mediately shown; though they insist much on His giving of bread, and raiment, and health (which He gives to all inferior creatures), they require us not to thank Him for that glory of His works, which He has permitted us alone to perceive. They tell us often to meditate in the closet, but they send us not, like Isaac, into the fields at even; they dwell on the duty of selfdenial, but they exhibit not the duty of delight. Now there are reasons for this, manifold, in the toil and warfare of an earnest mind, which, in its efforts at the raising of men from utter loss and misery, has often but little time or disposition, to take heed of any thing more than the bare life, and of those so occupied it is not for us to judge; but I think, that, of the weaknesses, distresses, vanities, schisms, and sins, which often, even in the holiest men, diminish their usefulness, and mar their happiness; there would be fewer if in their struggles with nature fallen, they sought for more aid from nature undestroyed. It seems to me that the real sources of bluntness in the feelings towards the splendour of the grass, and the glory of the flower, are less to be found in ardour of occupation, in* seriousness of compassion, or heavenliness of desire, than in the turning of the eye, at intervals of rest, too selfishly within; the want of power to shake off the anxieties of actual and near interest, and to leave the result in God's hands; the scorn of all that does not seem immediately apt for our purposes, or open to our understanding, and perhaps something of pride which desires rather to investigate than to feel. I believe that the root of almost every schism and heresy from which the Christian Church has ever suffered, has been the effort of men to earn rather than to receive their salvation; and that the reason that preaching is so

commonly ineffectual is, that it calls on men oftener to work for God, than to behold God working for them. If, for every rebuke that we utter for men's vices, we put forth a claim upon their hearts; if for every assertion of God's demands from them, we could substitute a display of his kindness to them; if side by side, with every warning of death, we could exhibit proofs and promises of immortality; if in fine, instead of assuming the being of an awful Deity, which men, though they cannot and dare not deny, are always unwilling, sometimes unable to conceive, we were to show them a near, visible, inevitable, but all beneficent Deity, whose presence makes the earth itself a heaven, I think there would be fewer deaf children sitting in the market-place. At all events whatever may be the inability in this present life to mingle the full enjoyment of the Divine works, with the full discharge of every practical duty, and confessedly in many cases this must be, let us not attribute the inconsistency to any indignity of the faculty of contemplation, but to the sin and suffering of the fallen state, and the change of order, from the keeping of the garden, to the tilling of the ground. We cannot say how far it is right or agreeable with God's will, while men are perishing round about us; while grief, pain, and wrath, and impiety and death, and all the powers of the air, are working wildly and evermore, and the cry of blood going up to heaven, that any of us should take hand from the plough; but this we know, that there will come a time, when the service of God shall be the beholding of Him; and though in these stormy seas, where we are now driven up and down, His spirit is dimly seen on the face of the waters, and we are left to cast anchors out of the stern, and wish for the day; that day will come, when,

with the Evangelists on the crystal and stable sea, all the creatures of God shall be full of eyes within, and there shall be no more curse, but His servants shall serve Him, and shall see His face."

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Now, is there any need to apologize for the copious extracts we have made? We think not, unless it were to our author, for having stolen so largely from his store. It was with peculiar pleasure we introduced our readers to a work on art, written in so Christian a spirit, for, we believe, the constantly recurring perplexity of Christian parents, How far are we right in permitting our daughters to spend so much time in the acquirements of mere accomplishments,' and the anxious inquiry of the young Christian just awakened to the sense of eternal realities, as to the lawfulness of pursuits so trifling, both arise from the unworthy manner in which accomplishments are now too often taught. Music is made a mere exercise of mechanical skill, as if it had no voice that could speak to the heart, or as if its worthiest use were to fill up the intervals amidst the buz of conversation in the social circle. Drawing is an elaborate texture, of fine shaded forms upon Bristol board, which, of course, have sufficient resemblance to nature to avoid the humbling necessity of inscribing their names below; but never enough to awaken the spirit of observation, or lead the young student to gaze with keener delight on the ever-varied unapproachable grace and beauty of nature. Can we wonder when such results are compared with the expenditure of precious hours, in which the mind might have been strengthened with solid reading, the body braced by wholesome, often much neglected exercise, or the heart enlarged by personal services of love, rendered to the poor of Christ's flock, conscience is awakened, doubts and scru

ples begin to arise, which destroy the little pleasure these pursuits could once occasion. Yet there are faculties of the mind which seem as if they could receive their full development only, either in the enjoyment or cultivation of the fine arts; and, if it be true that it is the duty of the Christian to develop, as far as circumstances will permit, every faculty which his heavenly Father has given as an instrument to be used for his glory, these surely must not be excluded from the system of Christian education. We do not speak here to those who, trembling at the fearful havoc which unhallowed imagination has made, would strive to stifle that noble faculty; for, we think, the frequent appeals made to it in the poetry of Scripture are sufficient encouragement from our heavenly Father, who knows what is in man, for its pure and diligent cultivation. We speak to those who delight to feed the young mind with the bright thoughts and glowing images of poetry; and, we ask, whether they do not feel that the strains of Mozart, Handel, and Beethoven, appeal to the same feelings, only with a comparative vagueness which leaves the mind more at liberty to mould and inform them, according to its own varying emotions. Again, in the sister art of drawing, it is needless for us to prove, after the quotations we have just made, how rich it is in materials of intellectual culture. It is true, if the professed artist, whose time and energies are wholly devoted to his calling, still feels himself at the commencement of an interminable career, and if the study requisite for his progress be so intense, that it was said, ' Le peintre Rubens s'amuse à être Ambassadeur - the young amateur can hope to produce very little; but though she may add nothing to the treasures of art, nothing worthy to meet any but the partial eyes of the

domestic circle, she may, if her studies are rightly directed, learn to appreciate the works of others. She may, under the free sky of heaven, study the lovely forms of nature, till the mind have received some impression of a beauty which the unskilful hand may still fail to pourtray. The ever-varying forms of the clouds, the changeful play of light and shadow on the hill side, may add new delight to the otherwise monotonous walk. Each tree and hedge may furnish illustrations of the principles of beauty which have been learned, each change which passes over the landscape, from the bright green of spring to the russet hues of autumn, will be a fresh source of interest. Surely these pure and gentle pleasures must tend to mould and refine the mind, to produce that sensitiveness and grace which even the world can appreciate as choice ornaments of the female character. We are commanded to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; and though the young christian, be her rank in society the most exalted, is in her right place in the humblest cottage of the poor, and receives, rather than gives, honour, by attending to the meanest of the Saviour's flock: still, she has another sphere, which it is equally her duty to fill. She must move in the circle of her equals, and prove to them, that religion is opposed to nothing that is pure, nothing that is lovely, or of good report. She must be able to share their interests in all lawful objects of pursuit, and then, if the living coal from the altar be indeed burning in her heart, many opportunities will arise for leading their minds to higher and holier themes. Should her own heart have grown cold, the absence of other subjects of interest will not, of itself, enable her to impart more warmth, but, combined with the forced confession of principle which conscience will perhaps