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faith: when the agitations of the mind are such, that the body at times sinks under them? Such a state would certainly be thought to render a man very unfit for the management of his more important worldly affairs; and how any rational minister can have ever thought it a proper state for attaining right views in religion, and for settling the most important of all concerns, that between God and the soul, I am at a loss to imagine.

3. Further, I object to countenancing the agitations in question, because it would have a manifest tendency to lead the congregation to look to their feelings, rather than to the habitual state of their hearts, and the tenor of their lives, for evidence of their christian sincerity. They would naturally ask themselves, in what degree they were affected by this or that sermon, rather than how far they found their conduct to have been influenced by it, and their character to have been improved. How pernicious this error would be is well pointed out in some very sensible and well-digested remarks on practical preaching in your number for August. Instead of de taining your readers with any observations of my own on that subject, I beg leave to refer them to those contained in that paper (p. 466.).

4. Where fallings down, faintings, &c. are encouraged, the general system must be to work up the feelings to a very high pitch, if not to as high a pitch as possible. Against this system I enter my decided protest, even when no extravagant agitations follow, as it is open to many of the preceding objections, and it appears to me by no means calculated to produce the best christian fruit in a congregation. To the last point I beg to call your attention. "Herein is my father glorified, that ye bring forth much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." -Christ" gave himself for us, that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works."

This is the will of God, even your sanctification." These passages are in exact accordance with the general strain and spirit of the christian system; and, I believe, that all pious persons agree in considering the renewal of the image of God in the soul, manifesting itself by a corre sponding conduct in the life, is the great object which the gospel as to effect among men in the present life;

and that all religious truths are valuable in proportion as they tend to its attainment. The leading inquiry, therefore, of every minister ought to be, how can I best promote this end? Now it is clear, on the one hand, that no change of heart can be hoped for, unless the feelings are awakened: and I think it clear, on the other, that if the appeals to them know scarcely any bounds, so that they become extremely acute, either no renovation of character will be effected, or, if effected, it will be likely to be partial, unsteady, and slow in its progress towards christian perfection. What better can be expected, when the cornerstone of the whole system is a vio lence of feeling, which must cloud the judgment, harass the constitu tion, and be subject to great and fre quent changes?

This letter would be extended to too great a length, were I to enter into details on this very important subject. I cannot, however, leave it without briefly remarking, that very strong feelings are justly looked upon with suspicion and distrust in worldly concerns. If they appear in the offi cer, we fear that he will prove rash and headstrong: if in the husband, or wife, or friend, we apprehend impetuosity, and caprice, and jealousy: if in the son, or daughter, we are a larmed at the prospect of romantic notions, and extravagant conduct. Is it then wise, is it sale, to endeavour to raise the feelings in religion to an extremely high pitch, and to keep them in a state of acute sensibility, when we find, that they are often too ardent for a proper discharge of duty in the different relations of life, even in those relations which afford the greatest scope for warm affections? There is a beautiful harmony between the duties of religion, and those of social and domestic life. That state of mind which is found to unfit men for the latter, cannot be favourable to the due discharge of the former; and the minister, therefore, who endea yours to make it prevalent in his con gregation, will be found to have built with "hay, straw, or stubble, ra ther than with gold or silver." Novels and plays, indeed, know no bounds in their addresses to the feelings: but novels and plays are by no means thought to form the best husbands and sons, wives and daugh ters; and a christian minister ought,

in all prudence, to look with some jealousy, on a line of proceeding which the writers of such works universally adopt.

tate and overpower the body, and thereby suspend and abridge the ra tional functions of the soul itself, And further; I would ask those who may be inclined to support the position I am combating, whether they think that such violence of feeling renders the individual more like his Saviour? Is this colouring appropriate in a living picture of the Son of God? Does it harmonize with his wisdom, his mild dignity, his self-possession? I can hardly conceive, how any sensible man, well-read in his Bible, and imbued with a portion of the spirit of the religion which it unfolds, can hesitate as to the answer he should give to these questions. If then such excess of feeling is at the best a ble mish in the christian character, it ought to be avoided by a congregation, and discouraged by a minister, independently of all considerations of conse quences. Man is not presumptuously to take upon himself to institute a plan at variance with that of the Almighty, and to introduce what is evil in the sight of God, in order to bring about (as he hopes) eventual good. He may be certain, that infinite wisdom cannot be deceived in adapting its means to its ends, and that good will be, on the whole and in the long run, most productive of good. This line of argument affords ample grounds for resting perfectly satisfied, that the violent agitations under consideration must be mischievous in their consequences, whatever conclusions any of us may be inclined to form from appearances. Our experience and information on this point are very limited, and our means of judging very imperfect. Let us bow before the Most High, and acquiesce with humility and with confidence in that decision, to which his word directs us!

