Yours, &c. A. ALEXANDER.

Princeton, N. J. June, 22, 1829.

There is so much just thought, impressively communicated, in the following short essay, and the subject is so vitally important to our country at the present time, that we have determined to lay it before our readers; and we beg them to give it a very serious consideration-We earnestly wish that it were framed and hung up in the halls of Congress, and that all the magistrates and legislators of our land, from the highest to the lowest, would read and regard it. The writer was an Englishman, but what he says is even more applicable to a republick than to a kingdom.

THE INTIMATE CONNEXION BETWEEN RELIGION AND NATIONAL PROSPERITY.

By J. A. James, of Birmingham. It is a most important sentiment, of which the evidence is abundant, and which ought to be kept constantly before the publick mind, that religion is the most direct and powerful cause that can be conceived of, to promote national comfort, prosperity, and security: in the absence of which, all other causes must be limited and transient in their effects. If religion were indeed a mere abstraction of devotion, confined in its exercises to the closet or the sanctuary, and restricted in its influence to the imagination and the taste, but which has no necessary control over the conscience, the heart, and the life, and which is not allowed to regulate the intercourse of society; if it were merely the temper of the convent, united with the forms of the church; beginning and ending upon the threshold of the house of God, then it would be

such a religion has with the welfare of a country. It would in this case resemble only the ivy, which, though it add a picturesque effect to the venerable fabrick, imparts neither stability to its walls nor convenience to its apartments. But if religion be indeed a principle of the heart, an element of the character, an inseparable habit of thinking, feeling, and acting aright, in all our social relations; the basis of every virtue and the main prop of every excellence; if it be indeed the fear of the Lord, by which men depart from evil; if it be such a belief in the gospel of Christ, as leads to a conformity to his example; then we can easily perceive how such a religion as this conduces to the welfare of the country. There is not one single influence, whether of law, of science, of art, or of learning, that affects the well being of society, which true religion does not guard and strengthen. Take the summary of its duties, as it is expressed in the two great commandments of the law, supreme love to God, and equitable love to man; or take the direction of Paul-" Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, or if there be any praise, think of these things;" or take Peter's comprehensive circle of Christian duty-" Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the king." Here we see that religion, though founded on a belief of doctrines, and cherished by the exercises of devotion, diffuses its influence over the whole social character of man, and through the whole range of society. It is the belief, the love, the worship, the imitation of a Deity, whose moral attributes, when copied by us, as they ever will be where piety exists, form a character, in which

sound morality is animated and sanctified by the spirit of true devotion.

Such a religion contains the germ of every social excellence, the seminal principle of every relative virtue: "It maintains an incessant struggle with whatever is selfish, barbarous, and inhuman; by unveiling futurity, it clothes morality with a divine sanction, and harmonizes utility and virtue in every state of existence, and every combination of events." To man, in his individual capacity, it prescribes, not only the homage of God, but the duties of self-government and respect; it follows him into the domestick circle, the fellowship of the church, the community of the country, the citizenship of the world; binding upon him the duties which are appropriate to every station, and calling him to acknowledge the claims which reach him from every quarter. As with the smiling countenance, and the flaming sword of the cherubim, it guards all the social interests of man, protecting the throne from the turbulence and anarchy of the people; and the rights of the people from the encroachments of the throne; the rich from the invasion and spoliation of the poor; the poor from the insults and oppression of the rich; it teaches justice to the master, and fidelity to the servant; ordains equity and truth, as the rules of commercial transactions; nerves the arm with industry, and melts the bosom to compassion; carries the authority of God into recesses too deep and distant to be reached by the institutes of human jurisprudence, and makes a man law to himself, amidst the urgency of temptation, and the privacy of solitude. In short, there is not a single duty by which man can promote the welfare of society, which is not enjoined by religion; nor is there one evil influence which it does not oppose by the weight of its autho

rity, and the terror of its frown; it places society in the shadow of the eternal throne, draws over it the shield of omnipotence, and employs for the defence of its earthly interests, the thunder that issues from the clouds and thick darkness in which Jehovah dwells. That man must be a fool, and not a philosopher, whatever be his pretensions to learning or to science, who does not recognise in religion, the tutelar genius of his country, the ministering angel of the world.

Let it not be said, that virtue would do all this without religion; for where did natural virtue ever exist, in the absence of religion? A land of atheists, or even of deists, is a dark and frightful spectacle, which the world has never yet been fated and afflicted to witness, and in all probability never will: it is easy to conceive, however, that in the absence of all those moral principles, those standards of duty, those examples of goodness, contained in the scriptures, and which are so essential to the right formation of character, such a land must be barren of virtue, and prolifick in crime. The only attempt that was ever made to introduce the reign of atheism to a country, was productive of such enormous vice, and such prodigious misery, that it excited the horror, and was abandoned amidst the execrations of the whole social community.

