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love of this dangerous pastime, by means of the arguments now offered to the public, the good effects even of this partial reformation may be felt in the line of such a family for ages to come. A result like this, though much beneath the notice of his opponents, would be a noble satisfaction to the writer, who indeed is happy to learn that already this attempt has produced in some quarters a salutary impression.

It is not pretended, that these pages are exempt from fault. Should any zealous friend of the stage deem it worth his while to examine them, and to grasp at minor imperfections with the keenness and minuteness of a special pleader, no doubt this work will be a quarry full to his purpose. Still, no failure, it is hoped, will prove to be capital, and ruinous to the cause which is meant to be supported. The reasons in some instances may have their weaker parts; but, I throw myself into the centre of their collective strength; and if, on the approach of the foe, the whole should give way, still I shall fall without shame, and in the cause, too, of my country, being entirely conscious of the rectitude of my purposes.

I would anxiously attempt, borne out by the principles adduced in this discussion, to rouse my beloved countrymen to a deeper abhorrence of an evil, which is, as I conceive, incalculably mischievous to the morals of society. I would use the whole force of a legitimate and fearless influence in opposition to its destructive sway. I would call on British parents, by the tenderest yearnings of their affectionate solicitudes, and by the infinite importance of conferring an untainted education on the imperishable minds of their offspring, the culpable neglect of which is a cruelty not equalled by that of such mothers of antiquity as threw their children into a quenchable fire to Moloch;-I would call on persons of rank and opulence, by the awful responsibility of their situation, providentially designed to give shape and tone to the morals of multitudes below them; on the magistrates of the land, by the inestimable consequence of their personal example, even where they cannot legally exterminate an evil; on the sacred ministers of religion, by the sanctity of their office, which binds them to oppose the whole breadth of its authority and power against every system which stands, like that of the theatre, so confessedly the pander of iniquity-On all these highly-valued and respected classes of our extended and endeared population I would call, as

126 A RATIONAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE STAGE.

with the voice of a trumpet; beseeching them to revive in their minds a burning sense of the domestic and national-but, above all, of the eternal-importance of the subject; and animating them to summon their respective forces to the field, and to fight against this citadel of vice with persevering unanimity and energy, till, by the help and benediction of Omnipotence, its foundations should tremble at their resistless attacks, and angels respond to shouts of victory mingling with the crash of its final demolition.

THE SUBSTANCE

OF

AN ARGUMENT

TO PROVE

THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE:

DRAWN FROM

THE FITNESS AND HARMONY OF ITS SUBJECTS.

"HE that would not deceive himself ought to build his hypothesis on matter of fact, and make it out by sensible experience; and not presume on matter of fact because of his hypothesis."

LOCKE.

SHORT as it is, it is full of excellent matter, and can scarcely fail of putting its

readers into a very profitable train of thought.-For myself, I can say, it belongs to a department of evidence by far the most satisfactory of all; and, indeed, in my opinion, unanswerable.

REV. J. J. BLUNT, A. M. St. John's College, Cambridge. YOUR admirable work most certainly places you in a very high rank as an author. The view you have taken of the subject is most just, though difficult, and yet the difficulty you have surmounted. The reasoning is abstruse, but your illustrations are easy, elegant, and appropriate.

REV. S. T. STURTEVANT, Author of the " Preacher's Manual," &c.

PREFACE.

Ir could not escape the notice of many able writers on the evidences of Christianity, that while revelation never stoops to affect the show of systematical arrangement, yet it every where presents the materials of a noble and consistent plan.

They must have equally discovered the fitness of this design to complete the purposes of nature; and as forming, with it, one grand and universal scheme ;-a scheme ever working onward to perfection, solely in consequence of this union; the latter being entirely corrected and elevated by the influence of the former, which is always, and without exception, "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."

The Book itself would also exhibit, with all its informality, the simple and natural coherence of a genuine record. Nor could they fail to observe with wonder, how these three general views include a most extensive intermixture, and mutual relationship, among the singular variety of parts which form the whole.

Still, this subject does not appear to have received, from these celebrated writers, that full and close attention which its value, as furnishing a powerful evidence of the truth of Scripture, seems to demand. They have written, it is true, many admirable works on the excellence of Christianity, as calculated to promote the entire improvement of mankind; and supported their opinions by unquestionable details of its effects; yet not with reference to the mechanism of the universal system. At other times they have glanced at this general contrivance, and pointed out some instances, as illustrations of the principle; but these they have usually left to work their own way on the intuitive perception and candour of the reader.

The Christian public have cause to regret, that those instances

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