In these sceptical and agnostic days it may sound a little strange, and perhaps to some seem quite absurd, that the authorities of Harvard in 1791 felt obliged publicly to deny that Gibbon's History was used as a text-book at the University. But with the exception perhaps of Tom Paine, no one in this country had then ventured to assail the literal interpretation of the Scriptures. Probably the masses of the people then believed that "Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they obeyed him," that Jonah was swallowed by the whale, and that
"In Adam's fall,
We sinned all."
Of course there were exceptions. Therefore, although Gibbon might be an able writer, it was not safe for young men to study his works, simply because he had thrown doubt or derision on the Christian miracles. So when it was reported that a growing liberality of sentiment was being manifested at Cambridge, and that Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" was to be used, doubtless no little excitement was roused; and hence the notice. Before this time doubts concerning many cherished doctrines had been openly expressed in Boston, Cambridge, Salem, and other places; but Gibbon had rejected and attacked the whole Christian system as false, which was a very different matter.
For the CENTINEL.
Mr. Russell,
A WRITER in the Centinel of the laſt Saturday, under the ſignature of Chriſtianus, ſays, "that an abridgment of Gibbon's hiſtory (if his information be true) is directed to make a part of the ſtudies of the young gentlemen at our Univerſity." I now beg leave, through the channel of your paper, to acquaint that writer, as alſo the publick, that his information is not true. The ſyſtem taught is Millot's Elements of General Hiſtory, ancient and modern, and Gibbon's hiſtory was never thought of for the purpoſe.
JOSEPH WILLARD, Preſident.
Cambridge, Nov. 14, 1791.
The Cholera.—It is worthy of remark that the word occurs in two passages of the Bible, both in Ecclesiasticus, and both places in connexion with directions and exhortations to a sober temperate mode of living, which is still recommended as the best preservative against this disorder.