night, with the connivance, nay, and by the authority of the law; that the most worthless tyrants are flattered with divine honours when alive, and worshipped. as Gods when dead; that prisoners of war are enslaved, or impaled, or crucified, for having fought in defence of their country, and in obedience to their lawful rulers; that captive kings and nations are publicly insulted by their conquerors, in those barbarous solemnities which of old were called triumphs; that men are trained up for the pupose of cutting one another to pieces, by thousands in a month,* for the diversion of the public; that, as the father of the gods and men, a king of Crete is worshipped, whom even his worshippers believe to have been guilty of innumerable crimes of the most infamous nature; while, among the other objects of divine worship, are to be reckoned thieves, drunkards, harlots, ruffians; to say nothing of those underling idols whose functions and attributes it is not even decent to name. They who are ever so little acquainted with ancient Greece and Rome, know that I allude not to the depravities of individuals only, but to the avowed opinions and fashionable practices of those celebrated nations. Surely modern manners, censurable as we confess them to be, in many respects, are regulated, as they ought to be, by the pure principles of the gospel, and we need not hesitate to affirm, that the * Lipsius affirms that the gladiatorial shows sometimes cost Europe twenty or thirty thousand lives in a month; and that not only the men, but even the women of all ranks, were passionately fond of these shows. virtue of Christians would as far transcend that of the Greeks and Romans, as the arts and literature of England surpass those of New Zealand or the land of Hottentots. This affirmation is warranted by what we see of the influence of the gospel among those who believe and obey it; whose numbers, though far short of what they ought to be, are by no means inconsiderable. And it is still further warranted, by what we know of the first Christians, to whom the gospel was preached in its primitive simplicity, who believed it with full assurance of faith, and whose manners were accordingly pure and perfect to a degree, which, as an elegant author observes, is almost as difficult for us to conceive as to imitate. Beattie. TO SOLITUDE. THOU world, tumultuous and rude! Here straight the path to heaven lies,— Sir William Jones. ANSWER. AWAY with wishes, fond and weak! Why faint thy heart and pale thy cheek?— Where virtue is by labour won?- And shut the eyes, when hostile bands And tells thee, with a look of love, G. H. Glasse. THE Christian religion, according to my creed, is a very simple thing, intelligible to the meanest capacity, and what, if we are at the pains to join practice to knowledge, we may make ourselves thoroughly acquainted with, without turning over many books. It is the distinguishing excellence of this religion, that it is entirely popular, and fitted, both in its doctrines and in its evidences, to all conditions and capacities of rea sonable creatures,-a character which does not belong to any other religious or philosophical system that ever appeared in the world. I wonder to see so many men, eminent both for their piety and their capacity, labouring to make a mystery of this divine institution. If God vouchsafes to reveal himself to mankind, can we suppose that He chooses to do so in such a manner, as that none but the learned and contemplative can understand him? The generality of mankind can never, in any possible circumstances, have leisure or capacity for learning, or profound contemplation. If, therefore, we make Christianity a mystery, we exclude the greater part of mankind from the knowledge of it, which is directly contrary to the intention of its author, as is plain from his explicit and reiterated declarations. In a word, I am perfectly satisfied that an intimate acquaintance with the scripture, particularly the gospels, is all that is necessary to our accomplishment in true Christian knowledge. I have looked into some systems of theology, but I never read one of them to an end, because I found I could never reap any instruction from them. To darken what is clear, by wrapping it up in the veil of system and science, was all the purpose that even the best of them seemed to answer. True it is there are, even in the gospels, and in the discourses of Jesus Christ himself, some things that stand in need of illustration, as when he adopts proverbial phrases peculiar to Judea, or alludes to customs of that country, and those times; but these obscurities are but few in number, and generally relate to matters of less indispensible utility; and I presume a very moderate share of erudition is all that is necessary to make us understand them, as far as they were intended to be understood by us: and as these, I am convinced, are your sentiments, you will agree with me in thinking that it is not necessary for us, even though we were clergymen, to read a great deal of divinity, as it is called. Indeed, I am every day more and more inclined to Dr. Gregory's opinion, (which, by the by, I think was Solomon's too,) that the reading of many books of any sort is a bad thing, as it tends to withdraw a man's attention from himself, and from those amusements and contemplations which at once sweeten the temper and cherish the health. You will do me the justice to believe that, by the word amusements, I do not mean drinking or gaming, or any of the fashionable modes of dissipation; I mean the study of the works of nature, and some of the best performances in the fine arts, which I have always found the most pleasing, as well as the most salutary amusement, both to my body and mind. Beattie. THE CHARACTER OF THE APOSTLES. SUCH of their doctrines as are level to human capacity, appear to be agreeable to the purest truth and the soundest morality. All the genius and learning of the heathen world; all the penetration of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Aristotle, had never been able to produce such a system of moral duty, and so rational an account of Providence and of man, as is to be found in |