to be but ONE CHURCH. The daughter of the worn-out harlot would be glad to have the support of her once formidable, but now despised mother the Roman Catholic church. However, it is to be hoped that this union will never take place, as it would prove a death blow to our remaining liberties. If we are to be cursed with the intolera able burthen of priestcraft, let the two bodies of priests be kept separate-if they quarrel, let them fight their own battles, for it in general happens when rogues fall out, honest folks regain their own. Loudon, Feb. 14, 1813. ARISTIDES. THE FAMILIAR INSTRUCTOR. To the Familiar Instructor.. MR. INSTRUCTOR, THE farmer, by his motions and eyes, seemed highly rejoiced at the observation, exclaiming, now for a glorious set down to this reasoning Christian. Clairmont was on thorns, yet inclined to suffer any pain if the least hope presented itself to cure Allen's disease; and thinking it probable that something might occur, which would assist his convincing Barnard of the important service he could perform to Allen, by acting the friendly part in pointing out the present great defect in his reasoning faculties. Mr. Clairmont, therefore, determined to undergo a second penance, and stated the subject of their conversation to have arisen from Anthony's reading that excellent letter of Paul to the Corinthians, but more particularly the part which speaks so eloquently of Benevolence (there, Barnard, says the farmer, you see he is wrong). Charity, it is erroneously translated in the common version (always some hole to creep out, said Allen), in which the apostle's argument goes to the bottom of the human heart, by shewing that you may perform the most important actions, such as giving all your goods to feed the poor, or your body to be burned, yet, if destitute of the right motives, these would avail you nothing. The farmer now took my attention, by an unusual fervency of expression in making his statement; for admitting, said he, that Clairmont is right in his new-fangling the word, which I am far from, allowing, as I never discovered its erroneous translation in the course of my scriptural studies, which were always in the original languages, and cannot therefore at all see how he has the least chance MAGAZINE. No. 27.] MARCH, 1813. [VOL. 3. REMARKS ON THE DISPUTED PASSAGES OF MATTHEW To the Editor of the Freethinking Christians' Magazine. SIR, THE long disputed chapters of Matthew and of Luke, which profess to relate the supernatural birth of Jesus, and the miraculous events which accompanied his infancy, being still considered and retained as genuine by the greater proportion of those who call themselves, and would fain be considered as Christians, I have been induced to review those passages, with all the attention and discrimination within my power to afford them; and the result of my humble enquiries, with some of the reasons which have tended to the production of that result, I beg leave to submit to your readers, in a sincere hope that, if false and unfounded, they may meet with that refutation they will in that case be so fully exposed to; and that if, on the other hand, they be found reasonable and true, they will be allowed their due weight in the mind of others, and form a sufficient apology at once for the boldness and the weakness of him who ventures to submit them to their perusal. In a few words then, it has been strongly impressed on my mind, as well from the arguments and representations of others, as from an actual consideration of the passages myself, that they are forgeries, that they are not genuine, and consequently that they should be torn out of their Bibles, and rejected by all those, whose object it is to retain the true and authentic records of Christianity alone. Were it required to sum up the whole of our objections in a brief and sententious manner, and to enter them in the form of a protest against the admission of these chapters into the "canon" of our own individual belief, we might probably agree to reject them on some such pretensions as the following, viz. Because from internal evidence they are clearly forgeries, written by different persons, with other views, and under VOL. III. mind the divine conduct towards man-more particularly the assurance of future life. Barnard here broke silence, and highly amused the former with a relation of the travels of his imagination; speculating upon what form we should assume in another state of existence, whether we should be dwarfs or giants, whether we should have one head or two, with many other curious and profitable remarks. Allen was still more delighted in contemplating the times when we should have discovered the hidden principle in the brain, which heretofore has eluded the most diligent search of all the philosophers on earth. At midnight we arrived at the hospitable farmer's, whose mind was so engrossed with the two subjects they had been examining, that he insisted upon sleeping with his friend, and, forgetting his fatigue, kept him awake for several hours. If he attempted to doze, the farmer would give him a shake; and putting his mouth to Barnard's ear, exclaim, The hidden principle of the brain to be discovered, my boy! Give your body to be burnt, Barney. At length Barnard obtained rest from his troublesome companion, by observing that as Paul was not as good a philosopher as his friend, he might not have preserved the nice metaphysical distinctions that are now considered necessary upon the subject. Allen awoke early in the morning, but was so considerate as not to disturb his friend's rest, who slept soundly till ten. Honest John did not know how to make us comfortable enough; he was in all corners of the house every five minutes, and being so light headed with the new discoveries about a future state of existence, that neither of us could have a moment's rest from being bored with thousands of romantic and fanciful schemes, so that in order to have a little time