evinced throughout to discover the simplest combina- | the late Dr E. D. Clarke, as peculiarly worthy of notice. tions of letters in which the words of all languages have "I have lived to know that the great secret of human originated. Mr Good was not a mere linguist; he was happiness is this:-Never suffer your energies to staga universal scholar, and the activity and unwearied The old adage of 'too many irons in the fire,' ardour of his mind cannot be better depicted than in is false; you cannot have too many; poker, tongs, and the words of his biographer. all-keep them all going." "From the year 1797 to 1803 or 1804, Mr Good contributed largely to some of the Reviews and other periodical publications. The Analytical' and Critical' Reviews, were those in which his productions usually appeared, though there are a very few interesting specimens of his taste and erudition in the British' and 'Monthly' Magazines. Thus in the latter magazine for August 1800, there is a paper on German literature, with two translations from Klopstock's Messias.' And in the number for January 1801, there is an elegant communication on the resemblance of Persian and Arabic poetry to the Greek and Roman, with several spirited versions. But during greater part of this, and even a longer period, his principal communications were to the 'Critical Review;' of which indeed he was for some time the editor, and the labour of preparing the most elaborate articles often devolved upon him. It has been in my power to specify the critiques upon Hindley's Persian Lyrics,' Allwood's Literary Antiquities of Greece,' and of some poems, by Sir B. Burgess, and Mr Cowley. In the beginning of 1803, his labours were still more multifarious. He was finishing his translation of Solomon's Song of Songs,' carrying on his life of Dr Geddes, walking from twelve to fourteen miles a-day, that he might see his numerous patients; nor was this all. In a letter to Dr Drake, dated Jan. 29, 1803, after speaking of these engagements, and adverting with thankfulness to the state of his business as a surgeon, (which then produced near fourteen hundred pounds per annum,) he proceeds thus : "I have edited the Critical Review,' besides writing several of its most elaborate articles; I have every week supplied a column of matter for the Sunday Review; and have for some days had the great weight of the British Press' upon my hands; the committee for conducting which have applied to me lately, in the utmost consternation, in consequence of a trick put upon them by the proprietors of other newspapers, and which stopped abruptly the exertions of their editor, and several of their most valuable hands." Though not published till after the period to which the above quotation refers, Mr Good's translation of Lucretius was begun and finished several years before. The object for which it was undertaken was characteristic of the man, being, in the language of his biographer, "to bring himself under something like the urgency of a moral necessity to become thoroughly acquainted with the utmost possible variety of subjects, upon which men of literature, science, and investigation had been able to throw any light." It is accordingly a work of most astonishing erudition and research, and must long remain a standing monument of the author's unwearied industry, refined taste, and vast acquirements. Nor was this translation penned in the silence and solitude of the closet. 'It was composed in the streets of London during the translator's extensive walks, to visit his numerous patients.' This is perhaps the finest instance of the valuable art of economizing time of which we have either read or heard, and we call the attention of our readers to it, as a bright example of industry and activity which it were well that all should imitate. The mental and bodily powers are much more frequently impaired by idleness than by excessive labour; and therefore we would cordially recommend the saying of nate. The extraordinary exertions of Mr Good, both literary and professional, from 1800 to 1812, almost exceed belief. It would occupy, in fact, too much of our space to enumerate simply the works which issued from his pen. There were two, however, connected with Theology, which fall more immediately within the province of this journal,-we allude to his translation of the " Songs," and of the book of Job; both of which are Song of highly valued for the critical remarks, and the copious illustrations from other authors with which they abound. The language in which he characterises the latter book is singularly felicitous and just; "nothing can be purer than its morality; nothing sublimer than its philosophy; nothing more majestic than its creed." We cannot agree with him in his idea that it was written by Moses, Abraham; the language, the style, the allusions appear, or indeed by any individual subsequent to the days of in our view, to indicate an earlier period as the date of its composition. Towards the Autumn of 1810, Mr Good was earnestly solicited to deliver a course of lectures on popular science in the Surrey Institution, which were attended by crowded audiences both during that and the two succeeding winters. The substance of these