are cut off according to the common course of things, or hurried out of the world by the violence of wicked men, still we are fully persuaded it shall be well. They may destroy, but they cannot hurt us. They will only send us to our incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance a little before the time allotted by the course of nature.

You see then, MY FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN, it is our firm determination to adhere to the Bible, and the truths therein contained, at the risk of every thing that is held dear among men. We have counted the cost, and hesitate not a moment in saying, It is our glory and joy; dearer to us than thousands of gold and silver.

"I swear, and from my solemn oath

Will never start aside,

That in God's righteous judgments I
Will stedfastly abide.

The world's contempt of his commands,

But makes their valour rise
In my esteem, who purest gold
Compar'd with them despise."

Sincerely pitying, therefore, and ardently praying for, the whole generation of those unhappy persons among our Countrymen, who have forsaken the ONLY FOUNTAIN of living waters, and hewn out to themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water; with the great Lord BACON we declare, "There never was found in any age of the world, either philosophy, or sect, or religion, or law, or discipline, which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian faith." With Sir THOMAS BROWN, "We assume the honourable stile of Christian, not because it is the religion of our country, but because, having, in our riper years and confirmed judgment, seen and examined all, we find ourselves obliged by the principles of grace, and the law of our own reason, to embrace no other name but this, being of the same belief which our SAVIOUR taught, the Apostles disseminated, the Fathers

with knowledge and learning, and that in great variety.-This yielded not happiness.—I cultivated friendship. But this also I have found was vanity and vexation of spirit, though it be of the best and noblest sort. The sum is, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, besides fearing GOD, and keeping his commandments." See the Conclusion of the History of his own Times.

authorised, and the Martyrs confirmed." With the noble PICUS MIRANDULA, we rest in the Bible "as the only book, wherein is found true eloquence and wisdom." With Dr. ROBINSON, the natural philosopher, we say, "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a system of human nature, the grandest, the most extensive and complete, that ever was divulged to mankind since the foundation of na ture." With the excellent physician and philosopher Dr. GREW, we profess, that "The Bible contains the laws of GOD's kingdom in this lower world, and that religion is so far from being inconsistent with philosophy, that it is the highest point and perfection of it." With the no less excellent physician and philosopher Dr. DAVID HARTLEY, we say, that "No writers, from the invention of letters to the present times, are equal to the penmen of the books of the Old and New Testaments, in true excellence, utility, and dignity." With the very celebrated French poet BOILEAU we say, "Every word and syllable of the Bible ought to be adored: it not only cannot be enough admired, but it cannot be too much admired." With the very pious and excellent Sir MATTHEW HALE we are clearly of opinion, "There is no book like the Bible, for excellent learning, wisdom, and use." With the celebrated BoYLE, we consider it as "A matchless volume," and believe that "It is impossible we can study it too much, or esteem it too highly*" With the incomparable NEWTON, "we account the Scriptures of GOD to be the most sublime philosophy." With MILTON, we are of opinion "There are no songs comparable to the songs of SiON, no orations equal to those of the PROPHETS,

* This great Philosopher says, Deists must, to maintain their negative creed, swallow greater improbabilities than Christians, to maintain the positive creed of the Apostles. And they must think it fitter to believe, that chance, or nature, or superstition, should perform wonderful, and hardly credible things, than that the great author of nature, GOD, should be able to do so." Works, vol. 5. p. 661.

"He

JOHN Earl of Orrery, relation to the above Mr. ROBERT BOYLE, is also said to have been a lover of truth, even to adoration. was," says the writer of his life," a real Christian, and, as such, he used to say, he constantly hoped for a better life, there trusting to know the real causes of those effects, which here struck him with wonder, but not with doubt."

and no politics like those which the Scriptures teach." With ROUSSEAU, every ingenious man may say, "I must confess to you, that the majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me, and the holiness of the Evangelists speaks to my heart, and has such strong and striking characters of truth, and is moreover so perfectly inimitable, that if it had been the invention of men, the inventors would be greater than the greatest heroes. With the justly renowned SELDON before mentioned, after having taken a deliberate survey of all the learning among the ancients, we solemnly profess, "There is no book" in the universe, "upon which we can rest our souls, in a dying moment, but the Bible.” And we therefore boldly declare, before the face of all the unbelieving and disobedient world, in the words of the immortal CHILLINGWORTH," Propose to me any thing out of the Bible, and require whether I believe it or not; and seem it never so incomprehensible to human reason, I will subscribe it with hand and heart; as knowing no demonstration can be stronger than this" GOD hath said so, therefore it is true." And may we not, finally, exhort and admonish the sceptical reader in the glowing language of the seraphic YOUNG!