to ourselves, we took a walk over to Clairmont's, the farmer promising to meet us soon as possible. On the road, Mr. Barnard pleasantly observed, Friend Hamilton, that benevolent Allen is continually diverting us with his peculiarities; he has lately taken it into his head, that he has a great taste for painting-we ridiculed the idea-he persevered, and has at length brought forth several productions that have astonished us; but what is still more extraordinary, in all the efforts of his genius, he never fails to present us with a correct likeness of himself in a variety of situations: sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes singing, and at other times praying. Let the representation be what it will, we can never lose sight of the original. We were at first disposed to con sider his conduct the effects of a vain mind, full of its own admiration, but have since relinquished that idea, from a belief that although uniform and striking as the likenesses are, yet they were not so intended by the artist. Our arrival at Clairmont's prevented a farther pursuit of this subject, and when the two clear-headed philosophers met, they entered into an examination of several truly important subjects, in a manner the most engaging, as may well be evinced from their talents and understanding. The science of government was their favourite subject, and after having gone through most of its bearings with almost compleat unanimity, till some trivial difference arose, at first from the statement of a situation of one society divided into two separate parts, but who met at stated periods in one collected Body, for the purpose of forming regulations and making laws, and that all to be binding on either, must twice pass this Body in its collective capacity. The point of difference having been just settled, Allen arrived at this moment almost out of breath, and being ever greedy of information, he asked the subject, as he had observed them in close conversation. They stated it to him-he was highly pleased, and regretted not coming sooner; but still being desirous to share in the argument, and ever anxious to start new possible cases, he considered that a motion having once passed the collective body, and each of the parts separately, ought to be acted upon as a positive law. Clairmont stated that such an act was contrary to the constitution, which explicitly directed that all laws must have twice passed the body collectively. He shewed the advantage resulting from such a provision, and the total inutility of Allen's supposition whose disease raged in such force, just at this time, as to prevent him from seeing the bearing of the most simple proposition, and went so far as to contend, that the case he had put was precisely the same as that contended for by Clairmont, and strictly consistent with the letter of the constitution; for it had passed the members of the body twice, though not collectively. Clairmont saw it was of no use at that time to be continually making fresh statements of a thing that was as plain as ten and ten are twenty. Barnard made many satirical observations in the course of Allen's remarks, which he evidently took as serious, and sincerely believed that his friend considered he had the best part of the argument. your Just at this moment the post brought a letter from self, Mr. Instructor. Your improved views of Christianity gave us all the most sincere pleasure, which caused a brief entrance into your history. The letter contained an allusion to the epistolary correspondence-Mr. Barnard requested a perusal from the beginning-Mr. Clairmont having kept copies of his own from the commencement, handed them all over to Mr. Barnard. As their examination would occupy his attention for a considerable time, we left him fully engaged, while we took a walk in the garden; in the course of which Clairmont (ever keeping a steady eye upon the state of Allen's mind), began shewing him the bewil dered condition it was in, as evidenced in their last argument. Allen observed, that he had too high an opinion of his friend's motives and veracity, to doubt his belief of what he was so repeatedly telling him; but considered, that it was an error in his judgment, as he could neither see it himself, nor did he believe, that Barnard saw it either; for, if he had, he was very certain that Barnard would have told him. Mr. Clairmont asked him, if he thought Barnard was serious in the observations he had made upon the subject they had just been debating? Allen answered, that he felt fully persuaded he was, and would ask him, when we went in. After some further observations from Clairmont, they changed their subject; and after walking about threequarters of an hour, we stept into dinner. Allen put the. question direct to Barnard-who, laughingly answered, no, to be sure. The manner of the observation, and the farmer's previous disposition of mind, caused him to think it was intended the other way; and was still further confirmed in his opinion. Allen being sent for on business, we sat down to partake of a comfortable homely repastClairmont revived the closed subject of the night before, entreating Barnard to act the open honest part, if he at all valued their truly worthy friend, shewing him the real necessity there was for his assistance, as Allen had displayed, in the latter part of their walk in the garden, a new symp tom that was almost disheartening. He now admitted the disease; but thought it was hardly worth Clairmont's while to be so anxious for the removal of one fault, when he possessed (according to Clairmont's statement) so many other excellencies. Mr. Clairmont laboured to convince Barnard, how contrary his conduct was to the principles of Christianity, and that it sapped the very foundation of real friendship, which required, that you should be actively alive to your friend's conduct, always ready to communicate the discovery of his faults; and in case of your neglect of this |