his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover; and when he was twelve years old they went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast." The writer here represents Jesus when he was forty days old as being carried by his parents from Nazareth, their own city, up to Jerusalem, and returning to Nazareth, and from thence, annually, for twelve successive years, going up to Jerusalem to the passover; and in chap. iv. 14, 16, Luke tells us that Jesus returned from the wilderness into Galilee," and he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up." We have here therefore, the whole of the life of Jesus, for the first twelve years, accounted for as spent with his parents at Nazareth, leaving no possible period for the flight into Egypt; whereas the writer of the story in Matthew states, that he was born at Bethlehem, that from thence they went into Egypt, and continued there till after the death of Herod, who sought his life. Now two stories, so inconsistent with each other, cannot possibly be, both of them, true.

I might add, that if the massacre of the children of Bethlehem by the direction of Herod had been a fact, it is extremely improbable that neither Josephus, who wrote the Life of Herod, nor any other contemporary writer should mention so remarkable a circumstance.

With respect to historic fact. If it be sufficiently ascertained, as I think it is, by incontrovertible testimony, that Jesus was not born till after the death of Herod, then the whole of the stories related in the two first chapters of Matthew must be false and spurious.

Again, the birth of Jesus with the circumstances attending it, as record ed in the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, are inconsistent with the language of the New Testament, which represents Jesus as being of Nazareth, but never of Bethlehem. He is called Jesus of Nazareth about twenty times in the New Testament. Peter on the day of Pentecost, speaking as the Holy Spirit gave him utterance, calls him Jesus of Nazareth. The angels at his sepulchre call him Jesus of Nazareth. He calls himself so when he appeared to Paul as he was going to Damascus; and his apostles wrought their miracles in the name of Jesus of

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Nazareth. Had Jesus been indeed born at Bethlehem is it possible that the sacred writers should so invariably speak of him as being of Nazareth? From any thing recorded in the New Testament it does not appear that Jesus himself, his apostles, or his historians knew any thing of his miraculous conception and birth at Bethlehem ; there is not any where in the preaching or letters of the apostles the most distant allusion to them; and this is the more extraordinary if they were attended with such singular circumstances, and were the fulfilment of prophecies respecting him, as they are said to be by the writer of the two first chapters of Matthew's Gospel.

It is true, the Jews seem to have had a tradition amongst them, that the Christ was to come out of Bethlehem, and his enemies, who disputed his claims, are represented as saying, John vii. 41, 42, "Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?'" And in another place, "Out of Galilee ariseth no prophetCan any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Is it not strange, if Jesus and his historians knew that he was born at Bethlehem, that they should in no instance have corrected this mistaken idea, that he was a Galilean, and refuted the argument founded on it to prove that he could not be the Christ, by stating, that in fact he was not of Nazareth in Galilee; but that he did indeed come out of Bethlehem? On the contrary, they every where assert, that he was of Nazareth.

The above passage, 1 believe, is the only one in the New Testament in which Bethlehem is so much as mentioned, excepting those in the beginning of Matthew and Luke where it repeatedly occurs. But

Fourthly. This matter is put beyond all possible doubt, if Mr. Jones is right (as I think he is), in his translation of Luke iii. 23,-“ And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (really) as he was thought to be, the son of Joseph." I shall not transcribe his criticisms on the construction of the Greek of this passage, but only the conclusion he draws from them. "It is therefore a

fact," says he, "beyond reasonable contradiction, that Luke here asserts, that Jesus was thought to be the son of Joseph, and was so in truth; and thus by one single unequivocal expression, he has set aside the story of his miraculous birth as false, and the two disputed chapters as a forgery of a subsequent period." See Sequel, p. 241. Note.

Thus, Sir, I have laid before you the steps by which I have arrived at my present views, and hope they will be as satisfactory to your correspondent as they are to myself. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. JOHN MARSOM.

which Franklin translates, The happiest fate of man is not to be ; And next in bliss is he who soon as born, From the vain world and all its sorrows free,

Shall whence he came with speediest foot

return.

With which may be compared Potter's version:

Not to be born is Heav'n's first grace,
If born, extinguish'd soon the vital flame;
Back to return from whence it came,
Is heav'n's next blessing to man's wretch-

ed race.

I am here reminded of a note in Wakefield's Matthew, 4to. p. 367, on the Case of Judas (xxv. 24). That scriptural critic, who brought his various learning, as a glad offering to the Sanctuary of Religion, remarks on the expression had not been born, that it is "a proverbial sentence, meaning in general that this action would be attended by very calamitous consequences to the criminal." He adds, citing a couplet from the Greek Epigrams, that "it is common for unhappy people to wish that they had never been born;" and subjoins from Maimonides (Mor. Nev. i 32, Buxtorf) this Jewish sentence, "Whoever does not spare the glory of his Creator, it were better for him not to have come into the world."

It is remarkable that Mr. Wakefield, who has here qualified the force of the phrase, had not been born, appears to have forgotten that at p. 361, of the same work, (on Matt. xxv. 46) he had taken it strictly as an argument against the hypothesis of the final happiness of the wicked," which he, with evident reluctance, concludes to be "unscriptural, because then, in no instance, can it be better for a man never to have been born: a case, which the N. T. not only supposes, but exemplifies”—aliquando bonus dormitat. Gilbert Wakefield (of whom I had some knowledge) had considered the divine attributes and the perfectability of man with too much attention to have easily become a consistent advocate for the dreary doctrine of human destruction.

R. B.

American Proclamation of a Fast-Day.