lectures was afterwards published under the vague and indefinite title of the Book of Nature,'-a work including a great extent of general information expressed in a simple popular style. No individual could have been selected more happily suited to address a popular audience than Mr Good. His manner was free, open, unrestrained; his language plain, perspicuous, often elegant, while his reasonings, instead of being abstract and metaphysical, were enriched with many interesting facts, and enlivened with some beautiful and well-sustained flights of fancy. In the year 1820, Mr Good, at the suggestion of his friends, entered upon a higher department of professional duty than that in which he had hitherto been engaged. He now commenced practice as a physician. His diploma was obtained from Marischal College, Aberdeen. From this period till his death, Dr Good turned his attention more particularly to studies connected with his profession, as the fruits of which, he gave to the world, his Physiological System of Nosology,' and his invaluable Study of Medicine.' In our next we shall consider more minutely the religious character and history of this excellent man. THE DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN AS A FATHER: A DISCOURSE. BY THE REV. JOHN SMYTH, D. D., "And ye, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: IT is the sublime saying of a Master in Israel, that "the bosom of Jehovah is the seat of law,' All that is holy, just and good, has its dwelling-priety, have, in wisdom and mercy, been awakened place there "from everlasting to everlasting." In by the God of the Spirits of all flesh, for ends creating rational and immortal beings, one main worthy of his infinite perfections. With what design of God is to bless them with the experience, profound gratitude ought we to recognise this that "in the keeping of His commandments there provision of divine munificence; beholding in the is a great reward." Obedience to these is, at tie which knits the heart of a parent to his child, once, their duty and privilege. The apostasy of an imperfect but touching emblem of that which our race, has, it is true, brought along with it a binds each member of the household of faith to universal disrelish to the service of God. As men their Father in heaven. do not like to retain Him in their knowledge, so their carnal minds are enmity against God; and are not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be. Hence, the manifest and urgent necessity of a method of salvation which provides not only for our restoration to divine favour, through perfect righteousness and atoning blood; but, likewise, for our being "renewed in the spirit of our minds." The regenerating power of the Holy Ghost is not less indispensable to new obedience than the finished work of the Saviour. The law of God, indeed, requires from all men conformity to its enactments; but, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those only who are made new creatures in Christ Jesus; and who are, thereby, disposed and enabled to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." It merits special and grateful consideration, that so many of the divine precepts appeal to the strongest affections and sensibilities of our nature. Their supreme authority is not more distinctly apparent, than is their accordance with the moral constitution which we have received from the Father of our spirits. From the various relations in which we are placed as superiors, inferiors, and equals, arise corresponding duties, none of which can be discharged aright, without the light of Scripture revelation, and the power of the Holy Ghost.. The immediate subject of this discourse, relates to the duties of the Christian as a father: And the terms in which the Apostle's exhortation is expressed are as tender as they are instructive: "And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." I. The first duty which a Christian father owes to God in behalf of his children, is a solemn dedication of them to Him in whom they live, and move, and have their being. A memorable instance of such dedication occurs in the Scripture history of Samuel who was brought unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh ; and of whom Hannah said, "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore, also, I have lent him to the Lord: as long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord." The effect of a specific act of dedication to Jehovah, on the mind of a parent, is eminently beneficial. It is associated with all those feelings of dependence, humi❘lity, and thankfulness which we ought to cherish in the reception of important benefits; and, it is calculated to deepen our sense of responsibility to Him who bestowed them. The remembrance of the act is precious to the heart in seasons of duty and of trial; and, whether the Lord giveth or taketh away-the piety of which it is so befitting an expression, dictates the prayer, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." But such dedication to God is not to be a solitary act. It ought to be frequently renewed, as indicating our continued sense of his authority and our "memory of his great goodness." II. The ordinance of baptism is