Mrs. Cappe on the ultimate Perfection and Happiness of Mankind.

of character to the sad extremes of profligacy and vice? Alas, shall they all perish for ever? Or where and how must the line of demarcation be drawn? On this subject, reason has but little to depose, and the page of revelation is not explicit. Of this, however, we may rest assured, though it is not for us to know the times and the seasons, that the judge of all the earth will do right. But if we have no data from which to reason accurately, and no explicit declaration from scripture, perhaps from analogy some little information may be derived on this perplexing subject, remembering, however, that in the region of conjecture, even when aided by this borrowed light, we ought always to proceed, if not with timid, yet with wary, cautious steps.

If then it is highly probable, as we
have seen, that in the various orders
of beings superior to man, the ascent
above him should be regular and gra-
dual, in like manner as we see the de-
scent below him, and especially if it
be requisite that all must equally pass
through a state of probation before
they are fitted for durable, complete
happiness; may it not be, that those
who have not duly improved the op-
portunities of the present state, may
be destined to occupy some of those
intermediate stages in a future life in
which greater and more severe disci-
pline may be employed to remove the
deep stains of guilt; contracted, not
merely by ignorance and folly, but
by pride, sensuality, ambition, cruel-
ty and revenge?

In corroboration of this suggestion
it may be observed, that every thing
we see or witness around us, whether
in the material, the vegetable, the
animal, or the intellectual creation,
are parts of one great whole, evi-
dently subservient to each other, and
working together (as we continually
more clearly perceive in proportion to
our advancement in knowledge) for
the greater good of all. In this world
nothing is of itself complete; and from
analogy may we not conclude that,
as the whole universe is equally de-
pendent upon the great Creator and
Sovereign Lord of all, the same ge-
neral law extends to other systems
and other worlds, and that all have
a mutual relation to, and act and re-
act upon each other? In fact, we are
certain, that in respect of the general

laws of which we have any knowledge,
this mutual subserviency does actually
take place. We know that the same
sun which gives light and heat and
animates the principle of vegetation
in our little planet, dispenses in like
manner similar advantages and bless-
ings to other planetary worlds, which
like our own, move around him; that
the ebbing and flowing tides of the
ever-changing ocean are regulated by
the immediate influence of the friend-
ly satellite, which monthly completes
her revolution around its shores, and
which may probably in her turn be
curiously connected with and depend-
ent upon our globe for multiplied
phenomena essential to her welfare,
of which we have no knowledge. We
perceive likewise that even the fixed
stars which illuminate immeasurable
space, and are probably so many suns
that like our own dispense light and
heat to systems of revolving worlds,
do not refuse their friendly assistance,
notwithstanding their inconceivable
distance, to the bewildered mariner,
who, without their aid, would infal
libly perish.

What then is God? How trans-
cendantly glorious is the small glimpse
we thus transiently obtain of Him,
"in whom, and through whom and
to whom are all things!" Well might
the pious psalmist of antiquity ex-
claim, "Whither shall I go from thy
spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend up to heaven
thou art there, if I make my bed in
hades behold thou art there! If I
take the wings of the morning and
remain in the uttermost parts of the
sea, even there shall thine hand lead
me, and thy right hand shall hold
me!" Of what infinite importance it
is that we should desire above all
things to impress this great truth up-
on our minds, and should make it our
most ardent endeavour to live always
as in his sight!

If it be indeed true, that God is every where, at all times present, what a subject of alarm to the impenitently wicked! What a source of trust and confidence and consolation and triumph, to the godly and upright! Surely, Mr. Editor, Unitarians beyond all others, they who profess a purer Christianity, should especially labour to cultivate this devotional spirit; they, whose belief is so simple and sublime; so perfectly

Passage of Mr. Rymer's in the Council of the Trinity.

consonant to all the grand and strik. ing phenomena they see around them; so wholly unmixed with metaphysical subtleties and scholastic contradictions, should be anxiously solicitous, in humble obedience to the solemn injunctions of their divine Master," to let their light so shine before men," that others seeing their incorruptible integrity, their exemplary piety, their courage in refusing to be conformed to this world, its delusive maxims and its unhallowed, dissipated pursuits, their unbounded Christian benevolence, ever ready to join in every good work and labour of love, should thence be more power fully stimulated to glorify their father who is in heaven!"

May we indeed hope to see the happy day when the superior excellence of Unitarian practice shall perfectly harmonize with the superior purity of Unitarian faith? And that the Monthly Repository may have the distinguished honour of contributing towards this glorious result, is the ardent wish of a sincere friend, and constant reader,

T appears suitable to your design of connecting Theology and Lite rature, to notice in works, where they might not have been expected, any hints of a theological complexion. With this view I offer you the following passages:

Mr. Rymer, Historiographer to King William, who appears to have been well versed in polite literature, but is now chiefly known by his great Collection of the Fadera, wrote on the Antiquity, Power and Decay of Parliaments," in the form of a Letter, published in 1714, a few months after the author's decease. Having described an "artificial mixed sort of government that always has obtained in Europe, and that which all, in some manner or other, with more or less success and perfection, have tended to as the centre and only place of rest," he says, p. 9,

"The first writers among us had their imaginations so overborne with the excellency of kingly government, that they fancied in heaven Jupiter to be the King of the Gods. And yet they thought the Common Council so necessary and essential, that

83

Homer represents even Jupiter, upon a great occasion, calling his ev ayogy, his Parliament of the Gods." The author then adds the passage for which I have quoted him:

"I have heard Divines observe something of this kind, as figured of God Almighty from those words, Let' us make man. Those words, in the plural number, to them seemed to import, as if God summoned a Parliament of the Trinity, to consult upon that arduous affair. Our Christian Poets have taken the same liberty, and fancied this, as an image of greatness, where could be no accession to the Wisdom and Omnipotence."

