SIR, Hagley, June 23, 1749. "I think myself extremely obliged to you for the concern you express for my salvation, in a letter I received from you just before I came out of town. Your apprehensions about it seem chiefly to arise from my being in a state of wealth and prosperity, which you think very dangerous from those words of our Saviour" Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." But you will be pleased to consider, that, when he said this, the entering into the kingdom of heaven-viz. the professing Christianity-was much harder to a rich man than it is now, because it was then an obligation upon him actually to part with all that he had, and exchange his. wealth, pleasures, and honours, for a state of poverty, pain, and contempt. This, at present, is not required. On the contrary, it must be agreeable to the will of God, who bas established order and government among mankind, that there should be rich Christians as well as poor, great as well as mean, magistrates as well as subjects. And if good and wise men should be deterred, by understanding that text as strictly applicable to the rich in all times, from endeavouring to acquire riches and power by honest means, or from holding them, when so acquired, with peace of mind; what a condition would the world be in: how much exposed to become the prey of the worst of men, and how little benefited by the goodness of those who are enabled to serve it the best. It is therefore our duty to interpret this and other similar texts in a manner agreeable to the known will of God, and that order of things which he has appointed now that he has thought fit to make Christianity an established religion; viz. to understand them to relate no farther to us, than to deter us from any presumption or confidence, in wealth or power, independently of him from whom we receive them, and to whom we are accountable for the use that we make of them; or from any such inordinate love of them, as would make us set them above our duties, and not be willing to part with them rather than deny Christ, if such a trial should ever come. It must be also allowed, that a state of prosperity has many temptations peculiar to itself; and so has a state of poverty, too, perhaps as great in the present circumstances of the Christian world. "I hope in God, that, as he has been pleased to place me in the former state rather than in the latter, he will enable me to resist the temptations annexed to that state, and always keep my heart in such dispositions as may render the good he bestows on me beneficial to others, and, by the right use which is made of it, profitable to my eter. nal as well as temporal interests. "As to the question you ask me, Whether I have at any time felt in my mind the energy and power of the Spirit of God? I think it safer and wiser to ascribe all good thoughts, dispositions, and actions, to the co-operation of that Holy Spirit with our endeavours, than to pretend to distinguish particular instances when the influence of it is sensibly felt. As to any confi dence in my own righteousness, of hope of salvation otherwise than by the merits of Christ, I assure you that I have none: nor am I without a deep sense of my particular wants and weakness, which makes me very thankful to you, who, I am persuaded, are a good man, not only for your friendly concern, but for the prayers that you say you put up for me to our Lord Jesus Christ, which I desire you to continue; and believe me, with sincere regard and esteem of your piety, Sir, your faithful friend and humble servant, G. LYTTELTON." As an Observer, you cannot but have noticed that juvenile mode of dress which elderly ladies of the present day think proper to adopt; and, as a Christian Observer, you must have remarked that even religious ladies are not free from this unbecoming foible. How these good women can fail to see, what every one else sees, might be matter of surprize, if we did not know how blind human beings are to their own defects. But I wish they could for a moment behold themselves with other people's eyes, and estimate the disappointment which is felt, when the garments proclaim youth and beauty, while the face, in spite of its flaxen ringlets, betrays the unwilling secret of threescore years and ten. Perhaps the dress even of young ladies is at present somewhat too fantastic; but old women (if such things exist) should know, that what may be tolerated in youth, is not to be endured in age; and that the same thing may be becoming at one period of life, and ridiculous at another. "Non, si quid Pholoen satis, Et te, Chilori, decet." HOR, I wish one of these veteran belles would employ her grandson or nephew to construe the whole of the ode last quoted; she would find in it much good sense, and instruction quite in point. But what have we to do to judge those that are without? Whatever people of the world may do, ladies professing godliness might be expected to know better things. In these characters I have been highly grieved to witness the fault I am complaining of; and am seriously at a loss to reconcile it with their professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ. I can hardly think that there is a real deadness to the world, where the dress exhibits such strong symptoms of unmortified vanity. When I figure to myself a devout female, I always picture her dress, not indeed affectedly singular, but correctly sober, and suited to her age and station. Nor do I represent to myself Anna, serving God with fastings and prayers, night and day, in the attire of a gay and pleasure, loving widow. Supposing that it were a sacrifice to quit a post which is no longer tenable, those who are acquainted with the hopes of the Gospel should be able cheerfully to make it. But I imagine there is a mistake here; elderly ladies forget that age has its beauties and its ornaments, as well as youth: let them seek the honours which are properly their own, and not descend to such as are unworthy of them. An elderly woman, neat, or simply elegant, is not a repulsive, but an agreeable object, on which the eye rests with pleasure; and if she be adorned with good works, and with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, she commands that reverence which is the proper tribute of age, but which it must fail to receive when tricked out in girlish habiliments. If, Mr. Observer, you can assist me in fixing the time when a lady should assume a more sober garb than may be required of a girl of nineteen, you would do a valuable service to your countrywomen. For my own part, I cannot help thinking, that at least a female who has attained her fiftieth year, should discover that she is not young, and begin to dress accordingly. I am, &c. R. O. S. G., O. S. G. G. THE following letter arrived too late to be inserted in its proper place; but, being anxious to premote the inquiry which X. Y. has in view, we are not willing to defer its publication. