hands, with permission to make what use of them I please, I purpose sending something each month, for insertion in your magazine. They consist of essays, poems, fragments, &c. some of which, you will perceive, display considerable ability, and will, no doubt, be acceptable to your readers. Your's, &c. Park-place. ON BELIEF. L. "There are some persons in existence who are confident in every thing, holding in contempt those who differ from them in opinion, and stigmatizing them as fools; but such conduct neither indicates a great mind, nor an acquaintance with that knowledge which constitutes a man wise and virtuous. The true philosopher, on the contrary, is diffident and modest; convinced of the difficulty of acquiring true knowledge, he never concludes rashly, nor opposes violently the opinions of others, feeling assured, that his capacity, however great, is incapable of discovering the wonders of creation. Let man look into himself, and he will find sufficient to perplex his finite mind. It will be admitted, I think, that, generally, the effect is easier perceived than the cause that produced it. Man is the effect of some superior cause; if we cannot understand the effect, shall we presume to know the cause? If we do not know what is the principle of life, or where it exists, shall we assert there is none? I would ask, what is the principle of life, and where is it to be found? "We admit, that what is percipient cannot be asleep,-that which is pas sive cannot be active,—and that which has life cannot be said to be passive, for life carries with it the idea of action. But there are certain principles in passive matter, under certain operations, that produce life: I ask, what are those principles? from whence derived? All the philosophers say, is, that they are inherent in matter, which some contend is eternal; they also admit, that themselves are finite and mortal beings, but forget that finiteness can no more judge of and scan the power of infinity, than a machine can that of the mechanist, or a maggot that is produced by putridity (if it had the power of speech) could tell the cause of its production. Is it not natural for man to believe, that a greater can control a less power? and is it not equally rational to believe, that the power which produces is superior to that produced? Is not the reason of man bounded to this earth? Yea; he cannot even explore the poles of his own planet. If such be the case, and the intellect of man is so limited, shall such creatures presume to arraign at the bar of human reason, the eternal Cause that produced, not only the planet on which he exists, but the spheres containing worlds farther than his sight (assisted by the greatest inventions man has produced) can descry, and all that is therein ? Did mighty man ever produce so small a thing as a blade of grass, without nature's assistance? let him produce a cabbage-leaf, a flower, a worm, or any other living thing, and then he may say, he knows the principle of life. I shall be told that this is impossible for man to perform; but why is it? Because his knowledge is bounded. But by whom is it bounded? how came it so? If we cannot answer these questions, shall we deny the fact? O vain man! view but the ephemera of the day, and the mighty workmanship above,-think but for a moment on the flower that with the morning's sun expands its beauteous leaves, and "We know that it often requires a combination of causes to produce effects; and we perceive the operation of some powerful principles, in giving life to animals and vegetables in all their varieties. Will any man be so bold as to say, that principles did not exist previously, because he could not perceive them? I submit, they must have existed prior to their being brought into action; but where? and shall those who cannot answer this question, assert, that they did not ex-is snapt by some rude blast ere noon, ist? They might as well deny their own existence; but this they cannot do, because common sense, and common observation, prevent it, and constrain them to believe they are animated creatures;-it is thus I believe what I cannot account for. and contrast its transient existence (To be continued.) ESSAYS TO THE JEWS. Essay VII.-Of the Privileges of the Beginning with the first child of the promise, namely, Isaac, who was undoubtedly one of the spiritual seed, we find that he was made heir of all the carnal or earthly possessions that his father had. Abraham gave gifts to his other children, but Isaac was counted the heir. lated to convey the strongest and most lively impressions of the things signified to the mind. The rite of sacrificing, which was instituted from the beginning, was retained under the Abrahamic dispensation, and to continue till the great sacrifice, to which they all referred, should be offered up; and which, by its efficacy, should so completely atone for the guilt of a lost world, as to render all further sacrificing unnecessary. In this rite they were forcibly reminded of their guilt before God,of the necessity of an atonement, distinct from themselves,-of the awful demerit of sin, in the shedding of the blood of the innocent victim,--and of the inflexibility of divine justice, in demanding satisfaction either from the sinner himself or his surety. To this glorious and instructive rite, there was added, in the Abrahamic dispensation, that of circumcision. This was also a significant ordinance. As it consisted in the cutting off of the foreskin of their flesh,-was administered to every male throughout their generations, and was first instituted when the promised Messiah was declared to descend from the loins of Abraham, and again abrogated when that promise came to be accomplished; so it fitly pointed out, first, that the promised seed, or Saviour, should be a male,-then, that for sin, he should be cut off as a sin-offering in the flesh,and lastly, thus marking his descent from Abraham, it would, of course, terminate in Him for whose sake alone it seems to have been appointed. It is granted, that the ordinance had a spiritual meaning, and was even the seal of the righteousness of the faith" which Abraham possessed in his uncircumcised state. But that even this did not exclude its relation or refer 66 The Lord's appeal respecting the character of Abraham, Gen. xviii. 19, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judg-ence to the Saviour, appears evident ment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him," shews, that his children and domestics, in addition to the good things of this life, would be also blessed with the means of grace and suitable instruction. Not only did the natural seed of Abraham enjoy the double blessing of verbal instruction and good example, but they had God's ordinances instituted and dispensed among them; a kind of instruction peculiarly adapted to that period of the world, and calcu80.-VOL. VII. from the several statements in the book of Genesis. This rite was instituted when God promised, in a special manner, that Abraham should be the father of many nations, chapter xvii. But it was only through the Saviour, that this was to take place, Abraham was to be the father of the Saviour, according to the flesh; and to the Saviour was given the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost ends of the earth for a possession, Psalm ii. But when Abraham believed in the Lord, and had his faith counted 2 Y to him for righteousness, it was the promise of a numerous seed, and heir, sprung of his own loins, that he believed, as is clear from the account in Gen. XV. Moreover, as this ordinance had a spiritual signification, and was frequently employed to denote the circumcision of the heart, so every intelligent Israelite, having access to come to the knowledge of this fact, would hence be admonished respecting the natural depravity and wickedness of the heart, and the change necessary to be produced ere he could serve God with acceptance. Thus privileged were the Israelites during the patriarchal age, till the time of Moses, whom God raised up to work deliverance for his people, and to institute a new and complete system of laws, which might regulate both their religious worship and civil polity. The laws instituted by Moses were various; but those delivered from mount Sinai hold the most conspicuous place. The ten command- | ments, of which those precepts consist, though each of them be distinct from all the others, and are ranged under two distinct classes, have only one principle running through the whole; this principle is love. On this principle, therefore, rested the whole law of Moses; not only the ten precepts uttered by Jehovah himself, and written with his own finger on two tables of stone, but equally all the other precepts he authorized his servant to deliver. All the prophets likewise ran in the same strain; and as for the new dispensation under which Christians have the happiness to be placed, so much of this principle has it interwoven with its various branches, that it may emphatically be denominated the dispensation of love. Whether, therefore, we examine the laws of the Israelites as regulating divine worship, or their conduct one to another, we find that love was the predominating principle which pervaded every part; and that the little selfish conceits and peculiarities on which men are ever prone to value themselves, and which extinguish every principle of extensive and universal benevolence, are nobly discarded, and the affections of the heart inculcated to be placed on their proper objects. As God is love, and as emanations of this heavenly principle are continually issuing from his throne; so he is to be loved supremely above every other object, and other objects only in proportion as they imitate and resemble him. We might easily thus trace, in a general manner, the various privileges, both of a civil and religious nature, which must have been enjoyed by every Israelite. But as they will be seen to better advantage, by being brought into one view, in the case of the apostle Paul, we shall not prosecute the general subject further, but shall attend to what this divinely inspired person says of himself._Speak ing of himself merely as a Jew, he says, Phil. iii. 4. “Though I might also have confidence in the flesh," namely, as the Judaizing teachers boasted to have by their descent from Abraham, "therefore, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more; circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” And again, still disputing with these false teachers, he says, 2 Cor. xi. 21, 22. "I speak as concerning reproach," the reproach that those false teachers brought against Paul and his companions, "as though they had been weak. Howbeit," says he, wherein soever any is bold," (I speak foolishly,) "I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I," &c. Their rights and privileges he yet further enumerates in chap. ix. of the epistle to the Romans, verse 4, 5. "Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen." They are likewise said, chap. xi. 28, cerning the gospel, to be enemies for the sake of the Gentiles," (whose admission into the church they vehemently opposed,) "but as touching the election," the election, I presume, of the seed of Abraham, first in the line of Isaac, and then that of Jacob, to be God's peculiar people, of whom the Messiah was to come,—" to be beloved for the fathers' sake." 66 as con These being the principal passages in which the rights and privileges of the Jewish people are enumerated, instead of going in search of more, as they are perfectly sufficient to prove the point we are upon, we shall rather make a few reflections upon those we have adduced. tering ideas about lineal descent from Abraham, and the various privileges and blessings consequent thereupon, forced to give way to his own individual concern about religion, and to the glorious truth, that God was in. Christ Jesus, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses. It seems indeed to be undeniable, that, throughout the whole of these passages, natural descent is nothing, and can do nothing for a man's eternal safety; and that personal and individual interest in the blessings of salvation, obtained through the belief of the truth, is the only thing that can avail him. And first, respecting what the apostle relates of himself, it is particularly to be noticed, that every thing of which the most zealous, bigoted, and enthusiastic Jew could possibly avail himself, in point of national and natural distinction, is there circumstantially mentioned. He was circumcised the eighth day; of the stock of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a But while we would be thus guardPharisee; concerning zeal for the re-ed, respecting a subject unquestionligion and tradition of his fathers, per- ably of the last importance, let none secuting the church; and, as touch- imagine, that we are hence for discarding the righteousness of the law, ing all distinctions of this kind, or for blameless. What had any of them undervaluing them as if not real blessmore, in which they could glory? What ings in themselves. By no means. account does the