And yet one cannot but observe how little this great leading object is kept in view in the funeral customs that prevail generally throughout New-England. I desire that they may be surveyed, for one moment, in this light. On the event of death,—at a time when the mind and body are prostrated with the burden that is laid on them, when the feelings demand seclusion, and stillness, and freedom from all care and disturbance,—at such a time, it is, that there commences a scene of labour, toil and confusion;-mourning ap parel is to be made; and the dwelling, that should be still and solemn, is to be prepared for an assembly, and crowd, such as it never witnesses on any other occasion, and such as really conduces to no purpose either of consolation or improvement. At length, the hour of funeral rites arrives; long services are held in the presence of those who are already exhausted and overcome with their sufferings; perhaps, they are addressed with many representations of the greatness of their calamity; they are told that they will never see their friends more; they are agonized with full and particular descriptions of their loss, or are told that they must submit and bow to the dispensation, though they are already smitten to the dust: and, then, as if to consummate their anguish, there is a scene witnessed, of which I scarcely know in what terms to speak :—if there ever is a time when we should wish to be alone, or only in the presence of the most intimate friends, it is when we take leave of the remains of what is dearest on earth; when we look for the last time and shed the last tears on the forms of those that we have loved. And yet these sacred yearnings of bereaved affection are made a ceremony and a spectacle for the world to gaze upon!' p. 15.

The great cause of all these painful and strange usages, is to be found in the custom of publick burials, at which friends, relations, and neighbours are expected to attend. All the rest will fall, when this shall have been abolished. We should regard the abolition of this as the beginning of a most important reformation; and we think that signal gratitude is due to those consistent and independent men, who have done so much in this city to introduce private funerals. We trust that the custom will by and bye become universal, and that the house of mourning will cease to be made common to the intrusion of all, and thrown open to the bustle and disturbance of a mixed multitude. We trust that it will ere long be considered as a sacred retreat,-where tears may be shed and friends commune, without interruption or restraint; and from which the bereaved may follow their beloved, in company with the few who truly sympathize, un

oppressed by the heartless gaze and rude voices of the many, who come together without care for the dead or tenderness for the living.

We do not know of one good effect of publick funerals, which can avail any thing to compensate for the evil they do by distressing the mourners, and hardening the publick heart. That they distress the mourners, who does not at once perceive? For is it not to invade the silence and disturb the tranquillity of sorrow, and lay burdens on its weakness and exhaustion?' That they harden the publick heart, who can doubt that has witnessed that most heartless and unfeeling of all spectacles, a publick funeral in a populous city? Even those who attend from personal or official regard, are too ready in the crowd and parade to think and speak of any subject rather than the occasion, or the topicks which it might be supposed to suggest. They attend with the same feelings with which they attend any other crowd or spectacle. The multitude also, with the same feelings, throngs the procession; and women and children gaze at the splendid array and funereal decorations, with no more melancholy than they look upon the triumphant march of the fourth of July procession. It is most evident to all who have mingled in the scene. And what is the consequence? Men learn to think of death and its solemn associations with a brutal indifference and 'stupid unconcern.' The moral influence is injurious. The feelings are rendered hard and callous. Death ceases to be that stern monitor and powerful teacher that he was designed to be, and his most eloquent appeals address themselves to minds, which habit has hardened, and serve only to harden them the more.

What is thus true to the full extent of the large parades, with which publick personages are attended to the tomb, is equally true to a certain extent of the publick funerals of private individuals. Their moral impression is bad. Men return from them less affected than when they went. They talk over the news of the day, and indulge their worldly speculations, in the very presence of the cold body of their departed fellow mortal; and they converse, sometimes not in whispers, as they walk in the procession, of those ordinary concerns, the thought of which death and the grave ought to have banished for a while. These things are so,-they will

be so, and what can compensate for the moral sensibility which is thus destroyed? for the triumph of worldliness and selfishness, over the lessons of mortality and the warnings of God, which is thus promoted?-The evil does not end here. One might expect that the near mourners, the most deeply afflicted, would be interrupted by no wrong feelings, though they might be harassed by the presence of the throng. But, alas, it is not so. There is an order to be observed, and a precedency to be given, and the jealous spirit of place and priority comes in to agitate and inflame those bosoms, which are yet heaving with the sobs of grief. How often are affronts given and received at the burial of friends! How many bitter words are uttered, how many hard thoughts and revengeful passions indulged, how many irreconcilable enmities made! This jealousy, also, takes another and still more unhappy turn. The minister is watched to see that he does due honour to the deceased, and takes sufficient notice of the relatives. This would not be, if it were all in private. But now it is a publick exhibition; and what should be listened to, as the most solemn of all services-the humble supplication of the dying in the presence of the dead,-is too often turned into an occasion of vainglorying and self-importance; followed by ill-natured remarks on the omissions of the minister, or loud commendations of his performance, equally disgusting and profane. And all this followed by much gossip, which may well be expected to do away whatever serious impression may have been made.

