1 Misery of Life an Objection to the Divine Government. be proved. Who will deny that distinct expressions may be found favourable to necessity, to free-will, to general, to particular redemption, to salvation by grace and by works, to endless torments, to extinction of the being of the wicked, and to the final salvation of all men! The fundamental error seems to be, the reasoning from particular expressions, instead of the general tenour of scripture. Away, then, with all pretensions of systems founded on scripture without reason, and away with the pretensions of Calvinists, that they are more evangelical than Unitarians! SEARCH. P. S. Can there be a more pregnant instance of the vain philosophy of the Calvinists, than their whole reasoning in justification of eternal misery? Where do they find their reasoning about sin being an infinite evil, because it is committed against an infinite Being? I find no such statement in scripture; it is a mere invention, to gratify malignity, in asserting the miserable destination of man! Yet they are wise as serpents, for they know that in religion fear is more predominant than hope, and they thus obtain hearers, and gain their end! SIR, London, 15th April, 1816. WISH to call the attention of I your intelligent dents to a subject which has been thought of importance in vindication of the divine government-which is the state of human beings, as to hap piness and misery, in the present life. The late Mr. Lindsey, and inany other excellent men, have, contended that the happiness of every human being greatly exceeds his misery here; which I think, however, they have not proved. In contemplating human society, the hist consideration that offers itself is, that men, like all other animals, increase in number, or multiply much faster than their means of subsistence. This renders death a necessary occurrence in this economy, and accordingly it is calculated that not less than one fourth part of the human species perish before they be come moral agents, before four years of age. Now it cannot be doubted that many of these perish by diseases brought on by want; and what more gonizing to the paternal heart can VOL. XI. 20 277 be conceived than the observation that children are perishing through wants which they cannot supply? It is a consequence of this principle that extreme poverty must be, as we see it actually is, the lot of an immense majority of mankind. It has been suggested, as a remedy for this tremendous evil, that man should not marry. But the Christian religion strictly prohibits fornication, and we have apostolical authority for declaring that the gift of continence is not the lot of all, and it may be inferred from the practice of the world that it is the lot of very few. Take, then, the other side of this dilemma, and an is doomed either to a miserable existence, or to the violation of his duty, an existence full of misery.. We see man, then, at the first step, involved in misery by the very constitution of his nature; nor have any writers on this subject attempted to answer this argument. If any of your numerous and intelligent correspondents can answer it, I shall be glad to see it answered; for it appears with so dreadful an aspect that the statement of it is horrible. This is no modern discovery; it was not left to Wallace and Malthus and others of late date to find this out; it projects, it meets the eye, in every nation and age of the world: hence the common practice of exposing in countries.-Now let us proceed on our observations. Where extreme poverty does not press upon families, how often are the tenderest connexions broken? How assorted are often the parties in married life? And when this is otherwise, and a happy union takes place, how seldom does this state of human life, the only one that seems desirable, continue fong? Disease and death come, and the survivor is doomed to wear out a wretched life in aggravated solitude; or if there be children, anxiety attends every step to the grave, which is but too often increased by observing those children unhappy! Mr. Lindsey seems to think that those who die by their own hands being few, it is a proof that the world in general is not unhappy. But let it be considered, that in Christian countries this mode of dying is disreputable, that it involves too often the misery of survivors, and that it is thought to be a 278 On Poetical Scepticism. No H crime, and to expose to future punish ment. Reverse this, and let suicide be not disreputable, let a general conviction exist that this world ends all human feeling, and I apprehend that hundreds of thousands would thus die. I am persuaded that a great part of mankind, after the age of thirty, and many before that age, would prefer, if it were a matter of choice, annihilation to the existence they support. All that has been said about the horrors of annihilation is downright rant, as I think your able correspondent Mr. Belsham has somewhere called it, and I cannot but be astonished at what Dr. Cogan has said about the dread of annihilation amongst mankind. A careful survey of the world, I think, will soon convince us that whatever be the end of God in creating