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wisdom and goodness continue to regulate and control the exercise of his power.

wilderness, without any apparent adequate means, a withered arm instantly "made whole as the other," or a dead body raised to life again, they must needs be assured of a Divine interposition: that if this were to happen now, it would be equally true 1800 years hence, and to all eternity, and that therefore, if it happened 1800 years ago, it is equally irue now, and that we have all the evidence of the reality of these events, from testimony and a legitimate and infallible tradition, which, at this distance of time, the nature of the thing will admit of: that to doubt of the truth of miracles in former ages, because we see none at present, is the most foolish thing in the world, and a principle which would lead us to deny every thing but what we ourselves behold: that au ignorant native of a burning climate might find it difficult, if not impossible to conceive, how water should ever be converted into a solid mass yet that this is an absolute fact, which such persons ought to believe, upon the testimony of sufficient and credible reporters: that a person brought up in a mine might deny there was such a body as the sun, a man born blind, that there was such a thing as light, or one ignorant of letters, that language aud sentiments could be transported to incalculable distances, without the aid of voice or sound: that the wonders of creation, of which we are daily witnesses, prove a sovereign and uncontrolable Power, who, for wise and obvious reasons does not think proper to depart from those fixed laws which he hath appointed, except in particular cases: that the creation of the world was a miracle in the eye of intelligent beings, then existing, and that a miracle may now take place before they are aware that the solid ground may instantly give way under their feet, and they may sink into an unfathomable abyss: that the healthful air may become baleful and pestiferous, the sun descend to the earth, and burn it up with fire unquenchable, and afterwards himself be quenched in a mighty ocean, as a twinkling taper in the slender stream! and that all this would certainly happen, and the material universe become an absolute blank, should the Creator once withdraw his energy, or should not his

He will point out to them the imitable as well as the peculiar and distinguishing character of Christ, his profound humility and submission to the Divine will, his perfect purity, his heavenly mindedness, his unlimited benevolence, and universal charity, extending even to his enemies, persecutors and murderers, the exalted state to which he is now advanced, and the important consequences that will ensue at his second glorious appearance, the superadditions which are made by the gospel to former systems, natural or revealed, not only in the charity of its precepts, and the immensity of its promises and prospects, but also, as to some of its essential forms and characteristics, namely, that although we may sometimes pray to God, considered only as Creator and Rector of the universe, in which practice the Lord's prayer itself will justify us, which appears to be founded in the principles of simple theism; yet, we are obliged more frequently in private, and invariably in the public religious assemblies, to pray as Christians-that is, in the. name of Christ, and with a due regard to his person, character and sufferings, his mediation and intercession, principles often alluded to and inculcated in the New Testament, though we may not always fully comprehend their import, seeing they are such as "the angels desire to contemplate," and must ever be careful not to interpret the passages relating to them, and which are sometimes evidently figurative and metaphorical, in any sense inconsistent with, or dishonourable to the character of the Supreme Deity, who, as he is in himself the great source of all being and perfection, so, he is the original author of all the benefits we derive from the Christian dispensation, which are the effects and not the causes of his infinite and essential benevolence: and that without this open profession of Christian principles, "in the great congregation," we shall not only be guilty of high ingratitude to God, and to the Redeemer, but that also, by this unwarrantable omission, the churches of Christ may in the succession of time be converted. into assemblies of Deists, or degene

rate into a similarity with the schools of the heathen philosophers.

He will often impress upon their minds that the doctrines and duties of the gospel are few and simple, but the methods of enforcing and illustra ting them, multiform and indefinite; and hence the necessity and utility of an order of men set aport (primi inter pares) as ministers of Divine things, subject at all times to the authority of the great and only head of the church, and to the genuine dictates of the sacred writers; together with the beautiful simplicity and fitness of the two positive ordinances of the gospel, as admirably calculated, in connection with public worship and instruction, to preserve and maintain it in the world.

the sea: that frost and snow in the northern regions fructify the earth, and make it approach in the succeeding seasons, to the paradisaical ap pearance of more genial and salubrious climes that earthquakes, though dreadful in themselves, are rare and partial, may render contiguous portions of ground more stable and se cure, sometimes expose new land, more than they have taken away, and produce many valuable ends in the moral world, by alarming the careless and inconsiderate, who are not affected by the common course of nature and Providence that those who die by these calamities will be impartially dealt with in a future state, and that their uncommon and painful lot may possibly serve to diminish the punishment of their iniquity hereafter: nor are we ever to judge of the character or future destination of individuals, by the nature or degree of their sufferings in the present world, where, in many respects, "all things come alike to all."

