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vate by a gentle surprise, and besiege the heart with a new and effectual artillery." pp. 16-18.

"With respect to the attendance on this great family transaction, I doubt not that every good householder and amiable Christian must desire to make the circle

as wide as convenience and opportunity will permit; for prayer is that transaction in which all have an equal concern. Nothing is so social, because nothing is of such common interest: it is the right of all, but it is the privilege of the poor. The servants, therefore, within the house should be expected, and the servants out of the house, whether their service be occasional or constant, should be invited to attend. It is not a complete congregation without them. When accompanied by them we are united in a common bond of spiritual equality, courtesy, and charity, without the smallest disturbance of the

principle of subordination by which society is organised and sustained....The master, kneeling beside his servant, is on the same floor with him as a sinner; the servant, kneeling with his master, is on the same eminence with him as a Christian.' pp. 19-22.

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Our author's general views of prayer are thus beautifully expressed:

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"What the man of prayer wants, is to come so near the seraphic centre as to catch the cheering glimpse of God's infinite plan of reconciliation, its mysterious operation, its mighty work of love, its singularity of contrivance, its specific holiness. These are the characteristics of divine truth, which the man of prayer must in. corporate in his petitions, or he does not pray to Christianity's God. If he prays not through the great Propitiator and Intercessor, he prays to an unknown God, to the phantom of a vain imagination, or to the spectre of a terrified conscience. Never, for a moment, can the Christian with safety depart in his devotional exercises from the great lines of Gospel divinity. The holy exigence of the Divine law, the desolation of a criminal world, the prevailing virtue of a vicarious atonement, in opening a new access to God, these teach us how to pray; the riches of Divine mercy, the regenerative power of Divine grace, the privileges of the Divine communion, and the promises of the Divine covenant, these teach us for what

to pray;

but these are not to the taste

of an unspiritual nature: the intellect refuses the yoke of these disparaging thoughts, proud morality prefers a claim to what is freely proffered to conscious indesert. Man, the relic of a ruined world; man, under sentence from the decree of infallible Justice, claims to judge himself and others by his own variable and vicious standard. With the collar and decorations which belong to the fra

ternity of the good, so called upon earth, be challenges an equal distinction in heaven. He strengthens himself in a corporate resistance of opinion to the humbling decrees of Omnipotence. Our unhappy propensity to weigh our own actions without regard to the balance of the sanctuary, extends itself through every grade of social life; its rank luxuriance casts an unholy shade between man and his Maker, deeper indeed and darker, as moral character descends, but more or less hiding from some of the best and wisest, the pure irradiations of Divine goodness." pp. 34-36.

From prayer our author proceeds to thanksgiving; in the course of his remarks on which, he notices the general heartless and indecent manner of what is called "saying grace.'

"The reluctant rising, the stifled utterance, the dispatchful haste, the frigid levity, the heartless indifference, the alacrity in sinking back into the half-relinquished seat, the anxiety to avoid the suspicion of being in earnest, are all sure to characterise this ceremony when performed by the mere man of the world, ecclesiastic or laic. The bounties of the Great Giver are to him δωρα αδωρα, giftless gifts, and his return is thankless thanks. Let the Christian gentleman well consi.. der that Jehovah is insulted by unmeaning compliment; that his titles are not words of course; and that to mention him, much more to address him, without real homage, is constructively to blaspheme." p. 28.

The Christian Gentleman does not banish poetry and music from his family; but he watches with no unjealous eye over these powerful sources of good or evil.

"The Bible is replete with poetry and song. The plan of redemption, in all its depth, breadth, and altitude; the Man of Sorrows, the King of Glory, stricken, pierced, exalted; the Bridegroom of the church, the Warrior of salvation, the Conqueror of the last enemy, appear in their genuine colours and characters in the poetry of inspiration." p. 29.

acts

Mr. Roberts is very anxious to Gentleman guard his Christian against the idea of religion being little more than decorum ; without sentiments, duties independent of principles. There must, as the foundation of all, be, he says, "faith which worketh by love."

"The right estimation of ourselves is at the bottom of all religious discipline and saving knowledge. We cannot love God until we know what he has done for us, and we cannot know what he has done for us until we know what we are.

and what we have forfeited. It is thus that faith lays the foundation of love. When we see the Deity only in his power and holiness, and clothed in majesty and honour, the terrors of his righteous anger overwhelm us, and fear casteth out lovethe fear of the Judge and castigator. But when we see the door of heaven opened, and the stupendous miracle of his mercy administering to his justice by a sacrifice as costly as even that justice could exact, and ponder that act of unutterable tenderness by which our ransom has been effected, love finds its argument in our nature, in so far, at least, as gratitude is a part of our nature. By this process, and to this extent, we may proceed somewhat in the work of spiritual improvement, and render ourselves, so to speak, more genial recipients of Divine grace. But the love that casteth out fear, that reacts upon our faith, and gives us peace in believing, is the proper conquest of prayer, and the gift only of the Holy Ghost." pp. 38, 39.

