The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1793-10-15 00:00:00, page 1

Weak though sam of limb and/host uf fight.
Far from a lynx and not a giant quite ;
I'll do what Brown and Chefeiden adrift.
To keep my limbs, and to pref er we my eyes,
Hot to go back is fomewbat to advance.
And men must walk at leaf before they dance,
, Pope.
J^^LTHOUGH my companions
denominate me an idler, and one that
floats carclesfly, and at random down
the stream of life, yet long since 1 have
marked the diftindion between stag
nation ^ftrenuous indolence. This
is a discrimination, rarely I believe,
made by mankind, who observing a
character, that does not methodically
pursue some one objed, straight way
argue that he never can possess “land
and beeves.” A conclusion illogical,
unwarranted, and to which the lie is
daily given by experience. Men, fl u
dious of laborious ease, not flothful,
happy to deceive the time, not to
waste it *, form aclais numerous and
refpedable.
To rank these loiterers with those,
who doze life away, is like comparing
the noiseless current of a running
brook, to the “ green mantle of the
stagnant pool.”
/^e may be stupidly busy, & splen
didly and vivaciously idle. They, who
with pack-horse constancy keep the
road, will at night reach the Inn; but
he, who leaps the hedge, and as
cends the mountain, is alone qualifi
ed to describe those beauties of nature
and art,’peculiar to the country. Id
lers infeded with lethergy are valetu
dinarians, for whom no flimuli, can
be fuccefsfully prescribed ; and the
fafliionable Brown himfelf, aided by
the exhilirating powers of opium and
nether,;would retreat from their bed
fideTn’defpair* These deaf adders
cannot hear the voice of the charmer,
charming never so wifely. Diffident
of my abilities to rub off this rust of
the foul, I (hall not wake your two
legged dormice, from the deep sleep,
into which they have fallen.
The littered loiter can be roused :
he merits, and will heat inftrudion.
His .attention, though .unfixed by Dr.
Gul ©n^e^antidea/ will continue
adive, uhtti^a brief eflay is pefufed.
As genius dndtafte feeqqendy follow
this saunterer in his lounge, for the
fake of the company he keeps, as well
as his own, I willfuggeft what, in Bi
ble phrafe,may beproficable to di*
red. ’ .
; Among other fore evils, incident
to the indolent scholar, may be rec
koned that difpair, which induces him
to set down and do nothing, because
he cannot do every thing. Perfec
tion we all know or ought to know, is
unattainable; Yet sometimes near,
and often times distant approaches
may be made to the cupola of Fame’s
Temple^ Even the attempt merits
no mean praise.
' Cesar, Sbakefpeare t ftn4 Handel, ap
pear and aftonilb, like the Phoenix,
but once in an hundred years. But
we daily behold experienced generals,
meritorious poets, anddeledablemu*
ficians. , , , .
These, though it were beyond their
ability to subjugate Gaul, to weave
the scenes of Hamlet, or compose the
from, the Each ; tr Dartmouth CintinXl.
Volume VIII.]
Xhe FARRAGO—No. IX.
The American Herald of Liberty.
EXETER ( New-Hampjhire) Printed and Published by Henry Ranlet, in Main-Street, at fix jbilllngs and eight pence per annum.
one of rice, or indigo, and fmoaked
tobaco, of his own raising, fupindy
in the Ihade.
• Messiah, have contented themselves
' with executing tolerably, what the e
therial few atehieved excellently well.
But some ambitious, all grasping spi
rits, poflefling/be talents will rafliiy
bury them, uniefs instantaneously mul
tiplied to ten. These positions, per
haps unpleasant and unpeffpicuous in
an abftrad form, may be thus laconi
cally illustrated.
A law student pores over “ Little
ton on SCenures^ confident that the
crowd will admire his future decisions,
as judge of Federal Court. Some un
lucky day when the mental eye is
** unpurged by euphrafy and rue,” he
cannot measure the difference of a
brace of quibbles, or discern a fubtil
diftinftion in Coke^ He throws down
his folio, goes sorrowing to rest, and
you may hear him mutter in dreams,”
hopeless study, hedged with thorns—
Gothic letter-difference between Plow
den and Pope,” These examples thus
slightly pursued will convince the
scholar that this habit is common and
dangerous. In fa<ft genius is prone
to the sanguine in every projeft.