That sometimes natural evil arises from natural good, and that we cannot enjoy the one, without danger of the other: that if the system of the universe is maintained by the same law which causes a stone unsupported to fall from the top of a hill, this law may be the occasion of serious accidents or death in particular cases: that if the fire is to warm us at a distance, and to dress our food, it must be something of prodigious force and efficacy, and which will necessarily hurt or destroy those substances or beings which approach too near it, or unheedingly rush into its bosom: that if the water is to assuage our thirst, to quench the raging flames, to serve the important purposes of navigation and commerce, and to answer many other valuable ends, it will sometimes, from the effect of winds and tides, overflow its banks, and must needs suffocate those animals which are immersed in it, and whose organs are not fitted to live in this element:t that in a state of primitive

If any of these children of nature, whose spiritual wants we are now contemplating, more sagacious and inquisitive than the rest, should ask how so much evil can arise, under the dominion of an all-wise, gracious, and infinitely powerful Being? the faithful minister will reply, that natural evil is, in one view, a mark of the degeneracy of the mundane system, on account of the transgression of its first in habitants, serving as a perpetual and awful manifestation of the Divine displeasure on that account; of which there appears striking and ample proof in the disorders of the elements, the infirmities of human nature, the general prevalence of death, the discord of the lower orders of beings around us, the peculiar sufferings of women, the necessity of extreme and painful labour in some of the various concerns and avocations of life, which often destroys the individual prematurely, and of animal food to the sustenance of man; none of which circumstances we can reasonably suppose to have taken place in his first state, or to have constituted a part of the original plan of Providence, and of which they will know more, when they shall have become acquainted with the history of the old world, and better understand the methods of the Divine administration: that even here the Deity brings good out of evil: that by the increasing know ledge of the laws of nature, and the progressive improvements in society, painful and excessive labour becomes much diminished: that storms, tempests and volcanoes purify the air and of expatiating upon them. How it is

"Though winter had been none, had man been true,

And

earth be punished for its tenants'

sake

Yet, not in vengeance!"

COWPER.

The reader may perhaps think these cases are so plain, that there was no need

innocence, man must have been liable to accidents, from his very frame and constitution, though we have reason to believe he was then in the possession of sufficient means to prevent their fatal effects, of which at present we are entirely ignorant: that nevertheless in our fallen state, the Deity hath graciously provided many remedies, both in the contexture of our animal bodies, and in the science of medicine, that a broken bone placed in a due position, will unite of itself; that a deep wound, will, in common cases, if properly closed, heal without any further trouble; and a deeper still, attended with loss of substance, by suitable management, be gradually restored: that there are medicines adapted to every organ of the human frame, to assuage the raging fever, to brace the debili tated fibres, to remove or tranquillize slight pains, and imperiously to command a truce in the most grievous sufferings that "flesh is heir to:" that sickness often ends in confirmed health, and that "to the righteous, death is the gate of life."

That moral evil arises from the neglect or abuse of our rational faculties and voluntary powers, which every man knows and finds by his own bitter experience, and which, as far as he has been a means of producing, he has no one to blame for but himself: that the sufferings which we endure from natural evil, or from the moral evil of others, often tend to our own good, and will serve, if patiently borne, to increase our future reward; and that the Deity hath provided for the reduction of the latter, by means of religion: that we have reason to think it is gradually decreasing, at least as to some of its prominent and flagrant enormities such as war, tyranny, persecution, and slavery: that, in this view, even the present world may be approximating to a paradisaical state; and that the Almighty hath doubtless prepared

with him, is uncertain; but the writer has often heard (otherwise) sensible persons inquire, why Providence should suffer

an ancient tenement to fall in upon its inhabitants, or good men to be shipwrecked, burnt, or drowned! The argument has also been lately alluded to in this work by the eloquent Mr. Howe.

means for this purpose, in the depths of eternal ages, of which, at present, we can form no conception.

