veil of allegory, which they carefully spread over every tender part of the Mosaic dispensation.

It has been remarked, with more ingenuity than truth, that the virgin purity of the church was never violated by schism or heresy before the reign of Trajan or Hadrian, about one hundred years after the death of Christ. We may observe, with much more propriety, that, during that period, the disciples of the Messiah were indulged in a freer latitude, both of faith and practice, than has ever been allowed in succeeding ages. As the terms of communion were insensibly narrowed, and the spiritual authority of the prevailing party was exercised with increasing severity, many of its most respectable adherents, who were called upon to renounce, were provoked to assert, their private opinions, to pursue the consequences of their mistaken principles, and openly to erect the standard of rebellion against the unity of the church. The Gnostics were distinguished as the most polite, the most learned, and the most wealthy of the christian name-and that general appellation which expressed a superiority of knowledge, was either assumed by their own pride, or ironically bestowed by the envy of their adversaries. They were almost without exception of the race of the Gentiles, and the principle founders seem to have been natives of Syria or Egypt, where the warmth of the climate disposes both the mind and the body to indolent and contemplative devotion. The Gnostics blended with the faith of Christ many sublime but obscure tenets, which they derived from oriental philosophy, and even from the religion of Zoroaster, concerning the eternity of matter, the existence of two principles, and the mysterious hierarchy of the invisible world. As soon as they launched out into that vast abyss, they delivered themselves to the guidance of a disordered imagination-and as the paths of error are various and infinite, the Gnostics were imperceptibly divided into more than fifty particular sects, of whom the most celebrated appear to have been the Basilidians, the Valentinians, the Marcionites, and in a still later period, the Manichæans. Each of these sects could boast of its bishops and congregations, of its doctrines and martyrs, and, instead of the four gospels adopted by the church, the heretics produced a multitude of histories, in which the actions and discourses of Christ and of his apostles were adapted to their respective tenets. The succession of the Gnostics was rapid and extensive. They covered Asia and Egypt, established themselves in Rome, and sometimes penetrated into the provinces of the West. For the most part they a

rose in the second century, flourished during the third, and were suppressed in the fourth or fifth, by the prevalence of more fashionable controversies, and by the superior ascendant of the reigning power. Though they constantly disturb ed the peace, and frequently degraded the honor, of religion, they contributed to assist rather than to retard the progress of chistianity. The Gentile converts, whose strongest objections and prejudices were directed against the law of Moses, could find admission into many christian societies, which required not from their untutored mind any belief of an antecedent revelation. Their faith was insensibly fortified and enlarged, and the church was ultimately benefited by the conquests of its most inveterate enemies.

GIBBON.

FOR sale by the editor, (price 1 dollar) at No. 26 Chatham-street, the PRINCIPLES OF NATURE, or a Developement of the Moral Causes of Happiness and Misery among the Human Species, second edition, with five new chapters, upon the following subjects:-Origin of Moral Evil, and the means of its Ultimate Extirpation from the Earth; that Moral Principles are not founded upon Theological Ideas, nor upon any Sectarian Modification of these Ideas, but upon a basis as immortal and as indestructible as Human Existence itself; Universal Benevolence; Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet; Philosophical Immortality.

PUBLIC DISCOURSES,

UPON MORAL and PHILOSOPHICAL SUBJECTS, will be delivered by the Editor every Sunday evening, at 6 o'clock, at Snow's long room, No. 89 Broad-Way.

NEW-YORK:

PRINTED and published by the editor, at No. 26 Chathamstreet, price 2 dollars per annum, one half paid in advance ̧' every six months.

PROSPECT,

OR

View of the Moral World,

BY ELIHU PALMER.

VOL. I.

SATURDAY, January 21st, 1804.

No. 7.

Comments upon the sacred writings of the Jews and Christians: Genesis, Chapter first.

(Continued from our last.)

