(seq. 26)

(16)

authority, whose opinions are established by acts of Parliament,
and fettered by the iron hands of subscriptions and test acts,
allege these circumstances in excuse for not examining
the Scriptures. In this land of civil and religious liberty
no such refuge is afforded. Inquiry is unrestrained, and
negligence doubly criminal.

The study of the classics we have seen,
affords much pleasing and useful instruction. It tends to
enlightened the mind, improve the taste, and connect the heart.
It makes acquainted with the best writers which the world
has produced. It inspires the love of liberty and virtue. It
lays open the oracles of divine truth. Shall we then, yield-
ing to the clamours of the illiterate, or to indulge our indo-
lence, neglect these studies? Let us rather by a frequent peru-
sal of the ancients endeavor to acquire their simplicity of
style and energy of thought. We may then hope to equal if
not surpass them.

We have hitherto said nothing respecting
the Oriental languages, both because they are less under
stood than the Greek and Latin, and also, as the knowledge
of them is principally useful to the professsion of divinity
The Hebrew and its dialects will undoubtedly reward the dili