COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY. of its founder, and the unfortunate expulsion of the pious Brainerd from Yale, hastened the work of preparation for the COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY. A charter was obtained with difliculty in 1746,* the peculiar religious interests of the applicants being little regarded in New Jersey. Jonathan Dickinson, a native of Massachusetts and graduate of Yale, acted as its first President, at Elizabethtown, where he was settled as a clergyman for a short time, till his death in 1747, within a year of the organization. He was a man of ability as a preacher, and left a large number of sermons and theological publications. A new charter was now obtained from Governor Belchert in 1748, and the Rev. Aaron Burr was chosen President. This pious man, the friend of Whitefield, and the son-in-law of Jonathan Edwards, was the father of the subsequent unhappy He was born in politician who bore his name. Connecticut in 1716, and arrived at the College of New Jersey through his settlement as a clergyman at Newark, where the College was held He died in 1757, in which year during his life. the institution was removed to Princeton. Burr's character is spoken of with great admiration for his energy in affairs, his happy temper and pulpit eloquence. President Burr prepared a Latin It was originally to the Episcopal Church. Whitefield visited his + Jonathan Belcher was a man of spirit in the Colonial annals. He was born in 1681, of a good family at Cambridge, Mass., was graduated at the College, travelled in Europe, and lived at Boston as a merchant on his return, till he was appointed to the Government of Massachusetts in 1730. He was a good scholar. His frankness and energy caused his removal from office, when the Government of New Jersey was given him, where he lived ten years, dying in office in 1757. His friend Aaron Burr at Princeton preached his sermon a few days only before his own death. Burr is buried in the graveyard at Princeton, where his son at last came to be laid beside him. The Latin inscription on his monument is of more than usual eloquence. The cenotaphs at Princeton are noticeable in this particular. Quæris Viator qualis quantusque fuit? Vir corpore parvo et tenui, Macro. Sagacitate, Perspicacitate, Agilitate, Anima ferme totus. Omnigena Literatura instructus, Theologia præstantior: Concionator volubilis, suavis et suadas: Orator facundus. Moribus facilis, candidus et jucundus, At Cœlum plaudit, dum ille In Gaudium Domini Abi Viator tuam respice finem. grammar, published in New York in 1752, which Burr was succeeded by the eminent metaphysi- Stat sua cuique dies; breve et irreparabile tempus New York, Printed: Boston; Reprinted by Green and Rus- pp. 28. Tennent was of much celebrity in his day as a follower of Whitefield. He affected some eccentricity in his preaching, entering the pulpit on his New England tour in an overcoat bound with a leathern girdle, and with long hair. His eloquence was in the line of the terrific. Whitefield, who was with Tennent in New York in 1789, has described his preaching: "never before heard I such a searching sermon. He went to the bottom, indeed, and did not daub with untempered mortar. He is a son of thunder,' and does not regard the face of man." With his energy he sometimes forgot courtesy and Christian humility, and was very abusive. Dr. Alexander furnishes a list of his publications.-History of the Log College, 91-94. § Dr. Jas. W. Alexander's MS. Centennial Discourse at Princeton, 1846. Co., at a general muster in May, 1759, when his eloquence at once filled the ranks, have connected ¦ his name with the public history of his country. He published numerous sermons, a collection of which in three volumes "on the most useful and important subjects" has been much read. His style was warm and passionate. Davies was not only an energetic declaimer of poetic prose, but wrote verses of considerable excellence. His elegy on the death of his old preceptor, Samuel Blair,* with its warmth of feeling shows a modern taste in composition which may be contrasted with the cramped effusions of a similar character of which we have given specimens in the old Puritan literature. Blair is no more-then this poor world has lost As rich a jewel as her stores could boast; O had not the mournful news divulged, In 1769, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Gibbons, who was the London editor of Davies's Sermons, published a Collection of Hymns in which there are fifteen assigned to Davies. These were found among the manuscripts of the latter. Two of them may be quoted as well for their historical as their devotional interest. NATIONAL JUDGMENTS DEPRECATED, AND NATIONAL MERCIES PLEADED. I. While o'er our guilty land, O Lord, Samuel Blair was born in Ireland, came to America as a youth, and was educated at the Log College. He was settled as a preacher at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and in New Londonderry, or Fogg's Manor, in Pennsylvania, where he formed a classical school in which Davies, the Rev. John Rodgers, and other divines, were educated. He died young, at the age of thirty-nine. His tomb at Fogg's Manor bears the inscription In yonder sacred house I spent my breath, A dread amen to truths they published there. John Blair, his brother, was Professor of Divinity at the College of New Jersey, 1767 to 1769. One of his sisters married the Rev. Robert Smith of Pequea, the father of President Smith of the College, of John Blair Smith, and of the Rev. William Smith. + We are indebted for this extract to Dr. Alexander's Log College, as we are for the knowledge of the hymns which follow, to his son, Dr. James W. Alexander. Davies's elegy was published in a volume of the writings of the Rev. Samuel Blair, Philadelphia, 1754. This and the following Hymn were printed by the Author, with two Discourses on Amos iii. 1-6, entitled Virginia's Danger and Remedy, and occasioned by the severe Drought in sundry Parts of that Country, and the defeat of General Braddock, 1756.