commenced at Paris, is to be continued by the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, in this country. The Message states that; "on the 30th of September, 1815, the funded and floating debt of the United States was estimated at one hundred and nineteen millions six hundred and thirty five thou and five hundred and fifty eight dollars. If to this sum be added the amount of five per cent. Stock subscribed to the Bank of the United States,the amount of Mississippi stock, and of the stock which was issued subsequently to that date, the balances ascertained to be due to certain states, for military services, and to individuals, for supplies furnished, and services rendered, during the late war, the public debt may be estimated as amounting at that date, and as after wards liquidated, to one hundred and fifty-eight millions seven hundred and thirteen thousand forty-nine dollars. On the 30th of September, 1820, it amounted to ninety-one millions nine hundred and ninety-three thousand eight hundred and eighty-three dolls. having been reduced in that interval, by payments, sixty-six millions eight hundred and seventy-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-five dollars. During this term, the expenses of the government of the United States, were likewise defrayed, in every branch of the civil, military and naval establishlishments."

"The receipts into the treasury from every source, to the 30th of Sept. last, have amounted to sixteen millions seven hundred and ninety-four thousand one hundred and seven dollars and sixty-six cents; whilst the public expenditures, to the same period amounted to sixteen millions eight hundred and seventy-one thousand five hundred and thirty-four dollars and seventy two cents; leaving in the treasury, on that day, a sum estimated at one million nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For the probable receipts of the following year, I refer you to the statement which will be transmitted from the Treasury."

Other subjects are embraced in the message. There is due to the Treasury, for the sale of Public Lands, $22,996.545. The President supposes that no European power will take part in the contest between Spain and her colonies in South-America; and that the colonies will attain the object for

A revolution similar to that which

had been effected at Oporto, has brok en out at Lisbon, where a provisional government has been established; so that the kingdom of Portugal may be considered as under a new form of government. It does not appear to be the object of the revolutionists to abelish the monarchy, but to limit its pow er, as has been done in Spain. The revolution commenced with the regi ments composing the garrison, but the citizens seconded their efforts, and tes tified their joy by the illumination of the city. It is stated, that "all was done with so much order, unanimity, and readiness, that it appeared to have been arranged for a long time."

ST. DOMINGO.”

A revolution commenced at Cape Henry, in Hayti, on the 6th of Octo ber, Troops to the number of 5000 were the first revolters. Christophe assembled his guards, 1300 in number, and although he had been confined by indisposition in his palace of Sans Souci, addressed them with great animation, encouraging them to proceed against the rebels by the offer of fib eral rewards. They marched under the command of Prince Joachim, but when arrived at the camp of the rebel troops, they would not, in obedience to his commands, several times repeated, fire upon the insurgents. The Prince returned to Christophe; the guards joined the rebels, and his Ma jesty shot himself with two pistols.The revolt becoming general, eight of his principal officers were killed. On the 22d of Oct. President Boyer, of the Republic, was proclaimed Presi dent of Hayti, and has taken posses

. which

The Legislature of the State of NewYork convened on the 7th inst. at the Capitol in Albany. Governour Clinton in his message states, that "upwards of fifty-one

miles of the Canal, between the Genesee river and Montezuma, including fifteen locks, are under contract, and the whole distance of sixty miles and a quarter, with two additional locks, can be easily completed by the first day of September next." "Thirty miles of the section east from Ulica, are also under contract, including twelve locks, and will be completed the next season.""In the progress of these operations rocks have been excavated at the Little Falls in seventy or eighty days, which it was originally supposed would have taken two years. The improve ments in the Hudson river, and by canals, to the distance of twenty-eight miles south from Fort Edward, will be erected the next season; and it is hoped that the remaining ten miles to Waterford, which will finish the whole operation of the inland navigation of the north, can also be completed within the same period. There will then remain about one hundred miles on the Western, and about sixty-eight miles on the Eastern section, in order to realize our whole system of internal navi gation. The Governour supposes that by proper and efficient measures the whole can be accomplished within three years. *Among other subjects, Gov. Clinton particularly notices the state of literature.

The flourishing condition of our sem inaries of education, furnishes additional inducements to continue, and to extend the patronage of the state. In six thousand common schools, organized under the act for their establishment, three hundred thousand children are taught, and 160,000 dollars are annually appropriated to the compensation of the teachers. I amlibformed by the useful and able officer who presides over this department, that the number of pupils at present taught in our schools, is equal to nine-tenths of the whole number of children between the ages of five and fifteen years, and approx, imates to one fourth of our whole population. There are probably twenty schools in this state, conducted on the Lancasterian system exclusively, and several others

a

In

'I be poff follow it partially, but not so far as to assistinctive character. some of these establishments, several young men have been recently instructed as Landasterial teachers; and it is to be hoped that this system will be carried in to be most extensive operation. There are now upon an average, about fifty scholars for every schoolmaster under the present plan of common schools; and whether the number be great, or be small, the introduction of the Lancasterian method is of importance, for admitting in all cases the competency of the teacher to attend to all his pupils, yet when we consider the rapidity of acquiring instruction under that system, and reflect on the use. ful habits which it forms, and the favoura ble impressions which it makes on the minds and the morals of those who parti cipate in its benefits, we cannot hesitate to give it a decided preference The education of youth is an important trust, and an honourable vocation, but it is too often' committed to anskilful hands. Liberal be dispensed for increasing the number of encouragement ought unquestionably to competent teachers.

"In thirty of the forty incorporated academies, there were the last year two thousand two hundred and eighteen students, of which six hundred and eightyeight were engaged in learning Latin and Greek. The fund appropriated for the benefit of these institutions, is about 320,000 dollars.

"In Columbia, Union, and Hamilton Colleges, there are five hundred and twenty-two students, and in the two Medical Colleges, one hundred and ninety-six.→→ The grants to these establishments amount to upwards of 720,000 dollars: and perhaps the whole appropriation for the promotion of education, may be estimated at two millions and a half of dollars. Although this sum may appear highly liberaf, yet when we look at the resources, population, and extent of the state, and consider that knowledge is essential to the hap piness and dignity of man-to the existence of republican government, and to national power and glory, we must feel persuaded that more munificent dispensations ought to be afforded for its encouragement and diffusion. And I would par ticularly recommend the education, at the public expense, of youth distinguished and selected for moral superiority, or pre-eminence of talents and character. A measure of this nature is strictly in unison with the genius of our government, and would have a tendency to restore the equilibrium of society-to mitigate those prejudices which spring up in the freest communities

to develope intellectual resources, which would otherwise be lost to the world, and to excite a spirit of emulation propitious to the interests of knowledge, and promo-

No. XII.]

For the Christian Spectator.

Remarks on a passage in the Dis

courses of Dr. Wardlaw.

THE Rev. Dr. Wardlaw of Glasgow is so deservedly esteemed, both in his own country and in ours, as a pious and learned theologian, that I should hesitate to refuse my assent to any one of his doctrinal positions, were it not that in all matters of faith, the word of God is the only unquestionable authority. As an author, be is known chiefly by his Discourses on the principles of the Socinian controversy, and his reply to Mr. Yates, who had the temerity to attack those discourses. Although there are in these two valuable publications few sentiments which are not in strict har mony with Cis-Atlantic orthodoxy, there is one point, and that of uo small importance, in regard to which I conceive him to be in an errour. In the former of these volumes he says, "Is such Divine influence (influence of the Spirit,) necessary, to account for the alarms of conscience which made the Roman Governor tremble before his prisoner, when he reason ed of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come ?—or for the pleas ure and the partial reformation of Herod when he listened to the faithful admonitions of the Baptist ?-or for the half-persuasion of Agrippa to become a Christian ?—I should think it is not. All these, and many similar effects, may, without difficulty, be accounted for, by the operation of principles which are to be found, in all their force, in our fallen nature." - Vol. 2-No. XII:

78

p. 355.

[VOL. II.