Such is rhe abstruseness of some fu^
jedts, and the labour of others, that
few can pursue a literary path with
out encountering some obdacl^put
fliall a pebble check our bold ana im
petuous career. Shall one formed to
explore new avenues to knowledge, to
rfeach their termination, and to return
A poeticalenthufiaft fliall read, and
reli(h the bards. Perfuing Pope's Ho
mer, every poetical energy (hall be
roused, and in a&ion. If he cannot
rival thedefcription of Achille's (hield,
or Ajax retreating, he will renounce
Parnafius for ever. Though he can
describe accurately in the ode, or sting
poignantly in the epigram, yet, fail
ing in the epic, the muses droop and
fink from his despairing view, and
poetry is but “elaborate waste of
time.”
and become a guide to future adven
tures, dastardly abandon his design
because not instantly accompliflied ?
—lt fliould be remembered that in
great attempts “ tis glorious even to
fail.” Though we (tumble seventy
times and feyen let us rife and per
feyere. The scholar like the merchant,
fliould exult at petty, gains, and from
their accumulation form his capital.
Though from his lofty conceptions of
excellence, he infers that mediocrity
is not to be collated, s he fliould te*
fleft, that if his deduction were belief
ved, the lamp of learning would ex
pire. .. Such is the progressive nature
of the mind that like Rome, from
small beginning he gradually rises to
gloty,^ercifes boundless dominion,
and challenges the admiration of man
kind. Had this despairing humour
prevailed, the hobleft energies of the
foul had been repressed. Ccfar,c^xt
lefs of tKe empire of the world, would
have sauntered through the streets of
Rome gallanting Cleopatra. Sbakefpere
would have idly angled in the Avo^
and jested with Warwick/bire beors.
Milton would have flogged truants at
his school in Bunbill- Fields — Sir fo
jhua Reynolds and Dr.Goldfmitb would
have been daily drunken at the Bed
ford house r And Wajhington a
Virginia planter, instead of warring in
the tented field,would have overseen.
TUESDAY, O&obcr 15, 1793.
These are used by trinitarians’j but
though the* may mean to give equal
glory to the whole trinity, they intro
duce the Great God and Father of all
rather incidentally, by the by, as an
appendage, and in away that seems
like uniting a smaller with a greater.
1 have heard a ierious man fay, “ I
cannot bear to hearthat paltry with
“ To whom, [C bridy with the F«ther,aad
the Holy Spirit, ce all aue honour, &c.”
This is another form.and the word
due must be understood to mean, so
much as may be justly claimed by each,
and which each has a right to demand;
so much as it is proper and fit /hould be
rendered to each, by the worihipper.-^
This is a doxology that seems to suit
those who, left they fliould afciibe too
much honor to Chrili, think it fafeft
to stint the homage they would other
wife offer to Hr God and our God.
“ Now to the Supreme and Udiverfal Fa
ther, to Jefua the San of God, and to the
Holy Spirit of grace and truth, be honour and
glory, &c.” '
This may bethought to be without
bktnijh ; faVe that .it is not a form ta
ken from the Bible.
Now to the Father, to the Son, and to
the Holy Ghost, be equal honour, &c.”
This is driblly trinitarian, and one
to which no real believer in the doc
trine of the trinity can,with propriety,
make any other obje&ion, than that
scripture doxologies are better because
they were not invented by uninspired
men, and all Christians can unite in
the use of them.
The writer means not the Jeaft re
flexion upon any who use one cr an
other of the preceeding forms. He
greatly refpeds many of them for
their learning and piety; and with
some of them enjoys a cordial friend*
fliip, which will never be,in thefmall
tft degree, interrupted by differences
in religious sentiments, which are un
avoidable. What is here offered, it
is hoped, will be considered as effu
fions of an honest and serious mind ;
and not attributed to a disposition
impertinently to find fault with the
pradife of others.
It is a matter of grief to no small
number of chriftians, that so many
still chufe to retain human creeds ra
tficir than to use the language of fcrip
cure ; particularly that the perplexing
riddle in the common-prayer-book,
of one denomination, denouncing
damnation to all who cannot solve
A Brief recital of certain Doxologies,
or forms of giving glory to God,
ancient and modern, with cursory obser
vations, ar.d a scriptural collection.
