by no means undeserved terms of respect and admiration in which he speaks of the subject of his remarks, that the continuance for ten or twelve years more of such a life as that of Mrs. Cappe would be acknowledged by him as one of those cases. But if this is granted, then it necessarily follows (since we are agreed that the adaptation of this world for a scene of moral discipline requires that it should be governed according to general laws), that all the circumstances which, in conformity with those laws, must be combined in order to accomplish this purpose, must also have been foreseen and provided for from the beginning. And however limited and imperfect our knowledge may be of the manner in which the various incidents and changes which occur in the world are connected with each other, we cannot fail to perceive that events of such magnitude that it is impossible for any one to suppose them to be overlooked, who believes that the Divine Being concerns himself in the remotest degree with the affairs of his creatures, are continually dependent upon circumstances which, but for this connexion, would have been considered as trifling and unimportant.

Now, if all this be admitted, (and how it is to be disputed by any one who believes in a Providence at all, I cannot conceive,) I am at a loss to understand upon what grounds we can hesitate to assent to Mrs. Cappe's conclusion in the passage which has given rise to this discussion; namely, that it was the intention of a gracious Providence, by these means, at that time, to preserve her life. "It may be asked," she continues, "could not life have been preserved in a much shorter way, by simply preventing the accident? I answer, undoubtedly; but let it be remembered, that the mercy would then have been wholly unperceived, and, consequently, that not one of the salutary convictions would have been felt, which similar dangers and similar deliverances are intended to produce." Mr. L. finds in this argument only a fit subject for ridicule. To my mind, I confess, it suggests graver reflections. When I consider that the present world is a scene of trial, probation and discipline,

intended to prepare us for another and more enduring state, can I doubt that the circumstances in which the heirs of immortality are placed, are regulated with a view to the promotion of this great and glorious object? Why, then, should it be thought a thing incredible, that one of the pur poses intended to be answered by the dispensations of the present life should be to prove in us those dispositions and feelings which may fit us for our heavenly inheritance? From a view of the constitution of our bodily frame, natural theology has derived some of her strongest proofs of the infinite wisdom and benevolence of our Almighty Creator; and it is thought not unreasonable to suppose that a Being who could have conferred upon us our various faculties at once, by a fiat of his omnipotent word, has chosen ra. ther to resort to a complex organization, in order to afford his rational creatures an opportunity of tracing the marks of wise design, manifested in the works of nature;-why, then, should it be thought absurd to suppose that in the dispensations of Providence, his object has been not merely to accomplish the purpose immedi ately in view, but also to impress more forcibly on our minds a conviction of our dependence on him for every good gift, and to lead us to perceive and admire the display of his natural and moral perfections in the government of the universe? But, it is said, that in many instances we are unable to perceive this; the ways of Providence are often inscrutable. It is granted; but is this any reason why, in those cases where we can trace his counsels, however imperfeetly, we should fail to do so? Still more, is there any reason why, in those cases where we have ourselves received any signal benefit, or have been delivered from some impending calamity, we are to refuse to conteniplate in the beneficent dispensation the agency of him in whom we live and move and have our being? In such cases are we to rest in second causes? Are we bound, on pain of being contemned as weak and unphilosophical reasoners, to look no further than the laws of gravitation or of muscular contraction, and to refrain from lifting up our thoughts to that great Being

by whom these laws were established, and of whose mighty energies they are in fact nothing more than the modes of operation?

