Far be it from me to recommend indifference in the cause of religion. I know the obligation earnestly to contend for the truth, which was once delivered to the saints. I know who said to the angel of the Church of Laodicea, because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Zeal in a good cause has ever been deemed commendable; and zeal in the cause of christianity is a duty of indispensible obligation. Those who undertake to explain and enforce the doctrines of salvation are bound to express their convictions with earnestness, and to declare the revealed truths of eternal and universal concern with all boldness and sincerity, consulting the honour of God, and looking to the salvation, not to the praise, of men.

But the plea of zeal will not justify defamation, it will not authorize unfounded insinuations against the principles or morals of an antagonist, and it furnishes no cause for the language of irritation or unfounded reproach, for invective or sarcasm. The difference between pious and intemperate zeal is aptly and elegantly illustrated by Jortin; the former, he compares to the gentle flame which innocently played round the hair and temples of fulus; the latter, to the autumnal star of Homer, whose

It may be affirmed with truth, that controversial asperity and violence scarcely ever fail to defeat the end for which they are used: instead of producing good in any instance they have been productive of most extensive evil, and if it were possible for the gates of hell to prevail against the religion of Christ, they would indeed have prevailed in this way.

But the evils arising from the use of acrimonious intemperate language in religious controversies are so various and prejudicial, that I cannot refrain from more particularly enumerating some of them.-First, It is a cause of offence and uneasiness to all serious humble minded christians, who feel the obligation of keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.-Secondly, It abridges the usefulness of a writer. Our confidence in an author is often proportionate to the respect which we entertain for him, and that respect will be insensibly heightened or lowered as we find him adhering to the principles which he professes, or deviating from them.-Thirdly, It excites a spirit of disunion and hostility amongst the professors of the same faith, the followers of the same Lord. The intemperance of a writer often communicates itself to his readers, whether they take part with him or against him. His readers communicate their feelings to others; an intolerant spirit is disseminated, and parties are thus formed, of which the leading principle is hostility to each other, to the real injury of the christian cause. -Fourthly, It affords a triumph to infidels, who malignantly ascribe to the religion of Christ, consequences which only result from a culpable violation of one of its most prominent injunctions; and some, perhaps, may have been deterred by it from that examination into the truth of christianity, which might have ended in conviction.

Let me seriously then recommend to every controversialist, who feels himself liable to the censures implied in these observations, to consider the alarming and extensive responsibility of a conduct, which is equally condemned by the word of God and the judgment of mankind.

It may be proper here to add a few words on controversy itself. Experience unhappily shews, that there is something in the very nature of it, which has a tendency to exasperate the mind, inflame the passions, stifle the emotions of benevolence, and substitute a spirit of wrath and enmity for that of christian meekness, forbearance, and love. Few writers are sufficiently schooled in humility to peruse, with temper, strictures upon their opinions and arguments; to weigh them candidly and dispassionately, or what is harder still, though a duty, to acknowledge their errors. The offspring of our intellect is often almost as dear to us as that of our bodies. With this experience, which the writings of all ages have verified, how Cautious ought every theologian to be, before he exposes his writings to the criticisms of the public; with what severity ought he to scrutinise his motives, and probe his temper, lest incautiously drawn into the vortex of controversy, he should make shipwreck of his faith. If zeal for Christ, and an anxious desire to promote the eternal happiness of his fellow-creatures, be the laudable motives which induce him to become an author; let him reflect, that he is liable to have his opinions discussed, his arguments contradicted, and his learning and talents perhaps arraigned and impeached. Let him then seriously ask himself, whether he is sufficient ly armed with humility to undergo these trials without loss of temper; whether he possesses candour to admit the soundness of arguments, which he cannot refute; or to be grateful for the rectification of his errors or ignorance. If his motives be such as he professes and supposes, no intemperance of his adversary, no censure of his opinions, should be able to extort from him an angry reply, or querulous appeal; and an adherence to them should induce him to acknowledge and correct any mistakes into which he may incautiously have been betrayed. But should he find his mind agitated by anger and vexation, or tinctured with malignity, he may conclude that the purity of his motives has not been such as to prove a sufficient preservative from yielding to the infirmities of his nature; and instead of answering his opponent under the influence of such disorder, he would act more in the spirit of a wise man CHRIST. OBSERV, No. 27.

and a christian, by praying to God to compose the turbulence of his passions.

But all who commence writers, or engage in controversy, cannot plead the pure and simple motive of wishing only to do good to others. It is now, as it was in the days of the apostles; if some preach Christ of good will, others preach Christ even of envy and strife. Upon such I fear my arguments will fail to make any impression: I must, therefore, commend them to God, sincerely pitying them, and deprecating the injury which they may occasion to the christian community.

It might be a useful rule for every controversial writer, before he publishes his work, to ask himself, what shall I think of this work in my dying moments? Is there nothing said in it, which I shall then wish unsaid? It will be an awful consideration at the hour of death, that we have done mischief, which it is no longer in our power to redress; and which may be felt by thousands yet unborn. How many have died with this burthen upon their consciences.

