Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

572

Memoir of Mr. William Mathews.

longer. The sands of life must soon be run. This consideration, with the removal of almost all the friends of my early life (dear Joseph Woods excepted), powerfully admonish me to prepare for the final allotment! Whenever, in Divine wisdom, which is ever connected with Divine goodness, it shall arrive, I expect to find it an awful period and but for the hopes of Divine mercy, how unspeakably awful would it be !

"I cannot after long and most serious meditation venture to place salvation to the account of "the meritorious blood of the atonement," about which 1 hear so much continually from different professors. No! Convicted I stand, as well as many of them, of great unworthiness, and that nothing short of the Divine mercy can cancel the demerits of a life of infirmities and transgressions! But I cannot (and I humbly trust I ought not so to do) seck a covering, however sacred in its character, which the wise and humble of all antient generations knew nothing of. The broad and sacred foundation of the mercy of God, humbly implored, was the foundation of prophets and apostles; and though Jesus Christ became the chief corner stone of the spiritual building, in his universal church, yet was the foundation never changed, nor can it change, for ever and ever! The testimony of all the gospels proclaim in substance this; the testimony of the blessed Jesus abundantly confirms the doctrine. Of all the enthusiasm which has prevailed among Christian professors, surely the orthodox artificial system of salvation is the most unaccountable. But of these things we have too long reflected with reverence, to have any disagreement."

It seems, however, that a rumour had been circulated among the Quakers, that he had at length seen and confessed his errors, and sought to be reunited to their Church. Under this impression, a respectable member of the Society wrote to inquire whether such was the fact. His reply is as follows:

"Bath, Aug. 19, 1815. "Esteemed Friend, "I received thy letter of the 16th, and am obliged by thy frank inquiries. I shall answer them very briefly. From the time I published my " Ex

planatory Appeal," to the present day (now thirty years), I am not conscious of having changed one religious opinion. Certainly no person could report with truth, that I had applied for re-admission into the Society of Friends. Membership in any particular society is of small account to me. I sometimes attend the meetings of Friends, because I love their simplicity and silence: but I would not join any society under heaven which holds or favours the doctrine of a Trinity of Gods! or that does not explicitly declare its belief in the plain Scripture doctrine of One God, and of Jesus Christ his Son, as the created and sent of the Father, deriving all power from him.

"With respect to that excellent Christian, Hannah Barnard, I continue to think she was shamefully treated. "With best respects, though personally unknown, I remain thy sincere friend, WILLIAM Mathews."

He

As the autumn approached, his infirmities gradually increased; but he was able to attend the funeral of his aged and venerable friend, Mr. Elijah Waring, at Witney, in the latter part of November. From this time his health still more rapidly declined, and very much disabled him from discharging the duties of an executor to Mr. Waring's will. He was however not confined to his chamber but a few days, and died at his house in Grosvenor Buildings, Bath, on the 12th of April, leaving only one daughter, and his grandson above-mentioned. was universally esteemed by all who had the happiness of being well acquainted with his worth, and most by those who knew him best. His funeral was attended by many members of the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, as well as by many members of the Society of Friends, and others of his acquaintance, out of sincere respect to his memory. I cannot perhaps close this memoir better than by annexing to it some elegant lines which Mr. Mathews wrote without intending them for the public eye; but as they afford so just and pleasing a picture of a pious mind calmly viewing the near approach of that change, which is destined to waft the whole human race to the shores of eternity, I would not withhold them from your readers. They were “oe

Letter from the late Bishop of Llandaff.

casioned by the sudden fading of an avenue of lime trees, (behind the author's residence,) in the autumn of

1815."

"Ye russet shades, which late were seen
Array'd in summer's cheerful green,
Alas, how chang'd your hue!
Your verdant vesture now no more
Can charm the solitary hour,

So brown and cheerless you!

