knew nothing of the art of writing. "It Even the ashes of the dead must be raked into, and men of the sublimest characters held up to public obloquy, as having been too tame and "tardy in their profession of religious truth! What! must we all turn not only polemics, but party heralds in religion? Perhaps, our lungs will not admit of it; or perhaps, on all points, we have not "made up our last understandings : or perhaps, we may be ambitious, with St. Paul, that " moderation should be known unto all meu.' To confound moderation in religion with trimming, is just as candid and as wise as to call "reformation, innovation." But truly they are a goodly company! "Sit anima mea, cum illis!" Our proportions and means towards the consummation of man's last end, which was first intended, and is always the same. For though the instances may vary, there can be no new justice, no new temperauce, no new relations, proper and natural relations and intercourses between God and us, but what always were in prayers and praises, in adoration and honour, and in the symbolical expressions of God's glory and our needs."+ If you think the following attempt, which the writer drew up some years ago, chiefly to methodize his own thoughts, and assist his recollection upon this important subject, worthy of a place in your valuable miscellany, it is at your service. Το say An Occasional Reader. On Natural Religion. ligion, is to say that there is no religion, where there is no express revelation of the Divine will. It is to represent a great part of mankind, as scut into a fatherless world; and all who have not been favoured with the dispensations of Noah or of Abraham, of Moses or of Christ, as atheists or reprobates, or both. It is to banish moral creation; and to deny him the as it were the Deity from his own power or the will, of communicating himself to the minds of his rational offspring, by any other means than those of delegation by subordiand syllables. It is to say, that though nate and visible messengers, by letters He hath given to all men all things necessary for life; He hath given to many of them none for godliness. To allow that nature doth indeed lead us to the knowledge of God, of our duty to Him, and to one another, but can furnish no valid or sufficient arguments for a future state; is to say, that religion may subsist in such a creature as man, without a regard to a future state. Against these positions we have not only the writings of the wiser heathens, and the "consensus bonorum omnium"-the suffrage of good men in all ages; but Jewish and Christian scriptures ; paralso the express testimony of the ticularly the 19th Psalm, many pas sages of the Book of Job, and the beginning of the Epistle to the Ro that there is no natural re mans. + Pref. to Life of Christ. It is obvious, that in considering the disciple of nature, we are not to regard him as a solitary individual, placed either in a paradise or a desert; for we do not now come into the world in this manner: and yet Milton, whose great work is justly extolled by Mr. Addison, as furnishing an admirable clue to unravel many knotty points in divinity, has described the head of our race, in the first of these views, and duly represented him, previous to any direct converse with his Maker, as a subject of religion. B. viii. v. 250, &c. But man, iù general is to be regarded in his relative capacity, as born in a state of society, more or less civilized, and with great er or lesser advantages. In this view it has been generally allowed that his original powers and faculties, gradually unfolded and duly exercised, will lead him to the knowledge of a Supreme Power; of his duty to him, and to his fellow-creatures, and to the hopes and fears of futurity. He may be "born," indeed, like a wild ass's colt," and without culture, may remain so; but this is as true under the gospel as under the law, either of Moses, or of nature. But we need not go far to derive the obligations of religion and morality. That which is fit and necessary for all, the Deity hath been pleased to render obvious to all. When one rational being was created, the obligation of piety commenced; when two were created, the obligations of justice and benevolence commenced. This is "the law of first inscription, the principles of which are natural to man, and obvious to his reason, and which are, especially as to their first and more immediate emanations, the same in all men in the world, and in all times and places; not deriving their authority from any arbitrary constitutions, but from the moral and intrinsic nature of the things themselves," unchangeable as the attributes of Deity, and stable as his everlasting throne. Hence, in all ages, we may conceive the pious and inquiring disciple of nature, as reasoning with himself, in some such language as this What am I? whence this wondrous frame of nature, of things and beings around me? That golden sun, this azure sky, this rich bespangled firmanent! The species to which I belong is evidently superior to all these, animate or inanimate the latter appear to be governed by fixed laws; the former, though more diversified in their forms and operations, yet seldom deviate from their usual track, they live and sport awhile, fully occupied by the present moment, but incapable of anticipating the future, and then they die, and return not again. I have many necessities and enjoyments in common with these, but I have more. I have higher pleasures, and I have also greater cares! I am obliged to provide for futurity, by the very conditiou of my being; else I should quickly be de stroyed by the ravages of the elements, and, as far as relates to the body, sink into my original nothing: nay, without the instrumentality of mun, even nature herself would partially fail; the great machine indeed would go on, but the subordinate parts would coalesce or be destroyed. Without a fostering hand to place it in the ground, the seed of the field would be lost, and both men and animals