believe never till lately) be able, with confidence and fluency, to engage in prayer before large parties composed of both sexes? The questions admit only of one answer; yet such are importations from America.

That religion is all-important, it would be madness and impiety to deny; yet, if we are to procure things honestly in the sight of all men-if we are to pay all their due, and to owe no man any thing but only love—if we are to provide for our own households, failing which, the apostle tells us we are worse than infidels, this would, in a sanctified use of it, demand a proper proportion of our time and attention; nor is that man in his duty, who, upon any day except the Sabbath day, suffers public meetings in excess, to absorb that time and energy which he owes to the affairs of his family, to society, and to his country.

I had intended to have made some further observations upon the subject of Revivals, and also upon the present mode of elucidating and unfolding prophecy, or attempting to do so, but find I have already written too much.* To the prophetic student, I cannot do better than recommend a Sermon, lately preached and published by my friend, Dr. Smith, on the principles of Interpretation applied to the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures." -(Holdsworth and Ball.)

Homerton.

JAMES EDMESTON.

CURIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

Two goates meeting upon a very narrow bridge, so narrow as the one could not passe by the other, they use no Babylonish feates, tricks of violence one to drown the other, but in friendly sort the one lyes prostrate, while the other passeth over his backe, and both escape the danger both of bridge and water.

"Jerusalem may bow her back but shall not escape."

A poore lame man not able to remove, but as hee was carried on a stoole, did contract himselfe in matrimony to a poore blind woman, saying; that true friendship should more constantly continue be

We shall be glad to hear again from our esteemed correspondent on these important and interesting subjects.

tweene them by being partakers of eythers calamitie, the one not having to object against the other: he lends her eyes, and shee retaliates his lending by lending him her feete.

But Jerusalem hath neyther eyes nor legges: Zedekiahs eyes are out, and his legs are bound.

From "An Exposition upon partofthe Lamentations of Jeremie, Lectured at Cork, in Ireland, by John Hill, Bachelor of Divinity, sometime of Gorville and Caius College in Cambridge, 1718.

INTELLIGENCE.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING ECCLESIASTICAL KNOWLEDGE. We have already informed our readers, that a Society was about to be formed for diffusing a knowledge of the principles of church polity, as exhibited in the New Testament, through the medium of cheap publications. We are now glad that we can state that the Society is properly organized, and we trust it will soon commence its operations. A meeting of the friends to the projected object, was held on Saturday morning, at the City of London Tavern, at which Resolutions were passed pledging the meeting to the undertaking, and a Committee and the proper Officers appointed. We are satisfied that our readers will see a sufficient guarantee for the respectability and efficiency of the institution, when we state that the Rev. Drs. Cox and Bennett were appointed Secretaries, and that on the Committee are found the names of some of the most enlightened Dissenters of the metropolis. The designation assumed is, "The Society for promoting Ecclesiastical Knowledge, conducted by Evangelical Dissenters."

VARIETIES.

GAS.-The following experiments are worthy of attention.-A piece of wire gauze laid upon the glass chimney of a common argand gas burner, the flame is immediately enlarged to twice its former dimensions, and its light fully doubled. Place the finger, or a bit of cork, so as to close the lower opening of the interior air passage of a common argand gas burner; the flame experiences a sudden enlargement, with an increase of light nearly equal to that in Exp. 1. The air tube of an argand gas burner being stopped as in Exp. 2., and the flame, consequently, enlarged, no further change happens when wire gauze is laid on the top of the glass chimney. Over the glass chimney of a single jet gas burner, wire gauze being laid produces no enlargement of the flame, and

no increase of the light. In an experiment at the rooms of the Mechanics' Institute, York, it was found that 100 feet of gas were consumed in three hours and twenty-five minutes by six argand gas burners in the ordinary state, while the same gas burners provided with wire gauze caps to their chimnies, yielded an equal light for an equal time, but consumed only about fifty feet of gas.

