MY DEAR FRIEND,

I FEEL myself called upon, both by inclination and duty, immediately to reply to the query contained in your last Letter, How far it is lawful or expedient for you to allow your children to join in some of those amusements and entertainments which are customary at this season of the year; and especially how far this is one of those times in which dancing may be regarded as lawful?

I confess, that the longer I live the more deeply I feel, that the transition from one year to another is a season very unsuitable for that round of joyous mirth and festive amusement which so generally prevails. We ought, indeed, to be filled with gratitude and thanksgiving to that God, who hath so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son to become man for us men and our salvation. We ought to be deeply impressed with the mercy which has spared us through another year, and protected and provided for us during the whole period of our days; we may well eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared;" but that we should therefore suppose ourselves justified in engaging in amusements, and indulging in a round of dissipation, which we feel not strictly correct at other seasons of the year, seems to me utterly inconsistent with every principle of Christianity. Surely the incarnation of the Son of God calls for religious joy, and can never justify conformity to worldly customs and maxims. It calls us to communion with God, to draw near to the Table of the Lord; to inquire how far we are interested in the great and glorious events which took place at Bethlehem, and whether the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world shall be effectual to our salvation,

or only increase our guilt and aggravate our doom.

I am well aware, indeed, that at this season our young people return from school; and I am far from wishing, that home should be rendered dull, gloomy, and disagreeable. I am ready, therefore, in my own circle, to encourage cheerful and innocent amusements, to introduce entertaining and instructive books, to encourage philosophical and scientific recreations; and thus to spend at home, for the gratification of my own children and those of my friends, the money which too many employ in countenancing and supporting the destructive amusements of the theatre, &c. But I feel it my duty to take a decided part against the evening parties, the large suppers, and the late hours to which many kind but injudicious friends invite the youth of their acquaintance, as being both unfavourable to health, and deeply injurious to religious feeling.

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With respect to dancing, I would remark, that no countenance can be given to the pracas prevailing among ourselves, from the text alluded to in your Letter. "There is," says the wise man, 66 a time to dance;" a time when gratitude to Almighty God ought to be expressed by the most joyful and significant actions and expressions. Thus Miriam, and the daughter of Jephthah, and the the women of Israel, and the daughters of Shilo, and the holy David danced before the Lord; but this dancing was a religious act and ceremony; it was practised exclusively on joyous occasions, such as national festivals or great victories; it was performed in the day-time, in the open air, in highways, fields, and groves; and was totally different from that dancing which prevails among our selves. No instance is recorded in

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Scripture where persons of both sexes united in this exercise; and the only cases in which it appears to have been practised as an amusement, are those of the irreligious families described by Job, and of certain vain fellows devoid of shame, which produced increased impiety and ended in destruction; and of Herodias, which ended in the rash vow of Herod and the murder of John the Baptist.

With respect to the pleas brought forward in behalf of dancing as an innocent recreation, as an elegant amusement, as conducive to health, &c. very few hints may suffice. The very end of any recreation is to fit us for the better discharge of the duties of life. But all my experience has led me to conclude, that dancing unfits for the duties of the family and of the closet: that it occupies much time in preparation, leads to much unnecessary show and expense, tempts many to envious and uncharitable competitions and observations, and very commonly incapacitates the parties who have engaged in it for attention to their proper businesses on the following, or even on many successive days. It appears to me highly unfavourable to health: whether it is the transition from a heated room to a cold and damp atmosphere; whether it is that the exercise has been too violent, or too long continued, or whatever other cause may have been assigned, I have heard and known of so many serious and some fatal diseases produced from engaging heartily in this amusement, that I cannot but regard it as most pernicious to the health. It is, indeed, an elegant amusement; the young people are set off to the best advantage; all parties are desirous of pleasing and being pleased; the passions

are, in consequence, highly excited, attentions are mutually paid, and thus, without the smallest indelicacy, which I believe is most strictly guarded against in all respectable society, without any specific intention, or any deliberate consideration, an entanglement is begun, often carried on while the parties are not conscious of any strong feeling themselves, being merely pleased with each other, until at length it issues in matrimonial engagements of a very inexpedient nature, and often with most unhappy consequences.

And now, my dear friend, let me ask you seriously, can you justify it to your own conscience to allow your daughters to be exposed to dangers such as those I have hinted at? You and I know well instances where the consequences to which I allude have actually taken place, and where the parents have, to their dying day, lamented having suffered their children to engage in such amusements. Highly as I respect both you and your partner, and truly as

Í am convinced your children pos

sess far better principles, and have been favoured with a far better example, than many around, I can see no reason to conclude that they may safely be exposed to those. dangers which have cast down so many others.

Allow me in the close to remind you, that, after all, the safe side is to abstain from doubtful ground. If you are not fully convinced, that this, or any other amusement, is safe and lawful, you may rest satisfied that is quite safe, and your bounden duty, to restrain your children from engaging in it until your mind is more fully established. Believe me to be yours affection

ately,

Sheffield.

ARCHYTAS.

Letters from an absent Brother, containing some Account of a Tour through Parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Northern Italy, and France.-2 Vols. Pp. 214 & 290. Wilson. 1824. Letters from North America, written during a Tour in the United States and Canada. By Adam Hodgson. -2 Vols. Pp. xvi, 405 and 474. Hurst. 1824. WE seldom meet with volumes of travels of a nature suited to our Publication, and are therefore the more gratified at receiving at once two works which we have perused with great pleasure, and can cordially recommend.

The first of these publications is from the pen of the Rev. D. Wilson; who, as many of our readers are aware, being worn down by incessant labours, was advised, in the summer of 1823, to undertake a continental our for the benefit of his health. On this tour these Letters were written without the least intention of being seen beyond the family circle. On Mr. W.'s return, he was prevailed upon to print a few copies for the gratification of his personal friends; and in consequence the work came into so many hands, and such urgent requests were made for its publication, that the author was at length compelled to allow these volumes to appear.

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It would not be just to subject a work written and published under such circumstances to the ordeal of severe criticism: though even this ground Mr. W. would have little to fear. We could wish that one or two remarks which may be painful to respectable individuals had not appeared; and yet if these individuals should in consequence be led to consider their own conduct in the light in which it appears to an unprejudiced mind, they may eventually derive im portant instruction from what at JAN. 1825.

first sight may appear severe animadversions. There is, however, a more excellent way; and if ministers and aged and experienced Christians would kindly and affectionately communicate their sentiments on sermons, &c. to those preachers whom they occasionally hear, and especially if they would accompany those communications with kind, affectionate, and encouraging commendation as to what is really excellent, they might often render most essential service to large congregations. Whereas many pious and excellent ministers have been pained and discouraged by remarks reaching them at second-hand, often times distorted. and exaggerated, and, generally speaking, devoid of all those conciliatory suggestions with which personal communications are usually accompanied. This is frequently the secret spring of dissatisfaction between curates and their principals.

We have felt very considerable interest in perusing these volumes, in consequence of their affording us information from the pen of one on whose judgment we can depend as to the actual religious and moral state of the Continent. We have long wished to ascertain whether, amidst all the abominations and corruptions of the Romish Church, there were not a people who sighed and mourned over the evils which existed; and have often feared, that on some at least of the Continental Protestant churches it might be written, Ichabod," the glory is departed. On both these points, Mr. W. gives valuable and important information, which may well stimulate us to fervent prayer, to continued and increasing exertion.

The following passages point out the low and debasing superstition in which the greater part of the Roman Catholic Church is sunk.

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