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ed, gives no indulgence to this slothful disposition, but is animated by the warmth of his affections to embrace every opportunity of exercising them he will rather go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, and would rather comfort the afflicted heart than lie on a downy pillow. If he is blest with abundance, he rejoices that it is in his power to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and take in the stranger.-From these and many other instances which might be given, it appears, that it is in our power to make ourselves and others happy, not so much by signal and material services, which are seldom within our reach, as by cultivating kind affections, and discharging the inferior offices of benevolence, which we may almost constantly exercise. A person of this disposition must act a good part in every relation of life; he will be a kind master and a faithful servant, an affectionate parent and a dutiful child, a warm friend and an useful citizen.

MCFARLAN.

On Public Actions.

Public spirit has always been applauded; but it would not be difficult to show, that most of the performances, to which the epithet has been applied, had but slender claims to it. Those actions, which have been most entirely dictated by a desire of benefitting the human family, are sure to meet a reward; but not always of the kind anticipated, nor is it always bestowed on this side the grave. An expectation of receiving immediate compensation for our efforts to do good, is often of serious injury: it unfits the mind for meeting disasters, leaves it a prey to severe disappointment, and discourages future attempts to perform similar duties, however urgently demanded. Probably very few of those, who have laboured most abundantly for the happiness of states and nations, ever yet considered themselves sufficiently rewarded. On the supposition that their motives have, in some cases, been perfectly pure, a temporal reward equal to their merits would be almost impossible. But whether money or fame have been most frequently the prize sought, one or other of these has unquestionably been a very prominent object to the imagination of politicians; though the whole chase has furnished no other cry, but ardent professions of patriotism, and pretended devotion to their country's good.

To the mind fully capable of embracing such ample conceptions, as those which propose the highest good of millions of immortal beings, and to steadily contemplate that good as flowing through a lapse of interminable ages, small obstacles will not readily appear insurmountable. In every good work of considerable magnitude, opposition is to be expected, and will be

increased in power, and prolonged in duration, somewhat in proportion to the good to be procured.

Were I to name some of the qualities of a mind adapted to the labours of reforming, or greatly benefitting mankind, the enumeration would include the following particulars.

1. A thorough conviction that the evil exists, and that it admits of a remedy. 2. A knowledge of the causes which aggravate such evil, their origin, progress, and the means of counteracting them. 3. A capacity of estimating the various means proposed to alleviate or destroy the mischief; their practicability and their effects, both immediate and remote. 4. An ability to contemplate danger with a steady eye, and an undaunted resolution.

If any one is heartily desirous of conferring substantial benefits on his fellow-men,-benefits which look beyond the present moment, and rest not wholly on this side the curtain which conceals eternity, let him coolly examine the ground on which he is about to enter. Never should any engage in such an enterprize without fairly counting the cest. He should especially examine his own motives with the severest scrutiny. If these be unsound, whatever confidence may animate him at the outset, it will probably desert him in the hour of danger. Let no tenderness for his own reputation, nor delusive expectation of the approbation of men, enter his calculations. Does he expect the ready co-operation of those whom he is about to assist? Let him renounce it instantly. All schemes built on such calculations will inevitably be dashed to the ground. At seeing the halting compliance of some, the flat refusal of others, and the pointed opposition of enemies, such a factitious resolution will melt away.

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Numbers are ready to perform what are called public services, for the sake of emoluments, or to obtain some portion of praise; but no sooner is the office stripped of these appendages, than they beg to be excused. The men who will constantly, and perseveringly do their duty, without hope of earthly recompense, are few. The loud call for such self-denying virtues, ever raised by the voice of human misery, and the rare examples of them, serve to elevate our conceptions of the magnanimity of the character, and of the mighty effects to be produced by it, when formed with little alloy. I can scarcely imagine a circumstance more adapted to discourage all efforts to alleviate sufferings, than abuse returned from the object of our kindness. If he gives us no positive assistance in such an endeavour for his own welfare, one might, at least, hope that he would observe a neutrality. But to see him labouring to subvert our efforts for his advantage, and thwarting every measure, of which his convenience or happiness is the commanding motive, and, at the same time, to endure all his resistance, his obstinacy, his abuse, with meckness, and to

continue in the strait path of unyielding kindness to him, is not to be expected from ordinary motives; nor is it seen in the example of ordinary men. Such benevolence can be supported only by that love to God which invariably produces good will to men. It is an unfeigned affection to the Creator, expanding itself upon his creatures; a humble but sincere endeavour to resemble Him "who is good to the evil, and kind to the unthankful.”

