FROM A MAGAZINE. "Whence but from Heaven, should men unskill'd in arts, FANATICISM. Voltaire has dwelt much and with justice, upon the effects of superstition inflamed by phrenzy-I copy from recollection but think he has with great propriety, pointed the attention of mankind to the seas of blood, which have beeir produced by this ruling temper of past. ages-Nevertheles how partial have these been, in comparison of the effects of that honorable system of war and unsound policy, which time immemorial has produced misery by systematic contrivance! Oh Prince of peace how amiable art thou! when even we who are sinners of the deepest dye, cannot withold our admiration, from those religious and humane institutions of thine own inspiring, (which like a tender mother, throw over suffering human nature amantle of charity ;) nor from their founders and instruments, those infantine characters, into which so much of thy divine nature has been copied ! Voltaire in his Chinese Catechism, or conversation between Cu-fu a disciple of Confucius, and Kou a prince of that country, introduces some very fine and philosophical sentiments, for the age in which this dialogue is supposed to have taken place; four hundred and seventeen years before the christian æra, and reputed to have been translated into Latin, from a manuscript in the Vatican library, by Father Foquet, formerly a Jesuit-The idea of worshipping the heavens or celestial bodies, is finely exploded by the following sublime and philosophical observations, which contain the first principles of natural religion-As these however are but a part of the truth, and on account of their sublimity, are liable to be adopted by the mind not well informed, as the wholea few observations opening a more extensive prospect to the eye of reason, than they unfold, are thought necessary to be superadded. DIALOGUE. Kou-What is meant by my duty to worship heaven? Cu-fu-Not the material heaven which we see with our eyes, for this heaven is nothing but the air; and the air is composed of every kind of earthly exhalations Now what a folly would it be to worship vapours. Kou--There are whole nations, who worship heaven and the planets. Cu-fu The planets are so many earths like ours; the moon for instance, might as well prostrate itself before our sand and dirt, as we prostrate ourselves before the moon's sand and dirt. Kou-What is the meaning of what we SO often hear-heaven and Earth; to go up to heaven, to be de serving of heaven ? Ca-fu-It is talking very sillilly, there is no such thing as heaven; every planet is environed with its atmosphere as with a shell, and rolls in the space round its sun; every sun is the centre of several planets, which are con tinually going their rounds; there is neither high nor low, up nor down. Kou-I believe I understand you, we are only to wor ship God who made heaven and earth. Cu-fu-To be sure we are to worship God alone-but in saying that he made heaven and earth, however devout our meaning may be, it is talking very sillily-For if by heaven we mean the prodigious space in which God kindled so many suns, and set so many worlds in motion; it is much more ridiculous to say, "heaven and earth," than "the mountains and a grain of sand"-Our globe is infinitely less than a grain of sand, in comparison of those millions of ten thousand of millions of worlds, among the infinitude of which we are lost all we can do is to join our feeble voice to that of the innumerable beings, which throughout the abyss of expansion, ascribe homage and glory to the adorable Creator." Has the By what means did Ca-fu make this discovery? philosopher or astronomer been able to ascertain with precision, the nature and design of the numerous regions in illimited space? As a rational worm standing upon a grain of sand, he has made great discoveries in the suburbs of the Creator's works-but he knows little of their interior history-how then can he tell which are places of happiness, places of misery-or places only of probation ▸ If however these sublime deductions of philosophy, were received by Voltaire as the whole truth-I should be inclined to ask him-By what rule of philosophy or astro-nomy, did he discover all that is contained in the abyss of expansion or in illimited space. The system laid down in this catechism (at least in this part of it) is calculated to infuse into the superficial mind, (particularly so on account of its sublimity) the idea of a God without society, the whole of whose pleasures was derived from the formation or inspection, of those innumerable balls of fire or of earth, which he had kindled and set in motion in the vast expanse; but not one idea of attracting to himself by the rod of his judg ments, or the influences of his love, the beings for whose accommodation, those balls of fire, and those globes of earth were set in motion-Does reason tell us, that those suns were kindled, and these worlds created, for the accommodation of insects who are born and perish; or for the purpose of educating in the school of experience, creatures of immortality, who are destined to be transplanted into purer and more perfect regions?