hideous discords of that outcry which he encounters among his fellows: when these are exchanged for the honest welcome and the guileless regards of those creatures who gambol at his feet, he feels that even in the society of the brutes, in whose hearts there is neither care nor controversy, he can surround himself with a better atmosphere far than that in which he breathes among the companionships of his own species. Here he can rest himself from the fatigues of that moral tempest which has beat upon him so violently; and, in the play of kindliness with these poor irrationals, his spirit can forget for a while all the injustice and ferocity of their boasted lords.

cerning us, means that the tide of beneficence should pass from order to order, through all the ranks of his magnificent creation; and we ask, is it with man that this goodly provision is to terminate; or shall he, with all his sensations of present blessedness, and all his visions of future glory let down upon him from above; shall he turn him selfishly and scornfully away from the rights of those creatures whom God hath placed in dependence under him? We know that the cause of poor and unfriended animals has many an obstacle to contend with in the difficulties or the delicacies of legislation; but we shall ever deny that it is a theme beneath the dignity of legislation; "But this is only saying that our subject or that the nobles and the senators of our is connected with the pleasures of senti- land stoop to a cause which is degrading, ment; and, therefore, in the third and last when, in the imitation of Heaven's high place, we have to offer it as our concluding clemency, they look benignly downward on observation that it is also connected with these humble and helpless sufferers. Ere the principles of deepest sacredness. It we can admit this, we must forget the whole may be thought by some that we have economy of our blessed Gospel; we must wasted the whole of this Sabbath morn on forget the legislations and the cares of the what may be ranked among but the lesser upper sanctuary in behalf of our fallen moralities of human conduct; but there is species; we must forget that the redempone aspect in which it may be regarded as tion of our world is suspended on an act of more profoundly and more peculiarly reli- jurisprudence which angels desired to look gious than any one virtue which recipro-into, and for effectuating which, the earth cates, or is of mutual operation, among the fellows of the same species. It is a virtue which oversteps, as it were, the limits of a species, and which, in this instance, prompts a descending movement on our part, of righteousness and mercy towards those who have an inferior place to ourselves in the scale of creation. The lesson of this day is not the circulation of benevolence within the limits of one species; it is the transmission of it from one species to another. The first is but the charity of a world-the second is the charity of a universe. Had there been no such charity, no descending current of love and of liberality from species to species, what, I ask, should have become of ourselves? Whence have we learned this attitude of lofty unconcern about the creatures who are beneath us? Not from those ministering spirits who wait upon the heirs of salvation; not from those angels who circle the throne of Heaven, and make all its arches ring with joyful harmony, when but one sinner of this prostrate world turns his footsteps towards them; not from that mighty and mysterious Visit ant who unrobed him of all his glories, and bowed down his head unto the sacrifice, and still, from the seat of his now exalted mediatorship, pours forth his intercessions and his calls in behalf of the race he died for; finally, not from the eternal Father of all, in the pavilion of whose residence there is the golden treasury of all those bounties and beatitudes that roll over the face of nature, and from the footstool of whose empyrial throne there reaches a golden chain of providence to the very humblest of his family. He who hath given his angels charge con

we tread upon was honoured by the footsteps, not of angel or of archangel, but of God manifest in the flesh. The distance upward between us and that mysterious Being, who let himself down from Heaven's high concave upon our lowly platform, surpasses by infinity the distance downward between us and every thing that breathes; and he bowed himself thus far for the purpose of an example, as well as for the purpose of an expiation; that every Christian might extend his compassionate regards over the whole of sentient and suffering nature. The high court of parliament is not degraded by its attentions and its cares in behalf of inferior creatures, else the sanctuary of Heaven has been degraded by its counsels in behalf of the world we occupy; and in the execution of which the Lord of Heaven himself relinquished the highest seat of glory in the universe, and went forth to sojourn for a time on this outcast and accursed territory."

