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Yet, while my careful feet slow pace along O'er the dumb tales of learning and of fame, Remembrance fond recals the poet's

song,

And admiration points the chisell❜d

name.

To boast the wonder of attentive crowds,

And wrap the soul in extacied applause, To reach futurity, that spurns the clouds,

And unlock harmony's enchanting laws.

For this the poet rolls his phrensied eye, And wakens rapture with his fairy hand;

For this he warbles transport to the sky, And pours enchantment o'er a thrilling land.

Live not, where Shakespeare lays his awful dust,

The marble records of immortal fame ? Weeps not the muse o'er Rowe's beloved bust?

And speaks not truth in Gay's untitled name.

Who boasts of king's when bending o'er the shade,

Where lies the harp sublime of freeborn Gray ? Who talks of pomp, or who of proud parade,

Where modest Thomson drops his spotless lay?

If courts are nobler than the Muse divine,

Princes and lords had long usurp'd the praise. Some laurell'd Wilmot wanton'd but to shine,

Some Henry hoarded for immortal bays.

Yet, them no more shall admiration high,

Lift from the turf that triumphs o'er the clay;

For them no tear stands quiv'ring in the eye,

For them no bosom sighs its plaintive lay. Unwept, unpity'd, drooping to their doom,

They creep to death, nor leave a trace behind;

No plaintive Heath, lamenting o'er the tomb,

But yon cold grass that whistles to the wind.

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*won,

That thus ye flaunt along your gaudy way?

'Tis not the splendour of the cherish'd hoard,

Pomp's carv'd atchievements, or the robe of power;

'Tis not the purple of a nation's lord. Can calm futurity's emblazon'd hour.

Foul av'rice watches but to gain a grave,

And haughty pride must bow to shrinking age;

Pow'r has not learnt the storms of death to brave,

And grandeur crumbles from her gorgeous stage.

The heart that loves, that is the friend of all,

And meek humility's unlordly breast, These are the beams that glitter o'er the pall,

And sink resplendent, like the sun,

to rest.

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And see green Autumn dies away;
The pallid Sire is come,
The plains his shiv'ring rules obey,
And every wave is dumb.

Yet still with cheerful heart I pace

The whiten'd vale below;
And smile at every printed trace

I leave upon the snow.

Thus (soft I whisper to my breast)
Man treads life's weary waste:
Each step that leads to better rest,
Forgot as soon as past.

For what is life and all its bliss?
The splendour of a fly,
The breathing of the morning's kiss,
A summer's flushing sky?
Dismantled lies the gaudy fly;

Morn droops at Ev'ning's frown,
And Summer, tho' so gay her eye,
Tempestuous terrors crown!

Yes, Lord; but shouts no gladd'ning day

Thro' this nocturnal scene? Decks not one gem of lively ray,

Grief's darksome wave unseen? How sweet the evergreen beguiles The gloom of yonder snow; Thus Virtue cheers, with endless smiles,

Life's wintry waste of woe. Howl then, ye storms; ye tempests beat,

Round this unthinking head! I know a sweet, a soft retreat, . In Virtue's peaceful shed. Drive down, ye hails; pour snows and winds

Pale terror where I stray! My foot a path, yet verdant, finds Where virtue smooths the way. O thou, by whose all gracious hand The cherub Mercy stands, Smiling at each divine command, With fondness o'er the lands; Ob let me ne'er with marble eye, Pale shiv'ring Want reject, Where mourns the long, the deepdrawn sigh,

The anguish of neglect. While lordly Pride and cushion'd Ease, Petition's tear despise; Oh let this hand the mourner raise, And wipe her streaming eyes. When death shall call me to my Lord, To bow beneath his throne; His praise be the divine reward, That Charity has won.

There, where no wintry storms affright

No tempests shake the pole;
No gloomy shades of dreary night
Appal the waking soul,

There let me ever hymn, adore,

And love th' immortal king; Love, while dread Winter breaks no

more

Th' eternity of spring.