That the evil of imperfection is incident to all created beings, and indeed inseparable from their very nature: that it is probable the sublimest intelligencies have passed through a state of trial before they arrived at their supreme felicity, because holiness by influx, or without the co-operation of our own powers, would make a rational being a mere machine, which, though it might indeed render him happy, could never constitute him a moral agent, or worthy of praise; and that though none but God is impeccable, yet, by long established habits of virtue, a perfect freedom from temptation, and the benefits of correspondent society, rational beings may attain to a state of holiness and happiness, from which it is morally impossible that they should ever deviate: and that this is the state we call heaven, "which is first a temper, and then a place."*

That the happiness of heaven, as it will be proportioned to our attainments and the improvement of our talents, hath the nature of a reward; but as it is the possession of immortal life, is a "free gift," and the restoration, through Jesus Christ, of a forfeited inheritance.

He will teach them that in contemplating human nature we should equally guard against a pharisaical pride and a false humility; that the gospel clearly ascertains what reason suggests, that man is placed here as a candidate for futurity; that he is a compound being; that by his capacity for religion and his virtuous affections he is allied to the angels, by his animal propensities to the brutes, by the vices of the spirit-pride, ambition, envy, malice and revenge, to something which men have generally agreed to term diabolical: that from this wonderful composition result great dangers and prodigious hopes; that though bad habits have often a fatal, and good ones a transforming efficacy, yet neither of That the Deity hath “ them have a necessitating influence: the rebellious," and much more for gifts even for those who love and serve him, to whom "he will shew the secrets of his covenant:" that though true re

• Whichcote.

pentance is never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true: that the early dedication of ourselves to God is peculiarly acceptable to him: and that it behoves every one to improve the present moment, and, according to the divine philosophy of our religion, "to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who worketh in him both to will and to do." That though in some particular circumstances the heart" may be considered as "foolish above all things, and desperately wicked," yet, on the other hand, good men in the present life have often attained to a steadiness and consistency of character, and to that state of "perfect love which casteth out" a bitter and tormenting "fear," and even "to a full assurance of hope," though they are never to judge of their spiritual state by animal sensations and transports, but by its effects upon their life and conversation.

That it is impossible to plead merit with God, seeing we are all “ coneluded under sin," have nothing "which we have not received," and when we have done our best, are still, as to him, "but unprofitable servants:" nevertheless, that every good man, according to Solomon, is, in a certain sense, "satisfied from himself," and with St. Paul, may and ought to "rejoice in the testimony of his own conscience." And that to depreciate holiness or moral rectitude, directly or indirectly, is to depreciate an essential and constituent part of true religion, and while we profess to be guiding men to heaven, to be in reality factors for hell.

That it is as impossible the Deity should be wanting to his creatures, as that he should cease to exist, and that every suggestion of a contrary kind should be rejected with abhorrence: that" all souls are his, who hateth nothing which he hath made, and with whom is no respect of persons:" that though natural religion is sufficient where no other is to be had, because

The Prophet Jeremiah calls the righteousness of the people he was addressing, "filthy rags;" by which he meant to intimate that, as a body, they had none, or none worth mentioning: but the sacred writers never call real righteousness by any opprobrious terms, but directly the reverse.

"in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him;" yet, when a clearer manifestation of the Divine will is proposed to them, they will become highly cri minal if they do not inquire into it, receive and obey it.

That notwithstanding the sublime expectations to which we are raised by Christianity, we must guard against “a sinful weariness of life, an avarice for the hire without the work," but patiently wait" the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," when, if we shall have performed our duty according to the light and means af forded us, we shall be received, by the grace of the gospel, into a state of elevated employment, and of a happiness far beyond our present conceptions, and which will be strictly everlasting. Rev. xxii. 3, 4. But if we have abused our talents and neglected our opportu nities, so as to incur the charge of final impenitence, we shall be adjudged to a state of positive suffering, pointed out to us by significant and awful symbols, which, being awarded by the infinite justice of Him who cannot err, and all whose attributes are in strict unison and harmony, will be acknowledged as just, even by the objects of it, both with respect to its degree and duration, because exactly proportioned to the demerits of the offender. Luke xii. 47, 48.