Our Christian Gentleman is not ashamed to say, that he does not augur well from the changes which are very widely taking place in the system of popular education.

"The Christian philanthropist can prognosticate success from no plan of public instruction which cannot claim God for its patron. To him it will seem to be a sound principle, that man must be dealt with, not merely as a religious being, but as belonging to a peculiar dispensation, from which must flow all his maxims of moral truth; that the purposes of universal education can never be accomplished without a specific and perpetual reference to the one, supreme, authentic model; that as the best learning for the rich, is that which best qualifies them to be guides to the poor; so for the poor, that which soonest carries them to the sources of comfort and contentment, duty and peace; which asks for few intermissions of labour, but makes its pauses refreshing and improving; in short, that the wisdom for the multitude is not the wisdom of the porch or the academy, but that which uttereth her voice in the streets,' and opens her school to every variety of condition, without interruption, without disturbance, without excess; that the only proper impelling power for giving motion and effect to all the new machinery of public instruction must be, if any good is to come from it, the genuine purpose of educating the soul for another state, and widening the foundations of human hope." pp. 56, 57.

As little is he satisfied with the aspect of what is called "the religious world."

"The atmosphere of religion itself is full of vapours and false fires. However strong and steady its proper light, many

meteors gather round it and disturb its influence. In the midst of much activity, much moral ebullition, a singleness and integrity of purpose may be wanting. The mass and momentum of the public mind may be parcelled out till its force is frittered away. Societies, schemes, and institutions; committees and sub-committees may teem and swarm upon the floor of the religious world; charities may jostle and cross each other; there may be the dust and smoke and din of philanthropy: school may rival school, and teachers canvass for scholars; there may be the bazaar and the ball; much female commotion and fair impertinence; the daughters of Zion in all their bravery of attire, sitting at their stands and stalls, and forgetting to blush in their pious work of traffic and exposure: but still the crowning end and proper design of all this stir and agitation may be lost sight of, or scarcely mentioned, or faintly avowed. Talk of the soul's concern, and God's sending through a world of sin the healing glory; of making the Saviour known; of proclamation of the Gospel; of giving to the poor the learning that belongs to them by the charter of their spiritual destination, and you may find that you have touched upon a theme to which all this loquacious activity has little distinct reference a theme it is that comprises all that is valuable and sound in any religious or charitable undertaking; but it leaves out the picturesque and captivating part, and administers nothing to a mere negotiating and intermeddling egotism." pp. 61-63.

We have not space to follow our Christian Gentleman through his politics, his literature, his family government, his exterior intercourse, his familiar talk, his worldly dealings, his education, his example, and various other appropriate topics; on all which our author pours forth the overflowings of his vigorous and high-principled mind, in the same chaste and nervous diction of which we have given our readers the above specimens. His censures are sometimes reasonably caustic; but even this is better than the smile of a flatterer; and we fear he has usually too much truth as the substratum of his strictures, even where they may be overcharged. His object is to make a keen impression on the heart, the conscience, the intellect, and the imagination; and this impression he is not willing to sacrifice to the love of honeyed cadences and dimpled

falsehoods. He does not appear to think that the world, in this soft and silken age, particularly require anodynes; but if they wish for plain and manly truth his pen is at their service. Yet he gives, notwithstanding, a truly lovely exhibition of a Christian life, irradiating his portraiture with a mild dignity, which is as graceful as it is Christian. Presbyterianism, said Charles II., is not fit to be the religion of a gentleman; but Mr. Roberts has shewn that Christianity is. We suspect, however, that the graceless monarch's opinion is very widely adopted by the world; not in reference to Presbyterianism only, but wherever the power as well as the mere form of religion is visible. Some of the Pharisees and Jewish zealots might not think the active, humble, laborious, suffering life of our blessed Lord himself consistent with their ideas of a dignified eccleiastic; yet where was true dignity

so conspicuous? And the man of the world may not think praying with his family, and many other acts and habits which Mr. Roberts specifies, altogether gentlemanlike; but this proves only that his own pravity of heart, and his adherence to the maxims of the world, instead of to the principles of the Gospel of Christ, have blinded his understanding as to what is really noble in human action. He feels as if he must make a sacrifice to become a Christian: true, and a sacrifice he must make; but not a sacrifice of any thing that added to his real dignity: our respected barrister, if he will listen to him, will shew him otherwise; but a sacrifice of the pride that debased him, of the spiritual ignorance that betrayed him to ruin, of the evil affections which seduced him from God, a sacrifice of sin, and self, and the world, in order that he may win Christ and be happy for ever.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE,

GREAT BRITAIN.

