748 



UNITED STATES (LITERATURE). 



larly of New England. An academy of arts and 

 sciences has existed at New Haven since 1799, but 

 it has published only one volume of Transactions. 

 The historical society of New York was established 

 in 1809; and it has published several volumes, oc- 

 tavo. The literary and philosophical society of 

 New York, established in 1815, has published two 

 or three volumes, quarto. The academy of natural 

 sciences, founded at Philadelphia, in 1818, has pub- 

 lished several octavo volumes, which are indispen- 

 sable to a knowledge of the natural history of the 

 United States. The lyceum of natural history, 

 founded at New York, in 1818, has published two 

 or three volumes, octavo. There are some other 

 associations in the United States, which, like the 

 New Hampshire historical society, and the Colum- 

 bian institute, at Washington, are beginning to pub- 

 lish their transactions; and yet others, especially 

 several devoted to natural science, which send their 

 papers regularly to some of the more prominent 

 periodical publications of the time. 



4. Theological Writings. The Puritan colonies 

 of New England were, from the first, addicted to 

 religious discussions and controversies; and as the 

 I ress existed among them for a long time before it 

 was found in other parts of the country, the early 

 books of the colonies are, in a great degree, of a 

 theological character. Even before printing was 

 introduced, theological controversy was akeady 

 known. Roger Williams had been banished from 

 Massachusetts for heretical opinions as early as 1634 ; 

 and the vanity and enthusiasm of Mrs Hutchinson 

 had disturbed the whole colony, and nearly unsettled 

 its foundations, before 1638. For the first ten 

 years after the press was established, nothing was 

 printed on theological subjects, except the version 

 of the Psalms and a catechism; but, in 1649, was 

 published the Platform of Church Discipline, com- 

 monly known by the name of the Cambridge Plat- 

 form, which had been adopted the year previously, 

 and continued to be the constitution and rule of 

 government for the New England Congregational 

 churches down to the period of the revolution, and 

 is even now appealed to by those who are desirous 

 to follow most strictly the ways of the Puritan 

 fathers. This and the Indian Bible of Eliot, ac- 

 companied by Psalms in verse, in 1663, were the 

 most important theological works that came from 

 the press in the first century. The controversy 

 with the Quakers, however, which was at its height 

 between 1650 and 1660, produced two curious, 

 among many worthless books the Heart of New 

 England rent by the present Blasphemies, written 

 by John Norton, by order of the general court of 

 Massachusetts, and printed in 1650; and George 

 Foxe digged out of his Burrow, by Roger Williams 

 (1676). At the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, the two Mathers were the leading divines of 

 the colonies, and published a vast amount of books, 

 which, however, are almost without value. The 

 elder (see Mather, Increase) took part in some dis- 

 cussions with the Baptists as early as 1680; and the 

 younger (see Mather, Cotton) is chiefly famous for 

 his Magnalia Christi Americana (London, folio, 

 1702), containing the Ecclesiastical History of New 

 England, from 1625 to 1698. It has much that is 

 curious and striking, mingled with a strange credu- 

 lity and the most fantastic learning, destined, per- 

 haps, one day, to furnish abundant materials for 

 works of fiction. The most powerful divine and 

 metaphysical writer whom the country has yet pro- 

 duced was Jonathan Edwards, whose works have 



been frequently reprinted in England and the United 

 States (8 vols. 8vo.). (See Edwards.) His prin- 

 cipal treatise, on the Freedom of the Will (1754), 

 written in opposition to the Arminians, is a classic 

 with the stricter followers of Calvin. The preach- 

 ing of Whitfield in America between 1738 and 

 1769, produced the same remarkable effect there 

 which it had done in England, and called forth 

 Chauncy's Seasonable Thoughts on the State of 

 Religion in New England (1743), a work of great 

 firmness, dignity and Christian tenderness. In 1 7' '''>, 

 a warm controversy broke out in Massachusetts on 

 the subject of Episcopacy, in consequence of some 

 attempts, on the part of the English church, to set 

 up her authority, and introduce her system of church 

 discipline into that strong-bold of Puritanism. 

 About thirty works were published on this subject, 

 by Mayhew, Johnson, archbishop Seeker, &c. The 

 principal works were Mayhew's Observations on 

 the Charter and Conduct of the Society for the 

 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (8vo., 

 Boston, 1763); his Defence and Second Defence of 

 the Observations; and Chauncy's View of Epis- 

 copacy from the Fathers (1771). In the period 

 immediately before the breaking out of the revolu- 

 tion, the clergy of the country generally manifested 

 a deep interest in the political discussions of the 

 times; and when the revolution had actually com- 

 menced, they almost uniformly took part with the 

 colonies. Doctor Cooper of Boston, was the con- 

 fidential friend and correspondent of Franklin, Otis, 

 Quincy and Warren; doctor Stiles, president of 

 Yale college, and one of the most learned men the 

 country has produced, both preached and wrote on 

 the same side ; and doctor Witherspoon, of New 

 Jersey, signed the Declaration of Independence, and 

 was, from 1776 to the end of the war, a useful and 

 able member of congress. Until some time after 

 the peace of 1783, theological controversy almost 

 ceased, and was not revived till the country became 

 once more settled. In 1793, doctor Hopkins of 

 Connecticut, published his System of Divinity, in 

 which the doctrines of Calvinism are carried to an 

 extreme which many of their advocates would not 

 admit, and which laid the foundation of a separate 

 sect of ultra-Calvinists, who bore the name of 

 Hopkinsians. Dwight's System of Divinity (8 vols., 

 8vo., 7th edit., 1830) is perhaps the ablest exposi- 

 tion of Calvinistic divinity that has appeared, and 

 continues to be frequently reprinted both in Eng- 

 land and in America. Since the beginning of the 

 present century, anti-Trinitarian and anti-Calvinis- 

 tic doctrines have been very extensively adopted 

 by many of the clergymen of Boston and the vicin- 

 ity (see Unitarians) ; and a warm controversy has 

 been carried on between them and the orthodox 

 clergy, in which doctor Noah Worcester, doctor 

 Channing, doctor Ware and Mr Norton have been 

 the leading writers in defence of Unitarian views, 

 and Mr Stuart, doctor Woods and doctor Samuel 

 Worcester on the opposite side of the question. 

 The controversy has been managed with great 

 ability, acuteness and learning on both sides, and 

 cannot yet be considered at an end. The Sermons 

 of doctor Freeman (1812; second collection, printed 

 in 1830), of Mr Buckminster (published in 1813 

 and 1829), of Mr Thacher (1824), and of doctor 

 Channing (1829; second collection, 1832), exhibit 

 the prevailing views and style of thought of the 

 Unitarians, with a less mixture of a polemical spirit 

 than the strictly controversial works of the Uni- 

 tarian writers. Apart from polemical and paraene- 