All this, and more than this, will a faithful Dispenser of Divine things set before his transmarine hearers and catechumens, in the course of his public and private ministrations, " as they are able to bear it." And, lastly, when they shall have acquired the art of reading, and a fit opportunity occurs, he will commit to their keeping "the oracles of eternal truth," in their own language, guarded with a few plain rules for their interpretation, whereby, in conjunction with the other means of grace, " they may become wise unto salvation!"

Of these several modes of preaching the gospel to the uninformed abroad, or the uninformed at home, a question naturally arises, which appears to be most conformable to truth, and is likely to be attended with the most solid and lasting effects?

AN OCCASIONAL READER..

+ Moses Brown.

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Athanasian Creed, that it might seem useless to excite any farther inquiry upon so threadbare a subject. But I know not whether amongst the numerous discussions it has occasioned, it has been viewed in the light in which, after much consideration, it appears to me to have been composed. All seem to have agreed in one opinion, that it was not written by Athanasius; and it is not settled at what time nor where it first appeared in what is called, though very improperly, the Christian church. It has gone, however, for many ages under the name of the creed of St. Athanasius, and I am inclined to believe that it was first published under that name, as being really the creed of this celebrated worldly disputant, though the author had a very different end in view in its publication, and one which rendered it necessary that his name should be concealed. In short, the more I consider the subject, the more it strikes me, that this famous creed was meant as a burlesque upon the faith, then generally prevailing in the world: and, if my opinion is right, it must be allowed that the author has fully succeeded in his intentions. That the hoax should have taken so completely, is probably more than he expected; and whilst we admire the ingenuity of the composition, we cannot but be surprised that its aim should not have been seen through, and that what was intended as ridicule should in so short a time be adopted, and for so many centuries be main tained as truth. Neither my employments or my inclinations permit me to turn over again the massy folios in which this question lies immersed: but it might amuse as well as instruct some younger inquirer, to examine the subject in the point of view in which I have placed it. I can hardly believe that the writer was a Christian, and I fear that the search after him will be as difficult as the one at present after the author of the Letters of Junius. It is not, however, of so much consequence to discover the name of the writer, as to establish the fact, that the Athanasian Creed was promulgated to burlesque the opinions of Athanasius, and to turn this

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this metaphysical saint, I must defend his memory from the unjust imputation cast upon it by this creed; whose ingenuity might indeed have excited a smile in his countenance, but he never would have allowed it to be a fair transcript of his sentiments.' I am, ever,

SIR,

W

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WHEN a man has been handsomely invited to speak, it might appear disrespectful to be silent. This is my apology for saying a few words more on the subject of miracles, while I am not conscious that I have any thing to advance which is worthy the notice of your readers. I am happy. that your ingenious Correspondent, A. B. C. agrees with me in the main point, that Mr. Hume's reasoning is inconclusive. The only remaining question, then, is, whether the testi mony in favour of the miracles recorded in the New Testament is sufficient to establish facts confessedly so extraordinary: and of this question every man must judge for himself. There is no scale of improbability on the one hand, or of the strength of testimony on the other, to which such an appeal can be made as to force conviction on every mind. I agree with your Correspondent, that no event which has taken place according to the laws of nature, could in reality have been antecedently improbable. But I at the same time conceive that we can form no judg ment of the improbability of a miracle, by a miracle being understood an evidence of a Divine interposition for a certain object. Your Correspondent observes that I should require stronger testimony to prove that a man had risen from the dead, than that a man had died. Undoubtedly. And if this supposed resurrection of a dead man were not referred to a Divine Power, and were not intended to answer some useful purpose, though I might perhaps be compelled to admit it (as no violation of the laws of nature can be more wanton and inexplicable than the falsehood of the strongest testimony), I should scarcely know how

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