IX. DISCOURSES on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice, with additional Remarks on the principal Arguments advanced, and the Mode of reasoning employed, by the Opponents of those doctrines, as held by the established Church; and an Appendix, containing some Strietures on Mr. Belsham's Review of Mr. Wilberforce's Treatise. By the Rev. WILLIAM MAGEE, D.D. Senior Fellow of Trinity College, and Professor of Mathematics in the University of Dublin, Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. Cadell, jun. and Davies, Strand,

T

HESE Discourses, delivered in the chapel of Trinity College of Dublin, on Good Friday, in the years 1798 and 1799, were originally composed with a view to the instruction of the students in divinity in the university of Dublin, and are now, with the same design, submitted to their more deliberate examination. An address to these gentlemen is prefixed to the Discourses, from which the following passages are extracted:

"In those latter days Christianity seems destined to undergo a fiercer trial than it has for many centuries experienced. Its defenders are called upon, not merely to resist the avowed invader, who assails the citadel from without, but the concealed and treacherous foe, who undermines the works, or tampers with the garrison within. The tamperizing Chrisrality, surrenders the fundamental tian, who, under the mask of libedoctrine of his creed; and the imposing rationalist, who, by the illusions of a factitious resemblance, endeavours to substitute philosophy for the gospel; are enemies even more to be dreaded than the declared and systematic deists. The open attacks of the

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one, directed against the evidences of Christianity have but served to strengthen the great outworks of our faith, by calling to its aid the united powers of its adherents: whilst the machinations of the others, secretly employed against the doctrines of our religion, threaten, by eluding the vigilance and lulling the suspicions of its friends, to subvert, through fraud, what has been found impregnable by force. To aid these machinations, a modern and depraved philosophy has sent abroad its pernicious sophistries; infecting the sources of morality, and enervating the powers of manly thought, and, the better to effect these purposes, clad in those engaging colours, which are peculiarly adapted to captivate the imaginations of young and ardent minds:Against arts and enemies, such as these, the most strenuous of all who value the religion of Christ, are at this moment imperiously demanded.

In what manner to prepare for this conflict, we are informed on high authority. We are to take unto us the whole armour of God-having on the breast-plate of righteousness, and our feet shed with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of FAITH, wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked; and taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is THE WORD OF GOD. These are the arms which are to ensure us victory in the contest-and without these arms we neither can nor ought to stand. A conspiracy the most deep and deadly has been formed against Christianity. The powers of darkness have combined their mightiest efforts. If then the sentinels of the gospel sleep upon their posts, if they do not instantly rouse to its defence, they are guilty of the blackest treason to their heavenly master :-there is no room for truce or accommodation. The Captain of our salvation has declared, that he that is not with him is against him. The force of this declaration is at this day peculiarly manifest-it is now become necessary that a broad and distinct line should be drawn between these who truly acknowledge the authority of revelation, and those who, whilst they wear the semblance of Christians, but lend the more effectual support to the enemies of Christianity." P. 1, 2, 3.

VOL. I.

The nature of this work is thus de scribed by the author:

"The form in which this work is now presented seems to require explanation. The first design extended only to the publication of the two Discourses, with a few occasional and supplementary remarks; and on this plan, the sermons were sent to press. But on farther consideration, it appeared adviseable to enter into a more accurate and extensive examination of the subject; even though a short text should thereby be contrasted with a disproportionate body of notes.-The great vice of the present day, is a presumptuous precipitancy of judgment; and there is nothing from which the cause of Christianity, as of general knowledge, has suffered more severely, than from that impatience of investigation, and that confidence of decision, upon hasty and partial views, which mark the literary character of an age, undeservedly extolled for its improvements in reasoning and philosophy. A false taste in morals, is naturally connected with a false taste in literature-and the period of vicious dissipation, is not likely to prove the æra of sober, dispassionate, and careful enquiry. There is, however, no short way to truth. The nature of things will not accommodate itself to the laziness, the interests, or the vices of men. The paths which lead to knowledge are unalterably fixed, and can be traced only by slow and cautious steps." P. 5.

The first of these discourses is founded upon 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.-in which the preacher directs the attention to two different classes of objectors to the sentiments these discourses are intended to defend." Those who deny the necessity of any mediation whatever; and those who question the particular nature of that media. tion which has been appointedwhilst the Deist, on the one hand, ridicules the very notion of a Mediator-and the philosophising Christian, on the other, fashions it to his own hypothesis, we are called on to vindicate the word of truth, from the injurious attacks of both-and carefully to secure it, not only against the open assaults of its avowed enemies, but against the more dangerous of its false or mistaken friends." P.4.

