and its authority to reject doctrines on the ground of antecedent improbability;-in all these momentous articles they concur. If the Deist boldly rejects the claims of revelation in toto, the Unitarian, by denying its plenary inspiration, by assuming the fallibility of the apostles, and even of Christ himself, and by resolving its most sublime and mysterious truths into metaphors and allegory, treads close in his steps. It is the same soul which animates the two systems, though residing in different bodies; it is the same metal transfused into distinct moulds." "III. A third feature in the Unitarian system is, the unfavourable influence it exerts on the spirit of devotion. It appears to have little or no connexion with the religion of the heart. Of all high and raised affections to God proudly ignorant, love to Christ, involving that ardent attachment which enthrones him in the soul, and subordinates to him every created object, it systematically explodes, under the pretence of its being either enthusiastic or impossible.. The devotional feelings inculcated in the Bible, are intimately and inseparably interwoven with humility and gratitude-the humility and gratitude of a penitent and redeemed sinner. That he who is forgiven much will love much, is the decision of our Lord; while he to whom little is forgiven will love little. But the perpetual tendency of the Socinian system extenuates the evil of sin, and the magnitude of the danger to which it exposes the sinner, and is calculated to weaken, beyond expression, the force of the motives [they supply]. "By asserting the intrinsic efficacy of repentance, to the exclusion of the merits of the Redemer, it makes every man his own Saviour; it directs his attention to himself, as the source to which he ascribes the removal of guilt, and the renovation of hope; nor will it permit him to adopt, in any obvious and intelligible sense, the rapturous language of the redeemed, "To Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Taught to consider the Lord Jesus Christ in no other light than as the most perfect example and the most enlightened of teachers, and believing that he has already bestowed all the benefits he is empowered to bestow, it is in vain to look for that consecration of the heart to his love, and of all the faculties of body and mind to his service, which may reasonably be expected from him who looks upon himself as a trophy of his power, and as the purchase of his blood. Not viewing himself as at any time exposed to condemnation, you must not expect him to celebrate, with elevated emotion, the riches of divine grace; much less that he Ch. Adv.-VOL. X. should be transported with gratitude to God for the inestimable love evinced in the gift of his Son; when he considers it a high attainment to have learned that this Son is a mere man, on a level with himself. The unhappy disciple of this system is necessarily separated and cut off from the objects most adapted to touch the springs of religious sensibility. He knows nothing of a transition 'from death unto life;' nothing of the anxieties of a wounded and awakened conscience, followed by joy and peace in believing; nothing of that 'love of Christ which passeth knowledge;' nothing of the refreshing aids and consolations of that Holy Spirit whose existence he denies, whose agency he ridicules; nothing of that ineffable communion of spirit with God and the Redeemer, the true element of life and peace; nothing of the earnests and foretastes of that heaven which his system covers with a dense and impenetrable veil. Facts, on this subject, concur with theory: for no sooner is a minister of the Gospel transformed into a Socinian, than he relinquishes the practice of extempore prayer, and has recourse to a written form. We are far from condemning the use of forms, where they are adopted from a conscientious preference; nor can we doubt that many members of the establishment, whose habits have combined with them the most devout associations and feelings, find them useful helps to piety. But, that those who have never used them before, should find them necessary the moment they have embraced a particular system; that they should feel, as some of the most eminent have confessed, an absolute incapacity from that time, of praying without the aid of a book, affords a portentous indication of the spirit of that system. To be smitten dumb and silent in the presence of that heavenly Father whom they approached before with filial freedom and confidence; to be unable or indisposed to utter a word without artificial aids, where they were wont to pour out all their hearts; evinces the visitation of a new spirit, but most assuredly not that Spirit whereby we cry, Abba, Father.' Correct, elegant, spiritless-replete with acknowledgments of the general goodness of God, the bounties of his providence, and his benign interposition in the arrangements of society, and the success of the arts and sciences which embellish and adorn the present state-seldom will you hear any mention of the forgiveness of sins, of the love of the Saviour; few or no acknowledgments of the blessings of redemption. An earthly, unsanctified tincture pervades their devotions, calculated to remind you of any thing rather than of a penitent pleading for mercy, 20 'with groans that cannot be uttered.'"Vol. v. pp. 31-42. We must content ourselves with merely indicating the remaining heads of this fine discourse. "IV. A remarkable feature in the system of Modern Unitarianism, pregnant with more mischief and danger than any of those just mentioned, is, the fatalism and materialism with which, since Dr. Priestley's time, it is almost universally associated. "V. Another feature in the system, is the tame submission to human authority, which seems to distinguish above all other persons, those who compose the class styled Modern Unitarians. "VI. The last feature which I shall mention in the system of the Socinians, is, their zeal for proselytism'. . . . ' difficult to be accounted for on their principles.""" -Vol. v. pp. 43-46; 22. SEEING DARKLY. "For now we see through a glass darkly."