931 On the Consequences of Adam's Fall. In the dark ages of king Alfred, great disorders in the government prevailed; it required such a genius as his to effect their abolition; accordingly he framed a body of just laws, divided the kingdom into counties, hundreds, and tithings, for the better administration of affairs; and endeavoured to enlighten the nation, which was sunk in gross ignorance. Being a great encourager of learning, he invited to England, learned men and celebrated scholars, from all parts of Europe; he personally set an example of application, regularity, and literature; he seemed to have employed all his talents in the public service; a generous patriotism glowed within his breast, and prompted him to the exertion of his abilities. The Danes were, for a season, obliged to desist from their invasion, on account of the preparations which were now made against them; and people experienced tranquillity, with very little interruption, for some time, under the reign of this good prince. Owing to the distance of time, correct accounts may not perhaps have been transmitted to us: it would be absurd to affirm that Alfred was a perfect being; with all his virtues, faults there must have been. Let us remember, that "to err is human." His failings were, perhaps, lost in the preponderance of his virtue, and the general splendour of his character: neither must we make Alfred's abilities to have been the boundary of Britain's deliverance-Divine Providence was as watchful then as it is at present; it was the will of the Almighty, that England, when on the eve of losing her king and government, should be restored to prosperity. Let men always think, concerning an overruling providence, what Cicero said in reference to the heathen divinities :-Quod deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique perspeximus. (To be continued.) 932 made, two other replies to the same question have reached us; to which, as they take distinct views of the subject, we now give publicity. (First Answer.) MR. EDITOR. SIR,-In the Imperial Magazine for July (col. 650,) I met with the following question, on the Fall of mankind. S. of Huddersfield asks; "Will the fall of mankind by Adam, and their redemption by Christ, be the means of procuring to them greater felicity than they would have enjoyed, had Adam not transgressed the divine command?" The following answer is at your disposal. This question evidently relates to the whole human race; in this form I think it cannot receive any other answer from the Orthodox than a plain negative; for, as they justly conclude all that finally reject the Saviour will certainly suffer the vengeance of eternal fire," they cannot have greater felicity than they would have enjoyed, had Adam remained in his primeval state. 66 But if the question be understood to refer to the enjoyment of such as are finally saved, I incline to the affirmative. "They will have greater felicity than they would have enjoyed, had Adam not transgressed the divine command." And I incline to this view of the subject, because of their superior perception of the peculiar display of the divine perfections, and their exalted pleasure flowing from it, in their redemption, personal salvation, and eternal glory; for it appears perfectly reasonable and scriptural to conclude, that as in redemption by Christ, The whole Deity is known, Nor dares a creature guess, Which of the glories brightest shone The justice, or the grace;That this unequalled manifestation of boundless mercy, unerring wisdom, almighty power, inflexible justice, and unspotted purity, will for ever excite those elevated feelings, ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF ADAM'S sublime praises, and uninterrupted FALL. In our number for July (col. 650,) a Query was proposed on the Consequences of Adam's Fall, to which, in our number for September (col. 828,) we inserted a reply. Since our arrangements for that insertion were devotion to Jehovah's will, that nothing but an internal heaven, as the result of redemption by Christ, could possibly produce. To the above remarks, I subjoin a short extract from the Rev. John Wesley's sermon on the fall of man, pages 153 and 154, 9th vol. octavo edition. 993 On the Consequences of Adam's Fall. "It should be particularly observed, that "where sin abounded, grace does much more abound." For "not as the condemnation, so is the free gift;" but we may gain infinitely more than we have lost we may now attain both higher degrees of holiness, and higher degrees of glory, than it would otherwise have been possible for us to attain. If Adam had not sinned, the Son of God had not died; consequently, that amazing instance of the love of God to man had never existed, which has, in all ages, excited the highest joy, and love, and gratitude, from his children. We might have loved God the creator, God the preserver, God the governor, but there would have been no place for love to God the redeemer; this could have had no being; the highest glory and joy, of saints on earth and saints in heaven, Christ crucified, had been wanting. We could not then have praised him, who "thinking it no robbery to be equal with God, yet