ART. X. Dialogues on the Doctrines and Duties of Chriftianit, intended for the Inftruction of the Young, and to lead them to the Study of the facred Scriptures. In Two Volumes. B: Mrs. John Jackfon. 8vo. 627 pp. 15s. Rivingtons. 1806. THE labours of Mrs. Trimmer, Mrs. More, Mifs Hamil ton, and others, on the fubject of education, reflect honour not only on themfelves, but alfo on the country in which fuch labours are duly estimated. It has been faid *, that, on the continent, ladies of education have leagued with the philofophers of the modern fchool to corrupt the principles of youth, and to diffufe that fpirit of anarchy and irreligion which was firft excited by Voltaire and his affociates, and has drenched Europe in blood. How different has been the conduct of the Britifh fair? The writings of Helen Maria Williams indeed may be thought an exception; but Mifs Williams feems to have renounced her country; and we truft, that the country which has encouraged the works to which we have alluded, is equally realy to renounce her. To the refpectable lift of female authors, who have written with diftinguifhed abilities on this moft important of all fub. jects, we have now to add the name of Mrs. Jackfon, whofe elegant volumes contain much found inftruction in language generally correct and always perfpicuous. Dialogues indeed they are not; and it is well that they are not; for we do not at prefent recollect one British author who has fucceeded as a writer of philofophical and religious dialogues, except the celebrated Berkeley, bilhop of Cloyne. His Minute Philofopher is indeed an example of that fpecies of compofition, to which nothing, perhaps, will be found equal fince the days of Plato; but what are the dialogues of Hume, and Lyttelton, and others, who have endeavoured to tread in the bishop's fteps ? "A dialogue," fays an elegant and judicious critic +, "ought to be a natural and fpirited reprefentation of real conversation; exhibiting the characters and manners of the feveral speakers, and uniting to the characters of each, that peculiarity of thought and expreffion which diftinguishes him from another." Plato's dialogues are in fact the reprefentations of real converfations, carried on by fpeakers whofe characters and See Profeffor Robifon's Proofs of a Confpiracy, &c. manners were diftin&tly marked, and well known to the writer of the dialogues. The Minute Philofopher is the compofition of a man, who, befides poffefling a very delicate tafte, and more than common genius, had converfed much with fuch characters as he exhibits, and had imbibed the manner of his mafter Plato. Hence the characters and manners of his fair fpeakers are lo accurately diftinguifhed, that a reader of good tafte, after perufing the firft dialogue with attention, could hardly once miftake Alciphron for Lyficles, or Crito for Euphranor, though thefe names were effaced from the fix remaining dialogues. But in the greater number of modern dialogues, even when written by men of learning and genius, the fpeakers, or pretended speakers, have no characters by which they are diftinguifhed from each other; and the apparent converfation, though interrupted by the awkward introduction of useless names, is one continued difcourfe, in which the author appears throughout in his own perfon. Such, truth compels us to fay, are the dialogues before us. They are carried on between a preceptress and her pupil; but the pupil, inftead of afking queflions, or propofing difficulties for folution, generally continues or concludes the difcourfe which the preceptress had begun; while on fome occafions fhe feems to change places with her preseptrefs. The fubjects, however, of the dialogues are of fo great importance, and in general fo juftly and ably treated, that the interruption given by the denominations of the speakers, is the only thing exceptionable in the two volumes. After a well-written introduction, pointing out the importance of the facred fcriptures, and defcribing the fpirit with which they fhould be studied, Mrs. Jackfon treats, in ten dialogues, of which fome are divided into parts, "Of the nature and attributes of God; of creation; of man in his original ftate; of fin and death; of redemption; of the divine and human natures of Chrift; of facrifices, and the inftitution of the Lord's fupper; of the refurrection and afcenfion; of the holy Spirit; of the affent of the understanding to the truth of the Gofpel; of the effect of faith; of repentance, baptifm, and the nature and conftitution of the chriftian church ; of prayer; of the love of God; of the decalogue; of confirmation, and receiv ing the facrament of the Lord's fupper; and of the general judg ment." * We do not recollect to have feen this word before; and we certainly do not approve of it. Rev. As As a fpecimen of her manner, we fhall extract part of her first dialogue on creation. "We proceed now from contemplating the inherent perfection of God, to view and "praise him in_his_noble_acts*.” Gen. i. 2, 3. Pupil. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the SPIRIT OF GOD moved upon the face of the waters. And God faid, let there be light, and there was light. "Precep.-He who gave the light, infpired the relater of this glorious truth.-The fact is announced in words of corref pondent fublimity. As we paufe on the reflections which they excite, we rife from created light to that ALMIGHTY fource which gave it being, "and who dwelleth in that light which no mortal eye can approach antot," but which the " pure in heart" shall behold, when the "heavens and the earth §" fhall" have paffed away. Rev. xxi. 28. "Pupil.