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spiritual Rock that followed them; and | bled." As this Creed differs consithat Rock was Christ." Is it not evi- derably throughout, from what is dent that the worthy prelate (having called the Apostles' Creed, it is very signed, ex animo, all the Articles and evident that no such accredited standard Creeds of the Church of England,) is of faith was at that time received, or reduced to the dilemma of either ex- it would, no doubt, have been adopted plaining away such antiscriptural doc- by the council, or at least there would trines, or (like Dr. Mant, and some of have been some reference to it. The his brethren) of manfully and bigot- learned archbishop Usher has given edly adhering to them?-which is the us a translation of the Apostles' Creed, case with the present unsettled clerical which he discovered at the end of king dispute upon the doctrine of baptis- Athelstan's psalter, written in Greek mal regeneration, and, I may add, and Saxon characters, about the year the absolving powers of the priest- 703, which omits the "descent into hood. Hell;" and as the whole is but short, I shall transcribe it :

From what I have said, you will perceive that I differ from most of your correspondents in their explanation of the Apostles' Creed, and the third Article of the Church of England respecting the descent of Christ into Hell; and as the whole of their arguments are founded upon the circumstance of our translators having rendered the Hebrew Sheol and Greek Hades of the Psalms, and the Gehenna of St. Luke, (where the rich man lifted up his eyes in torments,) by the same term, Hell; it will be necessary to trace the origin of the term, with the meaning attached to it by those who incorporated it into the Protestant creed.

It is evident from ecclesiastical history, that what is called the Apostles' Creed, is not mentioned by any writer of the three first centuries, as being of their composition: the fact appears to be, that the early Christians had different forms of the confession of their faith drawn up by their bishops in the most simple manner, and read by those who were received into Christian communion, but they formed no part of public worship, till the 5th century. The descent into Hell, and communion of saints, according to Rufinus, were not in any of the ancient Creeds; and archbishop Usher and bishop Pearson are of opinion, that they were introduced into the Creed about the beginning of the 7th century. Socrates Scholasticus, in his second book, chap. 37, gives us the draught of the Creed formed by the council of Ariminum in Italy, called by the emperor Constantius about the year 356; in which the clause is thus worded "Was crucificed and died, and descended into the infernal parts, and set in order what was to be done there; at the sight of whom the door-keepers of Hell trem

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'I believe in God, the Father Almighty; and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord; who was 'born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary; and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and was buried, and 'the third day rose again from the 'dead; ascended into Heaven; sitteth on the right hand of the Father, 'whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Church; the remission of sins; and the resurrec'tion of the flesh.-Amen.'

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You will allow, Sir, that the best method of getting to the bottom of this subject (if it be not, like Hell itself, bottomless) will be, instead of inquiring into the meaning of the word itself, to inquire into the meaning attached to it by those who introduced it into the Creed, and of those who continued it as an article of Christian verity before our translation of the bible; and then inquire whether our Reformers adopted it into their Creeds and Articles in the same sense in which it had been anciently used, or in the modern sense of the word, as now explained.

In the first place, then, I think it is evident from the example I have given from Scholasticus, of the sentiments of the council of Ariminum upon the subject, that the Latin Church, in the 4th century, believed the doctrine of Christ's descent into Hell, as into the place of torment, and not into Hades, the place of separate spirits; and this is notoriously still the doctrine of the Latin Church, from which the Church of England has received and adopted the Creed and Article: and, in the second place, the history of the Reformation and its consequences will also convince us, that instead of our Reformers having made a mistake i

translating the word Sheol in the Psalms by the term Hell, they have purposely done it, to accord with the doctrine of their adopted Creed and Article; for this was one of the disputed points, in the reign of Elizabeth, between this half-reformed Church, and the Puritans, who contended for a further reformation from Popery; and because they would not subscribe to this Article amongst others, now so formally renounced by a subscribing prelate, they were persecuted, imprisoned, and banished from their congregations.

