in the world, and the consequent annihilation of human misery, to which transgression alone has given existence.

It will hence be seen, that on the very entrance of sin our first parents, through the self-moved goodness and compassion of their Maker, received the promise of its final removal with all its consequences, as a sacred deposit to be delivered to their posterity through successive generations, till it should receive its full accomplishment. That they understood the import of this sacred promise, (for such it deserves to be termed though given in the form of a threatening to their adversary,) is evident from the name Adam immediately gave to our first mother, and from her joyful exclamation on the birth of her first born, "I have gotten a man from the Lord," though she was probably mistaken in her ideas respecting the time in which it would be realized. There is also reason to believe, that the mode of their deliverance, through a Mediator about to come and atone for the sins of men, was made known to them in a way sufficiently clear for them to rest thereon as matter of faith and expectation. It is probable that on perceiving the gracious compassion of their Maker to them, in his sentence on the tempter, their hearts were melted in genuine contrition for their transgression; and that they received the hope of personal forgiveness with directions to offer beasts in sacrifice, as indicating their expectation of it only through One, whose offering himself as a sacrifice these beasts prefigured.

Some have supposed that the skins with which their Maker compassionately clothed them, were those of beasts slain thus in sacrifice, as before the flood we have reason to believe that beasts were not slain for food. But be this as it may, Abel's bringing an offering of the firstlings of his flock, and his doing this through faith in the promised Redeemer, as attested by the Divine Spirit himself in the epistle to the Hebrews, furnish a sufficient proof that Abel had received from his parents, the doctrine of a future Redeemer, that he comprehended its nature, and in consequence offered a sacrifice through faith in him.

This substantiates two facts, that our first parents understood

the First Promise, and that they had received the doctrine of sacrifices, as prefiguring the future sacrifice of the Redeemer for the sins of men. These are most important facts on another account: F they completely vindicate the conduct of God towards the nations previously to the coming of Christ. The prediction relative to the future Redeemer of mankind, with the way of acceptance through him, was made known to the very persons who had brought death into the world. Why did they not teach this to their children, and they again to theirs, and thus through every successive generation, till the Redeemer himself came ? This was demanded of them by every feeling of paternal regard for their offspring. But had every generation regularly done this, the world would have been filled with the knowledge of the expected Redeemer of men, 17 even down to the time of his coming; and though the Jews had rejected and crucified him, still the other nations might have flocked to Judea, satisfied themselves of the truth of his mission, and carried back with them into every part of the world the clearer doctrine of salvation by his death now accomplished; they might, at least have welcomed the messengers who brought them this hap=py intelligence, instead of persecuting them, and might have conveyed the tidings to the next province or kingdom, and these again to their neighbours, and thus every country on earth might have received the news that the Redeemer of men was really come and had completed his work. What then prevented this? Did any thing beside the wickedness and folly of those who either did not cordially receive this knowledge from their parents, or were indifferent to communicating it to their own children? If the fathers of any race or nation acted thus, their criminal neglect involved whole nations in ruin, as it was the cause of this knowledge being completely lost to their race through every succeeding generation. How far this was the case with the immediate progenitors of the Hindoos, the Chinese, or of any other nation, we know not, nor shall we know till the day of final retribution; but this we do know, that whoever by criminal neglect in imparting it, cut off from his posterity the stream of knowledge relative to the

future Redeemer of men, whether this happened in the first or the tenth generation, was chargeable with all its consequences; and these were no less than consigning their future race to perish in darkness and iniquity. But dare we charge this, the criminal neglect of men, upon God? Was He under an obligation to make new revelations from heaven relative to the expected Redeemer, in every country where the folly and wickedness of men had intercepted this knowledge from their children? Surely not. If He condescended to make one revelation to a nation placed in the midst of the earth, that it might not be wholly lost, this was infinite compassion, and his giving it in writing was an act of infinite wisdom. But did his doing this, deprive other nations of that knowledge of the future Redeemer which they possessed? To imagine this, is consummate folly; it only provided for its preservation in the world though the depravity and perverseness of Thus then we see, that the first men might become universal. prediction relative to the annihilation of human misery was coeval with its very origin,-that it was made known to those the best able and the most likely to transmit the important intelligence to the whole human race in perpetual succession, and that nothing prevented this being done but the criminal folly and perverseness of men. How the compassion of God was pleased again to interfere to counteract these, by reiterating this prediction in different forms, and more fully unfolding its nature, must form the subject of future letters.

