no means to be slighted; such as the credibility of the Gospel history, the accomplishment of prophecies, the unity of design carried on by so many different persons in distant ages and countries, its amazing and even miraculous propagation in the world."

There is no doubt that Christian parents will concur in these sentiments; but I am not aware that any one has yet attempted to present such a view, of the credibility of our religion, as may address itself to the understanding and affections during that important interval, in which the force of evidence may be perceived, though the judgment has not acquired sufficient maturity to read, without hazard, those excellent works which necessarily contain replies to the specious objections of infidels. Wit and ridicule may seize the imagination, while the plain and cogent defence of truth is disregarded.

A persuasion of the magnitude of this danger, and a belief that we ought not to require our children to receive, implicitly on the credit of their teachers, a religion which rests on the

solid foundation of fact and historical evidence, induced the writer to make the following attempt. But, after having spared neither time nor pains to effect her purpose, she is painfully conscious that this little work still falls very short of what she desired to render it. The point which has been aimed at cannot be placed in a stronger light, than in the words of Hannah More:

"Instruct them in the way that shall interest their feelings, by lively images, and by a warm practical application of what they read to their own hearts and circumstances. There seems to be no good reason, that while every other thing is to be made amusing, Religion alone must be dry and uninviting. Do not fancy that a thing is good merely because it is dull. Why should not the most entertaining powers of the human mind be supremely consecrated to that subject which is most worthy of their full exercise? The misfortune is, that religious learning is too often rather considered as an act of the memory than of the heart and feelings, and that children are turn

ed over to the dry work of getting by rote as a task, that which they should get from example and animated conversation, or from lively discussion, in which the pupil should learn to bear a part."

The writer certainly never expected to fill up such an outline as this; but she hoped that a work, combining a short and simple view of the Evidences and Design of Christianity, with such information as is generally most interesting to young persons, would not only be acceptable but useful. It is a point gained to convince them that religion is not a detached thing the dry employment of hours in which other studies are prohibited; but that it is calculated to give a deeper interest to the most agreeable exercise of the intellectual faculties. If once their favourable attention can be fixed to the subject, we may hope that the strength of evidence will establish a conviction of the Divine authority of Christianity. But should we succeed thus far, we shall feel that much yet remains to be done, which neither books nor parental instruction can accomplish. To pro

duce an effectual, personal application to the heart and life,

"The STILL SMALL VOICE is wanted. He must

speak,

Whose word leaps forth at once to its effect;

Who calls for things that are not, and they come."

Chichester, 1824.