Hic tranquillitate denique litterarum propriâ, summâ cum voluptate conjunctâ, fruor. Hic omnes discendi vias, omnes scientiæ rationes indago et persequor: nescio quid tandem evasuras. Certe si parum proficio, mihi cuipa jure datum erit; modo valetudo me sinat.

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Haud tamen vereor, si verum dicere cogor, ut satis ficiam: quanquam infirmis auribus aliorum lecturas vix unquam 'audire queam. In Mathematicis parum adhuc profeci utpote qui perarduum certamen cum eruditissimis quibusque in veterum linguis et moribus versatis jamjam sim initurus.

His in studiis pro mea perbrevi sanè et tanquam hesternâ consuetudine haud mediocriter sum versatus."

Latinè minus eleganter scribere videor quam Græcè: neque vero eâdem voluptate scriptores Latinos lectito quam Græcos: cum autem omnem industriæ meæ vim Romanis litteris contulerim, haud dubito quin faciles mihi et propitias eas faciam,

Te etiam revocatum velim ad hæc elegantia deliciasque litterarum. Quid enim accommodatius videri potest aut ad animum quotidianis curis laboribusque oppressum reficiendum et recreandum, aut ad mentem et facultates ingenii acuendas, quam exquisita et expolita summâque vi et acumine ingenii elaborata veterum scriptorum opera ?

TO HIS BROTHER JAMES.

MY DEAR JAMES,

St John's, Nov. 1805.

You do not know how anxious I am to hear how you go on in all things; and whether you still persist in sted fastness and seriousness. I know, my dear lad, that your heart is too good to run into actual vice, yet I fear the example of gay and wicked persons may lead you to think lightly of religion, and then who knows where it may end? Neville, however, will always be your director, and I trust you conceal none, even of your very thoughts, from him. Continue, James, to solicit the fatherly su perintendance of your Maker, night and morning. I shall not fear for you, while I am assured you do this fervently, and not in a hurried or slovenly manner. With constant prayer, we have nothing to fear from the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil: God will bring us through it, and will save us in the midst of peril. If we consider the common condition of man's life, and the evils and misfortunes to which we are daily exposed, we have need to bless God every moment for sparing us, and to beg of him, that when the day of misfortune comes, (and come it must, sooner or later, to all,) we may be prepared with christian fortitude to endure the shock. What a treasure does the religious man possess in this, that when every thing else fails, he has God for his refuge; and can look to a world where he is

sure, through Christ Jesus, that he will not be disappointed!

I do not much heed to what place of worship you may go, so as you are but a serious and regular attendant. Permit me, however, to explain the true nature of the question with regard to the church liturgy, in order that you may be the better able to judge.

You know from the epistles of St Paul, that soon after the death of Jesus Christ, there were regular churches established in various places, as at Corinth, Galatia, Thessalonica, &c. &c. Now, we are not certain that they used forms of prayer at all in these churches, much more that any part of ours was used in their time; but it is certain, that in the year of our Lord 286, there was a general liturgy in use throughout all the churches of Christ. Now, if in that early time, when Christians were much more like the apostles than they are now, they used a form of prayer in the churches, it is fair to conclude that the practice was not unscriptural; besides, at this very time, St John the Evangelist had not been dead above 100 years, and one of his disciples, though at a very great age, was actually living. St Chrysostom, who lived above 354 years after Christ, wrote some of our prayers, and the greater part of them have been in general use for a thousand years. About the year 286, about one thousand five hundred years ago, immense multitudes of savages, the Goths and Vandals, being enticed, by the fertility of the Italian country, and the riches of its possessors, came

down from Germany, Hungary, and all the northern parts of Europe, upon the Roman empire, then enfeebled with luxury, and endeavoured to gain possession of the south. They were at first repulsed; but as fast as they were defeated or slain, new hordes, allured by the accounts which their countrymen gave of its opulence and abun dance, succeeded in their stead, till the forces of the Ro mans grew unequal to the contest, and gradually gave way to the invaders, who, wherever they came, reduced every thing to a state of barbarism. The Christians, about this time, were beginning to prevail in the Roman territories, and under the Emperor Constantine, who was the first Christian king, were giving the blow to idolatry. But the savage intolerance of the invaders, who reduced the conquered to abject slavery, burned books wherever they found them, and even forbade the cultivation of learning, reduced them to the utmost distress. At this time they wrote and used in their churches, all that part of the Litany which begins with the Lord's prayer, and ends with the prayer of St Chrysostom. Thus you see how venerably ancient are many of our forms, and how little they merit that contempt which ignorant people pour upon them. Very holy men (men now, we have every reason to believe, in heaven) composed them, and they have been used from age to age ever since, in our churches, with but few alterations. But you will say they were used by the Roman Catholics, who are a very superstitious and bigotted set of people. This is no objection at all, because the Roman Catholics were not always so bad, and what is a proof of this is, that there

once was no other religion in the world; and we cannot think that church very wicked, which God chose, once, to make the sole guardian of his truth. There have been many excellent and pious men among the Roman Catho lics, even at the time their public faith was corrupted.

You may have heard of the Reformation: you know it was brought about by Luther and Calvin, in the sixteenth century, about 1536. Now, Calvin is the founder of the sect of Independants, such as those who meet at Castlegate, yet he had a hand in framing the liturgy, which, with alterations, we now use, and he selected it in part from the liturgy of the Roman church; because they had received it from the primitive Christians, who were more immediately taught by the apostles. The Reformation means that change in religion, which was brought about, as said before, by Luther and Calvin, in consequence of the abuses and errors which had crept into the Romish church.

You may possibly think the responses, or answers of the clerk and people, rather ridiculous. This absurdity, however, generally consists more in the manner than in the thing. They were intended to be pronounced aloud by the people, and were used as a means to keep their attention awake, and shew their sincerity. At the time this form was invented, not one man in five or six hundred could read; and these repetitions answered another purpose, of fixing important ejaculations and sentences in their minds. In these days the same necessity does not