Retire, and read thy Bible, to be gay,

There truths abound of sov'reign aid to peace,
Ah! do not prize them less, because inspir'd,
As thou, and thine, are apt and proud to do.
If not inspir'd, that pregnant page had stood
Time's treasure! and the wonder of the wise!"

After these declarations, the warmth of which may seem to need soufe apology, you cannot wonder, O MY COUNTRYMEN, if we should treat all your stale cavils, which have been a hundred times repeated, and a thousand times con futed, with the contempt they deserve, and say with the royal Psalmist (no favourite of your's by the bye, but whom we Believers esteem one of the bravest of warriors, sublimest of poets, greatest of prophets, most seraphic of musicians, and worthiest of men), The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes: the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever!

the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey, and the choice droppings of the honey-comb *.

You will excuse the freedom of this address, and be assured it proceeds from a heart deeply concerned for the welfare of his fellow-men. We wish to be happy ourselves, and we wish You to be partakers of the same felicity. Many of you are endowed with talents of no mean account. We lament the misapplication of them. Are your spirits per fectly at rest in your present state of mind? And do you feel satisfied with your future prospects? Give me leave to answer for you, and be not offended if I say, "No! -Far from it!-My lusts and passions lead me captive! I am a slave to evil desires!-Of the proper fear of GoD, which effectually restraineth from sin, I know but little! To the genuine love of God I am an utter stranger'; I'scarcely know what it means!-The favour of God I have no reason to expect, in my present state of moral attainments, be the Bible true or be it false! With all my pretensions to virtue, in my coolest moments, I feel condemned in my own conscience!-That which I do, I allow not; but

* Other great kings have been of the same mind. ROBERT, King of Sicily, declares of himself, "The Holy Books are dearer to me than my kingdom, and were I under any necessity of quitting one, it should be my diadem." And even the haughty LEWIS the XIVth. "sometimes read his Bible, and was of opinion it is the finest of all books." ༞ ་,་

It is recorded too of our EDWARD VI. that upon a certain occa sion a paper which was called for in the council-chamber happened to lie out of reach; the person concerned to produce it, took a Bible that lay by, and standing upon it, reached down the paper. The king, observing what was done, ran himself to the place, and, taking the Bible in his hands, kissed it, and laid it up again. This circumstance, though trifling in itself, implies in his Majesty great reve rénce for and much affection to that best of books.

More lately still," WILLIAM III. king of England, not only believed the truth of the Christian religion very firmly, but was most exemplarily decent and devout, in the public exercises of the worship of GOD. He was an attentive hearer of sermons, and was constant in his private prayers, and in reading the Scriptures.

BURNET'S Own Times, vol. v. p. 71.

what I would, that do I not; for what I hate, that do 1*"

My reason this, my passion that persuades ;
I see the right, and I approve it too,
Condemn the

wrong, and yet the

wrong pursue."

O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the "unhappiness I frequently feel, and the misery I have too much reason to fear? I would gladly be a thoroughpaced Unbeliever; but for the life of me, I cannot get clear of the terror of death, the apprehension of a future reckoning, and an unaccountable foreboding of something terrible to come!"

No, MY COUNTRYMEN! nor will you ever find either solid consolation in life, or a just confidence in the hour of death, till you shake off the chains of those sins, which have well nigh led you into the gulph of perdition, and obtained redemption in the blood of that SAVIOUR, of whom, in your present state of mind, you make so little account.

SOLOMON, you know, has the honour of being reputed the wisest of men. But, notwithstanding his extraordinary wisdom, he was, for many years, at least, guilty of extreme folly. He sought for happiness in the gratification of the

us,

* Dr. DODDRIDGE, in his Life of Colonel GARDINER, informs "That his fine constitution, than which perhaps there hardly ever was a better, gave him great opportunities of indulging himself in excesses; and his good spirits enabled him to pursue his pleasures of every kind, in so alert and sprightly a manner, that multitudes envied him, and called him by a dreadful kind of compliment, The happy Rake. Yet still the checks of conscience, and some remaining principles of so good an education as he had received, would break in upon his most licentious hours; and I particularly remember he told me, that when some of his dissolute companions were once congratulating him on his distinguished felicity, a dog happening at that time to come into the room, he could not forbear groaning inwardly, and saying to himself, Oh that I were that dog! Such was then his happiness! and such perhaps is that of hundreds more, who bear themselves highest in the contempt of Religion, and glory in that infamous Servitude which they call Liberty."-Reader! how is it with you in this respect? Trust a prophet and a priest for onceThe wicked are like the troubled sen, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my GOD, to the wicked.