state between the death and resurrection of the body. It lives, thinks, feels, enjoys or suffers. Departed saints are happy, and departed sinners unhappy. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance in that he raised him from the dead. Previous to this there will be a literal and general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. All things are preparing for that great day as fast as possible.3 The transactions of that day will be of the most solemn character; 4 its decisions will be definitive and universal. 5 The punishment of the wicked will be eternal, as well as the happiness of the righteous.6 God will glorify himself in the final destruction of all his incorrigible enemies, and in the confirmed and ever increasing happiness of all who repent, and believe the Gospel of his Son.

The above is, at best, but a brief synopsis of Dr. Emmons's theological opinions. As far as it goes, however, it is believed to be impartial and correct. The more carefully it is examined, the more clearly will it be seen to correspond, in all its essential parts, with the grand system of revealed truth which has been taught in the evangelical churches by their ablest and most revered divines. The greatness of Dr. Emmons does not consist solely, or mainly, in his peculiarities. That he was an advocate for the utmost freedom and independence of thought; that he fearlessly followed his first principles to all their legitimate conclusions, no matter how bold or startling they were; in a word, that he had his mental idiosyncrasies, and stood before the world in the freedom and strength of his own individuality; there is no disposition, as there is no occasion to deny.

Some of his speculations indeed, have been considered as contradictory to sound philosophy and the spirit of revelation. But it has been found much easier to make an assertion to this effect, than to prove it. They who have studied him sufficiently to master the first principles of his reasoning, have been deeply interested to see these principles carried through all his discussions, and gratified to observe the symmetry and beauty they have imparted to his whole system of theology. He was accustomed to say to young clergymen, ‘Be careful not to cross your own track. To avoid this, take first principles as guides.' He had this criterion of a consistent and consecutive reasoner, that the mutual harmony of his theories becomes the more apparent whenever we examine the processes by which he

arrived at them, and the peculiar relations which subsisted between them in his own mind.1

By some it has been questioned whether he made any discoveries of value in theological science, or has any just claim to originality. It would seem as though such questioners could not have made themselves acquainted with his works. A man may be original in two ways; first in the discovery of new truths, and secondly, in harmonizing old truths by presenting them in new relations. One of the most distinguished divines of our day has said, that it is glory enough for one man to have presented and applied the “Exercise scheme" as Dr. Emmons has done.' The Editor of his works truly remarks,

"By common consent, the Exercise Scheme' is his. He not only believed with others, that much of the sin and holiness of men consists in their voluntary affections, but that all of it does; and this principle he carried out in all its bearings upon the subject of human depravity, the connection of Adam with his posterity, the doctrine of regeneration, the free agency and accountability of man, and the government of God." 2

It is not so much, however, in the discovery of new truths, that Dr. Emmons exhibits originality as in more clearly elucidating and more harmoniously arranging the old. From many an old process of reasoning he has eliminated the illogical and unsound, and given us a result at once clear and reliable. Points which were obscure before, he has made plain; and propositions which involved apparent contradiction, as previously stated and defended, have been freed by him from so heavy an incumbrance, and made to lie side by side in loving harmony.3 He always had an eye upon what he called the 'joints' of a discussion. From what does this come?' To what will this lead?' were questions which he asked and answered with great care, at every step of his progress in a train of reasoning. His estimate of a theologian was always graduated by the greater or less readiness and precision with which he could hit the joint' of a controversy.

This article may be unsatisfactory to some, because it does not give sufficient prominence to those points in which Dr. Emmons differed from others. They had formed the opinion that he was a sort of theological monster; that he made every thing of a few of the sterner doctrines of Christianity, and left those of a more practical bearing

I Works, Vol. I. p. 153. (Reflections of a visitor). Ib. p. 78. (Memoir.)

3 Ib.

almost entirely in the shade; that he dwelt with avidity on the abstract and metaphysical, while he made few appeals to the conscience or the heart; and that hence it was important, if he were presented at all, to hold him up in such a way that his teaching should have an aspect of repulsion rather than attraction. But it would be unpardonable injustice to the memory of the man, and a gross perversion of facts thus to represent one whose best affections clustered about the truth as it is in Jesus, and whose best energies were expended in elucidating that truth so that others might perceive its beautiful harmony, and enforcing it so that others, feeling its constraining and sanctifying power, might rejoice in its freedom and experience its salvation. The stranger who visited him while living, in order to see the bear,' found him a man of bright thoughts, genial sympathies, and remarkably fascinating and companionable. He left him with kind wishes and deep veneration, carrying with him remembrances which ever after made that visit an era in his life a green and hallowed spot in his pilgrimage. So may he who commenced reading this article, expecting to see metaphysical speculations and theological abstractions projected in bold relief, and to behold their author as a rash, stern, one-sided, unpractical teacher, to be gazed at as a monster and then turned away from with fear and trembling, be as agreeably disappointed. May he see the consistency running through the whole of our author's system and giving character to it: and while seeing, may he rejoice in it, and be led to study all his works with profit and delight.