-1 Cor. xiii. 12. Invisible God of all grace, Though darkness and clouds intervene, Thou fillest all time and all space, A Saviour belov'd though unseen. Shall yield us abundance again. Each moment but urges our flight. Unable to conquer the way, And dimly behold it in part; Oh, ye who salvation await, Yet tarry with patience awhile. The billows within shall abate, Your gloom shall be changed to a smile. No mists shall the beauties disguise- But glory seen perfect and sure. We know not how bless'd we shall be, No bosom that glory sustain. Miscellaneous. THE MORAL OF RURAL LIFE. ESSAY II. The ascendancy of Rural Objects over the Affections. "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." The reign of Solomon was associated in the mind of the Hebrews with every thing peaceful and splendid. The nation was delivered from the wars waged by his progenitor. He who has left maxims for the government of kings, which have stood the test of ages, must have known how to rule. Internal improvement and foreign traffic were objects which drew the attention of this sagacious monarch. The regal state kept pace with the increase of national affluence, and these were days in which the king appeared in his most costly attire. Man is often thoughtless. He may notice frequently “The warbling woodland, the resounding grove, And all the pomp and garniture of fields;" but often crushes beneath his feet the flowers with which nature has stocked her dales. Still, even such objects are not without admirers. In search of them Linnæus explored the Lulean desert, St. Pierre was captivated by the lilies of France, and Sir Joseph Banks collected garlands from each island, in his voyage round the world. Park, in the wilds of Africa, became the guest of a shrub. There are whole climes where men make flowers the medium of speech climes painted in the glowing romance of Lalla Rookh.* It inspires grateful feelings, that the Saviour turned to look on one of these humble objects. He cast on it his benignant eye, and eulogised it more than he would have eulogised the gorgeous trappings of any king. Who would have this simple incident stricken out from the Saviour's life. It teaches that plants and shrubs are worthy of notice; that they wear the signet of their Author, and that they are encompassed with more than regal honour; whether they rise on the wold, by the rock, or the copse, or whether they clasp the cottage or palace, mingling their odour alike with the breath of kings and the prayer of poverty. Over the minds of men, generally, rural objects have gained an ascendancy; and to the illustration of this fact we invite the attention *The early productions of Moore were licentious, but in his Epicurean he aims at a refined religion. His life of Byron is calculated to increase the infamy of its subject. of our readers. Open the Scriptures, and we shall immediately see how such objects are held up to view. In reading these holy books, we are affected in the same way as when passing through a country where the people are all employed rivers or bays for the egress of in husbandry; we discover but few commerce. The Hebrew poets, especially, indulge in the vivid delineation of pastoral and rural pursuits. For figures they did not go beyond the limits of the land in which they lived. They did not bend the knee on such a mountain as Parnassus, or seek inspiration at any Pierian spring. The poets of Greece flocked to the Delphic steeps, but the bards of Palestine prostrated themselves before the cherubim. In the brooks which washed the plats of their gardens, they heard the still voice of their Maker. In the summits of their mountains, they saw pillars of incense rising at the noontide hour. In the stars of heaven, they discerned sentinels by the tents of the seraphim. In the clouds of evening, they descried angels casting off the stained robes of their imperial principalities. What need could there be for men to seek the oracles, the fountains, or the hills of Greece, whose harps were chorded by angels, and anointed amidst the orange unction which the sun sheds on the evening sky. The genius of a people is often influenced by circumstances in their early history. The Hebrew patriarchs were shepherds and herdsmen, accustomed to a circle of simple employments. Commerce had not engendered its fastidious wants.