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ployed, in the same sense, in the Greek. And this expectation is heightened by the wellknown fact, that God did qualify individuals, in the early stage of the Christian church, to compose and sing hymns adapted to public worship. 1 Cor. xiv. 26. "How is it, brethren, when ye come together, that every one of you hath a psalm, a doctrine, let all things be done to edifying." To con clude this long induction of proofs, let the 15th verse of the xivth chapter of this epistle, be contrasted with the words under discussion, "every woman praying and prophesying;" and, "I will pray with the Spirit, and I will sing with the Spirit."

The meaning of the first part of the text appears, then, to be this: "every woman praying or singing with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head.”

thun, who prophesied with a harp, to give praise to the Lord: Ver. 4. Of the sons of Heman, fourteen. Ver. 6. All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the Lord. Ver. 7. So the number of them, with their brethren, that were instructed in the songs of the Lord, was two hundred and eighty-eight." The meaning of the term, in this full and clear passage, is beyond controversy. If the same meaning be given it in some other places, much light will be thrown on the sacred volume. I subjoin one or two examples: 1 Sam. x. v. "After that, thou shalt come to the hill of God, and thou shalt meet a company of prophets (i. e. men divinely appointed and qualified to conduct the praises of God) coming down from the high place, with a psaltery, a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and Having been so tedious in they shall prophesy. The Spi- examining the import of this rit of the Lord will come upon first clause, I shall subjoin, in thee, and thou shalt prophesy a few words, what has carried with them." Another example the greatest conviction, to my is taken from the contest be- own mind, on the last clause. tween Elijah and the prophets The apostle declares, that the of Baal. 1 Kings, xviii. 26- head of every man is Christ, 30. " They called on the name and the head of every woman' of Baal from morning to noon, the man. The male, being first saying, O Baal, hear us! But created, was made in the image. there was no voice, nor any of his Maker, and is, therefore, that answered. And they leap- the glory of his God. The feed upon the altar that was made. male, being next fashioned, They cried aloud, and cut them-sustains the same likeness, and selves. When mid-day was is, therefore, the glory of the past, and they prophesied until man. The man is not to cover the time of the evening sacri- his head in worship, because fice, there was neither voice, his head is pure, spotless, sinnor any that answered." less. The woman is to cover her head, because her head has fallen and become depraved,

If such be the meaning of the term in the Hebrew Scriptures, it may be expected to be em

Thus have I written freely.

the result of my inquiries on for that he himself thought it this difficult text. And your would not. The legacy was, female readers may, perhaps, nevertheless, transferred to him, think that this result has been in conformity with the Will of communicated to confirm the the deceased. Some time afterdoctrine advanced in a late es-wards Mr. Booth went to the

say on the silence of women in the church. Candour compels me to give the above interpretation of the passage: but truth obliges me to enter my protest against the length to which your unknown correspondent has carried his statements.

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Controversy is altogether unpleasant to me. But I do think, that the doctrine of the essay, in its full extent, is unsupported by scripture. It is built chiefly on three passages of scripture, in all which the apostle has one object in view, namely, public teaching. It is this which is forbidden to the female. She is to engage in no such exercise as involves superiority. But I decline the discussion in this and shall paper, communicate my thoughts on that important and practical subject in a subsequent essay, should it remain unanswered.

J. L.

ANECDOTE OF MR. BOOTH.

Bank of England, and, without saying any thing more upon the subject to his friend, executed a transfer of the legacy to one nearly related to the family of the executrix, for whose benefit he relinquished it."

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WHILE We would not undervalue the divine goodness in raising up instruments for the good of his church, nor be insensible of their loss, the following extract from Luther, as quoted by Rutherford, in his book against Antinomianism, may communi cate wholesome consolation to the friends of Christ, under the sorest bereavements which can befall us: that eminent reformer says, "Alas, what are we, that we should be conservators of the church? Our fathers could not sustain this character, nor can they that come after us. Thou and I were nothing a thousand years ago, when the church of God was preserved without us. He did it, who is

SOME years before the death of Mr. Booth, a particular friend said to him, "I find, Sir, that you have lost a valu-called, He that was, and who is able member of your church." the same yesterday; nor can we "Yes," he replied, "and she do it now. The church might has left me a legacy;" at the be ruined before "There are same time adding, of her own family, who stand more in need of it than I do." He then asked his friend whether, under such circumstances, he thought it would be right in him to receive it;

our eyes, were it not for Him who was, and who is the same to day: nor can we do ought for the preservation of the church when, we are dead; but He will do it, who is called, He who is to come and who is the same for ever."

Miscellanies.

ON THE

FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW ENGLAND.

of New England. These they consider to have been an ignorant, factious, and fanatical set of men, banished from England for crimes; while the transatlantic churches,

In a popular periodical publication for January, 1814, a writer remarks, "That the founders of American society brought, to the composition of their nation, few seeds of good taste, and no rudi-established by the puritans, they ments of liberal science." This consider to have been a mere unfavourable opinion, concerning colluvies of error and superstition. our transatlantic brethren, may It is to be apprehended that there be thus accounted for. A num- are too many persons in Great ber of superficial travellers have Britain, who look on most of their lately visited the United States; American brethren in the same and, on their return to England, light, even to this day. It is the they have given their crude jour- misfortune of Great Britain and nals to some mercenary scribbler. America, that they are not better A book is produced, wherein the acquainted with each other; and writer, indulging in a national that their liberality in subscribing propensity, draws a caricature, to pious institutions, is not seasonrather than a picture, of the man-ed with that charity, which thinkners of the Americans: the work eth no evil. is replete with falsehood and scandal. The mercenary receives his ill-gotten wages, and the expenses of the traveller are reimbursed by the sale of the book. Thus the credulity of the public is taxed, to refund the expenses of some superficial and splenetic traveller. If the people of the United States, who are descended from England, be really so contemptible as some late travellers describe, it follows, that as an impure stream cannot flow from a pure fountain, England must also be far gone in depravity; an inference which, perhaps, they did not consider as naturally drawn from their own premises.

It is not my intention to defend the first settlers of New England, in that persecuting spirit, which disgraced too many of them; but, with respect to their ignorance, I apprehend the charge cannot be made good against them. The first ninety-four ministers who crossed the Atlantic, and settled in New England, chiefly before the year 1640, were all educated in the English universities, and were mostly ordained presbyters by the bishops in England. Of these, Hooker, Chauncey, Lee, Davenport, &c. were well versed in theological literature, in the writings of the Greek and Latin churches, the councils, historians,' and fathers. If they were such ignorant fanatics, as they have

In conformity to ideas thus disingenuously imposed on them, some persons have been accustom-been represented, it may be asked, ed to entertain the most unfavour- why did the universities of Engable opinion of the first settlers land confer degrees on them?

why elect them as fellows of their learned bodies? why did the learned bishops of England ordain them? how could they have ac quired a knowledge of the difficult Indian languages, and have published translations of the scriptures in them? The charge sufficiently refutes itself by its own absurdity.

With regard to their errors and fanaticism, it may be observed, that if the first settlers of America were in an error, in refusing to submit to the decisions of Archbishop Laud, the people of England erred not less; for they not only refused to submit to his arbitrary mandates, but brought him to the scaffold. Many of the early ministers of New England resigned their fellowships and livings here, or were suspended by Laud, for preaching according to the dictates of their consciences. They sought a sanctuary in the western wilderness; religion being their primary object, they established civil government for the sake of religion. Their system of evangelical doctrines, the instituted ordinances, and ecclesiastical polity, did not vary much from the purity of the apostolic ages; their preaching of the word was attended with the best effects; baptism and the Lord's supper were duly administered. And if their history had ended here, it might be truly said, that the puritans were a race of men of whom the world was not worthy. But though they fled from persecution themselves, yet no sooner were they settled in America, than they commenced a system of persecution not less culpable than that of Laud himself. If a comparison should be instituted between that prelate and the presbyterians of Massachussetts-bay, the latter will, per

VOL. VII.

haps, be found to have been the most intolerant. The English prelate expiated his offences with his head; the presbyterians of Massachussetts triumphed for a time, but, by changing their appellation to congregationalists, they prove, that they are ashamed of their persecuting and intolerant spirit.

