cles which had gathered in the way of our religious independence, and restored to christians that liberty by which Christ had made them free, but which for so long a time they had but imperfectly enjoyed. It is not to our credit that his writings are scattered, and scarce, and but little known. We have collected and published the works of inferior men, whose contributions to the public good were comparatively small, and we suffer those of this eminent patriot and christian to languish in the obscure volumes in which they first saw the light. I have been gratified in hearing it suggested, that it is the intention of a gentleman, every way qualified, to issue proposals for the republication of all, or a part of the works of this valuable author. I trust the proposal, if it should be issued, will meet the approbation and encouragement of the christian public. I wish that your work, Mr. Editor, may do something to show how worthy a design it is. It is a duty thus to exhibit our gratitude for the instru ments of religious improvement and reformation, which providence has granted us; and we should prove ourselves little worthy of our distinguished privileges, if we were willing that those books, which asserted and established them, should be longer unknown to ourselves and finally lost to our children.

A LIBERAL CHRISTIAN.

[For the Christian Disciple.]

DUNCAN M'INTOSH.

To offer a notice of this departed Philanthropist for the Christian Disciple, is to concur, it is believed, with the objects of that publication. In a mercantile community it can never be unseasonable to record an exception to the sordid spirit of accumulation; and in a Christian country, it must always be salutary to contemplate the actual intrepidity and elevation of the Christian character, in opposition to what has been unfortunately asserted of its abjectness and pusillanimity.* We may not be as generally apprised in this, as in our southern capitals, that Mr. M'Intosh was at St. Domingo during the sanguinary revolution in that Island of 1793, which threatened the total extermination of the French inhabitants; and although (as an American citizen) he might have departed in safety, and taken with him the whole of his large property, he preferred remaining and sacrificing that property, together with the interesting hopes connected with its acquirement-to the preservation of the proscribed. At every hazard he continued during eight months, to freight vessels at his own expense, laden with these destitute fugitives, to the number

* Vide Paley and Jenyns.

M

of nine hundred men, and fifteen hundred women and children. At his subsequent arrival in Philadelphia, a gold medal, a public dinner, and every demonstration of enthusiastic respect, were rendered him by the gratitude of the exiles he had saved; but for services like his, what are all sublunary rewards? Remuneratio ejus cum altissimo!

HAIL, Son of ancient Caledon !

Thy race is sped, thy crown is won.
The voice Supreme thy worth must tell--
Ours only utters-" Hail-Farewell!"
Oft has offended Virtue's frown
Wither'd the chaplets of renown;
Struck by the light'ning of her eye,
In their first blossoming, they die ;
And incense, fir'd to rise for years,
Is quench'd in her indignant tears.

Not to the just such fate is given- *
Their Laurel is the growth of Heaven.
Seed, sown amid the storms of time,
Expands in that unclouded clime;
The Virtues, Guardian Angels there,
Make the immortal plant their care;
And heavenly hands its leaves suffuse
With moisture from celestial dews.
It feels the Sun's enliv'ning ray
Long ere he gilds our distant day;
And winds from primal Eden's vales,
Breathe over it their balmiest gales.

And never tree of glory there,
Has tower'd more fragrant, full or fair,
Than that which waves its holy flower
O'er Duncan's high immortal bower.
Thou hero of an holier flame

Than boasts the ranks of martial fame !
Tho' honour'd still that steel must be
Which strikes for lawful liberty,
(Such as thy Wallace wont to wield,
Defender of his native field :)

Yet happier is that course maintain'd,
Whose trophies are with tears unstain'd ;
And worthier benisons should fall

On him, above each narrower call
Who risk'd his life-his wealth-his all-
With charity that knew no bound,
For strangers, on a foreign ground;-
And felt the outcast alien blend

The claims of clansman, brother, friend!

What time against their ancient foes
Dark Afric's race like Dæmons rose,
Past wrongs with present strength conspiring,
And memory all their passions firing,
Till mad, and madd'ning all the throng,
Freedom, a Fury, raved along,

With garments roll'd in blood; with hand
Grasping the desolating brand:-

What voice but thine alone, could dare
Breathe the forbidden word-to spare ?
From glens and caves the fugitive
Could look to thee alone, and live :
Whose shelt'ring arms, a rampart spread,
Stood 'twixt the living and the dead,
With angel eloquence to stay
The carnage of that direful day.

