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other mountains, nor does its substance penetrate the ground. It has all over, many perpendicular and horizontal fissures, filled with pure sand: in the inner parts whereof bones of stags and other animals are found.

No hypothesis hitherto advanced to account for the formation of mountains, will at all account for this. The bones found therein shew it was owing to some ruinous cause. But what that cause was, must in all probability ever remain a secret.

No less unaccountable are some of the mountains in Iceland, termed by the natives, Jokeler. From the tops of these continually flow large streams of a thick, sooty, stinking water. These occasion lakes which increase in bulk, and again diminish, and change their appearance almost every day. Hence paths are seen in the sand made by travellers that passed the day before. When followed, they lead to a large pond or lake, which obliges them to go two or three miles round, and then they come to the very path opposite to that which they were obliged to leave. But in a few days the lake is, as it were, vanished, and the uninterrupted path appears again.-Wesley's Natural Philosophy.

Miscellaneous.

DANGERS OF THE MINISTRY.

From Dr. Macgill's "Letters to a young Clergyman."

UNREASONABLE ideas of the rank connected with our office, of the respect which is due to us, of the superiority of our knowledge, of the nature of our independence, privileges, rights, and personal influence, rise before our mind. These combine with the impetuosity and inexperience of youth, and are increased by those attentions and marks of respect, which the kind and the friendly pay to their minister, when he first takes up amongst them his residence. Such circumstances render this a critical period in the life of a clergyman; and on the conduct which he now pursues, depends much of his future usefulness. If he maintains the lowliness becoming his character, and the modesty suited to his circumstances-if deeply conscious of the importance of his trust, and the difficulty and extent of his duties, he earnestly and diligently seeks the direction of God, gives himself wholly to his ministry, and endeavours to fulfil its duties to the utmost of his power-if he contemplates his people with affection, enters into their joys and sorrows, and earnestly desires their spiritual good-if he places to their right motive the attentions which are paid him, considers them with gratitude, and feels them as additional reasons for diligence and exertion in the accomplishment of VOL. VI.

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the great objects committed to his trust-then may we form of him the fairest hopes of usefulness and honour, and expect to see him an able and a faithful minister of the New-Testament, But what must be our expectations, if, instead of such views and feelings, ideas of superiority are cherished, and the pride of knowledge and office is indulged-if his thoughts are allowed to dwell continually on the rights, and privileges, and influence, and mere external circumstances of his situation; while the feelings and the character, the duties and the labours, proper to him as a minister, and for the sake of which alone he has received those privileges, are only occasionally considered, and then with little seriousness and affection? What must be our expectations, if such a temper of mind be allowed to increase: such supercilious and haughty notions allowed to predominate in his character-if they shall be permitted to appear in his manners, his conversations, his public and private conduct? Alas! what can we expect but a useless and despised ministry; a life marked with negligence, or with arrogance and rashness!

If you attend to the manners of such an individual even in the ordinary intercouse of human life, you will find them the most improper and offensive. Continually occupied about himself, and imagining that what concerns such a one as he, must always be important and interesting, he is ever talking of his own little matters, and informing us what he has done, and what he means to do. He thinks it necessary to lead the conversation of every company; or, should this not be permitted to him, he feels and looks as if he had been treated with disrespect. The superiority of his knowledge he conceives, entitles him to dictate on every subject, and to pronounce with decision on every question. He is impatient of contradiction, loud and hot in argument and debate. Or, perhaps, he conceives it to be more dignified to wrap himself in a cold and sullen reserve, and to assume the appearance of superiority to the opinions and conversation of the company around him. Wise and highly educated man! he cannot stoop to the trifling topics of ordinary persons: nor, with such a mind can he receive pleasure from conversation upon the common objects of human life. Or, perhaps, he is seized with an unusual desire to please; he is easy and familiar, nay, condescends to be facetious and entertaining; but, even in his condescension, he seeks to convince you of his superiority; and, in his freest hours of cheerfulness, he endeavours to impress on you the idea of his importance. His manners in the society of men of superior condition, may be differently modified, but display the same unbecoming spirit, and produce effects equally foolish and disgusting. If he possesses some pliancy of temper, and is mean enough to plume himself on receiving the notice of the great, he will subdue for a time the haughtiness of his carriage, and submit to fawn and to flatter, that he may acquire a portion of the distinction

which is attached to the favour of the wealthy. But his pride is smothered for a time, only that it may afterwards with greater violence burst forth. He recompenses himself for his temporary submission, by additional superciliousness to inferiors, and his insolence is generally in proportion to the lowness to which he had stooped. If, however, his pride should not appear in the meanness of the sycophant, you will see it under other forms almost equally displeasing. Filled with high ideas of what is due to him, ambitious to support what he conceives the dignity of his character, and to mark his independence, you see him now assume a disgusting familiarity, affecting an ease which he does not feel, with a disquieted mind obliging himself to talk and to bustle, and by forwardness and presumption maintaining the rank which he deems to belong to him. Or, jealous of his dignity, he contemplates all around him with suspicion, misinterprets every trifle, imagines neglects, and perceives insults, in every look and every tone. Retired within himself, he repels every attempt at easy intercourse, and will not permit himself to accept of attention or to make a return of civilities. The same wretched disposition appears throughout all his demeanour, and on every occasion. Now you will see him walking with starchness and formality, expecting the tribute of respect; sometimes, receiving the attentions paid him with negligence; at other times, with the nauseous affectation of complacency. Or, perhaps, you see him swaggering with the affected carelessness of a man of fashion; or, it may be, moving with the slow gait of one abstracted from the world, and devoted to deep research and serious meditation.