And now, Mr. Editor, what is to be set against the evils I have pointed out, as likely to attend the encouragement of violent agitations in religious assemblies? Can it be shewn, that the example of Christ and his Apostles warrants such encouragement? Certainly not. They spoke the words of truth and soberness; and while they made appeals to the feelings as well as to the judgment, their preaching does not appear to have produced, much less to have countenanced, any thing like the fallings down and faintings under consideration. Will it be argued, that a minister is justified in pursuing any course by which he has a prospect of converting some of his people? If this line of argument were sound, it would be difficult to point out any course whatever which he might not pursue. There is no folly, and even no sin, which he might not encourage; for there is no folly and no sin which does not, under God's providence and grace, lead some times, by its consequences, to conversion. Such an argument would, indeed, give a sanction to those who say, "let us do evil that good may come," and "let us sin that grace may abound." But it may be further urged, that the violence of feeling, which produces bodily convulsions, is not in itself sinful, and that the good to be expected from it, in the present case, outweighs the evil. In the first place, I think such violent feelings do not properly belong to the christian character, and that, consequently, it cannot be innocent to encourage them. To suppose that it is pleasing to God that the feelings of man should be so ungovernable, is to suppose that in religious assemblies, contrary to the declaration of St. Paul, he is a god of disorder rather than a god of order: that in giving man reason to guide him, and feeling to impel him forwards, it is his will that the impulse of the latter' should be so violent as, in a great measure, to overpower the former, and to drive him on headlong in courses which his reason has neither approved nor explored: and that in creating man a being, compounded of soul and body, it was his will that the energies of the soul should be so called forth as to debili- - result,

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Let me not, however, be supposed to concede, that the extraordinary agitations in question have even the uppearance of being beneficial. I fully believe that a fair historical investiga tion of their consequences would lead decidedly to the opposite conclusion. But as this view of the question would allow every person to select, from the great variety of facts which it would be in his power to bring forward, such alone as suited his own opinions, I fear that to argue the matter on this ground could lead to no satisfactory

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the Reverend Mr. Badger, who has sent an account of fallings down, &c. from America, to shew, that similar events are recorded in the Bible. The instances adduced are, the Israelites falling on their faces, and saying, "the Lord he is the God, the Lord he is the God," when Elijah's sacrifice was consumed by fire from heaven; the jailor falling before Paul and Silas, and saying, "What shall I do to be saved?" and Paul's falling when Christ appeared to him as he went to Damascus. No one, I think, who is acquainted with the customs of eastern nations, and reads carefully the accounts in his Bible of what took

In reply to the strictures which have appeared in the Christian Observer, the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine, (No. for Sept. p. 423) has appealed to the authorities from which he derived his intelligence. But the censure conveyed in those strictures was not for publishing, on insufficient authorities, the relations of persons falling down, &c.; but for countenancing the o-place in the two first instances, can pinion that these fallings down, were to ebe contemplated with satisfaction as su-pernatural, and marks of conversion. We are glad to see that the Editor now professes to abstain from doing more than barely giving the information which he has received, His words (page 423) are

This information we merely state, as we adid the former, leaving every reader to form his own conclusions." He is somewhat mistaken, however, in supposing, that he always confined himself within the limits which he now marks out. This appears from a note in our last number, page 1568 But even if he had, we question whether it be right to publish, without comment, facts or opinions which are likely to mislead the public, whatever aubthority may be pleaded for them. Does the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine look upon the fallings down in New Connecticut and its neighbourhood in the same light in which those view them, whose re- lations he has published? If he does, his conduct in publishing them is very intelliisgible. If he does not, we think that he dought not to have published them without

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any doubt that the fallings down of the Israelites and the jailor were voluntary tokens of reverence, and therefore bear no similitude whatever to what Mr. Badger witnessed in America. St. Paul fell in consequence, probably, of losing the use of his bounder the sudden and terrific splendily powers. But surely his falling dours of the heavenly vision cannot, with any fairness, be compared with the fallings down mentioned by Mr. Badger under circumstances so entirely different! Those who think favourably of such agitations must pro duce, from their Bibles, examples more apposite before they can satisfy reasonable men that they have the authority of scripture on their side.