In 1586, the Puritan ministers presented to parliament a supplication for a redress of their grievances; and presented the outlines of a bill for a further reformation, part of which was to expunge from the Creeds and Articles the descent of Christ into Hell. It will further appear, by the examination of the Puritans before the High Commission Court, that the literal and papistical sense of the local descent of Christ into Hell, was the received doctrine of the prelates who composed that high and abominable tribunal: let us take, for instance, the examination of one, that of Mr. Settle, before archbishop Whitgift. Neal the historian tells us, he was charged with denying the Article of the descent of our Saviour's soul into Hell, or the place of the damned. Mr. Settle maintained that Christ did not descend locally into Hell; and that Calvin and Beza were of the same opinion. He was answered in much the same concise logical manner that is used in our daysthat of calling names. We are told the deep-read theologian flew into a passion, and answered him most convincingly, by calling him an ass, a dolt, and a fool; and also most powerfully proved to him, that he was the ablest wrangler, by shutting him up in the gate-house prison. About 10 years after this, bishop Bilson preached a sermon at St. Paul's, in defence of the Article; which sermon was published, and answered by the Brownists; which the bishop, by the command of the queen, defended, in a treatise intituled A Survey of Christ's Sufferings.

Now, Sir, I think it is evident from the history of the case, that the common meaning of the term Hell, as the place of torment, is what was understood by the makers of the Creed, and also by our Reformers; and is still

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contended for in the Roman Church as an article of faith; and if the clergy of the English Church are consistent with their own Creed and subscription, they will also contend for it, as for the faith once delivered to the Saints.

If the original framers of the Creed, had only intended to have represented the circumstance of our Lord taking up his abode in the place of departed spirits; instead of saying he descended into Hell, they would have adopted a more scriptural phrase, and said, he ascended into paradise, so clearly set forth by his own gracious promise to the thief upon the cross, and his corresponding account of the rich man in the place of torment, with a great gulf between him and paradise; and although both of them in the place of departed spirits, and very probably essentially different from the eternal heaven of happiness, and the eternal hell of misery, yet so awfully distinct and distant, that one would suppose it impossible for creed makers to confound the places by using the same name for both; and as this term has been, in the most unqualified sense, adopted by the Church of England, which requires all her members to believe all her Articles “in the plain and full meaning thereof, and take them in the literal and grammatical sense, without their own comment and meaning,” it is very clear that all who do not thus receive them, are not faithful members of her community.

Our Lord undoubtedly uses the term Paradise, where the thief was to accompany him, as synonymous with Abraham's bosom, where Lazarus was carried by angels, and in contradistinction to the Gehenna or Hell, where the rich man lifted up his eyes in torments. The learned prelate above quoted, says, "It is horrible to think for a moment that the immaculate Son of God should be exposed to the torments of that dreadful place." Undoubtedly it is! and is it not then also horrible, that the church to which the bishop belonged should have persecuted, and cast out of its pale, so many pious men whose only crime was that of not believing, cr hypocritically subscribing, such horrible doctrines?

Your correspondent in Vol. I. col. 901, by adopting the opinion of the bishop" that Christ went to preach to departed spirits,” very naturally, and I dare say imperceptibly to himself,

slides into the Popish purgatorial doc-20, be added to the compound, a detrine; for he says, "He went not only composition takes place, sulphate of to proclaim the glad tidings, that he lime is formed, and the magnesia rehad actually offered the predicted sa- mains in an uncombined state. In crifice for their redemption, but that some cases, however, the decompohe was about to re-appear before the sition of the compound is not comFather as their intercessor, offering plete; there is a division of action the atoning sacrifice of his precious after the decomposition has proceeded blood:" thus of course, doing some- to a certain extent, arising from the thing for them in reference to their sal- influence of quantity of matter upon vation, that had not been done for chemical attraction. Thus, if to a them while they were in the body.- compound AB, is added C, a third From what I have said upon this sub- body, which has a greater attraction to ject, you will not be surprised at my B than A has, a decomposition will subscribing myself take place; but after this has proceeded to a certain extent, the affinity of A to B will be increased by its quantity, and hence it will retain a portion of it still combined; and it is only under circumstances strongly favouring chemical action, that C will be able to effect a decomposition of the compound AB.