ANECDOTE OF LINNEUS.-The following anecdote of Linnæus is traditionally preserved in the Oxford botanical garden of the University. When he visited this country, Linnæus presented himself at Oxford to Dillenius and Sherard, two eminent German botanists. He was at this time a verv young man, and his system had as yet made but little noise in the world of science. The latter received him with cordiality, but Dillenius was very cool, and said to Sherard, "this is the young fellow who is putting all botanists and botany into confusion." Linnæus did not understand the English language in which this remark was made, but yet he recognized in the word confiusehjcn so pronounced by Dillenius in his German accent, the latin epithet confuses. He was silent: Sherard and Dellenius walked up down the garden with their new acquaintance, and stopped by a wall overgrown with Antirrhinum (Linaria) Cymbalaria; a plant upon which they were desirous to have the opinion of Linnæus, as much doubt had existed respecting it. Linnæus removed these difficulties with his natural perspicuity. The gentlemen again pointed to a second, and a third plant, of which they felt uncertain, and again the Swede explained the dubious points with perfect ease. Dillenius

and

was surprised; and Sherard observed to him that he could perceive no "confusion at all" in Linnæus. He invited the stranger to dine with him, and during the several days that Linnæus remained in Oxford, he found that the dislike which Dillenius had at first entertained towards him, wore gradually away, and gave place to esteem and friendship. On taking leave, Linnæus remarked to Dillenius, that he should be very sorry to have brought confusion into the garden at Oxford. Dillenius blushed and apologized for the hasty word which had escaped his lips.-Quarterly Botanical Miscellany.

GIBBON'S HISTORY.-A neat edition of this work is in course of publication at Leipzig, in monthly parts; it will contain three hundred sheets, and be comprised in twelve volumes, at an expense not exceeding eighteen shillings, for nearly five thou sand pages!-Athenæum.

POETRY.

LINES

ON HEARING THE NIGHTINGALE IN A THICKET
NEAR BLACK BOURTON, OXON.

HARK! the tuneful Nightingale
Echoing sweetly through the vale;
Charm'd with her melodious song,
Cheerfully I bound along.

Many a bird in yonder grove,
Chaunts a strain I must approve;
But there's none compar'd with her,
She's a lovely chorister.

Perch'd amidst yon hoary thorn,
Happy she both night and morn;
And, whatever some suppose,
Not a thorn* her bosom knows.

Were I half as blithe as she,
How much happier I should be ;
'Twould afford me much content,
Were I half as innocent.

Stranger to the cares of life,
Or discordant notes of strife-
Thus, she truly seems to me
Emblem just of liberty.

But in vain shall mortals strive
At this state of bliss t' arrive :
This alone they wait to prove,
In the happier realms above.

WHEN in this barren world we've found
Some little spot of fertile ground
Where all that man can wish for is,
And all around but tells of bliss;
Then the heart flings away its care,
And fondly plants its dwelling there:
Nor deems that aught,of ill can be
Attendant on its destiny;

And, dreamless that the blast may come
To desolate so fair a home.
Alas! for man-in very deed.
He resteth on a broken reed:
For scarcely wears the passing day,
E'er those bright visions flee away;
And memory only lingers there,
Reminding us that such things were.

No. 19.]

[PRICE 3d.

"

Christian brethren and friends,

THE apostle Paul felt deeply concerned about the salvation of the heathen; this appears abundantly in his prayers, and in the various epistles which he penned.

"

Being affectionately desirous of you,' he says to the Thessalonians, "we were willing to have imparted to you, not the gospel only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us:" we were willing not only to have fed you with the sincere milk of God's word, but also the very blood which flowed in our veins, if it had been necessary, or would have conduced to your salvation. But in the abundance of his zeal for the conversion of the heathen, was Paul indifferent to his own countrymen? in no wise. Immediately after his conversion we find that he "straitway preached, Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God." Though he was especially the apostle of the Gentiles, he did not consider this as a reason why he should forget the Jews. He was very anxious to be at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost, because then he knew that great numbers of his countrymen would be assembled together, and that he should have good opportunities of addressing them on the subject of the great salvation. Oh! what fervent prayers does he offer for them! What anxiety does he express on their account! he could have suffered, and even died for them. "I have continual heaviness and great sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from

VOL. I.

Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

Beloved friends, let the apostle Paul be our model; let us imitate him as he imitated his master, Jesus Christ; let every heart hail the office of a missionary to the heathen, as a great mark of heaven's peculiar favour; let the distinguished few who are permitted by the Great Head of the church to take the glad tidings of the gospel to foreign lands, and allowed to tear themselves from friends, from families, from countrymen, from home; let them say, "Unto me, unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ." But, like Paul, let us never lose sight of those with whom we are more immediately associated. Paul felt deeply for the state of his countrymen; are they reprobates?" said he, "hath God cast them off? God forbid!” Are our brethren, our countrymen, even the most wicked of them, are they reprobates? are they abandoned? is their case hopeless? God forbid! Let us go forward with all our heart and soul, to make them acquainted with those great things of the gospel which belong to their peace.

It is my privilege this evening to address the friends of "THE HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY," whose object it is to go forth among their countrymen to make known unto them the word of salvation. The foundation of my address you have heard; from it let us endeavour to answer this question,

X

IN WHAT MANNER SHALL WE PROCEED? HOW ARE WE TO GO FORTH IN OUR UNDERTAKING? I answer,

I. Let us go forward in our holy

career IN THE EMPLOYMENT OF THOSE MEANS WHICH ARE CONGENIAL WITH THE DISPENSATION UNDER WHICH WE LIVE.

We find the men of Israel going forth with a human arm, breaking the images in pieces, and throwing down the altars of idolatry. This they were fully justified in doing; in those days they lived under a Theocracy: idolatry was high treason against the government; and had they destroyed the idolaters themselves, as well as the idols, they had not gone one whit beyond the command given by Moses; for every idolater was ordered to be stoned with stones until he was dead. But we do not live under such a dispensation: now we are commanded to throw away swords of steel, and to use weapons which may reach the conscience, and so pierce the heart. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal," though they are "mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds :" they are not less powerful because they are not made of steel; we are to use the sword of the Spirit;" Christ puts it into our hands; he says, "Go ye forth into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

"Thus arm'd he sent the champions forth From east to west, from south to north."

Thus are we to go forth and destroy the idols with which our land abounds; though they are not seen, they are certainly worshipped; and are not less dangerous because they are set up in the heart. Our dispensation furnishes us with means by which we may go forth and destroy the idolatry which still reigns in our land. We must go forth and preach the GOSPEL to effect this object. And,

1st. We must preach it distinctly. "Now when all this was finished;" What was finished?" Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel. And the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah." And of what was the passover a type? Was it not a type of Christ, the true passover, the Lamb of God, who came into our world, who died on Calvary, who

fulfilled all righteousness, and said, “It is finished! and bowed his head. and gave up the ghost;" who died and was buried, and rose again, and sat down at the right hand of God, and sent down the influences and gifts of his Holy Spirit to enable his apostles to execute the commission which he gave them. We are to proclaim the passover therefore; we are to cry to our countrymen, perishing in their idolatries, "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world!" Christ is the true paschal lamb : "Christ our passover was sacrificed for us. Hezekiah sent his ambassadors to tell the people to repair to Jerusalem for this solemn purpose; and the people were obedient to the mandate. They seemed desirous to do all that was required of them. And we are to proclaim to our countrymen the joyful intelligence, and to induce them, by every possible means, to look to Jesus Christ, the lamb slain for the remission of their sins.

2ndly. We are to go forth to our countrymen, and preach the gospel boldly, as well as distinctly. The messengers from Hezekiah were exposed to ridicule; many of the people "laughed them to scorn, and mocked them." And those who are not able to endure this, are not fit for the service of God. We must go boldly; if the people would not come peaceably when they were invited to a feast prepared by the munificence of the king, what might the messengers not expect when they went forth to throw down their altars, and dash their images to pieces? I have lately been reading the history of the Lollards; and was very much struck with the account given of one Robert Bennet, who lived at Cambridge about three hundred years ago. He was silent for some time for fear of persecution; but his conscience gave him no rest; "I am a coward," said he. Perceiving the idolatries that were practised around him, he said, "I can no longer remain silent.” My brethren, we, like him, ought not to remain silent; we ought to tell our countrymen, with all plainness and fidelity, that unless they quit their idolatrous practices, and are converted to God, they must perish. Bennet said, he must go forward, and that he was ready to lay down his life if required. Having declared his intention to his friends, they engaged to pray earnestly for him. He set his house in order, and then went to Exeter. He committed his opinions to

writing, and affixed them to the very doors of the Cathedral. And soon afterwards he died a martyr's death, commending the good cause to his surviving friends. And we should act thus: remembering that our master Jesus Christ who is a Lamb, is also a Lion; a lamb for his meekness and gentleness, a lion for his courage and boldness. This courage he displayed on all occasions : 'Crucify me, crucify me, if you will; but I will still weep over Jerusalem, and die for her sins!"

3rdly. And we must do this affectionately also. "When all this was finished ;"what was finished? Did the messengers of good king Hezekiah proclaim the invitation in an angry tone? Oh! no; but with tenderness: " Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him." In this spirit should we go on endeavouring to win our countrymen to the cross of Christ. We should speak to them in the spirit in which Moses spake to Hobab; "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you;" it is a goodly land," Come with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." What affection did Isaiah feel for his countrymen when they were in affliction through their sins! "Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me; because of the spoiling of my people." And how did Jeremiah speak in reference to the calamities which came upon the tribes because they would not yield obedience to the wishes of king Hezekiah?"For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead?"-is there no God in our country, no Saviour, no means of forgiveness and salvation? "Is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" The pungency of his grief arose out of the circumstance that there was balm, that there was a physician, but that his countrymen would not avail themselves of the remedy. O, to see men in imminent danger from a

house in flames, when a fire escape is close at hand! to see men perishing of disease when a medicine is nigh! to see men sinking beneath the waves within reach of a life boat! Look at Christ, and as you think of London, as you look on your countrymen, and remember that they are all sinners, say with him as he looked down on the devoted city and said, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Ŏ that thou hadst known in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace: but now they are for ever hid from thine eyes!" So let us say, as we look upon London and its inhabitants, “O London, London, if thou didst but know the things which belong to thy peace! take heed, lest they be shortly hid from thine eyes!"

4thly. Then we should take this gospel forth to our countrymen, prayerfully. "When all this was finished, they went out." Much had antecedently taken place. They had gathered " a multitude of the people together, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun;" and when it was found that some of them "had not cleansed themselves, and did eat the passover otherwise than it was written: Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord, pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary." A very suit

able prayer; for we are all faulty: we have all about us much vain-glory, much self-seeking, much pride, much indolence. "The good Lord pardon" us! or else our blood will be mingled with our sacrifices, and we shall become an abomination unto him. The priests and the Levites sanctified themselves, and sprinkled the blood, and praised, and prayed, and their voices went up to heaven; the people also prayed, adoring Jehovah, as the only wise, the omnipotent God, and entreating him to look down upon them, and bless them. This we should do while engaged in sending out the gospel to our countrymen :thus we shall be walking in the steps of the apostles; for though they had received a divine commission, though they were endowed with extraordinary gifts; yet they found that they needed help from God to enable them to do their great work. When the disciples had heard of the persecution of James and John at Jerusalem, they "lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven and