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der the happy effects of a life of piety and virtue, both here and hereafter.

AT a time when the world is deluged with publications-not indeed grofsly obfcene, immoral and impious, but of a nature even more dangerous in their confe quences whereby the paffions of the reader are inflamed by descriptions of characters and fcenes the most voluptuous, if not meretricious; in which the incidents are artfully contrived to place vice in such a light as by thoughtlefs youth, to be scarcely distinguishable from virtue; and wherein that religion, which would operate as an antidote, is attempted to be blown away, as it were, by a fide wind: -with publica

(a) That the world at prefent abounds with books of this defcription, is a fact too notorious to require proof. Witnefs the many which have difgraced the British Prefs. Witnefsthofe fwarms of publications now daily issuing "from the Banks of the Danube," under the fpecious denomination of GERMAN LITERATURE;" that fo"ber and unfuspected mass of mischief, which, by assu"ming the plaufible names of Science, of Philofophy, of "Arts, of Belles Lettres, is gradually administering death "to the principles of those who would be on their guard, "had the poifon been labelled with its own pernicious ti❝tle. Avowed attacks upon revelation are more eafily

tions which thus fap the foundations of virtue and morality, and pollute their very fource; break down the barriers between virtue and vice, and produce in the rifing generation, as a neceffary confequence, a degree of profligacy, diffipation and licentiousness, the effects of which cannot be contemplated without horror; at a period when works of such a tendency find fo ma ny patrons among the public, the publisher hopes to be excused for introducing one little tract, which has for its object the promotion of religion and piety.

But independent of every other confide ration, the unexampled fale which this work has experienced in England, will alone, it is prefumed, render any apology for its republication here, unneceffary. In a period

"refifted, because the malignity is advertised; but who "fufpects the deftruction which lurks under the harmless "or inftructive names of GENERAL HISTORY, NATU"RAL HISTORY, TRAVELS, VOYAGES, LIVES, EN"CYCLOPEDIAS, CRITICISM, and ROMANCE.". (See "Strictures on Female Education," by Hannah More-a work of uncommon merit, and at this time, in particular, of iRimable value.)

of less than twenty-five years, Seventy-five thousand copies of the book were fold; and the ftyle in which a new edition of it has lately been printed, feems to fhew, that, like the religion it inculcates, the more thoroughly it becomes known, the more highly is its value estimated. b

Here, it may be thought, the publisher fhould have clofed his advertisement; but as this little work will probably fall into the hands of fome of those persons whose minds, by a perufal of authors of the description

"(b) This is a re-publication of a very popular and "meritorious performance. I thas been long and juftly ad"mired by all the best and most enlightened of our coun"trymen. The author's character is here drawn with

elegance and brevity by his fon, who might well be proud "of fuch a father. The preface is judicious, and written "by himself. In it ha honestly avows, the design of his la"bour is to check the rage of sensual pleasures, which he "forefaw would refult, as it doubtless has done, in grofs "immorality and general impiety. In a period of less

than twenty-five years we are informed SEVENTY.FIVE "thousand copies of the book were sold. Such a circula❝tion of fo much good fenfe and found reafening were "never more devoutly to be wished for than now. And "we mu own it comes abroad with circumftances not "unacceptable to the present taste. It is elegantly printed

on a beautiful wove paper. It is written by an

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already alluded to, have become prejudiced against the christian revelation; and as the beft arguments drawn from the facred writings, and founded on their fuppofed authenticity, can have no weight with those who deny the authority of the scriptures themselves; he hopes to be excused for adding thereto, fome prefatory observations on the credibility of the Chriftian Religion.

Being convinced that it is not to any deficiency of evidence, or failure of argument, but to a reluctance to examine, and indifference about, thofe evidences and arguments which have already been brought forward in fupport of the Christian Religion,

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KONEST and eminent Lawyer. It affumes a ftyle of "fober, deliberate difcuffion, without the rant of enthusi"asm, or the cant of hypocrify. It is fo perfectly free of "prieftcraft, that the most profane are under no temptation "to confider it merely as a profeffional lure, or artifice "of the clergy, for fpunging on the laity. There are "no prejudices against it but the subject, and we pledge "ourselves that our readers will like the subject the "better, the more feriously and the oftener they perufe "this masterly and elegant account of it.”

Ladies Monthly Museum, Vol. 1. p. 238.

(c) See Note at the bottom of page 4.

that the growth of modern infidelity should be attributed; the author (or compiler) of the following obfervations has been more ftudious to collect in a fmall compass, and to place in a ftrong point of view, the fubstance of what has been judicioufly faid by others, than to advance new arguments on the subject himself: indeed, at this period of the christian æra, when the talents, learning, research, and ingenuity of eighteen centuries have been exhaufted in the controverfy, it is scarcely to be expected that any very forcible arguments fhould now be brought forward, which have not, in fome fhape or other, already been fuggefted.

In throwing together the following obfervations, the compiler's principal obje& has been, to induce those easy profelytes to infidelity who have never perhaps thought feriously on the fubject of the Chriftian Religion, and who know but little or nothing of the evidences by which it is fupported; to investigate more thoroughly a matter. which, in whatever point of view it may be.

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