A DISSENTER.

CHEMICAL ATTRACTION.

[Concluded from col. 518.]

It now remains for us to speak of the forces with which Chemical affinity is exerted. All the phenomena of Chemistry prove, that the substances forming compound bodies, are united to each other with different degrees of force. This circumstance has given rise to the doctrines of single and double elective attraction. Single elective attraction is explained in the following manner. If A have to B a force of affinity, which, under given circumstances, is equal to 10, and they be united together, the result will be the formation of a compound AB. If, however, to the compound AB, is added C, a third body, having an attraction to A equal to 12, the compound AB will be destroyed, and a new compound CA will be formed, whilst B will remain in an uncombined state. It is obvious too, that a decomposition would have taken place, if C, instead of exerting a superior attraction to A, had exerted it towards B. CB would have combined together, and formed a compound CB. This may be illustrated by a diagram.

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On the outside of the bracket is represented the name of the compound, which consists of sulphuric acid and magnesia, having an affinity for each other equal to 10. If, however, a solution of lime, which has a superior

We shall now attempt to illustrate a more difficult case of elective attraction. Suppose we have a compound formed by the union of A and B, in which the force of affinity is equal to 10, and that to this compound, C, another body, be added, having an attraction to A equal to 6. It is evident that no decomposition can take place. If, however, a fourth body, D, is united to C, with an attraction equal to 8; and if D has an attraction to B equal to 14, then, upon adding these two compounds, a decomposition will be effected; for the sum of their existing or quiescent attractions is inferior to the sum of those tending to separate them. The affinity of A to B, and of C to D, being equal to 10+ 8 = 18, and the affinity of C to A, and of D to B, being 6 +14= 20, AB, CD, therefore are decomposed, and two new compounds CA, BD, are formed.

This is what is termed in Chemical language, double elective attraction; two elective attractions being exerted, and two new compounds formed. Diagrams have been constructed, in order to represent more clearly these cases of double elective attractions. The idea first occurred to Dr. Cullen; the one proposed by him, was two cylinders crossing each other in the middle.

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AC, BD, are designed to represent

attraction for sulphuric acid, equal to two compounds. If, therefore, the

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In this scheme, two compounds, sul- stances alone modify that force. Of phate of magnesia, and muriate of these external circumstances, we have barytes, are placed on the sides of the in a former paper treated very largely : brackets; sulphuric acid has an attrac-it is unnecessary, therefore, to say any tion for magnesia equal to 48; and muriatic acid an attraction for barytes, equal to 20; and the sum of their attractions is equal to 68. But muriatic acid has an attraction to magnesia equal to 24, and sulphuric acid has an attraction to barytes equal to 46; and the sum of their affinities is 70. If, therefore, the compounds, sulphate of magnesia, and muriate of barytes, be added together, a decomposition will take place; the sulphuric acid will combine with the barytes, and form an insoluble compound, viz. sulphate of barytes, which is represented under the inferior line of the diagram, whilst the muriatic acid will combine with the magnesia, and form a salt which will remain in solution, viz. the muriate of magnesia; this is placed above the superior line.

thing further. In concluding this subject, we are compelled to observe, that there is something very sublime and wonderful in attraction, whether we consider it as operating upon atoms, or upon larger masses of matter, upon bodies animate or inanimate. The same power which retains the particles of a grain of sand, retains also the masses of matter which compose this globe: were it not for the exertion of this wonderful agent, every thing would become chaos and confusion, and all material bodies would be resolved into their elementary particles. It is this power which causes to cohere, the particles of the gases which constitute the air of our atmosphere; and the water with which our earth abounds, so indispensable to the existence of animal and vegetable life, is retained The theory of single and double in its state of fluidity by the same elective attraction, delivered by Berg-powerful agent. Indeed, the particles man and other chemists, was generally received; until Berthollet gave a different view, adopted from experiment. According to Bergman, affinity is regarded as an invariable force, and the decompositions ascribed to elective attraction, are supposed to depend upon the various degrees of intensity with which that power is exerted between different bodies. The results of these actions of bodies upon each other, were considered indicative of their relative forces of affinity. In the theory of Berthollet, all bodies are considered as having a uniform attraction for each other; external circum

