"It has been a popular opinion, that the eagle lives and retains its vigour to a great age; and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, it moults in its old age, renews its feathers, and is restored to youthful strength again. This circumstance is mentioned in Psal. ciii. 5, and Isai. xl. . Whether the notion is in any degree well founded or not, we need not inquire. It is enough for a poet, whether sacred or profane, to have the authority of popular opiniou to support an image introduced for illustration or orna

ment.

"It is remarkable that Cyrus, compared in Isai. xlvi. 11, to an eagle (so the word translated " ravenous bird' should be rendered), is by Xenophon said to have an eagle for his ensign; using, without knowing it, the identical word of the prophet, with only a Greek termination to it. So exact is the correspondence betwixt the prophet and the historian, the prediction and the event.

Xenophon and other ancient historians inform us that the golden eagle with extended wings was the ensign of the Persian monarchs long before it was adopted by the Romans ; and it is very probable, that the Persians borrowed the symbol from the ancient Assyrians, in whose banners it waved, till imperial Babylon bowed her head to the yoke of Cyrus. If this conjecture be well founded, it discovers the reason why the sacred writers, in describing the victorious march of the Assyrian armies, allude so frequently to the expanded eagle. Referring to the Babylonian monarch, the prophet Hosea, viii. 1, proclaimed in the ears of all Israel, the measure of whose iniquities was nearly full—' He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord.' Jeremiah, xlviii. 40, predicted a similar calamity; Thus saith the Lord, Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over Moab: and the same figure was employed to denote the sudden destruction that overtook the house of Esau. Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah. The words of these prophets received a full accomplishment in the irresistible impetuosity and complete success with which the Babylonian monarchs, and particularly Nebuchadnezzar, pursued their plans of conquest. Ezekiel denominates him, with great propriety, ' a great eagle with great wings;' because he was the most powerful monarch of his time, and led into the field more numerous and better appointed armies (which the prophet calls, by a beautiful

figure, his wings,' the wings of his army) than perhaps the world had ever seen. The prophet Isaiah, referring to the same monarch, predicted the subjugation of Judea in these terms' He shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow, and go over. He shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings, (the array of his army shall fill the breadth of thy land, O' Immanuel.' Isai. viii. 8. The king of Egypt is also styled by Ezekiel, a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers;' but he manifestly gives the preference to the king of Babylon, by adding, that he had long wings, full of feathers, which had divers colours;' that is, greater wealth and a more numerous army."

Two or three other extracts are reserved for the next Number.

Letters from the Rev. R. Wright, to the Unitarians in the North-east District.

LETTER III.

Trowbridge, June 7, 1826.

t MY CHRISTIAN BRETHREN,

HAVING in my second letter urged upon you the neces sity of a diligent and persevering attention to personal religion, vital and practical piety, and the constant looking to yourselves, in order to the prosperity of your churches, and your promoting the great cause of pure and primitive Christianity in the district where you reside; allow me next to address those among you whom God, in his provi dence, hath placed at the head of families; and to shew how much the edification of your churches, and the prosperity of the cause, depend on your steady and active performance of all the social and relative duties of life.

Christian families should be nurseries for Christian churches, which, when properly organized upon the pure and free and liberal principles of the gospel, and when influenced by the spirit of Christ, and guided in their proceedings by his precepts and example, will be like families on a larger scale; but in order to families becoming such, they must be properly instructed, habituated to devotional exercises, trained to the cheerful performance of their seve ral domestic duties, and accustomed to attend with seriousness on the public services of the congregation. Indeed, on these things the happiness of families, and the moral

and religious improvement of the individuals who form them, especially of children and servants, will be found essentially to depend.

