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Bring with thee the purity, concord, repose,
Thy peaceful and permanent presence be-

stows.

Let thy heart-soothing melody charm me again,

In the days of clear shining' that follow the rain;

In tenderness visit this sorrowing breast, And make it for ever the seat of thy rest." pp. 9-13.

The passage marked in italics particularly attracted us by the apparent novelty, as well as the beauty and justness, of the allusion. The following words perhaps too nearly approach in collocation to the first stanza of the hymn to be thoroughly good prose; and we shall take this opportunity of saying, that in some other points the style of this, as well as most other works from writers of very lively and tender imagination, might be usefully subjected to the strokes of a severer criticism than they are accustomed to undergo. For instance, gravitation is unfitly introduced as an instance "under new and powerful influences," and can scarcely be said to proceed from any "instrument." The desert does not always awake to life under the beam of the sun: witness the deserts of Arabia. The poor wandering prodigal seems to the scriptural reader, rather to covet the father's than "the mother's love."

When we say that the concluding stanzas in the quotation afford a fair, though certainly favourable, specimen, of the poetry of this little volume, our readers will have greatly to seek for a taste of their own, if they do not often applaud that of the author, together with that of his fair (if we may believe report) auxiliary, whom he modestly announces as concerned in the poetical part of his work. "Of the verses, a few copies have been supplied by the kind hand of a friend." Preface, p. vii.

Having finished the present chapter, we pass by, with regret, the fourth; being unable to detain our readers even in those angelic circles to which it so beautifully conducts

us. We are detained at the sixth; where occurs the following animated passage on "Thy kingdom come.

"

"Come, Lord, and establish an empire of which Thou art the sovereign; of which angels are the delighted ministers; of which the seat is the heart; of which the law is love; of which the throne is thy mercy-seat; of which the statute-book is the Bible; the sceptre, righteousness; and the final end and perfection, heaven. For, far from us be the horrible language,

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We will not have this Man to reign over us.' We would rather say, Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly,' and rule in us, and over us, altogether."

These stanzas are subjoined.
"When my sad heart surveys the pain
Which weary pilgrims here sustain,

As o'er the waste of life they roam;
Oppressed without, betrayed within,
Victims of violence and sin,

Shall I not cry, Thy kingdom come?' "And when I know whose strong controul Can calm and cheer each troubled soul,

And lead these weary wanderers home;
Can lodge them in a Father's breast,
And soothe this weary world to rest,

Shall I not cry, Thy kingdom come?' "O rise, the Kingdom of the Lord! Come to thy realms, immortal Word!

Melt and subdue these hearts of stone. Erect the throne which cannot move; Stretch forth the sceptre of thy love,

And make this rebel heart thine own." pp. 23-25.

The selection for the eighth and ninth chapters will be found productive of very consolatory matter, by an easy accommodation of their respective texts to the spiritual circumstances of the believer. That such accommodations are natural and necessary to a mind studious of Scripture, for purposes of improvement and self-application, we have no doubt. The only general rule we should wish to lay down for such accommodations is this; that the plain direct sense of the text, as originally dictated, be given ; that the clear and undeniable deductions which belong to it be then produced; and, lastly, that upon these the ultimate accommodation be founded, which brings home the

entire subject to the business and the bosom of the private Christian. In this consists the principal art and management of the Christian teach

er: and the benefit would be sen

sibly felt, if, by his means, the habit should be universally induced of viewing the natural and true meaning of Scripture, in all its bearings, before any search is instituted after a spiritual or mystical meaning in the sacred page. Mr. Cunningham commences, for the most part with great correctness, from the proper context of the passage. But we apprehend that, in one of the cases, above-mentioned, he afterwards descends from the context to a case which our Lord does not seem at all to have contemplated; we mean, in commenting on the words, "The days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." This, we think, is a text scarcely applicable, even by accommodation, to the case of what is called in Scripture, "The hiding of the light of God's countenance

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on account of sin. The case seems to us to be simply that of a severer exposure to afflictive trials than is usually permitted in the early stages of the Christian course; and thus it is applied in the simile, which immediately follows of wine being put into such bottles only as should be capable of containing it. But we shall proceed to give from Mr. Cunningham's own pages, on the fifteenth chapter, what we deem to be a perfectly proper and edifying appropriation of Scripture, beyond which we should unwillingly allow the licence in question to proceed.

Chap. xv. ver. 13. Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.'

