at heart, whether the same cause has not received material injury from not having been exhibited to the world in its own Language. It should seem, by the general neglect of it, as if the phraseology of the inspired writings were not the fittest dress, in which they ought to appear; that the noble Simplicity, adopted by the great Founder of our Faith, and, after his example, by the Apostles, had long since ceased to be one of its most amiable characteristics: that a Style, once celebrated for its god-like Benevolence, as the most accommodated to the capacities of all mankind, was become odious, and disgusting, to modern refinement: and that, banished, by fastidious, not to say, profane Critics, from the regions of classic Literature, it had become offensive to our Divines themselves *.

If otherwise, why substitute those pretty Conceits, those affected Terms, those me

I am not extremely captivated myself either with the Piety, or the Modesty, of some modern scribblers, who have dared to call this sacred Simplicity, by the dishonouring terms of Inaccuracy, and Carelessness! Job, xiii. 4, 5.

retricious Ornaments, and all that tinsel finery of Diction, by which Ignorance and Impiety alone can ever be dazzled, and gratified, for the simple strains of that infallible Teacher, who came down from Heaven? or presume, that we can improve upon his peculiar and dicriminative mode of instruction? Why not “condescend with him to those of low estate ?" * If it were among the glories of his exalted Character, that he "preached the Gospel to the Poor," was it less so, that he preached - it in a simplicity of manner, which they

* My appeal here, is evidently to those, both in a way of Argumentum ad hominem, et ad verecundiam, who admit the grounds upon which I argue. To those, who reject the Christian Revelation, "I am beating the air."

If it be true, that, the Style, the Language, and the Manner of writing, made use of in the books of the Old and New Testament, may be classed among the various proofs of their genuineness, they ought to be preserved, upon that principle, with a kind of moral delicacy. "Words, that are too fine, too learned, too m:dern, are repugnant to the sytle of the sacred Penmen; which, instead of being flowery, or affected, is eminently natural, and simple, and dignified. And on the other hand, words that are low and vulgar, are still more derogatory from the exalted sublimity of the subjects contained in holy Scripture.

could understand? Who would not emulate the benevolence of that Man, who, with every possible advantage to acquire literary Fame, had he been governed by so mean a passion, could say, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all: yet, in the Church, I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may by my voice teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown Tongue?" And a Style may be so elaborately refined, metaphorical, or sublime, as to be as unintelligible to the majority, as a foreign language *.

* A remark of Locke's on this subject deserves attention. "In all discourses, that pretend to inform or instruct, figurative speeches, and allusion in language, should be wholly avoided; and, when Truth and Knowledge are concerned, cannot but be thought a great fault, either of the language, or of the person, who makes use of them. It is evident indeed, how much men love to deceive, and be deceived, since Rhetoric, that powerful instrument of error, and deceit, has its established professors, is publicly taught, and has always been had in great reputation: and, I doubt not, but it will be thought great boldness, if not brutality in me, to have said so much against it: and it is in vain to find fault with those arts of deceiving, wherein men find pleasure to be deceived."

Let us renounce then these comparative puerilities, and return to those better days, when, impressed with the Dignity, and Importance, of the eternal Verity, they did not disdain to instruct the mere Vulgar, as they have been reproachfully called; and, when all the Graces, Harmony, and Copiousness of Style, with every various species of Composition, were sacrificed to general Utility. For, diminutive as the subject may be deemed, by the unreflecting, it enters much more deeply, than might be imagined, into the grand scale of right Reason, sound Philosophy, true Virtue, and Christian Moral. For, ought we not to know, that REVELATION is an Address, not to Cities, Cottages, Courts, or Camps only, but to the vast bulk of mankind? and that, it proposes itself to us, as constituting the most essential branch of the welfare and perfection of the human species? And this it is, which renders all practical inattention to it without excuse.

Many, I know, will urge, as some plea for such inattention, the difficulty of un

derstanding the Word of Inspiration: and this idea has been too much encouraged, by those, who ought to have resisted it, as public Teachers, totis viribus. For their sakes, however, I have reduced all the Fundamentals of Christianity to a few simple Propositions. Those propositions, I consider as Principles. And those principles, I apprehend, may be laid down as so many Canons, or Axioms, by which to direct us safely through all the apparent obscurities of this marvellous Book. Supposing then, THE ASSERTIONS, I have arranged in dialectic order, to be indeed sanctioned by infallible Testimony, the Faculty of perceiving their truth, and excellency, and of making such inferences as are agreeble to them, is, what I should denominate right Reason.

I cannot express the pleasure, I feel, in taking the following extract from one of our public Reviews. Such Sentiments do the parties great honour, and, from their extensive circulation, may be of essential