&c. &c.

In the press, or preparing for publication: -Rochefoucauld's Maxims, translated into Modern Greek ;-Dr. Webster's American Dictionary of the English Langage; by E. Barker ;-The History of Ireland; by J. Bedford ;-The Diary and Correspondence of Dr. Doddridge ;-Protestant Vigils; or Evening Records of a Journey through Italy, in the years 1826 and 1827; by Miss H. Morton.

The Rev. Charles Forster, Chancellor of Ardfort, and examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Limerick, has just published two elaborate volumes, entitled "Mahometanism unveiled," with a view to prove that this system of imposture is actually an appointed and favoured handmaid to the Gospel of Christ, being, it would seem, much better than Judaism, though not so good as Christianity. He considers that God promised Mohammedanism to Abraham in behalf of Ishmael, and Judaism and Christianity in behalf of Isaac ; and that, as in the case of Isaac, the pro

mise was accomplished “by the advent of Jesus Christ," so in that of Ishmael it was accomplished "by the appearance of Mahomet,...the only known parallel to Jesus Christ, and his typical in the annals of the world!" He calls Mohammedan

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ism "" a providential arrangement" of Jehovah, acting co-ordinately with Christianity in a two-fold instrumentality," "to bring about that consummation spoken of in Scripture prophecy, when the one true religion shall universally prevail, and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!" The reasoning of the book is as extraordinary as the thesis; the author cannot, for example, prove that all Mohammedans are descendants of Ishmael; and therefore has recourse to the allegation that they are" his spiritual children," just as true Christians are the spiritual seed of Abraham! We need not undertake a refutation of such a system, deeply as we must regret that a clergyman in Mr. Forster's responsible station should have promulged it.

At a late quarter sessions a clergyman appealed against the accounts of the overseers of his parish, on the ground that they had eked out labourers' wages from the poor's rates. The chairman observed, that the practice was not only clearly illegal, but most unjust, burden ing the small farmer, the shop-keeper, the clergyman, and the private housekeeper, with a heavy rate, in order that the extensive occupier of land may procure labour below the fair price, making his neighbours pay the difference. The overseers were directed in this case to refund twenty-five pounds to the clergyman, and to discontinue the practice.

Most of the vaccine lymph now used, appears to have been nearly thirty years in transmission through many thousand subjects since the original inoculation from the cow, with no apparent alteration in its character or virtues. It is stated that of late years the disorder has been very rarely found in the animal; when it occurs it spreads rapidly through a whole herd. Many years before Dr. Jenner's discovery, a farmer vaccinated his family, and with success; but the discovery did not spread, owing to the prejudices of his neighbours against introducing "a beastly disease."

Mr. Madden, in illustrating the habits of the chamelion, states, that it is so irascible that he trained two large ones to fight, which he could make them do by merely striking their tails against each other. During their excitement, their change of colour is very conspicuous; the bile of the animal, he says, being visible in the blood, under the pellucid skin, and affording, as it passes through the circulation, three different shades of green.

One of the London fire-offices has issued the following directions for escape from the upper chambers of a house on fire :1. By the roof. Every house ought to have easy access to the roof by a trapdoor, or otherwise. The circular adds, that if the staircase is of stone, escape is thus certain; but not if of wood, as the fire very rapidly ascends the staircase. It does not, however, add, that, in innumerable instances, there is no way of escape from the roof itself, or no possibility of standing upon it, it being shelving, and without a parapet.-2. By the windows, through means, such as a rope-ladder, which may be kept provided within, ready folded up in a window-seat, or the like.3. By means from without. No contrivance is suitable which is not cheap, simple, and always ready. The common fire ladders are the best. By law, each parish in London is required to be provided with

three fire-ladders, two of which may be joined together by a simple contrivance. Keys should be kept at the watchhouse, and with the watchman nearest to the ladders.-5. Dropping from the window. If ladders be not procurable in time, this fearful alternative may be resorted to. Persons outside should procure a carpet, or a large counterpane; eight persons, or more, should get a firm hold of this round the edges, and keep it extended about three or four feet from the ground. If a bed or mattress can be procured to lay beneath the extended carpet, it will add to the security. Two sheets tied together, and one end tied to a bed-post, or the leg of a table, might enable the sufferer to let himself down nearly twenty feet, from which the drop in most cases would be inconsiderable. Even a single sheet will do something to lessen the drop. If a carpet or counterpane be held extended, children may be thrown out with a hope of preservation. The room door should be kept shut, if possible. The upper part of a room is frequently filled with smoke and flame, while the lower part is free; by creeping, therefore, on his hands and knees, a person may go in or out of a room with safety, in which if he walked upright, he could not breathe for an instant. The defence is made more complete by tying a neckcloth over the mouth and nose.

The number of gentlemen enrolled in the commission of the peace in England and Wales, is 19,932; of whom 5014 are returned as acting magistrates.

The Presbytery of Edinburgh have wisely decided to drop further proceedings in the case of Dr. Thomson and Mr. Grey, the original offence having abated by lapse of time.

FRANCE.

In consequence of an appeal made to the council of state, a royal ordinance has been issued, forbidding the clergy to deny baptism to a child, because they may not approve the character of the person who presents it. The ordinance places this decision on the singular ground, that it is the child that is to be baptized, and not the sponsor!

In a paper recently read before the Academy of Sciences, it is affirmed, that the recoveries of persons from drowning used to be nine in ten; but that they are now only two to three, which defalcation is attributed to violence used in inflating the lungs, by which they are irreparably injured. GERMANY.

Mr. Pusey in his inquiries into the causes of the Neologianism of the German

seminaries, gives in substance from Spener the following account of the studies which were pursued in them. Latin only, said he, is taught; Greek seldom; Hebrew never. Theology is viewed as a mere matter of memory; and hence, prayer, meditation, and a holy life, are not considered necessary for its attainment. The Greek Testament is little read; the Scriptures are scarcely appealed to; polemical points are studied, but without reference to Christian ethies or practical utility. Can we wonder that Neologianism grew out of a system like this?

EGYPT.

A stone tablet, containing an inscription in three languages, and which, like the celebrated Rosetta stone, appeared of great value, as likely to elucidate history, and to facilitate the interpretation of Egyptian records, was discovered in 1826, by Mr. Burton, in the ruins of a mosque. He endeavoured to procure the tablet on behalf of the British government; but meeting with some difficulties, secretly caused, as he thought, by the jealousy of some Frenchmen, he concealed its site till he was induced to disclose it in confidence to M. Champollion; since which M. Drovetti the French consul has procured it, not very honourably it would seem, for his government. Mr. Burton has, however, succeeded in copying the inscriptions.

The stone, now it is taken up, proves to be broken, and of less value than was expected.

UNITED STATES.

A New-York journal gives the following contrast:-"The British army is supplied with chaplains, and each soldier is furnished with a Bible and Prayer-book. The books are first given gratis; but if he loses or sells them, others are provided at his own expense. In the army of the United States about half a barrel of whiskey, per annum, is given to each soldier; but for chaplains or Bibles, or any other means of religious improvement furnished by government, inquiry will be made in vain.' We We are happy to learn, from the last Report of the American Deaf-and-Dumb Asylum at Hartford, the continued prosperity of that excellent institution, which has now been in operation about eleven years. Previous to its establishment, Mr. Gal

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laudet, the principal, visited Europe, and spent several months in the Abbé Sicard's admirable institution in Paris. He also took over with him to Hartford, M. Clerc, who had been many years in Sicard's school, first as a pupil, being himself deaf and dumb, and afterwards as an instructor. At the commencement of the Hartford institution, it was distinctly avowed, that articulation would form no part of the course of instruction. Some persons objecting to this deficiency, as they deemed it, the directors expressed their views on the subject, appealing to the opinion of Dugald Stewart, who warmly espoused Sicard's system. "Sicard's aim," he says, "was not to astonish the vulgar by the sudden conversion of a dumb child into a speaking automaton; but, by affording scope to those means which nature herself has provided for the gradual evolution of our intellectual powers, to convert his pupil into a rational and moral being. To teach the dumb to speak, although, in fact, entitled to rank only a little higher than the art of training starlings and parrots, will always appear to the multitude a far more wonderful feat of ingenuity, than to unfold silently the latent capacities of the understanding; an effect, which is not, like the other, palpable to sense, and of which but a few are able either to ascertain the existence, or to appreciate the value." These sentiments, the directors of the Hartford Asylum believe, prevail, at present, almost universally throughout their country; all efforts to teach deaf mutes to speak in the institutions for their instruction, are now considered useless, and are wholly abandoned. In this wise resolution, the schools of our own country have much to learn, both from Europe and America.

Among recently printed works in the United States, are Faber's Difficulties of Romanism, Grimshawe's Life of Legh Richmond, and an Abridgment of it by a Young Lady.

Some of the canal contractors have fol.. lowed the example of various proprietors of manufactories, in not allowing ardent spirits to be drunk by their workmen. They state, that in many instances more has been expended on spirits than on food.

LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THEOLOGY.

The Family Lecturer, or St. Mark's Gospel analysed for Family Reading. By the Rev. S. Hinds. 10s. 6d.

Archbishop Laud's Sermons, edited by the Rev. J. Hatherell. 10s. 6d.

Two Sermons on Confirmation. By the Rev. W. Trollope. 2s.

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