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shall open before him, the crooked places shall be made straight, the gates of brass shall be broken, and the bars of iron shall be cut in sunder."

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It is impossible accurately to class the persons who may find themselves disposed to give attendance on such occasions as these, nor is it needful. There is a goodly proportion, we trust, who have actually attained what the Evangelist in the text, proposes to communicate, the knowledge of "the certainty of the things wherein they have bcen instructed," and who are holding "the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end." There may be others who, it is to be feared, have been instructed in the truth as it is in Jesus, have admitted it without scruple, without inquiry, and never seriously believed, because they took every thing for granted. How many have a name to live and are dead," hold" the truth in unrighteousness," attempt to establish an impracticable union between Christ and Belial, Christ and Mammon, Christ and Moloch? There is a lukewarm tribe, continuing halting between two opinions, living and dying in a state of indifference and indecision; and a tribe, still more numerous, that of the idle, of the curious, who must at any rate get rid of that heavy commodity, their time; and, incapable of disposing of it in wholesale, find themselves reduced to a petty traffic in variety. These hunt after novelty, however frivolous, while it is a novelty, and abandon it, however useful, interesting and important, as soon as that charm is lost. Determined, inveterate enemies of the gospel do not frequent places of public worship, and have given over reading the Scriptures, except in the view of finding food for their spleen and malevolence, and therefore may be considered as having no place in this enumeration.

But there is a class which presented itself to my mind, the moment that the idea of such a lecture was suggested, and which, in the prosecution of it, engrosses almost all my thoughts: it is the class of ingenuous, well-descended, well-disposed, well-instructed youth, entering on the perilous voyage of life, in a dissipated age, in a corrupted metropolis, where the syren song is heard at the corner of every street, and Circe's stupifying cup is constantly replenished from a thousand fountains. Have youthful modesty, simplicity, candor, sense of shame, sense of duty, been preserved? O how desirable to transmit these amiable qualities unimpaired, improved, into the maturity of manhood, the pursuits of active public or private life, and the dignified tranquillity of respectable old age. Has the tempter deceived, has the young heart been betrayed, and made to taste the bitterness of shame, of remorse? O how desirable to extricate the thoughtless bird from the suare of the fowler, to prevent inconsiderate error from degenerating into habits of vice, to restore composure to the troubled conscience, and confidence to the abashed countenance. If we cannot melt, convince, reclaim the hoary libertine and unbeliever himself, we will at least dispute with him the possession of yet unpoisoned minds, yet undegraded faculties, yet unperverted powers. This is the arduous purpose which we have formed. And with what armour are we furnished for the accomplishment of it? "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." We mean to make a simple appeal to your hearts and consciences, in behalf of the reli

gion of Jesus Christ. Without giving up one iota of the external evidence of Christianity, consisting of the distinct accomplishment of innumerable ancient predictions respecting the person, character, offices, actions, sufferings and death of Jesus of Nazareth; and of the performance of innumerable miracles by himself and his apostles, which were as certainly wrought as any other facts transmitted to us through the channel of history, we mean to take up Christianity as it is, and as it must appear to every candid inquirer, and to attempt a demonstration of the following propositions, in so many successive discourses:

1. That the religion of Jesus Christ is entirely conformable to all the ideas of Deity which we are enabled to form by the exercise of our own reason, on a serious contemplation of the great universe; in other words, that it is the true, and only, religion of nature:

2. That it is universally congenial to the constitution and frame of the human mind:

3. That it is most happily adapted to the feelings, necessities, and expectations of the human heart, at every successive stage of man's existence :.

4. That it is our most infallible guide, and our securest guard, amidst all the vicissitudes of this transitory life:

5. That it is the strongest and sweetest cement of human so ciety:

6. That it is the only satisfactory interpretation of the mystery of providence and

:

7. That it constitutes the grand proof of immortality, and exhi bits the only rational display of a life to come.'

We shall conclude with one other specimen, from Lecture 1oth, p. 285. with which, we think, every reader of feeling will be pleased:

The source of all public union, is conjugal and filial affection. Here we are to look for the nursery of virtue, the foundation of social strength and importance, the glory of states and kingdoms. If the fountain be poisoned, the stream, through every ramification, must be corrupt. And what has Christianity not done to purify this fountain, to give solidity to this foundation? It has restored the institution of marriage to its primitive simplicity, equity, and obligation. The legislator of the Jews laid down, it is true, the original law of God and nature, with clearness and precision, but the character of the wayward people whom he governed, rendered a strict interpretation and observance of that law difficult, and induced him to relax in certain particular cases; but the Christian law-giver, who came indeed to make atonement for transgression, and to reconcile the guilty, abates not in a single iota the authority of the law; with the purity and dignity becoming his high character, he re-establishes the ordinance of heaven, which will not, cannot bend to humour the passions and the interests of changing mortals. The letter of the law went no farther than to restrain men from the grosser acts of violation; but the spirit of the law, according to its divine interpreter, places a guard over the eyes, over the thoughts, over the heart, and

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secures

secures domestic peace and honour on the immoveable basis of religion.

Is it without design that the great Teacher sent from God so fre quently represents Deity to us, under the endearing character of Father? O no, this relation first exalts us to heaven; and then sends every man to his own home, to his own bosom. The parent is admonished of the wisdom needful to direct his conduct in managing the important trust committed unto him. He is admonished of the tenderness, the compassion, the patience, the forbearance, the forgiveness which uninstructed, feeble, helpless, perverse children stand in need of. He learns to be merciful, as his Father in heaven is merciful. The child, drawn with the bands of a man, with cords of love, beholds in the superior intelligence, in the care, the affection, the vigilance of an earthly parent, an emanation from the pure fountain of all good; a sense of dependance, of obligation is produced; the heart overflows with gratitude. All parties are reciprocally endeared to each other: they are twice blest, blest in what they give, and in what they receive. The will of God is "done on earth as it is done in heaven."

