miserably weak; and, instead of impressing reverence for her high revelations, tends rather to bring them into contempt."

He then contrasts with this unsatisfying system the sacred instructions which the Scriptures of truth furnish to man; and lays down the principle upon which he means to proceed in urging their claims upon the understanding and the conscience. "Therefore it is," he declares, "that I undertake not here to prove, from natural causes, the existence of God, or the doctrine of the Trinity, or the immortality of the soul, or any other matters of the like kind: not only because I should not think it practicable to find in the works of nature proofs sufficient to convince the hardened Atheist; but because, if I were so capable, the knowledge thus furnished, without a knowledge of Christ, would be barren and useless."

By the chain of reasoning which is here endeavoured to be traced, we find ourselves prepared for the Masterproposition that now claims our attention. Infidelity and indifference to religion had been attacked in their strong-holds. The deadening effects of excessive occupation, and dissipating amusements, had been illustrated: the deceptive influences which beset reason and judgment on every side, exposed; self-love dissected; the regions of imagination surveyed and mapped out. The greatness of the human powers had been displayed, by one well able to form the estimate of them; and man's hopeless misery, without aid and illumination from above, mournfully enforced. The systems of heathen and atheistic philosophy had been examined, and their

futility proclaimed. Then the great truth is laid down, "That man without FAITH can know neither happiness nor rectitude." Quotation would here be endless; but the opening and concluding passages,-the one which, after describing the vain search in which man is unceasingly engaged for happiness, concludes with the axiom, that "God alone is man's true good;" and the other, which proclaims the "Christian religion to be the remedy for all the ills under which man suffers;"

"elevating the just to a participation of the divine nature itself;" and announcing "to the most debased of the human race that it is yet in their power to become partakers of their Redeemer's grace;"-these, with many others, in this striking section, are of a nature to commend themselves to every mind possessed of taste and feeling.

In the next chapter are described the "Characteristics of True Religion." Such a religion is hypothetically portrayed as "teaching our duties; revealing our impotency, pride, and sensuality; and enforcing the remedies—humility and mortification." "What religion, but Christianity," it is asked, "exhibits such a knowledge as this?" "A true religion," we are again told, "ought to be one that adores and loves no other being than God. Yet, seeing we are incapable of worshipping a being with whom we are not acquainted, and of loving any but ourselves, a religion which instructs us in our duties, should also inform us of our inability to perform them, and provide us with a remedy for such inability. Our religion does, in fact, reveal to us, that by man we have lost everything; that the union

between God and ourselves has been broken; and that by MAN also this union has been renewed." "Christianity enjoins upon man to acknowledge himself vileyea, abominable; yet commands him to aspire to a likeness to God!" "Without such a counterpoise, his elevation would render him fearfully vain, or his abasement hopelessly abject." "The Incarnation shows man the greatness of his misery in the greatness of the remedy that is demanded." These are some of the impressive passages in which our religion is described, and its principles honoured; and, in conclusion, the listening disciple is apostrophized, in a personification of the august Wisdom of God, in the following solemn terms:-"Expect not either truth or consolation from man. It is I who formed you; and I alone can instruct you what and whence you are. You are not now in the created. I made man

state in which you were first holy, innocent, perfect; filled him with light and intelligence; communicated to him of the glories of my nature, and the wonders of my works. His eye then gazed on the unveiled majesty of God. The shades and darkness in which he is now enveloped had not gathered round him; suffering was unknown; and the solemn sentence of mortality had not gone forth. But the excess of his glory hurled him into presumption. He aimed to be the centre to himself, and to be independent of ME. He revolted from my sway, and sought to rival me in becoming the source of his own felicity. Then I abandoned him to himself; and, rousing all the creatures heretofore submitted to his authority into revolt against him, from his willing subjects they became his enemies!”

The "Means of Attaining to Faith," form the next division. The leading feature in this chapter is that species of wager-interlocution, which has been elsewhere already made the subject of remark; and it is now for the first time published in perfect conformity with the original MS. The personal reference with which this supposed dialogue concludes, forms one of the most touching passages in Pascal's writings. "If this discourse pleases and convinces you," he says, "know that it proceeds from a man who did, before its commencement, and will, after its close, bend his knees before the Infinite and Unseen, to whom he is wont to submit all his desires, that He may incline your will in such way as will most conduce to your good and to his glory; and that thus his power may harmonize with your abasement."

The limits of this introductory paper almost preclude more than an enumeration of the remaining topics of this volume. The chapters on the "Jewish Nation," "Miracles," "The Figurative Parts of Scripture," and on "Prophecy," all show the writer's deep study of the book of inspiration, and his fondness for wandering amidst the confines of revealed truth, while they harmonize in the one great object of informing and convincing the enquirer after divine instruction. In the subsequent chapter, devoted to reflections upon the person and offices of the Saviour, his hearty recognition is recorded of the Divinity of His nature, and of that great work which he descended upon earth to fulfil,—the salvation of man, by his expiatory sufferings; and the immortality of glory, procured for him through the resurrection. In

the beautiful meditations, also, which are appended to this section, the holiness, purity, compassion, and sorrows of the Redeemer, are delineated with a richness and pathos which scarcely find a parallel even in the productions of his own pen.

The completion of the argument, and its practical application, will be found in the concluding chapter, "On the Christian Religion." Having shown how

deeply the necessity for this divine system is laid in the nature and the wants of man; in the abjectness of his fall, and the yet unextinguished aspirations of his spirit; having proved its unspeakable superiority over all human religions; and established its truth from type, prophecy, and miracle; he proceeds to unfold its internal excellencies, and its claims upon the grateful reception of mankind. In Pascal's delineation- and the colouring may be heightened from innumerable kindred pencils-Christianity is shown to be the origin of all that is refined, beneficent, and elevated in humanity; of whatever is gracious in motive, pure in spirit, generous in sentiment, lofty in enthusiasm, and bold in enterprise. From it, as from a copious fountain, flow the finest courtesies, the gentlest charities, and the most expansive philanthropy of life. It is the spring, yet the regulator, of true freedom; the inspirer of the highest intellectual efforts; and the foundation of all social and national good. Its poetry is nobler, and its philosophy deeper, than any that went before;-for both are conversant with greater subjects, and touch far higher interests. Christian principle it is which sends its votaries, without distinction of age, sex, or station, upon its errands of mercy,