equally regardless of life or of death. So we read of multitudes of our fellow creatures both in our own and in a neighbouring country, who, set free from the salutary restraints of Religion, and the government of the Divine Being, by a daring and uncontrouled spirit of Infidelity, destroy themselves, and rush into the presence of the Almighty without dismay.* More reasonable and becoming surely is the conduct of those who, when brought to a sense of their sin and folly, fear and tremble before this Dread Sovereign. This seems to have been the case with the late Lord P. This Nobleman after he turned Deist, took every opportunity to shew his contempt of Religion. The clergyman and parishioners of the place where his Lordship's seat in Northamptonshire stood, usually passed in sight of the house in their way to church. At the time of their going and returning, he frequently ordered his children and servants into the hall, for the vile purpose of laughing at and ridiculing them. He pursued this course for some time, but at length drew near the close of life. Upon his dying pillow his views were altered. He found, that, however his former sentiments might suit him in health, they could not support him in the hour of dissolution; when in the cold arms of Death, the terrors of the Almighty were heavy upon him. Painful remembrance brought to view ten thousand insults offered to that God, at whose bar he was shortly to stand; and conscience being strongly impressed with the solemnity of that day, he but too justly feared that the God he had insulted would then consign him to destruction. With his mind thus agitated, he called to a person in the room, and desired him "to go into the library, and fetch the cursed book," meaning that which had made him a Deist. He went, but returned, saying he could not find it. The Nobleman then cried with vehemence, that "he must go again, and look till he did find it, for he could not die till it was destroyed. The person having at last met with it, gave it into his hands. It was no sooner committed to him, than he tore it to pieces with mingled horror and revenge, and committed it to the flames. Having thus taken vengeance on the instrument of his own ruin, he soon after breathed his soul into the hands of his Creator.† Affecting as this example is, that of a William Pope, of Bolton in Lan cashire, is much more so. At this place there is a considerable number of deistical persons, who assemble together on Sundays to confirm each other in their Infidelity. The oaths and imprecations which are uttered in that meeting are too horrible to relate, while they toss the Word of God upon the floor, kick it round the house, and tread it under their feet. This William Pope, who had been a steady Methodist for some years, became at length a professed Deist, and joined himself to this hellish crew. After he had been an associate of this company for some time, he was taken ill, and the nature of his complaint was such, that he confessed the hand of * The general practice of duelling, among the higher orders of society in this country, is a sure indication, that a spirit of Infidelity is alarmingly gone abroad. A Christian fight a duel? Impossible! True valour forbids it. And to mend the matter, upon the Lord's day too! Still more impossible! Every principle of his religion prohibits the impious deed.-How much pain of mind did not the conduct of a certain most respectable character give, to all the serious part of the nation, on a late unhappy occasion of this sort? Religion, good morals, sound policy, true patriotism, all forbad the unchristian rencounter.-Stake his life against the life of a ! Were we to act thus in common life, a state of confinement would be thought essentially neces sary for our welfare, and the public good.-Can nothing be done, no measures be taken, to put a stop to this infamous practice, this national opprobrium?-Let those whom it concerns consider. See Evang. Mag. for June 1797, where it is declared this anecdote may be depended upon, as it came from the lips of a person who was present at he scene. God was upon him, and declared he longed to die, that he might go to hell: many times praying earnestly for damnation. Two of the Methodist preachers, Messrs. Rhodes and Barrowclough, were sent for to talk and pray with the unhappy man. But he was so far from being thankful for their advice and assistance, that he spit in their faces, threw at them whatever he could lay his hands upon, struck one of them upon the head with all his might, and often cried out, when they were praying, Lord, do not hear their prayers! If they said, Lord, save his soul! He cried, Lord, damn my soul! often adding, My damnation is sealed, and I long to be in hell! In this way he continued, sometimes better, and sometimes worse, till he died. He was frequently visited by his deistical brethren during his illness, who would fain have persuaded the public he was out of his senses; which was by no means the case. The writer of this account saw the unhappy man once, but never desired to see him again. Mr. Rhodes justly said, He was full of the devil as he could hold. This melancholy business happened in the course of the present year, and made a great noise in the town and neighbourhood of Bolton.* These are shocking instances of the dreadful effects of Infidelity upon the minds of our fellow-creatures, in those seasons when we stand in most need of support and consolation. If living witnesses to the truth and importance of Religion and the Sacred Writings might have any consideration with such of my readers as are deistically inclined, I would produce many of the first characters of the age, from among all the contending denominations of Christians. The late Jacob Bryant, Esq. who was unquestionably one of the deepest inquirers into the original of things, and, NO PRIEST, hath not only written a treatise professedly to prove the authenticity of the New Testament, but hath also, in another of his learned investigations, made the following declaration in favour of these incomparable and invaluable writings: "This investigation" (a work written to prove that Troy never existed) "I more readily undertook, as it affords an excellent contrast with the Sacred Writings. The more we search into the very ancient records of Rome or Greece, the greater darkness and uncertainty