Mr. L. has undertaken the very superfluous labour of proposing such a case and arguing upon it. Suppose a coach to be overset, carrying six passengers-two of them killed on the spot, two maimed for life, and the remaining two totally unhurt. How is this to be explained?" Among other solutions which he imagines of this "difficult problem," one is, that "the downfal was the effect of universal rules established by Omnipotence as the permanent laws of nature" another, "that the accident itself was in the common course of cause and effect, but that the Almighty interposed his power to save the lives of the two who escaped, and left the other four to their fate." The first is that which he himself adopts; the other, he seems to take it for granted, would have been preferred by Mrs. Cappe. With respect to his own solution, it may be sufficient to observe, that it involves an absurdity in ascribing a physical effect to a mere abstraction of his own mind. An effect can only be produced by some agent; now, a rule is not an agent, but only the mode according to which some agent operates. The laws of motion and gravitation, to which he would refer the effect in question, are not beings, and therefore not agents. They are in reality, as I have just observed, mere abstractions of our own minds, devised in order to enable us commodiously to express in one general proposition, a great variety of phenomena, which present themselves to our notice, under circumstances more or less closely analogous. Who, then, is the agent by whom these effects are produced? In the case of the law of gravitation, are we to suppose that the earth exerts a positive inherent force to draw down every unsupported body to its surface? Has it intelligence to perceive and obey the laws which its Maker hath imposed upon it? Is the earth a servant that can hear and understand the commands of its Almighty Lord? Is it in a literal sense that the winds are his messengers, and the flaming fire his minister? If not, to whom are

we to ascribe those phenomena, sometimes the instruments of good, at others, in the first instance at least, of evil, of which in popular language these inanimate objects are represented as the causes? In ascending through the series of second causes, how can we stop any where till we arrive at that Infinite Being who hath declared by the mouth of his prophet, "I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things!"

Supposing, then, that such a circumstance as this had actually occurred, and I were called upon to furnish a solution of the problem, I should say, that this, like every other event that occurs throughout the universe, is the result of the immediate exertion of divine power, directed to the production of that particular effect, but operating according to the uniform and regular plan which has been wisely established, in order to render this world a school in which men may learn wisdom from experience. The effect in this instance was awful and mysterious;-I do not presume to account for it; but as it constitutes a part of the great plan of Providence, as it was the necessary consequence of the previous circumstances, arising out of them at that particular time and place, as infallibly as an eclipse or a transit, so I firmly believe that it was connected with other effects in a high degree beneficial, and, in fact, (to adopt the language of a doctrine that has often been ridiculed, but can never be disproved,) formed an essential part of the best possible system.

As for the other solution, every one must admit that it is in a high degree irrational and derogatory to the Divine perfections; but nothing can be more remote from the view of a particular Providence as maintained by Mrs. Cappe. I should not, therefore, have taken any further notice of this part

of the subject, I hope I may be permitted Views of Providence, inserted in the to refer to an Essay on the Different Monthly Repository for August, 1814. That paper contained my earliest thoughts on this subject, which a more matured, and at least annually repeated examination of it, have fully confirmed.

*For some further details on this part

of Mr. L.'s paper, but for a very singular reference to scriptural authority, which deserves to be cited as a remarkable example of the folly of the practice too common among all classes, of quoting from Scripture sentences and half sentences, as detached aphorisms, without regard to argument or connexion. "Why presume," says he, on this system of favouritism, when the very authority on which so large a portion of mankind rests its belief, has declared that one event happens alike to all?" Whether your correspondent is competent to undertake a commentary on the difficult book he has here quoted, I know not; but I think no one who reads the whole of the passage out of which these few words are selected, (Eccles. ii. 12-17,) will fail to be forcibly struck by the thoughtless precipitation with which the querulous discontented complaints of a man dissatisfied with himself, satiated and disappointed with worldly pleasures and mere worldly business, are made to pass for indisputable maxims of divine truth. "We have it from the SAME source," he continues, "that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our heavenly Father, and even the hairs of our heads are all numbered."" No, says Mr. L., the hairs of our heads are not numbered; all that is meant is, that Omniscience is capable of numbering them! In this manner does a fallible mortal presume to explain away the express words of our Lord, and set limits to the Divine Omniscience! And why? Because it derogates from the dignity of the Supreme Being to suppose him to be "occupied" with such petty details; because Divine power must be fatigued, if every motion and every atom is to be guided by such "incessant and watchful regulations !"

