Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

591

Gleanings-Literary Notices.

To Keep Cabbages fresh.-When the cabbages are cut, leave about two or three inches of the stalk, the pith of which is to be hollowed out, taking care not to cut or bruise the rind; tie the cabbages up by their stalks, and then fill the hollow with water. By repeating this daily, they may be kept for several months.

Observance of the Sabbath in Demerara.-At all hours of this sacred day are the ears stunned, and the feelings hurt, by the sound of the anvil, the deafening noise of a thousand coopers and carpenters, plying their various tools. Cooperages, when in the heart of the town, are a grievous nuisance in any case; but, on the Sabbath, there is something about them so utterly revolting, that their noise has often sounded in our ears like the waspish buzz of libellous men, setting at defiance the dread Majesty of heaven and earth.-Guiana Chronicle.

Arctic Expedition.-The English expedition to the Arctic Pole (says the Moniteur) has safely reached the 67th degree of north latitude. The steam-boat has traversed the most dangerous seas of the globe. But, wishing to touch at the coast of Spitzbergen, she was overtaken by a violent gale of wind, which carried away her maintop-mast. An English vessel happening to get among the ice, and being therefore abandoned by its crew, her mainmast was taken out by the steamer, as well as the provisions and fuel that were requisite for continuing the voyage to the Pole.

Antiquarian Discovery-In clearing away some buildings on the south side of Tooley-street, nearly opposite St. Olave's Church, for the purpose of forming the approaches to the New London Bridge, a curious vaulted chamber has been laid open, of lofty dimensions. It is chiefly constructed of Kentish rag-stone, and the architecture is strictly of the Saxon or Anglo-Norman period: boldly turned semicircular arches rest upon short columns, placed against the side walls. These columns have capitals ornamented, in the true Saxon style, with four semicircular compartments. The building is supposed to be part of the inn or town-house of the Prior of Lewes, in Sussex, and must certainly have been constructed as early as the twelfth century.

A Curious Invention -A young man, named John Smith, of Beilby, near Pocklington, has constructed a very ingenious and curious piece of mechanism. It is a species of clock-work for measuring distances; the works are contained in a small compass, and fastened to the middle of the axle-tree of his father,'s waggon. The machine has two pointers affixed to it, one of which moves round in one mile, and the other in thirty-six miles. There is also a hammer which strikes a bell at every revolution of the former Its face is ornamented with a painting, representing the Solar system. The young man follows the sublime study of astronomy also. The contrivance reflects great credit upon him, as he has had no mechanical instruction, but has worked at the farming business all his life, and has executed this machine after his daily labour was done.

Cultivation of Potatoes.-A French soldier placed half a dozen potatoes at the bottom of a cask, upon a layer of sand and fresh earth, three or four inches thick; when the stalks had risen to a few inches, he bent them down, and covered them four or five inches deep with the same mixture. He continued this operation until the cask was full. Six or seven months after, upon emptying the vessel (which stood in a court yard) he found that the half dozen potatoes had produced an enormous quantity of new ones, from the portions of the mother stems which had been successively laid down and covered.-Journal des Connais Usuelles.

Longevity.-The St. Petersburg papers announce the death of a man at Moscow, aged 150 years.

Medal of Sir Thomas Lawrence.-It is intended to strike a medal of the late Sir Thomas Lawrence, as one of the series designed to perpetuate the great men of the age. The medal is patronized by his Majesty.-The Athenian. Bridge building.-It is stated, that Waterloo Bridge was estimated at £50,000, and cost nearly £1,200,000. Southwark Bridge was estimated at £360,000, and cost upwards of £700,000. Neither of these bridges has paid the original subscribers one farthing.

Tithes.-It never was intended that tithe should be more than a tenth part of the produce of land cultivated in the simplest manner; and in Italy, to this day, no lands pay tithe but the lands in cultivation. from time mmemorial, forming but a small part of every parish. Laud brought into cultivation by the application of capital is never tithed.-World.

592

Wesleyan Missionary Society.-The regular income of this society for the year ending 31st December, 1829, amounts to forty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-three pounds, exclusive of a munificent bequest from the late Miss Houston, of six thousand five hundred pounds, making the actual receipts of the year £56,063, being upwards of £6000 increase on the receipts of the year 1828, and £13,000 more than the previous year.

To prevent the Smoking of a Lamp.-Soak the wick in strong vinegar, and dry it well before you use it; it will then burn both sweet and pleasant, and will amply repay the trifling trouble in preparing it.

Literary Notices.

Just Published.

No. 14 of the Imperial-Octavo and Royal-Quarto Editions of the National Portrait Gallery, with Likenesses and Memoirs of Sir Thomas Munro, the Earl of Verulam, and the Bishop of Norwich.

The True Character and Probable Results of American Revivals, a Discourse, by the Rev. J. Blackburn, minister of Claremont Chapel, Pentonville.

