*** All the above Books, with a Variety of other small
Books, &c. will be sold to Shop keepers, Travelling-Traders,
&c. at the very lowest Rate, if they purchase by the
Hundred, Groce or Dozen.
* * * * *
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._