the sublimer scenes of nature, and fix | stroy the hopes of an hereafter, can them upon the starry firmament, will never, in this enlightened age, be toleman then presume to declare that ob-rated? jects so sublime and beautiful are merely the effect of chance?" 66 I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, (says the holy apostle, St. Paul;)-and this conviction was forcibly impressed upon the heart of a being who had been one of the strongest opposers of the propagation of the gospel! May that allseeing Power, which wrought that miraculous change in the heart of this enlightened apostle, produce a similar A friend of Lord Chesterfield's, during his last illness, recommended him to read Seed's sermons, particularly that, which was calculated to prove the Existence of God. "I have read," said his lordship, some of Seed's sermons, and like them very much; but the one you allude to, I have not; as it would be too great a disparage-effect in the mind of that man, to whom, ment of that reason which has been bestowed upon me, could I entertain a doubt of the existence of God. If I believe in my own existence, I must believe in a Creator's; for as Cato very justly says, And that He is, all nature cries aloud!" " 66 I find myself again diverging from the subject of the present treatise, which is to recommend to each individual the study of the Holy Scriptures; for the genuine Christianity they inculcate will, like pure gold tried in the furnace, appear more brilliant, from Atheistical discussions. Though the writings of the celebrated Dr. Beattie may be known to the generality of my readers, yet I cannot resist the inclination I feel to make an extract from one of his compositions: speaking of those who are elevated by fortune, and who seem not to require the sustaining aid of religion, he says, Caressed by the great, engrossed by the fopperies and formalities of life, intoxicated with vanity, or pampered by adulation, they have little need of, and perhaps find little relish in, the practical performance of the duties of religion. But let them know, that in the solitary scenes of life, there is many a tender heart pining with incurable anguish,pierced with the sharp stings of disappointment,-bereft of friends,-chilled with poverty,-racked with disease, and scourged by the oppressor's lash; whom nothing could save from despair, or desperation, but a firm reliance upon the future retribution of an all-merciful Providence." And would they, with sacrilegious hands, attempt to violate this last refuge of the miserable, and rob them of the only comfort they have left? Would they deprive them of those blessings which the sacred writings promise to all those who truly, and sincerely repent? Surely the wretches who would endeavour to de at the commencement of this treatise, I have indirectly alluded; and may the Spirit of the Holy One so shine upon him, as to enable him truly and sincerely to repent! Shall I forgive my brother seven times, if he offends me? was an inquiry made by one of the disciples to his gracious Master; and the answer ought to be written in characters which the hand of time could never efface: "Not only seven times," replied our blessed Saviour, "but seventy times seven!" What a lesson is this to erring humanity! how affectionately kind is the precept it conveys! "If ye forgive not men their trespasses," said our Redeemer," how can ye expect God will forgive you?" If there was no life after this, if we were to die like the beasts which perish, and merely viewed Christianity as a code of moral laws; where shall we find any thing to be compared to it, in the different parts of the globe? But as death does not put a final period to our existence, but when this short life is ended we shall enter into a state of happiness or wretchedness, how necessary becomes the inquiry which the gaoler put to Paul and Silas, "What must I do to be saved?" This is an inquiry which deserves the utmost attention; but the prophet Micah has answered it in very concise terms,"Do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God." Since Christianity has had its rise, there have been found cavillers who have attempted to defame it; but that excellent man, Dr. Doddridge, has declared that its course gains by debate; admired writer, the Bishop of Landaff, | St. Paul tells us, it consists in den y "and the restraints of our religion are | ing ungodliness and worldly lusts, and ill-suited to the profligacy of our man- in living soberly, righteously, and godly, ners; hence men are induced to be- in this present world; and St. James lieve that system false, which decid- assures us, it consists in visiting the edly opposes their practice." fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. "He that is truly wise," says the amiable author of the great importance of a religious life, "will consider that he has a soul, as well as a body, to take care of; a spiritual and immortal substance, which can never die, but when enlarged from the prison which confines it, must for ever live in happiness or wretchedness; for God has been pleased to set before us life and death, blessing and cursing; rewards, on the one hand, to encourage our obedience; and punishments, on the other, to deter us from sin." None of these commands can surely be thought arduous to follow, and none of these precepts difficult to observe: and though the sacrifice of the Son of God is a stupendous act of mercy we are incapable of