B. T.

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such remarks of his own, as would be an antidote to any evil which might otherwise result from their publication,

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We are happy to learn that it is the in-cation of the prophecy.sys
tention of Dr. MAGEE to publish a new e-
dition of his valuable Discourses on Atone-
ment and Sacrifice, in an improved form.
A Solution of Daniel's celebrated Prophecy
of the Seventy Weeks, by the same able
hand, will soon be ready for the press.
In this work, by the adoption of a new
but obvious version, and without introduc-
ing any change into the original text, the
author hopes to remove objections which

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Preparing for the press, the last volume of MAURICE'S Modern History of Hindostan; Selections from the Spectator,-Tatier, and Guardian, by Mrs. BARBAULD The Provincial Glossary of the late Rev. Mr. BOUCHER-British Zoology, by Mr. BINGLEY, with an Engraving of every Animal described, Varieties as well as Species. 1

6726

In the press, Conversations, introducing

Poetry, chiefly on Subjects of Natural History, for the Use of Children and Young Persons, by CHARLOTTE SMITH; in two volumes foolscap octavo.-Life of of the Rev. GILBERT WAKEFIELD written by himself, and continued to the time of his Death; with an Appendix, consisting of Original Poetry; in two volumes octavo. -A complete Series of Plates, illustrative of the Anatomy of the Human Body, selected and engraved from the most approved Works, or from original and accurate Drawings; by ROBERT HOOPER, M. D. &c. in royal octavo,-Thesaurus Medicaminum; a new Collection of Medical Prescriptions, distributed into Twelve Classes, and accompanied with pharmaceutical and practical Remarks; exhibiting a View of the present State of the Materia Medica and Practice of Physic, both at Home and Abroad; by a Member of the London College of Physicians.-Letters on fine-woolled Spanish Sheep, pointing out the Advantages attending the introduction of that Breed, by Mr. BARTLEY, Secretary to the Bath Agricultural Society.-A new Edition of MASON on Self-knowledge, with Memoirs of the Author.-A new Edition of the Reverend HUGH FARMER'S Treatise on the New Testament.

the Demonics of Account of the present State of Peru and the adjoining Countries, drawn from very curious documents, is preparing for the press. In 1794, Mr. JOSEPH SKINNER purchased from the cargo of the St. Jago Spanish Galleon, a Journal or Miscellany, published in Peru by a Society of learned men; and also a Picture of great magnitude, representing all the Dresses of the Peruvian Nations, painted by a native Artist, and which are said to have cost in Lima ten thousand pounds. These journals are stated to contain detailed accounts of Pera, on every point interesting to the politician or philosopher. And from them Mr. Skinner has drawn up a Work, embellished with Engravings of Subjects selected from his great Picture, which will answer, it is said, almost every enquiry relative to the state of that remote and although unknown part of the world.

It has been satisfactorily ascertained, that, in proportion to the decrease of Martins, Swallows, and other species of Birds which feed upon the wing, the parts which they have quitted have become inundated with noxious insects which

Esq., who has been twice a resident in China in the service of the East India Company, assisted by Mr. KER, a skilful gardener, appointed expressly by his Májesty for this purpose, at the instance of Sir Joseph Banks. The whole of this Collection has arrived, in the finest state of preservation, at the Royal Gardens, at Kew. White-washing the trunks of treas is said to be productive of several advantages worthy the attention of planters; preserving them from being injured by animals; rendering the exterior bark smooth and compact, by closing up the cracks; entirely destroying the moss, so apt to accumulate upon the bark; and, as the rain washes off the lime, contributing to mănure the roots.

In the lower parts of the counties of Somerset and Devon, the practice is become general of feeding Bullocks in Orchards during the Winter; as it is said to cause a more abundant supply of Cyder in the ensuing year, than can be produced by any other method.ob most melada od mezzot

A solution of two parts of alum and one of blue vitriol, is said to be very efficacious in preventing blight in those cases where the seed-wheat has been steeped in it; and is now said to be much in use.

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In Nicholson's Journal, Vol. IX.mpp. 95-97, is given a communication from Sir H. C. ENGLEFIELD on the Purification of Water by Filtration, with the description of a simple and cheap Apparatus. It consists of a cylinder, open at top, two feet high and six inches diameter within. A funnel of two feet three inches in length, four inches diameter at top, and three at bottom, is fixed within the cylin der, and will reach, of course, within three inches of its bottom; leaving a space between the funnel and the cylinder which gradually decreases from the bottom upwards, till at the top it is reduced to one inch all round. The sides of the funnel may be extended beyond the top of the cylinder, and their inclination increased, so as to cover the top of the cylinder and facilitate the filling of the funnel with water. Two or three inches below the top of the cylinder, a spout must be made in its side for the discharge of the purified wa ter. The bottom of the funnel must be covered with a coarse linen cloth, to keep the weight of water from disturbing the sand in the cylinder; top of the

@ommit alarming depredations on vegeta- funnel be covered with or cloth, it

tion in general; a single bird of this satribe being supposed by naturalists to swallow daily several hundred moths, flies, and other insects. The practice of wantonly shooting these birds is greatly, therefore, v to be deprecated.