The London Eclectic Review, for June, is sarcastic and severe on Dr. Chalmers. They have been quite disappointed in the discourse; and they venture to controvert some of his positionsas, for instance, that respecting "the sentient apparatus" of animals. They cannot agree with him that animals feel unmixed and unmitigated pain-the agonies of martyrdom, without the alleviation of the hopes and the sentiments whereof they are incapable. Now, we differ entirely from the London critics. The Doctor, we think, has established his position like a sound scholar and a theologian.

The distinguished Professor is sometimes more

It appears to have been composed in haste. It certainly is not so laboured as are the other compo

sitions of the Doctor. It has not that energy of style; nor that splendid array of language; nor that overpowering eloquence, so evident in his astronomical discourses; and in his volume of practical sermons. But it is, in a great measure, free of the besetting sin of Dr. Chalmer's style. It has not that interminable length of sentence

obscure in this brief discourse, than he usually is.mon and universal interest. Mr. N. is tenderly evangelical, without the slightest approach to that luscious mode of enforcing the truth, which, we are sorry to say, is too acceptable, in many quarters, both in and out of the national church. Our author, with a wisdom truly worthy of imitation, expresses himself warmly, pathetically, and spiritually, on every scriptural subject, without one lingering tendenCy towards the abominations of Antinomianism. The subject of divine grace is ever prominently exhibited by him; but then it is " grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

that is found in his other compositions.

And were its faults even greater and more numerous than they are, that warm Christian spirit, and that amiable philanthropy which breathe out in every page, do certainly make a full atonement for any such venial faults.

seen.

We may just add that the eloquent writer has lately published "A few thoughts on the abolition of colonial slavery.' "This we have not yet The following is the eulogy which the London Evangelical Magazine for May, has pronounced on it:-"The Doctor is an equal enemy to slavery in all its forms; whether it afflicts and degrades our species, or descends still lower, and becomes the scourge of the brute creation. We recommend the perusal of these distinguished efforts of philosophical wisdom, and enlightened philanthropy."

SERMONS

Intended chiefly for the use of families.-By
THE HON. GERARD T. NOEL, M. A.
Curate of Richmond. Surrey, and
Vicar of Rainham, Kent.

We are happy in introducing to our readers a volume of sermons from the pen of a clergyman, whom the good of all our religious communities "love with a pure heart fervently." We have read the interesting discourses that compose the volume, and it delights us to say, that they realize the taste, the exalted piety, the affectionate spirit, and the manly sense of the author. Every page in this volume is pre-eminently distinguished by its appeal to the heart. Mr. Noel must have studied human nature with profound attention; and hence his arguments, illustrations, remonstrances, and commendations, are all clothed in the attire of nature. He speaks to

The Sermons are twenty-five in number: -

I. The Gospel Remedy for Human
Misery.

II. St. Paul's Confidence in Christ.
III. Religious Anxiety.

IV. The Character of God.

V. Holiness and design of the Gospel.

VI. The Condition and Prospects of a Christian.

VII. The Necessity for Religious Caution.

VIII. The blessedness and Duties of the Gospel, a Sacramental Discourse.

cy

IX. The Death of the Righteous. X. The tenderness and Consistenof Christ.

XI. The Character of Enoch. XII. Liberty of Heart productive of Holiness.

XIII. The Nature and Importance of Faith.

XIV. The Reproach of Christ. XV. Religion attacked under names of Reproach.

XVI. A Reception of Christ's love the effective source of moral obedience.

XVII. Christian Self-Denial.
XVIII. The Connexion between

his fellow men as knowing, in a hap-Moral character and happiness and py degree, what is in them, and as ev- misery.

er anxious that they should look on

XIX. Hunger and Thirst after

him as discoursing on topics of com- Righteousness.

genius, and of the high qualifications she possesses for at once pleasing and instructing the young.

