FOOTNOTE:

FOOTNOTE:[Y]From a scriptural small work, with the style and spirit of which we are much pleased, “The Transfiguration,” an exposition of Matt. xvii. i. 8, by the rev. Daniel Bagot, B.D., minister of St. James’ chapel, Edinburgh, and chaplain to the right hon. the earl of Kilmorry. Edinburgh, Johnstone: London, Whittaker, Nisbet: Dublin, Curry, jun., Robertson.

[Y]From a scriptural small work, with the style and spirit of which we are much pleased, “The Transfiguration,” an exposition of Matt. xvii. i. 8, by the rev. Daniel Bagot, B.D., minister of St. James’ chapel, Edinburgh, and chaplain to the right hon. the earl of Kilmorry. Edinburgh, Johnstone: London, Whittaker, Nisbet: Dublin, Curry, jun., Robertson.

No Salvation without an Atonement.—But let me turn your attention to the sad effect which a denial of the Saviour’s Deity has upon the prospects of man for eternity. It is a truth written, as with a sunbeam, upon every page of scripture, that man is by nature a fallen, a guilty, a condemned creature, obnoxious to the righteous judgment of God. We are told, that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;”—that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God:” Jehovah himself is represented as looking down from heaven upon the children of men, to investigate their characters with that omniscient ken by which he explores the utmost boundaries of the illimitable universe, and pronouncing this solemn verdict—“There is none righteous; no, not one:” and the apostle Paul, when reminding the Ephesian church of their past unregenerate condition, says that they were “children of wrath, even as others.” If man, then, be in a guilty and condemned state by nature, it is an awful and important question, how shall he obtain pardon and justification with God, on account of his past transgressions? and how shall his sinful and unholy nature be sanctified and prepared for admission into the realms of everlasting glory? Can personal repentance, on the part of the sinner, obliterate the crime of which he has been guilty, so as to reinstate him into the condition of a sinless and unfallen being? Unquestionably not. For whatever act has been performed by God, or angels, or by man, must remain for ever written upon the pages of eternity, never to be erased; and, therefore, no subsequent repentance on the sinner’s part, no tears of sorrow or contrition, can ever blot out his past transgressions; nor even could the united tears of angels erase the record of those offences for which man is brought in guilty before God! Can, then, subsequent obedience achieve the work of the sinner’s justification? This, alas! will prove as ineffectual as repentance; for though we should render to God a perfect obedience for the remainder of our lives, still the sin we have committed is sufficient to procure our conviction and condemnation; for the wages of sin is death! Shall we, then, have recourse to the abstract mercy of God, as the foundation upon which to rest our hope of pardon? This is the Unitarian’s plea: “I believe,” he says, “that God is merciful; and I repose in his kindness, and trust he will have compassion on me.” Alas, my friends! it was bad enough that Mr. Porter should have yesterday adopted the algebraic principle of neutralizing one text of scripture by another; but to carry up this principle to a contemplation of the character of God, and to bring it into collision with the attributes of Jehovah, and thus to set his mercy against his justice—his compassion against his truth—his grace against his holiness, and thereby to neutralize and annihilate one class of attributes by another, is a guilt that is direful, blasphemous, and indescribable.—From speech of the Rev. Daniel Bagot, at the Belfast Unitarian[Socinian]discussion.

No. IX.(For the Church of England Magazine.)By T. G. Nicholas.

“She hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day.”—Jer.xv. 9.“Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.”—Ps.lxxx. 19.

“She hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day.”—Jer.xv. 9.

“Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.”—Ps.lxxx. 19.

