CAPTAIN RIOU.-April 28, 1790. "Crowther dined with us, and gave us an account of the shipwreck and Riou's fortitude." Mr. Crowther owed his education to the Elland Society; and had been recently selected by Mr. Wilberforce for a chaplaincy which he had prevailed on Mr. Pitt to found for New South Wales. A letter of the 17th of April announced to Mr. Wilberforce the shipwreck of the vessel in which Mr. Crowther sailed. "On the 11th of December we left the cape. On the 21st saw two islands of ice in lat. 42° long. 38° 30′ E., distant about three leagues. About noon on the 23d we saw another, and bore down towards it, hoisted out the jolly-boat and one of the cutters, and picked up some small floating pieces, and then bore away N.W., in order to get entirely clear of the ice. About half-past eight the same evening, the officer on the forecastle cried out, An island of ice close a-head' (for, being in the dark, and a very thick mist, we could see very little before us). Before the alarm was sounded through the ship, she had struck one violent blow; and directly after she struck again, and got upon the ice, sliding along into an immense cavern in its side. Every effort was made to save the ship until Friday, when it was judged necessary to quit her. The captain would not leave her, but wrote a letter to the Admiralty. Two boats besides ours were hoisted out. We were taken up by a French ship, and came in it to the Cape, after being in an open boat from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3, exposed to cold, hunger, and thirst, having scarcely any clothes; two gills of water per day, and at most two pounds of bread, amongst fifteen." To this account he added, in a conversation which, with its racy Yorkshire dialect, Mr. Wilberforce delighted to preserve, "When the ship's condition was altogether hopeless, Capt. Riou sent for me into the cabin, and asked me, Crowther, how do you feel?' How? why, I thank God, pretty comfortable.' 'I cannot say I do. I had a pious mother, and I have not practised what she taught me; but I must do my duty. The boats will not hold one third of our crew; and if I left the vessel, there would be a general rush into them, and every one would perish. I shall stay by the ship, but you shall have a place; and be sure you go in the master's boat, for he knows what he is about,

From "The Cathedral."

6

and if any boat reaches the shore it will be his.' In the bustle of embarking, I got into the wrong boat, and found out my mistake too late to alter it. The boats, however, neared each other to make an exchange of some of their provisions, and I heard Riou call to me, If you've a heart, Crowther, jump!' I made the attempt, and just reaching the boat fell backwards into the water, but was pulled in amongst them." No other boat than that into which he was thus taken ever reached the shore. "John Clarkson alone, of those who heard this conversation," says Mr. Wilberforce, "would not despair of Riou." "I have seen," said Mr. Clarkson, himself a naval man," such wonderful escapes at sea, that so long as the captain preserves his self-possession, I can never despair of any ship."

Thursday 29th," says the diary, "waked by a note, saying that the Guardian, Riou, had arrived safely at the Cape. Poor Crowther could not believe it-sent him to Thurlow for a living." Captain Riou was preserved for a more distinguished end; his gallant death at the hour of victory at Copenhagen has linked his name with the memory of Nelson.-Life of Wilberforce,

vol. i.

CHARMING OF SERPENTS. (Psalm lviii. 4, 5).Romeili is an open place, of an irregular form, where feats of juggling are performed. The charmers of serpents seem also worthy of remark; their powers seem most extraordinary. The serpent most common at Kahira is of the viper class, and undoubtedly poisonous. If one of them enters a house, the charmer is sent for, who uses a certain form of words. I have seen three serpents enticed out of the cabin of a ship lying near the shore. The operator handled them, and then put them into a bag. At other times I have seen the serpents twist round the bodies of these psylli in all directions, without having had their fangs extracted or broken, and without doing them any injury. There appears to have been a method of charming serpents by sounds, so as to render them tractable and harmless. The ancients expressly ascribe the incantation of serpents to the human voice. Medea is said to have soothed the monstrous serpent or dragon which guarded the golden fleece with her sweet voice. And the laying of that dragon to sleep is by Ovid ascribed to the words uttered by Jason; so Virgil attributes the like effects on serpents to the song, as well as the touch, of the enchanter.Browne's Travels in Africa.