*'Tothe Father, ?oibe Son, aod to the
Holy Ghost, be glory, &c.**
** To the Father, by the Son, in the Holy
Ghost, be gloty, &c.’*
“ To the Father, and the Son, ifr the Holy
Ghost, be glory, &cJ'
These fuperadvenient forms were
composed in the 4th century, when
chriftians were engaged in dilputes
about the dodrine of the tiinity.
Besides the firft of these, we have
the following in use, now, with divers
others which I Ihall not mention, be
cause though not taken from, they are
by no perlons thought tocontain sen
timents contrary tb the holy scrip
tures.
,r To whom, [Cbrtf] with Thee, [the Fa
ther] and the Holy Ghost, be, &c. M
“ To whom, [Ckrfi] with Thyfelf [the
Farber’s felt] and the Holy Ghost, be, &c.”
From the COLUMBIAN CENTINEL. .
MON ITORIAL,
and swallow contradidions, is still in
use ; and that what has been, with
too much poficivtcy, maintained by
various writers, of three persons in one
nature, and two^ natures in one person,
in one of whose natures, nevertheless
are three persons, is preferred to the
words of inspiration, when contem
plating fubjeds,with refpedto which
the wileft man on earth may fay, with
the Psalmist, “such knowledge is too
wonderful forme ; it is high, f cannot
attain unto it.”
“ This, surely, is thinking of men
above that which is written.” It is
derogatory to the honour of the ho
ly scriptures. And is it not well wor
thy of consideration whether it is
treating them with less indignity to
negled the sublime forms of giving
glory to God to be found in the sac.
red code, for the extra, and in some
instances, it may be, and-lcriptural
doxologies invented by trinitarians,&
anti trinitarians, convened in coun*
cils, more perhaps to thwart each 0-
ther k than to glorify God ? If the con
tinued use of them disturbs the devo
tions, and distresses the minds of ma
ny serious persons, is not this a fuffi
cient reason why they fliould be
changed for such as were written
in the purest age of Christianity ? Let
the unbiased, the candid, the sublime
mind determine 1
Ftrms for concludes of prayer, fame wholly,
and the rtf at nearly t os pofible t in fcripturt
language. They who are familiarly convex
fa nt w/th their bibles wild find no difficulty in
felefting others.
Hab. iii Psalm, Ixxii. Lam. ni.
Now unto Him whose brightness is as ligh^,
whose glory covereth the Heavens, whose
praise filleth the earth, whose ways are ever-
Jailing, and who only doth wondrous things;
unto him we lift up our hearts and fay, Bles
sed be his glorious Name forever and ever.
Amen-
Rom. xl 30.
Now unto him. cf whom, and through
whom, and to whom are all things be glory
forever, Amen.
Rom. xvi 27.
To God only wife, be glory, through Jefua
Christ, forever, Amen.
Gal. i. 3,4» 5-
We offer our addreffea in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himfelf for our
fins, according to the will of God and our
Father ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen,
Eph, iii. 20, 21.
Now unto him whois able to do exceed
ing abundantly above all that we can alk or
think, unto him be glory in the church . by
Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world with*
out end, Amen.
Phil, ivs 18, 19, ao.
May this our prayer be a facrifice accept
able and well pleafiog unto thee, and all our
need be fopplied according to thy riches m
glory, by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and
our Father be glory forever and ever, Amen.
I. Tim. i. 17^
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, in-?
visible. the only wife Gad be honour & glory
forever and ever. Amen.
11. Tim. iv. 18
Now onto him who it able to deliver us
from every evil work, and preserve os unto
hia heavenly kingdom, be glory forever and
ever. Amen.
L Tim, VI. 15, 16,
Now unto the biefled and only Potentate,
the King of kinga, and Lord of lord# ; who
only hath immortality, dwelling in the light
which no man can approach onto, whom no
man hath seen, nor can fee, be honour and
power everlasting, Amen.
" Heb. xiji/to, 21.
Now may the God of peace, who brought
again from the dead our Lord Jefus,that great
Shepherd of the iheep, through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make us perfed in
every good work to do his will, working in u
that which it well pkafing in hia fight,
[Numb. 15