night, he heard a voice, more than human, near the temple of Vesta, which gave the Romans notice that the Gauls were coming against Rome; but this information being neglected, on account of the meanness of the person, they suffered very much from that invasion wherefore, that they might expiate the offence, they erected a temple in the new street to this fancied deity, by the advice of Camillus, their deliverer.

We may occasionally derive lessons of instruction, even from the superstitions of the Heathen. Here was a supposed information from Heaven slighted, and slighted because of the meanness of the reporter of it. Public miseries ensued; and when these were at length surmounted, a penitent disposition is displayed, and divine honour paid to the fancied being whose counsel had been neglected.

How often have we refused to hear him that speaketh from Heaven!'' we would none of his counsel, and despised his reproof!' and how often have we severely suffered by our unbelief! Christians, let the Heathens reprove you, and teach you penitence; and henceforth pay double honour to your heavenly Teacher, your true Aius Locutus.*

* Aius Locutus, i e. A speaking voice, ab asw (audio) et loquor to speak.

SIR,

REMARKS

ON THE ASCRIBED CAUSES OF DEISM.

To the Editor.

WILL you permit me to make a remark on an essay, in many respects judicious, on the Causes of Deism,' in your last Number, with a view to the correction of a great (I would fain hope an unintentional) misrepresentation of your worthy correspondent.

In page 508, 1. 9, he says, Socinians and Deists warmly join in expelling the Scriptures from schools,' &c.

Will you now permit me to lay before your readers the following extracts from the only Socinians (I allow the term as a name of distinction, though not strictly applicable) who, to my knowledge, have given the world their sentiments on the subject? Dr. Priestley, in an essay on the best Method of communicating Religious Knowledge, prefixed to his Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion, has the following passage:

With the disuse of family-prayer, the regular reading of the Scriptures has also been laid aside; so that in most of our opulent families, the youth have hardly an opportunity of making themselves acquainted with the contents of those books which are the source of all religious knowledge. When the Bible (if there be one in the family) is wholly neglected by the parent, what inducement can the son have to look into it?

"A false taste, and a pretended reverence for the Scriptures, has likewise banished them from many of our schools; so that, except their being read in detached and unconnected portions in places of public worship, many persons, it is to be feared, would live and die in utter ignorance of the contents of their Bibles.'— Page 16.

In a sermon of the late Mr. Kenrick, of Exeter (ix. of vol. 1.) on the Religious Instruction of Children, he says, page 168, The Jews have wisely followed the injunctions of their lawgiver in the text,* by incessantly reminding their children of the facts and doctrines contained in the sacred Scriptures; and it has been attended by all the consequences which he supposed would arise from it. Had this people been as negligent in instructing their children in the principles of religion as many Christians are, they must have been long since extinguished and lost; but, in consequence of pursuing a different method, we are told, that, while nominal Christians are very common, nominal Jews are rarely to be found.'

To these will you allow your present correspondent to add an extract from an Essay, which he himself inserted in a short-lived periodical work, entitled The Christian Miscellany, printed about the year 1789; in which, speaking of the instruction of children in the knowledge of the Scriptures, he says, Some have begun to find out that this is an irksome and tedious business; and pretend to have heard of libertines and infi tels, who have been made so by the strictness of their early religious education. It is much to be feared, however, that the reluctance is not so much with the children as with the parents; who forget that to this strictness they are indebted for the good principles and habits which at present influence their conduct; and that many more infidels and libertines have become such, by the entire neglect of their religious education.'

Relying on your candour for the insertion of the above ex

tracts,

I am, Sir,
Your very obedient servant,

* Deut. vi. 6, 7.

NEOCOMENSIS.

The Juvenile Department.

EARNESTLY desiring to engage the attention of young persons to the great concerns of Religion, we intend to devote a small portion of every future Number to their particular instruction; and to insert such little pieces as may be best adapted to their capacities. In the execution of this new part of our plan, we respectfully solicit the Aid of our Stated Contributors, of other Ministers of the Gospel, and of any intelligent Friends who may have suitable papers to communicate.

ANECDOTE OF DR. BEATTIE AND HIS SON.

The

Ir is much to be desired, that, in lessons to children, matters of fact and examples taken from visible objects, should be made use of. This wise method of instruction was, perhaps, never more forcibly and more usefully employed, than in the following instance of Dr. Beattie's son. Doctor, speaking of his son, thus observes:He had reached his fifth or sixth year, knew the alphabet, and could read a little; but had received no particular information with respect to the Author of his being*. In a corner of a little garden, without informing any person of the circumstance, I wrote in the mould with my finger, the three initial letters of his name, and, sowing garden-cresses in the furrows, covered up the seed, and smoothed the ground. Ten days after, he came running to me, and, with astonishment in his countenance, told me his name was growing in the garden. I laughed at the report, and seemed inclined to disregard it; but he insisted on my going to see what had happened. Yes," said I carelessly, on coming to the spot, "I see it is so. But what is there in this worth notice? is it not mere chance?" and I went away. He followed me, and, taking hold of my coat, said, with some degree of earnestness, It could not. be mere chance, for that somebody must have contrived matters, so as to. produce it.'