-if not the latter, considering the imperfection of the whole material system, my reason has deceived me-but I should not forget, that those purer regions, made no part of Voltaire's system. EXTRACTS FROM M. WOOLSTONCRAFT'S RIGHTS OF WOMAN. OBSERVATIONS UPON THEM. Extract from the Dedication. "In this work I have produced many arguments, which to me were conclusive, to prove that the prevailing notion respecting a sexual character, was subversive of morality, and I have contended, that to render the human body and mind more perfect, chastity must more universally prevail; and that chastity will never be respected in the male world, till the person of a woman, is not as it were idolized, when little virtue or sense embellish it with the grand traces of mental beauty, or the interesting simplicity of affection." FROM THE INTRODUCTION ON THE WRONG EDUCATION OF WOMEN. The education of women has of late been more attended to than formerly, yet they are still reckoned a frivolous sex, and ridiculed or pitied by the writers, who endeavour by satire or instruction to improve them It is acknowledged, that they spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments-mean while, strength of body and mind, are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty-to the desire of establishing themselves, the only way women can rise in the world, by marriage-and this desire making mere animals of them, when they marry, they act as such children may be expected to act they dress--they paint, and nickname God's creatures- -Surely these weak beings are only fit for a seraglio! -The conduct and manners of women in fact evidently prove, that their minds are not in a healthy state; for like the flowers which are planted in too rich a soil, strength and use. fulness are sacrificed to beauty; and the flanting leaves, after having pleased a fastidious eye, fade disregarded on the stalk, long before the season, when they ought to have arrived at maturity. The cause of this barren blooming, I attribute to a false system of education, gathered from the books written on this subject, by men, who considering females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses, than rational wives; and the understanding of the sex has been so bubbled by this specious homage, that the civilized women of the present century (with a few exceptions) are only anxious to inspire love, when they ought to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect If then it can be fairly deduced from the present conduct of the sex, from the prevalent "fondness for pleasure, which takes place of those nobler passions that open and enlarge the soul, that the instruc tion which women have received, has only tended with the constitution of civil society, to render them insignificant objects of desire, mere propagators of fools!→→→ if it can be proved, that in aiming to accomplish them, without cultivating their understandings, they are taken out of their sphere of duties, and made ridiculous and useless, when the short lived bloom of beauty is over; I presume that rational men will excuse me, for endeavouring to persuade them to become more masculine and respectable. It seems scarcely necessary to say, that I now speak of the sex in general-many individuals have more sense than their male relatives, and as nothing preponderates, where there is a constant struggle for an equilibrium, without it has naturally more gravity, some women govern their husbands, without degrading themselves-because intellect will always govern.* EXTRACTS FROM THE WORK. REMARKS ON THE QUALITIES WHICH GIVE MAN THE SU PERIORITY OVER THE BRUTE CREATION. "In what does man's pre-eminence over the brute creation consist? The answer is as clear, as that half is less than the whole-in reason." REMARKS It does not appear to me, that this answer is quite so clear or so full as our author imagined- — The superiority of man appears to me to consist-not altogether in the superior degree of reason he possesses for there are men, who in this respect, seem very little raised above the brute creation-or perhaps hardly equal in sagacity to some of that order and although man originally made in the image of God, still maintains preeminence in the visible creation; yet the abuse of his powers, often sink him beneath the standard of inferior animals The right use therefore of his reason, rather than that larger measure of the faculty which he enjoys, together with the due improvement of his spiritual powers, seem to me to be the virtues, in which consist his superiorityAs to the common idea, that beasts are * Where ambition and intellect unite, they frequently use unlawful means to arrive at power. |