perish with hunger. But I have still higher powers and capacities: I can reason, compare, discriminate and judge. I have a conscience, a sense of right and of wrong, of good and of evil; and experience tells me, that in proportion as I attend to these distinctions, I am generally happy or unhappy. I am naturally inclined to associate with those of my own species, and to do them all the good in my power; and I perceive that "the world would be poor, notwithstanding the bounties of nature, without mutual communication, and the kind offices of social life;" and I feel sentiments of reverence and gratitude to some unknown and invisible power; who must have created me, and every thing that I behold, and whose favour is essential to my happiness. “O that I knew where I might find him, that I might approach even to his seat!" But this is impossible, at least for the present, except by humble prayer and devout adoration-a dark valley is before me; + Some animals and insects by natural instinct, provide for, but cannot properly * Cave's Apparatus to Taylor's Life of be said, to anticipate the future. Hunter's "Good-man." Christ. 622 Advantages of an Education at the University of Glasgow. both men and animals alike "lie down in the grave and the worms cover them :" and as if this were not enough, the former accelerate their mutual destruction by intemperance and oppression, by war and bloodshed. But is this all 2-Is death the final extinction of man? Do the countless myriads of his race fade away from before our eyes as leaves in autumn, to return no more for ever? In this life all things frequently "come alike to all;" there is indeed a natural tendency of virtue to happiness, and of vice to misery, which bespeaks a wise and gracious administration; yet in many instances these are awfully counteracted, which denotes an unfinished and imperfect system. Here, notwithstanding all the bounties of Providence, I find no absolute rest, no satisfying felicity! I feel an immense void in my mind, a desire and a hope of something greater and better! And are this desire and this hope impressed upon me in vain? Is the mind of man no better than a quality; a jumble of atoms, or an organized machine, which perishes with its mortal companion? Shall those images of bliss, which are perpetually floating in our imaginations, prove at the last but ideal phantoms, and never be realized in substantial forms? Is there no reward for the righteous, no punishment for the wicked beyond the grave? This cannot be, whether I consider the nature of God, or the nature of man: the Deity I must regard as a moral governor; man, as an accountable being: there is, therefore, a future state, in which the present inequalities of the Divine plan shall be fully adjusted. But,-what is this future state? 1 anticipate it with delight, but it eludes my researches! I aspire to rise above this sublunary sphere; beyoud that flaming orb; this azure sky; these glittering stars! But do not I aspire too high? Is it not enough to have been once introduced to this goodly scene, to have beheld the fair face of nature, and enjoyed so large a share of the Divine beneficence? Or, can the Almighty be indebted to his frail, erring and sinful creatures? By no meaus. But may I not consider him with reverence, as being just to his own perfections? Is there not a harmony of the divine attributes, necessary to complete the moral character of the Deity, and to "justify the ways of God to man !"— But again-what is this future state? Is it to continue only for a few years or ages, and then to terminate in dissolution? Surely this can never be! The Creator of the Universe must needs be immortal in his very nature and essence; why may not I become immortal by favour and by gift? If He shall indeed raise me from the clods of the valley, it cannot be thought that it will be only to tantalize me; or that He will cause me once more to see the light, only to plunge me into an abyss of eternal darkness! I will therefore believe in a future state, and hope for its eternal duration: that when the angel of death shall cover me with the veil of mortality, and loose the mysterious cord, which unites my unseen spirit with this earthly tabernacle, I may have my part and portion, through the rich bounty of my Creator and Judge, in the possession of ineffable and neverending felicities. (To be concluded in our next.) SIR, A Glasgow, Oct. 6, 1815. S a friend to Unitarian Christianity, I feel grateful for every exertion which professes to have its support in view; and nothing could give me more pleasure than to see all the members of our faith strenuously engaged in “ every honourable method," to encourage a dissent from established error. But in our zeal for the good cause, we may occasionally act without due thought and reflection; we may even betray some degree of ignorance while we are influenced by the best motives. The truth of this sentiment was strongly impressed on my mind, by the perusal of a letter in the number of your Monthly Repository for May last, (page 286) entitled the " Necessity of a Dissenting Education for Lay Dissenters." The author of that letter is highly praise-worthy for the lively interest he feels in the cause of the civil liberties of his country and of true religion; but I am unwilling to believe that he has recommended the only or the best method for preserving and increasing these blessings. I admit "that a parent infringes no right of conscience in his child when he endeavours to subject his mind to those impressions which will naturally dispose him to continue a Dis. senter" but in order to keep Unitarian youths in the principles which they have received from their parents and dissenting schools, is it necessary that their education should be completed at some Dissenting Academy ? I heartily agree with your correspondent in saying, "that a young man who has been led through such a course," as that pursued at York Dissenting Academy, "with proper attention on his own