CLAUSES from the WILL of the Rev. JOHN HULSE,

late of Elworth, in the county of Chester, clerk, deceased: dated the twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven; expressed in the words of the Testator, as he, in order to prevent mistakes, thought proper to draw and write the same himself, and directed that such clauses should every year be printed, to the intent that the several persons, whom it might concern and be of service to, might know that there were such special donations or endowments left for the encouragement of Piety and Learning, in an age so unfortunately addicted to Infidelity and Luxury, and that others might be invited to the like charitable, and, as he humbly hoped, seasonable and useful Benefactions.

He directs that certain rents and profits be paid to such learned and ingenious person, in the University of Cambridge, under the degree of Master of Arts, as shall compose, for that year, the best Dissertation, in the English language, on the Evidences in general, or on the Prophecies or Miracles in particular, or any other particular Argument, whether the same be direct or collateral proofs of the Christian Religion, in order to evince its truth and excellence; the subject of which Dissertation shall be given out by the ViceChancellor, and the Masters of Trinity and Saint John's, his Trustees, or by some of them, on New Year's Day annually; and that such Dissertation as shall be by them, or any two

of them, on Christmas Day annually, the best approved, be also printed, and the expence defrayed out of the Author's income under his Will, and the remainder given to him on Saint John the Evangelist's Day following; and he who shall be so rewarded, shall not be admitted at any future time as a Candidate again in the same way, to the intent that others may be invited and encouraged to write on so sacred and sublime a subject.

He also desires, that immediately following the last of the clauses relating to the prize Dissertation, this invocation may be added: "May the Divine Blessing for ever go along with all my Benefactions; and may the greatest and the Best of Beings, by his all-wise Providence and gracious influence, make the same effectual to his own glory, and the good of my fellow-creatures!"

DISSERTATION,

&c. &c.

EVERY portion of Holy Writ is entitled to our devout regard. But, if History, amidst all the errors that deform too many of her pages, has been honored with the title of illustrative Philosophy; and the deceitful colouring, partial statements, false principles and erroneous deductions of her voluminous annals have not been deemed sufficient to withhold from her the homage of every inquisitive mind; the value of the Sacred Records must needs be incalculably great, not only because they display Man in the most important of all relations, but because they are free from the defects that attend every effort of human genius. They are indited by no blind or overweening partialities; they are subservient to no indirect or selfish purpose; they are unsullied by sentiments of false morality, or the mischievous subtleties of perverted logic. They

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do not teach us to regard our species with disgust, like Tacitus, nor to tyrannize over it, like Michiavelli, nor to idolize its virtues like Xenophon, nor to prostitute its infirmities to a vicious philosophy like the ingenious historian of expiring Rome. They display with instructive simplicity the phenomena of human life, or offer such solutions as preclude all doubt. Their very plainness is the garb of truth and comports with the dignity of their intrinsic worth.

But if the mere student of human nature may derive from the Scriptures the most infallible testimony to the character of man, the Christian turns to the illumined page for objects of a nobler and loftier kind. Estimating as he does the doctrines they contain, he finds their histories more open to his apprehension. Whilst engaged in the contemplation of these embodied wonders, he has the essentials of his religion brought before him in so sensible a form, that the feelings of his heart give their evidence and vitality to many of the colder speculations of his judgment; and the sensibilities of his nature conduce to a wisdom which his intellect could perhaps but imperfectly attain. Without fruitlessly attempting to analyze the principles of moral good and evil, he learns to recognize with certainty the symptoms of de