I know very well that advocates are not wanting to contend earnestly for the legitimate dominion of the love of fame; men who boldly assert, that if this passion were eradicated from the soul, no successor could ever stimulate her energies, or prompt the execution of magnanimous achievements ;-men who unblushingly declare, that unless fed by the breath of popular applause while here, and comforted by the hope that its incense will be offered to their memories, exertion would cease, the powers of the mind would never be excited, or, if once aroused, would soon slumber for ever, neglected and unknown. But I need not spend the time of the reader, nor my own, in attempting to prove, that such dipositions are at open war with the whole spirit of the Gospel. Indeed it might seem astonishing that any one, pretending a belief in the doctrines of Christianity, should seriously adopt a rule of action so totally hostile to every principle of revealed religion. While all the relations of life and its employments are intermingled with worldly affairs, are managed in accordance with worldly maxims, and in a certain sense originate from them, it is not to be expected that those solely engrossed in the accumulation of wealth, should show much resemblance to the temper or employments of a purer region. Of the occupations of an immense proportion of mankind, an impartial spectator would be compelled to pronounce both the folly and the delusion. They are foolish, in the degree of ardour which they kindle in the soul for objects deserving, at most, but a subordinate attention. They are delusive, because they never confer the happiness promised, in expectation of which so much misery is endured now, so great disappointment sustained at its loss; and because that, in this unavailing pursuit we lose the only season for securing an interest in the favour of God, a preparation for the joys of heaven. Z. Y.

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A lady resident in this city, whose serious attention had been directed, for some time; to the subject of her relation to God, and standing for eternity, recently took up the "Youth's Magazine," for January, 1818, and read a piece of poetry entitled "The Review ;"-when the following lines particularly arrested her

notice :

VOL. VI,

Y

Pause my soul-another year
Gone for ever!-and declare
What thy prospects now appear,
Bright or gloomy, dark or fair?.

Yet consider-O how soon
Death, stern messenger! may come,
Or at night, or morn, or noon,

Thee to summon to thy home,

Home?-what home?-to heaven or hell?
Question great beyond compare,

In eternal flames to dwell,

Or heaven's brightest glories share.

"Home ?what home ?"-were words of awful import to her. A sense of sin induced her to consider hell onlyas her home. And the terror consequent upon a "fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation," occasioned a distress bordering on despair. In this state of mind, it pleased her Saviour to direct her eyes to the following lines, on the opposite page of the same book.

When guilt distracts my lab'ring breast,
Justice enrag'd, and wrath I see:
Thy cross alone I seek for rest,
And fix my hope, O Lord, in thee!

Secur'd in Christ th' eternal rock,
No angry storms, no raging sea,
Can e'er my expectations shock,
My hope is firm, O Lord, in thee!

Oft when death's awful, gloomy vale,
Affrighted nature dreads to see;

What thoughts would then my heart assail,
Did I not hope, O Lord, in thee!

But I can never, never sink;
My faith a wreck can never be:
Boldly I stand on Jordan's brink,

And sing "My hope, O Lord's in thee?"

And a sudden light broke in upon her mind, and enabled her to view the crucified Son of God as her JESUS, and sing, with raptured soul, "My hope, O Lord's in thee!" She has since made a public profession of her faith in the Redeemer.

How sovereign in his love, and gracious in his sovereignty, is our God and Father!

New-York, May 27th, 1819.

X.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

SURVEY OF MISSIONARY STATIONS.

(Continued from page 143.)

CHINA.

This great empire, the most remarkable upon earth in respect of the extent of its population and the singularity of its manners, has been for many years the seat of Roman-Catholic Missions. It is said, indeed, that the light of the Gospel penetrated into this empire, particularly into its northern parts, as early as the seventh century. In the fourteenth century, Missionaries, who had been sent there by the Roman Pontiffs in the century preceding, established a number of Christian Churches. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the Church of Rome made such vigorous efforts to repair by accessions from the Heathen the los ses which she had sustained by the Reformation, China, and the countries connected with it by affinity of manners and language, became, to her "Missionaries and their constituents" to use the words of Mosheim, "an object worthy of their pious zeal and ghostly ambition." The different Orders of the Romish Church crowded, accordingly, to these parts. The Jesuits, however, took the lead; and, by their sagacity, intelligence, and zeal, obtained almost unbounded influence in the empire. Multitudes assumed the profession of Christianity: but it was a Christianity half Pagan; for the Jesuits, in order to triumph over the prejudices of the people, allowed their converts to retain the profane customs and absurd rites of their Pagan ancestors. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, Christianity was extirpated from Japan; and the most rigorous exclusion of it from those Islands is enforced to this day. The state of the Romish Missions in China has been long very precarious. We sometimes hear of their great success; and, at others, of bitter persecutions, said to have been endured with a constancy, and even heroism, which would bespeak the powerful influence of religion on the sufferers: but the reports are so uncertain, that little distinct information can be collected from them.

Protestant Christians have, of late years, awakened to the magnitude of this sphere of labour; and, while the jealousy and vanity of a fifth, at least, if not of a fourth of the human race, shut out Christians with contempt, from free intercourse with their countries, these Christians have begun to avail themselves of a language spoken and written by this immense portion of mankind, in order to diffuse among them thore SILENT BUT IRRESISTIBLE MISSIONARIES-the lively oracles of God. A language the most singular upon earth in its construction, and supposed to be so difficult that any knowledge of it was limited among Europeans

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