to question the propriety of such a liberal expenditure on religious edifices; to which the latter replied by asking "whether Alla Bhye, by spending double the money on an army that she did on charity' and good works, could have preserved her country in a state of profound peace, while she rendered her subjects happy and herself adored? No person," he added, "doubts the sincerity of her piety; but if she had merely possessed worldly wisdom, she could have devised no means so admirably calculated to effect the object. I was," this person concluded, " in one of the Princess's offices at Poonah, during the last years of her administration, and know well what feelings were excited at the mere mention of her name. Among the princes of her own nation it would have been looked upon as sacrilege to have become her enemy, or indeed not to have defended her against any hostile attempt. She was considered by all in the same light. The Nizan of the Deckan, and Tipoo Sultan, granted her the same respect as the Paishwas; and Mahomedans joined with Hindoos in prayers for her long life and prosperity."

Among her own subjects, Alla Bhye never experienced the slightest disturbance: there could not, indeed, be any opposition to an authority that was continually exercised in acts of beneficence and justice.

"The fond object of her life," says Sir John Malcolm, was to promote the prosperity of all around her. She rejoiced when she saw bankers, merchants, farmers and cultivators rise to affluence, and so far from deeming their increased wealth a ground of exaction, she considered it a legitimate claim to increased favour and protection."

Sir John Malcolm details several anecdotes in confirmation of the character of this distinguished Princess; and states that he collected his information from all classes, who vied with each other in their veneration for her memory. Among others he mentions the domestic of Alla Bhye who attended her person. He was at the time near 90 years of age, and his reverence exceeded all bounds.

Alla Bhye was tried by severe domestic afflictions, and we have a most affecting account of the death of her daughter, who voluntarily consigned herself to the flames, on the funeral pile of her deceased husband. This dreadful scene was witnessed by her mother, and was detailed to Sir John Malcolm in all its tragical particulars by numerous eye-witnesses.

When Fear her chilling mantle flings
O'er earth, my soul to heaven above,
As to her sanctuary, springs,
For God is love.

When Mystery clouds my darken'd path,
I'll check my dread, my doubts reprove;
In this my soul sweet comfort hath,
That God is love.

The entanglement which restless thought,
Mistrust, and idle reasonings prove,
Are thus unravelled and unwrought-
For God is love.

Yes! God is love-a thought like this
Can every gloomier thought remove,
And turn all tears, all woes, to bliss-
For God is love.

On Private and Family Prayer.

SIR, October 23, 1826. THE perusal of two excellent letters in your Christian Reformer, from Mr. R. Wright, to the Unitarians in the North-east District, on personal religion and family devotion, has induced me to commit to paper some thoughts which were first produced in my mind by hearing different persons allege as an excuse for the neglect of private prayer, that the family in which they resided assembled round the domestic altar and offered their united tribute of prayer and praise; and from hearing others assert, that an attention to private devotion supersedes family worship. It appears to me, that these excuses for the neglect of one duty by the performance of another, imply a disrelish for these exercises of piety, or they arise from inattention to the subject altogether; for, according to my ideas, private and family devotion are separate duties, and peculiar ad

vantages are annexed to the right discharge of each; I say the right discharge, for I fear prayer is too often engaged in as a thing of course, and that the lips utter words in which the heart is little interested. As prayer is, or ought to be, an address of the heart and the understanding to Him who sees in secret, it requires that the best powers of the mind and the best affections of the heart be called into exercise; and where this is the case, the advantages of private devotion must be peculiarly felt; it is an individual act, and cannot find its substitute in social worship: "the heart only knoweth its own bitterness," its own weakness, its own wants; and what so consolatory, so animating, as the intercourse which is held in secret between the creature and the Creator? What is so calculated to confirm the feelings of pious gratitude and trust, of resignation and hope, to establish good resolutions and virtuous habits, and to strengthen the power of resisting evil ones, as are those addresses to the Author of all good, and the Searcher of all hearts, which arise from a conviction of our dependence and his universal providence, our weakness and constant liability to err, and his readiness to hear and power to assist? Family devotion, however well conducted, cannot take in the situation and feelings of every individual; the addresses must be general. In the above remarks, I have not considered private devotion as a duty enjoined by Jesus, who said, "Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret." This to his sincere disciples is an additional motive for the practice. He, who knew what was in man, felt the advantage of private intercourse with his Father in heaven, and foresaw that his followers would require his injunction, as well as his example, to stimulate them to the performance of this duty; and if those who have hitherto lived in the neglect of it, would make trial of its advantages when properly discharged, they would not easily relinquish the practice.

But I proceed to the second part of the subject, namely, that in the opinion of some, private devotion sets aside the necessity of family worship. I am persuaded it is a reason offered by inconsideration; but thoughtlessness in matters of religion should never be allowed; if permitted, indifference will soon follow, and the step is short between that and a total neglect of those instrumental duties to which even the best Christians find it necessary to attend, in order to keep alive in their own minds, and in the breasts of

those around them, that flame of devotion which, without these aids, is so apt to grow dim, and finally to be extioguished.

As private devotion is an individual, so is family devo tion a social act, and the advantages attending the practice of the latter as well as the former are many and great. What more rational, what more delightful, than the united homage of an assembled household to Him who is the Father of all the families on earth, and who has promised his special favour to those who unite to pay their vows to him? What so likely to produce feelings of piety in children and servants, the latter of whom would perhaps otherwise be without one sentiment of gratitude to the Author of all good, as the devout address of the parent or the master to him whose providence guards the night from evil, and provides for the wants and enjoyments of each succeeding day? What has an equal tendency to produce peace and harmony in a family, as the union of individuals under the same roof, in these exercises of piety, where all meet as equals, and all join in one act of prayer and praise, to him with whom is no respect of persons? What so likely to make domestics sober, honest and industrious, as to feel by these acts of devotion that they are in the presence of a Master in heaven, to whom they are accountable for their conduct in the situation which his providence has assigned them? And, as a lesser good, though still a good, what so well calculated to produce order and regularity in a house, as the beginning and ending every day with stated acts of worship? If by this practice, continued through a long life, the master or mistress of a family can hope that good has been produced in the feelings and conduct of only one individual, that by his or her means one immortal being has been turned from the error of his ways, how sweet will be the reflection in that hour when the adventitious circumstances which men so highly prize will avail nothing! But the probability is, that many will be led to reflect, that much good may be done by a punctual attention to family worship; but be this as it may, the performance of the duty will be accepted; and that Being who knows how to appreciate every act of piety, will reward and bless every effort of his faithful servants for the promotion of his glory and the advancement of religion.

A. Y.

Mr. Gilman's Sermon, at Charleston, on John i. 1 & 14. [Concluded from p. 373.]

And where is the matter brought, my friends? I proposed to demonstrate, in the second head of my discourse, that these differences of interpretation may really agree in all that is of essential importance to religion and to salvation. It can be, shewn, and it will be shewn in a few words. I will not call it a gross slander, I will not call it an abusive falsehood, but I will call it an unhappy error, which induces our opponents to represent us as bringing down the Saviour to the level of a mere man.* Along with them, we believe, it is true, that he had a human nature. But I have said enough this evening to shew you that, as we believe, immeasurable degrees of power and wisdom were poured out upon and closely connected with his human nature, by the Spirit of God. Supposing, now, that we went farther; supposing we took the single step more which our opponents demand us to take, on pain of denouncing against us eternal damnation: supposing we actually allowed that Jesus were God and man at one and the same momentt-should we really render his religion of more authority to us? Should we feel more constrained to obey his commands? Should we feel more gratitude to God for working rich provisions for our salvation? Should we feel a greater abhorrence for sin? for I take it to be impossible that any thinking being could suppose that Jehovah himself resigned his existence for our sins. Should we have any greater motives to pass lives of holiness and piety, here below, and to prepare for the eternal realities of another world? I solemnly say to all this, No. Because, in whatever degree we honour the Father, to that same degree it is clear we honour the Son and Messenger whom he has sent.

Nor, on the other hand, are we prepared for the uncharitable alternative of pronouncing all those idolaters, who thinking Jesus to be God, worship him so. Because, we

* By the expression a mere man, as applied to the Saviour, I mean, and I think our opponents generally mean, that he was unconnected in a supernatural manner with the Deity, and that his religion, like that of Mahomet, was purely of human origin.

The difference between the two parties, for which Unitarians are so bitterly and unsparingly denounced and excommunicated, is simply this: Unitarians believe in the closest union between the Father and the Son; Trinitarians, as far as we can comprehend them, contend for a unity, or identity. It seems a question of arithmetic, rather than of true theology.