not long after, thofe poor illiterate men, who had been the companions of Jefus, appeared publicly, teftifying, with uncommon boldness, that he had risen again from the dead, according to his prediction; that they were well affured of this by many infallible tokens, and that, at laft, they faw him ascend into heaven. When I faw that no threatenings, no infamy, no punishment, could intimidate them---when, moreover, I obferved fo many undeniable proofs of fupernatural power co-operating with them, and exerted in the name of Jefus, as rifen from the dead-then the late wonderful works of Jefus, before his death, recurred upon my thoughts; the former impreffions I had been at fo much pains to ftifle, revived afresh upon me---in fhort, the evidence crouded fo faft upon me from every quarter, I found there was no gainfaying it. But ftill I was averfe to the last degree to admit it. I was shocked at the train of confequences which I faw muft follow; and thus I queftioned with myfelf---Has reafon itself deceived me? Do all our best books of divinity and morality proceed upon false principles ? Muft I give up all my choiceft fentiments? Is there no fuch thing as wifdom or righteousness in the world? Are all the world fools and enemies to God but these rude Galileans? The reflection is confounding! But what do thefe men propofe? what do they aim at by their alarming the public in this manner, with their teftimony about the refurrection of Jefus ?---They can have no good defign, no benevolent intention towards men: they feem rather to be influenced by a moft malignant difpofition---they certainly in tend to bring this man's blood upon us---to prove us all to be enemies to God, and objects of his wrath---they intend to make us defperate, and utterly miferable. With fuch reflections, whatever inward difquiet I should undergo, I resolved to combat whatever evidence they could produce; till one day that I heard them charged by fome of my friends in authority with the malevolent purpose I have just now mentioned---But fuch was their reply, that I think I fhall never forget it!----they indeed not only allowed, but demonftrated all the confequences I was fo averfe to admit, with fuch force and evidence, as quite defeated all my resolution. But then they at the fame time laid open fuch a treasure of such divine good will towards men---they drew fuch a character of God, no lefs amiable than awful---they laid fuch a solid foundation of everlasting confolation and good hope, for the most defperate and miserable wretch, as did infinitely more than counterbalance the lofs of all my favourite principles, all my fond reasonings, and every worldly

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worldly advantage I had connected with them. And all this they fhewed, with the greatest fimplicity and clearness, to be the plain meaning and import of the fact which they teftified, even the refurrection of Jefus. And they confirmed every thing they said by the unanimous voice of the prophets, whom I had never understood till now. Their doctrine, in refpect of authority, resembled the word of a king, against whom there is no rifing up; and in respect of evidence, the light of the fun; or, to use a far more adequate fimilitude, it refembled the fact which they teftified, and whereof it was the meaning." And it well correfponded thereto in its effects, for it proved fufficient to raise the dead, and give hope to the defperate.The fact and its import, the hand-writing and the interpretation, equally became the majefty of him who is the Supreme. I faw plainly, that in the refurrection of Jefus, there must have been the agency of a power fuperior to the power of nature--even capable to controul and reverfe the course thereof; therefore I concluded, that this operating power was greater than the God of the Sadducees and the philofophers. I found alfo, that this power had a peculiar character, manifeft from the nature of the controverfy, wherein it interpofed its agency and gave decifion. I found, by the decifion, that its character was more grand and perfect, as well as its agency stronger than that of the God of the pharifees. As to its agency, it was able to raise from deeper mifery to higher bleffedness than the pharifees thought of. As to its character, it appeared with unlimited fovereignty just and merciful in perfection.---Whereas the God of the pharifees was fuch only partially and by halves; incapable to execute the threatened curfe against every fin, and yet fhew mercy and boundless favour to the tranfgreffors; not fo juft as to maintain the honour, the fpirit, and extent of the perfect law at all events; nor fo merciful as to have any favour for the utterly worthless and wretched--but halving the matter---merciful to men of good repute, and juft in accepting thofe who are deficient in their righteousness; or, in another view, juft in exacting the debt of five hundred pence, and merciful in forgiving that of fifty; or fhewing juftice only against the utterly infolvent, and mercy only to those who can make partial payment: in fhort, (like all created potentates) incapable of appearing, at once, without limitation of either attribute, juft and merciful in perfection.

(To be continued.)

LETTERS

DEAR SIR,

LETTERS ON WOMEN.

LETTER I.

HAVE thought of fending you, for infertion in the Mifcellany, a feries of letters relative to Females, their natural capacities, education, manners, the important sphere they are intended to occupy in fociety, &c. &c. &c. The fubject is certainly of great importance, as it relates to, and has for its object, the ftimulating to every poffible exertion for the improvement of the minds, and the rendering ufeful in fociety, to the utmost of their power, about half the human fpecies, If the following remarks fhould be thought worthy of a place in your periodical publication, I propofe continuing the subject, and bringing together fcriptural, hiftorical, and philofophical matter, theoretical, practical, and entertaining, upon the female part of the human race.

Woman, who was formed to be the counterpart to man, to fhare in all his fentiments, virtues, and enjoyments, has been ftrangely degraded in all parts of the world; and by fuch degradation deprived of that mental improvement which the might otherwise have attained, and rendered incapable of that usefulness in society of which the might otherwife have been. Even in England women have too generally been deemed incapable of fharing in the literary purfuits, of participating in the public virtues, of becoming the companions of men in all thofe things which dignify human nature, and render man a bleffing to his fpecies. They have too generally been viewed as pretty playthings, defigned to entertain us in the hours of relaxation from our ferious ftudies and pursuits, but not poffeffed of capacities to share in those studies, or to affift us in those pursuits. All their ufe in fociety has been fuppofed to confift in making puddings, keeping the house in order, adminiftering to the gratification of their male companions, and in contributing towards the procreation and rearing of the next generation.

My fair countrywomen! juftly may you feel indignant at the reatoning of your haughty and imperious mafters, who, tenacious of their own prerogatives, have thrown you into the back ground, as a mere appendage to themselves, as mere fubordinates to their pleasure and convenience; they have denied that you poffefs mental capacities like them; they have withholden from you the advantages of education which them-

felves enjoy. After having inftilled into your minds the idea that God had formed you incapable of attaining fuch knowledge and virtues as themfelves-after confining your education, fo as to put equal knowledge and virtue out of your reach-after flattering your pride, ftimulating your vanity, and doing every thing in the world to render your converfation frivolous, they have been abfurd enough to fatyrize you for your frivolity.

It has been fometimes queftioned whether women have any fouls, and in fome countries it seems to have been taken for granted, though a point utterly incapable of proof, that they have none. Mr. Winchefter has fo fully demonftrated, in his Lectures, that women have fouls as well as men, that nothing is neceffary to be faid by me upon that head. Indeed, could it be proved that they have no fouls, the point of their neceflary mental inferiority would be fully demonftrated; but I much doubt whether it can upon any other ground: for though a fexual diftinction attaches to bodies, I know not what evidence can be brought to prove that it attaches to fouls likewise, any more than that there is male or female in Chrift Jefus, or than there will be marrying or giving in marriage in the refurrection ftate. In fact, it is my opinion, that there are no fexes in fouls.

Still it is contended by many that the fouls of women are inferior to the fouls of men. If facts be adverted to as proofs of this pofition, I think, where women have had an equal opportunity of improving and difplaying their powers, which has been the cafe but in few inftances, it will be found that they have proved themselves by no means inferior in mental ability to men. But man has taken the vantage ground---he hath placed himfelf on the hill, and confined woman in the valley below, and then boasted that she did not stand so high as himself. He hath fettered her powers by a narrow education, by maxims of falfe delicacy, and what has been deemed a neceffary inertnefs, and then gloried in his fuperior ftrength of mind, and his more heroic virtues? Is this fair? Can the fuppofed difparity between males and females, with refpect to mind, ever be brought to an equitable trial while this continues to be the cafe? Let females be fuffered to enjoy all the advantages of a liberal education---let them be told, that all the fources of knowledge are as much open to them as they are to men---let them be ftimulated to active ufefulness in fociety, and not be any longer. retained as the paffive inftruments of our pleasure and convenience---give them leave to feel and exercife their mental energies, and fee how the cafe will then ftand.

VOL. III.

The

The apoftle's having faid, that woman is the weaker vessel, has been fuppofed a proof of mental inferiority in women.That fhe is not poffeffed of the fame corporeal ftrength as man---that her authority is weaker than his---and that, in the conjugal relation, fhe is to be fubordinate to her hufband, I readily admit; but does it follow, that fhe mufteceffarily remain inferior to him in any mental attainment? To woman's corporeal frame being more delicate and feeble, her authority weak in comparison of man's, and to that fubjection which is neceffary in the conjugal ftate, I expect Peter referred in the words alluded to---not to an inferiority in knowledge or virtue.

Many perfons are difpofed to judge of the mental capacity by the ftrength and robuftnefs of the animal frame; and hence they infer, that man, being a stronger and more robust animal than woman, fhe muft neceffarily remain greatly inferior to him in mental capacity and ability for usefulness. But if corporeal strength was the standard or measure of intellect, how came fuch diminutive perfons as Watts and Pope to be fo far superior in their capacities to many of their more robust contemporaries? If mere animal ftrength was the standard of mental excellence, the lion and many other animals would be superior intelligences to man.

Man is undoubtedly the head of the woman in the conjugal relation, the domeftic circle, and in the exercise of authority when it relates to those things which concern both fexes; but it does not follow, that women are incapable of the fame mental attainments, and of ufing them for the general benefit of fociety, for matters of fact have fometimes proved that they

are not.

I admit, that a woman is not to teach in the church of Chrift, or to ufurp the government thereof, which belongs to man to execute, according to divine direction: for the admiffion of this I have divine authority; and I have the fame authority for faying that women are capable of attaining every branch of Chriftian knowledge and enjoyment, and of exer cifing every Chriftian virtue for the good of others.

I had intended adding to the above remarks an account of the Female Benefit Society in this town; but finding I have not room enough to do juftice to that important inftitution in this letter, I defer my account thereof to my next on Females, and in the mean time remain yours, &c.

WISBEACH,

APRIL 10, 1799.

R. W.