From Griscom's "Year in Europe."

PARIS.

VERY few Englishmen, and still fewer Americans, will be induced to consider Paris, on the whole, as an elegant city. The gardens and public squares, the palaces and private hotels of the nobility and of some wealthy citizens, are in a style of magnificence unequalled, as I believe, by any town or city in Great-Britain and in the United States we have certainly nothing that bears any comparison with them-The Boulevards, also, combine the advantages of a wide and beautiful promenade with a display of superb mansions, public fountains, tea gardens, shops, &c. They consist of a very wide street, which extends in an irregular circle, nearly around the whole city, forming a circumference of almost seven miles. Two rows of majestic elms grow upon each side, whose branches almost interlace each other, forming a natural arcade on each side of the centre. The space between them is gravelled, for the benefit of foot passengers. This extended and remarkable promenade, was once the boundary of

the city, and at that time was covered with turf, and much resorted to for playing at bowls; hence the name of Boulevard--an abbreviation of "boules sur le vert." This is, in all probability, the most commodious, and most frequented public walk in Europe. Here all classes have the liberty of amusing themselves, and it is here that the gayety of Paris is witnessed in its most variegated forms. In the afternoon and evening, these walks are lined with a double or treble row of chairs, which can be hired by the passengers for a sous each—a rate so cheap, that the fashionable lounger can sometimes afford to appropriate five of them to his indulgence, one for his body, and one for each of his four limbs, while the motley group which surrounds him, contributes not a little to his entertainments. In this multifarious assemblage, are ballad singers; dancers, both children and dogs; conjurors; puppet shows; merry Andrews, and fortune tellers; men with castles inhabited by white mice, which play a thousand anticks in its different apartments; fortresses guarded by a regiment of Canary birds, which perform their evolutions with great precision; caricaturists or grimaciers, who change their faces into a rapid succession of odd and singularly grotesque forms, which no risible muscle can well withstand; these and many other contrivances, are performed with unwearied exertions to please, and by persons thankful for the voluntary sous which may be thrown them. Intermingled with these tricks, is a display of fruit women and flower girls, musicians, hydrostatic experiments, and other allurements which convert the Boulevards of Paris into a place of daily amusement, highly characteristic of the people of this metropolis and nation.

But abstracting these public places and buildings, Paris has no external attractions to recommend it. The houses are very high, and of a clumsy and antiquated style of architecture. The streets are narrow, dark and dirty; and without side walks for foot passengers. They are excessively crowded by wheel carriages, and pedestrians of all descriptions; especially women and children. The safest place to walk is generally in the middle of the street; but it requires no little care and dexterity, to avoid the contact of wheels; or, at best, the mud and dirt that fly from them. The axletrees of the carts, too, project outwards to an enormous and needless length, and increase the danger. The shops are not, in common, so elegantly dressed out as in London; yet those in the Palais Royal and a few other places, are as sumptuous and attractive as the most splendid fabrics, artfully and tastefully arranged, can possibly render them.

There is a curious jumbling together, too, of odd circumstances in France. The same associations do not seem to prevail here, that we find on the other side of the channel, or of the. Atlantic. A whole family will live in splendour in the fourth story of a house. A number of gentlemen's houses open into one and the same front court, which communicates with the street by a mas

sive gate. The stables are often found under the same roof with the owner and his family; so that while the Minister or Peer is entertaining his guests in a superbly furnished saloon in the second story, his horses are enjoying their repast in the apartments immediately below.

INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM INTO THE UNITED STATES.

(Concluded from page 431.)

In the preceding numbers we have noticed the establishment of the Society and the building of the Chapel in the city of NewYork. From this time the work of God gradually progressed, and the Society obtained a greater consistency and permanency of existence. From the letters of the Missionaries to Mr. Wesley, it appears that the people of this country received the Gospel with great readiness of mind.

We have no means of ascertaining, with any degree of accuracy, the real state of experimental and practical godliness in the Provinces at that time; but from the information we have been able to collect, we have reason to believe that generally, particularly in the middle and southern sections of the country, it was at a low ebb, Some time previous to the arrival of the Missionaries, the celebrated George Whitefield had passed through the country, visiting most of the cities and villages bordering on the Atlantic; and preaching with his usual zeal and energy, he had been instrumental in kindling the flame of divine love in many hearts; but not being succeeded with men like-minded with himself, the renovating effects of his ministry gradually disappeared in most places, though in some the fruits of his preaching remain, even to this day.

But whatever might have been the state of pure and undefiled religion, it was generally professed by the inhabitants, and in most places, especially in the large towns and cities, its ordinances were statedly attended. The unhallowing leaven of infidelity, it is true, had begun to diffuse its demoralizing influence among some classes of the citizens, and, as far as it was felt, produced a chilling indifference to the truths of divine revelation. Add to this that in place of the distinguishing doctrines of Christ, Justification by faith in the atonement of Christ, the witness of the Spirit, and its inseparable concomitants, love, peace, joy, &c. and a holy life, was substituted very generally, a mere form of godliness, productive of no moral effects upon the heart and life. This appears to have been, as far as we have been able to perceive, the state of things on the arrival of Messrs. Boardman and Pilmoor. It seems proper to remark here, that about the same time Mr. Embury commenced preaching in New-York, Mr. Strawbridge, also a Local Preacher from Ireland, settled in Fre

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