’Tis eventide; the golden tints are dyingAlong the horizon’s glowing verge away;Far in the groves the nightingale is sighingHer requiem to the last receding ray;And still thou holdest thy appointed way.But Salem’s light is quench’d.—Majestic sun!Her beauteous flock hath wandered far astray,Led by their guides the path of life to shun;Her orb hath sunk ere yet his wonted course was run.In ages past all glorious was thy land,And lovely were thy borders, Palestine!The heavens were wont to shed their influence blandOn all those mountains and those vales of thine;For o’er thy coasts resplendent then did shineThe light of God’s approving countenance,With rapturous glow of blessedness divine;And, ’neath the radiance of that mighty glance,Bask’d the wide-scatter’d isles o’er ocean’s blue expanse.But there survives a tinge of glory yetO’er all thy pastures and thy heights of green,Which, though the lustre of thy day hath set,Tells of the joy and splendour which hath been:So some proud ruin, ’mid the desert seenBy traveller, halting on his path awhile,Declares how once beneath the light sereneOf brief prosperity’s unclouded smile,Uprose in grandeur there some vast imperial pile.O Thou, who through the wilderness of oldThy people to their promis’d rest did’st bring,Hasten the days by prophet-bards foretold,When roses shall again be blossomingIn Sharon, and Siloa’s cooling springShall murmur freshly at the noon-tide hour;And shepherds oft in Achor’s vale shall sing[Z]The mysteries of that redeeming powerWhich hath their ashes chang’d for beauty’s sunniest bower.[AA]Thou had’st a plant of thy peculiar choiceA fruitful vine from Egypt’s servile shoreThou mad’st it in the smile of heav’n rejoice;But the ripe clusters which awhile it boreNow purple on the verdant hills no more,The wild-boar hath upon its branches trod;Yet once again thy choicest influence pour,Transplant it from this dim terrestrial sod,To adorn with deathless bloom the paradise of God.Wadh. Coll. Oxon.

In ages past all glorious was thy land,And lovely were thy borders, Palestine!The heavens were wont to shed their influence blandOn all those mountains and those vales of thine;For o’er thy coasts resplendent then did shineThe light of God’s approving countenance,With rapturous glow of blessedness divine;And, ’neath the radiance of that mighty glance,Bask’d the wide-scatter’d isles o’er ocean’s blue expanse.

But there survives a tinge of glory yetO’er all thy pastures and thy heights of green,Which, though the lustre of thy day hath set,Tells of the joy and splendour which hath been:So some proud ruin, ’mid the desert seenBy traveller, halting on his path awhile,Declares how once beneath the light sereneOf brief prosperity’s unclouded smile,Uprose in grandeur there some vast imperial pile.

O Thou, who through the wilderness of oldThy people to their promis’d rest did’st bring,Hasten the days by prophet-bards foretold,When roses shall again be blossomingIn Sharon, and Siloa’s cooling springShall murmur freshly at the noon-tide hour;And shepherds oft in Achor’s vale shall sing[Z]The mysteries of that redeeming powerWhich hath their ashes chang’d for beauty’s sunniest bower.[AA]

Thou had’st a plant of thy peculiar choiceA fruitful vine from Egypt’s servile shoreThou mad’st it in the smile of heav’n rejoice;But the ripe clusters which awhile it boreNow purple on the verdant hills no more,The wild-boar hath upon its branches trod;Yet once again thy choicest influence pour,Transplant it from this dim terrestrial sod,To adorn with deathless bloom the paradise of God.Wadh. Coll. Oxon.

FOOTNOTES:[Z]Isaiah xv. 10.[AA]Isaiah lxi. 3.

[Z]Isaiah xv. 10.

[AA]Isaiah lxi. 3.

Influence of Religion on a State.—Religious faith is necessarily and unavoidably political in its influence and bearings, and eminently so. Christians are generally well informed—and knowledge is power. They have there in Christian countries, as citizens and subjects, directly and indirectly, a large share of influence in the state. In most Christian states, if not in all—for a state could hardly be called Christian, if it were not so—Christianity is made a party of common law, and, when occasion demands, is recognised as such by the judicial tribunals. It is eminently so in Great Britain; it is so in America; and generally throughout Europe. It is also, to a great extent, established by constitutional law, and thus incorporated with the political fabric, furnishing occasion for an extended code of special statutes. The great principles of Christianity pervade the frame of society, and its morals are made the standard. The second table of the decalogue is adopted throughout as indispensable to the well-being of the state; and a thousand forms of legislation are attempted to secure the ends of the great and comprehensive Christian precept—“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” More especially is it deemed the highest perfection of civilized life and manners, in the code of conventional politeness, to exemplify this latter divine injunction. Otherwise life would be much less comfortable—hardly tolerable.—A Voice from America to England.