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I AM much obliged, as I doubt not that others of your readers are, by the information which Talib has been kind enough to communicate in answer to my inquiries. Yet, as the code of Justinian is neither in my own possession, nor easily per. haps to be consulted by the genera lity of your readers, I cannot but wish that Talib had transmitted to you, for insertion, a copy of the edict to which the two letters of Jus tinian, from which he has furnished extracts, refer; together with some account of the occasion upon which it was issued or that, if the edict be in itself unimportant to the ques tion as to the commencement of papal supremacy, that he had given a brief account of it sufficient to prove that the above-mentioned letters are the only material documents which Justinian can supply. I hope that he may not be unwilling to meet this desire. The fact whether the emperor Phocas did, or did not, confer on the pope any authority not pre viously exercised by the see of Rome over the church of Christ; any authority, I mean, which could in any degree answer the idea of "delivering the saints into his hand;" is of such moment to the right interpretation of prophecy; that Talib has rendered an acceptable service in laying before the public the quotations from Paulus Diaconus. Much obscurity still hangs over the grant of Phocas. The whole of Mosheim's account (4to. vol. i. p. 320, in Maclaine's Translation) is as follows: "The most learned writers, and those who are most remarkable for their knowledge of antiquity, are generally agreed, that Boniface III. engaged Phocas-that abominable tyrant, who waded to the imperial throne through the blood of the emperor Mauritius-to take from the Bishop of Constantinople the title of cumenical or universal bishop, and to confer it upon the Roman pontiff. They relate this, however, upon the sole authority of Baronius; for none of the ancient writers have mentioned it. If, indeed, we are to give credit to Anastasius and Paul Deacon*, something like what we have now related was transacted by Phocas. For when the bishops of Constantinople maintained that their church was not only equal in dignity and authority to that of Rome, but also the head of all the Christian churches; this tyrant op posed their pretensions, and granted the pre-eminence to the church of Rome. And thus was the papal supremacy first introduced." On this subject it may be re marked, in the first place, that the unsupported authority of Baronius, a cardinal of the seventeenth cen tury, as to an event said by him to have occurred above a thousand years before (A. D. 606); an event, too, very interesting, if it actually took place, to the cause of popery amounts literally to nothing; and we may well be surprised that it should ever have obtained any weight among protestants. In the next place, the testimony even of early popish writers respecting such an event, though it may ultimately prove credible and accurate, ought to be scrupulously examined and sifted. Mosheim, in mentioning the assertions of Anastasius and Paulus Diaconus respecting a grant from Phocas, plainly shews that he doubts extremely whether these writers---the only ancient authorities, so far as at present appears, in support of the existence of a grant from Phocas---are entitled to any credit whatever. Thirdly, according to Talib's quotations from Paulus Diaconus, one of these authorities does not uphold, but, on the contrary, by his silence invalidates, the proposition, that the grant, Anastasius de Vitis Pontificum. Paul Diacon. de Rebus gestis Longobardorum, lib. iv. cap. xxxvii. in Muratori Scriptos. Rerum Italia, i, part i. p. 46. if ever it existed, bestowed on the pope the particular title of Ecumenical or universal bishop. Fourthly, assuming the existence of a grant, as described by Paulus Diaconus, a farther and more important inquiry remains; namely, whether the grant conferred any new power on the pope, in addition to that, whatever it might be, which had been granted. by Justinian; or whether, in fact, it gave any thing more than an honorary denomination and a right to formal precedence. With a view to the removal of these uncertainties, I would request Talib in particular, as well as aby other of your correspondents conversant with the subject, to favour you with a specific statement of the testimony of Anastasius on the point in question; of any additional testimony, if there be yet any, to be produced from Paulus Diaconus; any arguments alleged by Baronius, if he alleges any, in support of his assertion; and of any other authority, if any be known, which may tend to shew whether any grant was ever made by Phocas to Pope Boniface, and what, if a grant was made, was its import. X.Y. For the Christian Observer. LINES ON MISSIONS. STAMPED as the purpose of the skies, Een now the hallow'd scenes appear; mark their steps-their fears subdue, And nerve their arin, and clear their view! When, worn by toil, their spirits fail, With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose, And the Nose was as plainly intended for them. Then shifting his side, as a lawyer knows how, He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes; But what were his arguments few people know, For the court did not think they were equally wise. So his lordship decreed with a grave solemn note, Decisive and clear, without one if or but, That, whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By day-light or candle-light, eyes should be shut. |