END OF THE LETTERS
{55} NOTES[68]
[Note A, page 139.]
The following Remarks respecting the want of water, and the account of the English settlement at the Illinois, are taken from a most entertaining, interesting, and elegant work, lately published, and of which a second edition is in the press. I here insert them, as they tend to confirm the correctness of the accounts published by Mr. Birkbeck and my brother, and contain some excellent advice to emigrants,
"You have expressed in your late letters, some curiosity regarding the condition of the English settlement, in the Illinois, adding, that the report has prevailed that those spirited emigrants had been at first too sanguine, and had too little foreseen the difficulties which the most fortunate settler must encounter. This report, I believe, to have originated with Mr. Cobbett, who thought proper to pronounce upon the condition of the farmer in the Illinois, in his own dwelling upon Long Island. Feeling an interest in the success of our countrymen in the West, I have been at some pains to inform myself as to their actual condition. The following statement is chiefly taken from the letters of two American gentlemen, of our acquaintance who have just visited the settlement; they inform me that its situation possesses all those positive advantages stated by Mr. Birkbeck; that the worst difficulties have been surmounted; and that these have {56} always been fewer than what are frequently encountered in a new country.
"The village of Albion, the centre of the settlement, contains at present thirty habitations, in which are found a bricklayer, a carpenter, a wheelwright, a cooper, and a blacksmith; a well supplied shop, a little library, an inn, a chapel, and a post office, where the mail regularly arrives twice a week. Being situated on a ridge, between the greater and little Wabash, it is from its elevated position, and from its being some miles removed from the rivers, peculiarly dry and healthy. The prairie on which it stands, is as exquisitely beautiful; lawns of unchanging verdure, spreading over hills and dales, scattered with islands of luxuriant trees, dropped by the hand of nature, with a taste that art could not rival—all this spread beneath a sky of glowing and unspotted sapphires. The most beautiful parks of England, would afford a most imperfect comparison. The soil is abundantly fruitful, and of course has an advantage over the heavy timbered lands, which can scarcely be cleared for less than from twelve to fifteen dollars per acre, while the Illinois farmer, may in general clear his for less than five, and then enter upon a more convenient mode of tillage. The objection that is too frequently found to the beautiful prairies of the Illinois, is the deficiency of springs and streams for mill seats. This is attended with inconvenience to the settler, though his health will find in it advantage. The nearest navigable river to Albion is the Wabash, eight miles distant: the nearest running stream, that is not liable to fail at Midsummer, the Bonpaw, four miles distant. The stock of water in ponds for cattle, was liable to run dry in a few weeks, and the settlement apprehended some temporary inconvenience from {57} the circumstance. The finest water is every where to be raised from twenty to twenty-five, or thirty feet from the surface, these wells never fail, but are of course troublesome to work in a new settlement.
"The settlement at Albion, must undoubtedly possess some peculiar attractions for an English emigrant, promising him, as it does, the society of his own countrymen, an actual or ideal advantage, to which he is seldom insensible. Generally speaking, however, it may ultimately be as well for him, as for the community to which he attached himself, that he should become speedily incorporated with the people of the soil: many emigrants bring with them prejudices and predilections which can only be rubbed away by a free intercourse with the natives of the country. By sitting down at once among them, they will more readily acquire an accurate knowledge of their political institutions, and learn to estimate the high privileges which these impart to them, and thus attaching themselves to their adopted country, not for mere sordid motives of interest, but also from feeling and principle, become not only naturalized, but also nationalized. I have met with but too many in this country, who have not advanced beyond the former. I must observe, also, that the European farmer and mechanic, are usually far behind the American in general and practical knowledge, as well as enterprise. You find in the working farmer of these states, a store of information, a dexterity in all the manual arts, and often a high tone of national feeling, to which you will hardly find a parallel amongst the same class elsewhere. His advice and assistance always freely given to those who seek it, will be found of infinite service to a stranger; it will often save him from many rash speculations, at the same time that it will dispose {58} him to see things in their true light, and to open his eyes and heart to all the substantial advantages that surround him."
Views of Society and Manners in America, in a series of Letters from that Country to a Friend in England during the years 1818, 1819, 1820. By an Englishman, 8vo.[69]
The above as the reader will notice, was written two years ago, since which the settlement, as appears by the letters now published, has considerably increased, and for the time it has been established, is in a very flourishing state.
[Note B, page 145.]