CLERICAL DEPORTMENT.-In order to secure to himself his full influence in society, a clergyman must never forget that he is a clergyman; he must never suppose that he can for a moment lay aside his sacred character. In his looks, in his dress, in his conversation, I had almost said in every gesture, must be seen the minister of God: he must be serious without moroseness, cheerful without levity, kind without familiarity, sound in speech without dogmatism; “in weakness, courteous without servility, affable without meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;" not quick to take offence, nor over-anxious of personal ably with all men;" ready, as far as may be consistent respect; but," as much as in him lieth, living peacewith his sacred calling, to engage in social recreation; yet, with such a prudent reserve, that, if at that moment he be called to perform the most awful part of his ministerial duty, he may feel himself, and appear to others, in a proper state to enter upon it.-Bishop Coleridge's Charge delivered to the Clergy of Barbadocs, &c., 1835.

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CHRISTIAN CIRCUMSPECTION.* BY THE REV. JAMES COOPER, M.A. Minister of St. Paul's, Stonehouse.

No. I.

MANIFOLD are the dangers which surround the Christian; and it is on this account that the Church teaches us to pray that God would keep us "from all things that may hurt us." At the same time, we are required to be in a state of readiness to contend with these dangers. We are to be armed and disciplined, like good soldiers of Jesus Christ; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that "God would" have done. Hence the duty of Christian circumspection; a word which in its origin describes the vigilance of one walking in the midst of enemies, and keeping a sharp look-out on all sides to prevent his falling into danger, or being surprised by a lurking enemy. Such is to be the watchful attitude of the Christian in his daily walk. He is ever to be on his guard, lest any thing opposed to his spiritual wellbeing overpower his mind or engage his interests.

In order thus to walk circumspectly, it is necessary, first, to employ consideration. We can imagine one in a perilous journey fully aware of his dangers, but over-confident in his knowledge of their extent, or grown careless by previous escapes or successful encounters, and thus remitting that vigilance and circumspection so needful to future safety. So David yielded to the temptation of Satan to number the people and depend on the strength of his army. When he came

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VOL. V. NO. CXXX.

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to reflect on his unbelief, his heart smote him, and he said unto the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in that I have done; I have done very foolishly." But he must bear the chastisement of his iniquity, and suffer for his lack of circumspection, by the choice of one out of three evils-the plague, which took away seventy thousand men. This shews us that a want of consideration produces hasty and wrong judgments. So, when Job was overwhelmed with his heavy calamities, his wife, not considering the Lord's wisdom in all his appointments, in her foolish haste said to him (Job, ii. 9), "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." But Job (who was walking circumspectly, and with due consideration of the Lord's hand in his afflictions) replied, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

To walk circumspectly, it is necessary also to exercise discrimination - to detect

false appearances -to separate truth from error when mingled together, and when evil assumes the appearance of good. We find the Psalmist (Ixxiii.) deceived with the appearance of God's favour in the worldly prosperity of the wicked, so as to be envious at the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked,-insomuch, he says, that "his feet were almost gone, his steps had well nigh slipped." But when he considered God's plans and purposes, and discriminated between the real and the apparent evidences of God's favour, "his heart was grieved;" and he confesses, "so foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee." He forgot in his haste that he had a better and more

U

enduring portion than all the treasures of earth; but when he exercised discrimination, and compared earth with heaven, and time with eternity; when he thus distinguished between apparent and real good, he said, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." Thus must we take heed lest we suffer ourselves to entertain false conceptions of God's providential dealings with us. We cannot tell by outward circumstances what are good, or what evil; because worldly prosperity too often proves the slippery path by which we fall into destruction; while affliction, adversity, persecution, are the modes God employs for the sanctification of his people, for the cultivation of their graces, and for preparing them for their future enjoyment of himself in glory.

