SIR,

THE

HE bill of total exclusion which was long ago passed against the introduction of religion into general conversation, and the degree in which I still observe it adhered to, and even defended as judicious, by serious persons, has often both surprised and grieved me. I have thought of expressing my sentiments on the subject through the medium of the Repository, but having met with a passage in the excellent sermon of Zollikofer on "The difference between Enthusiasm and Real Piety," perfectly suitable to my purpose, and far preferable to any thing that I could have composed, I request the favour of its

insertion.

"I proceed to a consideration with respect to which we are apt to confound enthusiasm and godliness together. I mean such conversations and speeches as turn upon God, his decrees, his providence, the connexion of our tempers, our future destiny, and, in short, religion and Christianity. Indeed the enthusiast and the rational votary of God and religion possess this in common, that both are prone to converse on those topics which they deem most important, on which they most frequently meditate from inclination and choice, by which they are most forcibly affected and penetrated. But were this to be a characteristic of enthusiasm, how many should we be able to acquit of that fault? Perhaps none, except those to whom all is indifferent, who are insensible to all; whose souls are sunk in a sort of lethargy! For who would not fain entertain himself, and especially his friends and acquaintance, with discourse on subjects which he best understands, on which he is chiefly employed, in which he is chiefly interested, the idea of which procures him most pleasure and satisfaction, or on which he is most in want of the sagacity and advice of others?

"And who does not thus act frequently with a warm and susceptible heart, with a lively interest in what he sees and hears, without the least apprehension of being taxed with enthusiasm? This is the way with the merchant, the artist, the man of letters, the master, the mistress of a family, the citizen, when they converse together on what relates to their habits of life, their station, their affairs; and it is this alone that gives their conversation interest and animation! And now tell me, I pray, my pious friends,

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why it should then only be enthusiasm, when the votaries of God, when Christians converse together with the same zeal, the same interest, the same pleasure, on God, on religion, on the Founder of their faith, on his doctrines and precepts; when they talk upou subjects which are equally important, equally necessary and profitable to us all, however different our station and calling may be, which, consequently, should most occupy our minds, most forcibly affect us; on subjects of which all that surrounds us, all that befals us, is adapted to remind us, and which then only can be truly beneficial and consoling to us, when they are so strictly combined with the whole mass of our ideas and sensations, and so knit into one web, that they spontaneously present themselves to our mind on all occasions, and have an influence

on all that we conceive and do?

"How! Shall we enjoy in common the bounties of our heavenly Father, and at the same time be ashamed to mention him, or mutually to encourage each other to love him, to obey him, to put our trust in him? How! Shall we be Christians, and studiously avoid as it were to name the name of our Lord and Saviour, to recount the advantages for which we are beholden to him, and which we have still to expect from him, and to urge one another to the resolute and faithful imitation of his example? How! Shall we be called to one common everlasting happiness after this life, and now be busily employed in capacitating and qualifying ourselves for the enjoyment of it, and shall we reckon it as it were a disgrace to exult in common in these glorious prospects and expectations, to soothe and cheer each other with them, and, by kind suggestions and warnings, to remove the many obstacles and difficulties which lie in the way to that happiness?

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Ah, my friends! I fear the total avoidance or the careful interruptions of such conversation in companies of welleducated and polished persons, proceeds much rather from a lamentable indifference and insensibility to all that concerns God and religion, or from a false and culpable shame of being taken for a devout and godly man, than from the abuse and mistakes to which such conversations may be liable.

"Ought, then, the abuse of a thing to prevent the proper use of it? Should I, to avoid the appearance of an affected sanctity and enthusiasm, assume in my discourses and actions the character of the Infidel or the Atheist? Should I, because it is wrong to bring forward such conversation by all kinds of forced ap

plications and on unsuitable occasions, leave unemployed the most natural openings to it? May not such conversations be free from ail affected airs of sanctity, from all superstitious formality, and be carried on with the same ease and cheerfulness with which we converse on other important subjects, in which the whole company is interested? Certainly, if it be true that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,' we could form no advantageous idea of the piety existing in the hearts of the generality of Christians, were we to judge of it by their speeches and conversations."

I will only add, that I entirely coincide with my author in thinking, that no subjects connected with religion, no allusions to the Almighty, or to the heavenly Messenger of his grace, should be "brought forward by forced applications, or on unsuitable occasions." Zeal without discretion often injures the cause it seeks to serve. But not unfrequently "natural openings" do occur, and if these were judiciously improved, great I am persuaded would be the benefit, and our conversations would gain as much in interest as in profit. The points on which different sects disagree should be touched lightly, and in that spirit of Christian candour and humility which must conciliate, and may tend to remove error and prejudice. The man who cannot speak to another, on the subjects respecting which they differ, with temper and with kindness, has need to look carefully into his own bosom, for true Christian meekness and charity do not inhabit there; and without the divine principle of love, we learn from high authority, that the most perfect faith, accompanied by good works, will avail us little! Let him remember too, that, though one may be of Paul and another of Apollos, every honest professor is of Christ! Let him open his narrow heart to the sweet and expanding influence of "the spirit of Jesus ;"" and when that is in some good measure imbibed, all notions of the infallibility of himself or his creed will disappear; and, with them, the irritable feelings which rendered the slightest contradic tion of his preconceived opinions painful. Then will he not only be prepared on all proper occasions to forward what he believes to be the cause of truth and righteousness, but will

listen with complaisance to the differing sentiments of his Christian brother.

M. H.

Book-Worm. No. XXVII.

SIR,

Nov. 4, 1821. · THOUGH France, like England in

T1660, has been deeply disgraced

by the restoration of a family ill-prepared to perform the duties and little deserving to enjoy the distinctions of royalty, yet she has not been so infatuated as again to endure the unmitigated despotism of her Bourbons. It is, therefore, a fair object of curiosity to look back upon France as she appeared (making due allowance for the Antigallican prejudices of a Protestant Antijacobite) when "the right divine of kings to govern wrong" was her undisputed political creed, and while Church and King luxuriated in a Holy Alliance. Horace Walpole, (Lord Orford,) son of the corrupt Whig minister who boasted that he knew every man's price, in his "Epistle from Florence," 1740, (Dodsley, 1751, III. p. 74,) truly says, what an intervening fourscore years has too well confirmed,

"Extent of ill from Kings at first

begins,

But priests must aid and consecrate their

sins.

The tortur'd subject may be heard complain

When sinking under a new weight of chain, Or, more rebellious, may perhaps repine When tax'd to dow'r a titled concubine; But the priest christens all a right divine.”

I have been led to these considerations by looking through a small volume, published 130 years ago, when her grande monarche Louis XIV. was irradiating France with the tinsel splendours of a despotic reign, splendours for which

"toiling millions must resign their weal

And all the honey of their search." This volume has the following title: "Six Weeks' Observations on the Present State of the Court and Country of France. In the Savoy, printed by E. Jones, and sold by Randal Taylor, near Stationers' Hall, 1691."

In an "Epistle to the Reader," the traveller's inducements to become an author are thus described:

"These observations had not come