sitions of N. R., declares himself "of a decided persuasion that man owes every thing to Christ, in opposition to any power of extricating himself from the ruins of the Fall," and thinks it every one's "bounden duty to avow the total corruption of man." This is a no less dangerous extreme of opinion, and I hesitate not to say, unsupported by Scripture. Our Saviour, in giving a description of the various kinds of ground into which the seed of the sower fell, talks of its being received into a good heart, from which expression it is impossible not to conclude, that some good qualities may exist, antecedent to the reception of the Gospel. The tenour too of St. Paul's argument in Rom vii. plainly proves that in the natural man there is not a total enmity to goodness, but a struggle between contending principles: the law of the mind prompting to good, the law in the members drawing to evil: and to whatever extent the latter may prevail, yet the very existence of such a contest is incompatible with the notion, that man is thoroughly and absolutely depraved. Besides, it cannot be denied that there have been instances of virtuous conduct in men who were not blessed with the advantages of Christian knowledge. What are we to think of the many excellent rules of morality which are to be met with in the writings of the heathen philosophers? Of the advances to the notion of the unity of the Supreme Being, which several of them made, even in the midst of the debasing superstitions which prevailed? of the elevated ideas of virtue which they occasionally manifest? in particular of the admirable sentiment of Xenocrates, which I cannot forbear quoting, “Ayva dσTH Proven cola?" a sentiment closely analogous to that excellent precept of our Saviour, which forbids the first conception of sinful desires in the heart. W***r accounts for the -righteousness of the patriarchs, and

for the good that was in the Gentile world, by attributing them to the efficacious working of the Spirit, doing away in part the bondage of corruption: which assertion is, in fact a mere petitio principii. With regard to the case of heathens in particular, do not Paul and Barna. bas tell the inhabitants of Lystra (Acts xiv. 16.) that "in times past God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways?" which surely denotes that the Gentiles were left to the sole guidance of their natural reason and conscience. And does not St. Paul admit (Rom. ii. 14.) that the Gentiles sometimes do by nature the things contained in the law? by nature-by a principle distinct from the power imparted by the peculiar aid of the Spirit. It will readily be granted, that the light of nature is too faint and feeble to give men a complete rule of conduct, a perfect system of duty, so as to be sufficient without revealed religion and spiritual assistance: but if man, left to its direction, can have any views of moral goodness, and be in any degree prompted to attain it, surely the hypothesis of his total corruption must fall to the ground.

A distinction ought to be made, and carefully attended to, between positive and relative goodness. That man in his natural state cannot render such a perfect obedience to the moral law, as to be esteemed positively righteous by God, is a truth which no one can feel disposed to question. And in this sense it is perfectly true that "we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God"-works intrinsically righteous, such as can "make men deserve grace of congruity." But though our strength may not be such as to procure us a meritorious title to acceptance, may there not be degrees of virtue, may not men to whom the means of spiritual help have never been vouchsafed, "do things good and laudable when compared with their

powers and faculties, and which will be favourably accepted by a just and merciful God, who will judge mankind according to the degrees of instruction, and opportunities of improvement which have been af forded them?" (Bishop of Winchester on Art. 13.)

It is a favourite argument by which the Calvinistic asserters of the total corruption of human nature attempt to silence their opponents: if you allow man any moral powers, you make grace void, you deny our Saviour the honour of right due to him. But is this a just statement of the case? We admit that there is a partial degree of virtue in men; but we do not admit (nor is it by any means a necessary inference) that men can be justified and attain heaven by their own strength. They still depend entirely upon a Redeemer to be made capable of sal-, vation; and therefore they owe entirely to him their covenanted title to favour, and their hopes of ultimate happiness. They still depend wholly upon the preventing and cooperating assistance of the Holy Ghost, to give to their conduct that character which God requires, and enable them to render a well-pleasing service: therefore they cannot attribute to their own performances any share in the meritorious cause of their acceptance. Did we assert that our unassisted works possessed any thing in the shape of merit, there would certainly be great weight in the Calvinistic objection: but as we expressly reject this notion, as we ascribe the sole merit of our salvation to Christ, it cannot fairly be argued that we take diminished views of the mercies of our redemption, that we throw off any part of our dependence upon Him who died for our sakes, or feel less need of the benefits of that expiatory sacrifice, by which the sins of the world are taken away.