an invaluable mean of grace for guiding us in the dedication of, our children to Jehovah. It would be unseasonable to enter, at present, into any elaborate proof of the scriptural authority of infant-baptism. Suffice it to remark, that although the evidence in support of it were less cogent than we believe it to be, the practice would find many an argument in the affections of a pious mind. It is true, that nothing short of direct preceptor of an established course of practice from the earliest period of the Christian Church (which argues a divine command) should authorize the administration of baptism to infants. Judging, however, as we do, from the nature and designs of the Abrahamic covenant; from the encouraging words of Christ, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven;" from apostolic usage, according to It is a delightful proof of a heavenly Father's which whole households were baptized, and from beneficence, that he has not left such duties to de- the testimonies of the primitive fathers, we bepend on the dictates of conscience and Scripture lieve that infant baptism is of supreme authority, solely; but has made the performance of them and that it affords a precious mean of grace, whereone of the sweetest and most sacred of all our ever it is faithfully improved. There are few subpleasures. Those stirrings of affection within us, jects, however, in regard to which more lamentwhich are experienced, antecedently to all rea-able ignorance prevails. By some, the baptizing sonings about their moral excellence and pro- of infants seems to be regarded as an ecclesiasti Parental duties commence with the existence of the child, and terminate, only, at the death of one of the parties. It is scarcely necessary to advert, minutely, to these obligations which devolve upon you with respect to the preservation of the lives of your infants; as the strong instincts of the parental nature provide for their safety so far as human exertions can avail, in all, but the most flagitious and abandoned of our race. cal ceremony, which is needful for sanctioning | lar ambition, that even our dissent is mingled with a name to the child; whilst others conceive and profound veneration of the man of faith and prayer. speak of it, as if it possessed some mysterious Others are careful and troubled about many things: virtue for " making young Christians." Such his soul is engrossed with the attainment, for notions are not confined to the most illiterate por- himself, and his family, of "the one thing needtions of the visible Church. They have been ful," satisfied that if this be their portion, "he promulgated by the advocates of baptismal rege- leaveth an inheritance to his children's children." neration; and their influence has been extensively felt even within the pale of the Presbyterian Churches. Suffer, brethren, the word of exhortation on this subject. Bear in mind, that baptism is one of the sacraments of our holy faith; that the water poured out, and thereafter sprinkled on the child, is significant of our original guilt and pollution, and of our deliverance from both "by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." In thus dedicating your children to God, you solemnly declare your belief in the supreme and infallible authority of the Scriptures as the sole guide of your faith and practice. You voluntarily undertake, by vows the most sacred which can bind the conscience, that you will, in devout reliance on the grace and strength of God our Saviour, bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. that, by all divinely appointed means, you will seek to promote the kingdom of God within them,-in order to their full enjoyment of its glory and blessedness hereafter. III. A Christian father is bound to provide for the temporal necessities of his children, as God hath prospered him. The helpless years of infancy and childhood, render your offspring absolutely dependent on your support. "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. v. 8. In terms still more explicit the same apostle addresses the Corinthians, 2 Epistle xii. 14, "I seek not yours, but you; for the children ought not to lay up for the parents; but the parents for the children." The portions which were allotted by the ancient patriarchs to their offspring, were agreeable to the dictates both of nature and revelation. There is considerable danger of extreme views on this point. A parent who is distinguished by eminent spirituality of mind, who is habitually conversant with heavenly things, and who accepts in their utmost latitude the command and the promise accompanying it, "Leave thy fatherless children with me, I will preserve them alive," is sometimes tempted to overlook the temporal welfare of his household, or to consider it as a matter of trivial consequence; and, to fortify his reasonings by attaching an indefinite enlargement to the Saviour's precept, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you." It may seem unjustifiable to find fault with any one whose confidence in the Lord Jehovah is so strong and unlimited. And the instances of such confidence are so rare, in the present age of secu Still, it is proper and necessary to remind him, that Providence, all bountiful and considerate, moreover, of his promises to "the seed of the righteous," operates by means; and that neglect of these is displeasing to God. We have no right to devolve on others the support of our families, provided we are enabled, by lawful industry, to secure for them a moderate competency of this world's goods; and, it is the duty of every man to endeavour to place those with whom he is connected by the strongest and dearest_ties, beyond the reach of indigence or straits. But, there is another, and a more perilous extreme-more perilous, because the soul, for which the gain of the whole world would not compensate, is mainly endangered. We refer to the hoarding up of wealth at all hazards, if within the limits of bare equity,in order to aggrandize our families, that they may distance less prosperous neighbours in outward display. Of all the passions which settle themselves on things beneath the sun, this ought to be regarded as especially ignoble. It contracts and debases the soul; brings it down from the eminences which it was formed to traverse, to become of the earth, earthy. For the superiority conferred by illustrious talent, acquirements, and virtue, we feel the risings of many a sympathetic emotion. These we naturally connect with what belongs to the permanent character of our race-to the records of its future, as well as of its present glories. But wealth, for its own sake, or for the sake of gratifying personal and domestic vanity, can never awaken one feeling of satisfaction except in minds of kindred earthliness. Brethren, beware of the influence of devotedness to the world. Beware of its influence over the hearts of your offspring. Provide for their welfare, present and prospective, as God enables you, and implore the divine blessing on your exertions for their benefit. But see that your arrangements embrace the widely extended interests of their imperishable souls. You may not, without heavy guilt, expose either yourselves or them to situations, however lucrative, in which their religious and moral principles shall be in hazard of contamination. "Evil communications corrupt good manners." A single sentence of infidelity or of impurity may defile their whole nature; and, although the wealth of Croesus were the prospect in reversion, you must not, for filthy lucre's sake, leave them the prey and sport of the emissaries of Satan,—the enemies of all righteousness. Riches take unto themselves wings and flee away; and death, on the verge of whose dominions we are ever treading, shall wrench them from the firmest grasp. There are pleasures of the intellect and the heart sacred to truth and virtue: there are, above all, joys with began to start from her eyes, and stealing from beneath her withered eyelids, rolled down the furrows of her wrinkled cheeks. The big sob was gradually gathering within, till at length she gave utterance to the following: "Sir, although now a poor and helpless widow, I was once rich. I dwelt in Holland for many years; my husband being a trader 'twixt Amsterdam, England, and New South Wales. Providence there endowed me with every thing that could gratify my taste, or delight my senses. I had my house and garden well stocked with the bounties of nature;" and here she abruptly paused;" but what of all that? I was poor indeed. Thus did I live in the midst of temporal comfort and which nothing merely external intermeddleth. | the declarations of, the Psalmist to herself, the tears There is contentment with our lot, and the fullness of a grateful heart; there is the testimony of a good conscience, and the approving testimony of God. Let these precious objects never be separated, in your aims, from the inheritance which you labour to transmit to your children; and, rather than forego them, be willing to sacrifice all the pomp and circumstance of worldly station. A truly Christian parent will tremble, lest his offspring have just cause to accuse him as the instrument of their final ruin, as having bartered their undying souls for the gold that perisheth. Infinitely rather would he bear the prospect of a habitation for them in the lowliest dwelling-place; that the bread of poverty and the water of afflic-affluence; but, O my poor soul was truly barren! there tion should be their fare; and that, disregarded by "the children of this world," they should pass their lives in deepest obscurity, than that their immortal happiness should be forfeited, and that for ever. How differently shall the relative magnitude of things present and things eternal be beheld in the light, and amidst the solemnities of the judgment day! In this world, the laws of moral ception are often reversed; but, in eternity all things are seen exactly as they are. The deceptious glare of the world gives place to the unveiled light of truth. Illusive shadows are succeeded by dread realities. per Blessed God: Give to us, and to our children, a portion beyond the grave. Let us be mutually partakers of thine own inheritance," which is incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away." "The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment." May their souls and ours live before thee." "Thy favour is life: thy