mentioned no member of the Episcop;
as church; and it is remarkable that the Am
e rican branch of the English Establishmel
X has never furnished man of frst-rate abil
Is ties, or one whose writings have in them IL
ne elements of enduring life Bishop Viii
III did not lack much of being an exception
he certainly was in all respects most r
" spectacle person; but his distinction VI
ne rather in affairs than in authorship. III
US late DR.. Jarvis was learned in ecclesiassic
ia, history the two Bishops Onderdonk (oi
, of whom was deposed and the other suspen
III ed a few years ago for icentiousness) a
u clever men. Dr. Seabury is sharp but n
strong dialectician; Bishops M'Ilyain
asst Potter, and Hopkins, are industrious al
tn sensible divines; Bishop Doane, Bish'
his Burgess, DIR. Hawks Zone of the most il
:, pressively brilliant and graceful of mode
OF pulpit orators, DR.. Hooker, and some othel
os- are men of decided talents; but we do n
is, find among them all any one to be compar
on- with dozen in the Presbyterian church
on DR.. Williams in the Baptist, or Andre
Norton in the Unitarian denomination.
a. The dearth of eminent capacities is still me
oy- noticeable among the Roman Catholics
= Archbishop Hughes Gan Irishman by brit
err is a noisy, impudent, and superficial, but t
co erably shrewd demagogue; DR.. Ryde
rho claims to distinction rest on few discours
ne in which he denies that Lord Bacon was 8
of any sense great man." sneers at the indl
en- tive method as ridiculous, and asserts Il
zee. "the church" was never unfriendly to t
ous march of science or the freedom of though
led and Bishop Kendrick, though he has I'll
emit several cumbrous octavos with decent Lat
er. has done nothing to preserve his name,
est cept in the lists Of Roman Catholic BishC
as of Philadelphia and Baltimore. Browns,
ed. whom we have mentioned elsewhere, is
ap- splendid specimen Of the theological SW
Ity, guard.
the Continued neat sOeek)
md