rately just, they ought certainly to be received as such, and must by every thinking, candid person be regarded as sure pledges that the remaining prophecies of this highly important Scripture will also be punctually fulfilled. To allege from the essential attributes of the Deity, one plain decisive proof of the falsehood and impiety of the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, I stated clearly the absolute impossibility, that an immutable Being should undergo any sort of change. But from your reply I learn, that in the language of the orthodox, impossibilities mean only difficulties; and those not greater than the imaginary difficulty arising from receiving spurious scriptures for apostolic, or from understanding figurative expressions in a literal sense. When Paul tells the Corinthians, that if they made a proper, judicious use of their supernatural gifts in their religious assemblies, the unbelieving heathen, who might come in, would be convinced and converted to the worship of the true God, and report that God was in them of a truth; no body I believe hesitates to understand it in a figurative sense. And when the same Apostle tells them, that God was in Christ, by what rule of interpretation can he be understood not to speak to them in the same figurative sense? As to the assertion of the Author of the Epistle to the Colossians, that " in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," if it were not to be understood figuratively, since nothing less can be literally meant by all the fulness of the Godhead than the whole essence of the Deity, that also would be false, as asserting an impossibility; for it is manifestly impossible, that the whole essence of an infinite, omnipresent Being should dwell, that is, be circumscribed, within the very finite limits of either an human or an angelic body. Whether the articles and liturgy of the Church of Eugland be or be not calvinistic, every impartial man of sense will judge from the obvious meaning of her own words, not from the glosses of a Laud, a Pearson, or a Kipling. To them I particularly referred in one of her prayers in the office of burial, of which you think proper to take no kind of notice. I am sorry I should have at all misapprehended your metaphorical charge of Quixotisin. But I assure you, I was not in the least hurt by it. Men, my dear Sir, are never hurt with what makes them smile. Business Business of another kind no longer allowing me lei sure to attend to the desultory, indeterminate polemics of a Magazine, I here take my leave of this mode of correspondence with you, duly sensible of the great indulgence of the Editor, and of my obligation to you for the liberality, civility, and good temper with which it has been conducted on your part, and with much sincere esteein, and every good wish, Ν IN your Number for December last, there are some ob servations on Sunday Drills; and for the same reason that your Correspondent Oroniensis has furnished them (viz. the suspension of your opinion) I take the liberty of addressing you upon the subject. The evil there complained of has been very generally noticed by serious persons, and various opinions have been entertained on the subject, divided as your correspondent observed, between the evil, and the supposed necessity for it, The advantages attending the merciful institution of the Sabbath, by having a day of holy rest, to attend to the duties of religion in private and in public; the good effect it produces in civilising certain orders of Society, and the religious and social intercourse it promotes are not to be lightly esteemed. But it appears as if the argument had been considered only in one point of view, and that while the Sanctity of the Sabbath has been urged, it has been forgotten that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: and the question resolves itself into this, whether the abuse of a merciful indulgence has been sufficiently distinguished (I beg leave to repeat sur FICIENTLY distinguished) from its proper use. No one it is presumed will pretend to deny, that the defence of our country is a DUTY. Who then will say, that the means of learning this duty, is not equally so? If indeed it could be proved, that this duty might be learned equally as well on other days, as on Sundays, the question would be decided, and the wilful breach of the Sabbath in this, as well as any other way, would be equally sinful, and punishable by the laws of the land, as well as by those of religion: but if this duty must be exercised for the express purpose of defending and preserving these very laws, and this very religion, is itnot equally sanctioned by both? That it is by the former is plain; that it necessarily must be by the latter seems evident. With regard to the great majority of persons engaged in this glorious cause, which will be the boast of every individual engaged in it, and of posterity for ever,-it is certain that Sunday is an important day for their exercise of this duty. The preference of mercy to sacrifice, is allowed; and our only care is, not to abuse that indulgence, or pervert that liberty, by which Christ has made us free. The abuse must ever be distinguished from the proper use of any liberty whatever, and the effects of such abuse must rest upon those who thus wilfully pervert it; but in the present case, the very evil complained of, may be made the means, and the very best of means, of promoting and encouraging the exercise of that duty it is said to prevent. Are there not hours enough in the day, besides those allotted to Divine Service? and might not the practice of Drilling be exercised either before