ARTICLE V.

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THEODORE BEZA.1

By R. D. C. Robbins, Professor of Languages in Middlebury College, Vt.

The Lineage and Childhood of Beza.

In a wild and mountainous part of Burgundy, a province in the eastern part of France, on the declivity of a mountain at the foot of which flows the river Eure, lies the small town of Vezelay. At a lit

This Article is founded mainly on a Work entitled: Theodor Beza nach handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt von Johann Wilhelm Baum. Erster Theil. Leip zig. 1843.

tle distance out of the village, a stone cross may be seen, marking the spot where the "holy St. Bernard," by his fervid appeals and miracles, roused Louis VII. of France and many of his vassals to undertake the rescue of the holy sepulchre from infidel hands. Here too, fortyfive years later, Philip Augustus of France and the Lion-hearted Richard of England, took upon themselves the sign of the cross as leaders of the new crusade to the Holy Land.

Among the noble families of Burgundy, in an early age, was that of de Bèze. And although in the disturbed state of the province which ensued, the castle of the Bezas was demolished, their property wasted, and their privileges taken from them, yet they could not long be kept in a state of subordination. Industry and tact brought wealth, and this was judiciously devoted to the elevation of their fallen family and the improvement of the neighborhood. At the time of the contest between Francis I. and Charles (V.) of Spain, Peter de Bèze had the command of a castle that overlooked the town of Vezelay before designated, and the adjoining region. His wife, Maria Bourdelot, also of noble origin, was distinguished for the activity, zeal, and tenderness with which she performed the duties of wife and mother. Three daughters and two sons already demanded the care and solicitude of these parents, before the birth of Theodore de Bèze, June 24, 1519, more commonly designated among us Beza, who is the subject of the present narrative. As the young Theodore was rather delicate, he seems to have been the object of peculiar care, even during the short time of his stay under the paternal roof.1 But he was hardly out of the nurse's arms before his uncle, Nicholas de Bèze, a member of the parliament of Paris, who was visiting at Vezelay, pleased with the child, determined to take him back with him to Paris, and rear him as his own offspring. His mother after long refusal, was rather constrained than persuaded to give up her child to his uncle. She could not send the loved one away from the paternal roof, but herself accompanied him to his new home.

The few short years which remained for the mother on earth, were so spent as to indicate, that it was with no empty show of filial piety, nor with the mere partiality of a child, that Beza when he had grown to man's estate thanked God that he had been born of such a mother. Soon after her return from Paris, she was thrown from a horse while riding; and although she fractured the bone of one of her limbs above the knee, yet her own tact and knowledge of medicine enabled her to perfect a cure, without aid from the surgeon. She seems ever to have had a peculiar fondness for this science from her early days, and was

He says of himself, in a letter to Wolmar: In paterna domo tenerrime edu

catus.

thus able to render herself useful to, and beloved by the poor in all the region around. But she was soon attacked by a fever, which baffled all medical aid; and in the bloom of life, when only thirty-two years old, was taken from a family of which she was the centre of attraction, and from a community who lamented for her as for a friend and benefactor. Twenty-five years after her death, Beza, when on a visit to his native town, placed on her monument an inscription commemorative of his sorrow for her early death.1

In the house of his bachelor uncle, the young Beza received every attention that wealth and kindness could suggest; but it was long doubtful whether life or death was to claim the puny nursling for itself. He could scarcely leave his cradle till after he was four years old. And soon after this, he took from a servant, with whom he was accustomed to play, a troublesome disease, which was aggravated not only by his own feebleness, but by the unskilfulness of the physician, although the best which Paris afforded was employed. So severe were the remedies used, that even thirty years afterwards he says, that he cannot think of the tortures which he then endured, without shuddering. At first the physician attended the child in the house of his patron; but when the uncle could no longer endure to witness his sufferings, he commanded his servants to take him, with another young relative, also infected with the same disease, to the physician. The way from the university where the uncle lived to the house of the physician near the Louvre, lay across a bridge. The boys frequently went on before the servants and stopped upon this bridge, which, on one occasion, but for an apparently providential occurrence, had proved fatal to them both. Beza, in a letter to Wolmar, says: "My companion, from a dread of the operation which awaited us with the physician, already possessed of the courage of a soldier, often urged me to throw myself, with him, from the bridge, that we thus might end our sufferings. I being of a more timid nature, at first shrank from it; but afterwards,

MARIAE BURDELOTTAE, MATRIS DULCISS.

Vix dum vivere coeperam puellus

Mater, vivere quando desiisti,

Ut te vix ego dixero parentem,

Vix tu me quoque filium vocaris :

Hine lustris tibi quinque jam sepulchri

Sub hoc pondere frigidi peractis,

Nunc primum. Aonidum favore fretus,

Heu mater cineres tuos saluto:

Felix ah nimium futurus olim,

Si natus citius forem vel ipse,

Vel tu mortua serius fuisses.

"The Scaldhead, which then was prevalent at Paris.