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the choicest virtues of

vate life; and it is to the valuabie mother of a large, a well regulated, and well instructed family, that "The Father's Gift to his Children" is now dedicated,

By,

Madam,

Your Ladyship's most respectful

Humble Servant,

R. A.

North Hanover Street, Edinburgh, 1st March, 1818.

PREFACE

TO THE

SECOND EDITION.

THE following is the short history of this little work :

The author is in the profession of the law, practising it at Edinburgh as a Writer to the Signet; and, in former times, wher less business gave him more leisure, and when the cares of a family, (for he was then a bachelor,) had not in a great mea sure superseded his literary pursuits, he wrote a Treatise on the Evidences of Christianity. This he was led to do for his owr satisfaction, and to render the proofs of is more familiar to his mind; and, by endea vouring, like the author of the "Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection," to apply to the subject the maxims of legal evidence, he seemed, in another point of view, to be usefully employed as a young professional

man.

In Scotland, as many of his readers well

know, most of the discussions in the Supreme Court, are in pleadings, which are printed for the perusal of the Judges; and as in those it is often necessary to trace subjects to their source, whether in the moral feelings of mankind, or in the political or religious situation of our country at remote periods, the writings of some of our able Scottish counsel have, at times, assumed, in some degree, the nature and form of Essays, in which a certain brevity being requisite, as well as perspicuity, the subjects are often well handled, within what, comparing them with books, may be reckoned a very limited space. Taking some of the best of these as his models, the author prepared his Treatise; and while he applied the rules of proof which his profession afforded, and which were well exemplified in those writings, he constructed his argument, in some measure, after the form, and confined it within the moderate bounds of a law paper.

Such was the origin of this little book; and the manuscript bears date so far back as Jan. 1798. Since that time, except being handed occasionally to a private friend, and read on one occasion to a select society of gentlemen at Edinburgh, which the author sometimes frequents,† it lay by him until several of his family were nearly grown

*Some of the papers of Lord Kames, when at the Lar, answer this description.

† See Appendix, No. I.

up, when it occurred to him that they might be able to comprehend the reasonings which it contained. He therefore revised it adapted it to their understandings, and, (along with another paper, written by him, also on a serious subject, not unconnected with the present,) he presented it to them, accompanied with a letter explanatory of the gift. The event fully answered his expecta. tions; for he found it not only easily understood by them, but to have the best effects on their minds.

To endeavour to extend such happy influence to other domestic circles, he gave it to the public. This he did anonymously; but he handed copies of it to various gentlemen without his name; and he was gratified by the receipt of letters, left for him with the Editor, approving of the work. He wishes that he could here say, all that he feels, of gratitude and respect, towards several of those who had the kindness to write to him so handsomely. He trusts he will be forgiven, however, in mentioning, as among them, a most eminent divine now of Leicester, who early stepped forward to his country's aid, and, with a masterly hand, in his celebrated sermon on the Influence of Modern Infidelity, assisted, in an eminent degree, in stemming that torrent of ruinous scepticism, which the French Revolution was pouring so copiously over the land. Amongst those of our own country, who wrote to him so kindly,

99

he is proud to allude to the Author of the "Life of Knox,' so distinguished for his ability and learning; and to another Reverend Gentlemen, who, in private life, here, has been long the favourite of his fellow-citizens, by manners the most engaging; and, in his public capacity, has ever enlightened and charmed them-who, after having instructed them by a philoso phical work of great eminence On Taste, has, both from the pulpit, and in the closet, never failed to satisfy them, how admirably he can carry into practical effect the principles which he there established with so much talent, and developed with so much care. Of such a man, it is not a lit. the pleasing to learn, that this small Treatise has been considered by him as no unfit manual for the young; and that, before he knew who was the author, he had put it into the hands of many of the youth of his own congregation, to aid them in their religious studies, before their confirmation, according to the ritual of the English church.

The very agreeable approbation which this book has met with, has induced the author still to endeavour to improve it, and to publish it again. This will enable other parents, if they shall think fit, to give it to their children, and teachers of youth to bestow it upon those under their charge; and that the doing so may be attended with the same good effects to them, that the ma