University of Virginia Library

No work has more justly acquired fame than the Beauties of Christianity, from the pen of the celebrated Chateaubriand: it is by this writer that we are conducted through so many new and beautiful paths to a view of the cause; the operations of which are delineated in a manner that, in point of originality, cannot fail to astonish, and, in point of utility, to instruct us. This writer has made all the productions of modern literature and the fine arts appear more venerable and august, because he points out the extent of their obligations to that religion which has stamped her own image upon them, and consecrated them to her service. And thus it is that Christianity, viewed through the medium of the works of Milton, Bossuet, Masillon, Michael Angelo, and Raphael, appears still more striking to the imagination.

There is no offspring from the genius of Mr. Paley which has not conferred honour upon his name: he is one of the sincerest and most masterly advocates for the divine cause he has espoused; and, while a sentiment of religion and a love of moral truth exist in this country, the pages of the above writer will be read with an enthusiasm proportionate to the benefit which they are formed to confer upon the human race.

At the end of the Bible which was the property of the late Sir W. Jones, so justly celebrated for his researches into the literature, mythology, and antiquities of Hindostan, appears the following note in his own hand-writing: “I have regularly and attentively read these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion, that this volume, independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains both of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have been composed. The two parts of which the scriptures consist are connected by a chain of compositions which bear no resemblance, in form or style, to any that can be produced from the stores of Grecian, Persian, or even Arabian learning. The antiquity of those compositions no man doubts; and the unstrained application of them to events long subsequent to their publication, is a solid ground of belief that they are genuine predictions, and consequently inspired.” Mr. Steevens, the late Shaksperian commentator, was precisely of the same opinion with the scientific writer above quoted, in regard to the superlative beauties which are contained in Holy Writ.

In the reign of Henry V. a law was passed against the perusal of the Scriptures in English. It is enacted, “That whatsoever they were that should read the Scriptures in the mother tongue, they should forfeit land, catel, lif, and godes, from theyre heyres for ever, and to be condempned for heretykes to God, enemies to the crowne, and most errant traitors to the lande.” On contrasting the above statute with the indefatigable exertions now made to print and circulate the Bible, what an extraordinary revolution in public sentiments has taken place within a few centuries!