Eus; it is from these things manifeft, that we can never be thankful enough for the principles and dictates of revealed religion :: we can never fufficiently adore the goodness of the most glorious Eternal for the gospel of Jefus Chrift: which opens the unbounded. regions of eternal day to the virtuous and charitable, and promises them a rest from labour, and ever blooming joys; while it condemns the wicked to the regions of hor ror and folid darkness; that dreadful region, from whence the cries of mifery for ever afcend, but can never reach the throne of mercy.-O heavenly religion! defigned to make men good, and for ever happy: that preferves the dignity of human nature Guards and increases virtue--And brings us to the realms of perfect reafon and excellent glory. But (continued this fine old Gentleman) Tibullus has ever pleafed me in the defcription of his mistress: Illam quicquid agit, quoquo veftigia flectit Thefe Thefe elegant lines contain an inimitably beautiful defcription of outward grace, and its charming effects upon all who fee it. Such a grace, without thinking of it, every one should strive to have, whatever they are doing. They fhould make it habitual to them. Quintilian feems to have had thefe fine lines in view, in his defcription of outward behaviour: Neque enim geftum.componi ad fimilitudinem faltationis volo, fed fubeffe aliquid, in hac exercitatione puerili, unde nos non id agentes, furtim decor ille difcentibus traditus fubfequatur, Cap. 10. I am not for having the mein of a gentleman the fame with that of a dancing mafter; but that a boy while young, fhould enter upon this exercise, that it may communicate a fecret gracefulness to his manner ever after. In this manner did the old gentleman and I pass the time, till the clock ftruck five, when Mifs Noel came into the parlour again,, and her father faid he muft retire, to take his evening nap, and would fee me at fupper; for with him I muft ftay that night. Harriot, make tea for the Gentleman. I am your fervant, fir; and he withdrew. To Harriot then, my life and my blifs, I turned, and over a pot of tea was as happy, E am fure, as ever with his Statira fat the conqueror conqueror of the world. I began to relate once more the ftory of a paffion, that was to form one day, I hoped, my fole felicity in this world, and with vows and proteftations affirmed, that I loved from my foul. Charming angel, I faid, the beauties of your mind have infpired me with a paffion, that must encrease every time I behold the harmony of your face; and by the powers divine, I fwear to love you, fo long as Heaven fhall permit me to breathe the vital air. Bid me then either live or die, and while I do live, be affured, that my life will be devoted to you only.—But in vain was all this warmth. Mifs Noel fat as unmoved as Erycina on a monument, and only answered, with a fmile, Since your days, fir, are in my difpofal, I defire you will change to fome other subject, and fome article that is rational and useful: otherwise, I must leave the room. A fecond converfation with Mifs Noel; relating to the Miracle at Babel, and the confufion of tongues. To leave me, I replied, would be infupportable, and therefore, at once I have done. If you please then, Madam, we will confider the Miracle at Babel, and enquire into the language of the world at that time. Allowing, as you have proved in our late converfation, that that the language after the flood was quite another thing from that used, in Paradise, and of confequence, that Mofes did not write in that tongue which Adam and Eve converfed in; nor is Hebrew of that primevity which fome great men affirm; yet, if there was a confufion of tongues at Babel, and many languages were spoken in the earth in the days of Abraham, then, how did he and his fons converse so easily with the various nations they paffed through, and had occafional connexions with? For my part, I think with Mr. Hutchinson, that the divine interpofition at Babel was for quite another end, to wit, to confound their confeffion, and cast out of their minds the name or object of it, that a man might not listen to the lip or confeffion of his neighbour. They were made to lose their own lip, and to differ about the words of their atheistical confeffion. As to a confufion of confeffions (Mifs Noel replied), it appears to me to be a notion without any foundation to rest on. The argument of Hutchinson that the word Shepbab, the name for a lip, when used for the voice or fpeech, is never once in the Bible ufed in any other fenfe than for confeffion, is not good; because though Shephah is often generally used for religious difcourfe, or confeffion; yet the phrafes, other lips and other tongues, * tongues, are also used for other languages, utterances, pronunciations, dialects. St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiv. 21, 22. applies Shephah to language or dialect in his quotation from the prophet Ifaiah, ch. xxviii. ver. 11, 12.— He fays, in the law it is written, With MEN OF other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that, they will not hear me :-And the words of the prophet are, speaking of Ghrift promifed, with stammering lips, and another tongue will I speak to this people. It is evident from this, that the Hebrew word Shephah here fignifies tongues or languages, and not confeffions or difcourfe: So the apof the applies it, and explains the prophet: and by ftammering lips, Ifaiah means the uncouth pronunciations of barbarous dialects, or lan guages of the nations, which muft produce in strangers to them ridiculous lips or mouths, and in this he refers undoubtedly to the Stammering and strange founds, at the Babel confufion; when God, by a miracle and vifible exhibition, distorted their organs of fpeech, and gave them a trembling befitation, and precipitancy, as to vocal and other powers: In fhort, the miraculous gift of tongues would in some measure affect the faints, in refpect of pronunciation, as the miracle of * The words men of are not in the Greek, Babel |