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and pretended rational Christians of all denominations, God knows that without them we can have no hope of reclaiming either Papist, Calvinist, or Arminian, who, if they differ in some points from the established Church, differ far more from those I have been speaking of.

"Shall we then, I must next ask, in hopes of preserving the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, and righteousness of Life, follow the Evangelical Preachers into the depths of Calvinism? This End, desirable as it must seem, could never, I apprehend, be answered by so doing. Certain I am, that if the Mysteries of the established religion have tended to alienate those who call themselves rational Christians, much more would the mysteries of Calvinism have this effect. I will venture to say, the gloomy doctrine of arbitrary reprobation, and the extra vagant depreciation of moral righteousness, will for ever alarm the rational Christian, more than the Church doctrines of atonement by the blood of Christ, or even the Trinity in Unity. Concessions, therefore, on the part of the Church, give no hope of conciliation: what we would concede to one, would more than ever alienate the other. Steadiness and firmness alone in adhering to those principles in which we agree with either, may afford us the happy prospect of reclaiming both."

The duty of stedfastness is thus aptly and beautifully recommended by the example of our revered sovereign.

"Reflect, I beseech you, for a moment, on the unexampled popularity of that exalted Personage, whom by the laws established at the Reformation, we are sworn to regard as the visi, ble head of the National Church. In the whole list of English Sovereigns, few ever reigned so long, and none surely in the whole list so worthily. None were ever exposed to ruder demands, none had ever to combat greater licentiousness of opinion. Yet let me ask, is His popularity the fruit of any undue concession? Has He, to conciliate the favour of the multitude, ever abandoned one Article of his Creed, or violated one Principle of the established Faith? Has it not been most especially owing to the unshaken manliness of his charecter, to his most magnanimous resolution, to his almost heroic fortitude in all trying occasions, that the hearts of all his subjects are so entirely devoted to him. In sickness and in health; in peace and in war; in times of public tranquillity, or even public commotions, no Sovereign ever, I think, received such strong and unfeigned marks of affection and respect from all denominations of people. For, let me say it to their praise, no one body of Dissenters at all respectable, has ever been backward to manifest its attachment

"Horribile decretum" is Calvin's own expression. Inst. p. 608.

when

when his Person has been threatened, his Government traduced, or his Life in danger.

"Let this then stand as a criterion of the good sense and good principles, the wishes and intentions of the bulk of the Nation; not of the Clergy only, but very particularly of the Laity. With the encouragement of such an Example, an Example so approved by all ranks of people; and placed moreover under the immediate government and inspection of a Prelate, not more distinguished by the Eminence of his High station, than the Confidence of such a Sovereign; let us be careful beyond all things to keep the form of sound words" committed to us; to "continue perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judg ment;" to be "instant to preach the Gospel in season and out of season," not in "the spirit of Fear, but of Power and confidence, of Love, and a sound Mind."

POETRY.

Lines on the Author's Birth-Day.

OD of my life, to thee I pay

G My vows upon my natal day.

Accept the breathings they impart,
The tribute of a contrite heart,
Unworthy from its guilt to share
The blessings of thy guardian care;
Yet, that with wonder looking round
On all the mercies it has found,

Its humble gratitude would shew,

And bless the hand from whence they flow.
Still when the annual course of earth
Revolves the period of my birth,
"May I employ the day from hence,
Not in the vain delights of sense,
But in those sacred joys that rise
From intercourse above the skies.
Abstracted from each worldly thought,
May all my soul to thee be brought,
The great enquiry to pursue,
If I have kept thy precepts true;

:

If, as from year to year my time,
From strength to strength my virtues climb;
To mark where I have gone astray,

And for thy Holy Spirit pray:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Bid every evil thought depart,
And perfect every feeble trace
Of goodness, by thy saving grace.
Created by thy hand divine,
Let all my faculties combine,
Life's noblest purpose to fulfil,
To learn thy ways, and do thy will.
May I to thee my refuge fly,'
Ere yet the evil day draws nigh;
And while I tread the paths of youth
Serve thee in spirit and in truth.
When strong temptations most abound,
And snares encompass me around;
My fainting virtue, O revive,

And give me strength with sin to strive.
Thy blessed guidance I implore,
Where I have fell, to fall no more;
Thy mercy, to forgive the past,
And take me to thy rest at last.
Howe'er thy Providence may mean
To dress life's transitory scene,
Whether my lot be here below
To drink the bitter cup of woe;
Or, temporal blessings round me shine;
Still be thy fear and favour mine.
Oft as to thy tribunal brought,
If my own heart reproach me not,
My soul a radiance will assume
To dissipate life's darkest gloom.
Then as with ev'ry rolling year
Eternity approaches near,
(Confiding in thy promis'd grace
To those who humbly seek thy face,)
With transport I the course shall see
That leads me on to Heaven and Thee.

JULIUS.

August 6, 1866.

BELSHAZZAR.

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BELSHAZZAR.

BY WILLIAM CASE, JUN.

H

OW curs'd the wretch, to dire Ambition held
In vassalage, thy fate, Belshazzar! speaks
A loud memento.---What though at the hour
When Treason, shunning the broad eye of day,
Pall'd in the gloom of night, with blushless front
Stalk'd forth, to jocund feast and wassailing
Thou gavest up thyself thrice happier he,
The meanest son of Babylon, his cases

In balmy slumber hush'd! Though at thy throne
Innumerous Satraps bow'd the servile knee,

And kiss'd the hand they fear'd, and troul'd the tongue
Of flattery, they could not hail thee heir

Of Heaven's sweet Eden! Though thy palace walls
Rang with the full of Harmony; nor sound :
Of flute, or cornet, sackbut, psaltry, harp,
Or dulcimer, could lull the harrowing pangs
Of Conscience to repose. What though a robe
Sidonian, with the gold of Omphir wrought,
Thy limbs so gaily mantled-though a tiar,
Borrowing new lustre from the dazzling gleam
Of countless tapers, and the spiral blaze
Of incense-breathing vases, on thy brows
In all the pride of Ormuz beam'd---those gaudes,
Those pageant trappings ill avail'd to hide
The deep, the dread damnation of thy sins
From Salem's righteous God !---Ah! why recoil'd
Thy soul in speechless horror from those signs
Of most mysterious import, character'd
By fingers more than human? Why, O King!
But that it found in one disastrous hour
Its fancied greatness vanish, and its pride,
Sky-vaulting pride, abash'd in mid career!
Vol. XI. Churchm. Mag. Sept. 1806.

Hh LIST

LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THE Rise, Fall, and future Re

storation of the Jews. To which are annexed, Six Sermons addressed to the Seed of Abraham. By several Evangelical Ministers. 5s.

A Sermon occasioned by the Circumstance of the Victory of Trafalgar, and delivered on Board His Majesty's Ship Britannia, at Sea, Sunday, November 3, 1805. By Lawrence Halloran, D. D. ‍2s. 6d.

National Blessings Reasons for Religious Gratitude, a Sermon, preached at St. James's Church, Bath, December 5, 1895, the Day of General Thanksgiving. By the Rev. Richard Warner, Curate of St. James's Parish. 2s.

A plain and affectionate Address to the parishioners of St. Martin's

and All Saints, in Leicester, from the Rev. Thomas Vaughan, A. M. their Vicar. 1s. 6d.

Female Compassion, illustrated and exemplified in the Establishment of a Charitable Institution for the Relief of necessitous Families, &c. A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Rochester, Sunday, August 17, 1806. By the Rev. Charles Moore, A. M. Vicar. 1s. 6d.

Further Evidences of the Existence of the Deity, intended as an humble Supplement to Archdeacon Paley's Natural Theology. By George Clark. 2s.

A Letter to the Hebrew Nation. By Charles Crawford, Esq. 2s.

THE

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

phy, Typography, &c.; list of all the Cities and Towns in Europe where printing was established in the 15th Century, with the first Work printed at each place, and the name of the Printers.—An Essay on Bibliography, with different Systems for arranging of Libraries and Classification of Books; seve

HE Bibliographical Miscellany, or Supplement to the Bibliographical Dictionary, 2 vols. (or vols. 7 and 8) is just ready for publication, containing an alphabetical account of all the English Translations of the Greek and Roman Classics, and of the Greek and Latin Fathers, and others, from the first attempt by William Cax-ral Chronological and Archeologi ton, down to the present year.An Account of the principal Works in Arabic and Persian, printed or MS. with such translations of them as have already appeared in Engtish-History and Origin of Printing, List of Authors on Bibliogra

cal Tables of considerable use in Bibliography, &c. &c. by Adam Clarke.

N. B. Though these 2 vols. make a proper Supplement to the Bibliographical Dictionary, yet as they are formed entirely independent of

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