After all, there is one point of view in which this passage of Mrs. Cappe's Memoir may possibly be thought liable to some exception. The correctness of the philosophical principle is, in my opinion, unquestionable; but how far it was judicious to connect it with the detail of a variety of minute particulars is a matter of taste, on which some doubts may perhaps be started. There are, unfortunately, many persons who are ready enough to acknowledge an important maxim,

so long as it is stated in the abstract, or veiled in dry and barren generalities; but whose imaginations, when we attempt to apply it to a particular example, are instantly carried away by some of the minor and accidental details, and they lose sight of, or hesitate to admit the general principle. This is more remarkably the case, when any of the circumstances may be turned into ridicule, or are connected with low and ludicrous images. In the present instance, it is to be feared that some readers have been more occupied by the minute particularities of the " gristle of a breast of veal,” "the glass of cold water," &c., than by the important and instructive practical lesson which the author endeavours to deduce from the incident. To such minds I do not wonder that the whole should appear to savour of the ludicrous or burlesque. Doubtless, if Mrs. Cappe had been writing for persons of such refined taste and susceptible imaginations, she would have abstained from all mention of these petty and vulgar details. But I suspect her more sober readers would have been losers rather than gainers by this sort of fastidiousness. We are none of us, perhaps, sufficiently aware how much of the force and value of correct general principles is lost, by neglecting to apply them habitually and constantly to particular cases. The cases themselves may be minute, and, if taken separately, may appear trifling and insignificant; but the habit of mind which is thus cultivated, and which can thus alone be brought to perfection, is often of the highest importance. Sometimes, as in the instance before us, the details may be such as to excite, in those who have not accustomed themselves to view the hand of a Sovereign Disposer in all the events and circumstances of their lives, nothing but low and ludicrous associations; but there are others, I trust, who will be actuated by sounder principles and better feelings. For myself, replete with instruction as is the whole of this valuable work, I do not hesitate to declare that those parts of it appear to me pre-eminently so, in which the writer endeavours, from those circumstances of her life which might otherwise have been considered as uninteresting to the public, to deduce

impressive illustrations of those important practical principles which she had derived from an enlightened philosophy and from a careful examination of Scripture.

WILLIAM TURNER, Jun.

The Epistle from the Yearly Meeting, held in London, by Adjournments, from the 21st of the Fifth Month, to the 29th of the same, inclusive, 1823, to the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends, in Great Britain, Ireland and elsewhere. DEAR FRIENDS,

E have again been made thank

the mere assent of the judgment to the truths of Holy Scripture, however desirable such an assent may be, that is sufficient to make us real Christians. It is only by the sanctifying operation of the Holy Spirit that we come fully to partake of the benefits of the mediSon of God. ation and propitiatory sacrifice of the

It is our earnest solicitude, that all whom we are addressing may be enough concerned for the salvation of their souls. Dear friends, we believe that for the advancement of this most necessary work, it is good for us frequently to seek after retirement in spirit before the Lord, and to wait in

is not unmindful of us; and we reverently trust that this meeting has not been held in vain. We may inform you that the current of Christian love has renewedly flowed amongst us; and it has extended to all our absent friends. Under this precious influence, we offer you our endeared salutation, desiring your advancement in the way which leadeth unto eternal life; and that you may ever bear in remembrance that "other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

Beloved friends, we have no new doctrine to communicate; no fresh precepts to enforce: it is a peculiar excellence of the gospel that its character is always the same. To those who desire to have their hearts cleansed from the defilements of sin,-yea, to all-the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ continues to be freely offered. The cross must be daily borne by all who would become his disciples. If we would attain unto that holiness without which no man can see the Lord, we must apply in faith unto Him who "taketh away the sin of the world ;" who was "wounded for our transgressions," who was "bruised for our iniquities," and by whose "stripes we are healed;" who, being in glory with the Father "before the world was," condescended in order to effect our redemption, to come down from heaven, and take upon him the nature of man. In contemplating the infinite importance of these solemn truths, and in publicly acknowledging our belief in the divinity of our blessed Saviour, we desire most clearly to convey the sentiment that it is not

tions of his will. If this be not immediately manifested, let not any be discouraged, but let them persevere in faith. Then we believe that in the Lord's time that evidence of his care will be granted, which will prove consoling to the mind. On such occasions the precepts of holy writ will at times be brought instructively to our remembrance. With these invaluable writings, it becomes every one who bears the name of a Christian, to endeavour to be well acquainted. In order to acquire this knowledge, we wish that all our members may observe the good practice of a daily serious reading of the Scriptures in their families, when collected; and also that they frequently read them in private in a pious disposition of mind, even though it be but a small portion at a time.

