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From him and from his den of woes
Where only want is in excess,
And even Hope no more can steal
A moment from his wretchedness;
And misery stalking through the land,
Calls forth a dark and fearful brood,
Who wildly toss the flaming brand
And laugh at shrieks, and leap to blood.

One in a prison's narrow cell

Condemned for violent deeds to die
With sunken cheek, in faltering tones
All plaintively upraised this cry.
"Beloved, weep no more for me

My cheek is pale, but not with fear;
The heart whose love was worthy thee
Will calmly beat though death be near,
Yet earth is fair, and oh! how dear

Its fields, its streams, the stars aboveAnd the kind friends whose voices blest And sanctified our love!

And oh! how dear our humble home

Where pleasant thoughts made labour light And blissful Time too swiftly fled

From morning into night.

"Tis hard to part from joys like these Twining so closely round the heart, And from thy kisses, love, and smiles "Tis very hard to part.

For from our happy bridal hour,

From that blest day till even now,
Through grief and want I never saw
A frown upon thy brow

And yet we have been sorely tried,
And many troubles meekly borne-
Often gone hungry to our bed-

Foodless arisen in the morn.

We ask not charity-our toil

For bread we gladly sought to give ; Hard toil for little food-that so

We yet might eat and live,

And day by day our pleasant home

Whose neatness was our pride, your care Whose walls were paradise to usStripped for our need grew bare. "Till I was fierce and lent a earHalf-willingly-yet half in dread, To bitter words of hate that meant Worse mischief than they said, And now within these gloomy walls My limbs with pain I feebly move, My only hope the silent graveMy best support thy faithful love,

Last night I heard a well known strain,—

The voice was strange, nor soft like thine-
But to my heart it brought again

The day, the hour, that made thee mine.

Thou dost remember it! Since then

Through want and grief our souls have ranged;
And much we loved is gone, but that

Is, as our love, unchanged.

That dear old song! its echo yet
Lingers in sweetness on my ear;
And I could weep, but pride forbids,
For strangers' eyes are near.

The morning sun with slanting ray

Shines through my prison's narrow pane,
And warns me that the hour is come

To cease this parting strain.

Just so it shone—a pleasant beam

That cheerly through my lattice strayed
Upon my wedding morn, and in
My chamber gladness made.

It woke me then to love and joy,
It bids me to my death to-day;
I bless'd it on that happiest morn,
I bless and welcome it to-day.
Adieu-adieu-dear love-dear wife-

My heart's last pulse shall throb for thee-
Thy love which made my life's best joy,
Even in death will gladden me.

"Twill soon be past-a heavy knell

A hurried prayer-a sudden fall—
A few sharp throes, and then the sleep
That comes, but once, to all.

THETA.

TO SPRING.

Oh! Spring, thou'rt coming back again to cheer us with thy smiles,
Thou'rt tripping over brake and glen, with all thy wooing wiles,
And we, as though we never yet had welcomed thee before,
The Winter of our hearts forget, and hail thee as of yore;
We watch as then thy presence beam along the wint'ry track,
And dream again, as fondly dream of joys with thee come back;
And in the happy present, bright with hopes and wishes sweet,
Forget the past's too frequent blight-forget each sad deceit,→
Forget that chilling winds, in May, oft nip the tender leaf,
That all around us may be gay, and we, alas! in grief.

And yet I would be cheated still, and help the dear deceit,
And still I'd hope, through grief and ill, though sure of a defeat;
I would not see each lovely thing grow bright 'neath thy control,
And feel although without 'tis Spring, 'tis Winter in my soul;
Oh, no! as blossoms on the tree, ope to the sunny ray,
I'd open wide my heart to thee, and struggle to be gay;
And still I'd say, and say again, as on the seasons speed,
Though past hopes all have been in vain, this will be Spring, indeed.

VOL. 11.

CHARLOTTE.

с

NOTES ON NECESSITY.—No. 1.

CHAPTER I.

THE DOCTRINE STATED.

I AM inclined to fear that Milton's description of the fallen angels who

"reason'd high

has been

Of providence, fore-knowledge, will and fate, Fix'd fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute, And found no end, in wandering mazes lost;" very grievously mis-applied. It has been quoted by every Freewiller who has ever spoken on the subject, as undeniable authority against arguing the question at all; it has been used to stop the mouths of enquirers, to silence objectors, and to comfort conquered self-esteem. But with all due submission to the Free-willers aforesaid, and to the Bard of Paradise, too, I am humbly of opinion that the matter should be dicusssed, aye, and should be decided upon and so settled is my conviction upon this point, that it is my determination to devote a few pages of the City of London Magazine (always supposing, of course, that the worthy Editor allows me), to a consideration of the doctrine of Philosophical Necessity, and to a statement of the conclusion to which I have been led.

The doctrine which I intend to maintain is this: That every event in the world of matter, and in the world of mind, is irresistibly decreed and determined; and not only in its end or consummation, but in its means on pre-determining causes also.

I say every event. I speak of the world of matter; and I wish to be understood to mean and include the history of every atom that composes it, as well as its movements and occurrences as a mass. I refer as much to a single grain of sand by the sea-shore, as to the sun in the heavens;-as much to the bending of a blade of grsss before the wind, as to the courses of the planets in their orbits. I include as much a shower of rain, as an universal deluge;-as much the crumbling of a rock, as the destruction of a system. I speak of the world of mind; and I refer as much to every transient emotion and sensation of the soul, as to its most sublime engagements; as much to every passing idle thought, as to the profoundest reflections of Wisdom and Philosophy. I speak of life; and I contemplate as fully the smallest living creature, as man; as much the falling of a sparrow to the ground, as the death of the most renowned among mankind; as much the loosening of a hair from the head, as the starting of a star from its sphere. I speak of the history of the race; and I mean as fully the rise and fall of the meanest individual, as the setting up and overthrow of the mightiest dynasty or nation.