man, it is not to make him happy in this world; and I firmly believe that the balance is against the majority of human beings here. Those philosophers who said the best thing possible was never to be born, and the next best, to die the hour of one's birth-appear to me to have spoken wisely. A modern philosopher ordered to be inscribed on his tomb that he was with life contented and thankful Now I knew this philosopher, and have heard him say that he was perplexed at first how to dispose of his children, of which he unfortunately had many, until he found out an old man and woman who took them at their birth for ten pounds each and The never heard more of them! Contented and thankful! But had the children reason to be thankful? Who would not rather never have existence than purchase pleasure at such a sacrifice of humanity? I dare say that there is hot one of your correspon dents who would not prefer annihiTation to such a life as this. Hoping that some notice will be taken of these remarks, I remain, Your humble Servant, On Poetical Scepticism. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy.” SIR, HOSE who regard the peculiar as the sources of poetical delight must surely forget "original sin," which forms the basis of them all. It seems scarcely possible to link any thing which is beautiful or exalted with the belief that the heart of man is naturally corrupt, his faculties mo rally depraved, and his earliest emotions sinful. Nor does it seem an enviable creed which teaches us that the infant is "under the wrath and curse of God," when the smile first begins to dawn over its features. This doctrine is not a mere incident associated with certain noble spéculations, but easily separated from them. It is the ground-work on which the whole edifice of Calvinism is erected. Henee is deduced the emptiness of mere human virtue, the necessity of miraculous influence from above, the occasion of a vicarious sacrifice. Hence, election and reprobation, the eternal torments of hell, and the mighty spirit of evil. Those, therefore who admire the fantastic ornaments of this vast building, and rejoice in the chillness of its shadow, must be prepared to estimate also the solidity and grandeur of its foundation. And this too is something for imagination to doat upon-something to be enjoyed as a glorious vision-something for the heart to rest upon amidst the uncertainties of life! This is the faith for whose gentle consolations our reason is to be despised as worthless! For this, not only the understanding is to be laid aside, but the sweet viions of childhood, and the kindling memory of original innocence are for ever to be rendered dim. The doctrine which is the main support of the Calvinistic system disturbs the holiest spring of poetical joy. For there is no theme by which those who are blest with a true feeling of poetry are kindled into a brighter and more delicious enthusiasm than the joyousness and purity of childhood. They can remember when they wandered through this world as a fairy-land→→ when it seemed less a material thing than an enchanting vision-when they appeared hardly to tread on an earth from whose follies they were yet unsoiled. Then nature poured forth its blessings, with over-flowing mea Sure, to greet them. Then saintly thoughts, pure desires, and holy aspirations after perfection, made their first they felt the touch of sympathy, On Poetical Scepticism. No. III. tlie consciousness of belonging to a universal brotherhood, the first exercise of the benevolent and social affections. Then they walked with God as fit companions with angels. Since those happy times they have become inhabitants of a world where virtue is compelled to struggle, where joy is shaded by affliction, where experience too often chills the heart, and its fine bloom is injured by too ungentle colli sion. Yet the moments when they remember what they were are the greenest spots of their journey. In the seasons, when, as from some little eminence, they catch a glimpse of the happy scenes in which they once delighted to wander, they are filled with a delight too rapturous for smiles, and too deep even for tears. It is like the ravishment of the pilgrims on the delectable mountains, when they saw the gate of heaven from afar. This holy sympathy with ourselves in for mer times is one of the most cordial refreshments earth can afford us a feeling which can sustain us amidst toil and suffering-a pure gush of joy which we shall recognize in heaven. The recollections of early innocence and pleasure are, of all our possessions, the brightest and most lasting. Amidst the vicissitudes of fortune they will not wither, in the changes of friends they will not forsake us, in the chillness of age they will not grow cold. They will live and kindle even in our ashes. The sun of life, in its holiest decline, will throw its parting rays on the hills from which it arose, and still fondly linger over them. And these are the affections over which Calvinism casts its shadow! We are to be told that our cherished innocence was a fiction; that we were guilty even from the cradle; that our first aspirations after virtue, without doubt did partake of