In the Sacred Writings, no duty is more clearly set forth than that of prayer. Prayer is the aspiration of the heart unto God: it is one of the first engagements of the awakened soul, and we believe that it becomes the clothing of the minds of those whose lives are regulated by the fear and love of their Creator. If in moments of serious reflection, and when communing with our own hearts, we are sufficiently alive to our helpless condition, we shall often feel that we may pour forth our secret supplications unto the Lord. And as we believe that it is one of the greatest privileges a Christian can enjoy, thus to draw nigh in spirit unto the Father of mercies, we earnestly desire that no one may deprive himself of so great a blessing. But let all on such occa

sions remember the awful majesty of Him who filleth heaven and earth, and their own unworthiness in His pure and holy sight. If these considerations ought to possess the mind in our secret aspirations unto the Almighty, how incumbent is it upon those who publicly approach the throne of grace, to cherish them in their hearts, and to move only under the influence of that spirit which enables us to pray aright!

Whilst he who would be a real and not a nominal Christian, is duly impressed with the necessity of striving to become a meek and humble disciple of Jesus, whilst he bears in mind that he is constantly liable to fall, and that he must therefore be waiting for the renewal of his spiritual strength, and at all times be placing his depedence upon Divine aid,-there is safety. But we fear, with respect to some who have run well for a time, that either through the friendship of men or outward prosperity, or through unwatchfulness, they have gradually fallen away from that to which they had once attained; and that others, from similar causes, are not advancing to that state of purity and simplicity in which they would become useful members of the church of Christ. Dear friends, permit us in Christian love, to remind you of the ever important injunction of our Lord"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." If you endeavour to prove by your actions the sincerity of your profession, if in your intercourse with others you shew that you have an honest and upright heart, if your lives are ordered in the fear of the Lord; you may, by your daily walk through life, commend and adorn your own religious principles. But, if there be a want of consistency of conduct, it may lead those around you lightly to esteem those very principles which their judgment has at one time approved; nay, it may cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of. There are many ways by which our attachment to religion and virtue may be made manifest to others. One of these is the due observance of that day which is publicly set apart for the performance of divine worship. Our care for the due attendance of our religious meetings, both on first-days

and on other days of the week, has been repeatedly expressed, nor have we at this time been unmindful of this primary obligation. We earnestly entreat every one, when thus met, to consider the worship of the Almighty as a solemn act. Under this impression, his demeanour will bespeak a serious thoughtfulness; and let all remember, that at such times an indolent state of mind is offensive in the sight of Him whom we are met to serve. But the duties of the day to which we have adverted, are not confined to the time allotted to assembling with our brethren. Our spiritual growth may be advanced by habits of quietness and retirement, and by suitable reading, in the course of the day. On the other hand, great care is necessary that we do not by unprofitable visiting or conversation, by travelling on our outward avocations, or by otherwise engaging in them, dissipate those good impressions with which we may have been mercifully favoured.

The accounts of the sufferings of our members in Great Britain and Ireland, in support of our well-known testimony against tithes and all other ecclesiastical claims, including the costs and charges of distraint, and a few demands for military purposes, have been brought up in usual course. The amount is upwards of thirteen thousand two hundred pounds.

We rejoice with`gratitude that this country has continued to be favoured with the blessing of peace, whilst we lament that other nations, at no great distance from us, have been involved in contention and bloodshed. We desire that we may all so live under the influence of that Spirit which breathes peace on earth and good will towards men, that, whenever occasions occur, we may be prepared, by our conversation and conduct, in meekness and wisdom to shew forth our precious testimony to the peaceable nature of the gospel dispensation.

Our friends in Ireland, and those of all the Yearly Meetings on the continent of America, have at this time been brought to our remembrance, with the feeling of much brotherly love, by the continuance of our usual exchange of epistles. This meeting has again felt deeply interested on behalf of the natives of Africa, who continue to be torn from their homes,