"How fatally is this prediction now verified in the case of the individuals to whom the text was originally addressed! Where are those Pharisees now, with their train of follics, traditions, and observances? Rooted up,' and cast like શ worthless branch to the burning! And does not their history speak in a voice of thunder to those who have suc

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ceeded to their errors? Does not the same doom await all those institutions, principles, and systems, which, although springing up in the soil of religion, are evidently

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not the planting of the Lord? And the lesson is the more important, from the rapid multiplication of weeds, as well as flowers, within the sacred enclosure of the Gospel, and the facility with which we mistake the one for the other. Almost every grace has its counterfeit; and the mind, in search of the first, often sits down satisfied with the last. [We should, however, here doubt the sincerity of the search.] 'Come,' said Jehu, and see my zeal for the Lord of hosts,' when all that the eye of God discerned in him was a spirit of revenge and cruelty.-Lord, thou hast promised that the 'desert,' when watered by the dews of thy grace, 'shall blossom as the rose.' O sow, in the wilderness of our hearts, the seed of eternal truth, and suffer not the weeds of unrighteouness to grow up and render it unfruitful. Let our creed betruth, without any mixture of error.' Give us zeal, without fanaticism; courage, without fierceness; growth in knowledge, without consequent pride of heart; lowliness, without indolence or despair of amendment. How rapid and extensive,' say the world, are the changes in religion!' We answer, No: the excrescences of religion change; but religion itself remains unchanged. The spots in the sun change; the orb itself is the same.'-Gracious Redeemer, Thou art 'the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' O plant thyself in our souls, and we shall change no longer.

"Swift the tempest strips the wood,
Swift the sun dries up the flood;
Trophied domes and aisles decay,
Tribes and empires melt away,
Like the wreath of mountain snow,
When Summer breeze begins to blow.
"Error, like the flimsy sail
Rent by every passing gale,
Floats her moment on the stream,
Glitters in the morning beam;
Dares the breath of heaven to brave.
And founders in the foaming wave.
"Even the little garden flower,
Once the joy of all the bower,
Fondly watched from day to day,
From its stem is swept away;
Yester morn, what bower so bright?
But, ah! how desolate to-night!
"Nought endures but Thou, O Lord;
Thou, the Everlasting Word;
Thou, the first, the midst, the end:
Thou, the deathless, changeless Friend:

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We should have here remarked, that the thoughts in verse not, with the exception of one stanza, which looks almost like an interpolation, so applicable as the thoughts in prose to the subject, but that we are unwilling to diminish the awful impression which it is impossible not to consider the whole as calculated to leave on the reflecting mind. How very differently would the day often proceed, were its morning opened with such reflections as these! And many a fair and blushing parterre of fancied bliss, and even fancied virtue, would be left to the elements, without the culture, and without the pride we lavish them, did we duly consider, that "Every plant which our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up."

upon

In harmony with the same reflections, it is impossible not to recommend to the perusal of readers in this easy and professing, not to say self-sufficient, self-applauding age, the remarks on chapters sixteen and eighteen: in the latter of which, a volume is expressed by the sentence, "The extent of the change [to be made by religion] is fixed by the term conversion; and the nature of it, by becoming as little children.'" (p. 68.) Just observations, mingled with deep feeling, are indeed the characteristic of this little volume. We should not soon leave it, were we to allow ourselves to go on selecting such passages as the following.

"What, indeed, is so lovely, as to see

youth at the call of God sacrificing its levity and selfishness; its love of pleasure and spirit of indulgence; and surrendering itself at once, and altogether, to the happy and holy service of God Almighty? It is not possible to estimate too highly the importance of early piety. Samuel, who was set apart from his birth to God, appears to be the most irreproachable of the Old-Testament saints. And of Timothy, who from a youth' had known the Scriptures,' it is said by the Apostle, I have no man like-minded.' None, perhaps, but those who are themselves suffering the penalty of early transgressions→→→ who have wasted the sweet morning of life, and are now called to redeem the time' they have lost or abused-can properly estimate the value of early religion. None but these can judge of the power which the habits of youth exercise on the character and comforts of maturer age. What can restore the bloom which has been rudely wiped from the fruit of the garden? and what can give, to the mind

familiar with the vices of the world, the freshness, the simplicity, the unconsciousness, of those who are strangers to them?" pp. 81, 82.

