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own measure, and stretch every thing to its own arbitrary standard. The present pope, Gregory XVI, is restrained by nothing but questions of selfish policy, or conscious inability, from giving as broad a sway, and as full scope to the action of this principle, as did the daring Hildebrand, or the irritable Paul III. Already has be announced to the regency in Spain, the threat of this power which has so long slumbered in the halls of St. Peter's; and nothing but an inability to execute it, prevents its application to America. Let the time come when the power of a majority shall be in the hands of Roman Catholics in this country, and within twelve months would papal bulls be sent from Rome, and the thunders of the Vatican roll over the length and breadth of this land.

2. The power of truth to overthrow this despotism. The subtle policy, and crafty arts of Rome; her lavish expenditures, and the streams of emigration, will be ineffectual, if we act as the emergency demands. We need only awake, and pour the light upon the secret machinations and arrogant pretensions of popery, and, like the rising mists of the morning rolling up the mountain sides, they will scatter and vanish. It is the creature of darkDess and error, and cannot stand before the power of truth. Even when firmly intrenched behind the power of every government in Europe, it needed only the bold intrepid energy of one man to bring the truth to bear upon it, and at once half the nations agreed to disenthral themselves from its bondage. Were but the same gospel light to shine in upon the darkness of Spain, so long the dungeon of enslaved souls, the chains would fall, and the iron gate would be opened. Nothing else is needed to demolish every monument of Roman tyranny and inquisitorial cruelty in that degraded kingdom.

And with us, through all the busy multitude of our population, and especially along the teeming regions of the west, the strong moral influence of the gospel is needed. The light must be made to shine. Popery must no longer be allowed to hide its schemes, and do its work in concealment; or permitted any farther to steal upon the credulous and the ignorant, and spread its delusions over the careless and the deceived. The community must know its true character, and what are its designs. Its true portrait must be drawn; no over-coloring, or softening down the features of its deformity must be attempted; and with the name of MYSTERY and ABOMINATION blazoned on its front, let it be shown to the people who, at the price of their fathers' blood, have inherited their civil and religious freedom; and from one end of the land to the other, the loud voice of public sentiment will rebuke its arrogance, and blast its mad ambition.

3. The astonishing changes which may be effected by the enVOL. VI.

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ergy of a single mind! A great number of remarkable facts in the history of man might be produced in illustration of this reflec tion. It would be easy to show, that in many instances nation have taken their character, or that even a whole generation ha received a distinct impression, from the influence of a single indi vidual. One mind has often left its stamp upon the age in which it lived. But of the many examples, none more conspicuous car be found than that of the great German reformer. Excepting the single instance of "God manifest in the flesh," so great and wide a change in the whole family of mankind has perhaps never re sulted from the impulse of one mind, as in the Reformation by Lu ther. The civil and social, the moral and religious condition o man has received a new form, and taken a different direction be fore the action of this master spirit; and the effects will be fel through coming ages, till "the heavens shall be wrapped togethe as a scroll." It was from no adventitious circumstances of birth of fortune, that this controlling power was obtained. In the obscure town of Eisleben, in Saxony, and from a father who had been a day laborer in the mines, arose the man, who, by the force of hi own mental energy, was to gain a name, that should be co eval with evangelical religion. Already are the proud princes and mighty monarchs of that day fading from the page of history or remembered only in connection with the great revolution he e fected; while the name, character, and deeds of Luther, are re flected from ten thousand points of light and influence, which, a events roll on in their development, must continue to multiply til the final consummation of all things. It was no fortunate combi nation of circumstances; it was the action of a mighty mind, col lecting its powers, and directing them, unawed and unmoved, t the accomplishment of a fixed and holy purpose, which shook the throne of the beast, and emancipated the world from its iron bond age. The great men and nobles of his day became subservient to his designs, by the force of his influence; and kings and kingdom moved in the line of direction which his genius had drawn ou for the attainment of his object. His hand it was which reached over oceans and continents, and arranged and moved on the stir ring scenes of that eventful period. Admit, as we may, that fa voring providences occurred, and that some almost miraculous in terpositions shielded his life, and dashed the designs of his enemies We doubt not, indeed, that a mightier spirit was, unseen and con stant, overruling every event. But, as is usually the case, so pre eminently was it then, the Most High accomplished his purpose by the energy and wisdom of an appropriate instrumentality Under God, it was the vigorous mind of Luther, clear to discern and prompt to act, which seized upon the favoring opportunites and used them to his own advantage, and the confusion of his ene