And when the shield that sav'd before,
From power incens'd could save no more,
Thou gav'st the meed of years of toil,
To waft them to a kindlier soil.
Vain were the dungeon's terrors*-vain
The threaten'd scaffold's penal stain-
Ah vain those fonder thoughts, that prest
For mastery in thy manly breast,
And bade thee pause, nor forfeit now
The nuptial torch, the mutual vow,
The social hall, the festal dome,

The comforts of the bearth and home!
O happy in the sacrifice!

For what the suffering to the prize?

What, loss of all that earth holds dear,
In such a high and proud career?
Let faith, prophetic faith, portray
The glories of thy rising day,

When grateful thousands shall proclaim,
Their kind deliverer's honour'd name;
Sires hail him, who from direst rage
Rescued the filial props of age;
And mothers bless the arm that stay'd
From infant hearts the ruthless blade;
While, from before the mystic throne
Erst to the Seer of Patmos shown,
Sublimest welcome shall accord
Thy great Exemplar and thy Lord!
Who onward to his own abode

Through sacrifice and suffering trode.

* Mr. M'Intosh was twice imprisoned, and narrowly escaped death by

his efforts in this cause.

Endur'd each earthly--heavenly loss,
Renounc'd a kingdom for a cross,
Cheerful, himself for others gave,

And liv'd to bless, and died to save!

[The following Hymn, written by a Lady of the society, was sung at the ordination of Rev. Charles Brooks, to the pastoral charge of the third church and society in Hingham, Jan. 15th 1821.],

Keep silence all-'tis hallow'd ground,
The Saviour's presence shines around.
Say, will not God vouchsafe to hear
The prayer of those who worship here?

Not as on Sinai's awful brow,

We view thy glorious brightness now;
But as on Bethlehem's flowery plains,
When angels chanted heavenly strains.

May Peace within these borders reign,
May gentle Love and all her train,
Sweet Charity and holy fire

Thy humble votaries here inspire,

Thou chosen Watchman of this band,

Oh! lead them with a Shepherd's hand:
Cement their hearts with Truth and Love,
And join them to the Lamb above.

REVIEW.

The Natural History of the Bible; or, a Description of all the Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles and Insects, Trees, Plants, Flowers, Gums, and Precious Stones, mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. Collected from the best authorities, and alphabetically arranged. By THADDEUS MASON HARRIS, D.D. Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1820. pp. 476. 8vo. price bound, three

dollars.

THE public are already sufficiently informed of the claims,

with which this work offers itself to their notice that it is the fruit of many years study, gathered with unwearied diligence, New Seriesvol. IH.

7

and from a wide search. We have to thank the learned author for presenting us with a book, containing such a variety of information on so many subjects; of easy reference, and on a new plan. We feel indebted to him for having brought together from many rare, and many cumbrous volumes, the materials, which we might not very willingly have else sought for; and for disposing these materials in so skilful an arrangement and under so agreeable a form, that they may be enjoyed by those who are not conversant with studies of this nature, while they afford aid to the professed biblical scholar. The work is not, however, a mere compilation: illustrations are suggested not unfrequently by the author, and some of the best belong fairly to him. Indeed we were left to regret from the beginning to the end, that there was not more of this kind; that he has quoted from others, when he would have spoken better himself; that he has given us so many of their opinions, and no greater number of his own. He has endeavoured to make his subjects engaging by frequent allusions to classical and modern writers, and by interspersing such remarks as the occasion happened to furnish. His articles are consequently sometimes of a very miscellaneous character; but this is perfectly consistent with his design, and it is no small praise to supply a manual for the learned, and at the same interest the common reader. Whether this object has been perfectly accomplished remains to be seen. We will not anticipate the judgment of the public. We will only say, that the investigations are generally laboured; and that many of the observations on particular passages of the sacred writings cannot but be universally acceptable.

The subjects of natural history which are found in the Bible have called out at different times a great deal of learning; and we cannot help thinking, a great deal of tedious and useless learning. We have had all sorts of minute questions and laborious trifles respecting them; and theories and assertions have been as various and opposite as they are unimportant. We are not prepared to say that an extravagant value has of late years been attached to this branch of inquiry; though we confess we are astonished, when we think how small is the advantage that has been derived, compared with the zeal that has been shown how little true light has been thrown on the pages of scripture by all that has been said and written and done. In the middle of the last century, great preparations were made for exploring the East, especially Palestine; that its natural productions might be accurately ascertained, with reference to the illustration of the Scriptures. "A mission of learned men" was dispatched, by the munificent patronage of the king of Denmark, at the instance of professor Michaelis, and with in