comprehending, yet all is clearly elucidated which is necessary for our salvation. for belief, or comfort. But how different are the sensations of the humble and devout Christian, who firmly relies upon the promises of his gracious Redeemer: he may exclaim with holy David, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff shall comfort me:" or with that virtuous king, Hezekiah, When we reflect upon the heartfelt consolation which is derived from a belief in the Holy Scriptures, must not the conduct of that man be considered These rewards, and these punish- as unpardonably cruel, who would dements, are delineated in the sacred writ- prive his fellow-creatures of this susings by the power of prophecy, and the taining support? for when the hour of hand of truth; and though part of that in- calamity arrives, or we are assailed by spired volume is veiled in mystery, all is sickness, or sorrow, fragile will prove elucidated, which it is necessary for us to the hopes of those, who have merely deknow. I shall extract a few more re-pended on worldly connections, either marks upon this most interesting of all subjects, in the words of the amiable and truly pious Mr. Melmouth, "Oh blessed God, hast thou set before us happiness and misery; joys unspeakable, and full of glory, on the one hand; and torments endless, and intolerable on the other? Hast thou given us the light of reason to guide, and superadded that of thy holy Spirit to illuminate and instruct us? Hast thou implanted in our nature a dread of, and aversion to, pain and misery; and an insatiable and never-ceasing thirst after happiness? And is it possible for us, after all this, to be so blind and senseless, such enemies to our own souls, and so regardless of their eternal welfare, as to prefer the dark ways of sin and misery, before those blessed paths which lead to eternal bliss? Alas! such wretched fools are too many among us: who, notwithstanding all thou hast done, will not hearken or be advised, but run headlong into the ways of sin, and destruction !" Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart; and have done that which is good in thy sight." What an enviable situation must that man be in, who, in the silent aspiration of his thoughts, can make such an appeal as this to the Deity; feeling a conviction, that though his earthly tabernacle is about to be dissolved, he shall exchange it for a 66 building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Various have been the accounts of the death-bed of the unhappy man who proclaimed himself the Author of the Age of Reason; and if these are to be The religion which Jesus Christ depended upon, happy would it have took our nature upon him to establish, | been if the propagator of his pernicious is more to be admired for its simplicity doctrines could have been an eye-witand purity, than any other form of de-ness of his situation! Though I cannot votion throughout the whole Creation; for the great Author of it, has reduced it to two commandments, the love of God, and the love of our neighbour. vouch for the truth of those accounts which I have both read, and heard related, yet, with a belief nearly equal to that with which I peruse the Sacred Writings, do I place a firm reliance upon the declaration of that justly respected divine, and universally admired author, Dr. Young; who, in a work, intitled The Centaur not fabulous, has given the following appalling description of one of his parishioners, who had doubted the existence of a God, and either ridiculed, or denied, the intercessory agency of his beloved Son.. "I am going, reader, to present to thee the last moments of a person of high birth and spirit: of great parts, strong passions, and every way accomplished; yet his unkind treatment was the death of an amiable wife, and his unbounded extravagance beggared his only child! "I was summoned into the presence of the agonized sufferer, on the evening before his dissolution. A youthful companion of his guilty pleasures was sitting beside him, when the physician and myself entered the room. Upon approaching the bed, he said, "You and the physician are come too late! I have neither life, nor hope! you are both aiming at miracles, you would raise the dead!' "I observed, that Heaven was merciful! Yes,' he exclaimed, or I could not have been thus guilty. What has it not done to bless, and to save me? but I have been too strong for the Omnipotent, and plucked down my own ruin.' "Iendeavoured to place his thoughts upon the blessed Redeemer. Hold! hold! there you wound me! that is the rock on which I have split,' he exclaimed, for I have denied his name!' 66 6 Refusing to hear any advice from me, or take any thing from his physician, he lay as silent as his bodily sufferings would permit, for a little while; but upon the clock announcing the hour, he started up with phrenzied horror, and cried out with vehemence, 'Oh time! time! it is fit thou should'st thus strike thy murderer to his heart! how art thou fled for ever! a month!oh for a single week! I ask not for years, though an age were too little, for the much I have to do!' “On my saying we could not do too much, and making some observations upon the joys of heaven; he interrupted me, by exclaiming, 'So much the worse! 'tis lost! 