IT is in vain for those who are attached to these sacred books to affirm, by way of apology for incorrectness, that they are not books of philosophic instruction-that they were not intended for any scientific purposes of this kind-this subterfuge will not do. If we admit for a moment the truth of the assertion, that they were not so intended, it will not follow on this account that the writers possesed a latitude of introducing the most unpardonable blunders, and flying in face of the most solemn facts, in the physical world.The word of God, if it be not philosophic, ought at least to be consistent; it ought to possess correctness of statement, purity of principle and universal conformity to common sense. If, however, we proceed one step farther in this first chapter of holy writ, we shall be struck with the irregular and blundering account given of the creation: God said let there be light and there was light-but from what fountain did this light proceed? There was then no sun, for the sun was not then created, as we shall presently see. But it is proper first to remark, that it was after God saw the light that he discovered in it properties of excellence and utility-for it says that God saw the light and it was good-did he not know before what sort of a thing it would be? Had he no idea of its nature and properties before he had made a thorough examination of it? It seems not, and we shall have occasion to observe a thousand times before we get through with the old testament, that this bible God of infinite knowledge, is

frequently represented as meeting unexpectedly with things and events, often disappointed, and sometimes repenting of what had been precipitately performed without sufficient reflection. The account goes on and says, that God divided the light from the darkness-it seems then that the mighty mandate, the almighty fiat of God, by which light was produ"ced, was not sufficient in the first instance to render the work compleat-a second process became necessary to disentangle the rays from darkness and give to them a discriminative character. When this was done, the first day appeared in all its splendor contrasted with the night, for the book says, that the evening and the morning were the first day. Here then is made a clear distinction between day and night, and the sun was not yet created-but every body knows that what makes day and night is the appearance, or absence of the sun. Let christian theologists inform us how this matter is to be reconciled! This same chapter mentions two more days and nights in regular sucession, and declares that the evening and the morning were the third day. After this comes in the following passage: And God said let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night-and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years. In this passage it is affirmed, that one special purpose, for which the lights were created, was to divide the day from the night—but this, if the account above be true, had already been done three days and three nights are spoken of as passing in regular procession. Is it probable, is it possible that the spirit of God should dictate such a blundering account? Yet this is all holy writ, and he that believeth it not shall be damned! perspicuity is certainly an essential property of every book which has for its object general instruction-correctness and connection of historic detail are equally important. Believers however in revelation ascribe to God a kind of divine licence, in imitation of literary critics, who screen their poetic friends under the slender cover of what is denominated poetica licentia. But if apologies for blunders in composition be necessary to a being of infinite wisdom, where shall the weak, the unlearned, and the imperfect appear!

TO THE FRIENDS OF ASTRONOMICAL

ENQUIRIES.

A QUESTION of some difficulty upon the Newtonian prin

ciples of gravitation, has been frequently raised and discussed by philosophic men. The statement of this question will be better understood by some preliminary observations. The sun is the center of what is called the solar systemaround this common center, several planets perform their periodical revolutions. The physical causes to which these revolutions are ascribed, are twofold-first a centripetal force by which each planet is inclined or impelled to move in a direct line toward the sun, the common center of attraction in this system-the second is called a centrifugal force by which each planet is impelled to move in the tangent of its revolutionary orbit. Now it is the proper adjustment of these two forces, the centripetal and the centrifugal, which causes the planets to move round the sun, and which prevents on the one hand central consolidation, and on the other tangent or fugitive excursions of interminable length and duration. If system then in relation, to system possess the same gravitating powers in proportion to number of planets and quantity of matter, and if there be no common center around which systems revolve, the question arising upon the Newtonian principle is this ;-what prevents the dif ferent planetary systems from moving in a direct line towards one common center, and forming of the universe one solid mass of matter?

COMMUNICATION FOR THE PROSPECT.

THE

HE origin of animal life and more particularly that of the human race, is a subject which has claimed the most scrutinizing attention of the greatest philosophers of all ages. And although nothing completely satisfactory has yet been produced on this abstruce subject-still many curious, and perhaps rational conjectures have been suggested, and many important discoveries have been made concerning the organization of matter, which may probably lead in time to the disclosure of a correct theorem on this subject, which can be proved in a philosophical manner, by chymical experiment.