And yet methinks your ev'ry tree
Stands emblematical of me,

Fast with'ring to decay;
This awful diff'rence still appears
You'll renovate in future years,
Soon comes my latest day!
Such is the lot of feeble man,
Of time, prescribed a little span
More wise and good to grow,
But to direct his course aright,
His Maker gives of gracious light,
An intellectual flow!

And, lo! th' unheeded sacred page
Proclaims aloud, from age to age,

A great and glorious theme;
Good men, with new celestial breath,
Shall triumph o'er the bed of death,
And rise to bliss supreme!

Then let me ne'er at death repine,
But, bless'd with power and grace
diviae,

(As fleeting hours decrease) Improve each solemn day and night, In humble hope of vision bright,

And pure eternal peace!
Peace underiv'd from works of time,
Or mental means, howe'er sublime,
Unsanctified by heav'n;

The boon is mercy most entire,
To crown our deep devout desire,

In heav'nly goodness giv'n!
Let then, glad hosts of men and angels

bring Their hallow'd incense, sweet, and Hallelujah sing."

T. F.

[blocks in formation]

573

[blocks in formation]

Letter, &c. on the Doctrine of Jesus, by an Eminent American Statesman. [We have received a packet of valuable cominunications from a venerable Correspondent in America, of which the following is a part. No. I. is an introductory Letter by our Correspondent, who adopts the signature which he affixed to Letters on the Life of Servetus, in our Fifth Volume. Nos. II. and III. are a Letter and Syllabus, by an eminent American Statesman, whose name we are not at liberty to mention, but who will probably be recognized by such of our readers as are acquainted with the characters of the leading men in the American revolution. Other communications from our valuable Transatlantic Correspondent will follow.

SIR,

ED.]

No. 1. Oldenburneveld, S. of New York, July 1, 1816.

an

PLEASED with the liberal plan which you have adopted in your Repository, I deem it a duty to contribute to its success, as far as my retirement will permit. The only thing I regret, is, that I find it not more generally encouraged. Every lover of truth is interested in its success; and a fair defence of any reprobated opinion ought to meet equally ready admittance, as an unadorned exposition of what is reputed a revelation from heaven. The truth of the gospel doctrine is built on a rock, and cannot want the feeble or crafty support of frail men; and infidelity will blush, when, struck by its native purity and lustre, it discovers that its darts were aimed at human inventions only. Perhaps you will not disagree with me, that infidels, moderns as well as ancients, have in their most virulent and artful attacks

574

Letter, c. on the Doctrine of Jesus.

upon the religion of Jesus, done less injury to it, than its reputed friends by bigotry and false zeal. It is from this conviction that I have long wished to see the uncontrovertible facts of the gospel history placed in one lucid point of view, and in a similar manner the gospel doctrine fully explained, without the smallest mixture of any controverted tenet, or even the incidental admission of or allusion to any one, embraced by any Christian sect; and, this solid basis having once been adopted by friend and foe, the discussion might gradually proceed to collateral topics.

In this mood I was gratified with the perusal of a letter and sketch, which bear the stamp of candour and that of profound research. He would deserve well of his country, and the gospel doctrine, could he find leisure to execute the plan, whose outlines he so masterly delineated. But, accept it as it is. There are I hope many in your happy isle equal to this task. In this question is a Churchman as much interested as a Dissenter; and he, who shall have accomplished it, will have done more in defence of the religion of Jesus, than a host of well-meaning though misguided apologists.

DEAR SIR,

No. II.

SINCERUS..

