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upon it, Sir, that you cannot glorify God, honour your Saviour, or benefit mankind more effectually, than by making such efforts, during the few days or years that you have to spend in this world. Recollect what Mordecai, the good subject and servant of God said, on a weighty concern, to Queen Esther, 'If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance' (from, in this case, an imperfect translation of the Holy Scriptures) arise' (to the British nation) 'from another place.' Esther iv. 14.

We learn from the Sixteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1820, p. 64, that Dr. Tingstadius, one of the bishops of Sweden, who is also one of the first Hebrew scholars of the present day, and who has long been employed in preparing a New Translation of the Swedish Bible, could not be persuaded by Dr. Henderson to form a Bible Society in his diocese, as it would give to the Old Swedish Translation such an extensive circulation, as would obstruct the progress of the New.

Such rational checks put to the boundless increase of the copies of corrupt translations of the Holy Scriptures, are both laudable and necessary, and will in the end do more for the glory of God, the credit of our holy religion, and the good of mankind, than the well-meant, but too hasty efforts of many of their imprudent brethren. I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but in this respect, it is not according to sound knowledge.

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SIR,

JOSEPH JEVANS.

correspondent, Mr. Cooper, [XVII. 751,] that when I sent you the paper, [XVII. 677,] on which he has animadverted, nothing could be farther from my intention than to say any thing that could wound his feelings, much less question his veracity. I was truly sorry to observe, in his concluding sentence, something which almost implied that I had done so; but let me express a hope, that he will shew that he does not retain any offence where none was intended, by speedily completing the series of his interesting

communications. At least, let him consider, that it will be unjust to punish all your unoffending readers for my fault alone. The fact is, I will acknowledge, that not being very familiar with West-Indian matters, I was not sufficiently on the alert to inquire, whether the children, stated to be in the schools, were in the state of slavery or not. I rather took it for granted that they were; whereas, I see by re-consulting the Report that the contrary is generally the case. But while I concede thus much, I must still contend that, even with respect to the Slaves, both children and adults, the Methodist Report furnishes evidence that philanthropic endeavours are not in vain. Mr. C. appears to admit, what indeed is very evident from numerous parts of the Report, that the Wesleian Missionaries have considerable numbers of the Slave population submitted to their religious instructions, and that with the goodwill of the Planters. I have already quoted, in my former letter, their testimonies to the improvement in morals and piety, which the Negroes manifest in many instances. To these I will add one more: it comes from the island of St. Eustatius. Mr. French says,

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"I have on this island four places, in each of which I preach once in the course of the week. The last of these was opened under the following peculiar circumstances. A Slave belonging to a person on this island had run away from his master, and become a most notorious robber, and having got others to join him, he was appointed their captain. He resided with them in the mountains fourteen months, but at last was taken and put into confinement. His master expostulated

that no one had bared his replied, that no one had cared for his religious concerns, and therefore he had been ignorant and wicked. The master applied to me, and I told him that if he would suffer me to preach to his Negroes, it would save him a great deal of trouble. I went to the robber, conversed with him, and left him apparently sorry for his past wickedness, and purposing to act very differently in future. The master offered me a large warehouse for worship, and has since fitted it up for that purpose: I preach in it to all his Ne

groes, who, with his own family and many others, attend from the neighbourhood. The late robber himself, I am happy to state, manifests a real change of life and heart, to the truth of which his master bears a pleasing testimony. He has been received as a scholar into our Sunday-school. Our excellent governor, with his secretary and a member of the council, lately visited the Sunday-school, and expressed his high satisfaction with the improvement of the children."

But your correspondent seems to think that all these instructions can do the Negroes but little real good, as long as they remain in slavery. He will pardon me for saying that I cannot conceive this. Such is the nature of Christian truth, that if it be but received with any degree of seriousness and affection, I think it must, to a moral certainty, operate most beneficially both on the heart and the understanding, and through them on the whole social behaviour. And this appears, from the statements of the Missionaries, to be realized in fact. Whether the reception of religion will tend to produce any insurrectionary movements among the Negroes, I feel unable to judge with absolute confidence; but it appears to me, that religion represses such movements by much stronger motives than it incites them, nor am I aware that there are any facts on record in evidence of such a danger. Moreover, among the Planters themselves, a contrary opinion seems to be gaining ground.

With respect to the instruction of the Negroes in the art of reading, it is certainly a more questionable measure, and unless it goes hand in hand with a progressive emancipation, may have dangerous tendencies. Reading, however, is not absolutely necessary, either to life or godliness: it is but a modern blessing in the world, since before the art of printing, it was probably never enjoyed by the mass of mankind, whether bond or free. But even from this acquirement, when attained in conjunction with religious instruction and discipline, I think there must be more to be hoped than to be feared. More jealousy, however, exists on this point among the Planters, and consequently, a comparatively limited number of slave-children receive this

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part of education. Indeed, I must admit your Correspondent's correctness, in saying, that the Report alluded to furnishes no decisive evidence of any slave-children being taught to read, though it is made probable that in a few instances they are so. But we have seen that religious instruction, by catechizing and preaching, is carried on to a considerable extent among the Negro Slaves, and that with apparent benefit. From the opinion, therefore, that among these degraded people Missionary labours are almost useless, Mr. Cooper must pardon me when I say that I still feel some ground for dissent. EUELPIS.

GLEANINGS; OR, SELECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE IN A COURSE OF GENERAL READING.

No. CCCCI.

Botanical Heaven.

It is amusing to see how men associate their favourite pursuits with their religious expectations. In this they sometimes fall into the ludicrous. The Botanic Garden, for instance, at Leyden, contains a bust of Clusius, one of its founders and benefactors, on which is the following inscription:

Non potuit plures htc quærere Clusius herbas,

Ergo novas campis quærit in Elysiis, which may be thus plainly Englished, New plants to Clusius, Earth no longer yields,

He goes to botanize in the Elysian fields.

the Horticultural Tour by a Deputation This compliment (says the Editor of from the Edinburgh Horticultural Society, an interesting and valuable work, just published in one volume, 8vo.) has a parallel in one paid by the author of the "Gramina Britannica" to the herborizing zeal of the late Mr. Sole, of Bath: If our spirits, after continue any attachments to what entheir escape from this prison of clay, gaged them on earth," surely, concludes the amiable Author, rapt in botanical fervour, Sole is now simpling in celestial fields !"

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POETRY.

On the Death of Mrs. WELLBELOVED. And happier still, that journey o'er

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To meet ;-and part, oh never, never! To wing, with thee, the pathless way, Aud dwell in realms of bliss for ever.

York, February 13, 1823.

THE BIBLE.

It is the one, clear light,

E. W.

That, if all other lamps grow dim, Shall never burn less purely bright Or lead astray from Him.

It is the golden key

To treasures of celestial wealth

Joy, to the sons of misery,

And, to the sick man, health.

It is the blessed band

That reaches from th' eternal throne, To him, whoe'er he be, whose hand Will seize it for his own.

The gently proffer'd aid

Of One who knows us ;-and can best Supply the beings he hath made With what will make them blest.

It is the sweetest sound

That infant ears delight to hear, Travelling across the holy ground With God and angels near.

There rests the aching head

And how it smooths the dying bed,
There age and sorrow love to go-
O let the Christiau show!

JONAH.

E.

Suggested by a Sermon of the late Rev. H. Turner's.

"Go thou to Nineveh :

Thou prophet of the Lord most high; The voice of her iniquities

Hath pierced the lofty sky;
Tell her, ere forty days are o'er,
Proud Nineveh shall be no more."

Reluctant he departs

Did his heart bleed in pity? No! Because our God is slow to wrath

The prophet's steps were slow; He knew and fear'd the power of prayer T'avert the threaten'd judgment there.

And it was so-in dust

Humbled the guilty people knelt, Leaving the gorgeous palaces,

Where late in pomp they dwelt; King, princes, mourn'd the deep offence, And gave themselves to penitence. Now that his powerful voice,

Heaven taught, had reach'd the sinner's
heart,

Might not the prophet well rejoice,
And blessing God, depart?

Or fervent join the hope, the prayer,
"Who knows if yet our God may
spare ?"

No-His was not the soul

Of one who, humbled in the dust, Pleaded for guilty Israel,

Yet own'd the sentence justHeaven's gracious thoughts his anger

move,

And Jonah weeps that "God is love.".
Sorrowing he goes to seek

A shelter from the noon-tide heat,
And up there sprang above his head
A shade so cooling, sweet;
"Jonah was glad," the record says,
We hear not of the Giver's praise.

Short was his joy-the plant

In one short night a worm devour'd, The prophet saw it droop and pine, And, sorrowing, miss'd his gourd, Yet gentle still those accents fell, "In this thine anger dost thou well ?"

"Yes, I do well, even thus,

Thus angry unto death, to pine:"
"Then thou had'st pity on the gourd,
Which was no work of thine-
Which in a night has flourished,
And in a night thou see'st is dead!

"And shall no pity rise

For thousand and teu thousand souls That in the depth of ignorance No sense of right controuls; And shall not God spare Nineveh, Where thrice ten thousand people be ?”

Oh! if there be who wield Heaven's thunders o'er their brothers' head,

Not, Jonah-like, commission'd high,
With error compassed,

O let them, warn'd by Him, beware,
Nor curse whom God perhaps may spare.
And let their guarded souls

Be to themselves severely true,-.
Sorrowing pronounce condemning words,
And let those words be few;
Their chiefest joy the "joy of Heaven,"
O'er love display'd and sin forgiven.

E.

* Moses, Deut, ix. 18.

To LOUIS-Le Desiré.*

Then thou will submit, O King!
Then thou wilt submit to be
That scourge of the world, a warlike
King,

Deep charg'd with the blood of the
Free?

Then thou, in thine age, must take

The sword on the side of wrong, Impatient to think this idle world

Should dally with Peace so long.

Now shame on the souls that roused
Such wrath in a merciful breast,
And gave thee thoughts which would ne'er
have come,

Had they left thee alone in thy rest!

And thou hast believed the word,

That God can delight to see His image fair in the mind of man Effac'd by a thing like thee?

And thou canst indeed believe,
If the prayer be duly said
And the mass-bell rung,-that the smile
of Heaven

Shines bright on thy favour'd head?

Or ever the deed be done,

Oh! ponder, for mercy's sake!

Nor madly yet one comforting thought.
From a dying moment take!

Or ever the widow's sigh

To the throne of God hath sped,
Or the deep and solemn curse be goue
From the warrior's lowly bed ;-

By all thou hast hop'd or fear'd

In Heaven or Hell, oh pause!

For God will fight in defence of the right,
And not in oppression's cause.
E. T.

Lines written in the Prison at Calais.

(From Mr. BOWRING'S "Details of his Arrest, Imprisonment and Liberation," just published.)

Calais Prison, Oct. 8, 1822.

I have marched up and down this foul abode,

And read its tales of misery: 'tis a book

Since this poem was printed, we have seen it in the Examiner newspaper, but being sent to us as an original, we give it as such. ED.

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Nauseous as the plague's breath. The bars, the bolts

Seemed made for giants; and the heavy keys

Were shaken, as with a malevolent joy, By the unhearted keeper. Vermin tribes

Luxuriated: it was a palace to them.
I imaged to myself the various minds
That had left transcripts on these pri-
son-walls;

But some had been erased, as if rebuke Had cried "Shame" to the conscience; some were left

Broken, or finished tremblingly. Remorse,

Or fear, or levity, had checked the hand;

Yet like Belshazzar's silent warning, they

Spoke loud as thunder. One had writ

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Rude boughs of intertwining olive. One Had sketched a drooping ash, bent o'er a stream,

And hung gold weights upon its branches: 66 Men

Are bowed by circumstance." "Twas eloquent :

I felt it, and I looked again; I saw There was an altar hid behind the tree, On which a fire was burning. "Twas a dream Of the pure days of youth. "Man is trained

To perfect wisdom but by perfect woeThou must be more unfortunate!" How oft

Have I, with listening ear and busy

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