I am, yours, &c.

II. The Ruins of Gour.

The ancient city Gour, said by Dow and Rennell to have been the capital of Bengal 750 years before the commencement of the Christian æra, stogd on the left or the east bank of the Ganges, about twenty-five miles below Rajmahl. It lies in N. Lat. 24. 53. and in E. Long. 88. 14; and is supposed by Rennell and others to be the Gangia regia of Ptolemy. It has borne various

as

names; it was formerly called Lucknouti (Lukshma-vutee), well as Gour; and when repaired and beautified in 1575 by the great Ackbar, who is said to have been particularly attached to this city, it received from him the name of Junnutabad, from his fancying it a kind of terrestrial paradise. It is now so completely in ruins that scarcely a single edifice remains complete; the bats and owls which take refuge in its mouldering ruins, and the alligators which fill its numerous pools, in addition to the wild beasts of the desert, forming almost the whole of its inhabitants. Its ruins however, are highly interesting to those who delight in tracing the vicissitudes of kingdoms and empires, and bear sufficient testimony to its ancient greatness. The late Mr. Henry Creighton, who resided for many years within a few paces of what, he after the maturest investigation, deemed its North Gate, devoted much time to the examination of its ancient scite and boundaries; and in a course of years, not only drew a map of the city itself with its suburbs and boundaries; but took views of its majestic ruins when they were in a far higher state of preservation than they are at present. Some of these have been engraved in Europe, and have, we believe reached Calcutta.

The kindness of Mr. Ellerton, the surviving friend of Mr. Creighton, and his companion in his frequent excursions to these ruius, has indulged us with a view of this map, as well as furnished us with many particulars which occurred to Mr. Creighton and himself, while in the habit of visiting and contemplating these majestic remains, which enables us to lay before our readers the following brief account of the boundaries and extent of Gour; while a recent excursion thither by a friend, enables us to add some few particulars relative to such of those ruins as the hand of time has not as yet consigned to indistinguishable oblivion.

From the most accurate observation, it appears that the city of Gour, independently of its suburbs, extended in length from north to south little less than seven miles; there being strong reason to believe, that the scite of the north gate was within a few yards of. Mr. Creighton's house at Goamaltee, and the south gate way of

Kk

the city being now in existence at Kutwalee, about seven miles distant from thence, of the present state of which gate some account will be subjoined. The suburbs however extended much farther, there being sufficient vestiges of them to be traced at least to a distance of three miles from each of those gates, so that Major Rennell's conclusion seems quite within the bounds of probability, Taking the extent of the ruins of Gour at the most reasonable calculation, it is not less than fifteen miles in length extending along the old bank of the Ganges."

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The breadth of this ancient city was not however equal to its length. Its ruins discover vestiges of its being in general about two miles in breadth ; and in no part exceeding three. But this breadth, united with its length, must have contained an immense mass of population. The city itself, exclusive of its suburbs, must have included full seventeen square miles, which, if we exclude the suburbs of Calcutta, will amount to above thrice the space occupied by the present metropolis of India; and if Gour and its suburbs occupied fifteen miles in length, and four in breadth, which allows the suburbs on the cast and the west to extend only a mile each way, the whole of its population must have covered a space of nearly sixty square miles; while Calcutta, with its suburbs can scarcely be computed at more than fifteen. The population therefore, if that of Calcutta be accurately estimated at five hundred thousand, might have been nearly two millions; but if we allow it to be only two-thirds as populous as Calcutta, its inhabitants must have exceeded a million three hundred thousand, a far greater mass of population than is to be found in any one capital now existing in Europe, the population of London which exceeds that of Paris, and consequently of every other city in Europe, scarcely amounting to a million.

Should it be objected, that such a mass of population in an inland city is almost incredible, it should be considered, that this city formed the capital of Bengal and Bahar, in the centre of which it is situated, the utmost boundaries both of Bengal and Bahar being scarcely three hundred miles distant from it on any