of any bodies cohere only on account of their attraction to each other. But, whilst we are admiring this wonderful agent, let us not forget that first Cause, which spoke it into existence. If it be delightful to study the works of Creation, must it not be infinitely so to contemplate the Author of those works, as displayed in all his glories and perfections? And if it be the joy and pleasure of the Christian to contemplate the fading glories of terrestrial beauties, with what ecstasy and rapture will he contemplate objects celestial, unfading, eternal. In this world, many things are dark and incompre

hensible; many of the operations of nature set at defiance the utmost grasp of human intellect. In attempting to account for the vegetation of a blade of grass, or in endeavouring to explain the causes of the different species of attractions, we soon discover our weakness; our senses become bewildered, and we are lost in mazes dark and intricate: but when the glories of the other world are unfolded to our view, what before appeared mysterious and unintelligible, shall be made as clear as the noon-day. "What we know not now, we shall know hereafter."

H. B.

coat, and, regardless of every thing around him, soon fell asleep.

Though possessed of considerable property, he regularly visited Plymouth market, to transact in person his domestic concerns, after he had retired from public life. This he continued to do upwards of twenty years, exhibiting on all occasions, an appearance of meanness, that always rendered him an object of contemptible distinction. His usual manner was, to ride on an old white horse which had been his companion through many years. This was exceedingly poor, was badly equipped, and seemed exactly adapted for the labour it had to perform,-to carry a load, that

ECCENTRICITY OF A SINGULAR CHA- would not, by the splendour of its ap

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BENEVOLENCE OF HIS EXECUTOR.

LATELY died, in the county of Cornwall, Colonel O'D- whose life, manners, dress, and habitation, presented a singular picture of miserable uniformity. With the history of old Elwes and Daniel Dancer, the public have long since been made acquainted; and although Col. O'D- can hardly be said to coincide in character with either, the oddities which marked his life, prove him to have been a branch of the same common family.

In early life, this gentleman had been a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Marines, on the Plymouth station; but on quitting public service, he retired to a parish on the banks of the Tamer, about six or seven miles from Plymouth, in which he had a valuable estate but it was not to instruct the rich by his example, nor to feed the poor by his bounty.

While retaining his military character, he became proverbial for his slovenly appearance, his penurious habits, and the hardihood of his manner of life. Sometimes he has been seen walking with one silk stocking on, while the other was of worsted, and while both complained of the length of time since they had been either washed or mended. In what part of the town he had fixed his lodgings, his brother officers were for a considerable time unable to discover. But being impelled by that curiosity which is natural to the mind of man, they once watched him to his nightly abode, which they found to be between two large guns, where he spread his No. 19.-VOL. II.

pearance, furnish by contrast an occasion of disgrace.

The last time that Col. O'D― was noticed in Plymouth, he was dressed in a dirty night-cap, a hat without a brim, a waistcoat which had formerly seen better days, a pair of greasy leather breeches, kept up by braces made of listing, and straw twisted into ropes wound round his legs to supply the place of boots. In this condition he was seen sitting in the street, on the steps of the Telegraph office, eating an apple.

His habitation was a miserable cottage, in the windows of which was no glass; and, like Robinson Crusoe, he mounted on a ladder whenever he entered, and then drew it after him. To fear, of every description, he was a perfect stranger; and from his acquaintance with arms, and the ferocious habits which he had cherished, he inspired terror in all around him, so that no one could have courage to commit depredations on his property, even though the prospect of obtaining a considerable booty, might have held out a more than common temptation. To strangers, his house exhibited nothing inviting; and to those who lived within the sphere of his acquaintance, his character was too well known.

Of the strange singularities which marked his conduct, there is scarcely any end to the anecdotes which have been told. To a strong appetite, he was no stranger; and this he is represented as being always ready to indulge. This, however, was the only contribution which he was guilty of laying on his purse; and to those two points the numerous anecdotes whe 2 Z

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