On the efficacy of repentance and

F

obedience, we find the following argument:

Thus, when in the outset of his argument, the Deist tells us, that as obedience must be the object of God's approbation, and disobedience the ground of his displeasure; it must follow, by natural consequence, that when men have transgressed the divine commands, repentance and amendment of life will place them in the same situation as if they had never offended. He does not recollect, that actual experience of the course of nature, directly contradicts the assertion and that, in the common occurrences of life, the man who, by intemperance and voluptuousness, has injured his character, his fortune, and his health, does not find himself instantly restored to the full enjoyment of these blessings, on repenting of his past misconduct, and determining on future amendment:-now if the attributes of the Deity demand, that the punishment should not out live the crime, on what ground shall we justify this temporal dispensation? -the difference in degree, cannot affect the question in the least-it matters not, whether the punishment be long or of short duration; whether in this world or the next-if the justice, or the goodness of God require that punishment should not be inflicted when repentance has taken place; it must be a violation of those attributes, to permit any punishment whatever, the most slight, or the. most transient:-nor will it avail to say, that the evils of this life attendant upon vice, are the effects of an established constitution, and follow in the way of natural consequence; is not that established constitution itself, the effect of the divine decree? and are not its several operations as much the appointment of its almighty framer, as if they had individually flowed from his immediate direction?-but besides, what reason have we to suppose, that God's treatment of us in a future state, will not be of the same nature as we find it in this-according to established rules, and in the way of natural consequence? Many circumstances might be urged, ou the contrary, to evince the likelihood that it will; but this is not necessary to our present purpose-it is sufficient, that the Deist cannot prove that it will not; our experience of the present state of things evinces, that indemnity is not

the consequence of repentance here; can he adduce a counter experience to shew that it will hereafter-The justice and goodness of God are not then necessarily concerned, in virtue of the sinner's repentance, to remove all evil consequent upon sin in the next life, or else the arrangement of events in this, has not been regulated by the dictates of justice and goodness;-if the Deist admits the latter, what becomes of his natural reli gion?

"Now let us enquire, whether the conclusions of abstract reasoning will coincide with the deductions of experience; if obedience be at all times our duty, in what way can pre sent repentance release us from the punishment of former transgressions? Can repentance annihilate what is past? or can we do more by present obedience than acquit ourselves of present obligation ? or does the cons trition we experience, added to the positive duties we discharge, constitute a surplusage of merit, which may be transferred to the reduction of our former demerit? and is the justification of the philosopher, who is too enlightened to be a Christian, to be built, after all, upon the absurdities of supererogation — Wẹ may as well affirm,' says a learned divine, that our former obedience atones for our present sins, as that

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our presentobedience makes amends 'for antecedent transgressions;' and it is with a peculiar ill grace, that this sufficiency of repentance is urged by those who deny the possible efficacy of Christ's mediation, since the ground on which they deny the latter, equally serves for the rejection of the former. The necessary connection between the merits of one being and the acquittal of another, not being less conceivable than that between obedience at one time, and the forgiveness of disobedience at another." P. 5 -8.

Among the many arguments employed by Dr. Magee, in defending the subject of his discourses, we select the following refutation of the objection, that represents the doctrine of the atonement, as founded upon the divine placability: the preacher observes, "The sacrifice of Christ was never deemed by any who did hot wish to caluminate the doctrine of atonement, to have made God placable, but merely viewed as the

means appointed by divine wisdom,

by which to bestow forgiveness; and

agreeably to this, do we not find this

sacrifice every where spoken of as

ordained by God himself?-God so

loveth the world, that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in

him should not perish, but have everlast-

ing life, and herein is tove, not that

we loved God, but that he loved us, and

sent his Son to be the propitiation for our

sins, and again, we are told, that

• we are redeemed-with_the_precious

blood of Christ, as of a lamb without ble-

mish, and without spot-who verily was

forcordained before the foundation of the

world; and again, that Christ is the

lamb slain from the foundation of the

world; when then, the notion of

the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ,

contained in the doctrine of atone-

ment, stands precisely in the same

foundation with that of pure inter-

cession-merely as the means where-

by God has thought fit to grant his

favour and gracious aid to repentant

sinners, and to fulfil that merciful

intention, which he has at all times

entertained towards his fallen crea-

tures; and when, by the same sort

of representation, the charge of im-

placability in the Divine Being, is

as applicable to the one scheme as to

the other i. e. when it is a calumny

most foully cast upon both we may

estimate with what candour this has

been made, by those who hold the one

doctrine the fundamental ground of

their objections against the other;

for on the ground of the expressions

of God's unbounded love to his crea-

tures every where through Scripture,

and of his several declarations that he

forgave them freely, it is, that they

principally contend, that the notion of

expiation by the sacrifice of Christ,

cannot be the genuine doctrine of the

New Testament.

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