ensue. None of them can stand the test of close examination. Upon a minute inspection, all becomes dark and doubtful, and often inconsistent: but when we encounter the Sacred Volume, even in parts of higher antiquity, the deeper we go, the greater treasure we find. The various parts are so consistent, Mr. Rhodes has since published an account of the sickness and death of this unhappy man in the Methodist Magazine, for August 1798, which is one of the most affecting on record. It becomes every objector to the Sacred Writings to reflect, that "the moral and natural evils in the world were not introduced by the Gospel; why then must the Gospel be called upon to account for them, rather than any other religion, or sect of philosophy? If there never had been an Old Testament, never a New one, mankind would have been at least as corrupt and miserable as they are at present. What harm then have the Old and New Testament done to you, that you perpetually challenge them to account to you for the evil you suffer? You dislike perhaps the story of Adam and Eve, and can by no means digest the account of the Serpent's tempting, and prevailing against our first parents: very well: let this account be laid aside, and what are you now the better? Is there not the same evil remaining in the world, whether you believe, or believe not the story of the fall? And if so, what account do you pretend to give of it? For if you pretend to any religion, you are as liable to be called to this account, as any professor or teacher of the Gospel. No body is exempt in this case but the Atheist; and his privilege comes from hence, that he has no account to give of any thing; for all difficulties are alike upon his scheme."-Sherlock on Prophecy, p. 233. that they afford mutual illustration; and the more earnestly we look, the greater light accrues, and consequently the greater satisfaction. So it has always appeared to me, who have looked diligently, and examined; and I trust I have not been mistaken."* Various similar testimonies have been adduced in the course of the following work. Mr. Erskine's name is there mentioned with honour. But as he hath since come forward in a manner more direct and full in behalf of Religion and the Sacred Writings, I cannot do the religious reader a greater pleasure, or render the deistical one a more important service, than by presenting him in this place, with the substance of the speech which this celebrated orator delivered upon the trial of Williams, in the Court of King's Bench, for publishing Thomas Paine's Age of Reason, on the 24th of June, 1797, before Lord Kenyon and a special jury. "Gentlemen! the defendant stands indicted for having published this book, which I have only read from the obligations of professional duty, and from the reading of which I rose with astonishment and disgust.-For my own part, Gentlemen, I have been ever deeply devoted to the truths of Christianity, and my firm belief in the Holy Gospel is by no means owing to the prejudices of education (though I was religiously educated by the best of parents,) but arises from the fullest and most continued reflections of my riper years and understanding. It forms, at this moment, the great consolation of a life, which, as a shadow, must pass away; and without it, indeed, I should consider my long course of health and prosperity (perhaps too long and too uninterrupted to be good for any man) only as the dust which the wind scatters, and rather as a snare than as a blessing. "This publication appears to me to be as mischievous and cruel in its probable effects, as it is manifestly illegal in its principles; because it strikes, at the best, sometimes, alas' the only refuge and consolation, amidst the distresses and afflictions of the world. The poor and humble, whom it affects to pity, may be stabbed to the heart by it: They have more occasion for firm hopes beyond the grave, than those who have greater comforts to ren * "When I was in camp with the duke of Marlborough," says this truly learned and respectable man, in another place, “an officer of my acquaintance desired me, upon my making a short excursion, to take him with me in my carriage. Our conversation was rather desultory, as is usual upon such occasions; and among other things, he asked me, rather abruptly, what were my notions about Religion. I answered evasively, or at least indeterminately, as his enquiry seemed to proceed merely from an idle curiosity: and I did not see that any happy consequence could ensue from an explanation. However, some time afterwards he made a visit at my house, and stayed with me a few days. During this interval, one evening he put the question to me again; and at the same time added, that he should be really obliged if I would give him my thoughts in general upon the subject. Upon this I turned towards him, and after a short pause told him that my opinion lay in a small compass: and he should have it in as compendious a manner as the subject would permit. Religion, I said, is either true, or false. This is the alternative: there is no medium. If it be the latter--merely an idle system, and a cunningly devised fable, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. The world is before us, let us take all due advantage, and choose what may seem best: for we have no prospect of any life to come, much less any assurances. But if Religion be a truth, it is the most serious truth of any with which we can possibly be engaged, an article of the greatest importance. It demands our most diligent enquiry to obtain a knowledge of it; and a fixed resolution to abide by it, when obtained. For Religion teaches us, that this life bears no proportion to the life You see, then, my good friend, that an alternative of the utmost. consequence lies before you. Make, therefore, your election, as you may judge best; and Heaven direct you in your determination!