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to the origin and cause of all our maladies;-holds forth the proper cure of human grief, and throws aside the veil of futurity, to give us a pleasing prospect of the world to come: therefore, it is both rational and safe to observe its important claims. It stands supported by the most irresistible evidence ; and cannot be rejected without the most tremendous consequences.

That learned, indefatigable, and excellent defender of the 'AUTHENTICITY of the SCRIPTURES,' Jacob Bryant, Esq. in the dedication of his admirable treatise on this subject, TO THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY, BARONESS HERBERT, &c. &c, observes to her ladyship: In one of those years, when I was in the camp, with your truly noble father, the Duke of MARLBOROUGH, an officer of my acquaintance desired me, upon my making a short excursion, to take him with me in the carriage. Our conversation was rather desultory, as is usual upon such occasions; and among other things he asked me, rather abruptly, what were my notions about religion. I answered evasively, or at least indeterminately, as his enquiry seemed to proceed merely from an idle curiosity; and I did not see that any happy consequence could ensue from an explanation. However sometime afterwards he made a visit at my house, and stayed with me a few days. During this interval, one evening, he put the question to me again, and at the same time added, that he should be really obliged, if I would give him my thoughts generally upon the subject.

Upon this I turned towards him, and after a short pause, told him, that my opinion lay in a small compass; and he should have it in as compendious a manner as the subject would permit.

Religion, I said, is either true or false. This is the alternative; there is no medium. If it be the latter, merely an idle system, and a cunningly-devised fable, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. The world is before us, let us take all due advantage, and

choose what may seem best. For we have no prospect of any life to come; much less any assurances. But if religion be a truth, it is the most serious truth of any with which we can possibly be engaged; an article of the greatest importance. It demands our most diligent inquiry to obtain a knowledge of it, and a fixed resolution to abide by it, when obtained.

For religion teaches us, that this life bears no proportion to the life to come. You see, then, my good friend, that an alternative of the utmost consequence lies before you. Make therefore your election as you may judge best; and HEAVEN direct you in your determination. He told me that he was much affected with the crisis to which I had brought the object of inquiry; and I trust, that it was attended with happy consequences afterwards. O that our professed sceptics would act a rational part, and seriously consider the subject: the dictates of sound reason, the worth of their souls, the shortness of time, and the eternity that is to come, demand the closest attention to sacred things; and it is rather a species of insanity, than otherwise, to reject the word of inspiration, which alone reveals the mind of God to

man.

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What none can prove a forg'ry may be true;

What none but bad men wish exploded MUST.'

O then, I would most seriously entreat the infidel to

Read and revere the sacred page, a page,
Where triumphs immortality; a page,
Which not the whole creation could produce;
Which not the conflagration shall destroy;
In nature's ruins not one letter lost."

London, April, 1823.

I am yours, &c. T. W.

WITNESSES FOR CHRISTIANITY. No. 1. Christianity has removed from among the nations who profess it, polygamy, the selling of children as slaves by their parents, the general and brutal degra

dation of women, the belief of the rectitude of slavery, the supposed right of masters to kill their slaves, the exposure of parents in their old age to be devoured by wild beasts, the same exposure of children by their parents, the sacrificing of human victims, the wanton destruction of life for amusement in public games, the impure, brutal, and sanguinary worship practised in the regions of idolatry, together with many of the horrors of war and captivity, and many other enormous evils of a similar nature, at the same time it has introduced milder and more equitable government; established equitable laws, by which nations have in a considerable degree regulated their intercourse, given a new sanction to treaties, provided legal support for the poor and suffering, secured the rights of strangers, erected hospitals for the sick, and alms-houses for the indigent, formed with great expence a rich variety of institutions for the preservation and education of orphans, the instruction of poor children, the suppression of vice, the amendment of the vicious, and the consolation of the afflicted. It has made better rulers, and better subjects, better husbands, and better wives; better parents, and better children; better neighbours, and better friends. It has established the rational worship of the one living and true God; built churches, in which all men do or may worship him, and learn their duty; and with immense expence has sent, and is sending, those blessings to the ends of the earth." DR. DWIGHT.

REVIEWS OF THE LAST MONTH.

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW has no article on religion. THE MONTHLY REVIEW has also no religious critique.

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW notices ERSKINE'S Essay on Faith, and CARLILE's Sermons on Faith and Repentance, in one article. Of the former work it is

said 'The only defect of the volume is, the occasional want of simplicity and clearness in the phraseology. The author's views are always simple, because comprehensive and profound; and the master-mind is evident in this, that the thoughts, where once clearly apprehended by the reader, appear to him so obvious, that he is ready to persuade himself they are familiar to him; although so far as moral truth can be new, that is, in the mode of stating it in its true relation; they are strictly and strikingly original.' Of Carlile's work the reviewer observes, 'The volume, on the whole, is highly creditable to the author, and, with the single exception of some of the statements respecting the nature of faith, has our warm approbation.' The Scripture Character of God; or Discourses on the Divine Attributes, by HENRY FOSTER BURDER, M. A. Bears,' says the critic, 6 6 on every page, the marks of care in the composition, and of an intimate acquaintance with divine truth. Novelty, considering how often the subject had been fully discussed, was not to be looked for; but we consider the author as having performed a very acceptable service to the public.' FINCH'S Volume, entitled Elements of Self-Improvement, is recommended as 'a very fit and useful book to be put into the hands of young persons. The author's views, if not profound are correct; the style, if not particularly nervous, is neat and even elegant; and the absence of any striking novelty, which, in a work for the young, is by no means a requisite, is amply compensated, by the sound and judicious character of the instruction.'— ALEXANDER'S Family Bible, with Notes, &c. Part I, published as a prospectus. The chief object the writer has in view, is to modernize the language of the translation, for family reading, the reviewer closes his remarks on the prospectus, by observing, 'We cannot very highly applaud, either its design or its execution; but to some readers, it may probably be a desirable book.'

THE BRITISH CRITIC begins with DR. Cook's General and Historical View of Christianity, &c. 'It is not,' say the reviewers, without some regret that we are compelled to pass rather an unfavourable judgment of the work now before us. It is impossible we think, that it can add to his reputation, as a man of letters; for it is totally destitute of that laborious research which is so necessary in the present age, to recommend such a book to the favour of the scholar; whilst it is very little adorned with those felicities of style and arrangement, which are sometimes found to compensate for the absence of both learning and research. A Letter to BROUGHAM, upon his Durham speech, and three articles, in the Edinburgh Review, upon the subject of the Clergy; and a Remonstrance, to the same Gentleman, by one of the Working Clergy, are noticed together. It is with grief we lament that Mr. Brougham had too much fair game, at which to level his attacks; this of course has given much vexation to the British Critic, but it should not have retorted, by praising the writer of the letters, at the expense of the Scottish Church; and the commendation of which, by Mr. Brougham, seems to have mortified the critic as much as the censure of the English clergy. The Scotch will not thank the critic, for quoting with approbation such expressions as the following: 'For many years, Sir, as you well know, Edinburgh, has been the head quarters of Infidelity. The diffusion of Scepticism among the higher ranks is fully equal to that of religion among the lower. The philosopher is teaching the academic to scoff, while the minister is teaching the plough-boy to pray.-In the more distant parts of Scotland, where the primitive simplicity of the national manners still continues, the clergy may retain their beneficial power; but in those more populous districts with are illuminated by the productions of the liberal press, the influence of the clergy is rapidly diminishing. This diminution is excellently pourtrayed in a little work, which is famil

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