The address of the worthy female, one of the Society of Friends to my brother, respecting the "infidel wicked settlement at the Illinois," proceeded from that principle of fear for the interests of christianity, which an enlightened christian, by which I mean one who understands the principles, imbibes the spirit, and follows the example of the primitive christians, need not indulge. To all sincere christians who may have indulged similar fears, may be applied what the Psalmist remarks of certain pious persons of his day, who appear to have been placed in a very "infidel, wicked settlement;"—"There were they in great fear where no fear was." (Ps. liv. 5.) Infidelity, or unbelief in the divine mission of Christ; a rejection of those grand truths, essential to the salvation of a lost world, where the gospel can be read and examined, as it may easily be in the present enlightened age—enlightened, with respect to the means of instruction for the attainment of knowledge the most important,—is so inexcuseable, that I know not how any man, even if his capacity be below mediocrity, and more especially any man whose capacity {59} is above mediocrity, can, remaining an unbeliever, rationally hope to escape the awful sentence pronounced by our Saviour:—"He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life:—he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John iii.) Passages as equally applicable to unbelievers of the present day, as to those of old, as the evidences of christianity are equally bright and convincing as in our Saviour's time, if not more so. We have no such gross prejudices to combat as the Jews had, as no persons are so stupid as to expect a temporal Messiah, to imitate those grand pests of society, who, in all ages, have ravaged the world—despotic kings, and wholesale murderers commonly called conquerors! And if we have not the evidence of sense, the personal presence of Christ, we have a more sure word of prophecy, not of a temporary nature, but more suitable to succeeding ages, even to the end of time,—the fulfillment of Divine predictions. Men who after reading the various relations of travellers of the first reputation, concerning the fall and present state of ancient states and cities, Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, &c. can reject the evidence of the truth of revelation arising from such a source, may be pronounced without breach of charity, wilfully blind. If it be said, there is no general rule without exceptions,—I allow it, but only so far as there may be exceptions to other important general rules: for instance, that justly called the golden rule, delivered by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount. But let it be seriously recollected, that the very word exceptions implies the generality of the rule, and that the man cannot be very wise, who endeavours to persuade himself, that he shall, in the great day of final account, be included in these exceptions. For myself, I {60} must profess, that after some acquaintance with several of our principal infidel writers, English and foreign, I have never met with any who dared meet the distinguishing evidences of christianity fairly; and that in general, the description of writers alluded to, have been men whose moral conduct has been so defective, as to afford just reason to apprehend they were not sincere inquirers after truth. The infidel public may safely be challenged to answer, not only the writings of Locke, Newton, Lardner, Paley, &c. but even some of our shilling or sixpenny pamphlets. Let any unbeliever exert his energies in refuting that admirable tract entitled—An Answer to the Question, WHY ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN? by the late Dr. Clarke of Boston, in America, of which there have been published numerous editions, but to which, if an answer has been written, I will thank any person to inform me, and where it can be procured. But so long as the enemies of revelation consider misrepresentation, arising from wilful ignorance, sneering, jesting, and ribaldry, lawful weapons to effect the purpose they have at heart—the destruction of christianity—I shall certainly suspect they do not possess that indispensable qualification in all inquiries concerning revelation,—an honest and good heart, and that of course they are not sincere in their inquiries; but let all such men take warning from the numerous declarations in scripture concerning the rejectors of the gospel, as they will most assuredly find, that with respect to threatenings, as well as promises, it is impossible for God to lie!
Should it be asked,—How is it that so many men of talents, and who may possess qualities, which may render them in different ways, and to a certain degree useful to the world and ornamental to the social circle reject christianity; various {61} causes may be assigned. I must confine myself to a few. The principal reason is assigned by the divine author of Christianity:—This is the condemnation; light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.—The love of applause in favourite circles is assigned by the same authority as another reason. Our Saviour demanded of the Pharisees,—how can ye believe who receive honour one of one another, and not the honour which cometh from God only. They rejected our Saviour's doctrines because they loved the praise of men, more than the praise of God.—How often has pride determined men to reject truths the most important? The doctrine of the cross, although the brightest display of the wisdom and power of God to the world, is to the carnal man, that is the man whose belief and practice are determined by worldly motives, foolishness. The remark of Dr. Priestley on this subject, deserves the most serious attention of men, who are by their talents and learning, elevated above the rest of the world. "Learned men have prejudices peculiar to themselves, and the very affectation of being free from vulgar notions, and of being wiser than the rest of mankind, must indispose them to the admission of truth, if it should happen to be with the common people!"