No, it is religion alone that can preserve, much more extend that virtue, in which the well being of the country consists; and it is perfectly self-evident, that the universal prevalence of piety would be necessarily followed with the universal reign of virtue; for virtue, properly defined, is not only a part of piety, but is piety itself. It has been finely demonstrated by Butler, in his immortal work, that the virtue of a people necessarily increases their strength, and that the predominance in one, other things being equal, must ever be expected

to produce superiority in the other. And then there is another way besides its direct influence, in which piety leads to the prosperity and security of a land; I mean by the influence which it has in drawing down the blessing of God. If there be a moral Governor of the universe, sin must provoke him, and holiness please him; if sin provoke God, he is able to punish it, for the destinies of nations are at his disposal, the balance of power is in his band: bodies of men, as such, are rewardable and punishable only in this world, as death dissolves all bands, and reduces society to its elements, allowing the existence of neither families, churches, nor nations in eternity. God's determination to punish guilty nations, and to bless virtuous ones, is recorded on the pages of scripture, and confirmed by the details of history. Hearken to the awful denunciations of Jehovah. "At what instant, I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them." And he has most awfully fulfilled these words. Where are Nineveh, and Babylon, and Tyre, and Athens, and Jerusalem, and ancient Rome? Vanished from the earth, except a few melancholy ruins, which lie, like their mouldering bones, around the grave's mouth, while the destroying angel, the spirit of desolation, still lingers on their vast sepulchre, to proclaim for the admonition of the earth-" See, therefore, and know, that it is an evil and a bitter thing to sin against the

Lord." Yes, and over other lands still numbered amongst living nations, do we not see the awful "image of jealousy" arising, and do we not hear an awful voice declaring, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth: and I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and I will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." It is sin, then, that ruins a kingdom, holiness that preserves it. O! my country, mayest thou have wisdom to know and value this true secret of national greatness: and to remember, that there is no kingdom so high, but vice will bring it down and lay it low, even in the dust: none so humble, but virtue may raise it to the pinnacle of prosperity. Religion is the rock of thy strength, more than commerce or the arts, or martial prowess: and mayest thou never part with this, under the wiles of any seducing spirit, whether of false philosophy, infidelity, or immorality: for then shalt thou be seen, like Samson, when shorn of his hair, a miserable captive in the hands of the Philistines, and an object of sport to those very enemies, who had so often trembled and crouched under the power of his arm.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

A man of subtle reasoning ask'd
A peasant if he knew,
Where was the internal evidence
That prov'd his Bible true?
The terms of disputative art

Had never reach'd his earHe laid his hand upon his heart, And only answered, "HERE."

AN ESTIMATE OF THE WRITINGS OF WASHINGTON IRVING.

(Concluded from p. 513.)

We have spoken thus far, intellectually, of the writings of Irving, but the object of this paper is to adjust their moral worth. If we may judge of the man by the author, Irving is a man remarkably amiable. This is not always a correct standard. It is probable that Sterne was not overstocked with sensibility that Young was not always solemn; and in reading the prudential maxims of Steele we are apt to call to mind, that his dwelling was visited more than once, by the exacters of righteousness. But in this instance the standard will not mislead us. Irving is respectful to serious things. He is attached to the ritual of his church. No page of his works contains a sneer at religion or its followers. He is possessed of a joy. ous spirit that revels in much of the good of this world, whilst his views of its evils are dim and refracted.

It is natural to remark, that Irving does not seem over anxious to reform the foibles of other men. He rather considers them as constituting a source of amusement; and were they multiplied, they would only make, in his view, a better ground of entertainment for those who possess dignity and genius. Dark crimes, he would detest, but simple foibles he would wish unchanged. Were he more in earnest, he would throw more vigour into his satire. All believe Juvenal and Persius to be in earnest, when they attack imperial despotism. Satire may produce good, and its writers ought to look beyond mere display. In the hand of Erasmus it did good. George Buchannan, the elegant poet and proVOL. VII.-Ck. Adv.

found historian, did not disdain to employ it for the chastisement of friars and monks. Gifford made a lavish use of it; and by it, Witherspoon scourged the drones of the Scottish church into activity. But we are constrained to give Irving the praise of quite as much purity in his productions, as in those of any of his contemporaries. He delights in description, especially when it turns on tranquil scenes, and gentle pursuits. He seems particularly fond of angling, and in this amusement Walton, the associate of some of the best men of the English church, took great pleasure. The best portrait we have of Archdeacon Paley, is the one in which he is taken with his fishing tackle. Boyle, the philosopher of Stalbridge, has given us a narrative of a day spent in angling, which is far before any thing that Irving has written on this favourite theme. Its sweet simplicity, its chastened morality-the quiet brook, the winding river, the dust, the unexpected shower, the farmhouse, the green woods, moralizing on worms-in short, the brief affair is replete with delightfulness. Illustrious

man! in thinking of him, we are reminded of the compliment which Ben Jonson paid to Selden

The matter of thy prayse Flows in upon me, that I cannot rayse A mound against it; nothing but the large round

Claspe of nature, such a wit can bound.

As a teacher of morals, Irving cannot be considered as profound. But in his Sketch Book, the moral of a number of his papers is good. The graves of distinguished men may be frequented long after death; but in his Funeral Rites, we have a statement of the claims of private friendship, long after the object of that friendship is mouldering in the dust, when

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