common version shall be read in such daily portions, as shall finish the whole during the first period of two years: and to render the reading thereof more profitable, the professor of theology shall direct the student to succinct treatises on scriptural subjects, as they occur; and shall carefully examine him on these subjects.

Having completed this first reading of the scriptures, the student shall commence a second course of the same nature; di viding it in such a manner as to finish it at the expiration of his last year. He shall now consult the originals, step by step, as he goes along; and have his course of biblical reading extended under the direction of the profes

sor.

With his third year the student shall commence the study of systematic theology and, as a basis for it, he shall commit to memory, during the previous two years, the whole text of the confession of faith and larger catechism. He shall read, on each topic, such proper books as may be digested within the time allotted, and may give him an acquaintance with the substance of the system.

The professor shall also lecture upon the primary topics of the system, following the general order of the confession of faith. That his students may enjoy the benefit of his whole course of lectures, he must not fail to complete it within two years. And, on the other hand, that this time may be sufficient, his lectures are to be concise and dense, accommodated to the principle, that his work is not so much to furnish his pupils with

thoughts, as to set them upon a proper train of thinking for themselves.

In the fourth year of the course, the professor shall also deliver critical lectures; which are to embrace, not merely the philology of the context, but also its connexion, scope, and argument. No authority is to be admitted in these lectures but that of the originals; the student shall have them before him, and turn to the parallel texts cited by the professor. These texts are to be few, and well selected.

Every student shall prepare in his third year, two of those discourses commonly called lec. tures, and two popular sermons ; and in his fourth year, three of each; neither to exceed half an hour when deliberately spoken. All the scriptural proofs, cited by a student in any exercise of his fourth year, must be referible to the originals.

Hours of study must be so distributed as to leave a suitable portion to miscellaneous reading; such as history, morality, belles lettres, &c. and to healthful bodily exercise.".

The professor was to commence his course of instruction on the first Monday in November, 1805; at which time the superintendants were to meet in New-York, for the purpose of organizing the seminary.

At the time the foregoing act was established, the Synod

"Resolved, That the different Presbyteries be forthwith informed of the establishment of a seminary for the instruction of youth in the knowledge of the ology, and enjoined to send their students to the city of New

York, at the time appointed for opening said seminary.

Resolved, That measures be immediately taken to have all our ministers supplied with the scriptures in the original tongues, and with proper helps for prose. cuting the study of them.

- Resolved, That every minister be enjoined to pursue, in so far as it shall be applicable to his circumstances and consistent with his engagements, a course of biblical reading similar to that which is recommended in the report on the plan for the seminary, to which they are referred.

Resolved, That every Presbytery be, and they hereby are directed, to devote a suitable portion of time, at least once in six months, to the investigation of portions of the original scriptures, previously selected for the purpose: That at least one of their number, taken in rotation, shall, at such meeting, deliver a critical dissertation upon some scriptural subject to be previously assigned him; and that they keep a regular journal of their literary transactions, and preserve the dissertations among their papers."

The superintendants of the seminary are, the Rev. Messrs. ROBERT ANNAN; JOHN MC'JIMSEY; ALEXANDER PROUDFIT; JAMES GRAY, D. D.; and JAMES LAURIE.

A letter, addressed to the members of the Associate Reformed Church, relative to a theological seminary, follows the foregoing Act. This letter, which is a fine specimen of Christian eloquence, concludes as follows. "If we

use not flattering

words, brethren, it is because we are deeply serious; and because we are well assured, that if your seminary perish, there is no human expedient to save your churches from desolation. Here, then, is an object, which, enter ing into the essence of your social stability, prefers a claim upon your purse, which you cannot innocently resist. In vain do you "pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed, and the kingdom of grace advanced," if you will give nothing toward the means to which the Lord has directed for that end. We repeat it, a little from each of you is enough. Who will grudge a few miserable shillings once a twelvemonth, in an affair of such magnitude? Who will be the poorer at the year's end? or venture to insinuate that the Son of God, whose is "the earth and the fulness thereof," will remain in his debt for such a donation? The duty is plain, the promise pointed. “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Do not act, brethren, as if the word of your God were unworthy of your trust. Let it never be forgotten that he will have a share of our property; and if we defraud him of our free-will offering-of the "first fruits of all our increase," he will wrest from our hands that abused wealth for which we do not make him an acknowl edgment in kind. Many a delinquency of this sort has been punished with a bad debt, or a bad crop; and no man ever gains by the commutation. The winds of heaven, the devouring

insect, or a famishing drought, often takes away more at a blow, than would be demanded for sacred uses in twenty years. Come, then, brethren, and let us join our tribute to the temple of God. Follow up with your public spirit the token for good, which we already see. Gladden the hearts of those noble youth who are very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; and who look to you as patrons and benefactors. As the Lord hath prospered you, is the rule. Let the rich man rise up with his gold; and let not the widow blush for her mite. The Lord will see, and will graciously reward for " he loveth a cheerful giver." It is, moreover, a statute of his kingdom, that "he

which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." Do you believe his truth? Let the proof appear in your next, and the succeeding, annual returns. Not one of you will repent as having done too much, when he comes to the bed of death, and contrasts things carnal and temporal, with things spiritual and eternal. Refresh our bowels, brethren. And may the Lord himself " open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing till there be not room to receive it !"

By order of the General Synod,
J. M. MASON,
A. PROUDFIT.

New-York, 1805.

American Annals; or a chronological history of America from its discovery in 1492 to 1806. In two volumes. By ABIEL HOLMES, D.D. A.A.S. S. H.S. Minister of the first church in Cambridge, Vol. I. Comprising a period of two hundred years. Cambridge. W. Hilliard. 1805.

THIS work had been for some time expected by the American public, with a solicitude, which every proposal for elucidating the history of our native country must naturally excite. The 'first volume, now published, has not failed to be read with interest by the lovers of their country, and its true interests; and we believe the expectations of the Vol. I. No. 8. Y Y

public will be, in no respect, disappointed, in regard to the merit of the performance. We think the author has availed himself of the best materials, and has selected and arranged the facts with judgment. An adherence to strict chronological order, often interrupts a narrative, which would be more agreeable to a reader, as well as more perspicuous, in a connected form; but with this disadvantage, which every annalist must encounter, Dr. H. has rendered his work very interesting, by selecting the most important facts for narration, and presenting them to his readers, in a lucid order, and a neat, perspicuous style. The marginal notes and references

will be found useful to those who are fond of antiquarian researches, and who are pleased to see, not merely the outlines, but the minute traits of character, which - distinguished the first adventurers to America.

So far as we are able to judge from comparing the facts related in this work, with authorities, the work is executed with great regard to correctness. This circumstance, with the conciseness of the work, and the numerous references to authorities, will, in our opinion, recommend it to general notice. Indeed we see no reason why it ought not to be put into the hands of students in our universities and colleges, as a classical book. We know of no work upon this subject, which appears so suitable for the initiation of our young men in American history.

Having expressed this gene ral opinion of the work, the author will excuse us for calling his attention to one point, which perhaps is as interesting, as any in the history of this country, and the more worthy of remark, as it appears to be unsettledThis is the time of Cabot's first and second voyages to America.

Dr. H. p. 15, has arranged the date of the commission to John Cabot and sons, under the year 1495; with a note, in which he says, "It is dated March 5, in the eleventh year of Henry VII. Henry was crowned Oct. 30, 1485. If that year be reckoned the first of his reign, this commission is rightly placed by Hackluyt, Robertson and others in 1495; but if the first year of his reign be reck oned from 1486, the commission must be placed, where Rymer and some others have placed it,

in 1496." Here the author evidently mistakes the mode of reckoning the years of a king's reign, which is not according to our calendar, from January to January, but from the day of the king's accession to regal power: And this is not from the coronation, but from the day when the throne becomes vacant by the death of the predecessor. See Blackstone and other law writ ers. Henry VII. began his reign on the 22d of August; the day of the battle of Bosworth, when Richard was killed. See Stowe, p. 470, and other historians. The year of his reign then began August 22, 1485; ten years complete must end August 22, 1495; and on that day began the eleventh year of Henry VII. Of course this eleventh year extended to Aug. 22, 1496. Now the grant to Cabot is dated March 5, in this year, 1496, in which Rymer and Chalmers have correctly placed it.

But there is a mistake on this subject, which is found in most writers, and evidently from their not closely examining the words of this commission to Cabot; for they suppose Cabot's first voyage was made under the authority of this commission, still extant; and this being dated in 1496, they usually place his first voyage in the year 1497. But nothing can be farther from the truth. In this commission or grant, the king gives Cabot and his sons a license to set up his banners and ensigns "in quacunque villa, oppido, castro, insula seu terra firma, • se noviter inventis," in any place by them lately discovered; & similar expressions are employed in two subsequent passages.

Had the words, a se, been omitted, we might have a shadow of doubt, whether noviter inventis might not have referred to the discoveries of Columbus. But these words remove all doubts on the subject. It is demonstrated therefore that Cabot's first voyage was anterior to this commission and as it was after the first voyage of Columbus, it must have been in 1494 or 1495. It is not improbable, that the first voyage might have been undertaken with some secresy, with a view to secure to the crown of England the benefit of a prior discovery of an unknown country, by anticipating the Dutch or French.

The license for Cabot to take six vessels in any port of England, is dated February 3, in the 13th of Henry; therefore was in 1498; and this is the year in which Stowe has placed Cabot's voyage, p. 480. This was his second voyage, in which he discovered the Continent on the Coast of Labrador, and as Stowe relates, on the 11th of June, which must be the 22d new style. Now Columbus, it is a greed, did not discover the main land of South America till the first of August, 1498. Sebastian Cabot, therefore (or John, his father, if with him) was the first discoverer of the American Continent. These conclusions from authentic documents seem to admit of no question.

Mavor, vol. I. p. 106, Am. ed. has mentioned the first voyage of Cabot in 1494; but errs in supposing John Cabot, the father, to be dead, and the new Commission to be granted to the sons; for the Commission in 1496 and the license in 1498, which Mavor ev

idently had not seen, are both made to John Cabot; the first to the father and his three sons, and the last to John Cabot, the father only. He errs also in placing this second voyage in 1497 misled doubtless, like, other writers, by mistaking the date of the commission. Mavor however mentions, that Cabot sailed on the 4th of May; and if so, the time from May 4, to June 11, is the usual time required to perform the voyage.

Dr. H. in page 230, copies the account of Smith, who, in his history of New York, mentions the building of fort Good Hope on the Connecticut in 1623. It is true he gives other authorities, which contradict this account. But we cannot justify the inser tion of Smith's account. It is probably an error of the press, as Smith, in the next sentence, states that the land on the Connecticut was not purchased by. the Dutch till 1632. But however this may be, the full and explicit account of the settlements of the Dutch and English on that river, in Winthrop's journal, leave not a particle of doubt as to the fact. Fort Good Hope was not erected till the spring of 1633, and a little before the arrival of the Plymouth traders. The Dutch purchased the land January 8, 1633, and proceeded to establish themselves at that place. The Ply mouth people under William Holmes arrived in October, of the same year, and dis regarding the menaces of the Dutch, built a trading house above, as Winthrop says, about a mile; as Stuyvesant says, a good shot distance. But tradition fixes the place near the confluence of