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ating doctrines of the Gospel.

*

To her, the theatre would present more attractions than the "house of prayer," and her passions would enkindle into rapture at the remotest prospect of seeing those plays acted on a stage, which have afforded her such exquisite pleasure when she has read them in her closet. Should the mound of Parental authority be destroyed, and no insuperable difficulties prevent the gratification of her desires, she would soon make a formal renunciation of her antiquated notions of religion, to seek for enjoyment amidst scenes of gaiety and folly. To follow her through the career of her history, to observe the sacrifice of health and delicacy which the laws of fashionable life.require, to be present when she is called to receive the final sentence, would operate as a powerful check against an attachment to those dramatic writings, which make no adequate compensation for the injury which they produce,

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* See an Essay on the character and Antichristian ten dency of the Stage; by Dr. Styles.

LETTER VII.

THE popular works of some of our celebrated Essayists and Poets solicit your attention, and the high estimate in which they are held by the public, is a decided proof, in the opinion of many, not only of their moral excellence, but of their utility. To exclude Dryden, Addison, Pope, Johnson, and many others, from your library is not my design, for as long as a taste for polite literature prevails, their writings will be admired. Addison and Johnson unquestionably approximate nearer to the character of a Christian than the generality of our fine writers; but it is obvious, on the slightest investigation, that their religion, and the religion of the scriptures, though possessing some shades of resemblance, essentially differ, in their influence, their motives, and their animating promises. They professed their belief in the doctrine of human depravityredemption by Jesus Christ-the immortality of the soul-and the day of final retribution; but what influence did it assume over their spirit,

or their habits? Did it produce that separation from the world, that high elevation of moral feeling, which the Scriptures enforce with such commanding authority? No. The coffee-house was their usual place of resort, where in the society of some of the most learned and most licentious characters of the age, they would spend their evenings. It is true, that if ever a direct

attack was made on religion, they rose in its defence; but to vindicate the insulted honour of the Lord of Glory may have been more conge nial with their nature than to conform themselves to his holy and self-denying example.

If you consult the Scriptures, you will perceive that love to Christ is the prevailing motive by which you are to be habitually governed; but in what number of the Spectator or Rambler does it make a prominent appearance? Some casual references are made to him, but they are made to him rather as dead and buried, than as ever living to receive the homage and the obe. dience of his disciples. Even in those papers which are professedly devoted to the exhibition of divine truth, there is the recognition of sentiments which virtually impugn the peculiar doctrines of the gospel. To make extracts in confirmation of these remarks, is, I conceive,

unnecessary, for if you compare their representations of the evil of sin, of the nature of repentance, of the method by which a sinner is pardoned, and justified, and sanctified, with those of the Scriptures, you will soon discover the difference.

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He who receives his religious sentiments from Prophets and Apostles, though the chief of sinners, passes from "death unto life," but the disciple of Addison or Johnson is placed in a situation equally painful with the captive Israelite, who occasionally read of a deliverer, without hearing his voice or feeling his power.

If justice compel me to make these animadversions on the writings of Addison and Johnson, it will excite no surprize if more severe expressions are employed on those of Dryden, Pope, and most of their cotemporaries. In general they seem to have forgotten the existence of the Christian revelation, or to have thought that its interesting and grand communications are too puerile or insignificant for the attention of men of science and literature. Some, who gleaned in every field, entered the sacred enclosure to enrich their imagination with its beautiful imagery; and sometimes have presented an offering of respect to the Son of God, as they would

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have done to Brahma, if they had visited his magnificent temple; but they did not bear off with them those truths which the imagery was employed to exhibit to the mind.. Indeed you

will not be able to read many of their lighter pieces without being shocked at the profane allusions which are made to evangelical piety. Not satisfied with censuring some of the extravagant and enthusiastic forms in which it has casually appeared, in the persons of its admirers, they have dared, like the ancient king of Syria, to force themselves into the sanctuary of the Most Holy, to offer an insult rather than a sacrifice, and to subvert the basis on which it rests, rather than take shelter in it from the impending storm.

To a mind deeply impressed by the truth and importance of the Christian scheme, and ardently attached to its grand peculiarities, the perusal of their works must occasion a powerful intermixture of opposite feeling. The high gratification which their poetic beauties will afford, must necessarily be accompanied by some melancholy reflections, on the injury which they have done to public morals, and the awful account which they have had to render at that tribunal where no advocate appeared to plead their cause.

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