nation, his earlier efforts were not exempt from occasional violations of those severe canons of taste which call for their most rigid enforcement in all cases connected with evangelical ministrations. If, in common circumstances, an ill regulated fancy may be indulged in its excursions, there is one direction at least in which they require strict repression: the pulpit should be sacred from their intrusion; flippaney and florid emptiness should never find admittance there. Nor can this species of eloquence claim admiration on the score of difficulty or rarity: it is the cheapest of all modes of speaking or writing,-the inspiration of a school boy's theme. As in the kindred art of painting and design, the examples of highest excellence are those of the purest and most intense simplicity, and the inferiority of succeeding schools degenerated into mannered magnificence and unsubstantial bustle and glare, so, the parallel will strictly hold in the different styles of composition and elocution. The most natural and the best disciplined have been the most durable; and the highest models, from Homer and Demosthenes, to Milton and Fox, have been those whose commanding simplicity have been their marking quality.

We have certainly no intention of applying the full force of these observations to any part of Mr. Raffles's career as a preacher or as an author, and still less to the productions of his maturer age. If in his earlier exhibitions there was something that might be deemed objectionable, he has of late come before the public with evident signs of a more chastised taste, and a more single intention of doing good. Nor will the present volume diminish this impression. It is calculated for usefulness, and if now and then we have encountered a passage a little too palpably introduced for the purpose of shewing off, it has been amply redeemed by the more forcible and simple instructions which succeed it. Mr. Raffles has taken a range of subjects which will be best stated in his own words: Lecture 1. The influence of Christianity on the temporal condition of mankind. 2. On propriety of conduct in public worship. 3. On the government of the tongue. 4. The influence of Christianity on the dress of its professors. 5. The young Christian's duty to his unconverted relatives. 6. On the imprudent way of discharging sacred duties. 7. The due proportion of Christian benevolence. 8. The duty of believers to marry only in the Lord. 9. The influence of religion in affliction. 10. How may each Christian best glorify God?

These important questions are discussed in an interesting and effective manner, and with skilful adaptation to different classes of hearers. In the sermon on Dress,' a subject which required some dexterity in the management, and which is ju

diciously treated by Mr. R., we find the following passage, which strikes us as having a not unpleasing resemblance to the sparkling and fanciful, but impressive style of some of our earlier writers. The preacher has been stating certain well selected principles in regulation of dress, and among other considerations, he enforces them

2. By a comparative view of its intrinsic worth. In a time of universal famine, how many jewels would you give for a single loaf of bread? In a raging fever, how many diamonds would you sacrifice for a moment's ease? In a parched desert, how many embroidered robes would you exchange for a cooling draught? That these gaudy trifles should be valued at so high a rate, is certainly no small disparagement to the understandings of mankind, and a sad demonstration of the meanness into which we are sunk by the fall. Compare them with the sublime, the stupendous, and. the lovely objects which every where meet your eye in the creation around you. Can your richest purple excel the violet, or your purest white eclipse the lily of the valley? Can your brightest gems outshine the lustre of the sun, or your fairest diamonds transcend the brightness of the stars? Why, then, should such enormous sums be expended in glimmering pebbles and sparkling dust? Compare them with your books,-your bibles,-your souls,-all neglected for their sake! Arise this evening to correcter sentiments and nobler aims. Make the Bible your looking-glass-the graces of the Spirit your jewels-the temper of Jesus your attire. If you must shine, shine here. Here you may shine with advantage-in the estimation of the wise and good-in the view and approbation of holy angels, and of the Eternal God.-Shine in death, when the lustre of gold is dim, and the ray of the diamond extinguished.—Shine in the celestial hemisphere, with saints and seraphs, amid the splendours of eternal day. Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

From the concluding lecture, we extract the following eloquent and forcible passage: the whole discourse is excellent.

Every Christian must dedicate his body to God as his temple. You are his, Christians, by creation, and by purchase. He hath made us and. not we ourselves, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, which are God's. Let Him have full possession of his property; dedicate your persons to Him as the residence of his Spirit. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Defile not the temple of God, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Do not simply confess that he is VOL. XVIII. N.S.

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the lawful owner, but invite Him to take actual possession of the temple which he reared at first, and which, when alienated from Him by rebellion, He hath purchased by the blood of Christ. Surrender to Him the key of every apartment. Lay open to Him every chamber of your heart. Bid Him welcome to his new abode. Let your spirit bow before Him, as he enters in, and hail Him Lord of all that it contains. That ruined building he can well repair. Beneath his wonder-working hand its pristine beauty shall revive, its primeval grandeur shall return, and the bosom that was once so dark and desolate, the haunt of every brutal appetite and hateful passion, shall become the rest and residence of Deity. Such must be the spirit of the surrender, or every avowal of self-dedication to God, is but a solemn mockery, and an impious effort to impose upon the Divine omniscience. To acknowledge his right to you, and yet refuse to yield yourselves to Him, is to insult Him to his face. The Atheist, who denies the being of a God, and therefore lives to himself, is a character far more consistent with his avowed principles, than he, who, confessing the being and the claims of God, lives as though there were no God,-devoting the members of his frame to the service of sin, and polluting his body by the indulgence of appetite and lust. This is to be like the heathen, who when they knew God, glorified him not as God. Alas! it is to be feared, appalling as the suggestion is, we are compelled to make it,-that there are not a few, who bear the Christian name, who are involved in that condemnation. They know God, but they do not glorify him as God, by the surrender of their persons to him, the employment of their members in his service, and the subjec tion of their passions to his control. They know their Master's will, and do it not; they make professions which they never perform. They say, I go, sir, and go not. With their tongues they acknowledge him, but in works they deny him. They are clouds without water, trees without fruit, trees whose fruit withereth, wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.'

After these specimens in illustration of our preceding remarks, we may safely recommend this volume to the favourable attention of our readers. To younger persons especially it will be highly acceptable; the practical instructions which it enforces with a constant and explicit reference to evangelical principle, are peculiarly suited to their moral and spiritual exigences. At the same time it addresses itself to all ages and all classes, and its admonitions may be universally beneficial.

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Art. VII. The Greek Terminations, (including the Dialects and Poetic Licences) alphabetically arranged, and grammatically explained, on the plan of the Latin Terminations, or Clue for Young Latinists. By John Carey, LL.D. 12mo. pp. 160 London. 1821.

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E are happy to find Dr. Carey proceeding in his system of facilitating the labours of classical acquisition His plans

are in general extremely judicious, and they are executed with all the care and skill which might be expected from his extensive and acurate knowledge. The present convenient manual is framed precisely on the same model as his similar work on the Latin Terminations, and will be found equally useful in the business of education. To that very numerous class of individuals who, from imperfect grammatical institution, or from long interruption of their classical studies, have grown rather inexpert in their terminal references, this little volume will be a valuable companion.

As far as our inspection has gone, we have found it compre hensive and correct; and we have quite sufficient reliance on the judgement and precision of Dr. Carey, to trust him in these respects without that extremely minute examination which might in some cases be expedient.

Art. VIII. Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution; including a Narrative of the Expedition of General Xavier Mina. To which are an. nexed some Observations on the Practicability of opening a Commerce between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, through the Mexican Isthmus. By William Davis Robinson. In 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. 768. Price 11. 4s. London. 1821.

IF

F ever the history of the Spanish settlements in South America for the last fifteen years shall be fully and fairly given to the world, it will unfold a tale of the deepest interest, full of fierce and treacherous deeds, of undiscriminating mas sacre and sanguinary reprisal. It will however be long before such a narrative can be completed. The transactions in question extend over so large a surface of country, the actors in these appalling scenes have so many motives for concealment and misrepresentation, and so much of passion and partiality must be mingled with the feelings of those who have had the best means of information, that for the present it were idle to expect any thing in the way of candid and comprehensive detail. All the publications on the subject that we have seen, are little more than records of the prejudices and disappointments of the writers; nor can we altogether exempt from this censure the interesting volumes before us.

Mr. Robinson is an American merchant, and from the various statements of these volumes, he appears to be a man of ability and enterprise. In 1799, during the war between England and Spain, he visited the city of Caraccas in quest of mercantile speculation, and entered into engagements with the agents of the Spanish government, which were attended with ruinous consequences to himself. He complains that

contracts fairly made and completed on his part, were scandalously violated by the Venezuelan authorities, and that his efforts to obtain redress were rendered ineffectual by gross injustice, and ultimately by forcible expulsion.

In 1816, he accepted an agency from certain merchants of the United States, and landed on the coast of Vera Cruz, for the purpose of communicating with the Revolutionary chiefs, on whom his employers had pecuniary claims to a large amount. After an unsuccessful application to Don Guadalupe Victoria, then commanding the patriots in that quarter, he ventured into the interior in search of general Teran, who, he had been given to understand, was just then in cash. Teran paid a part of his demand, and accepted his bills. Satisfied with this result of his application, Mr. Robinson was anxious to return; but the Royalists had regained possession of Vera Cruz, and the communication with the coast was no longer open. Thus circumstanced, he determined to accompany Teran, simply as a matter of necessity, on an expedition against Guasacualco, a port at the bottom of the Mexican Gulf. Teran met with no opposition during the early part of the march, and anticipating nothing more than he had hitherto encountered, entered, at the head of only fifteen men, a village which was in possession of the Royalists, where he was instantly attacked and only escaped by swimming a river amid a shower of balls. Mr. Robinson, who, though, as he affirms, a non-combatant, had very imprudently joined this advanced guard, was unable to effect his retreat, and concealed himself in the woods, whence, after five days' hunger and privation, he was compelled to come forth and surrender himself to the Spanish Commander. By that officer he was forwarded to the city of Oaxaca, whence he was conveyed to the fortress of St. Juan de Ulua, and after a confinement of eleven months in an unwholesome dungeon, he was sent to Spain. At Cadiz he was suffered to remain at large on his parole, but, receiving information that it was intended to confine him in the citadel of Ceuta, he took refuge on board an American vessel.

On this narrative it is only necessary to observe, that, admiting the whole of it to be strictly accurate, and supposing that the Writer's feelings have not been permitted to interfere with the most strict impartiality, it will still be sufficiently evident that the Spanish Government was perfectly justifiable in considering Mr. Robinson as a combatant; the proof of the contrary resting only on his own evidence, which, in such a case, was perfectly worthless.

With these opportunities of personal observation, and with the advantages of information derived from native Creoles,