the pature of sin;" and that our souls were polluted at the very season when the tenderest heart earth ever knew, would have said of us "of such is the kingdom of heaven." Thus the sys tem which assumes the name of the gospel, blights our young virtues in their early blossom. It will not spare even those enchanted regions which seem fresh and glorious to us still; the only spots of life on which we can dwell with an undisturbed sense of joy. It enters them like a withered enchantress, to change their loveliness 279 into a melancholy waste, to extinguish the pure and heavenly light shed over them, and to enshroud them with a gloom relieved by nothing but a fitful gleam from beneath. Nothing surely need be said to prove the near connexion of the loftiest sublimities of poetry with the sacred feelings of childhood. The first touch of inspiration-the beautiful dawnings of fancy-the bright visions of celestial beauty-the shapes of unearthly loveliness, dimly seen the reverential awe, and the mounting hopes which nothing on earth could satisfy — are the darling treasures of genius. They are the fountain light of all its day." Perhaps a poet may almost be defined as one who possesses all those feelings of childhood with the expanded intellect of maturer years. He is one who preserves all the images of his early life in the inmost sanctu ary of his soul. The emotion of primal innocence lives for ever, as a pure flame on the altar of that holy of holies; and forms the vital principle of all his moral and intellectual being. And this true "spark of heavenly flame" it is the first object of Calvínism to extinguish ! But this is not the only way in which the doctrine of original sin strikes deadness into the heart. It teaches us that all human virtue, before conversion, is a mere shadow: because man is, in his natural state, "dead in trespasses and sins," and is, therefore, utterly incapable of any thing really excellent. All, therefore, which we have been accustomed to revere in the history of past ages, those lovely or magnificent pictures of goodness which so delightfully relieve the sad story of human frailties, must be viewed with admiration no longer. We must no more draw kindling hopes of the improvement of mankind from the noble qualities we can discern, even in savage bosoms, from the kindliness that greets us every where, from the touches of goodness by which even the worst are visited. Surely this cannot be a poetical creed. On the contrary it is the peculiar delight of a true poet to trace out the kindly emotions in the midst of their holiest seclusion, to exhibit pictures of lowly goodness on which the soul can re pose, as well as to kindle it into a sympathy and almost participation with the deeds of sublimer virtue. 280 Correction of an Error in the Life of the late Francis Well, Esq. He sees a "spirit of good even in Mr. Wordsworth arrives at this conclusion, in his "Old Cumberland Beggar," after a vein of philosophical poetry, as beautiful as ever the purest heart and the holiest imagination suggested. He takes as mean an object as the country in which his scene is laid could supply. A poor aged mendicant regularly visiting the scattered hamlets to receive alms, and traces out his importance to the general welfare, and the useful purposes for which he lives. He exhibits him as a record which binds together the memory of past charities, as impelling the villagers to good ness by the mild necessity of use," and as giving the first kind touch of sympa thy and love" to the youth amidst the mountains.---In the midst of these reflections he exclaims, "Man is dear to man ;---the poorest poor Long for some moments in a weary life When they can know and feel that they, have been Themselves the carvers, and the dealers out Of some small blessings;---have been kind to those Who needed kindness---for this single cause, That we have all of us one human heart." "Returning with invigorated heart This is finer than the finest things in Cowper. It comes over the heart with an absolute conviction of its reality; and fills it at once with a cordial love for its species. No one can read the whole of this exquisite poem, and be for the time a Calvinist. If Mr. Wilberforce should write for ages on the total corruption of man-- None of these emotions can a Calvinist enjoy; except in spite of his creed. True it is that nature, more powerful than opinion, makes him feel all these things at peculiar seasons: but his view of them is perpetually shaded by the dreary colouring of his faith; his soul is checked in the midst of its noblest impulses. Surely then that system which has its origin in a belief that man is radically corrupt, must be less an object of pleasure, even to the imagination, than one which has its foundation in the original purity of our nature, and which cherishes the grandest hopes of our future condition. The Calvinists and their sceptical allies are perpetually exhorting us not to build our religion on the cold understanding, but on the feelings and intuitions of the heart. In this case, we may triumphantly employ their own language. If there is any ground for the fond veneration with which we contemplate