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fact," says he, "beyond reasonable contradiction, that Luke here asserts, that Jesus was thought to be the son of Joseph, and was so in truth; and thus by one single unequivocal expression, he has set aside the story of his miraculous birth as false, and the two disputed chapters as a forgery of a subsequent period." See Sequel, p. 241. Note.

Thus, Sir, I have laid before you the steps by which I have arrived at my present views, and hope they will be as satisfactory to your correspondent as they are to myself.

THE

I am, Sir,

Yours, &c.
JOHN MARSOM.

St. Ardleon, Oct. 30, 1815.

SIR, HE following lines, in Prior's Solomon, (B. iii.) have, I believe, been much oftener admired than examined, as to the justness of the sentiments they express :—

Happy the mortal man, who now at last
Has through this doleful vale of mis'ry
past,

Who to his destin'd stage has carried on
The tedious load, and laid his burden

down;

Whom the cut brass and wounded marble

shows

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I am here reminded of a note in Wakefield's Matthew, 4to. p. 367, on the Case of Judas (xxv. 24). That scriptural critic, who brought his various learning, as a glad offering to the Sanctuary of Religion, remarks on the expression had not been born, that it is" a proverbial sentence, would be attended by very calamitous meaning in general that this action adds, citing a couplet from the Greek consequences to the criminal." He Epigrams, that it is common for had never been born;" and subjoins unhappy people to wish that they from Maimonides (Mor. Nev. i. 32, Buxtorf) this Jewish sentence, "Whoever does not spare the glory of his Creator, it were better for him not to have come into the world."

It is remarkable that Mr. Wakefield, who has here qualified the force of the phrase, had not been born, appears to have forgotten that at p. 361, of the same work, (on Matt. xxv. 46) ment against the hypothesis of the he had taken it strictly as an argufinal happiness of the wicked," which he, with evident reluctance, concludes to be unscriptural, because then, in no instance, can it be better for a man never to have been born: a case, which the N. T. not only supbonus dormitat. poses, but exemplifies"-aliquando Gilbert Wakefield

(of whom I had some knowledge) had considered the divine attributes and

the perfectability of man with too much attention to have easily become a consistent advocate for the dreary doctrine of human destruction.

R. B.

American Proclamation of a Fast-Day.

[It is perhaps to be regretted that in any country, Religion should be associated with War, which is seldom

American Proclamation of a Fast-Day.

en any side justifiable. The different manner, however, in which governments appeal, in their quarrels, to the Lord of Hosts, is characteristic of the spirit of their institutions. In this view, we have been considerably impressed with the following Proclamation of a Day of Humiliation by the President of the United States, during the late unhappy contest with this country; and venture to insert it in our Repository, wishing it to be read, as it surely may, now that the two countries are at peace, not as a political manifesto, but as a State Curiosity. ED.]

W

70

the will and authority of the whole people, and guaranteeing to each individual security, not only of his person aud his property, but of those sacred rights of conscience, so essential to his present happiness and so dear to his future hopes :-that with those expressions of devout thankfulness be joined supplications to the same Almighty Power, that he would look down with compassion on our infirmities, that he would pardon our manifold transgressions, and awaken and strengthen in all the wholesome purposes of repentance and amendment; that in this season of trial and calamity, he would preside in a particular manner over our public councils, and inspire all citizens with a love of their country, and with those fraternal affections, and that mutual confidence, which have so happy a tendency to make us safe at home and respected abroad; and that, as he was graciously pleased, heretofore, to smile on our struggles against the attempts of the government of the empire of which these states then made a part, to wrest from them the rights and privileges to which they were entitled in common with every other part, and to raise them to the station of an independent and sove reign people; so he would now be pleased, in like manner, to bestow his blessing on our arms in resisting the hostile and persevering efforts of the same power to degrade us on the ocean, the common inheritance of all, from rights and immunities, belonging and essential to the American people, as a co-equal member of the great community of independent nations; and that, inspiring our enemies with moderation, with justice, and with that spirit of reasonable accommodation, which our country has continued to manifest, we may be enabled to beat our swords into ploughshares, and to enjoy in peace, every man,the fruits of his honest industry and the rewards of his lawful enterprise. If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy the favourable regard of the holy and omniscient Being to whom it is addressed, it must be that in which those who join in it are guided only by their free choice, by the impulse of their hearts and the dictates of their consciences, and such a spectacle must be interesting to all Christian nations;