loving-kindness is better than life." (To be continued in our next.) HOME MISSIONARY SKETCHES. In a sombre looking dwelling, I came upon an aged I read and remarked on the 42d Psalm, fraught with so much consolation to one who is, or had been, in spiritual distress. As I began to enlarge upon, and to apply was no English Church where I was, and the Bible in the Dutch language was a dead letter to me. Oft have I stood at my cottage door on a Sabbath morn, and looked wistfully towards the land of my fathers, where Gospel ordinances were in so rich abundance. Oh how my soul wept within me, when I remembered the days of old, in which I was wont to engage in the services of the Church of Scotland! Thus placed in a foreign land, although rich, yet was I poor." I could enter into the "By Babel's streams we sat and wept, In midst thereof we hang'd our harps To continue the narrative, her husband's ship found- 2. THE SURGEON OF AN EAST INDIAMAN. At one door I knocked, and an old decent woman answered my call. I thought, by her woful deportment, that all was not right within. I entered the room; and on turning round, my anticipations were too truly realized. I beheld one whom I never expected to find there, stretched on a bed of pain, of languishing, and of death. O how was I stunned when I viewed one who recalled to me many a year long since past by. This was the surgeon of an East Indiaman. He was studying in the medical classes when I was passing through the curriculum of arts; and although even then I was not personally acquainted with him, yet I at once recognised the features I so well knew, though much changed. I could not help pausing, and reflecting, even before I could utter a single word. What an awful change the hand of disease and death effects on man! obliterating the very traces which nature has stamped, and which we would almost consider indelible. Oh, what a change was there! Still when sore; I looked, I saw, as it were, before me, a shattered | They conquered, reigned, sinned, and were chastened fabric; the ruins of a splendid edifice, in which there dwelt the soul of learning and genius like the smouldering remains of some ancient and magnificent cathedral, with silent majesty and awe proclaiming its former greatness. His expanded brow, his eyes sunk in their sockets, which occasionally cast their languishing look towards me, his pale and livid countenance, and his hollow fainting voice, all conspired to rivet on my mind the melancholy scene. Oh! had some of his gay and thought less fellow-students been here, methinks that, Here would they have paused and dropt a tear. This fatal illness he had only lately contracted. He had been a three-years' voyage out with the vessel of which he was surgeon. The ship, on her return, having wintered at London, he seized the opportunity of coming down here to see his friends. Who knows what is hid in the womb of futurity? How mysterious are the ways of Providence! He came here to die. In fact, he had again returned to London, and was just on the eve of setting sail, when he was attacked by this malady, and confined there for some days; and seeing that his complaint was increasing, and rapidly making inroads upon his constitution, he determined on going back to his father's house, where he would have the kind hand of a mother, to minister that attention which a stranger could never bestow; and thus was he situated when I saw him. He recollected me, and from beneath the bed-clothes drew forth his shrivelled hand, to give me a welcome. I made some serious observations on the circumstances in which he was placed, to which he listened with eager attention. I also read with him, at his request, a Psalm suited to his afflicted condition, of which every word he seemed to weigh. He lingered in this condition for some days, and expired, not however, without giving evidence that he was resting implicitly on Him who is the sinner's stay. After I heard of his death, I visited his aged and sorrowing parents, to drop the balm of consolation into their wounded souls. They have been enabled to bear up with resignation under their affliction. I have no doubt but that they looked forward, with fond anticipation, to him as a means of comfort and support in their old age; and he, too, expected to enjoy many a happy year. How striking a commentary on the words of Job, "Thou destroyest the hope of man!" THE HOPE OF ISRAEL. BY THE REV. W. M. HETHERINGTON, A.M., CAME they not from the house of bondage forth? Did not the desert yield them heavenly food,- Recoiled not Jordan from their hallowed tread, Wielded by God's avenging hand, Is their's the fettered captive's hopeless doom,— But was this all the light it gave? And not Jehovah, strong to save? Put on thy strength thou rescued one! Salem, the joy of all the earth,— Whence issue life's pure waters forth! ANECDOTE. A blind South Sea Islander.-Mr Williams in his narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands, mentions an old blind chief of the name of Me, who was brought under the influence of the Gospel. Mr Williams having found this old blind man laid upon a bed of sickness, and intimating to him that he thought the sickness would terminate in death, wished him to |