Duty of Subjects.—We ought not only to look at the queen’s duty, but recollect also what is our own; for the prosperity of a nation consists, not only in having a religious governor, but also an obedient people. The events which have passed before our eyes during the few last years, may serve, I think, to convince us of the truth of such an inference. Can we look back on the loss of human lives, the almost paralyzing alarm excited by the threats of an infuriated populace, and the absolute destruction of property which took place during the riots in the city of Bristol, and not see that all those calamities sprung out of a want of obedience to the existing authorities? Nor was that the only occurrence of the kind which has taken place. What repeated acts of incendiarism have we as a nation suffered from, as well as from the still more recent riots which have arisen in our south-western and other counties? and may we not ask, whence have those scenes of strife, discontent, and tumult, sprang, but from the cause I have already referred to?—want of subjection and obedience to the government of our kingdom. What were the scenes of misery and horror which broke out from time to time, when internal wars and insurrections so greatly depopulated our land? Cast your eye up and down our country, and view the still remaining barrows—those unsculptured, unlettered monuments, which cover the slain of our people—and ask, are these Britons slain in their own land, a Christian land, a land where (to remind you of the present privileges of her constitution) we have a national established church, of sound scriptural and protestant faith, and a preached gospel?[AB]

FOOTNOTE:[AB]From “The Liturgy of the Church of England, Catechetically explained, for the use of children, by Mrs. S. Maddock. 3 vols. London: Houlston and Co.” These volumes seem well adapted to explain to those for whose use they have been published—the liturgy of our church. The catechetical form in which the subject is treated, rather, however, detracts from their value, and should the authoress be called on for a new edition, we should advise her to publish in a different form.

[AB]From “The Liturgy of the Church of England, Catechetically explained, for the use of children, by Mrs. S. Maddock. 3 vols. London: Houlston and Co.” These volumes seem well adapted to explain to those for whose use they have been published—the liturgy of our church. The catechetical form in which the subject is treated, rather, however, detracts from their value, and should the authoress be called on for a new edition, we should advise her to publish in a different form.

London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul’s; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country.

PRINTED BYJOSEPH ROGERSON, 24 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON.

Transcriber's NoteThe masthead in the original referred to Vol. IX., although this issue is in fact part of Vol. X. of this publication. This has been corrected.A table of contents has been added for the convenience of the reader.Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.Archaic spelling is preserved as printed. Please note that Orinoco is spelled variously as Oronooco and Oronooko.The following typographic errors have been fixed:Page20—servicable amended to serviceable—"... both exogenous and endogenous, render them extremely serviceable to mankind."Page21—organisable amended to organizable, for consistency—"... indeed gum is that organizable product which exists most universally ..."Page23—productivenes amended to productiveness—"... of which there are several varieties, differing essentially in productiveness, ..."Page23, fourth footnote—Hedwiz amended to Hedwig—"Eheu qualia! Hedwig."

Transcriber's Note

The masthead in the original referred to Vol. IX., although this issue is in fact part of Vol. X. of this publication. This has been corrected.

A table of contents has been added for the convenience of the reader.

Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.

Archaic spelling is preserved as printed. Please note that Orinoco is spelled variously as Oronooco and Oronooko.

The following typographic errors have been fixed:

Page20—servicable amended to serviceable—"... both exogenous and endogenous, render them extremely serviceable to mankind."Page21—organisable amended to organizable, for consistency—"... indeed gum is that organizable product which exists most universally ..."Page23—productivenes amended to productiveness—"... of which there are several varieties, differing essentially in productiveness, ..."Page23, fourth footnote—Hedwiz amended to Hedwig—"Eheu qualia! Hedwig."

Page20—servicable amended to serviceable—"... both exogenous and endogenous, render them extremely serviceable to mankind."

Page21—organisable amended to organizable, for consistency—"... indeed gum is that organizable product which exists most universally ..."

Page23—productivenes amended to productiveness—"... of which there are several varieties, differing essentially in productiveness, ..."

Page23, fourth footnote—Hedwiz amended to Hedwig—"Eheu qualia! Hedwig."

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