HEREAS the Congress of the United States, by a joint resolution of the two houses, have signified a request that a day may be recommended, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity, as a day of Public Humiliation and Prayer; and where as in times of public calamity, such as that of the war, brought on the United States by the injustice of a foreign government, it is especially becoming, that the hearts of all should be touched with the same, and the eyes of all be turned to that Almighty Power, in whose hand are the welfare and destiny of nations: I do, therefore, issue this my proclamation, recommending to all who shall be piously disposed, to unite their hearts and voices in addressing, at one and the same time, their vows and adorations to the great Parent and Sovereign of the Universe, that they assemble on the second Thursday of September next, in their respective religious congregations, to render him thanks for the many blessings he has bestowed on the people of the United States; that he has blessed them with a land capable of yielding all the necessaries and requisites of human life, with ample means for convenient exchanges with foreign countries; that he has blessed the labours employed in its cultivation and improvement; that he is now blessing the exertions to extend and establish the arts and manufactures, which will secure within ourselves supplies too important to remain dependent on the precarious policy, or the peaceable dispositions of other nations; and particularly that he has blessed the United States with a political constitution, founded on

as proving that religion, that gift of heaven for the good of man, freed from all coercive edicts, from that unhallowed connexion with the powers of this world, which corrupts religion into an instrument or an usurper of the policy of the State, and making no appeal but to reason, to the heart and to the conscience, can spread its benign influence every where, and can attract to the Divine Altar those free-will offerings of humble supplication, thanksgiving and praise, which alone can be acceptable to Him, whom no hypocrisy can deceive and no forced sacrifices propitiate.

Upon these principles, and with these views, the good people of the United States are invited, in conformity with the resolution aforesaid, to dedicate the day above-named to the religious solemnities therein recommended.

Given at Washington this twentythird day of July, in the year of our Lord 1813.

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J. MADISON.

York, Jan. 4th, 1816.

a former paper I endeavoured to

will finally rejoice "in hope of the glory of God."

There is every reason to believe, quite independent of any intimation we might receive on the subject from our own observation or from revelation, that, as there are no chasms or breaks in the chain of being from man down to the lowest reptile, so in like manner a similar enlargement of intellect may gradually take place in the various orders of beings that rank above him, up to the highest excellence that created Intelligences can ever attain. Infinite benevolence, united with infinite power, seems to require that which appears actually. to take place; namely, that sentient beings capable of some degree of happiness should pervade and fill every part of habitable space and if this be the fact, there must have been in the intermediate gradation between the creatures governed by mere instinct and those next above them, to whom the power of reason is superadded, a creature such as man ;*-a creature at first, impotent, and wholly governed by present objects, subject during a series of years, if not through the whole of his probationary state to innumerable errors and follies, but

had occurred to me with increased them, of attaining to very high deemphasis, after reading the enlightened and consolatary treatise of Dr. Cogan, in farther illustration of the strong presumptive evidence which arises from a careful examination of the known phenomena of the human mind, compared with the leading objects of divine revelation, that both have the same great Being for their Author: and I now beg leave to occupy a few of your pages by the insertion of some additional reflections tending to corroborate the still more important truth, closely connected indeed with the former, that the great and benevolent object of both, is the ultimate perfection and happiness. of the whole human race. We would even presume to go further, and add, if creatures so ignorant and liable to error might indulge in a speculation so vast and magnificent, that all things not only in this world but throughout the boundless Universe, "are working together for good," for the production of the greatest general perfection and happiness, so that every rational being, from the highest to the lowest

following passage on this subject from a The writer is tempted to subjoin the subjects, recently published. P. 8, " When volume of Discourses chiefly on practical springing grass, the opening flower, the we reflect," says the author, "that the spreading tree, are each of them the habitation of innumerable living things, all of them enjoying the utmost perfection of their natures, rejoicing in the liberality of an unknown God; when, from these minute and invisible objects of his bounty, and imagination, and extend our view we raise our eyes and indulge our memory more widely through all the regions of the earth, the waters and the air; of the stagnant lake, the flowing river and the restless ocean, on every climate, under every sky; on the lonely forest, the barren hills and uncultivated vales; when we find them all inhabited by their proper people; every element replete with life; of his creation but where some happy benot a corner of the world, scarce an atom ing is rejoicing in his goodness; our souls are elevated with diviner transports, we seem to sympathize with the whole creation of God, and in some measure to enjoy the happiness of the world!"

Mrs. Cappe on the ultimate Perfection and Happiness of Mankind.

grees of mental and moral excellence, and eventually of being fitted for a very exalted place, when this life shall be over, in those celestial abodes, where dwelleth everlasting upright

ness.

Now it is clear, that in addition to the faculty of reason, he who forms this link in the immeasurable chain, must possess the power of deliberating and choosing between two contrary modes of action, (call it freewill, or being influenced by motives, or by whatever other name you please) for otherwise he could not be deemed an accountable creature, or gain those permanent habits by a long series of conscientious self-government and virtuous exertion, which are requisite for the formation of a finished character, and essential to his being fitted for heavenly happiness.

If it should be inquired, why man was not originally endowed with such superior faculties as should have effectually preserved him from every sinful deviation ;-with views so just and extended of his duty to God and his own happiness, as should have led him unerringly forward in the plain tranquil paths of piety and virtue? it is obvious to reply, that this in fact would be to inquire why such a creature as man should ever have been formed. Besides, had he been created impeccable, without the possibility of transgressing, or even had he been placed in a situation where the temptations to transgress were less frequent and less powerful, he might indeed have remained innocent, but could hardly have been called virtuous; and although his existence might still have been a blessing, yet surely not a blessing compared with his, who "by patient continuance in well doing," has at length formed a character which may in some measure be deemed his own; and who has thereby become fitted, through the infinite mercy of God, for "honour, glory and immortality." How do we know that the previous discipline arising from great imperfection within, and multiplied temptations from without, may not have been indispensable to the attainment of that firmness and stability of virtue, which the future exalted stations to which such happy persons will be promoted, may absolutely require? We know who it was that was made perfect

VOL. XI.

