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duction in the stables. Ditto, by ditto, in the expensive superfluities of the fruit garden. Savings of wife and daughters in dress, &c."- All charity should be the result of some instance, or habit, of self-denial; and it is but the lowest grade of mortification to abolish absolute superfluity. If we use more wine, in quantity and price, than we need; keep more horses than we use; train more wall-trees than are necessary to supply our tables; fill our wardrobes with more dresses than can be moderately useful and ornamental; and take coffee from rosewood tables, when mahogany ones could be better afforded by us; where is our self-denial, and what is the value of the five-guinea subscriptions affixed to our names, in the lists of ten among the hundreds of our religious societies?

of what could be spared-not from tune,"-together with various other the expenses necessary to support benefactions, designated with similar their houses correspondently to the particularity. The amount of such station to which they were born, or gratuities would be incalculably are advanced, according to the di- augmented, if certain of our busiest rect order of Providence; but from philanthropists and committee-men, such expenditure in dress, furniture, would enter into their private, not equipage, and visiting intercourse, as their public, accounts, items of discovers an ambition to shine more the following kind:-" Saved by brightly than others of their own the substitution of port wine and rank, and to emulate also their su- sherry, for claret and champagne, periors. Can you persuade them, at sundry entertainments given to sir, to make this experiment during Ditto, by a re the approaching Christmas-the festive season, so strangely perverted from its original design, and now generally absorbed in the heedless pursuit of what the world calls pleasure? Can you persuade them to make, next month only, a sacrifice; and to offer it, not as though they brought a gift to the altar, and retired from the sanctuary, vain of the gratuitous oblation; but, as a slender and tardy acknowledgment of what they are daily receiving from a Benefactor, to whom we owe ourselves, and all we possess ?. Your readers will not, I trust, accuse me of endeavouring to reduce the rich to the condition of the paupers at their gate-and in which case, some characters would only exchange the pride of luxury for the pride of feçulence and ragsbut they will certainly concede the point, that all who deem themselves to be, emphatically, admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion, should renounce such things as are contrary to their profession. One of these things is, wasting upon our vanity and appetite what is demanded by the sufferings of the world immediately around us; and of the millions far beyond our horizon, perishing, and ready to perish, in the darkness and guilt of paganism. I have observed, in the lists of donations to our various philanthropic institutions, such articles as the following:-"Produce of an orchard," Proceeds of a necklace and bracelets,"" Thank-offering, for escape from danger,"-"Portion of an unexpected accession of for

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I wish I were eloquent enough to induce several of my own friends to begin a regular debtor-and-creditor account, according to the above intimations; and compel themselves to prepare a specimen for the quarter ending the 5th of April, 1828. We are all sufficiently anxious to examine the periodical statements of public expenditure, as regularly published by the treasury; and ultimately smile and frown, when we look over the usual commentaries on these reports, furnished by the government and opposition papers. Let us only transfer this anxiety from the transient interests of time, to the solemn anticipations of a life to come; and the issue of such a contemplation

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Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

A STATEMENT was three or four years ago widely circulated, that a stone had been dug up near Carmarthen, with a Welch inscription on it, purporting that St. Paul had preached on that very spot in the year of our Lord, if I recollect rightly, sixty-eight. The truly pious and esteemed prelate who presides over the Royal Society of Literature (Bishop Burgess), who, as is well known, had long advocated the opinion that St. Paul visited Great Britain, caused a fac-simile of the stone and its inscription to be lithographed, and to be transmitted to various antiquaries and Welch scholars, in order that its authenticity and exact purport might be fully investigated and confirmed. Not having heard further on the subject, I should be much obliged to any of your readers who may be acquainted with the particulars of the inquiry, to state the result to the public; in order that, if the inscription is genuine, this interesting fact may be clearly established; and, if otherwise, that so disgraceful a forgery may not pass unexposed; and that the various periodical works which copied the statement may be furnished also with the refutation.

PAULINUS,

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. CONSIDERABLE objections were a few years since urged, though I am persuaded without foundation, against Female Penitentiaries; but I CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 312.

do not recollect that the attention of the moral and religious part of the public has been sufficiently called to a most exceptionable practice in some of our Lying-in Hospitals, that of receiving unmarried as well as married women. How many of the benevolent institutions of this kind, of which there are more than a dozen in the metropolis alone, adopt a practice so obviously fraught with evils, I will not here inquire. Some of them I know do not: but I would urge the subscribers to each of them respectively, to examine into the matter for themselves, and not to be satisfied with a general statement in the title or reports of the charity, that "married women only are received," unless they find that the practice comports generally-I would not say strictly, and in every possible case-with this profession. It is well-known to those who are acquainted with the interior of these establishments, that in some of the most respectable and best supported of them, there are two wards, called the "married" and the "single" wards; and that many of the tenants of the latter return regularly year after year.

It is not necessary to pursue the subject further. Enough surely has been said to induce those who subscribe to such institutions, to use their efforts to prevent their becoming nurseries for the encouragement of vice, instead of being, as the benevolent benefactors to them intended, a charitable aid to poor women of good character.