In some of the delightful conversations with you in the evenings of 1798 and 1799, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and then I promised you that, one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others, ascribing to himself all human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other. At the intervals since these conversations, when I could justifiably abstract myself from other affairs, this subject has been under my contemplation but the more I

considered it, the more it expanded beyond the measure of either my time or information. In the moment of setting out on a late journey, I received from Dr. Priestley his little treatise of "Socrates and Jesus Compared." This being a section of the general view I had taken of the field, it became a subject of reflection, while on the road, and unoccupied otherwise. The result was, to arrange in my mind a syllabus or outline of such an estimate of the comparative merits of Christianity, as I wished to see executed by some one of more leisure and information for the task than myself. This I now send you, as the only discharge of my promise I can probably ever execute; and in confiding it to you, I know it will not be exposed to the malignant perversions of those, who make of every work on the subject of religion a text for misrepresentations and calumnies. I am moreover averse to the communication of my religious tenets to the public, because it would countenance the presumption of those who have endeavoured to draw them before that tribunal, and to seduce public opinion to erect itself into that inquisition over the rights of conscience, which the laws have so justly prescribed. It behoves every man, who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; it behoves him too, in his own case, to give no example of concession, betraying the common right of independent opinion, by answering questions of faith, which the laws have left between God and himself.

To Mr.

CRITO.

No. III. Syllabus of an Estimate of the Doctrine · of Jesus, compared with those of

others.

In a comparative view of the ethics of the enlightened nations of antiquity, of the Jews and of Jesus, no notice should be taken of the corruptions of reason among the ancients, to wit, the idolatry and superstition of their vulgar, nor of the corruptions of Christianity by the overlearned among its professors.

Let a just view be taken of the moral principles inculcated by the most esteemed of the sects of ancient philosophy, or of their individuals,

Letter, c. on the Doctrine of Jesus.

575

particularly Pythagoras, Socrates, disinterested, and of the sublimest Epicurus, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, eloquence.

Antoninus.

I. PHILOSOPHERS. 1. Their precepts related chiefly to ourselves and the government of those passions, which, unrestrained, would disturb our tranquillity of mind. In this branch of philosophy they were really great.

2. In developing our duty to others they were short and defective: they embraced indeed the eircles of kindred and friends, and inculcated patriotism, or the love of our country, in the aggregate, as a primary obligation; towards our neighbours and countrymen they taught justice, but scarcely viewed them as within the circle of benevolence; still less have they inculcated peace, charity and love to all our fellow-men, or embraced with benevolence the whole family of mankind.

II. JEWS.

1. Their system was Deism, that is, the belief in one only God, but their ideas of him and his attributes were degrading and injurious.

2. Their ethics were not only imperfect, but often irreconcileable with the sound dictates of reason and morality, as they respect intercourse with those around us.

III. JESUS.
In this state of things among the
Jews, Jesus appeared.

con

His parentage was obscure ; his dition poor; his education null; his natural endowments great.

His life correct and innocent; he was meek, benevolent, patient, firm,

To explain, I will exhibit the heads of Seneca and Cicero's Philosophical works, the most extensive of any we have

received from the ancients. Of ten heads in Seneca seven relate to ourselves, de Ira, Consolatio, de Tranquillitate, de Constantia Sapientis, de Otio Sapientis, de Vita Beata, de Brevitate Vita. Two relate to others, de Clementia, de Beneficiis; and one

relates to the government of the world, de Providentia. Of eleven tracts of Cicero, five respect ourselves, viz. de Finibus, Tusculana, Academica, Paradoxa, de Senectute. One, de Officiis, partly to ourselves, partly to others. One, de Amicitia, relates to others, and four are on different subjects, to wit, de Natura Deorum, de Divinatione, de Fato, and Somnium Scipionis.

The disadvantages under which his doctrine appear are remarkable.

1. Like Socrates and Epictetus he wrote nothing himself.

2. But he had not like them a

Xenophon or Arrian to write for him. On the contrary, all the learned of his country, entrenched in its power and riches, were opposed to him, lest his labours should undermine their advantages. And the committing to writing his life and doctrines fell on the most unlettered and ignorant of men, who wrote too from memory, and not till long after the transactions had passed.

3. According to the ordinary fate of those, who attempt to enlighten and reform mankind, he fell an early victim to the jealousy and combination of the altar and the throne at about thirty-three years of age, his reason having not yet attained the maximum of its energy; nor the course of his preaching, which was but of about three years, presented occasions of developing a complete system of moral duties.

