THE

BERWICK MUSEUM,

OR,

MONTHL r

LITERARY INTELLIGENCER.

BEING A VIEW of the

HISTORY, POLITICS, AND LITERATURE
OF THE TIMES:

A PICTURESQUE DESCRIPTIG OF JANUARY.

HE fun has paffed his fouthTHE ern boundary, and is again returning towards the northern climes; but winter is still in its meridian, and the foil ftrongly bound with frozen fetters. The fkater, pleafed with the flippery plain, flies over the polifhed fur face with amazing fwiftnefs. This is only here, indeed, a pleafing and healthful exercife; but in Hol land, it answers many valuable purposes. The multiplicity of ca nals in that country, when the furface is congealed into a cryftal road, affords a path to the peafant,

meadow, and the lawns, are de
ferted; death-like filence reigns
amidst tl vales. Pinched with
cold, the bourer haftens to his
cottage, al joins his family feated
round the
ye foft fequered feats of inno
zing hearth, Hail,
cence, whereabition, that dread
ful fcourge of ions, is unknown;
where conten miles amidst the
rural repaft, alwhere the luxu
ry of modern tas has found no
admittance! Sy, if happiness
has not quite for
en the earth,
fhe has taken up abode within
the narrow limits
Che peafant's

afflict

e arti.

on which he travels with the fleet cot. The weightyd of pover
nefs of a bird. He carries, with y is there, indeed, often felt;
the greatest cafe, the produce of but the more poignanguifh of
his little farm to market, and re- disappointed pride is ynknown.
turns with pleasure to his family, The wants of nature
before the fun has reached the the fequeftered tenant
y
western verge of day.
he is wholly a ftranger vale;
ficial wants which form
fhare of the miferies of ifge a
move in a higher fpher'
cluded from the noife and
of the city: a stranger Y
frauds and artifices of the
villain; in no danger from
thief that conceals himfef u
the mantle of darkness; neral

The winds that bear on their wings the freezing particles of the north, fcatter the groffer vapours, and render the atmosphere clear and ferene. The ftars glitter with redoubled luftre, and the filver regent of the night darts her bor rowed beams with uncommon Splendor. But the groves, the

who

Se.

'he

pra,

d

6

On Ecclefiaftic and Civil Government.

dif.

ed with the fear of being ruined mer, and spend the dreary feafon
by a fraudulent bankruptcy; he in the caverns of the mountains.
eats his frugal meal with fatisfac. These are their cities, the scenes
tion, and fleeps in peace beneath of their focial converfations, their
his homely roof, till the beams of feafts, and their mirth. Perhaps,
the morning call him again to toil. is one of thefe fubterranean man
What pleafing object feems yon fons more real pleasure and heart.
der to decorate the dreary wafte, felt fatisfaction is enjoyed by this
and smile amidst the frowns of ignorant people, than by the more
winter? It is the early fnow-drop polifhed nations of warmer climes,
of the garden, raifing its head a in their fumptuous palaces. Na
ture seems, indeed, to have blend-
bove the carpet of the fnow, an
expofing its tender form to te ed an equal portion of pleasure and
piercing blafts of the northen pain in the life of every individu
gale. Hail, little harbinger of heal, though both are of a very
fpring! Thy appearance, en ferent kind; for what is filed
amidit the piercing cold, exites pleasure by one, is often confider-
the pleafing idea of returningum- ed as difgufting by another. Hence
mer, when the earth will begain we form falle ideas of happi-
enamelled with flowers, ad the nefs, and are too often induced
little fongfters of the fide fill to think our own portion more
the groves with harmon when bitter than that of our neighbour.
tuneful Philomel will wble her But, alas ! we know not the fecret
melodious strains in the ght, and cares that prey upon the heart;
the early lark foar alofo hail the we fee only the pleasures that float
cheerful blushes of the ing dawn. upon the furface, without being
How greatly is the Wer of ve. able to perceive the pains conceal-
getation difplayed his delicate ed at the bottom. We fhould
plant, this little er of the therefore do well to be contented
Howery tribe! It pies the frozen with the ftation of life in which
glebe, and openslelf a paffage Providence has thought proper to
through the fno as if defirous
own delicate
of contrafting
whitenefs, withe mantle that
covers the furf of the ground.
climes now glow