Although if the opinions I have expressed be true, they want not the sanction of the learned, yet knowing the influence of names, I will in their support add two, who although men of very different opinions, are by their respective admirers, considered masters in Israel. The first is Dr. Johnson who, as his biographer Mr. Boswell informs us, remarked on this subject,—"No honest man could be a deist; for no man could be so after a fair examination of the proofs of christianity. Hume owned {62} to a clergyman, in the bishopric of Durham, that he had never read the New Testament with attention!" Another example of the truth of Johnson's remark is the famous Thomas Paine, who in a work misnamed "the Age of Reason," but which is a disgrace to any man possessing his reason, at the very moment of pretending to criticise the bible, and of glorying in having destroyed its credit, acknowledged "that he had not read it for several years!" This may, in part at least, account for the numerous misstatements and falsehoods which deform his pages. This work has been the more injurious to society, as thereby the author lost much of that fame he had justly acquired by his admirable, and popular political writings, but to which the world has since shewn a comparative indifference.
To Dr. Johnson's opinion I only add that of Mr. Belsham, who in his Calm Inquiry, &c. observes:—"The Unitarians acknowledge that the scriptures were written for the instruction of the illiterate as well as of the learned, and they believe—that ALL which is essential to doctrine or practice is SUFFICIENTLY INTELLIGIBLE even to the meanest capacity."
From these premises I conclude, that there is little danger of the spread of that absurdity of absurdities—INFIDELITY, where it is not supported by more plausible reasons than are contained in the writings of its votaries; but it is with pain, that I am obliged in justice to the subject to add, that its principal support has been the corrupt systems and lives of its professors.—Those ANTICHRISTIAN CHURCHES under whatever denomination, and in every country under heaven, which have been established by the civil magistrate:—THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE, which has displayed its brazen front in the temple of God, exalting itself above all that is called God; robbed {63} the great head of the church of his peculiar prerogative, the sovereignty over conscience; and plundered countless millions of their rights and properties, thus turning the church into a den of thieves,—These ecclesiastical corruptions constitute a more formidable argument against christianity, although by no means an honest reason for rejecting it, than the writings of the whole infidel world united.[70]
{64} But as America is not disgraced with an established church, supported by penal laws, the work of statecraft and priestcraft united, infidelity has, in that country, lost {65} its chief support, and cannot, to any extensive degree, flourish. Let that favoured quarter of the globe carefully preserve her only establishment—LIBERTY AND EQUALITY, and her religious interests are safe. Christianity left to itself will, by its own internal excellence, and by the lives of its sincere professors, have free course, and be glorified.
The English settlement in the Illinois already affords an illustration of the truth of these sentiments. In the first stage of its infancy, reports, as it appears by the remonstrance and admonitions of the female friend at Philadelphia to my brother, have been industriously and widely circulated, of its being a "wicked infidel settlement;" where "a christian parent" could not "answer it to his God for endangering the precious souls of his dear children!" Three years have scarcely passed since this solemn warning was given; and what is the present state of this "Infidel settlement?" The friends to Christianity have exerted themselves, and although without the assistance of Priests, or even Reverends of any denomination, two places within the distance of as many miles, have been erected for public worship; one on the moderate candid Unitarian plan,—I mean that which according to the only accurate import of the word includes in its communion, all christians who dissent from that contradiction in terms—"THREE divine PERSONS in ONE GOD:"—The other for the members of the Episcopal Church of England, which in America, by losing its antichristian sting, has lost its principal deformities; and what deserves peculiar notice—the service in the latter is read by the very person who was supposed to have been the chief promoter of infidelity!—A third chapel is now erecting for the use of the Calvinistic baptists. These different denominations, with any others {66} which may hereafter appear, have only to follow the example of their brethren throughout America; to meet in civil society, as friends, perfectly equal as to political, civil, and religious rights, no one allowed to have any ascendancy over the other, christianity will then triumph, and infidelity will be ashamed to shew its face.
To the excellent admonitions on the subject of religious and moral conduct with which my brother concludes his letters, I cannot help adding my ardent hopes, that as the English settlement appears to be increasing in prosperity, and to present an happy asylum for those, who from various circumstances, are induced or compelled to emigrate from their native country, the inhabitants will prove an example of that true religion and virtue, which constitute the only sure foundation and preserver of states and communities:—my wishes are equally ardent, that as christians, they would not only avoid the errors of antichristian established churches, but of those which although professedly dissenting from them still retain a strong attachment to many of their follies. Primitive christianity, how seldom is it aspired after! The unnecessary division of christians into clergy and laity; the distinctions of dress, habits, and titles, so calculated to please the fancy of our grown babies in the christian church; the objectionable manner in which christian pastors are too frequently ordained and supported:—these with other follies which might be mentioned, all innovations on the simplicity and purity of the primitive churches will at the Illinois, it is hoped, be avoided. Let the English seriously recollect, that in their native country priestcraft prevails, not only in the established church, but in different degrees amongst those who dissent from it, where I fear it is increasing; and that those who are distinguished for their {67} attachment to weak and beggarly elements, are in general equally distinguished for their indifference to the grand principles of LIBERTY, for their servility to the ruling powers, and for their support of that ruinous system of war and corruption, which has so peculiarly disgraced the British nation for the past sixty years.—May the office of pastor of a christian church be no longer deemed a trade, but let every christian teacher aspire to the honour of being equally independent with the apostles and pastors of the primitive churches, who are chiefly if not wholly dependant on their own exertions in the pursuit of some honest calling. May all denominations, uniting with each other in the bonds of christian friendship, no longer consider their peculiar explanation of doctrines as necessary to christian communion. May their only grand essentials be, sincerity in the search of truth, and honesty in practising it. Thus may they, in the full enjoyment of political, civil, and religious liberty go on unto perfection.[71]
{68} [Note C, page 147.]
Mr. Cobbett's former calumnies respecting the English settlements in the Illinois were amply refuted by Mr. Birkbeck and my brother, in two pamphlets, published in 1819, and to neither of which, although he has alluded to a private letter, since written by the former, and inserted in a provincial paper, has he dared to reply. He has however, had the effrontery in a late Register, (July, 7th, 1821,) not only to repeat those calumnies, but to invent others still more atrocious; and as the parties concerned are five thousand miles distant, I deem it my duty on the present occasion, to add a few observations to those of my brother, that the character of the calumniator may appear in its true colours, and that my countrymen may no longer be the dupes of a man who has so frequently deceived them.
This writer has in his rage against the settlements at the Illinois, not only shewn his usual disregard of truth and decency, but thrown off the common feelings of humanity. Yes!—This marble-hearted reprobate has impiously dared to reproach an affectionate,—a peculiarly warm-hearted father with the death of a favourite son. Addressing himself to Mr. Birkbeck, he states as follows:—"As to English farmers, yours, or any like yours, is the very worst spot they can go to." Of the falsehood of this assertion, the reader has before him demonstrative evidence. Then, alluding to Mr. William Hunt and his qualifications for farming, the writer adds:—"With great sorrow I heard of his untimely end, from one of those terrible fevers that never fail to haunt new settlements for years. One of Mr. Flower's sons is dead also, in the bloom of life. Now, had Mr. F. followed my advice given him at New York; if he had purchased a farm or two on the Atlantic side, this son would in all probability have been alive!" {69} To this atrocious paragraph I reply:—It is false that "terrible fevers haunt the English settlements" more than is common in either England or America. I am well acquainted with some who were born, and had previous to their emigration, lived in one of the finest counties in England, Devonshire, who were not unfrequently subject to fevers in general, but to such "terrible fevers," as had nearly terminated their earthly existence. These very persons have lately written me, that during a twelvemonth's residence near Albion, succeeding a long and fatiguing voyage and journey, they had been less subject to fevers, and have enjoyed better health than when breathing their native air. As to the climate in general, its healthy state has, after four years experience, been proved, by the evidence of persons, whose characters for veracity more particularly, are as superior to that of their calumniator, as light is to darkness.—It is false that Mr. W. Hunt was brought to an untimely end by "a terrible fever." At the moment I am writing I have a gentleman at my elbow, who during his late residence at the Illinois was well acquainted with Mr. H. and with the circumstances attending his death; and he has authorized me to state:—That Mr. Hunt's disorder was a common pleurisy, attended with but a slight degree of fever; that he was fast recovering; but as is not uncommon in other countries, not taking proper care of himself, and negligent in following medical advice, he had a relapse which terminated fatally.