mies; and so skillfully did he improve the passing events, that the exigences of the occasion often appeared like the miraculous interpositions of the Deity.

Thus is it, at all times, with the prompt and independent action of a decided mind. Not by rising above the God of nature, and changing the laws of providential succession; but, by a deep and almost intuitive perception of these laws of providential order, and in full accordance therewith, seizing upon events as they roll, and guiding them on to a triumphant issue, does he make his influence felt. There is no generation, no time, or place, where man may not awake and put forth this controlling agency. Let him fix his mind on some great and good object, and nerve his soul by a clear view of its consequent blessings to mankind, and begin to act in God's name, and in God's strength; and at once will the moving current of events begin to cast up their opportunities and advantages around him, and his soul, kindling by its own action, will be found ready and prompt to grasp upon, and turn them to its purpose. The torpid mind slumbers amid the general stagnation which indolence like its own occasions; but let it wake, and move on with a fixed and holy purpose to bless mankind, and glorify its Maker; and, whether that influence be felt through any of the vast and already existing channels of modern benevolence, or any new path of christian enterprise which it shall prepare for itself, it may put forth a moral influence, extensive as the race of man, and lasting as eternity.

ART. II. SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF REV. GILBERT R. LIVINGSTON, D. D.

Discourse occasioned by the death of the Rev. Gilbert R. Livingston, D. D., who died on the 9th of March, 1834: preached to the people of his late charge, in the First Reformed Dutch Church, in Philadelphia. By CORNELIUS C. CUYLER, D. D., pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. G. W. Mentz & Son. 1834.

THE death of an able, active, and successful minister of the gospel, is at all times a cause of sorrow; especially it is so to us at present, when the continuance of even our civil privileges depends so greatly on the prevalence and power of revivals of religion. By this remark we would by no means be thought to undervalue those influences whose tendency to the conversion of men is not so immediate and direct. We rejoice in the existence of every influence favorable to the cause of morality and good order, but daily occurrences evince that these, however powerful, are of themselves insufficient; that nothing but the wide-spread and mighty out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, turning many to righteousness, will stay the progress of iniquity, and create a popular sentiment which shall guard the perpetuity of our institutions, and promote our solid prosperity as a nation.

The individual, whose death occasioned the discourse befi us, was known, we presume, to many of our readers, as promine among those who gave their entire energies to the promotion revivals of religion, and whose labors have been crowned wi abundant success. It is our intention to select from Dr. Cuyle judicious and unpretending discourse, some of the principal int esting biographical facts which it contains, and to intersperse w these such remarks on the character of the deceased, as an in mate acquaintance may be supposed to justify,-such as those w knew our late friend will pronounce to be true. The following the summary account of Dr. Livingston's ancestry and life, as giv by Dr. Cuyler.