So also must we discriminate between the appearance and the reality of religion, lest we deceive ourselves to our ruin. An outside appearance of religion is often mistaken for the reality. Hypocrisy may pass current for sincerity. More especially have we to guard against self-deception in so important a matter. There is a superficial religion which bears all the appearance of reality,-a conformity with religious observances; an attention to all the moralities which are esteemed as such by the world around us; a reverence for the ordinances and word of God,-while there may be no humblings of heart on account of sin, and no hatred of sin itself, and no lively faith in Christ, and no desires after holiness of heart. Thus the state of the Gospel Church is represented by ten virgins, of whom five were wise and five were foolish; and neither were the foolish ones discovered by the wise, nor did they discover their own deficiency, till the time of trial, when, on trimming their lamps, they found they lacked a supply of oil: so we may maintain a selfdeceiving appearance and profession of Christianity, and when it is too late find that the living principle of divine grace has not been found in us, and the door of the heavenly kingdom is shut against us.

In like manner, we must discriminate and distinguish between truth and error in doctrine, lest, by false conceptions of the truth of God, we be entertaining an erroneous creed, and thereon building a false hope. There are many perversions and semblances of divine truth-many theories of human reasonings mingled therewith,-against all of which we are to be on our guard, lest, like the Galatian Church, we be removed from dependence on the grace of Christ "unto another Gospel." We have need of still greater discrimination,

lest the subtle and plausible errors which spring up should carry us away from the old paths, the sure foundations of divine truth. Well does our Lord warn us to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves; and well does the apostle exhort us to hold fast the form of sound words which we have heard of him, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. So that, in the midst of novelties, and oppositions of science, and the vain babblings of reasoners, and the fables of superstition, by which the truth is and ever has been assailed, we shall do wisely to hold fast by the Church of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. That Church we are privileged to have amongst us, built upon the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.

The Church of these realms was reformed upon this principle of discrimination between truth and error; taking the word of God for its basis, and recognising the authority of the Church to decide in controversies of faith, and to decree rites or ceremonies, in so far as those decisions and decrees were not contrary to God's word. The reformers, while they retained every thing apostolic in its origin, and adhered to the ancient confessions of faith, and other formularies, in accordance with the word of God, repudiated the novelties and superstitions which from time to time had been grafted into the Church, and made the word of God null and void. So that we have, in fact, the most ancient, as well as the most pure model of a Church—a Church which is the pillar and stay of the truth, which holds forth the mind of Christ as a pillar does an edict or proclamation, that all may take notice of it. Amid the many false expositions of the word of God which form the foundation of schisms and the multiplication of sects and separate communities, we surely cannot have a better aid to discrimination between truth and error than the expositions and decisions of such a Church as our own, founded upon the very principle of discrimination. And we shall do well to pause, and consider much, before we allow our private judgment to set aside hers.

To walk circumspectly, it is likewise necessary to preserve consistency, to walk consistently with our profession of Christianity. "I beseech you," says the apostle (iv. 1), "that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." Again, Phil. i. 27, "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ." Col. i. 10, "That ye walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work." 1 Thess. iv. 1, "Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought

to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more." How much dishonour is done to God, how much reproach is cast upon the religion of Christ, by the inconsistent conduct of his professed followers!

There is a becoming moderation in the pursuit and in the use of all earthly satisfactions, even the most lawful and irreproachable. "Let your moderation be known unto all men." Much more does it behove us to discountenance and repudiate those worldly pleasures which are necessarily mixed up with much positive evil, while they occasion the neglect of many important duties; and which, however they may bear the semblance of harmlessness, will not bear the light of close examination as to the spirit of mind they tend to cherish, and the evil passions they excite, and the false principles they instil.