part, will have acquired an extent and variety of knowledge, and a general enlargement of mind, of which he will coutinue to reap the fruits as long as he lives:" but I cannot say the same of the account he has given of the advantages of an education at the University of Glasgow. In fact he has overlooked all the advantages, and only wandered to the defects of this justly celebrated seminary. He has attempted to recommend the Dissenting Academy at the expense of an institution, which it seems he has yet to learn, stands pre-eminent for its spirit of independence, and respect to the principles of dissent. These are JOHN WALKER, ROBERT CLEGHORN,* JAMES JEFFRAY, JOHN BURNS, JAMES TOWERS, RICHARD MILLER, ROBERT FREER, ROBERT DAVIDSON, It is unnecessary to add, that through the care and abilities of the professors, no young man, except he be singularly idle, can attend any of these classes, the gowned classes in * Lecturer. + Professor Cumin has long been prevented by indisposition from discharging the duties of a teacher. Dr. Gavin Gibb, (Dean of Faculty,) who has been appointed his successor, now officiates in his stead. The Students of Latin and Greek, errors which I was little prepared to At Glasgow, a Student has an opportunity of acquiring a most extensive knowledge on all subjects; for there are Professors of every important branch of science. Humanity. Logic and Rhetoric. Moral Philosophy and Political Oriental Languages. Midwifery. Materia Medica. 624 Advantages of an Education at the University of Glasgow. gil, Cæsar's Commentaries, Livy, &c.-in translating English into Latin prose, and in writing nonsense verses. The junior Greek commence the session with the Grammar and conclude with Anacreon and the Greek Testament. The two first meetings of the senior Latin Students are spent in reading the higher Roman Classics, such as Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, Virgil, Horace, Terence, Plautus, &c.-in examinations on Roman Antiquities, and in perusing and correcting such Latin exercises in verse or in prose, as have formerly been prescribed by the professor, and executed by the students at home.-At the commencement of the session, the first meeting of the senior Greek Students is spent in reading easy Greek authors, and in revising Moor's Grammar: but the greater part of this course is taken up in reading some part of Xenophon, Homer, Pindar, and a Greek play. The professors of these classes "dedicate one hour a day to the instruction of the students in the advanced classes," as well as the senior students of their own classes. "At this hour (the private hour) all the pupils are mere auditors, while the professor either reads and explains one of the higher classics of his respective language, or lectures upon Grammar, Antiquities, and the principles of Taste. "In the Humanity Class, the hour is nearly equally divided between reading and lecturing; and even in the choice of an author to be read, regard is paid not so much to the comparative difficulty of translating his works, as to the scope which he affords for dissertation on the various properties of language, for remarks on ancient manners and usages, and for the elucidation of historical references and poetical allusions. The lectures in the former half of the session turn on Roman Antiquities; in the course of which the customs and ceremonies of that people are illustrated with full and apposite quotations from the poets and ritualists. The latter half is usually devoted to lectures on the Belles Lettres, and the rules of com position and criticism; the whole being conducted with a constant reference to the practice of the best writers in ancient and modern times. "In the Greek class, there is a regular and formal lecture every Mon day, on Grammar properly so called, Moor's Elements being the textbook; and the rest of the week is employed in reading and explaining the works of the higher poets and orators. Homer and the dramatists engage particular attention, and the Essay of Longinus on the Sublime makes a very interesting part of the general course of reading and dissertation; which course, to suit the period of attendance in the gowned classes, extends to four or five years. In the arrangement of the hours of study, care has been taken that these private classes shall not interfere with one another or with the philosophical lectures, so that the young gentlemen attending logic, ethics and natural philosophy, have it in their power to keep up and improve their acquaintance with the ancient languages without any additional expense or the sacrifice of any other study." Next in order stands the Logic class; but I shall not enter into a particular account of this or any other class, lest I should occupy too great a portion of your valuable Repository; and because the chief objection to the University of Glasgow appears to be founded on some supposed defects in the language classes. The Logic Students meet two hours a-day. They have nothing to do the first hour but to attend to the lecture of their professor. The other hour is set apart for the reading of exercises, and examination upon the subjects stated in the lectures. All the students of this class compose three or four exercises a-week, at least, at the beginning of the session; they are often called upon to give an account vivâ voce, or in writing, of the lectures delivered to them, and seldom fail to be examined less than once or twice a-week; and are occasionally required to give an account of the books they are reading at home, and to state the subject and sentiments of their authors. Very few fines are taken for bad attendance; the professor is never satisfied unless he be acquainted with the cause of the absence of his pupils, and frequently requires to be informed in the hearing of the whole class. The plan of teaching in the Moral Philosophy class, is very like that pursued in the Logic. The professor delivers a lecture at an early hour in the morning, and the students meet |