He was of Scotch descent. You may find an account of his a cestry in a memoir of the late venerable and Rev. Dr. John H. Liv ingston, Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology, in the Theolog cal Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church, at New Brunswick, A J., and president of Rutgers' College, in the same place; by th late Rev. Dr. Alexander Gunn,-principally compiled from Crook shank's History of the Reformation in Scotland, the Encyclopedi Britannica, Flemming on the Fulfilling of the Scriptures, and Gillies Historical Collections. He was a lineal descendant of the Rev. Joht Livingston, a minister of the Church of Scotland, during the protec torate of Cromwell, and earlier part of the reign of Charles the Second His ministry was eminently blessed, particularly at the kirk of Shotts, where, by one sermon, he is said to have been made the instrument of conversion to five hundred souls; and by another, to one thousand, at Holywood in the north of Ireland. He was one of the Scotch commissioners appointed to treat with Charles the Second, concerning his restoration, by whose intolerance he was subsequently obliged to fly to Holland, where he ministered at Rotterdam, till his death in 1672, at the age of sixty-nine. His son Robert removed to this country not long after his father's death, settled on the manor of Livingston, on the Hudson river, in the State of New-York, and was the ancestor of the numerous and highly respectable family who bear the same name.

Of this stock our late friend and brother was descended. **** The deceased was born at Stamford, in the State of Connecticut, on the 8th of October, 1786. His early life was spent either in the town of Beekman, Dutchess county or Schenectady, in the State of New-York. In the latter place he received the principal part of his literary education, and became a graduate of Union College, in May, 1805, at the first commencement celebrated under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. Nott, who still presides over that institution with singular success. Nothing remarkable is known concerning the early life of the deceased, which it would be important or interesting to detail. It is believed that neither his mind nor character were early developed. It is not known to the preacher that any decidedly serious impression had been made on his heart, either in early life or during his collegiate course, although he professed a considerable predilection for the gospel

mistry. He probably did not possess the christian hope till after he menced the study of theology, with Dr. Perkins of Connecticut, whom he continued about two years. He did not make his religas profession till 1807. Subsequently he went through a full thegical course with the late Rev. Dr. John H. Livingston, then resigut at New-York. He was licensed to preach the gospel in the spring [1810, by the Classis of New-York; and on the third of December, $11, was ordained by the Classis of Albany, and installed as pastor of Reformed Dutch Church, at Coxsackie, Greene county, State of New-York.

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In this field of labor he was employed for nearly fifteen years, with great diligence and faithfulness, devoting all the energies of his mind, and all the vigor of his powerful and robust frame in his Master's serrice. It was a field which, from its state and extent, required all the culture he could bestow upon it. So wide was the sphere of his action, that none who did not possess a bodily constitution vigorous as his own, could have endured the labor through which he passed: he was literally "in season, and out of season." In addition to all the labors which he bestowed upon his own charge, he was frequent and liberal in the assistance which he rendered to the brethren and churches around him, as well as aiding the benevolent enterprises of the day, in which his people bore a liberal part,-nor were his labors in vain in the Lord. While laboring in this field, besides the general blessing atteading his labors, he enjoyed three seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; two of them were limited in their extent, and not very remarkable in their circumstances: the third was extensive, powerful, and long continued, and brought into the communion of the church in one year 373, on confession of their faith. This took place in 1821 and 1822, scarcely a week of which he was not engaged in revivals of religion in company with the Rev. Asahel Nettleton and others, during which season he conversed with at least one thousand inquiring souls, and assisted at communion seasons at which seven hundred were received into the communion of the church. About six hundred connected themselves with the church of Coxsackie while he was its pastor.

He removed from this scene of his labors and honors, (for to be thus employed and blessed is to receive honour from God,) in November, 1826, upon accepting a call from the First Reformed Dutch Church in this city, over which he was installed as pastor, by the Classis of Philadelphia. In this charge he has since labored as long as the Lord gave him the ability. Here, too, he has not labored in vain, and the people of his charge will testify, that he was laborious and faithful, not shunning to declare to them the whole counsel of God. You know the industry and punctuality which characterized his labors in the pulpit and the lecture room, what interest he took in your prayer meetings and sabbath schools, how he visited your sick beds and chambers of affliction. You will bear witness how he spared not himself, but gave himself wholly to his work. His mind was constantly laboring to do you good. The result of his labors here have been the reception into the church of

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