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MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH.

From MEAT OUT OF THE EATER.

Soldier, be strong, who fightest
Under a Captain stout;
Dishonor not thy conquering Head

By basely giving out.

Endure awhile, bear up,

And hope for better things;

War ends in peace, and morning light
Mounts upon midnight's wings.

COTTON MATHER.

Mr. Cotton, Mr. Hooker, and Mr. Stone, which glorious triumvirate coming together made the poor people in the wilderness, at their coming, to say, that the God of Heaven had supplied them with what would in some sort answer their then great necessities: Cotton for their clothing, Jooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building.

EPITAPH ON MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH.

"The excellent Wigglesworth remembered by some good tokens.
His pen did once meat from the eater fetch,
And now he's gone beyond the eater's reach.
His body once so thin, was next to none;
From hence he's to embodied spirits flown;
Once his rare skill did all diseases heal,
And he does nothing now uneasy feel.
He to his paradise is joyful come,
And waits with joy to see his day of Doom."

JONATHAN EDWARDS.

From THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL.

If the Will, which we find governs the members of the body, and determines their motions, does not govern itself, and determine its own actions, it doubtless determines them the same way, even by antecedent volitions. The Will determines which way the hands and feet shall move, by an act of choice: and there is no other way of the Will's de

determining, directing, or commanding anything at all. Whatsoever the Will commands, it commands by an act of the Will. And if it has itself under its command, and determines itself in its own actions, it doubtless does it in the same way that it determines other things which are under its command. So that if the freedom of the Will consists in this, that it has itself and its own actions under its command and direction, and its own volitions are determined by itself, it will follow, that every free volition arises from another antecedent volition, directing and commanding that: and if that directing volition be also free, in that also the Will is determined: that is to say, that directing volition is determined by another going before that; and so on, till we come to the first volition in the whole series; and if that first volition be free, and the Will self-determined in it, then that is determined by another volition preceding that. Which is a contradiction; because by the supposition it can have none before it, to direct or determine it, being the first in the train. But if that first volition is not determined by any preceding act of the Will, then that act is not determined by the Will, and so is not free in the Arminian notion of freedom, which consists in the Will's self-determination. And if that first act of the Will which determines and fixes the subsequent acts be not free, none of the following acts, which are determined by it, can be free. If we suppose there are five acts in the train, the fifth and last determined by the fourth, and the fourth by the third, the third by the second, and the second by the first; if the first is not determined by the Will, and so not free, then none of them are truly determined by the Will: that is, that each of them are as they are, and not otherwise, is not first owing to the Will, but to the determination of the first in the series, which is not dependent on the Will, and is that which the Will has no hand in determining. And this being that which decides what the rest shall be, and determines their existence; therefore the first determination of their existence is not from the Will. The case is just the same if, instead of a chain of five acts of the Will, we should suppose a succession of ten, or an hundred, or ten thousand. If the first act be not free, being determined by something out of the Will, and this determines the next to be agreeable to itself, and that the next, and so on; none of them are free, but all originally depend on, and are determined by, some cause out of the Will; and so all freedom in the case is excluded, and no act of the Will can be free, according to this notion of freedom. Thus, this Arminian notion of Liberty of the Will, consisting in the Will's Self-determination, is repugnant to itself, and shuts itself wholly out of the world.

SYLLABUS.

The literature of America is unlike that of every other nation, in not having its origin in poetry.

We have a history, but no traditional myths.

Theology instead of poetry was the first feature in American literature.
One of the first cares of the colonists was to plant institutions of learning.
Harvard College was founded in 1638.

Seven colleges had sprung up before 1767.

The first printing-press was established at Harvard College. The first book printed in America was the Bay Psalm Book, Cambridge, 1640.

At this time John Milton was pleading for the liberty of the press in England.

Among the prominent theologians of the earliest colonial times were John Cotton, Roger Williams, Thomas Hooper, Samuel Stone, John Eliot, Increase Mather, and Cotton Mather.

Many of the Governors of the young colony were men of literary culture. The Presidents of the several colleges were also men of letters. President Chauncey was the first of note. The poets of the time were rare. first poetess of America.

Anne Bradstreet is regarded as the

Michael Wigglesworth and Peter Folger had also some distinction as poets or rhymers. There was no true poetry written in the colonial times. Other writers of the time were James Logan, John Woolman, President Clapp, Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, and President Burr.

Jonathan Edwards was by far the most prominent writer of the time, and was considered one of the greatest metaphysicians of the age. His principal work is On the Freedom of the Will.

FRANKLIN.

CHAPTER XV.

A

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

1775-1800.

MERICAN Literature may be said to have sprung into

existence with the oratory of Patrick Henry and James Otis; with the speeches and letters of the elder Adams, Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Jay, Madison, and other patriots of the Revolution. The literature of this period was as distinctly political as it was theological in the age preceding.

Orators and Political Writers.

seldom had such repBut the literature of

Oratory, the literature of republics, has resentatives as this country has afforded. oratory is more or less ephemeral in its nature, and orations, if they are handed down to us at all, lack the eloquence of eye and voice and gesture that breathed inspiring life to the speaker's words. Some of the grandest oratorical efforts were never recorded.

This age of oratory in America had its counterpart in English politics. Contemporary with Patrick Henry, James Otis, Adams, and Jefferson in America, were Pitt, Burke, Fox, and Sheridan in England.

JAMES OTIS (1725-1783) was one of the ablest orators and firmest patriots of the Revolution. Of his first great speech, made in 1761, John Adams says, "American independence was PATRICK HENRY (1736-1799), of Vir

then and there born."

ginia, with his tongue of flame kindled his hearers with the enthusiasm for liberty, and FISHER AMES (1758-1808) was one of the purest patriots and finest orators of the age. *

The greatest name in the literature of this time is that of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790), famous equally in politics, science, and literature.†

Franklin was a lad of thirteen when Addison died, but to the reading of Addison's Spectator he attributed some of his earliest impulses in writing. Ambitious of acquiring knowledge, he soon accustomed himself to habits of study. Leaving his brother's printing-office in Boston, he set out for Philadelphia, where, after working for some time as a printer, he bought, in 1730, the "Pennsylvania Gazette," which had been established two years before. As editor of this journal he exerted his influence in politics, literature, and society. The next year he started the Philadelphia Library, and soon after the American Philosophical Society. The University of Pennsylvania also owes its origin to him.

He was at this time interested in making those philosophical experiments for which he became famous, but alive to public interests and human needs, he gave his time, talents, and money to every benevolent scheme. In 1757 he was appointed Postmaster-General, and the same year received from Harvard and Yale Colleges the honorary title of Master of Arts. He had previously been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, London.

Several times he was sent by the colonies to London as medi

* "He was decidedly one of the most splendid rhetoricians of the age. Two of his speeches, in a special manner,-that on Jay's treaty, and that usually called his 'tomahawk speech' (because it included some resplendent passages on Indian massacres), were the most brilliant and fascinating specimens of eloquence I have ever heard; yet have I listened to some of the most celebrated speakers in the British Parliament; among others, to Wilberforce and Mackintosh, Plunket, Brougham, and Canning. Dr. Priestley, who was familiar with the oratory of Pitt the father and Pitt the son, and also with that of Burke and Fox, made to myself the acknowledgment that, to use his own words, 'the speech of Ames on the British treaty was the most bewitching piece of parliamentary oratory he had ever listened to.'"-Dr. Charles Caldwell.

†Dr. Johnson was at this time the great name in English literature. It will be remembered, however, that he felt no sympathy with Americans in their separation from England.

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