or after this, while it might be made a part of it, (and a most essential one it would be, as leading to a sanctification and blessing on all the rest,) to attend the service of the Church? No difficulty could surely attach to this;, the same orders which bring men" to the Church doors,' might as well carry them withinside; and the want of inclination alone could prevent it, either in the officers or And besides this the laws of the land, which already not only sanction but enforce this, might easily. be made to do so, if they were not already sufficiently, effective. The great evil seems to be, not in the practice, but in its abuse: not in the Sunday Drills, but in drilling al an improper time: and surely if we are called forth to defend men. defend our Country and our Altars, can we do it at a bet ter time, or discharge those duties with greater zeal, og more powerful energy and effect, than when we offer to God the justice of our cause, when we implore his blessing upon it, and his direction in the active performance it requires, in the presence of all those we hold most dear, in the very temples of that God whom we profess to adore, and before his altars when we offer these with our countrywomen whom we are to protect-" with our wives, our children and our little ones," and when we pass from the temple to the field, with all the energy of men, and of Christians, with swords in our hands, and prayers in our hearts, crying out as of old, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Can we be animated with a better spirit? or can it be more effectual? Can we better shew ourselves BRITONS? or better serve "the KING whom we love, the God whom we adore ?" Or, if while engaged in the Drill at a more seasonable (and early hour) it is remembered that we shall go from the field to the Church, from the drill of Soldiers, to the drill of Christians, and that whatever is doing, or has been done in the field must be prescribed and sanctioned in the Church; this is surely the way to make our soldiers Christians, and against Christian soldiers what can succeed? must they not be invincible as the thundering legion of old? In fact the practice of drilling on Sundays, seems so far from being an evil, or improper, that it is the very best remedy for the evil supposed: and if any means were devised for procuring a regular attendance at Church of those who have so far forsaken those good old ways, as to have neglected them, what could be recommended or enforced with greater propriety and effect, than arranging the whole by Martial law and in martial order. Where is punctuality more strictly obeyed? Where are commands better enforced, or more uniformly submitted to? In fact it seems almost the only method which could have been adopted with success, and when more appropriately, than at present. The whole fault therefore must lie with those who neglect to improve so important a means to so desirable an end: and, if they fail in doing this, the neglect of all that good, which may be thus produced, must be claimed at *The only Christian Legion among the Roman forces, and by whose Prayers was obtained the desired relief of the whole army. Vol. VIII. Churchm. Mag. April 1805. Nn their their hands. This indeed would sanctify, and hallow the Sabbath, by making it glorify its divine author, more universally, and more effectually than perhaps it could be done in any other way; the benefits of such an example, might also operate upon our Military in general, and at least, in a great degree, prevail upon them "to go and do likewise." It would also tend to regulate the practice of Sunday drills in such a way, that the proper hours would be allotted for that purpose, and so exclusively devoted thereto, as that the hours appropriated to divine service, would be preserved sacred, and every other part of the day secured from the interruption which is now so gene ral, as well as from the danger (great and universal as it now is) which arises from the practice of ball-shooting in the indiscriminate and highly reprehensible as well as foolish manner that is now practised. The rifle companies of many regiments have made this their practice, on the Morning of Sundays, and several country regiments have adopted the same method. Why it cannot be thus regulated, and the men marched to Church, as well as past it, or from it, is hard to be conceived: nor can it be supposed to depend upon any other cause than that want of will, which as it marks so unhappily the general character, so does it the more importunately demand the remedy proposed, and with what facility this could be effected, needs but a reference to the means of enforcing any other part of Military discipline and duty: and which in this particular respect, is always enforced on what are called the fast Days, enjoined by the State, The appearance which is made upon such occasions, might be extended to others; and the effect of seeing so many men, habited in their military dress, and employed in such a service, must impress every mind with reverential joy. Be it the care therefore of every individual concerned, to add his part to the great effect, by an example and deep sense of the duty in which he is engaged: and not by a careless indifference, inattention and neglect, wilfully offend the Majesty of him before whom he appears the Lord of hosts, the God of Sabaoth* If a Drill is necessary to perfect the performance of military duty, surely this Christian Drill is avowedly so, *The original word sabaoth, means Hosts or Armies, though generally misapplied, (because misunderstood) when repeated in the Morning Service of pur Churches. for |