The opposing doctrine to this is called Liberty or Free-will; and it is easy to see what its tenets must be. It asserts that the events happening in the world are caused by the uncompelled and perfectly free determination of the agents who bring them into being, and may or may not come to pass, according to the agent's will: that there is no necessity for the agent's determination, and therefore, that things may or may not come to pass, and may or may not come to pass as they do. This doctrine I shall most steadily and stoutly oppose.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE MANNER IN WHICH I SHALL CONSIDER THE QUESTION.

Now that I have defined the doctrine I mean to uphold, it may be as well for me to state the course of my argument.

I shall first consider the doctrine as it is affected by the attributes of the Deity; and attempt to show that Necessity inevitably results from Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence:

I shall next endeavour to prove the doctrine from the qualities of Humanity, and the evident destiny of man:

I shall then dispute the fact of man's free-will, and show how completely his determinations are controlled, influenced, and caused: Next, I shall seek to show that moral accountability is strictly accordant with the doctrine of Necessity:

Subsequently, I shall answer the objection, That moral good and evil are inconsistent with Necessity:

It will then be my object to prove the doctrine by exhibiting it in opposition to the theory of Chance or Free-will:

Then I shall produce proofs of the existence of the law of Necessity from the History of the World and from the experience of man :

And lastly, I shall contrast the two systems, and show which man must most desire.

In treating this question, it will be my aim to speak as simply and as clearly as possible, to avoid all circumlocution and mystification, and to prove my point by only fair and honest reasoning.

CHAPTER III.

THE DOCTRINE PROVED FROM THE CREATOR'S OMNIPOTENCE.

In entering upon this part of my subject-the proof of Necessity from a view of the Creator's attributes-I cannot but feel that the ground on which I tread is holy, and that it is necessary for me to observe and maintain the utmost reverence and humility. I should not have presumed to discourse on so sacred a subject, were not the end I have in view a great one; and it will be my most careful study to guard against saying anything that may savour in the slightest degree of levity or profaneness. It is impossible to consider the doctrine of Philosophical Necessity without testing it by the Divine attributes and government; but I shall studiously avoid all reference to religious tenets and opinions in the course of my enquiry; and therefore I hope that I shall offend no prejudices, and wound no feelings.

I proceed then to argue the doctrine of Necessity from the attributes of the Deity: first from his OMNIPOTENCE.

Omnipotence is all-power: now were there anything in the world uncaused by the Deity, there would exist power independent of Him, and therefore he would not have all-power. Will is power; Thought is power; if the Will be free, if the Thought be self-caused, then both Will and Thought are independent of God's will, and his Omnipotence is not perfect. Man's Will, therefore, cannot be strictly free, his Thought cannot be self-originating.

Man has no power but such as he derives from God: the power with which he acts, and with which he wills to act, is God's power.

Man is a created being, therefore a dependent one. Were he selfcaused as the Deity is-his will would be free; but being a creation, he cannot be self-determining. This is evident at a glance. His will depends upon his life-his life depends upon God-therefore his will depends upon God.

The Creator necessarily implies the Supporter; and the Supporter necessarily implies the Orderer.

The Creator implies the Supporter. Man was created for a purpose: so long as the race exists, therefore, the purpose is incomplete; and while the purpose remains unaccomplished, it is necessary that man should be supported. We cannot imagine that God would abandon his purpose; this is contrary to all reason; the plan therefore must pursue its way; in other words, the Creative Power remains in operation, and becomes the maintaining power. The relation, too, of the Deity to man, gives us the assurance that this supporting power will never fail. He is our Father, and we feel a sure confidence that He will be with us in all our ways-guarding, maintaining, directing the children of His love.

The Supporter implies the Orderer. God created man and supports him with an end in view. That end must come to pass, and man is the agent who is to produce it. It cannot be imagined that the Deity would ordain an end without providing the means; for were the means not ordained, there would be a very great likelihood that the event would turn out differently from its destination. Events are only the results of means: consequently, if the event or product of the means be ordained, the producing causes must be provided also.

Causes work effects according to their nature. If man originates causes, effects must follow, and there will be results in the world, not only uncaused but unanticipated by the Creator. These results become in their turn causes of other results, for every new fact or event, has a certain and important influence on the circumstances surrounding it— and so the One End not only stands in danger of being frustrated, but another end, or a number of other ends, will, in time, result.

There is but one way of escaping this difficulty; and that is, by saying that although the means may not tend directly to the event, the Deity interposes when the time for the fulfilment comes, and by setting things straight again, brings about the end he has ordained. But this is altogether inconsistent with the Divine character and government. The Omnipotent hand never acts hastily or violently, or otherwise than by calm and majestic determination-by eternally ordered laws of cause and effect. The universe is regulated by gradual means. Summer succeeds spring in slow and measured steps. Day changes into night by imperceptible degrees. The flower is not a flower at once-the plant is first a seed-then it springs up and gets leaves-then it buds-then it blossoms. The man is first an infant, then a youth, and then mature. In all God's visible government we see nothing that bears the appearance of rash or hasty conception; every thing is progressive and gradual; there is never sudden interference or violent interposition; everything bears the stamp of deliberate intention and serene order. We see continual, but never occasional, direction.

Again:-We must believe that the Disposer of Events would em

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