The fouthe

fummer, and the

with the heat that pole enjoy a

place us, and to remember that,
if our lot be not the happiest here,
we shall enjoy hereafter an ample

retribution.

inhabitants while the wretched An Efay on Ecclefiaftic and Civil

perpetual d

rounded

ed? T pleafur

hot to

Greenland are fur

inhabitants perpetual night. But why they called wretch. have certainly their well as we, and with by what we call happied in the frozen regions nefs. north, where darkness of or almoft half the year, reig inured to the cold, and ter is their feason of feftithe Like the provident bee, thay up their food in the fum.

the

vir

Government.

THERE are two things which

require order and regulation amongst men, viz. what relateth to heaven, and what relateth to this world. The things which relate to heaven, we call Ecclefiaftic; and the things which relate to this world, we call Civil.

Order cannot be preserved in the world without Governors; whose business it is to observe

On Ecclefiaftic and Civil Government.

whatever is according to order, and whatever is contrary thereto; and to reward those who live accord. ing to order, and to punish thofe who offend against order. Without fuch a wife regulation the whole race of mankind muft inevitably perish, since in confequence of hereditary corruption, there is an innate defire in every man to obtain power and pre-eminence, and to appropriate to himself what belongeth to others; which is the fource of enmities, envyings, hat reds, revenges, deceits, cruelties, and many more evils; wherefore unless men were kept under fome external reftraint by the laws, of. fering the reward of honour and wealth agreeable to their defire, to those who do good, and threaten. ing the lofs of honour, wealth, and life, to those who do evil, the whole race of mankind must ine vitably perish.

It is expedient therefore that there fhould be governors, to keep the multitude of mankind under regulations of order; and that these governors fhould be perfons skilled in the knowledge of the laws, full of wisdom, and the fear of God. It is expedient alfo that order fhould be maintained a mongst the governors, left any one, thro' luft or inadvertence, fhould allow offences against order; and this may be beft effected by an appointment of governors of different degrees, fome of higher, and others of lower authority, who fhall be governed themselves by the laws of fubordination.

Governors in matters Ecclefiaftic, or fuch as relate to men's con cerns with heaven and another life, are called Priests, and their office is called the priesthood; but govornors in civil matters, are fuch as relate to men's concerns with this world, are called Magiftrates, and their Chief, where fuch a

7

form of government prevaileth, is called King,

With respect to the office of Priests, they are to teach men the way to heaven, and likewife to lead them therein; they are to teach them according to the doc trine of their church derived from God's word; and they are to lead them to live according to fuch doctrine, Such Priests as teach the doctrine of truth, and lead their flocks thereby to goodness of life, and fo to the Lord, are the good fhepherds; but fuch Priests as on ly teach, but do not lead to good. nefs of life, are the evil fhepherds.

Priests ought not to claim to themselves any power over the fouls of men; inasmuch as they cannot difcern the true state of the interiors, or heart; much lefs ought they to claim the power of opening and fhutting the kingdom of heaven, because that power be longeth to the Lord alone.

Dignity and honour ought to be paid unto Priests on account of the fanctity of their office; but a wife Prieft giveth all fuch honour unto the Lord, from whom all fanctity cometh, and not unto himself: whereas an unwife Prieft attributeth the honour to himself, and tak eth it from the Lord. They who claim honour to themfelves, on ac count of the fanctity of their office, prefer honour and wealth to the falvation of the fouls committed to their care; but they who give honour to the Lord, and not to themfelves, prefer the falvation of fouls to honour and wealth. The honour of any employment is not in the perfon of him who is employed therein, but is only annexed to him on account of the dignity of the office in which he is employed; and what is thus annexed doth not belong to the perfon employed, but to the employment it felt, being feparated from the per