which deserve the highest praise; and of which it would not be too much to say, they should always be found lying by the side of our Bibles, that we may recur to them continually, to deepen our religious impressions, to strengthen our holy resolutions, and to fill our minds with the consolations and hopes of religion. "By the frequent reading of such books," says Bishop Burnet, "by the relish that one has in them, by the delight they give, and the effects they produce, a man will plainly perceive whether his soul is made for divine matters or not; what suitableness there is between him and them, and whether he is yet touched with such a sense of religion as to be capable of dedicating himself to it."

If any of our readers have yet to make themselves acquainted with the books we have mentioned, we earnestly request them to do it without delay. By neglecting it they will do themselves and their families an injustice for which it may not be in their power to atone; they may do themselves and their families an injury, which ages will not repair.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE.

GENTLEMEN,—It is very possible that you do not know with what religious abhorrence certain of your doctrines are regarded by orthodox believers; or of what communion they are thought worthy "who privily bring in such damnable herecies." For your information in that particular, I send you the following extracts from the sermons of a distinguished Doctor of Divinity now living and preaching in the State of New York.

"The sentiment may be unpopular; it may be branded as illiberal; yet, supported by the word of God, I am emboldened to utter it, that the Prince of darkness is as worthy of our communion and countenance, as the man who persists deliberately, wilfully, and avowedly, to deny the Deity of our Lord."

Again;

"The finite mind cannot expand to conceive the complicated blasphemies which are necessarily involved in the denial of this doctrine." PROUDFIT's Works, vol. i. P. 361.

C. J.

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS.

SINCERITY.

"I the show of any thing, be good for any thing, I am sure sincerity is better; for why does any man dissemble, or seem to be that which he is not, but because he thinks it good to have such a quality as he pretends to? For to counterfeit and dissemble, is to put on the appearance of some real excellency. Now the best way in the world to seem to be any thing, is really to be what he would seem to be. Besides that it is many times as troublesome to make good the pretence of a good quality, as to have it; and if a man have it not, it is ten to one but he is discovered to want it; and then all his pains and labour to seem to have it, are lost."

Letter to Bishop WATSON, from a young man who had read his Defence of Christianity.

SIR,-Unknown as I am to your Lordship, permit me to express my obligation for your labours in the cause of Christianity, and the benefit I in particular have derived from them -inestimable indeed.

Young and inexperienced, by the impious jests and contagious example of profligate associates, I at length abandoned the religious principles in which I had been early instructed, and with sorrow confess, imbibed those of infidelity. In this deplorable situation I met with your Theological Tracts, and Apology for Christianity. By a careful perusal of both, I am overpowered with evidence and conviction: so that with me the truth of our holy religion stands on a foundation infinitely firmer than that of any remote fact whatever; it is the power of God unto salvation.

In consequence of this happy change, I hope I am solicitous to conform my practice to the divine precepts of the gospel; for I have lately complied with our blessed Saviour's dying command.

Under divine influence, your writings have been powerfully efficacious in dissipating the gloom of scepticism, in which I was once so involved. But plain and unlearned as I am, gratitude must supersede encomium. I, however, sincerely pray,

that you may at least receive an approbation the most significant, "Well done, enter into the joy of your Lord," when, in the noble language of scripture, "they who have turned many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." I have the honor to be, &c.

* *

SUICIDE.

A few years ago an officer went into Hyde Park with an intention of shooting himself: he applied a pistol to his forehead, but the priming flashed and no discharge followed. A man of poor appearance, whom the officer had not observed, or perhaps thought unworthy of his notice, instantly ran up, and wrested the pistol from his hands. The other drew his sword, and was about to stab his deliverer, who with much spirit replied, "Stab me, Sir, if you think proper. I fear death as little as you, but I have more courage. More than twenty years I have lived in affliction and penury, and I yet trust in God for mercy and support." The officer was struck (as well he might be) with these reproving words, continued speechless and notionless for a short time, and then bursting into tears, gave his purse to the honest man. He then inquired into his story, and became his private friend and benefactor; but under a solemn injunction, that he would never make any inquiries concerning himself, or seem to know him, if chance should ever bring them again in sight of each other. How many suicides might be prevented, and how many miseries relieved, if men under the pressure of their adversity would learn from this poor man to "trust in God for comfort and support.

LINES TO A CHILD

ON HIS VOYAGE TO FRANCE, TO MEET HIS FATHER.

Lo, bow impatiently upon the tide

The proud ship tosses, eager to be free.

Her flag streams wildly, and her fluttering sails
Pant to be on their flight. A few hours more,
And she will move in stately grandeur on,
Cleaving her path majestic through the flood,
As if some living goddess of the deep.

* Moore's Enquiry into Suicide.
58

New Series-vol. I.

O, 'tis a thought sublime, that man can force
A path upon the waste, can find a way
Where all is trackless, and compel the winds,
Those freest agents of Almighty power,

To lend their untamed wings, and bear him on
To distant climes. Thou, William, still art young
And dost not see the wonder. Thou wilt tread

The buoyant deck, and look upon the flood,
Unconscious of the high sublimity,

As 'twere a common thing-thy soul unawed,

Thy childish sports unchecked: while thinking man
Shrinks back into himself-himself so mean

'Mid things so vast, and, wrapt in deepest awe,
Bends to the might of that mysterious Power,
Who holds the waters in his hand, and guides
The ungovernable winds.-"Tis not in man
To look unmoved upon that heaving waste,
Which, from horizon to horizon spread,
Meets the o'er arching heavens on every side,
Blending their hues in distant faintness there.

'Tis wonderful!—and yet, my boy, just such
Is life. Life is a sea as fathomless,
As wide, as terrible, and yet sometimes
As calm and beautiful. The light of Heaven
Smiles on it, and 'tis decked with every hue
Of glory and of joy: Anon, dark clouds
Arise, contending winds of fate go forth,
And hope sits weeping o'er a general wreck.

And thou must sail upon this sea, a long
Eventful voyage. The wise may suffer wreck,
The foolish must. O then be early wise!
Learn from the mariner his skilful art

To ride upon the waves, and catch the breeze,
And dare the threatening storm, and trace a path
'Mid countless dangers, to the destined port
Unerringly secure. O learn from him

To station quick eyed Prudence at the helm,

To guard thy sail from Passion's sudden blasts,
And make firm Principle thy magnet guide,
Which points forever with the light of Heaven.

Farewell-Heaven smile propitious on thy course,

And favoring breezes waft thee to the arms
Of love paternal.-Yes, and more than this-
Blest be thy passage o'er the changing sea
Of life; the clouds be few that intercept
The light of joy; the waves roll gently on
Beneath thy bark of hope, and bear thee safe
To meet in peace thine other Father,-GOD.
June, 4, 1818.

REVIEW.

ARTICLE XIV.

Moral Sketches of prevailing Opinions and Manners foreign and domestic: with Reflections on Prayer. By HANNAH MORE. From the London Edition. Boston: Wells and Lilly. 12mo. pp. 208.*

Ir is impossible to take up a book written by this distinguished woman without feelings of great respect. She has been devoting her time and talents during a long life to the religious improvement of her fellow christians. She has laboured assiduously from first to last for this one great object. She has striven to be not merely innocent in her occupations, but useful; she has not thought it enough, to do no harm by the books she has sent out into the world, but has conscientiously attempted by all of them to do good. The high praise is her's, of having uniformly intended the best. This none can doubt, however some may question the real value of her writings.— And she has her reward, in still being, in a good old age, one of the most admired and popular of religious writers. It is no small reward to be able to look back from the close of a long pilgrimage, and see its whole course marked with praiseworthy efforts in the cause of religion; to know that many have received from her, not in vain, admonition, counsel and comfort; that she has helped to correct and form many characters; and aided in staying the stream of corruption that was deluging society, and in upholding the firm barrier of religious principle; to see, too, that her labors are not forgotten nor slighted, but are every where acknowledged with the full meed of praise

and veneration.

We have much of this feeling ourselves. We highly appreciate her services; we admire the apparent depth and ardor of her piety; we respect one who maintains so rigid a system of christian morals, and pleads so strongly for consistency in faith and practice. But we cannot avoid thinking, notwithstanding, that her merits have been greatly exaggerated, and

*Wells & Lilly have also published a superior edition in two small volumes, 18mo.