Illustrations of the Practical Power of Faith, in a series of Popular Discourses on Part of the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. By T. Binney. The Book of the Priesthood, an Argument, in Three Parts. By Thomas Stratten.

A Guide to the Practical Reading of the Bible, in Three Parts, by William Carpenter.

Recognition in the World to Come; or Christian Friendship on Earth perpetuated in Heaven. By C. R, Muston, A.M.

Poems, on Various Subjects. By W. I. Atkinson.

The Affectionate Officer, or the Rewards of Perseverance; a Tale for Youth. By the Rev. S.Young, author of Scripture Balances, &c., in one vol. 18mo. Essays on Various Religious Subjects. By William Sleigh-By the same Author,

1. A Practical Dictionary, containing concise yet comprehensive schemes of the most necessary subjects, Divine, Moral, and Literary.

2. A Manual of Christian Instruction; consisting of the Doctrines and Duties of Religion as inculcated in the Holy Scriptures; with preliminary and concluding Remarks.

To be completed in six weekly numbers. No. 1, to 6, of the History of the German and English Reformation; from A. D. 1516, to A. D. 1560. By the Rev. H. C. O'Donnoghue, A.M.

The Church of Rome; a View of the Peculiar Doctrines, Religions Worship, Ecclesiastical Polity, and Ceremonial Observances of the Roman Church, with Notes and Observations. Also Twelve Tracts, on the Principal Errors of the Church of Rome.

The History of the Church and Co rt of Rome, from the Establishment of Christianity under the Emperor Constantine, down to the present time. Evangelical Biography for Young Persons. By Ingram Cobbin, A.M.

An Inquiry into the Birth-place, Life, Writings, &c. of the Rev. Wm. Gurnall, A.M. By H. Mc. Keon. The Drama of Nature, a Poem. By Jos. Mitchell Burton.

Conversations for the Young, designed to promote the profitable reading of the Holy Scriptures. By Richard Watson, Author of Theological Institutes, &c. Church Reform. By the Rev. John Riland, A.M. Forty Family Sermons. By the Editor of the Christian Observer.

Sidney Anecdotes, Part I. and II. By MU. Sears. Remarks on the actual state of the University of Cambridge.

Lectures on the Reciprocal Obligations of Life, &c. By John Morison, second edition..

The true Plan of a Living Temple, in three vols.
The Pulpit, Nos. 376 to 380.
Anti Slavery Reporter, No. 60, and Supplement.
An Essay on Evil-speaking. By William Shuttle-

worth.

[blocks in formation]

LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY H. FISHER, SON, AND CO.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE

Emperial Magazine;

OR, COMPENDIUM OF

RELIGIOUS, MORAL, & PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE.

JULY.]

"PERIODICAL LITERATURE IS THE GERM OF NATIONAL LEARNING."

[blocks in formation]

To sketch the memoir of a living character is always a task of considerable difficulty. A stranger cannot find materials, an enemy will distort his features, a friend will be suspected of partiality, and, should he write himself, he is in danger of egotism. To descant on those shades, which, through the infirmity of human nature, are too often blended with the finest moral picture, would wound his feelings; while to make a too brilliant display of the luminous parts, might awaken jealousy in contemporaries, excite and foster vanity in the subject of the memoir, and steal a jewel from the crown of Him, to whom all praise

is for ever due.

In a brief memoir we cannot be expected to trace all the "strong connexions and nice dependencies," of the parts which form the character of any human being; much must remain unknown to all but God and himself. We cannot unveil the arcana within; and it is only by "catching the manners living as they rise," that we are enabled to form an estimate of individual peculiarity or worth.

In writing the history of great men, it is too much the practice of biographers to dwell on the grand and splendid events of their lives; hence "they drop the man in their account, and vote the mantle into majesty. With the true moral state of the mind we are as little acquainted as with those heavenly bodies which dazzle with their lustre, and yet in their true nature are undefined, and but little known.

It was a saying of Marshal Turenne, that "no man is a hero in the opinion of his valet;" hence the great mass of biography may be considered as fable amusing fancy, and not reason studying truth. Sketches of pious characters were never more abundant than in the present age, which may properly be named the golden era of biography. In some of these works, the true features of christian men and women are painted with a nice and discriminating touch. For, as in the human face, Na139.-VOL. XII.

[1830.

ture's cunning hand blends the rose and lily in justest proportions, so in their judicious harmony the virtues and the graces have had both a "local habitation and a name" in many of the excellent ones of our own day.

In the volume of revelation, tests of pious character are laid down by a masterly hand. "Men do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles." Hence, we at once spring from the premises to the conclusion, and infer that a change of heart is both necessary to a change of life, and evidenced by it.