Upon the whole, Sir, since the Bible contains expressions which the partisans of both sides of the REMEMBRANCER, No. 31.

question consider as exclusively fa vouring their own opinion, since some texts speak of natural evil as inherent in man, and others as clearly imply, that there are some principles of goodness in him: since experience shews, that there is a mixture of virtue and vice in his disposition; is it not most agreeable to truth to believe, that, though he derives a vitiated nature from the fall, he is not an unqualified mass of iniquity; that every spark of the nobler nature with which he came originally from his Maker's hand is not utterly quenched that the image of God impressed upon his soul is much defaced, but not quite destroyed; that amid all his corrupt propensities some better faculties and desires yet remain within him : but that still in his natural state he is too ignorant, infirm, and prone to sin, to save himself? In maintaining this doctrine (which I trust is the doctrine of the majority of the Established Clergy as well as myself) we hold that safe middle course, which will prevent us from striking on the Scylla of Pelagianism on the one hand, or being engulphed in the Charybdis of Calvinism on the other. And in preach, ing it, we effectually inculcate the necessity of a Redeemer's atone. ment; we direct men to come to Jesus, with faith and repentance, for pardon of their sins and to pray earnestly for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to sanctify and improve them in grace; while we exhort them to make a good use of their natural reason and conscience; to give diligence to make their election sure, and to be fruitful in good works as indispensable conditions of salvation. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

C. P.

honour, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head; and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him,

Thus shall it be done to the man whom the

king delighteth to honour." Esther vi. 7,

8, 9.

pro

"I was earnestly desired to come ashore, to have better proofs of their civility and respect than I could have at that distance; and at my landing was received by all the great men of the town, and conducted with music, and other expressions of pomp and public joy to the Aga's palace. Here I delivered his majesty's letter and present for the Bassa, and also one to the Aga himself. Upon which (after a solemn renewal of the mises before made, relating to our trade and security there), I had the rich vest of crimson and silver put upon me, as a mark of the grand Seignor's favour and protection. In that dress I was carried through the streets on horseback, set out with a very splendid equipage, and so triumphantly delivered in at the English house in that town." Sir Henry Middleton's Journal. Harris, vol. i. p. 102.

"Then all the children of Israel and all the people, went up and came unto the

house of God, and wept and sat there

before the Lord, and fasted that day until

even." Judges xx. 26.

"So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him; for they saw that his grief was very great." Job ii, 13. "There is a custom peculiar to the Afghauns (see p. 66. b. iv.) called Nannawautee (from two Pushtoo words, meaning "I have come in)." A person who has a favour to ask, goes to the house or the tent of the man on whom it depends, and refuses to sit on his carpet, or partake of his hospitality, till he shall grant the boon required. The honor of the party, thus solicited, will in

cur a stain, if he does not grant the favour asked of him; and so far is the practice carried, that a man overmatched by his enemies, will sometimes go, Nannawautee, to the house of another man, and entreat him to take up his quarrel; which the other is obliged to do, unless he is utterly unable to interfere with effect, or unless some circumstance render his interference obviously improper. This is something like the custom of the Romans, by which a suppliant entered a house aud head veiled, on the hearth. The seated himself in silence, with his head veiled, on the hearth. The custom of the Greeks also resembles this now alluded to; thus the

behaviour of Ulysses to Circe (Od. x. ver. 375.), when he refuses to partake of her banquet, till she has disenchanted his friends, is exactly in the spirit of a Naunawautee." Elphinstone's Account of Caubul, p. 226.

"Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." Job ix. 9.

"Canst thou bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion." Job xviii. 31,

Mexican months and year, they disRespecting the symbols of the with those of the ancient Egyptians. cover ideas entirely conformable One of the names of the first month, which began on the 26th of February, was Quahuitlehua, or bud. agrees much ding of the trees, which

with the word Kimath, used by Job to signify the Pleiades, which in his time announced the spring, when the trees begin to move. The symbol of the fourteenth month was ex

pressed by a cord, and a hand which pulled it, expressive of the binding power of cold in that mouth which is January; and to this same circumstance the name Titell, which they give it, alludes. The constellation Kesil, of which Job speaks, to signify winter, signifies in the Arabic root (which is Kesal) to be cold and asleep, and in the text of Job it is read Couldst thou break

"The inhabitants of the South Sea islands when they are going to any distant island, and lose sight of land, steer by sun, moon, and stars, as true as we do by compass. They have names for many of the fixed stars, and know their times of rising and setting with considerable precision; and what is more singular, their names, and the account of them, resemble, in many instances, the Grecian fables: they have the twins, or two children, their Castor and Pollux, &c." Missionary Voyage, p. 341.

"The Tupuyas celebrated the rising of the Pleiades with songs and dances, seeming to consider them as divinities." Southey's Brazil, p. 380.

