human race, throughout the annals of time. We behold our first ancestor fallen from innocence into a labyrinth of woe, living to see one of his children murder the other. From that unhappy commencement the page of history affords every variety of character. Sailing down the stream of time, we view his posterity, from Nimrod to the Macedonian hero, destroying their fellowcreatures, and sometimes weeping because there were no more worlds to conquer; from Alexander to Cæsar, to Charles of Sweden, and to the present eventful period, we behold the conquerors of the earth pursuing the same career, to end in the same disappointment! In the revolving ages of near six thousand years, if we except the wise and virtuous few, of whatever rank in life, or under whatever religious dispensation; as especially those, who, like holy Enoch, walked with GOD, and were renewed in the spirit of their minds, what a picture do we behold!

"Sight so deform, what heart of rock could long Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,

Though not of woman born: compassion quell'd

I cannot suppose the advocates for Hinduism intend to exalt their favourites above the nations of antiquity. If this humble essay is insufficient to prove their inferiority, many intelligent writers have established the fact; nor can it be deemed irrelevant to produce a few incontrovertible instances from ancient history on this important subject. They are the sentiments of heathens, whose doctrine and practice exalt them in the scale of piety and virtue far beyond many who are called Christians in the present day.

Xenophon thus records the solemn counsel of Socrates to Aris

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todemus, who doubted of a Providence, and even of a Deity. "0 Aristodemus, apply yourself sincerely to worship GoD; he will enlighten you, and then all your doubts will be removed." divine philosopher, after having drank the deadly poison decreed by unjust judges, in the memorable discourse with his disciples, asserts," that the soul which cannot die, merits all the moral and intellectual improvements which we can possibly give it. A spirit formed to live for ever, should be making continual advances in virtue and wisdom. To a well cultivated mind, the body is no more than a temporary prison. At death, such a soul is conducted by its invisible guardian to the heights of empyrean felicity, where it becomes a fellow-commoner with the wise and good of all ages." How noble is the sentiment of Plato, a disciple worthy of Socrates, who placed the sovereign good in a resemblance to the Divine Nature, which can flow from God alone! "As nothing is like the sun, but by the solar influences; so nothing can resemble GOD, but by an emanation of divine light into the soul!" These sublime sentiments of the Grecian philosophers were confirmed by Seneca, one of the brightest ornaments of ancient Rome: "No man is good without God; he dwelleth in every good man. If thou seest a man fearless in the midst of dangers, untainted by riches, happy in adversity, calm in the tempest, looking down as from an eminence on all things sublunary,-dost thou not admire him? Sayest thou not, Virtue is of all things the most great and noble; it is a divine power descended from above? There is a Holy Spirit residing in us, who watches and observes good and evil men, and will treat us after the same manner that we treat him." SEN. EP. 41.

How would such men, with Aristotle, Cicero, and the other

worthies of antiquity, have estimated the gospel!

What would

have been the joy of Confucius, and many oriental teachers, had they been favoured with those divine revelations which are rejected by modern deists! Shall there then be advocates for paganism in a Christian nation, once sunk in greater barbarism than the Hindoos? a nation rescued by the blessing of Christianity from druidical slavery, from sacrificing her children on the unhallowed fires of their sanguinary deities, and all the darkness of idolatry; and restored to reason, to light, and immortality, by that gospel emphatically styled the Light of the Gentiles? Shall there be advocates for withholding the truth from distant regions, composing so valuable a part of the British empire, from millions of fellow-subjects who add so much to her comfort, wealth, and luxury; establishing an intercourse by which this "Island of bliss," this seat of commerce, maintains thousands of her industrious sons on foreign shores, and covers the ocean with her sails? Shall that nation, influenced by the noblest motives, emancipate the helpless Africans from bodily slavery, and liberally promote their moral civilization and religious improvement, and leave her Asiatic subjects, shrouded in pagan darkness, in bondage to their destructive powers, as some of their deities are truly named; shall she conceal from them the knowledge of Christianity, which is the very cause and support of her own happiness and glory? I shall, I am confident, be supported by the wise and good of every description, in my assertion that Great Britain, amidst the storms and convulsions which have humbled the continent of Europe, and degraded her princes, has been upheld by the arm of Omnipotence, and consi

dered as a Zoar by virtuous foreigners; because she is a nation where the Christian religion is preserved; where for more than fifty years it shone the brightest jewel in the diadem of a beloved venerable monarch; and pervading every rank in society, adorns the palace of his nobles, and the cottage of his peasants!

I am aware of numerous exceptions to this delightful portrait. To their own master, such must individually stand or fall: from them the light of truth is not withheld; they have been enlisted under the banner of Christ, and baptized in his name, but allured by various temptations, and led astray by delusive suggestions, they have deserted the sacred standard, and given themselves up to a fading world. To such persons it is hoped the hour of reflection will arrive, ere it be too late; and, awaking them from a fatal slumber to a sincere repentance, they may follow the example of a Rochester, a Gardiner, and other eminent converts, in walking worthy of their high and holy vocation. If this desirable change does not commence in their present state of existence, they must be left to HIM who sceth not as man seeth, and has said, Judge not, that ye be not judged!"

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It will not be deemed uncharitable to suppose such persons have not a clear knowledge of Christianity; that they annex certain speculative ideas, which do not appertain to its nature; and therefore, from not understanding its doctrines, they do not practise its virtues. Under one delusion, they say it prohibits the pleasures and enjoyments of this world; discourages the love of fame and glory, and weakens the noblest energies of human action. Another fatal error induces them to set aside the justice, and trust all to the mercy of that God who has declared no un

clean thing shall enter into his kingdom. Did they, like the noble Bereans, search the scriptures, and humbly meditate on the Word of God, they would find all the divine attributes to be in perfect harmony; they would know, by happy experience, that under the gospel dispensation, "Mercy and Truth are met together, Righteousnes and Peace have kissed each other." They would see that Christianity does not extinguish the love of fame, the noblest sublunary reward for patriotic virtue; but that it enables its votaries to soar beyond worldly honours, to transcendent glory, to a crown of glory, unfading, eternal, in the heavens! Here, the laurels of the victor, and the wreath of the patriot, often droop from the breath of slander, and wither by the blast of envy: nor, in their best estate, can they long encircle an earthly brow; but the crown which awaits the Christian hero, is celestial and everlasting!

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Neither does the Christian religion abolish the natural desires and propensities of the human heart, it only purifies the principle and defines their limits. It is no enemy to pleasure, but chastens and moderates its alluring tendencies. If an earthly parent delights to see his children happy, surely our heavenly Father is pleased to see that heart cheerful which he accepts as his sacrifice. "My son, give me thy heart," is the divine request. The Israelitish monarch, in a state of penitence and humiliation, says, "the sacrifice of God is a broken heart, and a contrite spirit;" such must be the language of every sincere penitent, when he knows the consequence of sin, and beholds the loving-mercy of his offended Maker. But the Word of Truth, which cannot be divided, (nor like the Hindoo Sastras be mutilated for various purposes, suited to different castes) proves that God has given us all things richly