We are told by supreme authority, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. It behoves every man, but the controversialist in particular, to reflect on this solemn admonition, as a salutary restraint against every expression dictated by enmity, pride, envy, wrath, malice, or uncharitableness: ought any one to engage in contreversy, who cannot in a good measure controul these passions. The triumph obtained in a theological contest will avail little in the terrible day of the Lord, when every secret thought, as well as every word, will be brought into judgment. The number, abilities, or rank of our admirers, fiattering as it may be to selfimportance now, will contribute nothing to our comfort; the dogmatism of learning, or the pride of sectarianism, will add in no degree to our fu ture happiness. "Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven," "prophecies they shall fail, tongues they shall cease, and knowledge it shall vanish away," but charity never faileth."

And now, Mr. Editor, permit me to say a few words to yourself. I

U

neither accuse you of a disposition to controversy, nor of having violated its laws; on the contrary, I acknowledge with much satisfaction, that in the commendations or strictures, which your office obliges you to bestow upon authors, you have observed the golden rule of impartiality, in a manner which proves you attached to evangelical truth, and not to a party. Your publication, which I know to be extensively read, and which I believe has produced much good, would, in my humble opinion, be still more extensively useful, if controversial subjects were still more avoided. This, however, I admit may be very difficult.

With respect to myself, I confess to you, that before I read your publication, I knew little of Calvin or Arminius beyond their names; and I am equally ready to acknowledge that the information which I have incidentally acquired of their differences, through the medium principally of that part of your work which is dedicated to the review of books, has added little to my religious knowledge, my faith, or my charity. I see, however, that those who chuse to call themselves Arminians and Calvinists, have taken offence at your supposed predilection for one or other of the divines, whose doctrines they espouse; a satisfactory proof, in my opinion, that the fault is rather in their feelings than in your writings.

Be that as it may, I shall beg leave to recommend to both the following passage from an author, whom I have already quoted.

"I will give you one instance, in which, at this day, our churches are at variance. The will of God, and his manner of proceeding in predestination, is undiscernible, and shall so remain until that day, wherein all knowledge shall be made perfect; yet some there are, who, with probability of scripture, teach that the true cause of the final miscarriage of them that perish, is that original corruption that befel them at the beginning, increased through the neglect or refusal of grace offered. Others, with no less favourable countenance of scripture, make the cause of reprobation, only the will of God, determining freely of his own work, as himself pleases, without respect to any second cause whatsoever.

"The authors of these conceits

might both freely (if peaceably) speak their minds, and both singularly profit the church; for since it is impossi ble, where scripture is ambiguous, that all conceits should run alike, it remains that we seek out a way, not so much to establish an unity of opinion in the minds of all, which I take to be a thing likewise impossible, as to provide that multiplicity of conceit, trouble not the church's peace. A better way my conceit cannot reach unto, than that we would be willing to think that those things, which with some shew of probability we deduce from scripture, are at the best but our own opi nions; for this peremptory manner of setting down our own conclusions, under this high-commanding form of necessary truths, is generally one of the greatest causes which keeps the churches this day so far asunder; whereas a gracious receiving of each other, by mutual forbearance in this kind, might, peradventure, bring them nearer together."

MODERATOR.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I ADMIRE, in general, the sentiments of your correspondent Margery, (p. 24); but I question the propriety of her calling on you to expose the irreligion and vice of boarding schools; because, as she never placed any of her daughters at school, her opinions respecting the tendency of school education, probably arise either from prejudice or from imperfect information. Most children dislike school, and are apt to make such unfavourable reports of it as they think likely to prevent their return thither. should be cautious, however, in giving credit to the representations of children, who, it must be allowed, are very inadequate judges of the subject, and who may likewise be under a strong temptation to deceive.

We

I am induced to trouble you with these remarks from a sense of justice, as well as from motives of gratitude; for I cannot forget that to the governess of the school, at which I happened to be placed, I am indebted, under God, for my impressions of the paramount importance of religion. At twelve years of age I was sent to school, where I learnt, for the

first time, that I was accountable to God for every part of my conduct, and bound to perform every action, however trivial, from a sense of the obligation under which I lay to love and serve him. At this school I remained four years, during which time I had the happiness of seeing religion constantly kept in view, and of hearing it pointedly enforced as the principie which ought to govern our lives. I was taught to read the scriptures daily in private, a practice which at length became not only habitual, but delightful to me. The Sunday I learned to consider not as my own day, which might be passed in idle visits, but as a day to be peculiarly appropriated to religious uses; and in order to make it profitable, I was provided with a variety of instructive books, and was taught also to repeat and sing psalms and hymns. Our governess would allow none of her scholars to shorten the Sunday by walking out, except to church: indeed we seldom found the day tedious, for she was even more affectionate and enlivening on that day than on any other; its employments were congenial to her own mind, and she endeavoured to inspire us with a similar taste. Our preparation for the Sunday began on the preceding morning. A chapter of the Bible was read to us, and made the subject of some religious instruction, such as I am sure your correspondent Margery would approve; and any improper temper or conduct, which had been noticed during the week, was kindly, though distinctly, pointed out and censured; a custom which was of great benefit to many of

us.

