deem them liberal. Many One circumstance claims par among the opulent and well disposed of their countrymen have joined them in this good work. Near one half of the sum required, is now subscribed for, but above eleven hundred pounds are still wanting. Yet notwithstanding, the society with that trust in Providence and in the benevolence of the publick, in which they have never been deceived, have begun the work. They feel the importance of hastening it forward for the accommodation of no less than three hundred and thirty five thousand persons, of whom it is computed that three hundred thousand understand no other language than the Gaelick, or at least cannot comprehend a book written, or a continued discourse spoken in any other. Gentlemen, I speak not upon mere information: I have travelled in the service of the society through every part of the Highlands and Islands, and have preached to congregations consisting of many hundreds who from curiosity flocked together to see and hear a strange minister: but of whom perhaps not above a dozen in each, understood what he said. What benevolent heart would not rejoice to be instrumental in sending to so numerous a people, and these our fellow citizens, the word of God in their native language and at such a rate, as the poorest among them can afford? Who that is guided by a spark of humanity, would not wish to convey to successive generations of many thousands of children, this best and most effectual means of instruction and improvement' in every thing valuable and important, whether regarding man as a member of human society, or a being destined for immortal ,ity? ticular attention at present. From a variety of combined causes, unnecessary to be enumerated, a rage for emigration to America has for some years prevailed through the Highlands and Islands. Instead of diminishing, it continues to increase. It is computed by those who have best access to information, that at least twenty thousand people are engaged to cross the Atlantick during the course of the present season. Should this disposition remain, these countries will, ere many years elapse, be deprived of their native inhabitants; and surely the climate and soil contain few attractions to strangers to come to supply their place. A few solitary shepherds and their dogs will constitute the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands. The mischief which from this unhappy change will result to the empire at large, is obvious to every man of the least reflection. Are not the Highlands and Islands the nursery of our army? From their heath covered mountains, have not a multitude of our most gallant defenders sprung? Men, who in every field, and in every climate have covered themselves with glory? And does our country stand less in need of their assistance now, when a proud and violent foe threatens to invade our coasts and deprive us of every thing dear and valuable to us as men and as christians ; as citizens of the happiest country, blessed with the noblest constitution of any on the face of the earth? Gentlemen, is not this a time when such a people should be soothed, and by every possible means encouraged in their ancient and well known attachment to their native country? Much I trust, the wisdom of government will see it necessary for them to do, for this most important purpose. And ought not we in our several stations, to do all in our power to promote the same valu able end? And I affirm from a thorough knowledge of these people, that we can do nothing more grateful to them than to send to them the scriptures in their native language, and schools to teach their children to read them. Gentlemen, to be sensible of the value and importance of these schools, think only of what the Highlanders were, and what they now are. I will not resume the sad description of what they formerly were; but I assert from personal knowledge and experience, that there is not now upon the face of the earth a people more peaceable, more honest, or more attached to the king and constitution of their country. Compare their character with that of the peasantry of a neighbouring island. It is needless to descend into particulars the broad facts which constitute the difference are well known, and the contrast is distressing. What is the cause? Is it not, that the inhabitants of the one country are blessed with the means of education and instruction, while those of the other, uneducated and uninstructed are left to all the dismal effects, which ignorance and superstition combined, produce up on the mind and character of man? From the schools of the society, beside their happy effects upon the civilization and improvement of the inhabitants at large, have issued numbers qualified by their knowledge of letters, and still more by their good principles and sober and regular habits, to rise in the army through all subVOL. I. No. 4. Y ordinate gradations to even the highest ranks, as many of them have actually done. From the schools of the society have issued many, who in consequence of the first principles of literature imbibed in them, have been enabled to prosecute their studies and to become qualified for the places of trust and consequence in civil life, which they now occupy. There are present some, who from their own experience can bear testimony to the truth of these observations. And there are now in heaven thousands who give glory to God in the highest, that by the society, schools were erected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Need I say more, gentlemen, to prove the importance of these seminaries to individuals and to the publick at large? I appeal to the understanding