"of those who pursue literature as a profession, may justly be considered as the open or disguised abettors "of atheism."*

Leaving these gentlemen, and the effects of their writings, to the correction of this able writer, I would only suggest to them, and to every corruptor of the public morals, one serious consideration, and which, unless all sense of a judgment to come be extinguished, will at some time or other have its due weight and terror.-That as there scarcely can be named a vice which terminates in itself, or with the actor, so the corruption of the human mind has by far the most fatal, as well as the most extensive, consequences; and when the writers sleep in their graves, the infidel essay, the immodest poem, or the lascivious novel, may be increasing the sum of their guilt, by increasing the number of accusing criminals, who at the bar of judgment will plead trumpet-tongued against the authors of their ruin. To collect his works, whereever he could find them, and at any price, with the view of consigning them to oblivion, was, I believe, among the last acts of a repentant Rochester.

* Vide Sermon by Robert Hall, A. M. on Modern Infidelity, considered with respect to its influence on society.

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I advert to that fatal curiosity, which, with the genius of a neighbouring country, has

imported a wildness of imagination that despises sober restraint, &c.

I cannot be mistaken here as meaning to specify Germany, and to lament that sad and vitiated taste, which, through the medium of her literature, is now creeping into all the favourite productions of the day. Hitherto the disgrace has been pretty much confined to theatrical representations; and if we must have them, disgraceful enough it is to see our Shakespear abandoned, and the habits, the principles, and the religion of a Christian people yielding themselves up to a momentary delirium of the senses, and submitting to every insulting outrage in the dramatic mockery of feeling. I trust I am speaking with no prophetic warning; but from a long residence in that country, being pretty conversant with the writings of most of its admired authors, I venture to pronounce, that from the opening of these stores, as from the opening of Pandora's box, every desolating mischief will fly forth among us. With some, and some noble exceptions, I am ready to allow, from the productions of the German Plato Mendelsohn, to those of the epicurean novelist Wieland, and so downwards to the coarse, though shrewd, buffoonery of Nicolai, all is an attack upon Revelation. And let it be remembered, that the pen of genius,

which has been a poignard to stab the morals of mankind, has also, in the course of retributive justice, furnished to avarice and ambition the means of gratification, and placed a real poignard in the hands of the oppressor and assassin. From the sceptical metaphysics of Professor Kant, from such writings as those of Messrs. Fichte, Knigge, Bahrt, and Weishaupt, (we could name many others, if it were prudent, of even a more dangerous tendency, and some also proceeding from theological chairs) what other consequences could be expected? And with what dreadful proofs does the caution of our Saviour now experimentally address us by their fruits ye shall know them.

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Before Abraham was, I am.

THIS argument is weilded by Mr. Whitaker* with his usual ability, and I have ever considered it as one of the most positive and incontrovertible proofs of our blessed Lord's divinity that can be found in the holy writings; because it is one, that under no accommodation of meaning, either in the original or translation, can be bent from its plain and literal signification—Πριν Αβρααμ γενεσθαι, Εγω

-Before Abraham was, I am. With a bold paraphrase, Socinus would have expunged its meaning, by construing it," Before Abraham can be, Abraham, that is, the father of many nations, I am; I must be the Saviour and the light of the world." But this being too vio

* Origin of Arianism, p. 261, &c.

lent an exertion of critical power, succeeding objectors to our faith have rested in another interpretation of the passage, but equally adverse to its fair and literal construction. They argue, that Christ does not mean to say, he was before Abraham, in point of time, but that as Messiah he was before him in dignity and importance. This may possibly pass, though not without some difficulty, upon an English reader, because, in our language, one thing may be said to be before another, if it excel it; but the Greek words will bear no such meaning-g invariably relates to priority of time, and sy, standing as they do in the present, with that which was past, can be spoken with propriety only in one case, to which the whole world does not afford a second.*

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Will he allow their scriptures to bear witness of Jesus, and the redemption of mankind through him, and doubt their veracity, when they prove the necessity of this rich display of mercy, by being witness also of the fall of man, and the state from which he fell?

I must here beg leave to notice some theological opinions, which, though never weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, pass current in the world under the stamp of

*Not to repeat my own words, vide these objections answered in "Scriptural Revision of Socinian Arguments," p. 11, &c.

Christianity, and are thus received and circulated by many, who are either unable to examine and appreciate their due value, or are deceived by their resemblance to the Christian image and superscription. My allusion-is intended more particularly to point at a work of abundant research and ingenuity, and which, sent into the world with all the merit that attaches to the correct and amiable manners of its author, only serves to lead the judgement more astray, and to spread the delusion wider.

"With an unfeigned sincerity," says Mr. Sullivan, in his View of Nature, "I am proud to declare it, I "honour and reverence the sacred scriptures; but I am "not in consequence bound to honour and reverence all "the rust and refuse which they may have collected in "their long and perilous voyage, and during the disas"ters of their captivity. Neither am I to suppose, from "the Hebrew phraseology, that GOD talked with Abra❝ham and others mouth to mouth, and with an audible ❝ voice, as one man would with another, or that men were "almost as familiar with Angels as with their fellow66 men. These are things not to be believed, for they are contrary to nature and reason, and to all the general "laws and harmony of the world; but figuratively and "allegorically, I must allow, they are to bear an inter

pretation, especially when we know there are passages "which give the most sublime ideas of the majesty of "the Supreme Being, the glory of his works, and the "incomprehensible methods of his Providence."