A family which receives no moral or religious instruction during the six days, which sees nothing of religion or devotion but in a place of public worship, the younger branches of which are not at all informed of the great objects for which they are taken to the public services, or why they are taken to one place in preference to another, but are hurried thither without any sort of preparation, are likely neither to receive the instruction and improvement, nor to feel the interest in the solemnities of the house of God, which previous instruction and preparation would be calculated to secure to them. On the other hand, a family which is favoured with the means of daily information on religious subjects, which is accustomed to join in devotional exercises in the domestic circle, and to connect Christian principles and motives with the various social and relative duties, and the several branches of which go to public worship with proper views of the important ends it is designed to answer, and prepared to unite in it with the understanding and the heart, will be likely not only to be Amade better by it, but to feel increasing interest and zeal in the cause of true religion, to become pillars in the house of God, and to be active in promoting the cause of divine truth and evangelical righteousness. On those who are placed at the head of families and have the government of them, it depends whether their families shall be prepared, by proper instruction and discipline, to increase and strengthen the churches to which they belong, and to assist and promote the great cause which they espouse. However ardently they may wish this should be the case, how can they expect it any further than they use proper means for the instruction of those who are under their care, and to lead them in what they believe to be the right way? If your children, as they grow to maturity, desert the places of worship where you attend, adopt different views from those you believe to be consistent with the gospel, or become luke-warm and indifferent in their Chris tian profession, is there not reason to fear that you have neglected your duty towards them, that you have not used proper means to inform and interest them in religious matters, and to excite in them real piety and Christian zeal? Surely this requires deep self-examination. Let

me intreat you to consider whether this be not one cause of the decay of some of your churches, and of the low state of the cause among you in some places.

Think how important are your duties, how great your responsibility, and of the solemn account you must hereafter give of the manner in which you have acquitted your selves in the important trust committed to you. That your families may be nurseries for the churches to which you belong, I beg your attention to the following word of exhortation:

1. Make it your study so to conduct yourselves, and to act towards all those who are under your care, that they may receive a favourable impression of the doctrines which you believe, and of the religious services in which you join, by perceiving the good influence these things have upon you. This will dispose them to give the more attention to your instruction, and will help to incline them to attend on the same public services. The constant opportunity they have of observing your spirit and behaviour, and what they feel from it, will be sure to make either a favourable or unfavourable impression respecting your religious profession, and sometimes will have more influence than any arguments or reasonings you can employ..

2. Remember your example will have a great influence upon your families, and especially the younger branches of them. If they see you constant and diligent in attending upon public worship, always careful to be at the place when it commences, and closely attentive, punctual in the observance of the social and domestic duties of religion, and serious and devout in conversation on the Scriptures, this will be likely to have a happy effect upon them; but if they see you careless and indifferent in these things, or perceive in you a want of seriousness and piety, the effects may be most painful. Let it be your study, for their sakes, as well as your own, to shew yourselves every thing you would wish them to be.

3. The instructing of those whom God, in his providence, hath placed under your care, especially your children, is a most important duty, and if faithfully done will be followed with the Divine blessing. It was stated as the reason why God would bestow such peculiar blessings on Abraham, that he would command his children and his household after him, and they should keep the way of the Lord. Gen. xviii, 19. Religious truth is of inestimable value, the

knowledge of it is the foundation of both virtue and happiness. This knowledge you should communicate to your children as soon as they are capable of receiving it. This may be done by directing their attention to such parts of scripture as are suited to their age, by verbal instruction, and by giving them such things to read as are on a level with their capacity. If you do not place before them right views of God and truth, they will be likely to adopt popular ones, however erroneous they may be. As you wish to see them grow up with right views and principles in religion, do all you can to lead them to such views and principles in their early years.

4. The neglect of family worship is a great evil, and there is reason to fear it is not uncommon among many professors of the gospel. Where this prevails, there will be ground to dread a decay of real piety and Christian zeal, and a decline of genuine Christianity. I beseech you, my brethren, let not this evil exist among you. Without going into a statement of the duty and privilege and advantages of family worship, let me intreat you to consider how important it is to cultivate and cherish in your families a spirit of piety and devotional feelings, to teach them to set God always before them, and to have a regard to him in all their ways, and that family worship is eminently calculated, when properly conducted, to answer this important purpose. Is it likely that the neglect of public worship would be so common, if a devotional spirit were cultivated in private, and if feelings and habits of devotion were daily cherished in the domestic circle? Or would persons talk merely of going to hear a sermon, overlooking the more important, the devotional, part of the service? Never forget that, next to the cherishing of vital piety, as individuals, the keeping up of family worship and teaching all under your care to serve the one and only God, that your households may belong to your churches, is necessary to the revival and prosperity of the cause among you.

5. If you would wish your descendants to follow in your steps, and to promote the same great cause which you are anxious to promote, you ought to habituate them to attend on public worship with you from their very infancy, and to instruct them in the nature and design of it, that, as they grow up, they may regularly attend, not merely from habit, but from a conviction of its value and importance, and may feel a delight in the service of God. You ought to teach