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great degree inexplicable, while we know but in part, and only see through a glass darkly? We do not suffer the general obscurity which at present hangs over the Divine government of the world to shake our belief of a superintending Providence, all-wise and all-righteous, working all things after the counsel of its own will. We should not, therefore, permit ourselves to be too strongly affected by one particular feature of this obscurity. When the hemisphere is consigned to the empire of night, we only look for the imperfect lustre of moon and stars, and do not expect, in any quarter of the heavens, to see traces of the sun.

It is impossible for us to discover the wise reasons of Providence in removing from us the excellent of the earth; some, long before they have run the usual race of life, and others when just starting in their career of noble and dignified pursuit. It would appear that some have been removed for the punishment of a guilty race, because the world was not worthy of them. Others may have been taken away out of mercy to themselves, when circumstances were about to arise, or temptations to befal, which would have blunted their activity and impaired their usefulness. Of all this, however, we at present know nothing. We only know that a day is coming, when all seeming inconsistencies will be fully rectified, when what now appears crooked will be made straight, and when we shall be brought to confess, with adoring thankfulness, that though clouds and darkness were sometimes round about Him, yet righteousness and judgment were always the habitation of his throne.

3. When reflecting with sorrow and perplexity upon examples of depart ed excellence, and when disposed to murmur at their premature removal from the world, let us turn back our eyes upon the past lives of such characters, and survey the good

which they have been made the humble instruments of performing. -There may appear cause for lamentation that their lives were not prolonged for the purpose of enabling them to do more: but is there no ground for thankfulness that they have been enabled to perform so much? We seldom judge rightly of events, when we judge of them under the pressure of strong feelings, whether of a painful or pleasurable kind. The eye of admiration is apt to magnify the importance even of a good man, while he lives; and painful regret for the departure of useful talents will lead us rather to the prospect of future loss, than to the calculation of past gain and advantage. We resemble misers, who think not of their hoarded treasures in possession, when they have failed in some promising speculation, upon the success of which they had reckoned with certainty. This conduct is neither grateful nor reasonable. We should think a little of past usefulness, not so much with a view to regret the loss of it, as for the purpose of exciting our thankfulness that it has been vouchsafed for so long a period. The term of it has, perhaps, been short; but it might have been still shorter. In many instances, too, life has been abridged by those very exertions, the loss of which we deplore. This consideration must, I admit, in one point of view, tend to enhance grief; but, taken in another light, it is not altogether devoid of some thing like consolation. While we deeply regret that useful exertion should hurry any one to the grave, we cannot avoid considering, at the same time, that, even if longer life had been granted, the total amount of usefulness might not have proved greater at its close; in other words, that a life of moderate length, spent in great exertions, may be no less useful, than one of longer continuance for the same individual, in which the daily exertion had been less.

4. We ought to consider, that events of this nature must be when the Almighty is pleased to admitted to furnish a loud call remove, at a premature age, sundry to increased prayer, exertion, useful and excellent members of and activity, on the part of the society, He is able to supply their young, the able, and the pious. loss by raising up others, and that, And, in this manner, may Proviin point of fact, He has never yet dence sometimes point out the been found wanting to the exigen- most effectual remedy for those cies of his Church in this respect.- breaches which it has been pleased This, doubtless, is a consoling to make in the Church, by giving and animating consideration. From an additional stimulus to the zeal past experience we have good rea- of others, who, but for these son to hope and to expect, that breaches, might have continued there will always be found a supply less active, and proved less. useful of men of exalted piety, talents, supporters of the best interests of firmness, moderation, and benevo- mankind. lence, ready to espouse the sacred cause of true religion and virtue; to make an unpresuming, yet able, active, and persevering stand in support of all that is honourable and useful in society; and to bend their efforts towards that greatest of all results (a result not, I trust, quite so hopeless as many seem to imagine)-the intellectual, moral, and religious improvement of mankind in general.

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But-5. The very circumstance of the premature death of eminent and useful individuals is calculated to excite increased ardour and activity in the minds of those survivors who are best qualified for supplying the loss of such characters, by treading in their steps. This is an effect which may ration ally be expected to display itself in minds of a noble and exalted east, especially when the views of such minds are seconded by the important advantages of youth and health. As Elisha wished for a double portion of the spirit of the ascending prophet, doubtless because he foresaw that nothing short of such a gift would enable him to supply the loss of so distinguished a character in the Jewish nation, such minds will be disposed to pour forth a like supplication in behalf both of themselves and others, upon witnessing the sudden or premature departure of individuals eminent for talents, piety, and usefuluess. To say the least,

There are doubtless various other considerations which might be mentioned, calculated to quell the murmurings, and remove the fears of the zealous Christian upon these me◄ lancholy occasions. He may dwell with satisfaction upon the early joy to which his deceased brother is admitted, and upon the many trials which, by his premature removal, he may probably have escaped; upon the indubitable right which the all-wise Sovereign of the universe possesses both to give and to take away; upon the firm persuasion that he doth all things well; and, lastly, upon the view of such afflictive dispensations, as tending to exercise, in a profitable manner, the faith and patience of the Church in general. These considerations, however, I barely men tion, not because they are not most important, but because they appear more trite and obvious than those upon which I have principally dwelt.