-Gibbon's note. IL While clouds collecting o'er our head III. The helpless sinner's cries and tears IV. On thee our guardian God we call, Before thy throne of grace we fall; And is there no deliv'rance there? And must we perish in despair? V. See, we repent, we weep, we mourn, The church which thou hast planted here! VI. Revive our with'ring fields with rain, VIL We plead thy grace, indulgent God, We plead thy Son's atoning blood, We plead thy gracious promises, And are they unavailing pleas? VIII. These pleas, by faith urg'd at thy throne. ON THE SAME I. While various rumours spread abroad. II. This wilderness, so long untill'd, An hideous waste of barren ground, Thy care has made a fruitful field, With peace and plenty richly crown'd. III. Thy Gospel spreads an heav'nly day Throughout this once beniglited land, A Land once wild with beasts of prey, By impious heathen rites profan'd; IV. Thy Gospel, like a gen'rous vine, V. And shall these mercies now remove? Shall peace and plenty fly away! The land, that Heav'n did thus improve, Will Heav'n give up an helpless Prey i VI. O must we bid our God adieu? as with his predecessors, his term of office was briefly closed, his remains were carried to his grave at Philadelphia where he died, borne, according to his request, by eight members of the senior class of the College of New Jersey. Finley's death occurred in 1766, when Dr. Witherspoon was invited to the Presidency from Scotland. He came and was inaugurated in 1768. He enlarged the field of the college by promoting the study of mathematics and mental philosophy. During the Revolution the President was transferred in Congress to a wider sphere. Immediately after the battle of Princeton, in 1777, the College became the scene of a conflict between its British occupants and a portion of the army of Washington. In the chapel in Nassau Hall hung at this time a portrait of George II., which was destroyed by an American cannon-shot passing through the canvas. Within the same frame now hangs a portrait of Washington, painted by Peale, and purchased with the fifty guineas which were presented to the College by the General after the conflict. The British plundered the library. Some of the books were afterwards found in North Carolina, left there by the troops of Cornwallis.* There is a picture of the College in the opening days of the Revolution, by John Adams, in his diary of the date of Aug. 26, 1774, when the young lawyer was on his way to the Continental Congress. The college is conveniently constructed; instead of entries across the building, the entries are from end to end, and the chambers are on each side of the entries. There are such entries, one above another, in every story; each chamber has three windows, two studies with one window in each, and one window between the studies to enlighten the chamber. Mr. Euston, the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, showed us the library; it is not large, but has some good books. He then led us into the apparatus; here we saw a most beautiful machine-an orrery or planetarium, constructed by Mr. Rittenhouse of Philadelphia. By this time the bell rang for prayers; we went into the chapel; the President soon came in, and we attended. The scholars sing as badly as the Presbyterians at New York. After prayers the President attended us to the balcony of the college, where we have a pros pect of a horizon of about eighty miles' diameter. On the establishment of peace, Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, the vice-president, became the acting governor of the College, and on the death of Witherspoon in 1794, its head. He held the "His method of instruction in the Latin and Greek languages was thorough and accurate. Dr. Finley boarded most of the scholars in his own house, and when they were at meals he was in the habit of relaxing from the severity of the pedagogue, and indulging in facetious remarks, saying that nothing more helped digestion than a hearty laugh. His own temper was remarkably benignant and sweet, and his manners affable and polite."-Alexander's Log College, p. 306. position until he resigned it, from the infirmities | of age, in 1812. Samuel Stanhope Smith, whose accomplishments were the delight of the last generation of scholars and divines, was the son of a minister in Pennsylvania, Dr. Robert Smith, of Scoto-Iri-h descent, who came to this country in his childhood, -a man of education and character. Two of his sons became quite noted in the literary and religious affairs of America: John Elair Smith, an eloquent preacher in Virginia, and the first pre-ident of Union College; and Samuel Stanhope Smith, the president of Princeton. The latter was born at Pequea, Lancaster county, Pennsyl vania, the seat of his father's pastoral duties, March 16, 1750; studied at Princeton; was the first head of the Presbyterian Theological College of Hampden Sidney, in Virginia; was called in 1799 to the chair of moral philo-ophy at Princeton, and succeeded Witherspoon, his father-in-law, in the presidency, on his death in 1794. Hie resigned this office on account of ill health in 1812. He died August 21, 1819. The best known of his literary productions is his Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species, which he published in 1788, and a second edition of which, enlarged with a reply to his English critic, Charles