With what heavenly wisdom does our divine master mould the relative duties of life into a devotional form, and thereby give them life, energy, elevation? While we pronounce, from one mouth, the solemn address, "Our Father," all bitterness and wrath die within us; a common relation and interest are clearly discerned, and powerfully felt; the spirit of love glows in every breast. Dare we utter the petition read at the opening of the discourse, "Thy will be done," with a consciousness of habitually neglecting or resisting the known will of God; with a disposition to disturb the peace of society; with the dreadful imputation of kindling a hell upon earth? No, a sense of the divine presence overawes the mind; our spirit and practice must not contradict our prayers. What we earnestly implore at a throne of grace, it will be our earnest endeavour to obtain and realize. Was it without meaning and design that Jesus gave the world a glimpse of himself, at the age of twelve years, in the maturity. of wisdom blended with the simplicity of the child: and that after filling with astonishment at his understanding and answers," all who heard him, he meekly and modestly retired from the temple with his parents, and "went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them?" What a mild lesson to tender ingenuous youth, of that subordination without which no society can subsist, of the respect due to parental feelings, to parental authority; of the submission, resignation, and restraint, which the condition of human life imposes on our carly inexperienced years? Was it without design. that, in the course of his public ministry, little children obtained such a share of his attention, drew down his benediction, were proposed by him as à pattern to the aged; that he made this emphatical declaration concerning them: "I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven :" "take heed that ye despise not one of them."" It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." What a check to the projects of pride, avarice and ambition, which direct so often the parental heart, in making provision for.

children;

children; what a reproof of inattention to their spiritual interests; what a stimulus to lay up for them treasures in heaven.'

O si sic omnia :-but the polemical parts are generally weak; and the interpretation and application of scripture passages are sometimes unfair, and almost always systematic: that is, they are bent to support what is called the analogy of faith. In short, those who have read Paley will not regard these Lectures as master-pieces of reasoning; howsoever they may estimate them as specimens of pulpit oratory.-If our advice were of importance, or would be followed, we should advise those writers who employ their pens in support of Christianity and its evidences, to stand only on solid ground; to defend only tenable posts; above all, to avoid systematic theology; and to study neither in the school of Calvin, nor in the school of Bellarmine, but in the pure evangelical school of CHRIST.

ART. VII. An Outline of the History and Cure of Fever, endemic and contagious; more expressly the Contagious Fever of Jails, Ships, and Hospitals; the concentrated Endemic, vulgarly the Yellow Fever of the West Indies. To which is added, an Explanation of the Principles of Military Discipline and Economy; with a Scheme of Medical Arrangement for Armies. By Robert Jackson, M. D. 8vo. pp. 396. 75. Boards. Longman and Rees. 1798.

THIS work appears to be the result of much careful observa

tion, and to merit the attention of practitioners who are attached to the army. On the general subject of fever, however, there is little novelty; if we except the author's remark that continued fever, in a regiment to which he acted as surgeon, proved uniformly more fatal to tall men, than to those of a middling size; the grenadiers having suffered more than the men of the battalion. The great sickness of our army on the Continent, in 1794, is imputed to the mode of filling up regiments with raw recruits, who had not acquired the proper habits of the soldier.

Ged..s.

The British cavalry remained on the continent, cantoned in the neighbourhood of Bremen, for some months after the infantry was withdrawn. During the retreat, this part of the army had been little subject to sickness; and even at the beginning of September, when the author returned to England, no acute disease was yet known. This fact, contrasted with the deplorable state of the infantry, is singular, and furnishes an important remark to statesmen and Generals. The cavalry was not filled up by the recruits of independent companies; and the acquisition of rank was here less a matter of traffic than of qualification and service: the principles of discipline

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were consequently better understood, and economy was more strictly attended to.'

Dr. Jackson has also observed that the mortality was greater in general hospitals, than it proved when a regiment was left to its own resources.

The symptoms are copiously described, and they agree, in all material points, with those which have been remarked by other writers. We think, however, that Dr. J. has rather lessened the value of his description, by too much minuteness of observation. In taking notes of individual cases, the practitioner cannot be too particular: but an author may puzzle his readers, by proving too liberal of the contents of his adversaria. Something of this kind we have perceived in Dr. J's book: where diseases, identically the same, are described as of different classes, when they only differ in their degree of violence.

The account of dissections of patients who died of the yellow fever is valuable, because it seems to be formed from numerous and accurate observations. It presents chiefly appearances of congestion in the head, and of inflammation, or effusion of blood, in the villous coat of the intestines.

On the question respecting the contagious nature of the yellow fever, the author's observations are diffuse, and in many instances obscure. He distinguishes between endemic and contagious fevers very properly; yet he supposes that endemic fevers are propagated by a peculiar atmosphere formed in a certain district. What is this, but the exploded doctrine of the Contagium ad distans?

The distinction which Dr. Jackson labours to establish is, that endemic fever arises from marsh-miasmata, and the prevalence of these miasmata in the atmosphere; while contagious fever, arising from human effluvia, is an accidental, and indeed an artificial disease, occasioned by an improper mode of living. The opinion is plausible: but we think that the author relies on it too confidently. The causes of fever cannot be limited to these circumstances, even if we should admit the power of marsh-miasmata; which is not universally allowed, at present. From this discussion, we collect that Dr. J. does not deem the yellow fever contagious.-He maintains the existence of Critical Days, in the fevers of the West Indies.

We extract the following passage, because it relates to a curious subject, on which we have not yet seen any thing satisfactory; viz. the probable length of time which intervenes between the moment of infection in fever, and the appearance of the disease:

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