Instead of proceeding in our selections, we must satisfy ourselves with commending the entire little volume to the perusal of our readers; a volume amply calculated to answer the modest end proposed by its author; and exhibiting a true and edifying portrait of scriptural religion, in a variety of interesting attitudes, both in private, in the domestic circle, and in its walks abroad. The poetry is a very appropriate addition to the work; and many pieces, wth a little revision, will be found to bear transplanting into the more general, variegated, and odoriferous repositories of our fair Album collectors.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE,

&c. &c.

GREAT BRITAIN.

PREPARING for publication:-Residence

of Rome from the earliest Times to the Death of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius;

at Ashantee; by Mr. Dupuis ;-A History by the Rev. T. Arnold;-A Grammar of

the Coptic, or ancient Egyptian Language'; by the Rev. H. Tattam, A. M.; and a Lexicon of the Syriac Language, in Syriac and English; by the same Author.

In the press:-Patmos and other Poems; by J. Edmeston, Author of Sacred Lyrics;-Bibliotheca Biblica, a Select List of Books on Sacred Literature,with Notices; by W. Orme.

The following is a list of the pictures purchased of the executors of the late Mr. Angerstein, by Government, for 58,000l. and now open to public view in Pall-Mall:-1. The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, by Claude. 2. The Marriage of Rebecca-Claude, 3. Ganymede-Titian. 4. The Rape of the Sahines-Rubens. 5. The Emperor Theodosius expelled the Church by St. Ambrose-Vandyke. 6. St. John in the Wilderness-A. Carracci. 7. Susannah and the Elders-Lud. Carracci. 8. A Bacchanalian Triumph-N. Poussin. 9. Ermenia with the Shepherds-Domenichino. 10. Philip the Fourth of Spain and his Queen-Velasquez. 11. Venus and Adonis-Titian. 12. Landscape; MorningClaude. 13. An Italian Sea-port; Evening-Claude. 14. The Raising of Lazarus-Seb. del Piombino. 15. A Concert

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Titian. 16. Pope Julius the Second Raphael. 17. Christ on the Mount-Correggio. 18. Portrait of Govartius-Vandyke. 19. The Nativity-Rembrandt. 20. The Woman taken in Adultery Rembrandt. 21. The Embarkation of St. Ursula Claude. 22. Abraham and Isaac

Poussin. 23. A Land Storm-G. Poussin. 24. A Landscape, with Cattle and Figures-Cuyp. 25. Apollo and Silenus A. Carracci. 26. Holy Family in a Landscape-Rubens. 27. The Portrait of Rubens-Vandyke. 28. Studies of Heads-Correggio. 29. Ditto-do. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. The Marriage A-laMode-Hogarth. 36. Portrait of Lord Heathfield-Sir J. Reynolds. 37. The Village Holyday-Wilkie. 38. Portrait of the Painter-Hogarth.

To facilitate the acquisition of the language of China, with a view eventually to the spiritual interests of that great empire, Dr. Morrison has liberally notified that he has destined his extensive collection of Chinese books, which we lately noticed, to be lent out gratuitously to any individual in the United Kingdom, who may choose to attempt the acquisition of that language. It will only be required to deposit the estimated value of the book, till is be returned. In this library there are

about 10,000 Chinese volumes. Dr. Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, in six volumes, quarto, printed in China by the Honourable East-India Company, at an expense of 15,000 sterling, is now completed; and, by the aid of it and the books above referred to, some progress may be made in the Chinese language, without the aid of a native teacher, who however may be supplied at some future day, if the Christian public pay that attention to the subjeet which its importance demands.

Mr. Thadæus Conellan, whose zeal for the education of the Irish, through the medium of their own language, is well known to our readers, states, that not less than thirty thousand copies of elementary works, and extracts from Scripture, have been published by him for this object, and gratefully received by his countrymen. Six editions of the first two books of the Pentateuch have been already circulated at a cost of above 300%. collected for that purpose. Treatises on Irish Fisheries, on Bees, Cottages, and the "Poor Man's Farm," &c. have been provided for the instruction of the people. He has also prepared the following books, which are ready to appear in whatever number he shall be enabled by the farther liberality of the public to defray the expense of; namely, an Irish-English Primer; Reading made easy; a Spelling Book; á Grammar; a Pocket Dictionary; the first two Books of the Pentateuch; Scripture Lessons; the Proverbs of Solomon in English and Irish; the Gospel of St. Luke and Acts of the Apostles; the Gospel of St. John and his Epistles.-Irish types and printing to the amount of upwards of 6007, have been paid for by voluntary contributions raised for that purpose. Mr. Conellan's present object is to print as large a quantity as possible of the above works: the elementary ones are stereotyped, because they will be in constant demand; the others will not be so much required as soon as the Bibles and Testaments now printing by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and by the British and Foreign Bible Society, shall be completed.-John Smith, Esq. M. P., Henry Drummond, Esq., and John Mortlock, Esq. have consented to receive donations, and to see that the money is applied to the above-mentioned purposes.

