them, there should be often found men openly to oppose a religion which so directly opposes, and so completely condemns their conduct, is not at all to be wondered at. But it must be obvious that such conduct, such conceptions, and such opposition, do not, in the smallest degree, affect the truth of the religion which is thus despised, only because it is unknown, neglected, or disobeyed.

"I shall conclude these remarks, with which I fear I have already too long detained you, with another quotation from Sir William Jones, which I wish you to bear in mind, as the unbiassed testimony of a man who, from the extent of his know. ledge, and the accurracy of his judgment and observations, as well as from his situation in life, was amply qualified to judge of the subject on which he thus determines:

Theological enquiries," says he," are no part of my present subject; but I cannot refrain from adding, that the collection of tracts, which we call from their excellence, The Scriptures, contain, independently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains both of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass from all other books that were ever composed in any age, or in any idiom. The two parts, of which the scriptures consist, are connected by a chain of compositions, which bear no

resemblance, either in form or stile, to any that can be produced from the stores of Grecian, Indian, Persian, or even Arabian learning. The antiquity of those compositions no man doubts; and the unstrained application of them to events long subsequent to their publication, is a solid ground of belief that they were genuine productions, and consequently inspired."

Mr CHRISTIAN here, made many apologies for the length into which the importance of the subject, and his own feelings upon the opposition made to it, had betrayed him. Many things, he said, had occurred to him in the course of the evening, which he had not before intended to introduce, and there were yet many important reflections and enquiries which, for the sake of brevity, he had omitted. His sole purpose was to induce his auditors to think before they allowed themselves to bring forward objections, and to study the subject in debate, before they decided against it. In what he had undertaken he had no end to serve, but the cause of truth; and in what he had already done, he hoped he had not, in any instance, swerved from sober reason and candid enquiry. Learning and reason he neither affected to despise, nor to represent as useless. But their province, he imagined, was limited; and he had never yet found that they, who boasted most of the efforts of human genius, I

and the sublime utility of human science and acquirements, had attained to any great superiority over their brethren, who were somewhat more humble in their pretensions. Religion, he was convinced, had nothing to fear from science, justly so called; but truth, he was equally certain, would never be the consequence of that vain conceit, so often and so unjustly dignified with the name of philosophy. In what he had further to perform, he should endeavour to be more concise than he had been on the present occasion; and he presumed, that, with candid and enquiring men, what he had already adduced would enable him to be so.

When Mr CHRISTIAN sat down, there was little said, and the evening being far spent, the society was soon dismissed. Some of the members expressed the greatest satisfaction at what they had heard; others remained in sullen silence, or appeared to be thoughtful; and it was particularly remarked that Mr GOODWILL was the first to leave the room, without saying a word. One gentleman said, that though he by no means wished to impose additional or unnecessary trouble on Mr CHRISTIAN, whose character and conduct he highly revered, he could not help suggesting to him another answer to Bishop Watson, which he had seen since their last meeting, written by one Macleod, and which, he thought, it might be worth Mr CHRISTIAN'S while to notice in the course of his next discussion, along with the

work of Francis. Mr CHRISTIAN replied, that of writing answers, and stating objections, there was no end :-but, though he had ever found such books disgusting, from the wildness of their principles, and the ignorant conceit of their authors, he would, as the gentleman wished it, give the work a perusal, and make such general remarks upon it, as that perusal should suggest.

ACCOUNT

or

THE THIRD DEBATE.

AT the usual time the Society again met; and, being constituted in the usual manner, it was agreed that Mr CHRISTIAN should go on with what he had undertaken; which he accordingly did in the following terms:

"The uniform and illiberal abuse with which the clergy, as a body, have been loaded, in all ages and in every country, by their infidel opponents, has often struck me with astonishment and indignation. It is a mode of attack in itself so unjust, that no apology can possibly be made for it; and it has been already so hackneyed, that nothing

new or striking can now be expected from it, were it ever so proper. As this abuse, however, contains so much personality, and even, if well-founded, has little, indeed no connection with the main argument, we had reason to hope that it would long ago have been given up; and that in an age, like the present, pretending to such superior knowledge, and such refined liberality, no one would have been found capable of retailing the wild and unfounded aspersions of less enlightened and less liberal times. To the astonishment of thinking men, however, it still forms the burden of the infidel's song. It affords so much scope for their envious malice, that they are loth to part with it, though it is totally irrelevant, and even threadbare. Without this resting place, it is difficult to conceive how they could proceed at all. For, whenever they are at a loss for serious argument, or are unable to get over some serious difficulty, the abuse of the clergy affords them the necessary matter for an episode; and though not always happy in their general reasoning, they have ever in reserve, for the amusement of their readers, a brilliant digression, which they think cannot fail to please. The ground, however, which they thus take is unfortunate for their credit as honest or candid men. They make suppositions and mistate facts, and they reason from these as if they were real: They misrepresent the character of their