the mighty deeds of the times of old-if the grandest efforts of human virtue are not empty shadows-if the sweetest recollections of childhood are not mere delusionsthen is the main doctrine of Calvinism. FALSE, by how specious arguntents. soever it may be supported. Before one touch of genuine emotion from the joys of infancy--one gush of inno with the fever of the world-how do cent delight round a heart oppressed the scholastic reasonings, the ingenious quibbles, the strained constructions of scripture, by which the original guilt of man is maintained, crumble and vanish! We take our stand on the best affections of man; on the deepest of his feelings; on the most universal and deathless of his sympathies. And we trust the foundation on which we rest is not to be despised merely be-cause the understanding may be also with us. Dr. Lloyd on the Greek Article. Webb, Esq. contained in last month's Repository [p. 189-193]. This purpose will be effected, by the pb'ication of the following obliging letter, sent to me by his most intimate friend (with whom I have not the pleasure of personal acquaintance), which I have transcribed for insertion, should it suit your convenience, in the next month's Repository. THOMAS HOWE. "DEAR SIR, May 14, 1816. "As your letter to the Editor of the Monthly Repository discovers an esteem for the late Mr. Webb's character, I doubt not you will do it justice, by rectifying the mistake in your account of the Panharmonicon. This, I assure you, Sir, was delineated by him many years before he resided in Somersetshire, where his intimacy commenced with Mr. Nicholetts; and as the plate in some parts of it appeared almost obliterated, Mr. Webb was greatly obliged to that gentleman, for taking an elegant copy of the whole plate, from which the engraver performed his work. "I must also wish you to correct the mistake contained in a note. Mr. Webb was not sent on any private embassy; he went merely as Secretary to Sir Isaac Heard, who was sent to invest the Prince of Hesse with the Order of the Garter. "I flatter myself that your goodness will pardon this trouble. As your having been misinformed will appear from yourself with more propriety, in the same publication, than from any other hand, I thought it a duty due to your character, to make you this communication, several friends having already observed the mistake, and wished you to be informed of it. I am, Sir, with great respect and esteem, SIR, Your unknown friend." April 27, 1816. WING to circumstances not worth relating, I had not, till last night, observed the notice taken by Dr. Carpenter [p. 34] of my offer to publish a reply to Dr. Middleton, as far as he has applied his Doctrine of the Greek article to the Deity of Jesus Christ. Your correspondent refers me to Gregory Blunt and Winstanley, both of whom wrote before Dr. Middleton. My opinion of the former is, that his work is altogether unsatisfactory, in itself, and be 281 cause of its irrelevancy to the matured argument as stated by the Indian prelate; as well as unworthy of the illustrious scholar to whom, surely, it is falsely ascribed. I have not seen Mr. Winstanley's work, but intend to consult it, though it cannot be expected to furnish a reply to Dr. Middleton, who himself had that author in his hands when he composed his ponderous volume. The same observation applies to Dr. Carpenter's own publication, the second edition of which I have perused. A sufficient account is thus given of my having taken no notice of any answers to the "Doctrine of the Greek Article," and for my having supposed that it "maintains its triumph unopposed," and that "nothing has yet been done with effeet against it." Mr. Granville Sharp ushered forth his system in a crude form: Dr. Middleton has lopped off its unseemly and mis-shapen excrescences, and trimmed it into a measure of comeliness and favour. Although he be himfelf, atrox, truculentus, væɛgypavog, lofty and overbearing, he has justly chastised the coarseness and insufficiency of Gregory Blunt, and is, in effect, at this day, left master of the field. The orthodox pulpits very properly resound with his victory, which has been silently conceded by one side, and supported and rewarded by the other. The reviews alone have attempted to dispute his pretensions to recompense and glory, and they have done it with more good-will than success. Indeed they have oppugned his general doctrine, which is irrefutable, while they have left its application to the support of the Deity of Christ unassailed. The first is of no perceptible value; the last is big with the most important consequence to Christian verity. The one derives all its consequence from the other, and, without its connexion with it, would never, probably, have been undertaken. Affectation of contempt for the argument has been assumed; but it is evidently assumed for want of better resource, and never has affectation been more misplaced. I am neither ashamed nor afraid to confess that if the application of the "Doctrine" to the Deity of Christ cannot be satisfactorily disproved, that Deity is established as an object of apostolic faith. Yet, while I believe that the "Doctrine" |