emptied himself, took upon him the form of a servant, and was obedient to death, even the death of the cross." This is now the noblest theme of all the children of God on earth; yea, we need not scruple to affirm, even of angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, Hallelujah they cry, to the King of the sky, RICHARD TABRAHAM. Buckie, Banffshire, Aug. 18, 1821. (Second Answer.) MR. EDITOR. SIR,-When I first read the Query proposed by S. of Huddersfield (col. 650,) I intended to trouble you with an answer; but circumstances occurring, prevented the execution of my purpose. On looking over the Magazine for the present month, I find an answer from Aizeos, which, as far as it goes, (being principally restricted to subjects of contemplation,) I heartily approve. My thoughts having taken a little more amplitude, may perhaps serve more fully to elucidate the Query; however, I take the liberty of submitting them to your judgment. If you, Mr. Editor, should concur in my opinion, I have no doubt this communication will find a place in your truly liberal Magazine. 934 In answering questions of this character, it is evident that our only guides must be the revelation of God; to step for one moment into the region of conjecture, is to leave the bright rays of the Sun of righteousness, for the feeble glimmerings of a beclouded understanding. Our first inquiry then, will be, what are the circumstances entering into, and constituting, the primeval happiness of Adam? In the account which the scriptures give us of the creation of our first parents, we are informed that God created man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life, and, it is added, he became a living soul. Here we may remark, that the origin of the body of Adam was the same as that of the beasts of the field; it was earthly, the most inferior nature of which we have any knowledge, and of which, in our present circumstances, corruptibility or decomposition is an inseparable concomitant. But in Adam's innocent state, we are warranted, I think, to infer, from the form of the warning, that he should be exempt from dissolution, if he continued holy: "in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die,” implying, that if he did not eat, he should surely live. Hence we clearly perceive, that it was the performance of his duty that exempted the body from dissolution, and not any thing in the nature of that body. But we also find, that Adam was placed in the midst of natural good, with various limitations; the most important one is, that which God enjoined by express command, "Thou shalt not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden;" so that Adam, in his primeval state of happiness, stood constantly in the presence of a prohibited object; his range amongst the objects of natural good, was not free and unlimited. We must also notice those restrictions arising from the tendency of his powers to repletion and exhaustion. The extent of the enjoyments arising from bodily appetites, are but very momentary, and soon satiated; and the exertion of the mental powers is soon impeded by the decline of physical energy in the muscular parts of the system; so that, in a short period, a total cessation is absolutely indispensable for the resuscitation of animal nature; the mind cannot or will not act, when lassitude preva" 935 On the Consequences of Adam's Fall. in the material parts of the system. Christ, who was perfectly holy, is a new proof of what is here advanced. Adam also, in his state of innocence, was exposed to the temptations of Satan, and, on the supposition that he had stood fast in his original holiness, it would only have been in consequence of his watchfulness, and resistance to the allurements of the deceiver; for it is not to be imagined that God would have secured his rectitude by any thing that would have trenched upon his moral freedom, for in that case he could not have remained an accountable creature. Now, on the supposition that his felicity in his communications with God, in his intercourse with holy angels, and his discoveries, both of the moral and natural perfections of God, were as great as his nature would allow; yet it must be admitted, that the circumstances enumerated above, would considerably lessen the sum of the absolute happiness for which Adam had a capacity, as a pure and holy being; more especially, if we admit the idea of distance from the throne of God, the habitation of the higher intelligences whom God had created, we must readily grant, that these things mark a sovereign disposal, and require submission as a duty, and are something different from a state of pure felicity. We think the word of God warrants us to say, that distance from the throne of God was an inseparable circumstance connected with Adam's innocent state, for there is a total silence respecting any exaltation to a more glorious abode, after any period of standing in his created purity. And we might reasonably suppose, that had this been God's intention on the event of his obedience, it would have been intimated, as a motive to that obedience; but we conceive, that exaltation could only be merited by the perfect obedience of