SUBURBANUS,

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. I AM startled at the mode in which Oxoniensis opens his question as to Scriptural Geology, in your last Number.

"If a revelation has been vouch.

safed from the Creator, it cannot be really inconsistent with the pheno mena of his creation." I presume; 5 C

however, we are to read "if" in the sense of "as.'

Now, in the first place, I think your correspondent is too unguarded in stating his proposition. He means, I should suppose, to speak of an inconsistency with what are understood to be the phenomena of creation as regards geology. The science is admitted, I rather think, to be in much too crude a state to be used as a help or hindrance to the weakest in matters of faith. Reasonably speaking, the first thing we have to do is to come to a conclusión respecting the correctness or incorrectness of the belief in the alleged occurrence of "death among the animals on our globe during myriads of years before the forma tion of man"-and then to consider if that fact be inconsistent with the written word of God.

But suppose the fact established, and the geologists right, Divine Revelation is certainly, as your correspondent properly admits, not intended to instruct man in matters of science. It is for the instruction of man in what relates to the salvation of his soul. Divine Revelation respects man as the inhabitant of this earth, which was created by God from the beginning; which being without form and void, and darkness being upon the face of the deep, was, by the operation of the Spirit of God, moving upon the face of the waters, called into light and life and order and beauty. What were the ancient uses of the then unformed chaotic matter we know not. In what way any animals that might have lived in a world under a different system of organization, passed from one state of existence into another-or indeed, what may be conceived as to God's appointment with respect to the lower creatures under any circumstances, whether of transgression or continuance in righteousness on the part of the superior beings;-upon all this no answer can be given; for Scripture is silent, as it ever is where the mere curiosity of man

would step in and claim its gratification. I doubt not, that in the degree in which the science of geology advances, we shall find it more and more obviously reconcileable with Scripture: indeed, I believe that this has already, in some degree, been the case with respect to the Mosaic account of the order of creation. At all events, this will be the surest sign that progress is making in this yet infant study.

At present, however, very little is known on the subject, and not more can be safely assumed than is known. For convenience sake, I have taken it for granted, in the present instance, that the geologists are right; but be it remembered, we are not concerned to reconcile the speculations of geologists-even of Scriptural geologists-with the written Word. That must stand sure; and that must be consistent with, though it may be above, human learning and science, rightly so termed.

W. M.

To the Editorofthe Christian Observer. I was glad, for several reasons, to observe in your last Number an inquiry by Oxoniensis on the subject of the popular study of Geology. Infidels have endeavoured to press this, as, with equal injustice, they have done many other branches of physical science, into their service; and how do some well-meaning but ill-judging Christians attempt to answer them? Not by proving either that their alleged geological facts are not facts, or that if they are facts, they are not irreconcileable with Scripture; but by attempting to prevent all inquiry, just as did the Papists in the days of Copernicus or Galileo. "You say the earth is round, and not flat; you say the earth turns round the sun, and not the sun round the earth; we will not hear you-you contradict the Bible." Nay, returns the devout astronomer, "I bring you facts: and I feel assured that those facts

can be fully reconciled with Revelation." "We will admit none of your facts, and we ask for none of your reconciliations," replies the Papist: "the church has put its own construction on the sacred text, and we are quite satisfied with authority without argument." Such, sir, has been virtually the style of reply on the subject of geology, which I have more than once heard even within the precincts of our universities; in both of which, in consequence chiefly of the talents of Professor Buckland in the one, and Professor Sedgwick in the other, the study of geology is, as your correspondent has observed, "justly popular."

But such replies can never satisfy a fairly-I do not mean a presumptuously-inquiring mind. Some infidels, for example, have maintained that there must have been more than one common parent of mankind, because some races of men are white and others are black. Would it be a satisfactory reply to this argument to say, "I will not believe that there are two colours-for the supposition would contradict the Mosaic account." Would not such a reply directly tend to make infidels? Would not the right way be to shew, as may be easily done, that the fact does not contradict Scripture; for that the difference of colour may be satisfactorily accounted for on other principles than that of supposing two aboriginal

races.

And so in the matter of geology: there are alleged physical facts; and there are alleged theological inferences from them. It will neither confute the infidel nor satisfy the inquiring Christian, to say, "We will listen to neither." The infidel triumphantly replies, "You cannot confute me, and therefore you silence me." But we can coufute you, rejoins the well-informed believer in Revelation. We deny your alleged physical facts, for instance, replies Mr. Bugg, in his elaborate work lately published on the subject. We do not deny your physical facts,