of every man who hears me, whether there can be a better directed charity, than to contribute to their support and to the increase of their number? I have spoken perhaps too long and with too much earnestness, but your good nature will find an apology for me in the interesting nature of the subject; in this perhaps too, that with me it is in some measure a personal cause, because during the best part of my life I have been intimately connected with this society for ten years as a director, and for fourteen more as its secretary; that I have travelled much and laboured much in its service, and that still the largest portion of my time and attention is devoted to it. : Though my services are gratuitous, they are amply rewarded by the consciousness of endeavouring through this channel to promote the best interests of a very large proportion of my countrymen. This will be a source of pleasant reflection to me during the progress of my life. I trust that on my bed of death, it will not desert me; and it is my wish, that on my tomb my constituents may find cause to inscribe; "HERE LIES AN ACTIVE AND USEFUL SECRETARY OF THE FOR PROPAGATING SOCIETY FRAGMENTS. MOUNT TABOR. Mount Tabor is a lofty conical mountain, standing in the plain where the Turks formed an encampment. On its elevated summit is a very fertile spot, about half a mile in circumference, almost covered with beautiful oak trees, which bear extremely large acorns. The ancient remains of walls, trenches, and other fortifications, are also still visible on the top of the mount. The surrounding prospect is delightful. The mount of the Beatitudes appears to the north, and on the northwest the Mediterranean sea presents itself; to the east are the lakes of Tiberias, and mount Hermon; and to the south, are the mountains of Gilboa. Mount Lebanon is seen from sundry places on the sea coast; and its white slate colour appears well to justify its name, which is derived from the Hebrew leben, signifying whiteness. JERUSALEM. THE number of houses at present in Jerusalem is between 3 and 4,000: its inhabitants are estimated at, Turks 10,000; Greeks 1,000; Franks 1,000; Armenians 1,000; Jews 3,500. Sir Sidney Smith is said to be the first christian, who, since the Turks have had possession of Jerusalem, has been allowed to enter it in the dress of a Frank, or to carry arms within the city. The same priv ilege was extended to his officers. PREACHING. To preach practical sermons, as they are called, i. e. sermons upon virtues and vices, without inculcating those great scripture truths of redemption, grace, &c. which alone can incite and enable us to forsake sin, and follow after righteousness, what is it but to put together the wheels, and set the hands of a watch, forgetting the spring, which is to make them all go? App. to Bp. Horne's Life Singular and authentick instance of fidelity and grateful attachment in a negro. A gentleman of respectability Dr. L. was lately confined for some time in the King's Bench prison, while his fortune, involved in a chancery suit, was unjustly withheld from him. During this distressing period, he was obliged by poverty to tell his negro servant that, however repugnant to his fellings, they must part: his pecuniary difficulties being now such that he was unable to provide himself with the necessaries of life. The negro well known in the King's Bench prison by the name of Bob, replied with affectionate warmth, "No massa, we will never part many a year have ! you kept me, and now I will keep you." Accordingly, Bob went out to work as a day labourer, and, at the end of every week, faithfully brought his earnings to his master. These proved sufficient for their support until the recent decision of the chancery suit by which Dr. L. obtained an award of 30,000l. It ought to be added to the doctor's honour that he has settled a handsome annuity for life on this faithful negro. Review of New Publications. A Discourse, delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster, to the pastoral charge of the Church in Brattle Street, Boston. By Joseph Buckminster, D. D. Pastor of the North Church, Portsmouth. N. H. Boston. Young and Minns. 1805. To guard the text* from misconstruction, the preacher first gives a clear and concise exposition of it, and then proceeds to enforce the apostolical charge. The considerations, by which he inculcates it, are "the dignity of a minister's office, the elevation of his station, and the design and influence of the christian minis try." Under the last of these topicks, the following observations furnish a specimen of the author's manner of writing; and, at the same time, merit attention for their intrinsick truth and impor tance. The time forbids my enlarging upon the mighty influence, and astonishing effect of the gospel ministry, upon the manners, habits, and state of the world, in the first preaching of the apostles. Oracles were silenced; idols were deserted, and their temples demolished; superstition, ignorance, and errour fled; the ferocious passions of men were tamed; and pride, malice, and discord, yielded to order, benevolence, and piety. These omitted; where, in later times, has any nation obtained a just knowledge of God, or of moral, relative, and social obligation? Where has any people been favoured with a reforma tion of life and manners, or formed to social order and happiness, and the christian ministry has not been the principal instrument? Where has liberty been enjoyed without licentiousness, or government been maintained without despotism, in the general neg'ect of religious institutions, or contempt of those, who are appointed to Titus ii 15. Let