ard
of right and wrong is not the standard of the gospel: they approve and
condemn by a different rule; they advance principles and maintain
opinions altogether opposite to the genius and character of
Christianity. You would fancy yourself rather amongst the followers of
the old philosophy; nor is it easy to guess how any one could satisfy
himself to the contrary, unless, by mentioning the name of some
acknowledged heretic, he should afford them an occasion of demonstrating
their zeal for the religion of their country.

The truth is, their opinions on these subjects are not formed from the
perusal of the word of God. The Bible lies on the shelf unopened; and
they would be wholly ignorant of its contents, except for what they hear
occasionally at church, or for the faint traces which their memories may
still retain of the lessons of their earliest infancy.

How different, nay, in many respects, how contradictory, would be the
two systems of mere morals, of which the one should be formed from the
commonly received maxims of the Christian world, and the other from the
study of the Holy Scriptures! it would be curious to remark in any one,
who had hitherto satisfied himself with the former, the astonishment
which would be excited on his first introduction to the latter. We are
not left here to bare conjecture. This was, in fact, the effect produced
on the mind of a late ingenious writer[1], of whose little work, though
it bears perhaps some marks of his customary love of paradox, we must at
least confess, that it exposes, in a strong point of view, the _poverty_
of that superficial religion which has been above condemned; and that it
every where displays that happy perspicuity, and grace, which so
eminently characterize all the compositions of its author. But after
this willing tribute of commendation, we are reluctantly compelled to
remark, that the work in question discredits the cause which it was
meant to serve, by many crude and extravagant positions; from which no
one can be secure who forms a hasty judgment of a deep and comprehensive
subject, the several bearings and relations of which have been
imperfectly surveyed; and above all, it must be lamented, that it treats
the great question which it professes to discuss, rather as a matter of
mere speculation, than as one wherein our everlasting interests are
involved. Surely the writer's object should have been, to convince his
readers of their guilt still more than of