"Know now that God hath overthrown me and compassed me in his net." Job xix. 6.

"The good man is perished out of the earth; and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood: they hunt every man his brother with a net." Micah vii. 2.

"The mode of entangling an enemy in a net is frequently alluded to in the Scriptures, the Romans had one class of soldiers called Retiarii, and in the old Mexican paintings we find warriors almost naked, with their bodies wrapped in a net of large meshes, which they threw over the head of their enemy.' Humboldt's Researches, vol. i. p. 203.

They abhor me, they flee far from and spare not to spit in my face

xxx. 10.

me,

Job

Jonas Hanway, in his travels through Persia, vol. i. p. 203., relates the following anecdote, in corroboration of the above remarks. Behbud Khan had the title of high and mighty minister of ministers and general of Attok, within the frontiers of Turkumania. He was a stout black man with an open countenance, hard featured, looking fierce and undisturbed, as to any sentiment of compassion. After a short repast, a prisoner was brought before him, who had two large logs of wood fitted to the small of his leg, and riveted together; there was also a heavy triangular collar of wood about his neck, one of the parts being made longer than the other two, served as a handcuff to his left wrist, so that if he attempted to rest his arm, it must press on his neck. The general asked me if that man had taken my goods? I told him I did not remember to have ever seen him before. He was then questioned for some time, and at length ordered to be beaten with sticks, which was performed by two soldiers with such severity as if they meant to kill him. The soldiers were then ordered to spit on his face, an indignity of great antiquity in the East; this, and the cutting off beards, which is also practised, brought to my mind the sufferings recorded in the prophetical history of our Saviour. The close of this hideous scene was an order to cut out the eyes of this unhappy man: the soldiers were dragging him to execution, whilst he begged with bitter cries that he might rather suffer death: the general, whose heart seemed to be made of the same kind of stuff as his sword, did not grant this cruel mercy; but the man being recalled for further enquiry the execution was suspended for that day.

FOR the use of my parishioners, who were desirous of information on the subject of Infant Baptism, and the administration of the ordinance as practised in our Church, I lately made some selections upon these points, which though not new to many of your readers, may be acceptable to them as Remembrancers, and useful to others who may not have directed their attention particularly to the subject. It will be admitted that infants from the ear. liest period of the world have been brought into covenant with God, to do some spiritual duties hereafter of which they have at present no knowledge, and that an objection to Infant Baptism, taken from the incapacity of an infant for such an holy ordinance, is a reflection on the wisdom of God who appointed circumcision; and in Deut. xxix. 10, 11, 12., the inspired leader of God's people thus addresses them, "Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God, your captains of your tribes, your elders, your little ones, that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God." From the time of Abraham the Jews and their children constituted the true church; no exception of age was made, but infants were always included in every ordinance and religious ceremony. The stream from this source continued to flow without any the slightest deviation, to the boundary which separated Jews and Christians; there it met with no obstruction, but pursued its hallowed course: they had all been circumcised; they must now take a new badge, they must all be baptized. The parent could not be separated from the child in this improved covenant. The stream which had flowed in blessings upon the elders, and little ones, through so many generations, could not now be im

peded, and deprived of half its Jewish converts to Christianity, who beauty. It is not likely that the ever considered their infants as part of their ancient church, should have consented to their exclusion on their becoming Christians. That infants are capable of the influence of the Holy Spirit we may be assured, from John the Baptist being filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Luke i. 15. If an infant cannot be a member of a church, then the Saviour in his infancy was out of his own church. He who was to feed his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, Isaiah xl. 11., was not likely to exclude infants from his fold, and therefore we read (Mark x. 16.) He took them up in his arms and put his hands upon them and blessed them. Under the Patriarchal and Jewish dispensations, the Almighty Father had admitted them with their parents. The Redeemer, in the fulness of his benevolence, received them, and was displeased with his disciples who rebuked those that brought them. It appears that baptism had been a ceremony used amongst the Jews many ages before the time of John the Baptist; when persons were converted from hea thenism to the Jewish religion, the proselytes were baptized, and their children, and the males circumcised. Therefore when Christ commands his disciples to baptize all nations, all classes of age must be included who had been subjects of baptism before. Our Lord did not come to narrow, but to enlarge the covenant. If his commission to his apostles had been, Go, disciple all nations; and instead of baptize, had said, circumcise them, would they not have circumcised the infants as well as men, though there had been no express mention of infants in such commission? Baptism was no new ordinance, it had been administered to. proselytes and their children, our