White, and some strictures on Lord Kames's Discourse on the Original Diversity of Mankind, appeared in 1810. The argument of this work is, a detence of the unity of the race, accounting for the varieties by the influences of climate, of the state of society, and the ranner of living. Though superseded by other works in the great advance of the knowledge of facts and study of Ethnology, this work may still be read with interest for the amenity of its style and the ingenuity of its views. The late Dr. Alexander, in his memoirs, has left us a distinct account of the impression of President Smith upon his contemporaries. He describes his appearance at Princeton in 1801: "Certainly, viewing him as in his meridian, I have never seen his equal in elegance of person and manners. Dignity and winning grace were remarkably united in his expressive countenance. His large blue eye had a penetration which commanded the respect of all beholders. Notwithstanding the want of health, his cheek had a bright rosy tint, and his smile lighted up the whole face. The tones of his elocution had a thrilling peculiarity, and this was more remarkable in his preaching, where it is well known that he imitated the elaborate polish and satirical glow of the French school." Ashbel Green, who succeeded to President Smith, was a native of New Jersey, born at Hanover, July 6, 1762. He was a graduate of the College of 1783; entered the ministry; was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Princeton from 1785 to 1787; was chaplain to Congress in Philadelphia from 1792 to 1800, a position which brought him into relation with Washington, whom he had seen in the field in his The Life of Archibald Alexander, p 265. Dr. James W. Alexander notices Smith's bearing at Princeton, and his French style, in which endeavor his most celebrated pupil was the Rev. Dr. Henry Kollock, one of the most ornate yet vehement orators whom our country has produced." Ib.p. 359. early militia days in New Jersey, and the best society of the day; was e ected to the presidency of the College of New Jersey in 1812, which he occupied for ten years,-the inarked incidents of his career being the great insubordination and revival; on his retirement, conducting a Presbyte rian religious journal, the Christian Advocate, in Philadelphia, for twelve years; in his subsequent leisure preparing a memoir of Witherspoon, which is still in manuscript; and at the age of eightytwo commencing an autobiography, which he continued to write till within two years of his death, which occurred in his eighty-sixth year, May 19, 1818. His chief publications are the periodical which we have mentioned, his posthumous autobiography, and a collection of his discourses, with an appendix, containing an.ong other articles a history of his college, and tributes to its presidents, which appeared in Philadelphia in 1822. He had been also erg; ged in revising for the American market the articles in Rees's and the Edinburgh Encyclopædias, for which, he tells us, he received as compensation a set of the works. His autobiography contains much devotional matter, a few anccdotes of Washington and his early "court" days, and an interesting diary of a tour which he made into New England in the summer of 1791.* He was a polished writer. His portrait shows a fine dark eye, which, though he was an amiable man, contributed to the severity of his countenance, according to the college reputation of his austere appearance.† Dr. Green was succeeded in the year 18231 y the Rev. James Carnal.an, D.D., who held the chair more than thirty years; probably the period most marked by prosperity; which it has largely owed to the fidelity, diligence, wisdom, and exemplary gentleness of this excellent man. President Carnahan is reputed an excellent classical scliclar, and a sound teacher of philosophy and religion. Less brilliant than his predecessors, he brought to the service of education a Lalance and constancy of solid qualities, and an administrative talent in finane, which, joined to proverbial truth and uprightness, have made his green old age pectliarly honorable. His agrecable retirement is within sight of the Tusculum of Witherspoon. The tenth president is the Rev. John Mackan, D.D., who was inaugurated in 1854. The present condition of Princeton College is prosperous in a high degree. In the departments of Mathematics and Physical Science, it has acquired some éclat from the methods and labors of Professor Henry, now of the Smithsonian Institution, but again professor elect in the college, and the eminent astronomer, Stephen Alexander. The beauty of the grounds, presenting a certain cloistered shadiness, reminding one of certain scenes in Oxford, together with a position midway be tween the great cities, continues to make this a favorite re: ort. The entire number of alumni has been 3,390, of whom 2,023 are now living. Among its graduates, besides some named atore, It was published with a continuation after his death"The Life of Ashbel Green, V. D. M., begun to be written by himself in his S2d year, and continued till his 64th. Trepared for the press, at the author's request, by Joseph H. Jeaes New York, 1849." † Parish and other Pencillings, by Kirwan, p. 135. are the two Richard Stocktons, President Reed of Pa., Dr. Benjamin Rush, William Patterson, Tapping Reeve, Francis Hopkinson, David Ramsay, Oliver Ellsworth, Dr. Samuel Spring, Pierpont Edwards, Hugh H. Brackenridge, James Madison, Pres. of U. S., Aaron Burr, Henry Lee, Morgan Lewis, Edward Livingston, John Sergeant, Samuel L. Southard, and Theodore Frelinghuysen. Of the old professors in this institution, Dr. John Maclean was one of the most distinguished. He filled the chairs of Chemistry and Natural History, and of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, with much distinction, from 1795 to 1812. He was a native of Scotland, and had studied the sciences in Paris. Dr. Archibald Alexander speaks of him as "the soul of the Faculty" at Princeton, and records his claim as "one of the first to reproduce in America the views of the new French school in Chemistry, a subject on which he waged a successful war with Dr. Priestley, the great champion for phlogiston."