IM By the feet which lately arrived from -AChina, a large number of very curious trees and plants, most of them entirely unknown to European Botanists, have been brought to this country by David LANCE,

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will prevent the grosser impurities of the water from mixing with the sand and thereby save the trouble of so frequently renewing it. The cylinder and the funnel must then be filled with clean washed sand up to the level of the spout. If this apparatus be placed under the cook of any common water cistern, which is opened just enough to supply the funnel without running over, it will require no attendance; but will continue to discharge as much pu→

rified water from the spout, as it receives in an impure state from the cistern. The sand should be occasionally renewed, and the vessels cleaned. These vessels may be made of either wood or tin; but not of lead, for fear of impregnation.

FRANCE.

The author of a work, intitled, "Bonaparte and the French People under his Consulate," which was written in German, and is said to have been extensively circus lated upon the continent, asserts, that Bonaparte has invariably pursued, since his attainment of power, a systematic design to banish knowledge and liberal ideas from his dominions; and to convert his subjects into a rude, ignorant, abject, superstitious, and military horde. The curious information which the author gives of the changes which Bonaparte has made, in the plans of education projected in the course of the revolution, place this matter in a strong point of view. It is stated, that the central schools, designed for the provinces, are superseded by lyceums; and that these are to be conducted upon the plan of the old French schools, in which nothing was taught but Latin and Mathematics. In the regulations for these schools, published by Bonaparte, the principal stress is laid on the instruction of the children in the military exercise: a military cast is given to every thing that relates to them; and the schools for the sons of French citizens will be, in future, little else than martial establishments. Where the seminaries have been already instituted, the school-rooms are intolerably filthy, and the boys are cruelly chastized: a plan admirably adapted to make them detest learning! Every school is to be divided into six forms, in each of which the scholar is to remain for one year. All that is to be read in a year is to be compressed into one volume, and the teacher is on no account to use any other book. Each school is to have a library of fifteen hundred volumes, which are to consist of the historical and mathematical works of the Jesuits. It was the dread of the preva lence of a liberal spirit which induced Bonaparte, while First Consul, to set aside the Institute; revive the Four Ancient Academies; and abolish the Class for Moral Philosopby, Ethics, Politics, and Legislation. Thus all the splendid projects of the several leaders of the revolution," ob serves the Journalist, from whom we extract this article, "for the improvement of the human mind, terminate in a wretch ed system, which is to train up men for slavery at home, and to qualify them to be the instruments of carrying calamity and destruction among other nations.": We would not encourage in our readers a disposition to pry into the future conduct of Providence, but we would call their at

tention to his footsteps as they appear around us. The simple fact, that God bas given up such a nation as the French to the absolute controul of a man, whose skilful and unwearied efforts are directed to fit it for revolutionizing the world, should awaken a concern, more than ordinarily serious, to be prepared to meet all the di vine dispensations.

-SPAIN.

The naturalists who, for eight years, have been traversing Mexico, California, and the Spanish Antilles, under the direction of Professor DE SESSE, have returned to Spain. The principal object of their researches was Botany. M. De Sessé has, for several years, been actively employed in sending seeds to European botanists; and has transported his Collection of Plants to the Botanic Garden at Madrid. He calculates, that he has enriched the science of Botany with two thousand five hundred new species. Eighty new species of Fish have been added to those enumerated by Block. Four establishments of Natural History, and particularly of Botany, have been founded, in consequence of this expedition, in provinces of Spanish America, where those sciences had not been before cultivated.

ITALY.

Italian Poets is publishing at Pisa. It will A magnificent edition of the principal form twelve volumes in folio; of which three will be appropriated to the Works of DANTE, two to those of PETRARCH, two to Tasso, and five to ARIOSTO. Portraits of these authors will be given, painted by Tofanelli, and engraved by Morghen. The price of each volume is three sequins. Only two hundred and fifty copies will be printed; except a few upon vellum paper, price six sequins each volume,

GERMANY,

The General Zoology, by Dr. SHAW, is now trauslating into German.

A new edition of LUTHER'S Works, with several unpublished Letters and Discourses of that great man, is printing at Helmstadt.

The sale of VoLTAIRE'S and Rous SEAU's Works has been prohibited at Vienna. They cannot be procured without the permission of the Censor.

The Elector of Baden has established a

Literary Censorship, consisting of two persons of the Roman Catholic and two of the Reformed Church. The Professors of the University of Heidelberg are permitted to publish any works, with their names, with out being subject to the Censorship. HOLLAND.

Two periodical publications have been lately suppressed in Holland.

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