To those who feel the importance of preserving sobriety and seriousness of mind, and a habit of communion with God in sacred ordinances; to those who desire to cherish an abiding sense of the love of God, and to preserve a predominating view of eternal realities and eternal interests; to such as are wise in heavenly wisdom,-public scenes of dissipation, the congregation of idlers and triflers, can furnish no suitable amusement or relaxation. The attractions to all such scenes are for the most part evil. The stage would lose half its attractions, were it divested of its extravagant exhibitions of human passions, and its assertion of false principles of virtue, and its colourings of vice, and its expressions and allusions which put modesty to the blush. The theatre would not be the resort of the profligate and the abandoned, were it a school of real virtue and Christian morality. And what makes the race-course that source of ruin to many families from its encouragement of gambling-so attractive, but the display of fashion, and the love of excitement? And what would be the attraction of the ball-room without the excitements of vanity, and the love of display? It is these sinful accompaniments, these necessary associations of evil principles, these encouragements given to unchristian dispositions of mind, which make our public amusements scenes of temptation and of danger, to the piously disposed in particular; while they tend to cherish in all who frequent them a love of the pomp and vanities of the world, and a forgetfulness of God.

To be consistent with a profession of Christianity, we are bound to preserve that circumspection over our conduct which shall preclude an utter variance between our creed and our practice. While we acknowledge

the vast importance of Christian doctrines, and call Christ Lord, and profess to be his disciples, we are bound so to live in the world as not to be of the world; not to live in the spirit of the world, which finds its only interests in the things of this world. We are told, not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. We are required to come out from the world, and to be separate, and touch not the unclean thing-that which is polluted with sin; in order that God may be our Father, and that we may be the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. And inasmuch as we are exhorted to walk circumspectly in the midst of manifold temptations to sin, we are bound to be cautious how we needlessly thrust ourselves upon dangerous ground, where we are sure the enemy is busily employed to ensnare our souls. We have enough dangers and temptations to encounter when in the path of duty; and it is only when in the path of duty that we are authorised to expect protection and safety. If, by remitting our circumspection, we lose the right path, the path of Christian duty, we are then in the enemy's power; because we are out of that pale of protection which surrounds the obedient followers of the good Shepherd.

[To be concluded in next Number.]

THE CHRISTIAN MOTHER.-No. V.

BY MRS. MILNER.

THE book of Ruth is distinguished from all the other books of the sacred canon, by the circumstance of its being the history of a private family. As a picture of the manners of a very remote period, it is exceedingly interesting; and very important instruction, of various kinds, may be derived from it: but it is to the fact of her becoming an ancestress of David, and consequently of the Messiah, that Ruth probably owes the distinction of having her story related with such minuteness by the sacred historian. Some commentators have thought that her being a woman of Moab might, perhaps, be an intimation of the subsequent calling of the Gentiles into the Christian Church. However that may be, the hand of Providence is very distinctly visible throughout the whole train of circumstances which led to her settlement Boaz; and her history, together with that of her at Bethlehem, and her marriage with her kinsman mother-in-law Naomi, affords a remarkable instance of the superintending care which the Almighty extends even to the minutest concerns of those who trust to

his guidance and protection.

Naomi was the wife of Elimelech, an Israelite of Bethlehem-Judah. In consequence of a famine which prevailed in Judea, she and her husband left that country, and went to sojourn in the land of Moab. How far this step was justifiable may be doubted; perhaps it would have been better "to suffer affliction

