MARRIOTT’S ELEMENTS OF RELIGION. 
Whether his prayers were heard, and ‘this 
» bright gem vinigniel to grace the bosom of 
Tsaac, in silent admiration he contemplated 
the performance of the fatiguing task she 
d assigned herself; he then approached 
r, and soon, to his raptured astonishment, 
learned that she was indeed the person he 
had traversed such an extent of country to 
find, for that she was Rebecca the daughter 
of Bethuel. 
_ « Being conducted by this fair maid to 
her father’s house, where he was reccived 
with the most chearful hospitality, when the 
steward communicated the purpose of his 
journey, and the singular incidents with 
which it had concluded, we perceive, that 
the opinion, which Abraham had entertain- 
ed of the constancy of his family, to the true 
religion, was just, and that they, amidst the 
polytheism of the age, retained both know- 
thidge and reverence for the one great and liv- 
ing God; for Bethuel, and his son Laban, 
acknowledged, that as the interposition of 
the Lord:was evident in the eveuts of the 
evening, nothing was left for them but silent 
-aequiescence in the divine will ; < We can- 
not,” they said, **say unto thee bad or good ; 
+behold Rebecca is before thee, take her and 
go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, 
asthe Lord hath spoken.” 
_ After having bowed in pious gratitude to 
the Lord for this prosperous termination, the 
joyful steward with loaitee presented to Re- 
becca, and her family, the nuptial gifts, 
which were splendid and costly, as became 
oo and generosity of Abraham ; and 
ie next morning, the indefatigable man 
urged an instant departure for Canaan. ‘To 
this the family objected, as reluctant to part 
from Rebecea so soon ;_ the decision was re- 
ferred to Rebecca herself, who chearfully and 
readily acquiesced in the servant's reasons 
for his speedy return ; and after receiving the 
paternal benediction, and the blessings of the 
rest of her kindred, she quitted Syria for 
ever, seated on the camels of Abraham, her 
nurse, with some other female attendants, 
the companions of her journey. ’ 
«When this interesting caravan approach- 
ed the habitation of Isaac, Rebecca observed 
“a man walking in thesfields, and inquiring of 
“the servant who he was, and finding him her 
-destined husband, she quickly alighted from 
Tier camel, and, in token of modesty and sub- 
mission, covered herself with a veil.” 
__ Mrs. Marriott, in her deduction of 
istianity, as we have before intimat- 
» by no means confines herself to the 
ple narrative of the history, but in- 
es herself in frequent speculations 
on the various topics. of religion and 
morality which come before-her. On 
subjects which permit her to expatiate, 
€ sometimes give too much liberty to 
he flights of her imagination, As an 
Instance of this fault, we might refer to 
by a quotation from -Locke. 
139 
her reflections on the plan of redemp- 
tion, vol. I. p. 78, &c. 
The doctrines which Mrs. Marriott 
maintains, are in general those which 
are commonly styled orthodox. It is 
not to be expected that’ in letters ad- 
dressed to a young female friend, all the 
subtleties of polemic disputation should 
be very nicely discussed, and we suspect 
that the noticns of the author herself on 
these topics are not always systematically 
accurate. Her expressions on the sub- 
ject of the trinity, are sometimes rather 
Arian than Athanasian. ‘Vhe death of 
Christ she considers as strictly a vica- 
rious sacrifice, with all those appalling 
consequences, at which, to use the ex- 
pressions of Dr. Hurd, * Reason stands 
aghast, and Faith herself is half confound- 
ed.’’ The free-agency of man, she asserts 
inthe mostunqualified terms, and rejects, 
with the appellation of gloomy, those 
doctrines of Calvin, which are founded 
on the contrary hypothesis. Her senti- 
ments on the depravity of mankind, the 
influences of the Spirit, and other doc- 
trines connected with these, she no- 
where clearly states. 
_ Though Mrs. Marriott repeatedly de- 
preciates the use of reason in the esti- 
mate of doctrines of divine original, and 
relating to divine subjects, yet on other 
occasions she discovers some solicitude to 
shew the harmony of revelation with the 
dictates of human reason. In her fifth 
letter, she assumes a considerable air of 
triumph, on having turned, as she ima- 
gines, the weapons of the Deists against 
themselves. To accomplish this pur- 
pose, she first lays it down as a position, 
that Pope’s Essay on Man is a deistical 
preduction, the arguments having been 
supplied. by Bolingbroke. She then se- 
lects the noted principle on which that 
writer expatiates so largely and poeti- 
cally, of the necessity of a gradation of 
ranks in the harmonious system of being, 
proceeding by minute variations from 
the highest to the lowest order. 
Far as creation’s ample range extends, 
The scale of sensual meatal pow’rs ascends. 
This doctrine she proceeds to fortify 
a quot We were 
anticipating with much uncertainty the 
termination of this argument, in its ex- 
panded. state occupying several pages, 
when on a sudden the. dlicdine conclu- 
sion rushed in unexpectedly upon us: 
“ Reinforced by this venerable opinion, 
arguing from this allowed analory, I 