* Out of Egypt they led their flocks. In the wilderness they * See Milman's History of the Jews. But the writer does not recommend the work. It is unsound. The language is too poetically wrought for history. The writer, however, can recommend Milman's Fall of Jerusalem, and his Martyr of Antioch, but not his "Ann Boleyn." dwelt, and there the complicated “By day, along the astonished lands, a Circumstances like these were not without their ascendancy, in forming the individual national character of the Hebrews. The'dying patriarch of their twelve tribes foresaw their future location. He announced that Zebulon should dwell at the haven of the sea, and be a haven for ships; and it was among the prophesied blessings of the prince of that tribe, that he should lead his foal to the choice vines of the land; and of another favoured tribe, that he should be 66 fruitful bough by a wall, whose branches run over the wall." In the lapse of time these prophecies were signally fulfilled, and the nation gained an establishment on the soil pledged to their fathers. Then the tribes betook themselves to their several districts, and the flush of rural life passed over the land. Palestine in its scenery has long been the sacred classic ground among countries. groves palm, its stately cedars, its pomegranate orchards, its grottoes, vineyards, olive yards, its hills wearing a coronal of herbage, its vales blushing with the vintage, its myrtles, its gazelles, its antelopes, Its of Drink from its golden source, the stream If this be a correct view of the face of the Holy Land, we need not wonder that the scriptures are so full of rural allusions. External objects must always to a great de gree influence the minds of men. In a country like this, we could not expect such a delineation of habits, as among a people where commerce reigned triumphant. The sacred writers are true to nature, and therefore, in proportion as a foreign dominion became interwoven with the government of Judea, we see that the scriptures take their hue from that event. No one can doubt, after making the tour of Palestine, that the Scriptures were written in the age of the world in which they profess to have been written. Our convictions of this fact are increased by the travells of Maundrell, Shaw, Clarke, and even Volney.* It is a thought which deserves consideration, whether our Creator, in arranging the circumstances of inspiration, did not intend those circumstances to bear on the affecHe hedged Pations of all men. lestine about, and within its enclosures appointed a multitude of rural customs and feasts. Even within the ark of the covenant, he placed Aaron's rod that budded. Within this garden spot of the world, holy men wandered, and in its nooks and among its browsing *To these may be added Pococke, Jolliffe, Thevenot, Buckingham, Harmer's Observations, Burder's Oriental Customs, and the Asiatic Researches. flocks and its waving harvests, they prepared the Scriptures for the use of all men. But there are other writings extant, besides the scriptures, in which this love for rural objects is conspicuous. In Homer and Hesiod we see how early such objects drew attention. The gardens of Alcinous and the cottage of Laertes the olive bowers of Plato and the groves of Epicurus, are familiar to the classical reader. Pliny the elder has led many into researches connected with the history of nature. We are guided by the Idyls of Theocritus through Sicilian fields, and by the Georgics of Virgil, over the vine-clad hills of Italy. The tourist of this day searches for the villas of Tully, Lucretius, Pliny, Seneca and Tibullus. The plot of ground cultivated by Cincinnatus has filled a large space in the associations of the human mind. The eager student of history pauses to examine the structure and the productions of the hanging gardens of Babylon. There have been kings, who in their voyages have hourly pulled the grape, and filled their network baskets with the lemon and the plum. They have been regaled by the flowering almond tree, and reposed under a canopy in which twisted vines laid down the pon derous melon. The heathen mythology is full of rural life. Each hill, wood, and rivulet had its rustic deity. All the district of Arcadia was alive with shepherds, and vocal with pastoral reeds. The Hesperian apples, the floral games, the festivals in honour of the seasons, the rejoicings over the vintage, the crowning of statues with garlands, their pastoral odes, show what a hold rural objects take on the human affections. The flocks, the gardens, the floral and vegetable realms had distinct, presiding divinities, besides nymphs who watched over caverns decked in evergreen. The vale of Tempe was filled with sweetness, and the sides of Parnassus were invested with deep retreats. But the influence of rural life may be seen in modern as well as in ancient poetry. All admit that pastoral poetry had an early origin; and that the art has in every age, brought a portion of its materials from rustic scenes, is equally certain. It has been debated, indeed, whether the province of the poet, lie at all beyond the objects of nature. This has been a matter of angry strife between Campbell and Bowles, but Byron* stepped in and parted the combatants. Whatever opinion we may form of this controversy, nothing is more certain than that the picturesque must exercise some influence over the mind of the poet. The muses were fond of solitude, and they who seek a coronation from them, must occasionally seek seclusion from the world, where contemplation "Plumes her feathers, and lets go her wings, That in the various bustle of resort Were all too ruffled." This contemplation leads the poet to the mossy cell, to the thicket or the lɛa, to burns and bracken glens. He wishes to interleave his name with the volume of nature, and he engraves it on the hawthorn bush, the knotted oak, the lofty palm, on the elm, or the beech tree, on the ruby flower, or the purple leaf. He thus makes a green-house of the heart, from which those russet weeds, which thicken in the hotbed of licentious passion, are kept away, as by the sword of the Cherubim. *This controversy was a logomachy. Byron undertook to decide it dogmatically. But the world cares but little for the decisions of the Byronean tribunal. This deranged man tried to hold up the poet the morality of the "Sabbath," the "Birds Grahame to scorn. Perhaps he did not like of Scotland," and " Bible Pictures." |