66

"So you think,” said I, “ that what appears so regular as the letters of your name, cannot be by chance?" Yes,' said he, with firmness, ‘I think so.' "Look at yourself," I replied, "consider your hands and fingers, your legs and feet, and other limbs; are they not regular in their appearance, and useful to you?" He said they were. "Came you then hither," said I, "by chance ?” 'No,' he answered, that cannot be; something must have made me.' "And who is that something?" I asked. He said, 'I don't know.'-I had now gained the point I aimed at, and saw that his reason taught him (though he could not express it) that what begins to be, must have a cause; and that what is formed with regularity, must have an intelligent cause. I therefore told him the name of the great Being who made him and all the world; concerning whose adorable nature, I gave him such information as I thought he could in some measure comprehend. The lesson affected him greatly, and he never forgot it, nor the circumstance that introduced it.

On Monday, the 9th of November, a little girl, about nine years of age, standing too near the fire, while her mother left the room, her clothes caught the flame; by which she was so dreadfully burnt, as to expire the next day.

Now the Lord Jesus

This little girl attended the Sunday-school at Mr. Buck's Meeting, Wilson-street, and was there the Sabbath preceding her death. It seems the instruction she had received was not in vain. Notwithstanding the dreadful state to which she was reduced by the fire, she retained her senses to the last. Before she died she begged silence, that she might say her prayers, particularly the Lord's Prayer. After this she said, Christ's righteousness is come, I shall soon be gone.' She attempted to repeat her favourite hymn, When I can read my title clear,' &c. but found herself too weak to get through it. She expressed her regret that she should never be able to come to the Sunday-school again. She then said, 'Come, mother, come and kiss me, for I shall be gone in a minute ;' and soon afterwards expired.

It was not a little remarkable, that on the very day, a few hours before her clothes caught fire, she told her mother that she thought she should not live long, little thinking, however, her death would be occasioned by such an awful providence.

*

C. B.

Surely, this was most culpable neglect in the parent. God forbid that any of our readers should imitate it.

Evangelicana.

USEFULNESS OF TRACTS.

SOME Tracts being sent down to a minister in Shropshire, one of them, The Swearer's Prayer, was put into the hands of a Mr. P. who was a most notorious swearer. Having read it, he owned he had never before seen so much of the evil of that practice; and from thence to the time of his death, which was about harvest, he was never heard to utter an oath; although, before he read theTract, it was supposed by those who knew him well, that he poured out hundreds of oaths every day!

This remarkable fact is mentioned for the encouragement of the charitable Distribution of Religious Tracts.

A youth who lately lived in a religious family, had the privilege of reading religious tracts and books. Some time after, he removed to another situation, which exposed him every evening to pass some of those streets which are unhappily infested with depraved females, and was nightly solicited by them; but was preserved by the recollection of two lines inserted in the Cottage Library' (No. xvii. p.12) which he constantly recurred to, as ejaculatory prayer; and by this humble means was mercifully preserved.

ANECDOTES.

WILLIAM the Second, having seen the coast of Ireland from some rocks in North Wales, is reported to have said, "I will summon hither all the ships of my realm, and with them make a bridge to attack that country.” This threatening being reported to Murchard, Prince of Leinster, he paused a moment, and then said, "Did the king add to this mighty threat, if God please?' and being assured that he had made no mention of God in his speech, he replied, rejoicing in such a prognostic, Since that man puts his trust in human, not in divine power, I fear not his coming. The reader knows how to apply this anecdote.

GENERAL LEE, who was employed in the American war, is said to have entertained such an antipathy to religion, that he left a direction in his will, that he might not be interred within two miles of any Presbyterian or Baptist church!

Wicked men need not fear to be troubled with the company of the saints after death. If they will read the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, they will find, that between saints and sinners a great gulph is fixed, which is impassible.

A person who suspected that a minister of his acquaintance was not truly a Calvinist, went to him and said, Sir, I am told that you are against the perseverance of the saints.' "Not I, indeed," answered he; "it is the perseverance of sinners that I oppose.' But that is not a satisfactory anDo you think that a child of God cannot fall very low, and yet He replied, "I think it will be very dangerous to make the

swer, Sir.
be restored?"

experiment."

THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE GOSPEL.

This is the very life of divine faith, touching the mysteries of salvation, firmly to believe their revelation by the Spirit of God. This the word testifies, as we sce; and it is really manifest in it; it carries the lively stamp of divine inspiration; but there must be a spiritual eye to discern it. He that is blind knows not that the sun shines at noon, but by the report of others: but they who see, are assured they see it, and assured by no other thing than its own light. To ask any one that is a true believer, How do you know the Scriptures to be divine?' is the same as to ask him, 'How do you know light to be light?' — Abp. Leighton on 1 Pet. 1. 10. 12.

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