Mr. Rymer has at least insinuated his doubts of the popular Theology, on a very important point, by this manner of referring to it. He might, I apprehend, have quoted several Christian Poets, who had thus indulged in theological as well as poetical licence. I conjectured at first, that Milton was in his thoughts. Yet on refreshing my recollection, by a reference to Paradise Lost, I find the author, to be no Trinitarian, but what, for distinction, has been denominated a high Arian.

I am not aware that throughout ment of what has been called the disthat Poem there is any acknowledgetinct personality of a Holy Spirit, or any thing beyond a subordinate Deity attributed to the Son, the filial Godhead, who goes forth to the work of creation (B. vii.) in paternal glory. stead of introducing a Trinity, sings On the creation of man the poet, in

It is a later poet, Young, who, somewhere in his prose works, infers the dignity of man from the whole Trinity having been employed in his creation. Young's theological ideas were indeed so gross, that in the Night Thoughts he describes the Crucifixion as

Expended Deity, on human weal;
and ranks this as principal among

the great truths, which burst the
tenfold night
Of Heathen error, with a golden flood
Of endless day.

As if a dying God or, as he quaintly sings, an expended Deity had been a novelty to Heathens, who could have referred the Christian poet to their Jupiter's tomb.

Well might a theologian of such a wide swallow complain, as Young does at the commencement of the Centaur, that "Socinus, like our infidels, was one of a narrow throat;" thus also discovering the ignorance or injustice too common with the reputed Orthodox, on such subjects. Yet could Young be really ignorant that a Bishop of St. David's, not a Burgess, had recommended, in a Charge to his Clergy, the work of Socinus, de auctoritate sacre scripturæ, as a valuable performance, and that a Clerrgyman had published a translation of the work, dedicated to Queen Caroline, under the title of a Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion. I have now before me the 2nd edition, 1732.

Jan. 27, 1816, MONG the Say Papers, in your AVON 493, is an account in one of Mrs. Shepherd's letters, of a Jubilee celebrated at Stockholm in 1717, on the 2nd Centenary of the Reformation, which was considered as commenced by Luther, when "on the eve of All Saints, in 1517, he affixed on the Church adjoining the Castle of Wittemberg his Thesis containing thirty-five Propositions against Indulgencies, challenging any one to oppose them either by writing or public disputation." That this Jubilee was, at least partially, observed in England, appears from a published Sermon, entitled,

"The Duty of Reformation. Set forth in a Sermon, preached at St. James's, in the Chapel of his late Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark, on the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 1717. On occasion of the Jubilee, kept about this time, by some Protestant Churches, in remembrance of the Reformation begun two hundred years ago. By Anthony William Boehm, Chaplain to his late Royal Highness. London. 1718."

The name Jubilee has been rendered almost contemptible, in this country, by the servile purposes of courtly adulation, to which, not many years ago, it was applied. Otherwise a re

ligious Jubilee may be not unworthily celebrated by those who shall survive to the now approaching third Centenary of the Reformation, an event, to be valued not so much for the state of things it immediately produced, as for that which it has occasioned.

The door, opened by Luther, to free inquiry in religion, can now no more be shut than the gates of the poet which barred the passage out of Chaos. Notwithstanding a transient obscurity the light will surely shine unto the perfect day. Nor can I forbear to apostrophize the persecutor in the sublime language of the Bard, Fond impious man think'st thou yon sanguine cloud,

Rais'd by thy breath, bas quench'd the
orb of day?

To-morrow he repairs the golden flood
And warms the nations with redoubled ray.

It will probably be the admiration of posterity that modern statesmen should have given themselves credit for having secured the repose of Europe while they have united Tros Rutulusve-Papist, Protestant, and Greek, to restore that spiritual domi

nation which had sunk into insignificance under the genius of Napoleon, but which for ages before had continually embroiled the world. Dagon is indeed again set on his pedestal, yet, I trust, his mutilations can never be repaired.

MONG the many laudable ef

forts now making to decrease what I must take the liberty of calling idolatry, and to increase the number of Unitarian Christians, I have sometimes been a little surprised, that it has not hitherto been thought of sufficient importance to make the road more generally easy for the members of the Established Church. It is well known that great numbers of them are highly dissatisfied with much of what they there meet with-with the Trinity-with their creeds-with the length of their services-and with the frequent repetitions in the same service. Notwithstanding all these solid objections, however, it is equally well known, that but few of them can be prevailed upon to quit "the Church" for "the Meeting-house," where the minister prays, not in a

Plans recommended to Unitarian Dissenters.

85

CONGRATULATE you and the friends of uncorrupted Christianity on the proposal for publishing a uniform and complete edition of Dr. Priestley's Theological Works. The editor (our much-respected friend, Mr. Rutt) is richly entitled to the thanks of the Unitarian public. It is evident, from the proposed mode of publication, that the only objects he can have in view in entering upon so laborious an undertaking are the pro

P. S. Although we have lately heard nothing of the plan for forming Unitarians into a more compact body, so important an object is, I trust, in progress.

Christianity, and of erecting an honourable and lasting monument to the memory of one of the best Christians and greatest philosophers of the age wi

Looking forward to this publication with much pleasure (though, I confess, not altogether unmixed with anxiety, lest the expense of the undertaking should prevent many warm friends to the cause from giving it their support) I beg leave particularly

* A friend of mine, conversant with

the expenses of publishing, tells me that a volume of the same bulk with that proposed for the Works (which will cost the subscribers about 13s. 6d.) could not be sold to the public by a bookseller for less than 18s.

Dr. Priestley's Theological Works.