I do not mean to affirm, that equal advantages are to be enjoyed in many schools; but in most, if not in all, some form of religion is kept up, such as morning and evening prayers, gong to church on Sundays, &c. observances which young people too frequently see to be wholly disregarded at home. The question, therefore, is not whether schools are unexceptionable, or whether, in some cases, a home education may not be more advantageous; but whether, in general, schools do not afford better means of religious instruction (scanty though they may be) than are to be found at home.

Another considerable advantage in

schools is the plainness of the table. In many families, especially in the middling ranks of life, the tastes and appetites of children are indulged to a very improper excess. Something, therefore, is attained by school dis cipline in this very important particular.

But I dare not trespass longer on your time. I shall therefore only add, that as the sentiments of the Christian Observer on education will be likely to have great weight, justice and gratitude induced me to point out the obligations I owe to one school, my attendance in which I consider, and I believe I shall have occasion to consider to all eternity, to have been an inestimable blessing. I am conscious it is very unfashionable to speak favourably of a boarding school education; but yet, as you are an enemy to unfounded prejudices, I trust you will insert this letter, which comes from one who entertains the highest sentiments of respect for your useful labours.

ANABELLA.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE complaint of M. T. H. (p. 17), has induced me to suggest another remark, which has sometimes unseasonably occurred during the performance of the very same part of divine worship. What I allude to is, as it appears to me, an injudicious and unnecessary mutilation of the Lord's Prayer by some clergymen, who choose to connect the first sentence of it with the collect before sermon, in the following manner:-" through our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath taught us to call thee our Father, which art in heaven," &c. Now, though none of the words of the prayer are actually omitted, yet those now mentioned, being in their grammatical construction entirely appropriated to the former sentence, cannot also be used, as they were designed to be, as an invocation to the Almighty: the prayer therefore commences, somewhat abruptly, with the words" Hallowed be thy name, &c." Thus, for the sake of what is probably deemed a more graceful connection, the preacher detaches from that most excellent pattern of prayer an address to the Divine Being, highly proper in all our suppli

cations, and which might perhaps have been dictated, on this occasion, for the very purpose of inspiring us with a degree of filial confidence

while we are offering up the subsequent petitions.

Y. Z.

ON THE CONTINENT.

(Continued from p. 23.)

LAKE OF THE FOUR CANTONS,-URSEREN L'HOSPITAL.

AFTER an ascent of five or six hours over falls of water, precipices, torrents, &c. I reached a valley of an hour long, where the majestic wonders of the Alps began to appear in all their terror.. They were, to appearance, hewn out of one enormous rock, which rose perpendicularly on each side to the height of five or six hundred feet. Not a tuft of verdure was to be seen. A few blades of grass peeped here and there out of the stony crevices, but for want of proper nourishment were turned to a brownish hue, shaded only with a few faint stripes of green. Towards the farther end the valley grew narrower and narrower, and at length was so very strait that the road is cut out of the solid rock and arched underneath to prevent its falling in. Near two hundred feet beneath this precipice rolls an immense torrent, which, passing through the middle of the valley, rushes down into the plain, and forms the Lake of the Four Cantons. In this place its bed appears to be formed of one smooth solid stone, which it has doubtless excavated out for itself in the course of ages, though the gulf must have been originally formed at the general inundation of the world. It should seem as if nature designed this enormous cleft as an insurmountable barrier between the Alps of Switzerland and Italy.

But as we had been before engaged in contemplating her wonders, we were now to admire the force of human art. The wit of man has over come every obstacle that threatened an eternal separation between the Cantons and the Levontina. Across the gulph is thrown a bridge of a sin

upon two vast mountains, and form an easy communication between them. The height is so excessive, that one cannot without terror look down upon the water beneath. The water rolls with such violence, and dashes with such fury against the rocky fragments, that the foam raises an artificial shower, which, notwithstanding its depth below me, reached to the precipice on which I stood and sprinkled my clothes. While I was surveying the stupendous construction of the bridge, and wondering how any scaffolding could be fixed, or where any workmen could be found sufficiently bold for so tremendous an undertaking, I could not help admiring the appositeness of the name. The ancient inhabitants of the country doubting, perhaps, the sufficiency of human skill to effect so great a work, and of course ascribing it to some superior power, call it in the German language Der Teufel Brüch; which name it has borne ever since. Mankind is, doubtless, indebted for this beneficial contrivance to the genius of that extraordinary man, who first planned and executed this wonderful road over the mountains, for the passage of his conquering army; I mean the first and greatest emperor of the Roman world. A small ascent from the bridge brought us to a huge and lofty rock, which rose up before us, and seemed to announce a ne plus ultra; but, on our nearer approach, we perceived a subterraneous passage cut through it, fourscore paces in length, and so high that a man on horseback may easily pass. It must have been from cutting such a passage as this, that Hannibal obtained the reputation of melting his way over the Alps with vinegar; if so, the story need not be considered so fabulous as it generally is; for one can easily conceive, that the African general might successfully make use of some acid li