Qurselves an eternal state of felicity in the realms of everlasting light and love.

I am,

Old Acquaintance,

Yours, &c.

J. L."

Alveston, Jan. 1, 1803

To this letter I did not receive any answer until June the same year. It is time to conclude this.

I am,

Dear Friend,

Your's.

LETTER VII.

When late there is less time to play the fool,
Soon our whole term for wisdom is expir'd,
(Thou know'st she calls no council in the grave;)
And everlasting fool is writ in fire,

Or real wisdom wafts us to the skies.

YOUNG,

DEAR FRIEND,

BY J. B.'s leter to me in June, it appears that an alteration has also taken place in his sentiments. The following letter, which I sent to him about a month after, will sufficiently inform you of the contents of his to me.

"Old Acquaintance,

I sincerely rejoice to learn from your letter to me that God has not finally given you over to strồng

delusions still to believe a lie, for not obeying the gospel of Christ. I am also happy to learn that you have a better conviction than that which only brings with it a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which is ready to be foured forth on the adversaries of Christ. May God, who is so. rich in mercy, establish both you and and me in the truth every good word and work, that we may not be in the number of those that

as it is in Christ,

draw back unto h

to the saving

perdition, but of those that believe of the soul.

The life of Christ may well fill you with admi-. ration and devotion. I was, even when an infidel, struck dumb and confounded whenever, for a few moments, I seriously reflected on his wonderful character. We have not only been wicked, but also astonishingly stupid in professing to disbelieve miracles, acles, when at the same time we were

obliged to believe

the son of a poor obscure carpenter, brought up in a very ignorant, scandalous village, could speak as never man spake, and live among the dregs of mankind like a God! Nog m

poor greatest of miracles: That

rate/lifes basico se

In his blessed life,

We see the path, and in his death the price,
And in his great ascent, the proof supreme
Of immortality

You

DR. YOUNG:

one book of your

have but one New-Testament. In possess ing that you have the best book in the world; a book which angels could not have composed: a book, which the primitive Christians esteemed more than their lives; rather than suffer one offer one of D

the Gospels or Epistles to be destroyed, they submitted to the most cruel torments, and endured the most lingering, ignominious deaths.

But for this book we should have been in worse than Egyptian darkness the intellectual world would have been without a sun; we should have blundered in the dark; have stumbled upon after error, without one cheering and enlightening ray

And found no end in wondering mazes.lost."

But in those sacred pages life and immortality is brought to light; a glorious prospect is open ed to us beyond the grave, where clouds and dark.

ness are no more.

I am glad you have friends who will lend you plenty of books. Yes, he must be stupid indeed, whom even a little knowledge in astronomy not fill with devotion.

But even among the stars do not forget your New-Testament; that, by the blessing of God, may make you wise unto salvation: and should that really be the case with you, perhaps you may be employed to all eternity in contemplating infinite wisdom and goodness among those stupendous works of the great incomprehensible CREATOR of those innumerable worlds.

Till lost in one immensity of space,
A sense of Deity o'erwhelms your soul.

COURTIER.

id:

If among the books of divinity that you are so kindly offered the use of, you can borrow any of

the following, they will help to establish you in the belief of the truth of Divine Revelation: Paley's Evidence of Christianity; Bishop Watson's Apology for the Bible, in letters to Thomas Paine; Bishop Porteus' Compendium of the Evidences of Christianity; Addison's Evidences of the Christian Religion; Madame Genlis' Religion the only Basis of Happiness and true Philosophy, in which the Principles of the modern pretended Philoscphers are laid open and refuted, 2 vols. Butler's Divine Analogy; Bentley against Collins; Bentley's Sermons on the folly of Atheism; Jenkin's Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian religion, 2 vols. I have lately read the whole of these works with great satisfaction. If you are fond of real philosophy and astronomy, you will be highly pleased with Bentley's Sermons on the folly of Atheism. Paley's is an extraordinary good work. Butler's Analogy is a very great work. Jenkin's is the most copious and the best work I ever read in defence of divine revelation. It treats in a clear manner of the necessity of a divine revelation, antiquity of the scriptures, God's cispensations under the Patriarchs, Moses, Judges, Kings, and Christ; the wisdom and goodness of God is excellently displayed in the manner of thepromul gation and preservation of the scriptures; various difficulties are cleared and objections answered. The author has, through the whole discovered great depth of thought, a thorough knowledge of the history of the four great monarchies mentioned in the Old Testament, and of other ancient nations; which he has brought forward in confirmation of the truth of divine revelation. In

reading this excellent learned production,. I could not help remarking the wonderful difference that there is between this work and the poor superficial works of freethinkers. Had those freethinkers ever read this work, they never would have exposed their own ignorance as they have done; and had you and I, and others of our acquaintance, been acquainted with it, we never should have been so seduced, perverted and imposed upon by shallow pretenders to sense and learning. Were I still a bookseller, I would immediately work off a very Jarge impression, sell them cheap, and disperse them through every part of the world. The work has gone through various editions. It has been greatly enlarged and improved since it was first published. Before I conclude, I would seriously advise you not to read any controversies on points of doctrine or articles of faith; what is absolutely necessary to be known is plainly revealed.

Not deeply to discern, or much to knots,
Mankind were born to WONDER and adore.

The more you read the New-Testament the more you will enter into and partake of the spirit of it; and your love for it will increase in proportion. Read also as much practical divinity as you can; we all stand in need of every aid to keep us in a true Christian disposition, and steady in the profession of Christianity. Dr. Young says,

At thirty man suspects himself a fool
Knows it at forty and reforms his plan :
At fifty chides his infamous delay,
Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve,