assist us, first, to ascertain what is meant by the repentance of a sinner; and secondly, to show why it is an event to diffuse joy among the inhabitants of heaven." pp. 211, 212.vcrtani yd The conclusion is equally striking and admirable.

arc

• However lightly you may be disposed to treat the address of this evening it is a subject of vast importance to the invisible world. You alone are careless and insensible, like the victim that thoughtlessly plays around the altar where its blood is to be shed; but myriads of creatures whom you cannot see now regarding you. Let the veil be removed, and for a moment let the inhabitants of heaven and hell be exposed to our view. I mark the anxious solicitude of those infernal spirits, while they contemplate your countenances my brethren. They tremble lest you should repent with envious eye they glance at yonder seraphim who are waiting to communicate to the myriads above the joyful tidings of your salvation:--and now it is for you to decide who shall be victorious. Shall these blessed beings depart to night with emotions of pity and sad regret, and shall those fiends, with a satisfaction peculiar to their detestable nature, announce to their rebel chief, that you have added to your other crimes the rejection of the gospel. Shall they with horrid exultation drag you to the confines of death, that they may seize your departing spirit as it leaves its tenement, and hale you to your fate as those that have trampled under foot the Son of God? no-forbid it heaven!-forbid it all ye holy angels that hover round the scene!-forbid it, Almighty Spirit of Grace! Give these sinners repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth.' pp. 239, 240.

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The attention of the reader is next invited to the remembrance of the virtues, graces, and talents, of departed excellence. Mr. Styles has here republished with considerable and very judicious corrections his sermon on the death of the Rev. Thomas Spencer; and we must take opportunity to yield our willing testimony to the identy of its interesting portraiture, and to the soothing power of its instructive consolations, How awful it is to stand at the grave of a loved lamented friend, and pause on the past actions, and affertions, and expressions, of the spirit that is eternally gone! It is impossible for the tongue to give utterance to the thrilling emotions that the heart conceives; yet we return to life better from the meditation. In the instance of Mr. Spencer, no one can contemplate but with undissembled reference, that early consecration of his entire being to the service of God, which so peculiarly distinguished him and his patient pursuit and improvement of every means within his reach for qualifying himself in mind and heart as an Ambassador of To gres

B

Jesus Christ. And it is equally impossible to dwell with too much admiration, on the manifold qualities which were combined in his exercises in the Sanctuary, and which were fa voured by Heaven to promote the eternal well-being of so many. of his fellow-creatures. Piety, judgement, pathos, fancy, fervour, animation-voice, gesture, and features-united to fascinate his hearers, and impress them with the glory and power of the oracles of God. Nor could any one be more sincerely beloved by his intimate friends, to whom he was endeared by his manly integrity of spirit, his humility and gentleness of temper, the modest easiness of his manners, and his unchanging affection. A character so lovely, a life so useful, and a heart so simple, warm and pure, deserve to be treasured in every breast amidst its choicest recollections*.-We return to the work.

The next discourse is on "Cruelty to animals." We produce the greater part of its masterly peroration, as well exemplifying the author's manner in administering useful counsel. He is addressing parents, and other guardians of the young.

While children are under our guidance, we have an opportunity of discovering and counteracting their evil propensities. The elements of characters are at that tende: age, like the seedling of the forest, which with little difficulty may be rooted up, or bent into any direction. The most important part of education is the culture of the heart. It cannot commence to early; nor ought any thing to be deemed too trifling for its interference. The dawn of reason brings with it certain indications of depravity, and the germ of vice that may afterwards become incontroulable, the torment of the individual, and the scourge of others. May be at

4

*We may be forgiven the appropriation of the following beautiful lines from a modern post.

Short here thy day; for souls of holiest birth
Dwell but a moment, with the sons of earth;
To this dim sphere by God's indulgence given,
Their friends are angels, and their home is heaven.
The fairest rose in shortest time decays;
The sun, when brightest, soon withdraws his rays;
The dew that gleams like diamonds on the thorn,
Melts instantaneous at the breath of morn;
Too soon a rolling shade of darkness shrouds
The star that smiles amid the evening clouds;
And sounds that come so sweetly on the ear;
That the soul wishes every sense, could hear.
Are as the light's unwearied pinions fleet,
As scarce as beauteous, and as short as sweet."
"Isle of Palms and other Poems?

Wilson's

first no more than a slight inclination, easily subdued by gentle and reasonable reproof. This is peculiarly the case with the rise and progress of cruelty; and, as no vice is more despicable in itself, and more injurious in its consequences, it should be the great concern of parents and instructors to prevent its indulgence. In order to detect the first propensity we must vigilantly inspect the couduct of our youthful charge, not only when we are actually engaged in the business of tuition, but in the hours of recreation, when they imagine themselves to be no longer under our care. The total abandonment of children in the play-ground and the fields, is, in my opinion, a grand defect in education. A child habitually left to itself to choose its own companions, and to gratify its own wishes, is a most pitiable object; nothing but a miracle can save it from perdition; and even where the companions are wisely selected, or are children placed at the same seminary, the most unremitting attention is necessary on the part of tutors, at those seasons when attention is generally suffered to relax. It is in their amusements that children acquire and mature those habits which afterwards controul their moral destiny, and then it is that they peculiarly stand in need of our assistance. Not that I would for one moment interpose authority, to systematize their pleasures, and repress their cheerfulness: but I would convert the instructor into a companison; I would have him become the playmate of their minds, that he may thus attain a perfect knowledge of all that they think and feel; under this character his ascendancy over them would be compleat, and, with the blessing of God on his endeavours, he might effectually restrain those evil inclinations which, at a very early age, they are so apt to conceive and to indulge. We ought not, however, to rest satisfied with mere restraint; we should aim to excite in the hearts of youth kind and humane feelings towards every creature that possesses a capacity of enjoyment. For this purpose we should put into their hands books of natural history; they should be made early acquainted with the sensibility, sagacity, and usefulness of animals. Every interesting anecdote, illustrative of their virtues, should be treasured up in their memory. In destroying noxious animals, we should be careful to explain the reason of our conduct, and to convince them that we feel no pleasure in the infliction of pain. If we perceive them disposed to form attachments to those creatures that are susceptible of kindness, we ought to encourage the propensity, and to avail ourselves of the ocoasion to interest them in the happiness of every thing that lives. The consistency of all this with a generous and manly courage, and its having not the smallest tendency to induce a sickly sensibility, might be easily proved; but your time is already exhausted. Without enlarging, therefore, on this topic, I would sit down with briefly adverting to another and that is, the grand remedy which a merciful God has provided for all the miseries of this afflicted world. Inferior means may be employed, but none will prove efficacious where this is neglected. The honour of renovating

human nature, and introducing the universal empire of love, is reserved for the Gospel.' pp. 300-303.

The tenth sermon is in illustration of " Jesus as the bright and morning star." Its composition, as well as that of the preceding discourse, is evidently susceptible of considerable amendment. The one that succeeds is on the "Characteristio Principles of the Gospel:" and wns preached and published for the benefit of the London Female Penitentiary: there are several passages in it peculiarly interesting, and the whole seems written with rather more than the author's accustomed care. The last sermon is on the "Celestial objects of Hope," and cannot fail to yield to every serious mind both instruction and delight. We regret that our limits preclude our doing more than to transcribe its excellent conclusion; and the inference which Mr. Styles has deduced from his immediate subject may most appropriately be extended to the entire series.

We infer the value of experimental religion. I mean that religion which is more than form and outward profession-what the Scriptures denominate, "the power of godliness:" Religion which is felt in the heart, which sanctifies the affections, and displays in the character the virtues of God: Religion that encourages us to look forward to the profession of joys which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived; that unites the soul to the vivifying principle which lives eternally, and gives all things life; to that power which will in due time call into existence a wonderful scene of life, beauty, and glory, which the visible universe cannot contain. Who would not be adorned with the charms of such piety? Who would not be enriched with its sublime rewards. How little do mankind know either of dignity or happiness, who suffer themselves to be governed by the atoms and evils of a diminutive world, while they neglect the only pursuit which is worthy of their nature, and which does not terminate in despair! much is said of happiness; all desire it; but few attain it. It is only to be found in the hallowed abode of a spiritual life, the sacred living temple of a reuewed heart.'

We close the volume with sincere respect for the talents and principles of the author, and cheerfully recommend it to public patronage. In the event of a new edition, the writer will no doubt avail himself of our friendly severity. In every fresh appearance he makes before us, he exhibits very material improvement; and we have determined to accept the present production as an earnest only of greater things hereafter. He intimates an intention to prepare a set of discourses on the peculiar Doctrines and Duties of Christianity. He has chosen a magnificent task: We shall rejoice, years hence, to announce the fortunate result.

J

Art. XIV. Letters from the Mediterranean, containing a Civil and Political Account of Sicily, Tripoly, Tunis and Malta with biographical sketches, Anecdotes and Observations, illustrative of the present state of those countries. By E. Blaquiere, Esq.

(Concluded from page 456.),

IN our last number we attempted a slight abstract of the information which Mr. Blaquiere has furnished respecting Sicily. We have now to accompany him through his remaining Letters, which relate to Tripoly, Tunis, and Malta.

Our author's observation on the regencies of Tripoly and Tunis are not uninteresting, but exhibit so many marks of compilation, as to render a lengthened notice of them unnecessary. We shall confine ourselves to an ot or two. In the first letter we meet with the following account of the ancient Leptis Magná: it was communicated to our author by a friend who passed three days on the spot.

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The extensive ruins of Leptis Magna are situated close to the sea, which appears to have made some encroachments on a part of them, those which I saw, extend about three miles in length southward, and nearly two in breadth. The bed of a river runs from the mountains directly through the ruins, which consist of gateways, walls, an immense number of pillars, some of which are of the finest granite, broken statues, and marbles, with inscriptions in Greek, Latin, and Punic characters; together with remains of an aqueduct There are also a great many sculptured friezes, which appear to have belonged to some temples; the remains of several Roman baths are visible near the city; and I observed, about a mile from the ruins, an oblong terrace of fine Roman pavement, of considerable extent; several ruins about this place evidently denoted that it must have been the site of a theatre. There are the remains of a large edifice close to the sea, which appears to have been a species of fortification. Cameos, coins, medals, and bronzes, are frequently found at Leptis by the Arabs, who sometimes take them to the capital for sale, but as often destroy them from motives of superstition. To the amateurs for antique, researches, there cannot be a greater inducement for excavating at this place, than that their efforts would most assuredly be attended with the greatest success: for, in their own language, it is virgin ground, as, with the exception of a few of the nine granite pillars, taken away more than a century ago to ornament a palace of Lewis the Fourteenth, this place has scarcely been visited by any European travellers.' Vol. II pp. 19, 20.

Tripoly, in respect of natural advantages, may be ranked amongst the most favoured nations. It possesses a climate singularly healthy and temperate, and the soil produces all the