[It is perhaps to be regretted that in any country, Religion should be associated with War, which is seldom

solution of the two houses, have signified a request that a day may be recommended, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity, as a day of Public Humiliation and Prayer; and where as in times of public calamity, such as that of the war, brought on the United States by the injustice of a foreign government, it is especially becoming, that the hearts of all should be touched with the same, and the eyes of all be turned to that Almighty Power, in whose hand are the welfare and destiny of nations: I do, therefore, issue this my proclamation, recommending to all who shall be piously disposed, to unite their hearts and voices in addressing, at one and the same time, their vows and adoratious to the great Parent and Sovereign of the Universe, that they assemble on the second Thursday of September next, in their respective religious congregations, to render him thanks for the many blessings he has bestowed on the people of the United States; that he has blessed them with a land capable of yielding all the necessaries and requisites of human life, with ample means for convenient exchanges with foreign countries; that he has blessed the labours employed in its cultivation and improvement; that he is now blessing the exertions to extend and establish the arts and manufactures, which will secure within ourselves supplies too important to remain dependent on the precarious policy, or the peaceable dispositions of other nations; and particularly that he has blessed the United States with a political constitution, founded on

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the will and authority of the whole people, and guaranteeing to each individual security, not only of his person and his property, but of those sacred rights of conscience, so essential to his present happiness and so dear to his future hopes-that with those expressions of devout thankfulness be joined supplications to the same Almighty Power, that he would look down with compassion on our infirmities, that he would pardon our manifold transgressions, and awaken and strengthen in all the wholesome purposes of repentance and amendment; that in this season of trial and calamity, he would preside in a particular manner over our public coun

love of their country, and with those fraternal affections, and that mutual confidence, which have so happy a tendency to make us safe at home and respected abroad; and that, as he was graciously pleased, heretofore, to smile on our struggles against the attempts of the government of the empire of which these states then made a part, to wrest from them the rights and privileges to which they were entitled in common with every other part, and to raise them to the station of an independent and sovereign people; so he would now be pleased, in like manner, to bestow his blessing on our arms in resisting the hostile and persevering efforts of the same power to degrade us on the ocean, the common inheritance of all, from rights and immunities, belonging and essential to the American people, as a co-equal member of the great community of independent nations; and that, inspiring our enemies with moderation, with justice, and with that spirit of reasonable accommodation, which our country has continued to manifest, we may be enabled to beat our swords into ploughshares, and to enjoy in peace, every man,the fruits of his honest industry and the rewards of his lawful enterprise. If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy the favourable regard of the holy and omniscient Being to whom it is addressed, it must be that in which those who join in it are guided only by their free choice, by the impulse of their hearts and the dictates of their consciences, and such a spectacle must be interesting to all Christian nations;

Now it is clear, that in addition to the faculty of reason, he who forms this link in the immeasurable chain, must possess the power of deliberating and choosing between two contrary modes of action, (call it freewill, or being influenced by motives, or by whatever other name you please) for otherwise he could not be deemed an accountable creature, or gain those permanent habits by a long series of conscientious self-government and virtuous exertion, which are requisite for the formation of a finished character, and essential to his being fitted for heavenly happiness.

If it should be inquired, why man was not originally endowed with such superior faculties as should have effectually preserved him from every sinful deviation-with views so just and extended of his duty to God and his own happiness, as should have led him unerringly forward in the plain tranquil paths of piety and virtue? it is obvious to reply, that this in fact would be to inquire why such a creature as man should ever have been formed. Besides, had he been created impeccable, without the possibility of transgressing, or even had he been placed in a situation where the temptations to transgress were less frequent and less powerful, he might indeed have remained innocent, but could hardly have been called virtuous; and although his existence might still have been a blessing, yet surely not a blessing compared with his, who "by patient continuance in well doing," has at length formed a character which may in some measure be deemed his own; and who has thereby become fitted, through the infinite mercy of God, for "honour, glory and immortality." How do we know that the previous discipline arising from great imperfection within, and multiplied temptations from without, may not have been indispensable to the attainment of that firmness and stability of virtue, which the future exalted stations to which such happy persons will be promoted, may absolutely require? We know who it was that was made perfect

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through suffering. And it may be true, for any thing we know to the contrary, that every order of created being from feeble man to the glorious Archangel that stands before the the throne of the Most High; may all of them have previously passed through a scene of probation; or, in other words, may from very small beginnings have made continual advances from one degree of perfection to another.

But be this as it may, in respect to ourselves at least, that this is actually the fact, is suggested by reason, and amply confirmed by revelation. If the amiable, diligent child will eventually become the intelligent, virtuous man, is it probable, is it at all analogous to what we certainly do or may know of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God, that when the man thus disciplined and prepared, shall have fully attained to all the wisdom and all the knowledge of which in this mortal state he is capable; when the great object of his life, it may be for a series of succeeding years, shall have been to devote himself faithfully to the service of God and the good of his fellow-creatures; that, at the very moment when these rare endowments, obtained with so much labour, and fostered with so much care, appear to have formed a complete habit, that they should then in an instant be for ever extinguished; lost and eternally buried in the silence of the tomb?-Most happily, however, for the sincere believer in the gospel of Christ, what reason intimates and piety most fervently desires, revelation demonstratively confirms. There we are fully apprized that the present life is but the seedtime of human being, that "whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap," and that those who overcome the temptations to sin, shall finally attain " the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord."

But the interesting, important question will be asked, If those only who are Christians in deed, as well as in name, shall attain to this blessedness, what must be the portion, not alone of the incorrigibly wicked, but of the myriads on myriads in every age and in every country who unhappily fall far below this Christian standard; and this, through all the various stages of imperfection from mere harmlessness,