Galileo's confirmation of Copernican cosmology was one of the major cultural problems of seventeenth-century Europe. Which was right? The reasoned experiments of science, or the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, which condemned such cosmology as contrary to Holy Writ? Nicolas Poussin, the classical French painter in Rome, offered his personal solution to this dilemma in his final paintings, mainly landscapes, usually mythological, but always allegorical. From antique, sixteenth-century and Campanellan thought, particularly Stoicism, he depicted the order and harmony of Creation by means of allegory. He concluded with Campanella that contemplation of the Copernican universe offered a means of spiritual growth. To Poussin, the Stoic Divine Reason behind Nature became the sign of eternal salvation offered by God to those who accepted union with Him. In particular, he felt that this union depended upon Man’s use of the Christian sacraments to obtain the grace needed to act in co-operation with God. This fusion of religious feeling with philosophical conviction caused an exquisite integration of form with complex allegorical content, in an intense unity characteristic of the age of the Baroque. The masterly classical freedom and precision of Poussin’s final manner adapted all pictorial elements in order to arouse delectation, or spiritual delight, in the person who perceived his pictures. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

The century or so of upheaval which followed the Reformation in Scotland and the change over from mediaeval to modern learning, was but part of the movements which were reshaping the whole of the pattern of the Western European way of life. With the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire through the impact of the rising spirit of nationalism, kings strove to establish absolute monarchies, to be opposed in some cases, as in England and Scotland,. by resolute peoples influenced by the emergence of ideas of popular sovereignty. Charles II sought to emulate the dictatorship of Louis XIV, and planned to establish an Episcopal form of Church government amenable to the Royal will, with the king as the head of the Church. The relations between Church and State, and the consequent Erastian controversy were thus no mere academic issue in the seventeenth century. England and Scotland, in common with Holland, had religious divisions, with Protestantism uppermost, while of the parties of Protestantism the more vital Calvinism grew in numbers and influence. It has been said that the Covenanting movement, which is the great background of our study, was the outcome of the differing developments of the Reformation in England and Scotland. The growth of Puritanism was an important feature of the period and, with the emergence of the Independents, including the Quakers, created problems for the churchmen, in the British kingdoms, especially England. Within the Churches the spread of the Puritan spirit led to divisions; in the Roman Church the Jansenist controversy; in England, Puritan am Anglican gradually became two instead of one, while in Scotland the Covenanters divided into Resolutioners and Protesters. The social contract philosophy and its spiritual counterpart, the Covenants, formed part of the thinking of the men of the period. The illiteracy of the common people, and the low moral standards inherited from the sixteenth century, were accompanied by a recrudescence of superstition, especially the cult of witchcraft which the Church throughout Europe sought to stamp out. On the other hand, the enormous increase in the influence of the Bible on all aspects of life, and of the pulpit on morality and liberty, made the moral power of a really popular preacher, such as William Guthrie, incalculable. Our period opens with the last years of James VI of Scotland, am closes after the Restoration of Charles II, and includes great events in the life of Scotland. It covers the reaction of the resolute Northerners against the absolutist pretensions of their king and the ancillary prelatical Episcopacy, with its instrument the Book of Common Prayer, which led to the National Covenant of 1638, and the Solemn League and Covenant with England, the spirit of which was shattered by the execution of Charles I in 1649. Wars against the King's men, including the struggle of the Covenanted Kingdom against Montrose, the invasion of Scotland by Cromwell, the Cromwellian Union, the Commonwealth, the Restoration of Charles II, with the disestablishment of Presbyterianism and the beginnings of the great sufferings which did not end till the Revolution, are all part of the background of our story. The so-called Second Reformation was a time of consolidating the work begun by the Reformers, by men equally great in their day and generation.

Ali Özbek and Bernard C. Levy. / Caption title. / Bibliography: p. 30-32. / Supported, in part, by a grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. AFOSR-85-0227 Supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation. ECS-83-12921

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This study is an examination of the legal basis of slavery in New Jersey from 1665 to 1865. It traces the laws concerning slavery in the colony from the proprietor period until abolishment in 1865. The purpose of this study is to show how slavery was legally developed in this northern state and to prove that slavery was more than a national issue, but was also a state issue. New Jersey was cut in half on the issue of slavery for the same reasons that the country was split in half, which is why this study is so very important. Although no state of war took place, all the underlining issues surrounding slavery were present. Slave labor was more profitable in East Jersey, with its large farms, than in West Jersey, where the farms were family operated. Since East Jersey tended to have more slave labor, it also passed more laws prohibiting the movement of slaves in an effort to discourage slave revolts. The New Jersey Society for the Abolition of Slavery and the Society of Friends (Quakers), who tended to favor the abolition of slavery, were concentrated in West Jersey, where the need for slave labor was less prevalent. The Quakers played a very large role in the enactment of anti-slavery laws and the gradual abolition of the institution of slavery in New Jersey. Most of the research for this study was done at Stockton State College in Pomona, New Jersey the South Jersey reservoir for primary documents such as the Abstracts of Wills and advertisements. The New Jersey Archives located in Trenton, New Jersey, provided original copies of maps, pamphlets and the minutes of various groups and their constitutions. All the laws discussed in this study were found in the Atlantic Municipal Court Law Library in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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Nicolas Poussin's landscapes, The Four Seasons, 1660-1664, have been the subject of extensive analysis because of their enigmatic character and the modulation in Poussin's style in his last years. The meaning of these representations has, however, remained cryptic and, to some extent, neglected. / This thesis attempts to make a contribution toward unravelling the mystery of The Four Seasons. These profound works reflect Poussin's religious persuasion, knowledge of which is essential to an understanding of them. Poussin's religious convictions, however, are difficult to discern with any precision; for, although he died a Catholic, he was closely associated with the progressive thinking that influenced religious belief in the Baroque age, much of which was rejected by the Church of Rome. / Nevertheless, Poussin was undoubtedly a devout Christian, inspired particularly by the early Christian Fathers and Stoics. It is in nature, above all, though, that he perceived God's presence and message which he strove to capture in his "altarpiece" to the seasons.

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