with the people of God," than to expose themselves, and more especially their sons, to the dangers which must necessarily attend their settling among idolaters. Our Saviour on more than one occasion (Luke, xiii. 2-5; John, ix. 3) warned his followers against the presumption of supposing that afflictive dispensations are always occasioned by some particular sin or sins in those upon whom they are inflicted; it rather behoves us to look well to our own character and conduct, and to profit by the declaration, "unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Nevertheless, we cannot but observe that the blessing of God does not appear to have rested upon this Israelitish family during their abode among the Moabites. Elimelech died soon after their arrival in that country, leaving there his widow and her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion; and these young men having, in direct opposition to the law of God, united themselves in marriage with the Moabitish women Orpah and Ruth, died without children, within about ten years; leaving their mother alone in a strange land. Thus widowed and childless, the heart of Naomi began to yearn after her native country. She had heard that the scarcity there was ended; and having by her piety and tenderness won the respect and affection of her daughters-in-law, whose conduct to their late husbands had endeared them to her, and to whom she had doubtless endeavoured to communicate the knowledge of the true God, she found them disposed to set out with her on her return to the land of Judah. We cannot doubt but that, in Naomi's destitute condition, she must have earnestly desired the company and support of the young women who thus testified for her so sincere a regard; and being widows alike, sharers in the same sorrow, there must have been a peculiar bond of union between them. But here the disinterestedness of Naomi's character displayed itself. She well knew that, except the great advantage of becoming inhabitants of a land where Jehovah was known and worshipped, she had no inducement to hold forth to them which could reasonably incline them to cast in their lot with her. She had gone out "full," and was returning home "empty;" and her own experience, during her widowhood, had probably taught her the truth of the yet unwritten proverb, "wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbour." She therefore desired her daughters-inlaw to "return each to her mother's house;" and with genuine affection added, "the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me." "Then she kissed them: and they lifted up their voice and wept." When we attempt to estimate the value of this disinterested conduct, we should take into our consideration the peculiar character of Naomi. A woman of a proud and stoical turn of mind might have felt it no sacrifice to act in a similar manner-nay, such a woman, knowing that nothing but labour and hardship awaited her on her return to the land in which she had formerly lived in plenty, might even have been unwilling that her daughters-in-law should be witnesses of her poverty and degradation. But such feelings were quite foreign to the heart of Naomi. Far from being cold and haughty in her temper, she evidently possessed by nature a most tender and affectionate disposition; and adversity, having pro

duced upon her its due effect, had still further humbled and softened her spirit. Moreover, she had been long absent from Judea, and on her return thither would probably find herself estranged by want and misfortune from all her former connexions. Doubtless, therefore, the companionship and succour of the widows of her sons must have been desired by her with an intenseness which only the destitute can appreciate. But selfishness had no place in the breast of Naomi. Her conscience, never perhaps quite at ease during her abode among idolaters, urged her to return to her former place of abode, where alone she could join in the ordinances of the true religion; and she therefore "conferred not with flesh and blood." Regarding Orpah and Ruth almost with a mother's tenderness, and well knowing that, if she parted from them, the separation, as to this world, must be final, she nevertheless hesitated not to obey the call of duty. Had she been as well assured as, with respect to Ruth, she afterwards became, that the proposal of her daughters-in-law to return with her to the land of her nativity arose, not merely from affection to herself, but from a deliberate determination to choose the God of Israel for their portion, and to join themselves to his people, renouncing idolatry, and cheerfully sacrificing, for the sake of his favour and blessing, every prospect of worldly advantage,—she would have accepted their offer with alacrity and gratitude. But she knew better than they did the trials to which they would be exposed; and she desired to make no proselytes, even to the true religion, except such as would adorn their profession by holy and consistent conduct. Therefore it was that she set before them the disadvantages which, in a worldly point of view,, would attend their accompanying her to her home; being well assured that mere regard to herself, in the absence of any stronger motive, would be insufficient to support them in their resolution. The event fully proved the soundness of Naomi's judgment. Her daughters were equally bound to her by gratitude, and each of them undoubtedly felt for her the truest regard; but to these feelings there was superadded, in the case of Ruth, a fixed determination to choose the Lord God of Israel for the portion of her inheritance. Religious principle, as well as natural affection, had prompted her desire to return with Naomi to Judea; and consequently, while Orpah, in the midst of her tears (for they both "lifted up their voice and wept again"), did but kiss her mother-in-law, and then go "back to her people and to her gods," Ruth clave unto her; and, unmoved by the example of her sisterin-law, declared her unalterable resolution to abide by her, in terms which for their tenderness and pathos will probably for ever remain unequalled. "And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." Such an appeal as this it was impossible to withstand; "so Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest."