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sure that the case of fallen man was far worse than ever our most vivid conceptions suppose it to he, and that the hopelessness of his condition approached nearly to desperation, or the mighty efforts would never have been made which have been made, to restore him to the favour and friendship of his Maker. It must therefore be quite apparent to every reasonable mind, that no path can lead to the kingdom of heaven except that which was pointed out by the Redeemer himself. And what was that path? Sinners are first of all told that they must believe in the efficacy of their Saviour's atonement; but the Deity, knowing how many and various are the dispositions of men, has decided, that the criterion of faith shall not rest upon internal feelings, but upon external actions; and every one who claims to be a believer in Christ must try himself by the only standard by which he can judge rightly: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."It seems, therefore, that those who are willing to love God supremely, or, which is the same thing, to renounce every course of conduct opposed to his will, are hereafter to be welcomed to mansions of blessedness, as the beloved children of the Most High God.

And if this be true, how sad will their state be, who suppose it possible to unite the profession of the gospel with the lusts and vanities of this wicked world!" God can be merciful only to those to whom Christ asks Him to be merciful; and Christ will intercede for none but those who love Him and keep His commandments. Down, therefore, with the barriers between God and his creatures-make one bold effort to escape the delusions of Satan-cast down vain imaginations, and every thought that exalteth itself against the glory of God!-for I rejoice to declare

2. That none need despair of obtaining mercy. There dwells not in the outspread regions of earth one being, whom the Deity is not desirous to save. Worldly honour and worldly renown may never have brought before the gaze of the populace many millions of immortal beings; but it is not poverty-it is not wretchedness-it is not sinfulness, which can conceal them from the merciful eye of the Deity. He looks through the whole family of earth, contemplates the condition of each particular human being, and waits with intense anxiety to hear the first breathings of prayer, that He may bestow the first tokens of His merciful loving. kindness. It is a libel on the Divine character, and a perversion of the word of God, to suppose it possible that there can be a sinner for whom provision is not made by the death of Christ. Far might I make this subject extend, until I had brought you in imagination to that rest which remains for the children of God, and had made you fancy that you heard the harpings of the heavenly choir: but let it suffice to know, that the reward of the righteous does not consist in lofty imaginations and brilliant conceptions; but that it is something sure, certain, and real, which will in very deed be conferred upon us. Reminding you, therefore, of the immense importance of using all diligence to secure for yourselves a portion of the happiness of heaven, I add only my fervent prayer, that "God may be merciful unto us and bless us, and show us the light of His countenance, and be merciful unto us."

B. Z.

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Letters to a Mother, upon Education. LETTER XXX.

On Pronunciation and Reading, continued.

3dly. Habituate him to read in a moderately loud tone. This will conduce to his health, as constituting an exercise to his lungs: it will compel him to attend to distinctness and propriety of pronunciation; indistinctness and impropriety being far less discernible in a low and muttering mode of reading. It will also contribute to that manly and frank address, which are the charm of innocence and youth.

4thly. I utterly dissuade you from the use of all Speakers, as they are called, or those books containing specimens of the different styles of composition, such as didactic, vehement, mournful, animated, &c. The human feelings cannot thus change into so many varied and even opposite states in the course of a few pages. Your pupil cannot feel those different passages from different authors, he therefore cannot read them well. Finding this to be the case, were you to compel him to try, he would imitate feeling, and this would be to teach him a lesson in deception. He would succeed wretchedly after all; nothing being so frigid as forced feeling. Rather let him read to you some story or history continuously one day after another; then he will become interested in its details, and his voice and manner will, insensibly to himself, vary sufficiently to constitute good reading. The more he feels what he is reading with a genuine, unsophisticated emotion, the better he will read.

5thly. Let the utmost care be taken with him, that his manner be entirely his own; by which I mean, that it is not borrowed by imitation of any one else: this may very possibly be the case. Nothing is more likely to present itself to the inexperienced mind of your child, that as every one wishes him to be a good reader, and every body agrees that this gentleman, or that clergyman, or that senator, is a good speaker or reader, an effectual method of making this attainment, is to imitate the persons in question.

Here, however, your own superior experience and knowledge must interfere. It may indeed be useful to him to hear good reading and speaking. If taught to consider the qualities of this good reading and speaking abstractedly from the manner of the person who performs them, he may certainly learn much from it. He may see what faults to avoid, and what excellencies to cultivate. But the instant he has caught the tone, the manner of the man himself, that instant be sure it is the time for you to be most active, and most decided. Your own eye and your own ear will recognize the artificial style. Even if you cannot tell who it is that he imitates, yet the strangeness of the tone and manner will assuredly convince you that he is imitating some one. Now be faithful to him and to yourself. Be assured that the capability on the part of your child thus to transform himself, is nearly allied to the capability of general deceit. It is a departure from a healthy honesty of mind and heart. Seriously but mildly state to him the various reasons which render it in itself ineligible that he should imitate the manner of any person, however excellent: that each person has a manner of his own, which, though different from that of another, is equally excellent: that if he admires the manner of another, others may admire his manner : that no assumed manner in any degree can be pleasing.

If you know the speaker whom he imitates, point out to him the qualities of his reading which it is allowable to imitate: such as his distinctness, his slowness, his seeming to enter into the writer's meaning, the

close resemblance (being only somewhat more serious) which his manner of speaking in public bears to his mode of speaking in private.

Should these means fail, take him to hear different speakers who have attained excellence. If you can consistently with every other duty, let him hear them in sufficient numbers, and with sufficient frequency, to impair his associations with the one whom he so much admires.

Be resolute upon this point: it is connected with the honesty, and therefore with the self-respect, and consequently with the happiness and the success of your child. Never cease till you have eradicated the evil; and if it cannot be done without, adopt what I will venture to call the actual cautery in any system of education do not spare to satirize him, kindly but thoroughly.

Lastly. Be careful lest you do too much to secure the accomplishment of good reading or speaking.

If the essential rules now propounded be sufficiently attended to, the adoption of greater pains will be generally found to retard the result. Especially, never let him take lessons in reading. Many a young person has had a good manner till it was utterly spoiled by such causes. One may generally tell when a person has learnt to read, by their mechanical, or pompous, or artificial airs and arts, which offend and disgust more than the worst natural manner could have done.

In a word, if your child, after due attention has been paid to these topics, does not read well, then be assured all further attempts to make him do so are useless. Rest contented that reading is not his forte: let it be sought in something else. Natural taste and aptitude are indispensable to success. No rules that have ever been devised can communicate these if they are absent; and the only valuable effect of good rules is, to direct and regulate these where they do exist.

I am, dear Madam, yours, &c.

CLERICUS.

ON THE FOLLY AND DANGER OF USING

IMPRECATIONS.

Ir men who are so prodigal in scattering imprecations and curses upon all they are displeased at, would take time to consider what they are about, they would certainly be ashamed of the folly of such a practice, because nobody is hurt by it but themselves; for curses, like arrows shot against heaven, fall upon the heads of those that aim them, but can never injure the persons or things at which they are levelled. Again, for men in common discourse to make imprecations on themselves in order to confirm the truth of their assertions, only affords their auditors grounds of suspicion; for good men will be credited without them, and scorn to use them; but profane men only disparage themselves by so frequently venting them, because by such bitter asseverations they seem to suspect their own reputations. It is also for want of consideration, and for too facile a compliance with such a vicious custom, that men of sense on other matters, upon very slight, and sometimes no occasion, expose themselves to the wrath of Heaven, by calling upon God to curse them if what they say be false, when at the same time they know it to be so. Alas! how deplorable would be their condition, if Heaven should say "Amen" to what they wish for.

ON DEGREES OF SIN. Curses proportion to the sin's degree; Adam had one, Eve two, the serpent three. QUARLES.

CLERICAL LIBERALITY.

THE following letter of the late excellent Mr. Gunn, was written in reply to one from a lady, who had been receiving the Lord's Supper at the church of that clergyman She was a dissenter, and usually attended the ministry of the late Rev. Rowland Hill, but sometimes that of the Rev. Mr. Gunn, whose preaching is known to have been peculiarly edifying. We are glad to insert the letter in the Christian's Penny Magazine, on account of its admirable reproofs of the trifling and unprofitable conversation of some Christians.

Dear Madam,

sent me.

No. 1, King Street, Compton Street, Clerkenwell.

I

YOUR letter which I yesterday received, demands an answer from me; though I have so many engagements of various kinds upon my hands, that I have no time to reply to half the papers continually With respect to the conversation you had on leaving Surrey Chapel, I do most sincerely wish that the professors of our most holy faith had something better to talk of when they come from a gospel sermon, than merely gossiping about different ministers. certainly could not have refused the sacrament to a person that I am totally unacquainted with; and this is the case with yourself. But had I known you, I should never have thought of asking you, had you come to the sacred table, a single question respecting the place of worship you attended, provided the gospel was preached in it. I most certainly am a friend to the Church of England, and I love gospel order. Other people have a right to think for themselves. I have several times seen Dissenters and Baptists at the table where I have been present: they received the symbols of the Lord's body and blood from my hands with pleasure, and I gave it them with equal pleasure. However, I do most certainly prefer our established church. This, I imagine, is a sufficient answer to your Letter.

With respect to the latter part of it, I rejoice with you if the Lord has in any degree blessed my poor ministry to your soul; the praise is His, and not mine. May He encourage you to persevere in his good way, and at last receive you to his glory. Let me advise you to have as little to do as possible, either with disputes or disputers: "The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."

With Christian respects to your husband, I remain,
Your friend in the blessed Jesus,
WM. ALPHONSUS GUNN.

Monday, March 11th, 1799.

CHRIST'S BURDEN LIGHT.

CHRIST'S burden doth unburden all other burdens. This may seem strange to you, that the taking of a new burden should ease one of the former: if a man be carrying wood or coals, the taking of a new burden would not ease him of the former; but the burden of Christ is of another nature. Austin distinguishes them; there is a burden burdening, and a burden supporting: he expresses it thus; the feathers that a bird is clothed with, they have a weight in them; yet notwithstanding they bear up the burden of the body. So now it is here; the burden of Jesus Christ, it makes all other burdens to go away lighter. Faith, true saving faith, is the grace that takes up the burden of Christ in the soul, and so thereby all other burdens are made the lighter, and difficulties and discouragements are overcome. Bridge.

SCRIPTURE GAZETTEER.

(Continued from p. 175.)

ASKELON, a city in the land of the Philistines, situated between Azoth and Gaza, upon the coast of the Mediterranean sea, about 520 furlongs from Jerusalem. It is said to have been of great note among the Gentiles for a temple dedicated to Derceto, the mother of Semiramis, here worshipped in the form of a mermaid and for another of Apollo, where Herod, the father of Antipater, and grandfather of Herod the Great, served as priest, and from his being born in this city, was called Herod the Askelonite. It had, in the first times of Christianity, an episcopal see; and in the course of the holy wars it was beautified with a new wall, and many fair buildings, by our Richard the First. It is, however, at this day, a very inconsiderable place. There is much mention of the wine of Askelon, and the cypress tree, a shrub that was very much esteemed, and was very common in this place. See Calmet's Dictionary.

ASPHALTUS LAKE, so called on account of the great quantity of asphaltus or bitumen found in it. It is enclosed on the east and west with exceeding high mountains; on the north it is bounded by the plain of Jericho, on which side also it receives the waters of Jordan; on the south it lies open, and extends beyond the reach of the eye. It is said to be twenty-four leagues long, and six or seven broad. It is supposed to be called the DEAD SEA, because no animal can live in it, though Mr. Maundrel seems to suspect the truth of this; having observed among the pebbles of the shore, two or three shells of fish, resembling oyster shells. The water of the lake is very limpid, and salt to the highest degree; and not only salt, but also extremely bitter and nauseous. Mr. Maundrel being willing to make an experiment of its strength, went into it, and found it bore up his body in swimming with au uncommon force; but as for that relation of some authors, that men wandering into it were buoyed up the top, as soon as they go as deep as the navel, he found upon experiment not true. This lake receives all the waters of the river Jordan, of the brooks Arnon and Jabbok, and other waters which descend from all the neighbouring mountains; and notwithstanding it has no visible outlet, it does not overflow, for what it gains in water, it loses in vapour, and by that means the equilibrium betwixt the expanse of vapour and the supply from the rivers is constantly kept up.

Assos (approaching to), a seaport town, situated on the south-west part of the province of Troas, and over against the island of Lesbos. St. Luke, and others of St. Paul's companions, in his voyage (Acts xx, 13), went by sea from Troas to Assos; but St. Paul went by land thither, and meeting them at Assos, they all went together to Mitylene.

ATAD'S THRESHING-FLOOR, the place where the sons of Jacob, and the Egyptians who accompanied them, mourned for this patriarch, and which was afterwards called Abel-mizraim. St. Jerome fixes this place between Jericho and Jordan, three miles from the city, and two from the river.

ATHENS, SO called from Athene, or Athenaia, Minerva, a celebrated city of Greece, formerly a most powerful and flourishing commonwealth, which eminently distinguished itself in war, but was still more illustrious by the glory it acquired from the learning, eloquence, and politeness of its inhabitants. As it would be inconsistent with our purpose to enter upon an historical detail of this once famous republic, we shall only observe in this place, that St. Paul coming thither in the year of Christ 52, found the inhabitants plunged

deep in idolatry, and much divided in their opinions concerning the true religion and the supreme happiness. The Apostle therefore having taken an opportu nity to preach Jesus Christ, was carried before the Areopagus, the supreme court of the commonwealth, and there converted Dionysius, one of its members, who was afterwards ordained the first bishop of Athens, and who, it is believed, ended his life there by an honourable martyrdom.

ATTALIA (that increases or sends), a seaport of Pamphylia, formerly the chief residence of the prefect. It is said to take its name from King Attalus, its founder, which it still retains with a small variation, being now called Settalia. It stands on a very fine bay, and is commodiously seated for trade, having a good haven; which probably has been the occasion of its being preserved from ruin by the Turks, who even at this day are said to be very careful to keep its fortifications and castle in repair. The city is supposed to stand at present nearer to the sea than it did formerly.

AVIMS, people descended from Hevæus, the son of Canaan. This people dwelt at first in the country which was afterwards possessed by the Caphtorims, or Philistines. The Scripture says expressly, that the Caphtoris drove out the Avims, who dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, Deut. ii, 23. There were also Avims, or Hivites, at Shechem or Gibeon, and consequently in the centre of the promised land (Josh. xi, 19), for the inhabitants of Shechem and the Gibeonites were Hivites. Lastly, there were some of them beyond Jordan, at the foot of Mount Hermon. Bochart thinks that Cadmus, who conducted a colony of Phoenicians into Greece, was a Hivite. His name Cadinus comes from the Hebrew Kedem, the east, because he came from the eastern parts of the land of Canaan. The name of his wife Hermione was taken from Mount Hermon, at the foot whereof the Hivites dwelt. The metamorphosis of Cadmus's companions into serpents, is founded upon the signification of the name Hivites, which in the Phoenician language signifies serpents. Azorus, see ASHDOD.

B.

BABEL, a term which in the original import of the word signifies confusion, and therefore was used for the name of the city and province, wherein the famous tower of that name was building, when God confounded the language of those men who were employed about this edifice, so that they could no longer understand one another. Gen xi, 9.

MORTIFICATION OF SIN BY THE CROSS. WORK your hearts to an hatred of sin by the consideration of its being the cause of Christ's death. If a man had killed your friend, or father, or mother, how would you hate him! you would not endure the sight of him, but would follow the law upon him; as in the old law they did, if they fled not to the city of refuge. Send out the avenger of blood with a hue and cry after thy sin bring it before God's judgment seat: arraign it, accuse it, spit on it, condemn it, and thyself for it. Have it to the cross; nail it there; if it cry "I thirst," give it vinegar. Stretch the body of sins upon his cross; stretch every vein of it; make the heart-strings crack. And then, when it hangs there, triumph over the dying of it. Shew it no pity: laugh at its destruction. Say, thou hast been a bloody husband to me; hang there and rot. And when thou art tempted to it, and art very thirsty after the pleasure of it, say of that opportunity to enjoy it, as David said of the water of Bethlehem, It is the price of Christ's blood; and pour it upon the ground. Goodwin.

"I DIE DAILY."-1 COR. XV, 31.

GREAT GOD! thy energy impart,
And write this lesson on my
heart:
Rouse every solemn thought, that I
May ponder what it is to die.

To die! and quit this house of clay,
And unembody'd pass away
From all things mortal, and have done
With all concerns beneath the sun!

When all my days shall be fulfill'd,
My character and state be seal'd,
My naked spirit borne to God,
And sentenc'd to its long abode.

My change is sure, and may be soon;
Each hast ning minute leads it on.
The shafts of Death around me fly,
And every day I live - I die.

This, this my state, to die, I'd learn,
And make it every day's concern:
Then let which will be last (this may),
I'm not unpractis'd in the way.
O may I daily live above

This flesh, this world, and wean my love,
And every day abstract my cares
From mortals, and their mean affairs!
Spend every day as if 'twere last,
And time redeem e'er time is past,
And all its precious portions o'er,
Redeemable, alas! no more.
Examine oft the state I'm in,
Whether a state of grace or sin.
If Christ has mark'd me for his own,
He'll meet me at his Father's throne.
Rejoice, my soul, in such a stay,
Jesus, the life, the truth, the way;
And trace the footsteps of thy Head,
Up where thy heav'nly hopes are laid.
He'll guide me to my dying day,
And bless it with a cheerful ray;
Then to my soul a mansion give,
Where bright immortals ever live.

HYMN OF A FRENCH REFORMED PROTESTANT
CHURCH.

O Lord! thy heav'nly grace impart,
And fix my frail, inconstant heart;
Henceforth my chief desire shall be,
To dedicate myself to Thee;

To Thee, my God, to Thee.
Whate'er pursuits my time employ,
One thought shall fill my soul with joy;
That silent, secret thought shall be,
That all my hopes are fix'd on Thee;
On Thee, my God, on Thee.
Thy glorious eye pervadeth space,
Thou'rt present, Lord, in every place;
And wheresoe'er my lot shall be,
Still shall my spirit cleave to Thee;
To Thee, my God, to Thee.
Renouncing every worldly thing,
Safe 'neath the covert of thy wing,
My sweetest thought henceforth shall be,
That all I want, I find in Thee;

In Thee, my God, in Thee.

LIFE LIKE A RIVER.

LIFE may not unaptly be compared to a river. It resembles a river in its rise: as the river rises pure and fresh, animating with its luxuriating influence every thing within its reach, so it is with life: it opens in innocency, and is at once the delight and the cheerer of all around it.

Life resembles a river in its course. As the river rushes on with irresistible force, unretarded by any obstacle, so it is with life. Man is precipitately carried down its vale, and every effort to impede its course is vain and useless. And as the river now runs smooth and gentle, and now again, by reason of wind and storm, becomes rough, agitated, and impetuous; so is life. Things run smoothly for a time; then comes the day of adversity, then come vexations and crosses; the passions are roused, and the bosom of man becomes as the surface of a troubled water. Again: as every prudent mariner provides himself with a pilot, lest he strike on the sands and make shipwreck of his vessel; so must it be in life. Man must look to Jesus to be his pilot, he must take him for his guide, or he will most assuredly strike, to his utter destruction.

Lastly, life resembles a river in its termination. As the river flows onward, expanding more and more until it enters the vast and boundless ocean; so does life glide on, with daily widening view, till at length it issues in the ocean of immortality!

B.

INTEGRITY OF SIR MATTHEW HALE.

So sacred a virtue is justice, and of such vast importance to the Public, that it is the great concern of governments to trust the administration thereof to no persons but such as fear God and abhor covetousness.

When Judge Hale was holding a certain assizes in England, a gentleman who was to have a cause tried before him that assize, sent him a buck. The cause being called on, and the judge taking notice of the name, asked if it was not the same person who had made him the present; and, finding that was the fact, said he could not suffer the trial to go on till he had paid him for his buck. To which the gentleman answered, that he never sold his venison, and that he had done no more to him than what he had always done to every judge that came that circuit. But all this would not prevail on Sir Matthew, nor would he suffer the trial to proceed till he had paid for the venison; whereupon the gentleman withdrew his action.

A communication for B. Z. lies at the Publishers'.

The CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE may be delivered weekly in the Towns of the United Kingdom, by those Booksellers and Newsmen to whom Subscribers address their orders. Being unstamped, it cannot be transmitted by pest as a Newspaper. But for the convenience of our country friends and others, who cannot obtain the publication weekly, it is published every four weeks in parts, each including four numbers; excepting in June and December, in each of which a part will be published containing six numbers. No extra charge is made for the wrapper: so that the whole annual expense of the Twelve parts will be 4s. 4d.

The First Volume, from June 9 to December 30, 1832, may be had, neatly bound in cloth, price 3s. 6d.

London: Printed and Published by C. WOOD AND SON, Poppin's Court, Fleet Street; to whom all Communications for the Editor (post_paid) should be addressed; -and sold by all Booksellers and Newsmen in the United Kingdom.

Hawkers and Dealers Supplied on Wholesale Terms, by STRILL, Paternoster Row; BERGER, Holywell Street, Strand; F. BAISLRB, 124, Oxford Street; and W. N. BAKER, 16, City Road, Finsbury.

PENNY MAGAZINE.

No 57.

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PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY C. WOOD AND SON, POPPIN'S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON.

JULY 6, 1833.

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BRITISH ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

No. VII.-The mission of Augustin to the Anglo-Saxons. "THE SLAVE TRADE," however execrable, as the most atrocious of crimes whose guilt can stain the human conscience, is an enormity of ancient date. "Britons never shall be Slaves," is a well known Bacchanalian chorus: but the faithful records of history declare that Britons have been slaves; and that the traffic in the "souls of men" was carried on to a considerable extent between Britain and Rome, the metropolis of the world.

SLAVES are mentioned by Strabo, who flourished in the reign of Augustus and Tiberius, as articles of commerce between Britain and Rome; and this criminal branch of trade was carried on for six centuries at least, till three hundred years after Christianity was established in the imperial metropolis. Slave-dealing, however, in the Roman market, occasioned one of the most eventful Christian missions whose details are recorded in the annals of our country, the particulars of which will illustrate our engraving.

VOL. II.

Pope Gregory is said, while archdeacon of Rome, about A. D. 587, to have projected a mission to Britain through the following circumstance. Walking one day through the market place at Rome, his attention was caught by some beautiful youths, offered for sale as slaves. This horrid traffic in human beings was carried on to some extent in that metropolis of Christendom, and by individuals among the Saxons. Gregory learnt that they were pagans, and that their countrymen were called Angli, the Latin word for the Angles. "Alas!" he exclaimed, "that the prince of darkness should possess countenances so luminous, and that faces so fair should carry minds destitute of eternal grace." On being told that they were natives of Deira, the province of Northumberland, "These people," said he, "should be delivered de Dei ira" [from the wrath of God]. On being informed that their king was named Ella, "Alleluia to God," said he, still playing upon the sounds, "should be sung in those regions."

Gregory felt, or affected to feel, a desire to declar the gospel to so interesting a people, and offered him self to undertake a mission for that purpose. Permission having been obtained of Pope Pelagius, he

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