81

through suffering. And it may be true, for any thing we know to the contrary, that every order of created being from feeble man to the glorious Archangel that stands before the the throne of the Most High; may all of them have previously passed through a scene of probation; or, in other words, may from very small beginnings have made continual advances from one degree of perfection to another.

But be this as it may, in respect to ourselves at least, that this is actually the fact, is suggested by reason, and amply confirmed by revelation. If the amiable, diligent child will eventually become the intelligent, virtuous man, is it probable, is it at all analogous to what we certainly do or may know of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God, that when the man thus disciplined and prepared, shall have fully attained to all the wisdom and all the knowledge of which in this mortal state he is capable; when the great object of his life, it may be for a series of succeed ing years, shall have been to devote himself faithfully to the service of God and the good of his fellow-creatures; that, at the very moment when these rare endowments, obtained with so much labour, and fostered with so much care, appear to have formed a complete habit, that they should then in an instant be for ever extinguished; lost and eternally buried in the silence of the tomb?-Most happily, however, for the sincere believer in the gospel of Christ, what reason intimates and piety most fervently desires, revelation demonstratively confirms. There we are fully apprized that the present life is but the seedtime of human being, that "whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap," and that those who overcome the temptations to sin, shall finally attain "the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord."

But the interesting, important question will be asked, If those only who are Christians in deed, as well as in name, shall attain to this blessedness, what must be the portion, not alone of the incorrigibly wicked, but of the myriads on myriads in every age and in every country who unhappily fall far below this Christian standard; and this, through all the various stages of imperfection from mere harmlessness,

of character to the sad extremes of profligacy and vice? Alas, shall they all perish for ever? Or where and how must the line of demarcation be drawn? On this subject, reason has but little to depose, and the page of revelation is not explicit. Of this, however, we may rest assured, though it is not for us to know the times and the seasons, that the judge of all the earth will do right. But if we have no data from which to reason accurately, and no explicit de claration from scripture, perhaps from analogy some little information may be derived on this perplexing subject, remembering, however, that in the region of conjecture, even when aided by this borrowed light, we ought always to proceed, if not with timid, yet with wary, cautious steps.

If then it is highly probable, as we have seen, that in the various orders of beings superior to man, the ascent above him should be regular and gradual, in like manner as we see the descent below him, and especially if it be requisite that all must equally pass through a state of probation before they are fitted for durable, complete happiness; may it not be, that those who have not duly improved the opportunities of the present state, may be destined to occupy some of those intermediate stages in a future life in which greater and more severe discipline may be employed to remove the deep stains of guilt; contracted, not merely by ignorance and folly, but by pride, sensuality, ambition, cruelty and revenge?

In corroboration of this suggestion it may be observed, that every thing we see or witness around us, whether in the material, the vegetable, the animal, or the intellectual creation, are parts of one great whole, evidently subservient to each other, and working together (as we continually more clearly perceive in proportion to our advancement in knowledge) for the greater good of all. In this world nothing is of itself complete; and from analogy may we not conclude that, as the whole universe is equally dependent upon the great Creator and Sovereigu Lord of all, the same general law extends to other systems and other worlds, and that all have a mutual relation to, and act and react upon each other? In fact, we are certain, that in respect of the general

laws of which we have any knowledge, this mutual subserviency does actually take place. We know that the same sun which gives light and heat and animates the principle of vegetation in our little planet, dispenses in like manner similar advantages and blessings to other planetary worlds, which like our own, move around him; that the ebbing and flowing tides of the ever-changing ocean are regulated by the immediate influence of the friendly satellite, which monthly completes her revolution around its shores, and which may probably in her turn be curiously connected with and dependent upon our globe for multiplied phenomena essential to her welfare, of which we have no knowledge. We perceive likewise that even the fixed stars which illuminate immeasurable space, and are probably so many suns that like our own dispense light and heat to systems of revolving worlds, do not refuse their friendly assistance, notwithstanding their inconceivable distance, to the bewildered mariner, who, without their aid, would infallibly perish.

What then is God? How transcendantly glorious is the small glimpse we thus transiently obtain of Him, "in whom, and through whom and to whom are all things!" Well might the pious psalmist of antiquity exclaim, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven thou art there, if I make my bed in hades behold thou art there! If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thine hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me!" Of what infinite importance it is that we should desire above all things to impress this great truth upon our minds, and should make it our most ardent endeavour to live always as in his sight!

If it be indeed true, that God is every where, at all times present, what a subject of alarm to the impenitently wicked! What a source of trust and confidence and consolation and triumph, to the godly and upright! Surely, Mr. Editor, Unitarians beyond all others, they who profess a purer Christianity, should especially labour to cultivate this devotional spirit; they, whose belief is so simple and sublime; so perfectly

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