reply Professors Buckland and Sedg wick, and Mr. Faber, and numberless other Christian geologists; but we deny your alleged theological inferences. Your facts are true; but, so far from contradicting, they accord with and cast light upon the Mosaiac account of the creation, when rightly understood. Either of these courses is fair and manly, and either solution is abundantly suffi cient for the refutation of the infidel. Let not then the Christian be afraid to meet truth wherever it may be found. God cannot contradict himself; his works and his word, if rightly understood, must be in unison. We may not, indeed, be always able to reconcile every difficulty; nor is it necessary to do so. The divine inspiration of Scripture stands on irrefragable arguments of a moral kind; and we need not, therefore, fear that physical facts, if rightly understood, can contradict its declarations. But let us not shut our eyes as if we were afraid that if we opened them we should see what we might not wish to discover. According to the just remark of Oxoniensis, "If a Revelation has been vouchsafed to us from our Creator," as we know on the most solid grounds has been the case, "it cannot be really inconsistent with the phenomena of his creation," however unable we, in our ignorance, may be to reconcile them. In the present case, however, I do not admit any such inability: on the contrary, I consider the facts of geology, as explained by the professors at both our universities, to be perfectly consistent with a fair interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis, and to offer no occasion for the alarm with which some well-meaning persons seem to contemplate all such speculations. At the same time, the Christian, in confuting the infidel, whatever cast his infidelity may assume, whether he be an open blasphemer or a reasoning pseudophilosopher, should take especial care not to assume that the truth of Revelation is really a matter of debate.

It is due to the Gospel, it is due to the "weak brother for whom Christ died," it is important for the conviction of the infidel himself, that the evidences of Christianity should not be handled with the hard technicalism of mere dialectics. "It is our life;" it involves our morals, our temporal happiness, our eternal interests. It is the truth of God, and it is "the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth." It is settled; it is proved; it is a question not needing to be thrown open anew. Let, then, the devout philosopher canvass its evidences in a spirit becoming such views of its sacredness and its infinite moment; and not allow what God has spoken to be argued upon in a tone as if it were either a light or a doubtful matter whether it is true or false. CANTABRIGIENSIS.

POETRY*.

BY HANNAH MORE.

TIME; A HINT FOR THE NEW YEAR.

WHEN will our thoughtless race grow wise, Nor spurn the very thing they prize? Look where we will, we still shall find How inconsistent is mankind.

*The following poems are taken from a little volume just published, intitled "The Feast of Freedom, and other Poems, by Mrs. Hannah More." The Feast of Freedom was intended to commemorate the abolition of domestic slavery in Ceylon. It has been rendered into many of the Indian languages. Its first translation was into the Cingalese, by the Budhoo priests who were brought to this country by Sir A. Johnston. Mrs. More has been induced to publish it in consequence of Mr. Charles Wesley having employed his well-known genius in setting it to music; and has added to it what the author modestly designates "a few unpublished trifles;" but which, as also the Feast of Freedom, well deserved to be given to the numerous admirers of Mrs. More's invaluable writings. Mr. Wesley's admirable music accompanies the volume. We have given two or three of the shorter poems as a specimen. It is with much satisfaction we learn, that this justly revered lady, at a time of life now greatly advanced, has of late been blessed with much amended health, and continues, in every thing con.

With sense our conduct is at strife;
Why lavish Time, yet cling to Life?
The rich material throw away,
Yet dread to shorten life one day!
Since no repentance can restore
The hours we squander o'er and o'er,
O seize the evanescent Now;
No more may Heaven and Death allow!
The soul to endless woes consign'd,
She mourns, with grief's acutest powers,
Mourns not the goods she left behind;
Her wasted days, her murder'd hours!
With zeal, with energy sublime,
Mark how the SAVIOUR valued time!
The work of centuries appears
Crowded within His three short years.
His great SALVATION while you view,
O look at his EXAMPLE too!

A MIDNIGHT HYMN.

WHERE'ER I am, whate'er I see,
Eternal Lord, is full of Thee!
I feel Thee in the gloom of night,
I see Thee in the morning light.
When care distracts my anxious soul,
Thy grace can every thought controul;
Thy Word can still the troubled heart,
And peace and confidence impart.
If pain invade my broken rest,
Or if corroding griefs molest;
Soon as the COMFORTER appears,
My sighs are hush'd, and dried my tears.
Thy wisdom guides, Thy will directs,
Thy arm upholds, Thy power proteets;
With Thee, when I at dawn converse,
The shadows sink, the clouds disperse.
Then, as the sun illumes the skies,
Oh, Sun of Righteousness, arise!
Dispel the fogs of mental night,
Being of Beings, Light of Light!

THE WIDOW'S MITE; OR, THE LAST
OFFERING.

WHEN in the treasury of the Lord
The rich and great with one accord

Their ample bounties threw,
They, not diminishing their store,
Not poorer than they were before,

From their abundance drew.
A feeble woman, old and poor,
Would throw her mite into the store,
Her duty to fulfil;
Her contribution was but small,
But yet she gave her little all,-

The Lord accepts the will.
So I, decay'd in mind and health,
And bare of intellectual wealth,

This slender offering bring;
No honour can my feeble lays,
No glory my poetic praise,

Give to th' ETERNAL KING, Yet Heaven accepts the gift, though small; 'Tis but a MITE-but 'tis my all.

nected with the progress of religion and the welfare of mankind, to take that intense interest which has ever distinguished her character and writings.

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