no man despise thre administer them? But God hath reserved the highest honour to the christian ministry, in its personal and individual influence When a Roman centurion was an object of special mercy, though angels were on the wing ministering to him, yet he must send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, that the grace and truth, by which he and his house should be saved, might be breathed through the lips of a minister of Christ. And when the great apostle of the Gentiles was to be called into the gospel of God's dear Son, neither the light from heaven, which was above the brightness of the sun, nor the accents of Jesus, which accompanied that splendour, superseded the necessity of a minister of peace to complete the work so miraculously begun. On the subject of language proper for the pulpit, the following remarks deserve the serious regard of candidates for the ministry, at the present day. directing their principal attention to May not the sons of the prophets, by the science of words, and their principal energies to the beauties of style, and the elegancies of composition, be in some danger of leaving their discourses empty of sentiment, destitute of solid doctrinal, practical, and experimental instruction? Will such discourses, though they may please the ear, and provoke applause, minister food to the mind, or comfort to the heart? and in the hour of reflection, when the hearer attempts to recollect and review what he has heard, will not his fuccessive attempts, like those of the Trojan hero, embrace a shadow? Such exhibitions, in the view of the pious and discerning, convert the sacred desk, designed for dispensing the word of life and delivering the whole counsel of God, into a theatre for displaying the talents of the preacher, and sounding his own praise With studied design to reject the language of scripture in our devotional or didactick exercises, to fritter down its sublime and mysterious doctrines, or to explain away, by subtile and forced interpretations, their obvious import, though with the plausible pretext of rendering them more level to human comprehension, or in the charitable hope of conciliating the esteem of the boasters in human reason, is too manifest a declaration, that we are ashamed of the mysteries of the gospel, and that we would compound with God in our subjection to his revealed authority. Such courtly deference to the wisdom of this world may, indeed, conciliate its professed esteem, but it is only, as we adadminister strength to its infidelity, and relax the restraints upon its ruling passions. A studied neglect of scripture language, or an apparent contempt of its painness and simplicity in performing the offices of our sacred function, so that while the bible furnishes us with a text, Plato, Seneca, or Aristotle fills up the page, is matter of grief to the pious, and of banter to the profane. It is to "begin in the Spirit, and to be per fect in the flesh." A discourse, replete with rich, evangelical sentiments; pertinent to the occasion; impressively pathetick; and in a style, becoming the simplicity and dignity of a primitive teacher of christianity, disposes us to overlook trivial blemishes. "Ubi plura nitent-non ego paucis Offendar maculis." But, if there be errours, the benevolent and pious author, we are sure, would regret to have them copied by young divines. Perspicuity is so essential to every discourse addressed to a promiscuous assembly, that phrases, not thoroughly incorporated with the English language, or allusions to what is not commonly known, are hardly admissible. "Autopian expectation" (p. 7.), we apprehend, would not be generally understood. We doubt, whether a popular assembly would understand "Scylla and Charybdis" (p. 15), as denoting two opposite sources of danger. Another allusion to a passage in the Æneid of Virgil (ibid.) might have a happy effect on a classical auditory; but, even in an "age of philological improvement," and in a re gion of literary polish and refine, ment," many persons would as much require an explanation of "The Trojan hero, embracing a shadow," as they would need a translation of the very beautiful o riginal : "Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum ; Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno." The CHARGE, by the Rev. Mr. Cushing of Waltham, though short, is pertinent. It inculcates an attention to the proper means of improving the dispositions and abilities, requisite for the ministe rial office; and fidelity in the discharge of pastoral duties. It also reminds the candidate of the prevailing spirit of the age, and charges him to counteract it. You are set for the defence of the gospel, in a day, in which the peculiar doctrines of christianity are denied and opposed, and a tender, circumspect behaviour ridiculed by some, who value themselves as standards of genius or politeness. In such a day, you will exert your courage and strength to that is spreading far and wide. Contend stem that torrent of vice and infidelity earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. The RIGHT HAND OF FELLOWSHIP, by the Rev. Mr. Emerson of Boston, is happily introduced by a contrast of the kingdom of Jesus Christ with the kingdoms of this world. "The basis of the christian religion,” it is remarked in the introductory part, "is humility, and its superstructure is love." The observation of Christ on the lordly domination of gentile rulers, with his injunction of humility and fraternal regard, is appositely cited, in confirmation of the sentiment. The pertinency of the subsequent remark is not so readily discerned : The nature of christianity, and the |