I cannot but think that it is our duty to seek for rational and scrip tural topics of consolation upon the loss of eminent individuals; because such topics tend to invigorate the mind, by preserving it from that unsettled languor of despondency which is the most formidable check to all useful exertion. At the same time I am far from denying that, upon occasions of this kind, there must always be real ground for lamentation and regret. The loss

of such men as a Thornton a Bowdler, and a Buchanan, is not easily supplied. And it is always just ground of sorrow to the community at large-sorrow how much more exquisitely felt by the relafives and friends of the departed! When we behold those, who from their talents and disposition, seem well qualified to enlighten and adorn their country, and who from their age give the promise of many years of piety and usefulness to come,-when we behold such called away, at a short summons, from the stage of life, where they had just begun to act a conspicuous and noble part, we immediately ask ourselves, How are such men to be replaced?

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I will now conclude these observations with the well-known Apostolic injunction, which is very applicable to Christians in all periods of the Church: Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

I am, Sir, &c.

F.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE rejoinder of AN INQUIRER, in your Magazine for January, to my remarks on his former letter, on the prophecies concerning GoG, seems to require that I should offer to you some evidence on the genuine affinities of the ancient Scythians, whom Josephus states to have been descendants of MAGOG. I shall, therefore, attempt to treat the subject so as to render it the most congenial with the design, and character of your very useful publication, that circumstances may admit.

The Inquirer infers, that, because the Jews formed absurd notions of the rivers, which either *Allow me to correct an error (either of the pen or the press) in my former letter. It was Antioch (not Aleppo) that was primarily named after Magog.

united, or sprang, in Eden, their traditions concerning the origins of principal nations are unworthy of credit. His inference appears to me by no means deducible from his premises. We know, from the New Testament, that, before the time of Josephus, the Jews had fallen into preposterous conceits, on subjects of much greater importance than the situation of the terrestrial paradise: but it does not follow, that the sacred Historians and scriptural Prophets misapplied the names, by which they recorded, or predicted, the fates of surrounding nations. In many instances, we know them to have been cor rect: the nations and places of which they wrote being still called, in Asia, by the same names that are used in the Bible; although_they have long been known to Europeans by different appellations. In every other instance, sound reason, which is always consistent with the tenor of Divine Revelation, requires us, therefore, to admit, that the ancestry of principal nations. was know to the Jews, till the close of prophecy. At that time, the Scythians had attained the zenith of their celebrity; for Herodotus, who alone accurately and minutely describes them, was contemporary with Nehemiah, and probably with Malachi. About two centuries earlier, the Scythians had penetrated to Palestine; for one of its towns retained, from them, the name Scythepolis. The Jews may surely, therefore, be admitted to judge, whether, the Scythians, or a totally different nation, were designated by their historians and prophets, under the appellation MAGOG.

Instead of entering in detail, on proofs that the Slavonic, and not the Gothic nations of Europe, are of Scythian origin, (which would be unsuitable to your publication), I am happy that it is in my power to refer your correspondent, and those among your readers, who may feel curiosity on the subject, to a re

cent work, in which the question is fully and ably discussed. Dr. Pritchard, in his "Researches into the Physical History of Man," (8vo. published by Arch, 1813,) has clearly demonstrated, pp. 478, to 484, that the Scythians and the Sarmatians were correlative; and that the Slavonic nations are their descendants. The proof of the negative, that the Goths were not descendants of the Scythians, is far "from being so difficult as your correspondent has supposed. It naturally, and necessarily, follows the former proof. We well know, from the invaluable translations extant, of parts of the New Testament, by Ulphilas, what language was spoken by the Goths: and a tyro in glossology may know that language to be radically different from any of the Slavonic dialects. Obvious radical affinity of language is, in most cases, the plainest evidence of national identity; and obvious radical disparity of language that of national distinction. The same arguments, therefore, which prove the Slavonic nations to be of Seythian descent, prove infallibly that the Gothic nations are not so. Should these remarks excite in any of your readers, a desire to trace the actual origin of the Gothic nations, Dr. Pritchard's work, pp. 485, to 502, may afford them ample satisfaction".