-He told me that he was much affected with the crisis, to which I brought the object of enquiry: and I trust that it was attended with happy consequences afterwards.” to come. der life delightful. I can conceive a distressed but virtuous man, surrounded by children looking up to him for bread when he has none to give them, sinking under the last day's labour, and unequal to the next, yet till looking up with confidence to the hour when all tears shall be wiped from the eyes of affliction, bearing the burden laid upon him by a mysterious Providence which he adores, and looking forward with exultation to the revealed promises of his Creator, when he shall be greater than the greatest, and happier than the happiest of mankind. What a change in such a mind might not be wrought by such a merciless publication?" "But it seems, this is an Age of Reason, and the time and the person are at last arrived, that are to dissipate the errors which have overspread the past generations of ignorance. The believers in Christianity are many, but it belongs to the few that are wise to correct their credulity. Belief is an act of reason, and superior reason may, therefore, dictate to the weak." "In running the mind along the long list of sincere and devout Christians, I cannot help lamenting, that Newton had not lived to this day, to have had his shallowness filled up with this new flood of light.” "But the subject is too awful for irony. I will speak plainly and directly. Newton was a Christian! Newton, whose mind burst forth from the fetters cast by nature upon our finite conceptions-Newton, whose science was truth, and the foundation of whose knowledge of it was philosophy: Not those visionary and arrogant presumptions which too often usurp its name, but philosophy resting upon the basis of mathematics, which, like figures, cannot lie-Newton, who carried the line and rule to the utmost barriers of creation, and explored the principles by which, no doubt, all created matter is held together and exists." 'But this extraordinary man, in the mighty reach of his mind, overlooked, perhaps the errors which a minuter investigation of the created things on this earth might have taught him, of the essence of his Creator.', "What then shall be said of the great Mr. Boyle, who looked into the organic structure of all matter, even to the brute inanimate substances, which the foot treads on? Such a man may be supposed to have been equally qualified with Mr. Paine to look up through Nature to Nature's God. Yet the result of all his contemplation was the most confirmed and devout belief in all which the other holds in contempt, as despicable and drivelling superstition." 'But this error might, perhaps, arise from a want of due attention to the foundations of human judgment, and the structure of that understanding, which God has given us for the investigation of truth.' "Let that question be answered by Mr. Locke, who was, to the highest pitch of devotion and adoration, a Christian: Mr. Locke, whose office was to detect the errors of thinking, by going up to the fountains of thought, and to direct into the proper track of reasoning, the devious mind of man, by shewing him its whole process, from the first perceptions of sense to the Jast conclusions of ratiocination, putting a rein besides upon false opinion, by practical rules for the conduct of human judgment.” 'But these men were only deep thinkers, and lived in their closets, unaccustomed to the traffic of the world, and to the laws which practically regulate mankind.' "Gentlemen! in the place where we now sit to administer the justice of this great country, above a century ago, the never-to-be-forgotten Sir Matthew Hale presided; whose faith in Christianity is an exalted commentary upon its truth and reason, and whose life was a glorious example of its fruits in man, administering human justice with a wisdom and purity drawn from the pure fountain of the Christian dispensation, which has been, and will be, in all ages, a subject of the highest reverence and admiration." 'But it is said by the Author, that the Christian Fable is but the tale of the more ancient superstitions of the world, and may be easily detected by a proper understanding of the mythologies of the Heathens.' "Did Milton understand those mythologies! Was he less versed than Mr. Paine in the superstitions of the world? No; they were the subject of his immortal song; and though shut out from all recurrence to them, he poured them forth from the stores of a memory rich with all that man ever knew, and laid them in their order as the illustration of that real and exalted faith, the unquestionable source of that fervid genius, which cast a sort of shade upon all the other works of man: "He pass'd the bounds of flaming space, But it was the light of the body only that was extinguished; the celestial light shone inward, and enabled him to justify the ways of God to man. The result of his thinking was nevertheless not the same as the author's. The mysterious incarnation of our blessed Saviour (which this work blasphemes in words so wholly unfit for the mouth of a Christian, or for the ear of a Court of Justice, that I dare not and will not, give them utterance) Milton made the grand conclusion of the Paradise Lost, the rest from his finished labours, and the ultimate hope, expectation, and glory of the world: "A virgin is his mother, but his sire, The power of the Most High; he shall ascend With earth's wide bounds, his glory with the heav'ns." Mr. E. next entered most forcibly and deeply into the evidences of Christianity, particularly those that were founded on that stupendous scheme of prophecy, which formed one of the most unanswerable arguments for the truth of the Christian Religion. "It was not," he said, "the purpose of God to destroy free agency by overpowering the human mind with the irresistible light and conviction of Revelation, but to leave men to collect its truths, as they were gradually illustrated in the accomplishment of the divine promises of the Gospel. Bred as he was to the consideration of evidence, he declared he considered the prophecy concerning the destruction of the Jewish nation, if there was nothing else to support Christianity, absolutely irresistible. The division of the Jews into tribes, to preserve the genealogy of Christ; the distinction of the tribe of Judah, from which he was to come; the loss of that distinction when that end was accomplished; the predicted departure of the sceptre from Israel; the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, which imperial munificence in vain attempted to rebuild to disgrace the prophecy; the dispersion of this nation over the face of the whole earth; the spreading of the Gospel throughout the world; the persecution of its true ministers, and the foretold superstitions which for |