which these charities proceed. They imply a fallen condi tiona proneness to go astray. Thus they should give prominence to every interesting truth, and call into action. the supplications, as well as the labours of their advocates. They, therefore, connect themselves with divine influence; and as a conviction of the importance of this is felt, the best effects may be expected. When men become partakers of that good and perfect gift which cometh from above, they will be found truly conscientious; and will acquit themselves as good subjects, and as blessings to society. Let this apprehension be clear and operative, and fervent prayer will ascend to the Father of mercies that the work may prosper; and an answer to the prayers of faith is certain.

In his second discourse, the professor illustrates the Christian's course as connected with opponents." The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."

In noticing the permission of opposition, he exhibits the wisdom of the proceedings of the Deity in connexion with the probationary circumstances of his creatures; and alluding to the short duration of hostility, the state of lamentation, mourning, and woe, which is to follow, and a consciousness of favours received from God, together with the example of the Redeemer, he summons to his service the most enlightened, and best regulated faculties of the mind. Those who are engaged in the work of instruction, whose business it is to combat the ignorance, the frivolity, and, in too many instances, the perverseness of the youthful pupil, as well as to encounter the frowns of hoary infants, will do well to review their charge, in connexion with similar senti

ments:

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"In exhibiting, then, to the world a proof of our faith, let us," says the preacher, "rise in earnest to the work before us; we see our enemies in earnest, both in profession and practice - we see them trampling upon the Bible, reviling our liturgy, and pressing into their service, by every possible means, all who have neither virtue, nor knowledge enough, to stand by their God, their church, and their king. And, I ask, have we only received a name? are we like the apocalyptical churches whose candlesticks were removed, because of lukewarmth? shall we surrender the active faith of our reformers for the new diabolical creeds of those who have assumed their name, without one atom of pretension to their honesty, virtue, learning, or piety? May we not hope that the zeal of our

reformed church will again break forth in all the beauty and lustre of her real excellency, and that she will not cease to lengthen her cords, and strengthen her stakes, till one universal glow of light and warmth shall have comprehended within her ample pale, not only the outcasts of this land, but the whole family of intelligent creation? and that even her enemies shall come bending before her, and hailing the brightness of her rising? when men shall seek their true rights; an inheritance that fadeth not away, eternal in the heavens!

"But in the prosecution of these good objects, it might not be amiss to anticipate some opposition, on a smaller scale than hitherto noticed.

"The poor, for whom these benefits were principally intended, cannot always be persuaded that they shall be gainers in the end. The love which nature has implanted in the human breast for its own offspring, is not always kept within its due bounds: and there are innumerable instances in which parents would rather see their children without instruction, than submit them to that wholesome regimen, without which every effort to instruct would be in vain.

"There is also another consideration that may operate for some time, which is this-the parents themselves have not, in too many instances, received this instruction themselves; which makes it impossible they can duly appreciate the reception of it in their children. In these, and innumerable other instances that will occur, there is abundant necessity for the meekness and patience recommended in our text; and which, by the blessing of God, I trust we shall all be enabled to exhibit." [pp. 30, 31.]

We cannot help regretting, prejudiced as we are in favour of the Arabic professor, that there is in the composition of these discourses an air of logical dryness unfavourable to the unction which should pervade pulpit exercises. Nor are we without concern that there should be any seeming hesitation to exhibit, with distinctness, certain doctrines of revelation, which, however calculated to clash with human pride, are of the utmost possible importance. We are far from desiring to see in every sermon an epitomized body of divinity, but, at the same time, we do wish to see, on whatever occasion the pulpit is occupied, an exhibition of redeeming mercy in its adaptation to the state of sinners a glow, if we may so speak, of that love which distinguished all the sayings of the Saviour in his addresses to dying It is with the most serious regard to the interests of religion, and our highly favoured country at large, that we urge the importance of ministrations decidedly evangelical. These are usually attended with a heavenly sanction, and

they always operate to the destruction of mere cold morality and empty speculation. The progress of charityschools renders such a course peculiarly needful. The very system of education now so generally adopted, and we wish it universal, so brings into view the wants of mankind, as to give prominence to their real condition-as sinners, “ignorant, and out of the way." It has a tendency also, by the circulation of the Bible, and an ability to read it, to excite anxieties, to infix convictions, which nothing but the clearest and plainest exhibition of the atoning sacrifice of the Redeemer can satisfy.

Memoirs of Granville Sharp, Esq., composed from his own Manuscripts, and other Authentic Documents, in the Possession of his Family, and the African Institution. By Prince Hoare. With Observations on Mr. Sharp's Biblical Criticisms. By the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of St. David's. London, 1820. Colburn. 4to. pp. 524.

IF a life devoted to the great and one purpose of public utility a life of ever varied and ever extending exertion, comprising all the essential elements of benevolence, ardent love to the species, and compassionate regard to the individual, an exalted inconsideration of personal convenience, or personal distinction, and unwearied assiduity in the pursuit of universal good, the means of promoting which were as vigilantly sought as laboriously used a life which was as virtuous and amiable in private, as it was beneficial in public; and which was not spotted and speckled, at least, with any very obvious deviations from the predominating principle, but every moment attested the sincerity of the mind which originated, and ardently, yet modestly, undertook and determinately completed works of beneficence and mercy-if such a life were to excite the admiration it merited, then would the name of GRANVILLE SHARP be transmitted with the loud acclamations of mankind to the most distant posterity.

The life of a moral hero is not, however, precisely that which is adapted to procure the greatest celebrity in the existing condition of society; because whatever respect may be paid to such eminent virtues by individuals quick to discern, and ready to acknowledge their pre-eminent value, the mighty majority will form a very different estimate, and award their approbation to more splendid and dazzling achievements. The historian may record, and the patriot

may celebrate, and the orator may eulogize, and the poet may sing its attractions; but the historian, the patriot, the orator, and the poet, will be equally disappointed if they should fancy that the sentiments of society at large will, at present, be essentially influenced by their representations. It is true they may acquire, on the part of the person they honour, a general concession of respect to the name; but they are not as yet likely to produce a proportionate impression with regard to the character in question: for it will be long ere the world in general are persuaded that moral excellence is to be admired more than military glory, or religious principle more than splendid achievements. It is not the kind of excellence attractive to the multitude, but is most obviously overlooked altogether, or excessively undervalued. A rational and permanent esteem is only to be produced by a thorough knowledge of the nature of real goodness, and by the existence of corresponding principles in the minds of those whose veneration is demanded: and, consequently, the world must be itself better, ere the higher order of moral conduct can be duly appreciated.

We have expectations, however, of the daily improvement of society in this respect; and think that the age in which we live may be fairly congratulated upon the decided manifestations of a different order of sentiment. Public feeling, which is progressively, but rapidly, becoming moral and pure, is evidently influencing, in a more extensive manner than hitherto, public opinion: and it is in the progress of the one that we are anticipating the ameliorated state of the other. The formation of those valuable institutions which Granville Sharp so promptly and so powerfully patronized, and which have ever since been diffusing so extensive an influence over the world; has proved conducive, in no common degree, to the advancement of moral feeling, and the consequent improvement of opinion. They have attracted the notice, and secured the co-operation of so many persons of superior rank and talent, who, in numberless instances, have not only afforded a fashionable aid, but, in giving their support, have been led even by the very effort to do good, to consider the necessity of being themselves under the power of principles they have assisted to implant in the minds of others; and have thus been, as it were, incidentally induced to cherish the noblest sentiments, and practise the most self-denying virtues--that the vulgar scorn which was once lavished upon every thing that bore the impress of religion, has become more and more

unseasonable and unwelcome; and is, in fact, decidedly discountenanced in those very circles in which it had almost seemed to have acquired a kind of hereditary right, and an undisputed dominion. This is a most happy "sign of the times," and justifies our anticipations, that the period is hastening when Christianity shall attain her predestined dominion, and every other system and principle its merited and eternal abasement.

The birth-place of Granville Sharp was Durham, the day of his birth the 10th of November, 1735, O. S. In 1750, he was apprenticed to a linen-draper in London, who, dying three years afterwards, left him under the same indentures to serve Henry Willoughby, Esq., the executor, a presbyterian, and a justice of peace. În 1755, he was transferred into the employment of Bourke and Co., Irish factors, and catholics. At a subsequent period he engaged himself to another linen factory, but afterwards relinquished it, as upon too contracted a scale for his anticipations and wishes. The seeds of that liberality of sentiment which distinguished him, appear to have been early sown by the different classes of religious profession he had witnessed; his father being a clergyman, his first master a Quaker, his second a presbyterian, and his third a catholic. Adverting to these remarkable circumstances in his juvenile experience, he states that they taught him " to make a proper distinction between the opinions of men and their persons ;" which, if others had made it as well as himself, it would have prevented rivers of tears, and seas of blood.

Religious controversy with a Socinian and a Jew, inmates of his master's house, induced him to apply first to the study of the Greek, and then of the Hebrew language; both these controversialists having charged him with error, arising from his ignorance of original documents.

In 1757, he took up his freedom of the city of London; and, in June, 1758, obtained a subordinate appointment in the Ordnance Office; from which period he applied himself with increased diligence to his classical and Hebraical studies. In 1764, he was made a clerk in ordinary, and removed to the minuting branch; and, in the following year, some of his peculiarities of character began to develop themselves, in consequence of his controversy with Dr. Kennicott; but more especially from what his biographer calls a chance, but which we have no hesitation in terming a providential direction of his benevolent feelings to the condition of that suffering race, in whose cause he so long,