* Walter Minto was professor in the College of New Jersey from 1787 to 1796. He was a Scotchman of good family and great science. His early life had been eventful; for after his university curriculum, he became tutor of the two sons of the Hon. George Johnstone, M.P., well known in Jamaica, and as Commissioner to this country in 1778; and with then he travelled over much of Europe, and lived awhile at Pisa. Here he became acquainted with Dr. Slop, the astronomer, and through him with the then novel applications of the higher analysis to the heavenly motions. Quarrelling with the boys and their father, he remained some years at Pisa, and never afterwards re-ided in his native country. His only publication was an Inaugural Address on the Mathematical Sciences; but the college library contains some careful and curious MSS. on Mathematical Analysis.† Among the benefactors of the institution have been Col. Henry Rutgers and his family, of New York; Elias Boudinot, who founded a cabinet of Natural History, and bequeathed the sum of eight thousand dollars and four thousand acres of land; and Dr. David Hosack, one of its alumni, who gave a valuable mineralogical cabinet. In the Philosophic Hall there are preserved the electrical machine of Franklin, and the orrery of Rittenhouse. JOHN WITHERSPOON. ONE of the happiest instances of sterling character transplanted from the old world to bear genial fruit in the new, at the period of the Revolution, was John Witherspoon, President of the College of New Jersey, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a man of native force and vigor, which were not overlaid by education or society, though no one knew better how to appreciate both. He had good blood in his veins for the reformation of abuses, since he was lineally descended from old John Knox by his daughter Elizabeth. His father was minister of the parish of Yester, near Edinburgh, where the son was born February 5, 1722. At fourteen he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he remained employed in its studies till he was twenty-one, when he was licensed as a preacher. He declined dependence upon his father as his assistant, and became settled at Beith, in the west of Scotland. While he was at this parish, the Pretender landed in Scotland. Witherspoon took the part of his country, and stimulated the raising of a corps of militia, of which he put himself at the head, and marched to Glasgow. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Falkirk, and imprisoned in Doune Castle, where he remained until after the battle of Culloden; so that he had already acted the patriotic part in the old country* which he was not backward in repeating in America. In an effort to escape from the battlements of the castle in which he was imprisoned, with a party of seven, by a rope from the wall, he fortunately drew the lot for the last. Four of the company got safely down; the rope broke with the fifth, and the sixth was much injured, when Witherspoon gave up the attempt. Leaving Beith, he became minister in Paisley, whence he was called to the presidency of the college at Princeton, in New Jersey, a post which he accepted, though a rich old bachelor friend offered to make him his heir to a large property if he would remain in Scotland. Benjamin Rush, then a young student at Edinburgh, was delegatel by the college, of which he was an alumnus, to urge his coming to America. His tastes and principles led him in search of a simpler and more earnest religious society than presented itself at that time in Scotland, the features of which he set forth with strength and humor in a work, published while he was at Paisley, entitled Ecclesiastical Characteristics,† and which was admired ̧ by Warburton. It was levelled at the moderate party, at the head of whom stood Dr. Robertson, the historian. It is in a series of maxims, ironically handled, exposing the worldliness of a portion of the clergy-a paragraph of which will show his delicate raillery. He is rebuking the indifference as to religious services: Sometimes, indeed, it may happen, by a concur rence of circunstances, that one of us may, at bedtime, be unequally yoked with an orthodox brother, who may propose a little unseasonable devotion be tween ourselves, before we lie down to sleep: but there are twenty ways of throwing cold water upon such a motion; or, if it should be insisted upon, I could recommend a moderate way of complying with it, from the example of one of our friends, who, on a like occasion, yielded so far, that he stood up at the back of a chair, and said: “O Lord, we thank thee for Mr. Bayle's Dictionary. Amen." This was so far from spoiling good company, that it contributed wonderfully to promote social mirth, and sweetened the young men in a most agreeable manner for their rest.† The irony of the Characteristics appears to have been misunderstood in some quarters; at any rate, it drew from the writer A Serious Blackwood's Magazine, ii. 433. + Ecclesiastical Characteristics: or, the Arcana of Church Policy-being an Humble Attempt to open the Mystery of Moderation, likewise is shewn a plain and easy way of attaining to the character of a Moderate Man, as at present in repute in the Church of Scotland. |