As the "Inquirer" professes to have closed his correspondence, and as (notwithstanding our difference of opinion on the foregoing topics) I heartily agree with him in thinking Mr. Penn's interpretations of prophecy very objectionable, I should here end this communication; but that, in vindicating the national origins recorded by Jose

His only mistake of this branch of discussion consists in regarding (as most English Antiquaries do) the Goths as radically different from the ancient Celts, who were only an earlier migration of the same great nation, according to Strabo's testimony.

phus, and recommending the historical disquisitions of Dr. Pritchard, I wish to guard against being understood to support either of these authorities, implicitly, in other respects.

Dr. PRITCHARD'S historicał researches are subservient to those of a physiological description; and while both parts of his discussions afford very valuable information, and furnish much ingenious argument, I can by no means admit them (as he presumes) to be demonstrative, that the first human pair were NEGROES! Had he paid due attention to sacred history, it might easily have guarded him against so unwarrantable a position.

Of JOSEPHUS's writings, the most exceptionable part is his chronology; which, it is the more needful at this juncture to expose, because it has been unfortunately chosen by Dr. HALES, for the basis of his laborious and learned publication, lately completed. The dates which we find in various parts of Josephus's works contradict one another, indeed, so grossly as to render it not only certain that they have been wilfully corrupted, but extremely difficult to conjecture what they originally were. Dr. Hales has attempted (but I think unsuccessfully) to reduce them to a consistency with the chronology of the SEPTUAGINT, which is well known to differ widely and systematically from that of our HEBREW Bibles. The avowed aim of the learned writer, is to establish the former, in opposition to the latter; and it appears to be only in order to render Josephus an efficient ally of the Greek translators of the Bible, that he labours to reform and accredit the dates of the Jewish historian.

The question, whether we ought to consider the Hebrew Bible as supplying a genuine series of chronology, from the Creation to the return of the Jews from Babylon, (with a few errors, or omis

sions of transcribers, (of which we have sufficient means for the correction), or, as having been wilfully, grossly, and systematically corrupted, in its fundamental dates, appears to me to bear strongly on the credit and authenticity of the sacred Scriptures. The latter view was entertained by Greek Christians, only while they were familiar with no other Bible than the Septuagint. It was always rejected by the Syriac and the Latin, Churches, with the sole exceptions of two Syrian critics. Among Protestants, it was revived by such men only as Isaac Vossius, and Whiston; both of whom could believe any thing but the truth. That so respectable an author as Dr. Hales, in so valuable a work as his "New Analysis of Chronology," should have laboured to restore its long-lost credit, is much to be regretted. The arguments which he adduces in support of it, are so feeble, that it seems astonishing he should have deemed them worthy of notice. This, however, is not the place for detecting their futility. At some future opportunitv, (if you judge it expedient), I will endeavour to lay before your readers, a demonstration, grounded on solid principles of criticism, and generally intelligible, that the HEBREW chronology of the periods preceding, and immediately succeeding the Deluge, is authentic; and that the vast augmentation of those periods in the Septuagint version, is a palpable (though highly ingenious) corruption of the Hebrew; apparently invented for purposes which are still capable of detection.

At present, I will only add, that neither Dr. Hales nor Dr. Pritchard, should be charged with any design inimical to revealed truth. Both of them have borne a cordial testimony to its authority, and have moreover rendered important service to its cause. It appears to me, to have been only by hastening prematurely to conclusions, before

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To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

THE excellent and salutary remonstrances of D. W. inserted in your Number for October last, were read with feelings of lively satisfaction, and, I trust, with some profit, by my friends here, on whose judgment I most rely; and whom, in Christian tempers and dispositions, I have endeavoured to follow, though, alas! it has hitherto been haud passibus æquis. I have often mourned over the tendency of my own mind to rest in a state of imperfect attainment; to stop short of that holiness which is, at once, the beauty, the dignity, and the felicity of the Christian character; to be satisfied with lamenting its absence, instead of straining every nerve in its pursuit; and of seeking in fervent and importunate prayer, that through the power of the Divine Spirit, and to the praise of the glory of his grace, I might make more progress in this heavenly wisdom, and press more forward, to the prize of my high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, sir, the remedy for this disease is not, as I conceive, more knowledge, but more experimental living upon that already acquired. What I want is that daily, hourly, constant, solemn impression of scriptural truth upon my heart, which our Communion Service so justly calls, "feeding on Christ in the heart by faith." Now, sir, I have observed, in myself and in others too, a tendency to judge the character by

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