It is false, that my amiable and excellent nephew died also in consequence of one of those "terrible fevers." Being intimately acquainted with the circumstances of his case, from the very best authority I assure the reader, that his death was occasioned by a common complaint {70} in all countries, and to which young people are more peculiarly subject: a cold, caught on a journey, (it is not necessary to detail the particulars) which, without any alarming symptoms of fever, terminated in a decline, and as is frequently the case in such disorders, suddenly, when his parents and family were flattering themselves he had nearly recovered. Thus has Mr. Cobbett impiously represented an affecting visitation of Providence;—a visitation common to every spot on the habitable globe,—as a judgment inflicted on my brother for not following his advice, although he forgot to add, that this advice was enforced with a denunciation, clothed in his favourite phraseology, "I'll be d——d if I do not write down Birkbeck and his settlement."[72]—Thus has he strove to transpierce the heart of a father, and to tear open a wound, which time, a flourishing situation, with those ample means of enjoyment with which the favour of providence has surrounded him, together with those "strong consolations," which a true christian only can feel the force of, was healing; and I trust, that the same supports will enable him to triumph over the fiend whose deadly aim has been to send him a mourner to the grave.
Mr. C. warns my brother and his family "to retreat in time," which if they do not, he dooms them for their lives "to pass their days principally amongst the fellers of trees, and the swallowers of whiskey." After the reader has attended to the evidence respecting the state of society at the English settlements, in the pamphlet before him, (I might refer him to additional respectable evidence) it is only necessary to warn Mr. C. in return, should he again cross the Atlantic, and take it into his head to reside at the Illinois, to be careful to leave his vicious habits of {71} swearing and lying behind him, as he will otherwise find not only English society, but even the society of "fellers of trees, and swallowers of whiskey" too humane, too civilized, too virtuous to be very fond of his company.
The hypocrisy of Mr. Cobbett, in his professions of respect for Mr. B. and my brother can only be equalled by his falsehood. His inhuman attack on the latter I have already noticed; and his eagerness in the same Register, to expose and misrepresent private matters with which the public have no concern, for the sole purpose of making mischief, must be too obvious to its readers to require farther notice. I might quote from a subsequent Register, the manner in which he has endeavoured to ridicule both my brother and Mr. B. but it is too contemptible for a reply.
Mr. Birkbeck, in the letter quoted by Cobbett observes, "I suppose you have seen Cobbett's attack on me, and laughed at the ridiculous posture in which he has contrived to place me." On this Mr. C. indignantly demands—"Pray Sir, by what rule known amongst men, are you justified in imputing to me an attack on you. I addressed to you two letters while I was in Long Island, dated in the latter part of the year 1818:—now throughout the whole of those letters there is not to be found one single expression to warrant this charge of having made an attack on you; from one end to the other I speak of you with the greatest respect." Of the sincerity of these professions the reader will judge, by a short extract or two from the letters referred to. "It is of little consequence," observes Mr. C. "what wild schemes are formed by men who have property enough to carry them back; but to invite men to go to the Illinois, with a few score of pounds in their pockets, and to tell them that they can become farmers with those pounds, appears to me to admit of no other apology {72} than an unequivocal acknowledgment that the author is MAD! Yet your fifteenth letter from the Illinois really contains such an invitation. This letter is manifestly addressed to an imaginary person, it is clear that the correspondent is a feigned or supposed being. It is, I am sorry to say, a mere trap to catch poor creatures with a few pounds in their pockets." Mr. Birkbeck in reply, after stating that his letter was not addressed to an "imaginary person," but to one with whose circumstances he was intimately acquainted, a relation by marriage, adds:—"You have posted me over England and America as mad, as a simpleton, and a boaster, and in one or two instances as something worse. So great a liberty with truth, you say, never was taken by any mortal being; and having made the discovery, you are in great haste to conclude your letter to me, that your son William might take it to England with him, and publish it there six months before I could hear of it!"—So much for Mr. Cobbett's sincerity in his high professions of respect for Mr. B. his veracity in declaring he made "no attack on him," and that his letter, "was not written to be circulated in Europe!" It is a pity that he did not adduce his ever-memorable denunciation against Mr. B. and his settlement uttered a short time before he wrote his letters, as an additional proof of his sincerity and veracity![73]
The conceit of this writer is as intolerable as his other vicious qualities. Speaking of the House of Commons, he thus expresses himself:—"I am well aware of all the feelings that are at work in that assembly with regard to me and my writings. I have not mock modesty enough, to pretend not to perceive the power that I have in the {73} country; and it is out of the power of that assembly to disguise from me that they are well aware of the extent of that power. Neither am I ignorant of the power that I have with regard to their actions, and of the great reluctance that they have to suffer the public to perceive that they feel the effects of any such power. I manage my matters adroitly: but the power I have, and the power I will have; and this I repeat it, the public know full as well as I do; and I only state the facts here in order to let those who grudge me the power know, that the possession of it gives me great satisfaction." How adroitly this bankrupt in fortunes and character has "managed his matters," the London Gazette and our courts of justice have recently afforded ample evidence; and should he profess modesty, that it will be "mock modesty," no man will dispute: as to the rest of the paragraph, surely the ravings of the poor bedlamite, with his crown of straw, brandishing his straw scepter, and fancying himself a king, appears rationality itself compared with this display of bloated pride and intoxicated vanity! What particular power this writer possesses over the country, or over parliament, I know not: that he may impose upon some people by his acknowledged talents as a writer, whose style is so well calculated for the lower classes more particularly, and by his confident assertions, I do not deny; but in justice to Mr. C. I must observe, that I do not believe his powers for wickedness are so gigantic as he has laboured to persuade us they are. How often has he boasted of his power at any time totally to ruin the Bank of England by his favourite project of a general forgery of bank notes; and which he could easily put in execution at any time; but notwithstanding he proves his good wishes on the subject, he has not had that {74} confidence in his own marvellous powers, as to risk his neck in the acquisition of that exaltation, which the attempt to put such a project in execution would most assuredly be his reward!
Mr. Birkbeck has drawn a most correct miniature likeness of his grand enemy, in describing him as a man,—I copy the sentence as printed by Mr. C.—"KNOWN to be wholly indifferent to truth." This description is so terribly galling as to provoke him to give additional proof of its justice. How numerous are the proofs,—how vast the evidence which might be collected from his writings! How many of the most useful and ornamental characters, and of the greatest and best men in the political, social, and literary world has he not libelled! It is not only Birkbeck, and Flower, but Waithman, Burdett,[74] {75} and Fox, Priestley, Franklin, Locke, and Addison, with many others whom this general libeller has calumniated. But to wade through his innumerable pages, and to collect the numberless proofs of the truth of this statement would be a more Herculean task than that of cleansing the Augean stable. To the number of his Register already quoted I must confine myself: and indeed that may be produced as a fair specimen of many others. Many years since, and early in his political career, he poured forth his abuse on Dr. Franklin; the fit has lately revisited him; and it has happened to him, to use the language of St. Peter, when describing similar characters of his time, according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again. Speaking of this friend of his country, and of the world, Mr. C. observes:—"Dr. Franklin's maxims are childish, if not trivial; a still greater number of them are false, the whole tenor of them tends to evil, for it constantly aims at strengthening selfishness, and at enfeebling generosity."—Yes reader! such is the description of the luminous pages of this illustrious American philosopher, statesman, and patriot, and which abound equally with lessons of philanthropy and prudence, enforced by his own example, and which have instructed, improved, and adorned, not only his own country, but almost every civilized spot on the habitable globe.
But although there is much more offensive matter in the Register I have quoted, I must draw to a close. Mr. C. on some subjects shews considerable talents and industry, and he might have been useful to society, had he confined himself to his peculiar forte,—ferretting out {76} public abuses, and making every class understand their nature. It is indeed to be lamented how little he feels himself, what he has made others feel. But, as there is no system, men nor measures, but he has equally panegyrised and reviled, as it has suited his caprice, or weathercock opinions; his own conduct has, in a great degree, destroyed the effects of the best parts of his writings.—But as he has lately turned his attention to that best of books,—the bible,—which he has frequently sneered at, and reviled the successful exertions of those who have extended its circulation;—as his prolific pen has lately produced SERMONS, in which he has displayed his usual energies, I will not despair of him; and I hope he will take in good part my friendly and concluding hints. I will help him to one or two subjects for his succeeding sermons. The first shall be—THE SIN AND DANGER OF PROFANE SWEARING, from Exodus xx. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. The other,—GOD'S ABHORRENCE OF FALSEHOOD, from Prov. xii. 22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. No man is capable of doing these subjects more ample justice; and I will promise him that, as I have distributed some of his writings, I will so exert myself respecting these proposed sermons, as that he may add to his recent boastings of their extensive sale. It is impossible that in reading and studying the Bible, he can prevent it from flying in his face, and I most sincerely hope his reflections will terminate in his repentance and reformation: that he may no longer remain in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity; but that it may be his fervent prayer to God,—That the thoughts of his heart may be forgiven him.