4. Hence the doctrines, which he really delivered, were defective as a whole, and fragments only of what he did deliver, have come to us, mutilated, misstated, and often unintelligible.

5. They have been still more disfigured by the corruptions of schismatising followers, who have found an interest in sophisticating and perverting the simple doctrines he taught, by engrafting on them the mysticisms of a Grecian sophist, frittering them into subtleties, and obscuring them with jargon, until they have caused good men to reject the whole in disgust, and to view Jesus himself as an impostor.

Notwithstanding these disadvantages, a system of morals is presented to us, which, if filled up in the true style and spirit of the rich fragments he left us, would be the most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught by man.

The question of his being a member of the Godhead, or, in direct communication with it, claimed for him by some of his followers, and denied by others, is foreign to the present view, which is merely an estimate of the intrinsic merit of his doctrincs.

576

Narrative of a celebrated Auto de Fé in the City of Logrono.

1. He corrected the Deism of the Jews, confirming them in their belief of one only God, and giving them juster notions of his attributes and government.

2. His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were more pure and perfect than those of the most correct of the philosophers, and greatly more so than those of the Jews. And they went far beyond both in inculcating universal philanthropy, not only to kindred and friends, to neighbours and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering all into one family, under the bonds of love, charity and peace, common wants

and common aids. A developement of this head will evince the peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all others.

3. The precepts of philosophy and of the Hebrew code laid hold of actions only. He pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head.

4. He taught emphatically the doctrine of a future state, which was doubted or disbelieved by the Jews, and wielded it with efficacy as an important incentive; supplementary to the other motives to moral conduct.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

Narrative of a celebrated Auto de Fé, in

the City of Logrono.

[That the following Narrative may not be suspected of having been coJoured by Protestant prejudice, we think it right to preface it, by an extract from the private letter of our Correspondent, who will, we trust, excuse this freedom. "I am not at all sure that the enclosed deserves a place in the Monthly Repository; but I think I can promise you that what is meant to follow, will have more that is extraordinary and interesting—if it be interesting to trace the extravagancies, the worse than extravagancies, of the human character. The deeds of the inquisition have usually been narrated by its enemies: this is its own authorized official narrative. The documents I examined had been scrutinized with the utmost care, and every individual sentence was marked with the rubric of one of the inquisitors. They were signed by the different individuals who were employed in the commission, and addressed, I think, to the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, Dr. B. de Sandobal y Rojas, who was at that time at the head of the holy office." ED.]

IN N the most illustrious period of the literary annals of Spain (the beginning of the 17th century), an ecclesiastical commission was sent by the holy office to celebrate an au o de fe in the city of Logrono. The writer of the present article has had an opportunity of examining the original documents of its proceedings (is they escaped from the archives of the inquí

sition in the confusion accompanying the late invasion of Spain), and he can vouch for the general correctness of the following narrative.

The extirpation of witchcraft was the main object of this religious embassy; but it was commissioned to extend its fearful power to every thing in the shape of heresy. An account of its proceedings was printed in 1611 by a zealous Catholic, "desirous (as he informs his readers) that they being aware of the iniquities of the devilish sect of witches," may “watch over the safety of their houses and families." The Cortes, who saw that to unmask spiritual tyranny would be to subdue it, encouraged a re-publication of the pamphlet (of which four editions have been printed); but bigotry has now succeeded in consigning it to temporary oblivion. The writer, however, has the pleasure of knowing that inany of the MSS. containing the official narratives of the foul and ferocious deeds of the inquisition have escaped from its dark and secret chambers. They are lodged in security, and will one day instruct and shame the world.

The relation of the proceedings of the Logrono commission is prepared by the recommendation of a Franciscan friar, who says that "the book contains nothing against our holy religion and good Christian customs,” (intimating of course that to torture and burn heretics is a very good Christ ian custom"), "but on the contrary, what is very true and necessary to be told to all the faithful, to undeceive the deceits of Satan.”

[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinua »