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families, on their infantine literature, on their new formed alphabet, and their boyhood just taught and practised, like our own, in the various branches of scholarship; and what perhaps poetry, though apart from religion, would most gladly seize on of all, the holiness of her sabbath morn and the chime of its worship bell now breaking for the first time on the ear of the delighted mariner who hovers on its shore, and recognised by him as a sound that was before unheard throughout the whole of that vast Pacific, in the solitude of whose mighty waters this island had lain buried and unknown for so many ages. All this has undoubtedly been done, but then a few gospel missionaries had the doing of it, and they tell us that the whole charm and power of this marvellous transformation are to be found in the Bible and in its cabalistic orthodoxy. And they tell moreover of prayers, and outpourings, and mystic influences from on high, which all the science of

since such an enterprise was set on foot by the members of a certain college, though not a college literature. They carried out with them a certain book of instruction though | not one philosopher had to do with the composition of it, and they made the very attempt which we have now been supposing on a territory removed by some thousands of miles | from the outskirts of civilization, and through a severe ordeal of ridicule and of reserve did they ply their assiduous task, and have now brought their experiment to its termination; and whatever the steps of their process may have been there is many an eye witness who can speak to the result of it. The island of Otaheite, in spite of the conflicting testimonies and accounts of more recent voyagers, overborne at length by the last and most authentic testimony which has appeared, the island of Otaheite which teemed with the worst abominations of savage passions and savage cruelty, was the selected arena on which they tried the virtue of their peculiar | all our universities cannot lead us specific; and whatever the rationale of its operations may have been, there is no doubt as to the certainty of the operation itself. These savages have been humanized, these rude and hideous characteristics of the savage state have all disappeared. A nation of gross and grovelling idolaters has become a nation of rational and kindred and companionable men; and furnished now as they are with a written language, and having access by authorship and correspondence to other minds and other countries than their own, does the light of Christendom now shine full upon their territory, and it is indeed a wondrous transformation, to look at their now modest attire, on their now sweet and comfortable habitations, on their village schools, on their well ordered

to comprehend, or in any way to sympathize with. And thus, as the compound effect of this whole exhibition on men's spirits, are there a credulity and a contempt, and at the same time an astonishment at a great moral phenomenon the truth of which is forced upon them by the evidence of their senses, and withal, we fear a full determination to nauseate with all their might, that peculiar evangelism which has been the instrument of this most gigantic stride which was ever made by barbarism on its road to civilization and virtue. And thus upon them do we perceive, perhaps the most striking illustrations that can be given, of the same men, "GOD worketh a work in their days, they will in no wise believe though a man declared it unto them." But

though they will not believe, they will be made to behold, and though forced to contemplate it, will be beholding with despisers, who wonder and perish.

Speaking of this Otaheite, you will remember that in exposition of the evidence, I spoke of the Spirit of GOD giving effect, as it were, to the evidence, and we look on the example already quoted as a verification of this. We are old enough to recollect (and I am sure that some here present must be old enough to recollect) the high flown spirit of adventure on which the first mission to Otaheite was undertaken; and with what eclat the missionary vessel went forth on her voyage, and the flags and ensigns of victory were already streaming in the gale, and with what eloquence were pictured forth all the chances, if not all the certainties of success. We doubt not that many were dazzled into an earthly confidence whether they looked at the complete equipment of all the human securities that were so abundantly provided for the accomplishment of this great undertaking, and how that was dispelled-or that the elements of nature did carry it in safety to the shore, and how that was dispelled also or that the elements of the

moral world taught by humble experience that for these, too, he must be enquired of after. And a cloud of disgrace and distress hung for years over the enterprise, and the spirit which worketh in the children of disobedience stood its ground among the natives, and more woful still, the spirit of apostacy made ravage among the missionaries themselves; and well can we remember the derision and the triumph of infidels upon the misgiving of this sanguine speculation. We doubt not that many were effectually taught in the arts of patience and prayer by this fatherly correction, and led to look from the visible apparatus to the unseen guide and mover of it, and that there was a fuller ascent of importunities to heaven, and a louder knocking than before at the door of the upper sanctuary; and certain it is that, after a season of severe but salutary chastisement, an influence, far too sudden and diffusive to be interpreted by any ordinary cause, came down on the land; and by a miracle, as if it had been newly summoned from the deep, do we now uphold it a land of genial dwelling places; the quiet and lovely home of a Christianized nation.

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KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

THE natural inability of most men to judge exactly of things, makes it very difficult for them to discern the real good and evil of what comes before them, to consider and weigh circumstances, to scatter and look through the mists of error, and so separate appearances from reality. For the greater part of mankind is but slow and dull of apprehension; and therefore in many cases under a necessity of seeing with other men's eyes, and judging with other men's understandings. To which their want of judging or discerning abilities, we may add also their want of leisure and opportunity to apply their minds to such a serious and attent consideration, as may let them into a full discovery of the true goodness and evil of things, which are qualities which seldom display themselves to the first view: There must be leisure and retirement, solitude and a sequestration of man's self from the noise and toil of the world; for truth scorns to be seen by eyes too much fixed upon inferior objects. It lies too

deep to be fetched up with the plough, and too close to be beaten out with the hammer. It dwells not in shops or workhouses: nor till the late age was it ever known, that any one served seven years to a smith or a tailor, that he might at the end thereof, proceed master of any other arts, but such as those trades taught him: and much less that he should commence doctor or divine from the shopboard, or the anvil; or from whistling to a team, come to preach to a congregation. These were the peculiar, extraordinary privileges of the late blessed times of light and inspiration: otherwise nature will still hold on its old course, never doing any thing which is considerable without the assistance of its two great helps-art and industry. But above all, the knowledge of what is good and what is evil, what ought and what ought not to be done in the several offices and relations of life, is a thing too large to be compassed, and too hard to be mastered, without brains and study, parts, and contemplation.

THE EYE OF CONSCIENCE.

THAT the eye of conscience may be always quick and lively, let constant use be sure to keep it constantly open, and thereby ready and prepared to admit and let in those heavenly beams which are always streaming forth from GOD upon minds fitted to receive them. And to this purpose let a man fly from every thing which may leave either a foulness or a bias upon it; let him dread every gross act of sin; for one great stab may as certainly and speedily destroy life as forty lesser wounds. Let him carry a jealous eye over every growing habit of sin; let him keep aloof from all commerce and fellowship with any vitious and base affection, especially from all

sensuality; let him keep himself untouched with the hellish, unhallowed heats of lust and the noisome steams and exhalations of intemperance; let him bear himself above that sordid and low thing, that utter contradiction to all greatness of mind-covetousness: let him disenslave himself from the pelf of the world, from that “ amor sceleratus habendi ;" lastly, let him learn so to look upon the honours, the pomp, and greatness of the world, as to look through them. Fools indeed are apt to be blown up by them and to sacrifice all for them: sometimes venturing their heads only to get a feather in their caps.

Extracted from Dr. South.

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AT THE CONSECRATION OF ST. MARY'S CHURCH, HORNSEY, ON THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 25, 1833.

Psalm v. 7.-" As for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.”

IF David was the author of this Psalm, and not some holy man of GoD at a later period of the Jewish church, the house of which he here speaks must have been the Lord's tabernacle, and the temple towards which he worshipped was the holy of holies in that temple. But whatever may have been the place to which the pious aspirations of the Psalmist were directed, the feelings by which he was actuated, are those which in all ages have enlivened the devotion and directed the worship of his faithful servants-a strong feeling of dependence on his Almighty power, and of the necessity purity and truth in him who desires that his prayers may be hearda firm reliance on divine goodness chastened by a holy fear. "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a GOD that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall

VOL. VI.

not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy temple."

The principles embodied in this portion of Scripture are of perpetual and universal importance; and apply, not only to him who sought the face of the Lord in the tabernacle which Moses made, or in the more magnificent temple which, five centuries after, displaced it; but, with a constraining voice it applies to Christians, who possess a clearer and more spiritual knowledge than those elder servants of GOD, if not of his attributes, yet of the relation in which they stand to him as the objects of his paternal love and the inheritors of his heavenly kingdom.

I propose to consider, briefly, THE

MOTIVES WE HAVE TO JOIN IN THE

SOLEMN SERVICE OF GOD; and, more at large, THE DISPOSITIONS THAT ARE TO BE ACQUIRED IN ORDER THAT IT

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MAY BE AN ACCEPTABLE SERVICE TO HIM. And may our meditations be blessed by that Holy Spirit who alone can guide us in the truth, and who, knowing our necessities and ignorances, helpeth our infirmities, and himself maketh intercession for us.

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bringing with them a certain round and course of prescribed duties which are to be observed in compliance with the divine command, or perhaps merely for the sake of custom; but as presenting a precious opportunity an inestimable privilege, special vouchsafements of GoD's goodness. For are they not so? Have you accustomed yourselves to view them in that light? There is no better mode, perhaps, of estimating the value of the blessing than in contemplating the evils which would flow on us if it were withdrawn. And what, think you, would become of our religious notions and feelings if it were not for the periodical admonitions and exhortations of the Christian Sabbath? Where were our religious feelings first kindled? and where, when they languish, are they awakened and renewed? Where are we most effectually withdrawn from secular cares and carnal desires? Where are we most alive to our own nothingness and the majesty of GoD? Where are all the best affections of our souls strengthened, and its sympathies enlargedits empire over the reasoning part of our constitution confirmed and extended? Is it not at church on the Lord's day? Reason leads us to expect, and experience has unhappily confirmed the expectation-that when a due provision is not made for the public worship of God, private and individual religion will soon languish and decay; the directions of the word of GOD will be neglected, the great truths it reveals be forgotten, its holy precepts contemned, its precious promises lost sight of; and all the evil passions of men, when they burst the bands of holy fear, and cast away of heavenly allegiance, will break

OUR MOTIVES TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS DUTY are all comprehended in the expression, “I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy." It is true, indeed, that one leading object which we ought to have in view, while bearing our part in the solemnities of public worship, is, to promote the glory of GOD by the conversion or confirmation of others. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." But still it is in consideration of his mercy that we magnify Jehovah in his other attributes; for, "he that cometh to GOD must," not only "believe that he is," but "that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him." We are to glorify him, but it is for his mercy towards us; and that we are permitted to glorify him at all by our unworthy service, is not one of the least of those mercies. The psalmist considered it to be an invaluable privilege that he was permitted to take a part in the solemn and public worship of GOD: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." He knew the comfort and benefit which flowed from that privilege; and he knew also that it was only in the multitude of GOD's mercy that he, who was conceived and born in sin, and who lived a sinner, could be permitted to enjoy it. And oh, my brethren, that all Christians understood and considered these instances of divine goodness-forth with unrestrained malignity and would so value the services of the house of GOD! And oh that they would regard their Sabbaths, not merely as

lay waste the comforts and decencies of domestic and civilized life.

I said experience has unhappily

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