We lately mentioned the formation of the London Mechanics' Institution, and we are gratified in learning that the design proceeds prosperously. It has been justly remarked, that "the sight of eight or nine hundred artificers collecting, after

The

Several new edifices, and even whole streets have been discovered. Among the most remarkable of the buildings thus brought to light is a temple, supposed to be a pantheon.

RUSSIA.

At Novogorod fair, in September last, the merchandize brought thither was valued at 94,580,000 roubles; including twelve millions' value of tea from China, and five millions of furs from Siberia.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. In 1798, Mr. Barrow fixed the popula tion of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, at 61,947 individuals. In 1800, the number was 75,145; in 1821, 116,044; and in 1822, 120,000. In 1818, the number of Whites was 42,854, of Hottentots 22,980, and of Negroes 33,320. The inha bitants of Cape Town amount to 18,430; among whom are 7,534 Negro slaves. INDIA.

their daily toils are over, to listen to the been renewed, and with great success voice of science, is something new in this metropolis, and marks a momentous era in the history of its population. change which is indicated in the manners of this class of people, by their hastening in the evening to attend scientific lectures, must be attended with great future improvement." Many other indications are apparent of the improved state of our mechanics; and, among others, the large demand which exists for the cheap weekly publications which have lately sprung up, and several of which are devoted entirely to popular surveys of literature or science. In the voluminous evidence recently given before the House of Commons' Committee on the Machinery and Combination Laws, many of the witnesses bear strong testimony to the marked improvement which has of late years taken place, not only in the intelligence, but the orderly, moral, and religious conduct of our mechanics and other workmen, and which they justly ascribe to the extensive diffusion of education. One of these witnesses mentions the following curious illustration: "I should say, they," [the tailors,]" like all other journeymen, are greatly improved in morals. Twenty years ago, few tailors' shops were without a bottle of gin: the men drank as they liked; one kept the score, and the publican came at certain times to replenish the gin-bottle. I suppose there is not a shop in London that has one now."

FRANCE.

An attempt at a complete and universal journal has lately been made at Paris, in a monthly volume, entitled, "Bulletin Universel des Sciences et de l'Industrie; dédié aux Savans de tous les Pays: publié sous la Direction de M. le Baron de Férussac." The object of this publication is to furnish to mathematicians, natural and experimental philosophers, chemists, geologists, naturalists, medical men, agriculturists, manufacturers, engineers, historians, philologists, and military men, substantial analysis of all works and academical memoirs in every part of the civilized world; a methodical repertory of all the facts connected with science; and a monthly view of the successive efforts of the human mind in every nation. The list of the contributors to the different sec. tions of the Bulletin includes the most celebrated French savans.

ITALY.

The excavations at Pompeii, which had been discontinued since the commencement of the civil troubles at Naples, have CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 270.

A recent traveller, Captain Seeley, thus describes the celebrated caves of Elora :— "Conceive the burst of surprise at suddenly coming upon a stupendous temple, within a large open court, hewn out of the solid rock, with all its parts perfect and beautiful, standing proudly alone upon its native bed, and detached from the neighbouring mountain by a spacious area all round, nearly 250 feet deep, and 150 feet broad. This unrivalled fane rearing its rocky head to a height of nearly 100 feet, its length about 145 feet, by 62 broad, having well-formed doorways, windows, staircases, containing fine large rooms of a smooth and polished surface, and regularly divided by rows of pillars. The whole bulk of this immense block of isolated excavation is upwards of 500 feet in circumference. Beyond its areas are three figure galleries, supported by pillars, containing 42 curious gigantic figures of the Hindco mythology. The three galleries in continuity, occupy nearly 420 feet of excavated rock; and above these again are excavated large rooms."

The increased diffusion of intelligence in India, by means of the press, is daily bringing to light, and concentrating, more and more of the enormities of those licensed massacres—the burning of widows. A Calcutta journal gives the following afflicting account.

"A suttee took place about eight o'clock on Friday morning, at Koonaghur Ghaut, where four women, from the age of thirty to fifty, sacrificed themselves on the same pile with the corpse of their dead husband, Kummall Chattiyer, a Coolin 3 F

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