Christ, the merits of which, in relation to man, even in his pure state, as conferring greater happiness and glory, we shall now consider. I would premise, before entering upon this part of the subject, that I consider the introduction of sin as affording the opportunity of that perfect display of the divine character, which could not otherwise have been given. If sin had not entered, mercy could have had no scope; justice could have had neither opportunity nor adequate reparation; 936 and love, especially, would have been wanting in an opportunity of displaying its infinite perfection, both in the procuration and in the nature of the happiness bestowed. It is in the conferring upon man, of glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life, by the atonement of Christ, that God is exhibited in all the glory of his character; compared with which, the discoveries made to Adam in his primitive state, were but as the morning twilight to meridian day. 66 The Apostle, in the 5th chap. of his Epistle to the Romans, expresses himself after this manner, Where sin did abound, grace hath much more abounded;" this appears to be an inference that the Apostle draws from the foregoing reasonings; in which he shews, that the mercy through Christ greatly surpasses the ruin and misery through Adam. "For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." We shall now briefly point out, in two or three particulars, the much greater felicity bestowed by Christ, than Adam destroyed by transgression. We shall first notice the "redemption of the purchased possession (the body) which is unto the praise of his glory," Eph. chap.i. verse 14. "Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself," Phil. chap. iii. verse 21; and in the 15th chap. of 1st Cor. our resurrection body is there described as incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. This, I think, indicates a superior nature to what was before possessed, consequently, a capacity for higher enjoyments, which capacity is filled in the heavenly state. According to John, we do not know what we shall be, our ideas are so much below what are intended by the terms made use of in the scriptures; but we know we shall be like him, and of his likeness we find some description in the Revelation, to which I would refer S. We shall now notice the place of our future abode. It is not a paradise of natural good, it is heaven itself; there to dwell with God, holy angels, and redeemed men, not at a distance from God's throne, but to sit down 937 On the Neglect of Genius. 938 tion upon the hard-hearted wretches who could impose upon that genius whose influence they were incapable of feeling. The reflection is still more melancholy, as it suggests to us, that the greater part of those whose writings are now read with avidity, passed their days in obscurity and contempt; whilst, after their journey through this "vale of tears" is over, they are hailed too late by the epithets of"divine," and "immortal," and their tombs are adorned with all the useless pomp of architectural magnificence. As long as the names of Dermody, Burns, Savage, Chatterton, and a number of other unfortunate, but brilliant geniuses, shall flourish in their works, so long will they be a reproach to the age in which they lived, for its tardiness in discerning and patronizing merit. with Christ on his throne. We know of no prohibited object there; nothing that defileth can enter, no lassitude is felt in that place, they serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them; they hunger no more, nor thirst any more; they are fitted for the eternal praise of God and the Lamb without interruption from any cause. The heavenly state is absolutely eternal, and hence it is no part of their employment to guard against the machinations of an adversary; there is no adversary, there is no temptation, they cannot possibly fall from that glory and felicity to which Christ hath exalted them. If Adam had stood, it would have been by obedience constantly performed; but the obedience by which believers stand in glory, is finished, perfected for ever. This one circumstance, in Of late Chatterton is the most remy opinion, makes the felicity of re-markable instance we can find of united deemed men infinitely superior to the penury and misfortune: in the posseshappiness of Adam. In conclusion, I sion of abilities of the first order, he would say with the apostles, "God saw others, far inferior in talent, rihath raised us up together, and made sing above him to notice and affluence, us sit together in heavenly places, in whilst he himself was neglected or deChrist Jesus; that in the ages to come spised; so that at length, exposed to he might shew the exceeding riches of his the severest indigence, he destroyed. grace, in his kindness towards us, through himself at the premature age of twentyone, in a fit of despair. Of all classes of writers, perhaps the poet is found the most frequently destitute of wealth and prosperity; plunged in the reveries of fancy, and rapt in the visions and delights of his own fairy world, he neglects the more substantial realities of this; his eye Christ Jesus.” AMICUS. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, ON THE NEGLECT OF GENIUS. "Virtutem incolumem odimus, sublatam ex oculis, quærimus." MR. EDITOR. SIR,-Although I am totally unknown to you as a correspondent in your wellconducted Magazine, yet I flatter myself that you will not refuse to insert the following brief remarks which occurred to me lately on the perusal of some authors famed in the world both for their genius, and for the ill-fortune they experienced in their literary ca reer. Whenever I reflect on the fate which too commonly attends those great men, whose writings, after death, become the source of such delight to an admiring posterity, the thought of the various difficulties and insults which they had to encounter in this life, draws from me the sigh of sympathy at their wrongs, and almost extorts a maledicNo. 32.-Vol. III. -In a fine phrenzy rolling, Hence his apathy for riches is easily 939 On Dancing. 940 ger to those fine and noble feelings which constitute a main feature in the happiness of social life. But before we pass this denunciation upon any individual, let us first examine the grand preliminary interrogatory, "Does the amusement tend to good or to evil?" With regard to the question immediately before us, I feel no hesitation whatever in declaring, in the most unqualified terms, that I am the avowed and the decided opponent of all dancing. The reasons upon which this opinion is founded, I propose briefly to state; and I trust I shall be able satisfactorily to establish the entire validity of them, and that they will not be without their due effect upon many of your readers. Did poetry indeed address herself only to our imaginations, we might consider her followers as an almost useless race in the scale of society, and should not so much lament to see their afflictions; but we must not suppose that this is the only aim which this "meek-ey'd goddess" has in view; under the mask of fiction she often conveys to our minds the sublimest truths, which we might not relish so much without her aid; and who will deny that religion is benefited by her influence? Upon a retrospect then of the many illustrious characters who have suffered from the cold illiberality of the world, of those who either have promoted knowledge by their discoveries, exerted themselves in the cause of virtue, or "woke to ecstasy the living lyre," what sensations must a-lished in favour of this amusement, rise in every feeling mind from the painful recollection! Though we can only pay the humble "tribute of a tear" to their memory, yet that tribute will be a sincere one. In conclusion, Mr. Editor, if I am successful in calling the attention of an abler pen than mine to this subject, my object will be fully attained by this faint outline. Thame, Oxfordshire, ON DANCING. MR. EDITOR. P. G. J. We are told in different essays pub that no person is fit for polite society without being first initiated into the system of dancing; it being an indispensable accomplishment,—that no one can enter the fashionable circles with respect, without being thoroughly acquainted with this polished art, it necessarily combining the graceful introduction into company, and the elegant gait necessary to be observed in the dancing-room and on the promenade. Now, Sir, I do not mean to deny that a system of rule and politeness should be observed in the introduction into company, as well as in the drawing-room and on the promenade; but that the system of dancing, with all its concomitant evils, is ne SIR,-As the inculcation of morality forms a principal feature in your jour-cessary to acquire these graces, I do nal, perhaps the following observations will not be considered unworthy your notice. most unquestionably deny. I contend that all the indispensable rules for the entrance into polished society may be obtained, like all other moral branches of education, without conjoining them with the pernicious evils which attend dancing. As youth of both sexes are constantly surrounded by temptation, so in proportion do they require constant care and watchfulness, that they may shun the path which leads to ruin and The only good that can possibly acto misery, and walk in that which crue from the system of dancing, is the points to honour and to happiness. health which it communicates, abstractAmid all the varied pleasures which edly considered, to those who particiinvite and flatter the attention of young pate in its active exercise; but even this, and thoughtless minds, perhaps there I purpose to shew, is more than counis none more alluring, more indulged teracted by the baneful influence which in, and more attended with baneful attends the practice. I admit that it consequences, particularly among the imparts vigour and strength to the bomiddling classes of the community, dily organs; that it throws a gaiety than DANCING. Do not suppose that I and a life over the drooping or sorrowaman enemy to every species of amuse- ful frame; that it invigorates the musment. No! The man who would rob cles; in short, that it greatly contrirational and intelligent beings of inno-butes to add fresh nerve and energy to cent recreations, must be a total stran- the whole bodily constitution. |