apostle now make of We know that they are blessings, and such distinctions? And what, not- that not of an inferior nature; and withstanding, was his situation in would to God we could duly apprethe sight of God-of that God who ciate them according to their real and looketh not on the outward appear- intrinsic worth! Thousands of gold ance, but into the heart, and judgeth and silver, yea, kings and empires, every one according to his real state? are nothing, compared with the lot of His privileges were indeed such as he that man, be his outward condition once gloried in; but now that he had in this world what it may, who has acobtained juster views of the matter, cess to become acquainted with the he considered himself as speaking doctrines of his God and Saviour from foolishly, when, for the sake of argu- his youth. This was the situation of ment, he imitated others in their con- the Israelites; and in this, I apprefident boasting,-and counted all but hend, lay the chief of their privileges. dung and dross, for the excellency of The Jews had many advantages above the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. the Gentiles; but most of all, as the Had there been, therefore, any real apostle says, "in having the oracles of spiritual advantage to have been ob- God committed to them," Rom. iii. 2. tained by a literal descent from Abra- To them also pertained the adoption, ham, verily Paul, by his birth, was in and the glory, and the covenant, and a situation which bade the fairest for the giving of the law, and the service it. But of such a thing, he makes no of God, and the promises; and as mention. He only enumerates the these were all emblematical in their various privileges to which all ac- nature, so, when rightly understood, knowledge he had a right by birth; they were a source of the richest spibut never once hints, as some system- ritual blessings to the soul. But to makers have done, of his being a sub- become thus acquainted with them, ject of God's covenant of grace by every Israelite surely had access. descent. Yea, he has avowed the They had line upon line, and precept contrary. He declares that he was upon precept; here a little, and there alive, or imagined himself to be alive, a little. To them God spoke at sunas all men naturally do, without the dry times, and in divers manners, by law once; but that, when the command- his prophets. And those messengers ment came, sin revived, and he died. of the Most High were not only comHe then saw himself to be a sinner missioned to deliver new revelations, and undone, without an interest in the but to expound and enforce those alSaviour. And thus were all his flat-ready given, The service of God too, in which the daily sacrifice, and the three annual feasts, the ablutions and purifications, &c. were to be punctually observed, were all calculated to convey instruction to the mind. The wise, righteous, and impartial laws, likewise, which were to regulate their civil polity, were none of the least of blessings. Wise laws, even from men, from inspired prophets and others, in whom was the fear of the Lord, would give such a tone to all their public concerns, that the blessing could not but be sensibly felt. But to have immediate access to God himself, and in all cases of emergency which proved too hard and difficult for them, to the symbols of his glorious presence which he had placed among them, what an additional blessing was this! Deliverance from the Egyptian yoke too, their preservation in the wilderness, and their settlement in Canaan, with all the blessings connected with it, were so many privileges gratuitously bestowed upon them. to pieces, like wild beasts. This inference is very erroneous. They may be all mad,-bereft of their proper senses,—that I allow; but of what is called stark madness, I saw very little while I lived among them; and if all the people in that place are really mad, there are more crazy people on the earth than mankind generally are aware of. If the Lunarians be in their right senses, then the general belief of the world must be considered of none account, and the term madness will want a definition. I shall, therefore, in order to fix that term, and, in spite of the imputation which such a consideration casts upon men reputed wise, consider all the people I beheld on the moon, as really and truly-mad. The first mode in which I shall consider lunar madness as displayed, is, by drunkenness; for most of the Lunarians are excessively drunken. I saw some people even rolling about the streets, because they knew not what they were doing and all was the effect of inThus have we enumerated some of toxication. Some there were, who, the privileges of the carnal seed of for days together, neither spoke intelAbraham; and though several of themligibly, nor at all acted with common have been of a spiritual and religious nature, yet are they all of such a description as can be properly enough enjoyed by those who are only carnal. The mere external enjoyment of any of the blessings we have enumerated, does not necessarily imply the actual possession of internal grace; and therefore, as every Israelite had access to the former, but those only who were spiritual to the latter; so the distinction we have here stated is far from being without foundation. Of this, more, however, in our next essay, when we come to treat of the privileges of the spiritual seed. sense, when a fit of drunken madness came over them; whilst others made it a constant practice, on most evenings of their lives, so to drench themselves with some inebriating spirit, as daily bereft them of their senses, and reduced them to the condition of natural brute beasts. If this be not madness, I know not what is. The inhabitants of the moon are remarkably passionate. They indulge all their passions to such an extent, that the indulgence amounts to fury. Thus, the impetuosity of anger was so displayed, that a man under its influence would personally injure his nearest and dearest friend, and also barbarously beat his wife or his children. The power of filthy desire and lustful appetite was so great, that people would overleap the bounds of modesty, and break through the bonds of justice, to ravage, like beasts, the fields of innocence and perfection. Some men, I observed, who, by the sensible and good, should only be considered as horrid and uncivilized monsters-men, whose sole employment seemed to be, the dragging of what was fair into the mire and the dirt, and placing destruction's ruthless hand upon what was meant to minister to comfort and joy, and turning |