But enough of this; we are glad to quit the ungrateful theme. The evils which exist are great and trying, and they ought to be cured. Feeling them as we do, we were not willing to pass by so favourable an opportunity to say a few hasty words on the subject, and to recommend this little work to serious perusal. We trust that it will lead many to think, and we hope that those who think, will act. Let them begin by striking at the root of the evil, in relieving themselves from the pain and burden of publick funerals. And further, to conclude with the words of the publication before us,

'If any one is persuaded of the inexpediency of wearing mourn ing apparel, if he knows that the poor are often brought to distress by this expense, and sometimes to the debtors' prison, he ought,

except in extraordinary circumstances, to lend his example to the suppression of this custom; and further-if any one shrinks from long funeral services and funeral sermons, let him propose to his minister to forego these customary marks of publick attention, and I am satisfied that in most cases, his proposal will be heartily accepted and commended. The bonds of custom are strong, but they are not too strong for good sense and the power of conscience to break asunder.'

ART. IX.-Proofs that the Common Theories and Modes of Reasoning respecting the Depravity of Mankind, exhibit it as a Physical Attribute; with a View of the Scriptural Doctrine relative to the Nature and Character of Man, as a Moral Agent. New York, 1824.

2.

Views of Theology. No. III. President Edwards' Doctrine of Original Sin, the Doctrine of Physical Depravity. New York, 1825.

THESE two pamphlets are the first and third in a series, now issuing from the New York press, under the general title of Views of Theology.' We are wholly ignorant of their author, even of his name; but should judge, from the language, which he uses on some subjects, that he must be a disciple of the old Arminian school. However this may be, it is certain, that the pamphlets in question have been strangely overlooked and neglected, in this quarter, considering their great merit; and we sincerely hope, that the notice, which we are about to take of them, may do something to extend their circulation.

It will be seen from the title pages, that their object is the same, in effect, with that, which has been repeatedly brought before our readers; especially in Professor Norton's Views of Calvinism. We are glad to meet with so able an ally in so good a cause, and the more so that he is not a Unitarian; as it proves, that Christians of other denominations, whose minds cannot be suspected of the same biasses, are beginning to regard, as we do, the distinguishing doctrines of reputed orthodoxy. It proves that all, who are not bound to this system by interest or prejudice, though viewing it from a

great variety of positions, and under a great variety of aspects, do yet entertain but one opinion of it. We are glad, also, of an occasion for recurring to this subject, as we believe the time has come, when to induce men to abandon Calvinism, little more is necessary, than to make them acquainted with what Calvinism is. Of the multitudes, who have lived and died, supposing themselves Calvinists, how many would have revolted at the system they were understood to hold, had they taken the trouble to consider the meaning of the words put into their mouths by their spiritual guides?

The first of the pamphlets, mentioned above, begins with our author's 'Proofs, that the common Theories and Modes of Reasoning respecting the Depravity of Mankind exhibit it as a Physical Attribute.' These he gives in large and numerous citations from the most approved orthodox writers, ancient and modern; and some idea may be formed of the manner, in which this fair and able exposition is conducted, from the concluding paragraph, which contains a summary of the whole.

'Such are some of the modes in which, it is believed, the doctrine of a physical depravity is taught. It is now time to pause, and cast the eye back over the ground which has been traversed, and, collect the result. It has been seen, that the depravity of mankind is represented as an attribute of nature, in distinction from actions; as existing in the mind antecedently to its exercising any actions; and as being the cause that all its moral exercises are sinful, as being conveyed from parents to children by propagation, in the same manner as other constitutional properties; as consisting in a want of adaptation in the powers of the soul to that class of exercises, which are morally excellent; and consequently, as being such, that it renders men utterly incapable of holiness; such that no moral influence has any power or tendency to lead them to it; and finally such, that it is by producing a change in their physical constitution, that the Spirit of God fits them for acting in conformity to the divine will. What then is the result? Can any doubt remain that those who make these representations, inculcate the existence of a physical depravity? Can it be, after all this, that the idea that such a doctrine is taught is a mere allusion?a gratuitous freak of the imagination? What can be required to make out a demonstration that such a doctrine is inculcated? Declarations,-which according to the just meaning of language, must denote such a doctrine? The passages quoted contain an abundance of such. Formal definitions,-which if any