-And the city had no need of the fun, neither of the moon to shine on it, for the GLORY of GOD did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "Precep. As we lift our eyes each returning day, to receive that light which shines upon our earth, let us raise our hearts to wards the Fountain of a light furpaffing all the glory which created light can unfold, of which the Pfalmift has spoken, and to which we may refer the fublime words of one who drew largely from the fcriptures. "Hail! holy light, offspring of heaven, first-born, May I exprefs thee unblamed! Since GoD is light, Dwelt from eternity: dwelt then in thee, "We have already obferved, that creation was a communication of the divine goodnefs. Gen. i. 4, 5. "Pupil.-And GOD faw the light that it was good, and GoD divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night; and the evening and the morning were the first day. "Precep.-We perceive here not only the creation of light previous to any mention of the fun, but that the morning and evening are spoken of, while the caufe from which this viciffi tude now refults, is not yet adverted to. We may account for this by fuppofing that the order of time, which was of flight im portance, (though the notification of facts was of the highef) was not obferved in the relation; or that the Almighty prefi gured, by periodically abated light, that coufe of things he was about to eftablish. The caufes of this, (if it was fo) could not relate to man, and therefore we need not wonder at the concifenefs of a narration which anfwers the neceffary end, by fhowing, that without GOD "was not any thing made that was made*.” We may readily believe that the univerfai Father renders his providential difpenfations to one race of beings, an evidence of his wifdom and goodness to another. The time of which we fpeak preceded the creation of Adam, but He who "firetcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing," was "feen of angels." "Think not, though men were none, That heaven would want fpectators, God want praife. "He needed not time to effect his mighty work, yet condefcended to that order which gave it its completion in fix days, confecrating the feventh. May we not, without presumption, · apprehend that this gradation took place for fome purpofe of good, relative to the creatures of God, on account or which he proceeded to regulate the elemental mafs in the manner we read. Gen. i. 6. "Pupil.-And GOD faid, let there be a firmament in the midft of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And GOD made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was fo. And God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the fecond day. And GOD faid, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was fo. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he feas; And GOD faw that it was good. Precep,-By this declaration we understand the adaptation of the creation to promote the happinefs or good of the fenfitive creatures, to whofe ufe it was deftined. Light is no fooner spread over the face of chaos, than the rarer fluid particles afcend in vapour, while the groffer, parted from the mafs, are gathered together into one place, that the dry land may appear, and be. come fit to receive and nourish all vegetable productions. Gen. i. 11-16. "Pupil.--And GOD faid, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding feed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his * St, John i. 3. "Job xxvi. 7, $ "Timothy iii, 16. "See this illuftrated by Dr. Paley in his Natural Theology." kind, whofe feed is in itself upon the earth. And it was fo. And the earth brought forth grafs and herb yielding feed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whofe feed was in itself after his kind; and GOD far that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God faid, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for figns and for feafons, and for days and for years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was fo. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the leffer light to rule the night. He made the ftars also. - Precep. The earth is now richly replenished, and the heavens adorned with radiant and refplendent bodies. Gen. i. 17. "Pupil.-And GOD fet them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth. And to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And GOD faw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Precep.-The fun which rules the day, and the moon which rules the night, ferve us to measure the courfe of time, while they and it remain; but as we have feen them originate in creation, fo we know that time itself, (the periods of which they now mark by the return of "day and night, fummer and winter, feed time and harveft,"'*)" Shall be no longer," and thefe glorious luminaries themselves "pass away‡. "Thefe full perish, but GOD fhall endure," and, if we fail not in our duties we ourselves alfo, "shall inherit eternal life||." But as it is the effect of our conduct in time which will follow us throughout eternity, let "while it is called to day§," "work out our falvation I," and keeping in mind that state of bleffednefs for which the prefent time is given us to prepare ourselves, exalting our contemplation above every object of fenfe, rife with our fublime poet, from the effect produced, to its great cause. us " Pupil.—These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty. Thine this univerfal frame, thus wondrous fair! Thyfelf how wondrous then!"--P. 77. That the fentiments difplayed in this paffage are juft, and that the language is elegant, will not, we think, "be queftioned; but the reader perceives that it has not one dif tinguishing feature of a dialogue. It is a fpecimen, however, of a mode of inftruction, which, if regularly practifed, could not fail to be fuccefsful. Mrs. Jackson's object, in this pub Gen. viii. 22. 66 2 Peter iii. 10. “ Heb. iii. 13. Ee 4 + "Rev. x. 6, "St. Mark x. 17. lication, |