Izram is a poem of considerable length, and is entirely Mexican in the scenes and imagery which it introduces. It will truly reward an attentive perusal. Character, especially Spanish character, is admirably drawn in it, and every statement, and every illustration, is rendered subservient to the cross. Some of the fugitive poems in this most charming volume are highly interesting.-We quote the following:

To J. W. B. Baptized Dec. 1825. Thou know'st not, my boy, while we lowly are kneeling

Before the sole refuge where sinner's can flee,
For thee is the sigh of solicitude stealing,
The voice of devotion is rising for thee.
Sweet bud, in thy beauty and innocence swelling?
Believing, yet trembling, we come to receive
A promise, a covert of safety, repelling

The blaze of the noon and the blast of the eve.
The bosomwhere nowthou reclinest may yield thee
A shelter, a rest through thine infancy's span;
But all unavailing and helpless to shield thee
From ills that must darken the pathway of man.
The snare is before thee, the pang and the sorrow,
The breath of the syren, the voice of the rod,

The crime of to-day, the despair of to-morow,

And all that can sever the soul from its God.

Allan McLeod is an enchanting little tale, founded (we doubt not,) mainly in fact: truly Scotch in its characters, spirit, and phraseology; and eminently illustrative of the sove-Thou smilest mybabe on the stream that is stealing reignty of divine grace, and the mystery of divine providence. We give it a hearty welcome, as deserving more commendation than any little work of the kind we have seen for a long period.

The Grandfather's Tales consist of four parts.-1st. The Shepherd's Boy, and the Deluge. 2d. The Three Jews and David. 3d. Abel and Death. 4th. Lazarus of Bethany and Jonah. These Tales are in verse, and are all composed with special reference to the elucidation and enforcement of Scriptural truth. In them all there are unequivocal indications of the author's

Like dew o'er the rose of thy innocent face:

Oh, thus may the Saviour, his mercy revealing,

Thy spirit refresh with the waters of grace! And thus, unresisting and meek as we view thee,

Receive thou the unction that comes from above, And welcome thy Lord, if he deign to renew thee An heir of his kingdom, a child of his love. Nowtriumph and honour thanksgiving and blessing

To him who was slain that the sinner might live! The gift of his grace which we joy in possessing,

He died to receive, and receives but to give. This armour of proof we are girding around thee;

For we have been wounded and foil'd in the fray; And, Oh! may the helm of salvation have crown'd

thee,

A glory and guard through life's perilous day

Miscellaneous Articles, &c.

No. IV.

Traits of Primitive Character.

"A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod:
"An honest man's the noblest work of God."

long day of piety and virtue, lives in the memory of his children from generation to generation. My departed husband!" thought she, "thy spirit is with the blessed in Heaven. But the gleam of thy setting sun, which had struggled under a dark cloud for years, was too short lived to shed an enduring light over the minds of thy

for Christ's sake, forgave thee the iniquity of thy sin; yet he causes the memory of an ill spent life to endure, that it may convey_solemn reproofs and instructions. The total oblivion which awaits the memory of ungodly parents, even with their own children, is a part of the righteous visitations of the Most High."

"Here then find me a cool refresh-offspring. Though the love of God, ing shade at length," said Annatje Van Benschooten, as she sat down on the left hand of her father-in-law, within the group of the family circle. "And, my father," continued the young made widow, "this retreat forces on my mind the contrast between this shady vale of tears, and the bright world above. From the dusky shades of the retired spot where we now sit, we look forth on that rich, verdant and beautiful prospect which is stretched out far before us, to the base of the blue range of mountains which are lost in the azure sky."

And it was an ingenious observation. There was on the spot where the family group sat, as much of the calm, and sweet and the delightful of human life, both as it respects place, and also society, as is to be usually met with in this world.