A few lines onward, he adds, with a modesty which is no disparagement to the man or the sentiment; "I may be in a mistake, but I am not at present aware that there are any actions, or states of mind, ascribed in the scriptures to unrenewed men, for which it is not possible to account on principles merely natural, without supposing the direct agency of the Spirit of God on the mind, to have had any share in their production.”

In the preceding Discourse he says, page 299, "It is my intention to confine myself to the first operation of the Spirit;-that operation by which he opens the heart to the reception of the truth as it is in Jesus, and commences the divine life in the soul: his agency in what the scriptures warrant us to denominate regeneration." And again, page 303. “Here then commences the work of the Spirit: here is his first operation: the spiritual illumination of the understanding, in order to the conversion of the heart."

It would be beside my present purpose to show that it is questionable whether such a spiritual illumination of the understanding as Dr. W. means, ever precedes the conversion of the heart either in the order of nature or time; and whether it is ever thus illuminated but through the niedium of regenerating influence upon the heart, the only cause of moral blindness in the understanding. It is sufficient, therefore to observe, that according to Dr. W. himself, the illumination of the understanding, and the conversion of the heart, though in

his view, the result of two different acts of the Spirit, are yet, both effected at the same instant of time. So that in this passage, he designs to abide by his hypothesis, that the influences of the Spirit are never exerted upon the mind of man antecedently to regeneration.

But our author does not stand alone. There are many pious persons and a few able divines in NewEngland, who agree with him in opinjon. They believe as firmly as other christians that regeneration is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit; but at the same time maintain that all previous convictions are to be ascribed to the intrinsic power of divine truth; to the natural force of sound argument, and earnest persuasion; in a word, to what they call moral suasion. This position is, I think, certainly false, derogatory to the Spirit of God, and injurious to the cause of Christ. That it is not true, may be proved from scripture, and by arguments derived from other sources.

The proof from scripture consists of passages in which the opposite sentiment is contained, and of instances in which its truth is exemplified.

In the early part of the book of Genesis, God says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh." That this relates to the strivings of the Spirit with persons yet remaining in a state of impenitence, is evident; 1. From the inconsistency of supposing that it relates either to the act of the Holy Ghost in changing the heart, or to his subsequent influences on the minds of the regenerate. If it referred to the former, it would express nothing but what had ever been the case before; for in no preceding instance of regeneration had the Spirit always striven. In all cases, it had been a single, instantaneous act. If it referred to the strivings of the Spirit with persons already renewed, it would be attended with the same difficulty in one respect, and be untrue in another; for, we have reason to believe that the influences of the Spirit upon the hearts

of the regenerate now, are as unintermitted as they have been before; and if it should be granted that those influences are at times withdrawn, they are not withdrawn forever.

2. From the reason which induced God to utter it. This reason was the universal wickedness which had corrupted the earth, and his determination to punish that wickedness. The passage is preceded and followed by expressions which strongly indicate the general profligacy of the human race. Nay, the passage itself expresses this fact. "For that he also is flesh." The word flesh is here used, I apprehend, as the apostle uses it, to signify extreme moral impurity: and "man," of whom this is predicated is to be understood in the universal sense. Noah and his family were the only exceptions to this extensive defection from God; and their number was comparatively so small that, in a sense, it was true that "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." The passage under consideration, then, signifies that the Spirit had striven with those antediluvian sinners, till they had so long resisted. and had become so exceedingly corrupt, that God was provoked to withdraw his influences judicially, and announce their destruction by a delage. The meaning is not that the Spirit was never more to strive with sinners, bot that he was no more to strive with the wicked of that deveted generation.

It has been said, and Dr. W. himself has asked, "May not this expression be fairly interpreted as referring, not to any direct internal operation of the Spirit of God, but to his testifying to men their guilt and danger, warning, instructing, and expostulating, by the ministry of Noah, whom Peter designates a preacher of righteousness?" This questionary mode of interpretation in cases of difficulty, is often adopted, but is not always sound. It is frequently a modest way of substituting a couvEBieat hypothesis, for rigid demonstration. The question may be "fairly"