During the present" and last century, thousands have been the subjects of this divine renovation, who never were immured within the walls of a cloister, and who never studied divinity in academic bowers. Under the guidance of the Spirit of God, men have thought for themselves, have read the Bible, and, bursting from the darkness of nature, have become burning and shining lights in the different walks of civil and social life. Hence, too, the church has been furnished both for home and foreign work, with hundreds of ministers, whom religion has taken from the lowly vale, to set among the princes of God's people; but perhaps among those who still remain unnoticed,

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

Of Mr. MARSDEN's progenitors we know but little; but from this little we learn that he cannot boast of having derived his birth from "loins enthroned, or rulers of the earth." From some sketches of his early life, addressed to his children, we learn that he was born at Warrington, December 21, 1777. His father, by trade a dyer, was then in humble life, having expended a handsome patrimony, or little family estate. This, at first, necessity obliged him to sell, in order to defray the expense of a lawsuit with his two brothers. The residue vanished by imperceptible degrees, so that the latter part of his life was a dark and cloudy voyage, which terminated in the 56th year of his age.

2 P

595

Memoir of the Rev. Joshua Marsden.

At this period the subject of this memoir was left wholly to the care of a widowed mother, a truly pious member of the Church of England. This excellent parent did all in her power, both by prayer and instruction, "to rear the tender thought, and teach the young ideas how to shoot" heavenward. Her constant solicitude being her son's salvation, she prayed for him both late and early, and took great pains to train him up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.

He remarks, however, in the sketches above alluded to, that he paid but little attention to the things of God, and was often deeply pained and galled with the obtrusive care which his pious parent manifested for the salvation of his soul. Yet his conscience, when but a boy, being remarkably tender, his soul was often filled with remorse and alarm. He was greatly terrified when reading or hearing of the day of judgment, and trembled at the apprehension of being an eternal object of the wrath of God.

At this period he sometimes formed resolutions of turning with all his heart to the Lord, but the strong current of corrupt nature, and the ill example of other boys, diverted him from his pious resolves, and for a time his mother's prayers and tears seemed of no avail. God, however, who moves in a mysterious way, did not overlook the many petitions which she offered up in his behalf, although her faith and patience were put to the severest trial by an event which, nearly frustrating all her hopes, plunged her in the deepest grief and consternation.

Instigated by some of his thoughtless companions, our embryo missionary left the maternal roof, when about fifteen years of age, and went to sea. He had not long embarked, before a terrible catastrophe brought him both to his knees and to his prayers; and serious reflections on his sin and danger, awakened all the good impressions which were fast dying away for want of favourable external agents.

The ship in which he sailed, overtaken by a violent tempest, struck upon a rock, and was finally wrecked, and himself and others were just saved, as by the skin of their teeth, from an ocean grave. During that terrible night, the agonies of his mind were indescribable, and he thought, while the leaky vessel was wallowing among the broken waves, that every lurch she gave might plunge him into a deeper abyss than even the bottom of the sea.

When rescued from the wreck, he took a passage for his native land, hoping to

596

return home, and, under the maternal roof, to improve the providential deliverance, and put away all his sins. But, alas! on landing in the west of England, destitute both of money and clothes to pursue his journey, he was persuaded to venture again on the perilous deep, and, after sending a very penitent letter to his mother, he once more embarked, on what was to him a scene both of danger and providential

escapes.

Before many months had elapsed, he was again cast away; thus the hand of God seemed to pursue the wayward boy; and it is not improbable that the prayers of his mother were co-operating with the providence of God, in bringing about that result which distinguished his future life.

In the year 1794, being then about seventeen, a chain of providential circumstances led him into a situation, where he had an opportunity of hearing the Wesleyan ministers, by one of whom he was deeply convinced of the sin and danger of fighting against God. The light of truth shone upon his mind, and he became deeply impressed with the vast importance and necessity of devoting himself to God. Under this impression he abandoned his former habits, became truly serious, searched the scriptures frequently upon his knees, fasted, prayed, wept in secret places, feeling the burden of a guilty conscience, and groaning under an awful sense of the depravity of his nature, and the holiness, majesty, and displeasure of God. It was not long, however, before he found that pearl of great price, the forgiveness of sin and true peace of mind, which are at once both the evidence of pardon and the pledge and earnest of future holiness, as stated at large in his "Sketches of early Life."

The cultivation of his mind soon becoming an object of intense interest, he read and studied night and day, frequently spending the time allotted for sleep in the pursuit of knowledge, and, that he might have money for books, he frequently abridged himself in the necessary article of food.

At the age of twenty, with much fear and trembling, and under a deep sense of his insufficiency, he was persuaded to occupy a pulpit in a country place, after which he was frequently importuned to preach in the surrounding villages, and after a competent time spent as a village or local preacher, an ardent solicitude for the salvation of souls led him to desire a larger sphere. The work of missions lying near his heart, he longed to be employed

« ForrigeFortsæt »