Hans Van Benschooten awakened her from reverie. "Canst thou name a circle of friends more to thy taste, my Annatje, than this is? And canst thou name in all thy native valley, a sweeter spot than this is?" And he waved his hand around on the family group which sat with her on the grassy sofa. Here sat her mother-in-law, Maria Van Benschooten; and her sons and daughters, (arranged according to their seniority,) in the bloom of cheerful youth. And at the upper extremiOn the sloping ground below, she ty of the circle the Dominie sat. For beheld her two little fatherless children his conversation was so much esteemchasing with eagerness the fluttering ed that his presence was always inbutterfly, from flower to flower, along dispensible in a meeting of this kind. the garden walks. "And, ah !" said " And look now, my Annatje," conshe to her soul, "even here in the tinued Hans with a paternal affection, midst of smiles, there is room for a "from these bushy vines, and the jesHow soon our little infants samine which shade us, look over the forget the words, and the looks, and the spot where these little urchins are face, and even the memory of their straining every nerve to capture that father! The grave of my poor hus- splendid butterfly-a thing of nought band, the father of these playful chil- after all-like the most of the silly dren, is not yet green; and they have objects of youth's warmest wishes almost forgotten him. Yet, it is not and pursuits-look over these beautiowing entirely to the elasticity of spi-ful cornfields and the rich waving rits, the light-heartedness of the in-fields of wheat, into the distant fantine minds. The father who haspect that is bounded by the range of set before his children, the light of a blue mountains. How charming that

tear.

pros

water prospect; and the scenery of formed grape under its broad green these little green islands, with their leaf; nor the flowers with their cups waving woods, which seem to dip sparkling with dew drops; nor the their long boughs into the lake. And beautiful late roses which still lingerin the distant back ground of the pros- ed on their stems; nor the dark verpect, seest thou that rolling smoke, dure of the fields, where the cattle and the long rows of human dwel-lowed and the sheep bleated; nor lings peering from behind the skirting the wheat waving in all its yellow woods; and these lofty spires and luxuriance. The charms of the disturreted castles, and that fair ship-tant scenery, alone engaged every ping spreading their white canvass to one's attention; and this is the manthe sun and the wind. Seest thou ner of human nature. Place a man these ships, with crowded sail, speed- in the most charming situation in life; ing on their course into the spacious place within his reach every comfort; harbour; and, not one-I see not let him be in his earthly paradise, even one of them returning!" within the circle of "wife, children, and friends;" he is never satisfied with the present: he feels the weight of an unsupportable ennui: he raises his eye above every present object, even the sweetest and fairest; and he looks far forward with irrepressible longings into futurity. This is a trait in the character of our immortality. It is inseparable from the actings of an immortal being, who is an exile in the earth; and whose home is in Heaven!

The good old man here sighed. He raised his eyes to Heaven, and they fell with an affectionate sympathising look on his wife and Annatje. For he thought that moment on that distant city, and that shore, whither no stormes can come, and which no plague visits; whither one so dear to his heart had so lately gone. And anticipating their thoughts, he whispered these words-now he is dead; can I bring him back again! I shall go to him; but he shall not re

turn to me?

Absorbed in the contemplation of the distant prospects, Annatje forgot This group had met for the pur- for a moment that she was a widow ; pose of consoling Annatje. The sor- and Hans and his spouse, that they had row and grief of refined minds is ex-lost their first born. Oh! what a dispressed in a touching and delicate manner, in silence and the sympathy of tears. The hypocrisy of grief is impertinent, officious, and loud in the silent and holy circle of mourning hearts. That is a most exquisite touch of a truly refined grief, that is delineated by a master's hand on the holy page. "Job's friends came to mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off and knew him not; they lifted up their voice and wept. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights; and none spake a word unto him; for they saw that his grief was great."

play of Divine wisdom in the constitution of the human mind! What an impress of divine love on the bright prospects of an unfading immortality, to which the mind of man is ever urging forward! without the blissful realities of the far distant prospects, which the holy religion of Christ Jesus sets before us in the world of glory above, we should be the wretched victims of ennui, even in the midst of the brightest prospects, and the most joyous scenes of human life!

This interesting group was interrupted by the approach of a little stranger, who presented himself at the door of the arbour, and bowed, During a long silence, every eye with cap in hand, to the company.was turned to the far distant prospect His cheeks were in a flush; and his before them. The sweet bower in blue eyes, which sparkled from bewhich they sat, attracted not their at-neath a profusion of yellow curls, intention; nor the clusters of the half dicated agitation and sorrow.