'tis lost! Heaven is, to me, the severest part of hell.' "Soon after this I proposed prayer. Pray, you who can,' said he, ‘I never prayed;-I cannot pray,-nor need I,--for heaven closes with my conscience,-its severest strokes second but my own.' 66 6 6 His sympathizing friend, afflicted to tears, by his mental and bodily sufferings, at that moment attracted his attention. Keep those tears for thyself,' said he, in a voice of real tenderness; dost thou weep for the wretch, by whom thou hast been undone ?' Here his friend, completely overcome, would have quitted the apartment; but raising himself, he uttered, Stay, oh stay! for thou mayest still hope!How madly have I talked,-how madly hast thou listened!-but, oh my companion in iniquity, see what I am reduced to now. Though this body is all weakness and pain, my soul, as if acquiring greater energy by its torments, seems more powerful both to reason and to feel; and that which thus triumphs within the jaws of mortality, must be endowed with immortality. And as for a Deity, nothing less than an | Almighty could inflict the pains I feel.' Perceiving me ready to make some appropriate reply to a declaration so completely in unison with part of our creed, he made an expiring effort, saying, No, no: let me proceed, for I have not long to speak:" then extending his emaciated hand towards the being who had participated in his iniquities, he said, My much injured friend; my soul, like my body, lies in ruins,-in scattered fragments of broken thought: remorse for the past, throws my thoughts back upon the future; whilst worse dread of the future, again directs them to the past: I turn-and turn, but find no ray of comfort. Oh, didst thou feel half the mountain that is on me, how wouldst thou struggle to remove its weight! and even bless the stakes which made fuel to consume thy body, if, like the ancient martyrs, they could save thee from unquenchable flames.' "How were we struck! how deeply were we affected!-not only by his language, but the agonizing tones of his voice; tones, which seemed to convey an idea, that he was past all hope of redemption, and dared not anticipate salvation, even from the atoning blood of Christ. With a countenance on which despair was most frightfully depictured, in a more emphatic tone he shudderingly exclaimed, ' My prin eiples have poisoned my friend! My | extravagance has beggared my boy! My unkindness has murdered my wife!and is there another hell!-Oh, thou blasphemed, yet most indulgent Lord God, hell itself must be a refuge, if it hides me from thy indignation!' The exertion which the unhappy man had made, was too great for his debilitated situation: his reflecting faculties sunk under the weight of despair. "His terrified imagination," adds his biographer, "was overwhelmed with horrors; and before the sun arose on the following morning, this gay, young, noble, and accomplished, but most wretched mortal, in the very prime of life, expired!" NEW SOUTH WALES. Z. Z. THE following is an extract of a letter from a gentleman now actively engaged in diffusing the light of the glorious gospel amidst the regions of New South Wales. It came from thence so lately as February, 1819. Your's, IPOLPERROC. "I am not sure whether you have formed an accurate opinion of New Holland or not, but I think your ideas of it are too favourable. I believe it is generally allowed to be the very worst land in the world, considering its good geographical position. There are some thousands of acres indeed on the banks of the Hawkesbury and other rivers, as good as can possibly be; but in most other places the soil is generally sterile and barren. One thing remarkable in the land is, the best is found on the very summits of hills, and, with the exception of the flooded land, it is every where covered with large high trees, chiefly gum, and a few cedars. The timber of all sorts is very heavy, harsh, and unfit for general use, except for making fences, bridges, beams for houses, and such like purposes. English oaks are introduced, and thrive well. Vegetables of every description grow well any season of the year. Lemons are on the trees in great abundance in all parts and seasons; and oranges, pears, peaches, strawberries, and every thing of this kind, are plentiful. Peas, beans, potatoes, pumkins, cucumbers, melons, &c. thrive well. There is no want of any thing in this line; but the apple-tree will not live. The fig-tree answers well; to bacco and mustard are very luxuriant, though as yet but little attended to. Indeed the climate is such, that the gardener needs no hot-house, but by simply attending to things in their season, he is overflowing with every thing delicious to the taste of man. Some say that fruits here are not so good as in colder climates; of this I have not yet been able to judge. The animals are few, such as the kangaroo; not one of which I have yet seen, though I have travelled many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles. The snakes are the most formidable inhabitants in New Holland; I have seen some of them that would weigh twenty pounds or upwards; they run as fast as a little boy; and should they come in contact with a man, their fangs would send him to his long home in a few hours. Accidents of this kind sometimes, but not frequently, happen. It is surprising how few valuable productions, either of the vegetable or animal tribes, are found as natives of this country. Every thing useful must be introduced; and it certainly is a happy circumstance, that, when introduced, it prospers well. The finny tribes visit our shores in great plenty and variety; sharks, and sometimes whales, venture into Port Jackson, which is a harbour, for beauty, safety, and capaciousness, excelled perhaps by none; though, for many miles round, the soil is barren. Birds are numerous, such as the eagle, emu, or ostrich, cockatoo, parrot, and hawk; there are many wild ducks in the rivers, and, strange as it may appear, the swans are all black. The aboriginal inhabitants are not numerous; but they appear to be the most degraded of mankind. While I am writing this, my ears are arrested by a hollalooloo, outside of my window. I perceive about twenty of them have taken too much rum, which some evil-disposed person has given them, to make diversion. The women are cuffing the men without mercy; but I fancy they had better not carry their jokes too far, lest they should get what they are not strangers to-a thrashing, which they forget not after many days. "These were all naked, and were not ashamed." Should your eyes drop on such a scene, they would be offended; but these manners of Paradise are getting familiar to me. Indeed the white women are not much better. This colony is peopled with such a | strange medley of Irish, English, Scots, Hindoos, New Zealanders,and Indians, that in such society you can expect but little union or friendship, unless it be in the service of iniquity. All kinds of sin abound more than I ever saw in any part of Great Britain, though I believe morality is gaining ground very fast. There are many excellent schools, both for white and black children, the latter of whom learn with surprising facility. Van Dieman's Land is, I hear, much finer in a natural point of view than this. Every European article thrives well there, and the soil is good. But the moral state of Van Dieman's Land is perhaps as wretched as any in the world. There are about seven thousand convicts there, besides settlers." tarians, in col. 915, of your first Vol. It is somewhat remarkable that Mr. B. should stop to punish the Unitarians, when he himself was up to his neck in difficulties, by the clashing of his geological with his theological systems, and from which he was unable to extricate himself, without calling in the aid of Dr. Owen, and representing the Doctor's page as inspired. It is however probable, that Mr. B. suspected some of those quick-sighted gentry would see that he was stuck fast, and that instead of pitying, they would only laugh at him; and therefore, to spoil their fun, he determined to vex them. It is too much the fashion to associate Unitarians with infidels, as though there were but little or no difference between them; but this is extremely wrong, as by an infidel is ever meant a person who rejects the necessity and verity of a divine revelation. Some bigoted catholics, it is well known, Observations on Illiberality of Expres-place all heretics and infidels upon the sion. same footing, and with equal consistency. Well may we exclaim with good Richard Baxter," Alas for this sad disease in church doctors!" that their different schemes are built on rottenness. But notwithstanding this, I think they should be calmly and fairly refuted, and not misrepresented; "such opposition, (says the writer just quoted,) only tends to strengthen the opposed." MR. EDITOR. SIR-Your plan of conducting the theological department of the Magazine, must, I think, meet with the candid I am by no means friendly to Unitaapprobation of every sensible, liberal-rian principles, and have no doubt minded man. Your allowing persons of opposite sentiments, to discuss the minor points on which they differ, is, whatever timid bigots may think, the best way to support the cause of truth. But, in consequence of this licence, it is obvious, that you must not be considered as approving of every opinion that finds its way into your Miscellany; and that every writer who appears, by the productions of his pen, in your columns, must expect to meet with friendly admonitions, should he swerve from the line of propriety and truth. Perhaps nothing has contributed more to the spread of false doctrine, than the improper terms used in stating those that are true. To give but one example: It is too common for writers, when noticing the fall of man, to use the words imputed consequences," instead of using those more consonant with the scriptural account of that event. I believe all the scripture says on the subject; but the words 66 66 In the religious world, nothing is more common than for one party to misrepresent the other; this however is extremely wrong, let the party be which they may, whether catholic or imputed consequences" do not exprotestant, churchman or dissenter, press what I believe. The Bible says, trinitarian or unitarian. Truth is ever the son shall not bear the iniquity of the equal to the support of itself, and does father, i. e. shall not be considered as not need the aid either of fire or false-guilty on account of his father's sins: hood. It always gives me pain when or, in other words, whatever consesee writers who have truth on their quences may result from the sin of a side, so far betrayed by false zeal, as parent to his offspring, there shall be to use language towards those who are no 'imputed consequences." And it in error, only calculated to rivet more is no wonder that some men plunge instrongly those prejudices against the to dangerous errors, in consequence of truth; and such, I think, is the tendency such contradictory jargon, as is too of Mr. Boyd's observations on Uni- often used on the subject. Mr. B No. 12.-VOL. II. I 66 G |