One of the most extraordinary men, who ever left England to settle in America, was Mr. Roger Williams: this gentleman was born in Wales, A.D. 1599. Lord Chief Justice Coke saw him when very young at church, taking notes; and finding them judicious, he patronized young Williams, and sent him to Oxford. Having finished his studies at the university, he first became a minister in the established church, and subsequently joined the puritans. Soon after, the Laudian persecution forced him to quit his native country, when he fled to New England. America is under great obligations to this intemperate prelate, for, by his intolerant spirit, he peopled her wilderness with some of the most learned and pious men, which England (magna parens virúm) has produced.

Arriving in New England in 1631, Mr. Williams settled in the ministry at Salem, in the state of Massachussetts. He was by no means reserved in expressing his opinions; his manner of delivery was full of ardour and vehemence, while he openly and boldly declared whatever appeared to him to be the truth: this undisguised frankness soon brought him into difficulty. In 1635, he was summoned before the general court, and was charged with maintaining eighty-two erroneous opinions. If a man has the misfortune to err on eighty-two points of his religion, a question arises, on what points can he be expected to be ortho

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dox? Two of Mr. Williams's sup- | tude of the desert, he founded the posed errors are these: 1st, "That first baptist church in America ; there ought to be an unlimited that church so distinguished by toleration of all religions. 2d, the number of men it has afforded That to punish a man, for follow-to the state, and to the cause of ing the dictates of his conscience, learning and religion; that church, is persecution." the singular character of which it is, never to have disgraced itself by persecution. Thus "the stone, which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner,"

Mr. Williams would not retract his new and dangerous opinions, as the court was pleased to call them, in consequence of which, the sentence of banishment was It would be desirable to trace passed upon him. He took leave the origin of those principles which of his wife and children; his Mr. Williams advocated, but, at heart was wrung with the keenest this distance of time, we must be sensations of anguish, but he content with mere probabilities trusted in God. In the depth of and hypothetical induction. Drawa severe winter, when the ground ing his first breath amidst the was covered with ice and snow, mountains of Wales, and receivhe was driven among the hostile ing his first impressions among a tribes of Indians, who inhabited people who were never subjected the borders of the Narranganset- to the Roman yoke, it was natural bay. A wilderness was before him, that he should be a lover of the intersected with broad and rapid pure principles of liberty. Mounrivers, a wilderness infested with tainous countries have ever been beasts of prey, and inhabited by considered as the peculiar abode men still more savage and danger- of freemen; thus the Cantons of ous. They who are acquainted Switzerland, among the Alps, not with the inclemency of a New less than Wales, have been supEngland winter, where the cold is posed to be the cradle of liberty. supposed to be not less intense His mind being well stored with than in Russia, will readily con- good learning at the University of ceive the hardships he must have Oxford, it was reasonable to supsuffered. Such was the extremity pose that his original principles of of his distress, that for fourteen religious and civil liberty would be weeks, as he himself observes, there improved and confirmed. "he knew not what bread or bed That celebrated University, about did mean." The savages, however, half a century afterwards, protreated him with respect and kind-duced the great Mr. Locke, the ness; they considered him as their champion of civil and religious father and instructor, and per- freedom. Whether the course of mitted him to settle among them. study, formerly presented by that Here Mr. Williams founded the University, was more than ordicolony of Rhode Island and Provi-narily favourable to the principles dence plantations, the government of which is characterized by allowing freedom of conscience to all. This man, who was thus twice driven into exile, has the honour of being the founder of the first free government the world ever knew. Here also, amidst the soli

of toleration, I am not able to say; but Mr. Williams, Mr. Locke, and others, who have successfully advocated the doctrine of liberty of conscience, having issued from that school, afford a sort of presumptive evidence in favour of the Oxford system of instruction.

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