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cisms of Scott, not only from vehement distrust of his qualifications for the work, but from his own account of the hurried, careless manner, in which some parts of those popular, but most unsatisfactory commentaries were gotten up. Nor can we conceive of a book less likely to satisfy a sincere and candid inquirer, than the Force of Truth,' also referred to with confidence by Dr Kennedy, which proceeds on an argument totally fallacious; and which chiefly shows, that its author, according to his own statements, stood much in need of the conversion which he enforces. For he confesses, that he commenced the ministry with the most worldly, ambitious views; ascribing however to the bad influence of his early liberal opinions, what was undeniably to be ascribed to his personal unregulated feelings.

These conferences of Dr Kennedy and his friends were not long continued. He soon found in them a disposition to talk rather than to listen. They frankly confessed, that the more they heard on the subject, the more mysterious did it appear to them; and after seven or eight meetings, in which, the writer informs us, he went over very fully the topics of the external evidence, his auditors failed to appear. 'I went,' says this amiable writer, 'on the following Sunday to the house of S. at the usual hour. I waited a long time, but nobody came. I went the next Sunday, but, as before, no one came. As they had all voluntarily absented themselves from coming, I did not think it my duty to entreat them; and I contented myself in the failure of my attempt, by reflecting, that I had done

*See for this, Life of Scott,

my duty, and with resolution. The charge of nonconviction, I would attribute neither to myself nor to the cause; but to their own ignorance, prejudice, and want of patience.'

It should be remarked, that of these conferences, Lord Byron himself was present at only the first; having soon after their commencement, removed to a villa, at some distance from the town. Dr Kennedy,

however, was in habits of intimacy with him; and in repeated private conversations, in which his lordship evidently took pleasure, discussed at length the subject of religion. Some of our readers may possibly smile, and all, we think, may somewhat marvel, when we mention, that among other works recommended to his lordship by his pious friend, as 'presenting a complete view, or systematic arrangement of Christianity,' was 'Boston's Fourfold State,' in which that writer of Puritan times describes 'man as he was in a state of innocence before the fall; in a state of condemnation after it; in a state of begun recovery or sanctification; and in a state of happiness or misery'!

His lordship declared he should read it with great pleasure, as he had not the least prejudice against the style of the older English writers, and even preferred the force and energy of their language, to the soft harmonious periods of the present day.

Our limits however prevent our entering further into the results of these conversations, which, with some reflections suggested by the work, may be the subject of a future number.

P.

THE SOAP BUBBLE.

Bright Globe! amid the sun-beam tost,
Pure, sparkling, then forever lost,
No crested wave that glittering breaks,
Nor pearl that wealth admiring takes,
Nor diamond from Golconda's coast
Can half thy changeful brilliance boast.

Hast thou a voice to bid us see
An emblem of our infancy,

Our joyous youth, our manhood's strife,
And all the painted gauds of life?

Hope spreads her wing of plumage fair,
Erects her castles based on air,

Their turrets crowns with frost-work bright,
Their portals fills with rosy light,-

A breath of summer stirs the tree,
Where are those gorgeous domes?-with thee!

Behold! arrayed in robes of light
Young beauty charms the admiring sight,
Close in her steps the graces tread,
Fresh, fragrant wreaths adorn her head,-
But the brief flowret fades away,
The bubble bursts, and she is clay.

Dilate once more thy proudest size,
And clothe thee in the rainbow's dyes,
Thy boldest flight aspiring dare,
Then vanish to thy native air, -
Love dazzles thus with borrowed rays,
And thus the trusting heart betrays.

Again it swells,-that chrystal round,
Soars, shines, expands, and seeks the ground,-
Oh, save that frail and tinted shell!

Where fled its fragments?-who can tell?
Thus when the soul from dust is free,
Thus shall it gaze, oh Earth! on thee.

Hartford.

H.

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RELIGION, ILLUSTRATED BY A COMPARISON OF IT WITH OTHER QUALITIES AND OBJECTS.

NO. VI. CAUSES OF INDIFFERENCE AND AVERSION TO RELIGION.

Let us then pass beyond general observations, and consider the particular process by which it is commonly proposed to introduce religion to an intimacy with the human affections, and inquire, whether any thing else, any thing allowed to be more agreeable, would be likely to be welcome in the same form.

I will again take my illustration from the objects of knowledge. Astronomy is held by all who understand it, to be a most interesting, an almost enchanting science. No one can doubt, that if properly introduced to the mind, it would prove extremely attractive and delightful. Nor let it be said here to destroy the parallel which I am exhibiting, that knowledge has no

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natural obstacles in the mind to contend with, while religion has many. The love of knowledge has the desire of ease, sloth, physical dulness, pleasure, and worldly vanity to counteract, as truly as the love of virtue, or of religion has its own peculiar hindrances to obstruct, and temptations to divert it.

Now suppose that the teacher of this science of the heavens, comes forward to instruct his pupil; and that he at once adopts a very unusual, very formal, and repulsive manner, that he tells him with much reiterated and direct urgency that he must learn this science, yet fails, all the while, to show any very perceptible connection that it has with his interest, his dignity, or happiness. The learner, indeed, we will suppose, is made to understand that he must comprehend the subject; that the acquisition is necessary to his safety; that indeed a man may, and many a man does understand of religion, while of this acquisition as the developement of the powers of his nature, as the voice of harmony within him, sweeter than the fabled harmony of the heavenly spheres, as the beautiful unfolding of all his affections, and their blessed satisfaction; of the want without, and the fulness with it; of all this, he understands little or nothing. Nevertheless, he must make the acquisition; it is matter of dire necessity; and that is the leading idea, let us suppose, that he has about the importance of the proposed acquisition. Now suppose further that the teacher informs his pupil at the outset, that he has the strongest natural aversion to the science which is to be taught him; that this aversion is so strong as to amount to a constitutional inability to comprehend it; that it is absolutely cer

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