pastoral engagements, and contemplate the burning bush; how much more necessary it is for us to pause, and stand still and see the salvation of God; for us, who are living in a day of luxury and refinement, and can scarcely select a retirement wherein to humble the soul, which is not furnished with materials to attract the senses, and allure them to the world." "Society is a state of constant exhaustion; those who are devotedly attached to it attain the babble of any current topick; the ear soon acquires, and the tongue repeats religious phraseology with a seductive facility which robs the soul of consistency, and amazes the silent retiring inquirer, and the self-abased believer: but where is the Christian, humbled under a sense of moral depravity, solicitous to obtain reconciliation with God, and habitually watchful and sober, who has not learned these lessons in those secluded paths of righteousness, those seasons of separation from the world, occasioned by personal affliction, or relative bereavement, or invited abstractness, seasons which compel us to become acquainted with our own heart, and elevate our desires towards the attractions of eternity or the superiour perfections of Jehovah ?" "The present is an age of wisdom made easy; it is adapted to the ornament rather than the stability of the character. We grasp after variety; knowledge is not studied in its elements; we decide from feeling, rather than from laborious investigation we act from sudden impressions, not from implanted principles." ""How many individuals are attracted by the publick exhibition of the gospel, as it evidences its effects in our national character, our publick charities, our bible and missionary societies, who listen to its captivating voice amidst the fascinations of the sanctuary, and dwell upon the lip of eloquence, whilst they awfully neglect self-application, and never regulate the conduct or subjugate the will; who obey not the gospel,' who continue mere scamperers in religion, and at the best are 'wandering stars?' We admonish the religious student to examine, to apply, to meditate, and like Moses, to contemplate the perfections and attributes of Jehovah."

6

The concluding essay in the first volume, entitled Agency, from the motto, He sendeth springs into the valleys, which run amongst the hills, is a beautiful illustration, "how the living waters (of grace) flow through all the recipients of pardon, sanctification, and eternal life; how they vivify and purify all the diversified administrations of station, talent, and degree: how graciously the Lord sends these 'springs into the valleys,' through channels the best adapted to promote his glory, and effect the conversion of sinners; sometimes from the lips of a poor despised itinerant, and sometimes by the tongue of the learned; sometimes by the simple tract, and oftener by a line of scripture; sometimes during the distillations of the morning dew; at others, when the shadows of even occasion the wheel to be broken at the cistern, and the dust is appointed to return to dust.” '' In an essay in the second volume, upon the motto, "Honour the face of the old man," we are told that "the Christian religion is cal. culated to direct the affections of the human mind; its influence regulates those charities which soften and endear the individual. If there 17 GOSPEL ADVOCATE, VOL. IV.

is an attainment which peculiarly ornaments the genius of Christianity, it is courtesy of manners, founded on the principles of holiness; a graceful delicacy, which fears to inflict pain by any act of levity or inconsiderateness; an attention to the wants and miseries of humanity, which rejoices to cheer where it has no ability to cure, and to cherish what it cannot reanimate; a fervent wish to communicate blessings without extorting praise, and to direct the salutary streams of mercy,

'Silent as undulating rivers flow.'

That our conduct is not always regulated by principles so pure and righteous, may perhaps be attributed to forgetfulness, or to some remaining levity in our character; or it may be traced to the imperfect system of modern education, which in its zeal to dazzle the eye with exterior politeness and attractive accomplishments, forgets to implant the courtesy of principle, of piety, and of virtue. It seems therefore particularly heedless in parents to introduce their children where the foibles of advanced life are heightened by all the ingenuity of scenick representations and monstrous ridicule; where the tottering steps of the parents are caricatured, to set off the agile gait of the heir; and penury and peevishness are brought forward, to display the paltry generosity of unfledged virtue."

The succeeding essay, entitled "Christian Twilight irradiated," is one of the best in the whole work, but our limits will not allow us to make any extracts from it.

An argument against wickednes is very ably drawn and illustrated in the essay on "Unchangeable Society," in which are depicted with much force and effect the misery of that place "where the wicked will convey their polluted natures, their ferocious dispositions, their hardened cruelty, and all their unsubdued tempers into the place appointed for them.” "The state of society, which the multiform and mingled mass of the wicked presents, (than which the imagination cannot paint a more deplorable one) without defining the situation or appendages of the scene, must strongly impress on the mind the terrours of an eternal separation from God, from angels and saints, from departed friends and just men made perfect."

66

There is much encouragement to humble Christians in the essay on Degrees of Glory." "The Lord is over all his works: he makes his stars to differ, but irradiates them all; in nature he dips his pencil in the purest gold, whether he burnishes an insect's wing, or points a sunbeam; and in grace he breathes the same spirit, whether it glows in the richness of Isaiah's prophecy, the melody of David's song, or the plaint of Hannah's inarticulate sighs.”

The essay entitled "The Walk to Emmaus" happily illustrates the utility and excellence of religious conversation. "Men of the world," says the author, "boast of their pleasures and their guilty joys, and cast the seeds of vice into every soil, whilst the bashful Christian omits to scatter the grain of immortality, though by so doing he might become a husbandman for God."

"The Journey to Damascus" is replete with pious exhortation and persuasive eloquence.

The essay entitled "Assertion," under the motto, "Ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath," is a most powerful exhortation to "Keep the sabbath day holy." There are nominal professors, as this lady writes, who "delight in religion as a code of ceremonies and cheap penalties, which separate performance from principle, and thrust its sacred engagements into a corner, or confine them to a given space. The Church of Rome abounds with these penances and ritual transactions, which make the path of a Christian to consist of a sort of chequer work, a black and white pavement of sin and holiness, very different from that narrow way which leadeth unto life, and upon which, in all its etherial clearness, the pure light of heaven shines more and more unto the perfect day. Holiness is a principle which acts within the mind; to be holy, is to love God supremely; to keep the sabbath day holy, therefore is, by parity of reason, to cease from sin, and to cultivate the graces of the Spirit." "Let minds capable of reflection observe our parks and gardens and similar places of publick resort on each returning sabbath, crowded with a confused muititude of immortal beings, in open hostility against the religious laws of their country, and the positive precepts of scripture, and perhaps they may consider, that suspended threatenings are not irreversible decrees. 'Shall I not visit for these things? saith the' Lord,' Modern improvement not infrequently metamorphoses the chapel into the billiard or the ball room; and the time was, when the sanctity of the sabbath extended its repose to the patient post horse and harassed groom, and a publick carriage seldom interrupted' the provincial priest in the hours appointed for divine worship, or tempted economizers of time, and despisers of eternity, to rush fearlessly upon the thick bosses of the Almighty's bucklers, by exceeding the moderate limits of a sabbath day's journey.' The luxuries of a country are often its bitterest calamities; the facilities and refinements of a people their most subtle enemies."

One of the most valuable of these essays is the concluding one, en titled "THE WAY BY WHICH WE MUST GO," which is remarkably well written, and most seriously impresses on the mind the utility and duty of religious reflections upon death. She remonstrates with warmth upon the mimickry and affected gracefulness which the modern novelist throws around the dying, and those scenick representations of fictitious heroes, as if death were a sleep without a dream, or a transition without a groan. How differently the blessed bible casts the imposing shade of seriousness over the last solemn scene!" She also exposes the folly of wearing a sable dress while levity rules the heart. "Can any solecism," says the author, "be more unintelligible than to see our publick walks crowded with happy cheerful countenances in the very deepest garb of external mourning, not a vestige of white in the costume, nor a trace of sorrow in the face, publickly displaying the ensigns of death, and publickly trampling down its moral use?"

We cannot take our leave of this work, without alluding to the essay entitled "Female Followers," in which the author discusses the peculiar religious duties of her sex; and, although we have extracted enough already from these writings to convey to our readers the means of forming their own opinion of the merits of the book, we cannot refrain from transcribing a few passages, with which we shall conclude this article; premising, however, that such is our own opinion of the talents and piety which Mrs. Grafton possessed, and such our estimation of the excellent hortatory theology and persuasive eloquence, new and striking illustrations, warmth of feeling, correctness of judgment, extent of reading, and accuracy of observation, with which these volumes abound, that we hesitate not to place her name on the list of those female worthies, the pride of their sex, where the names of Elizabeth Carter, Mrs. Sherwood, Hannah More, and other excellent women, who have increased the piety and knowledge of the age, are recorded. We will add, also, that the doctrines she inculcates are in strict conformity to those of our Church.

Amongst the multitude of attempts to introduce novelty in modern times, there have been some efforts made to argue the equality of the sexes, and mingle and confound those duties, which Providence has wisely assigned to the male and female. We do not trace this confused theory in the scriptures, which evidently tend to teach contentment and humility. The trials of the sexes are wisely proportioned to their abilities. Are nervous powers and animal spirits imparted to the one sex? More extensive exertions are required, and greater responsibility attached to them. Women are more secure from the frowns of the world, the shafts of ridicule, and the dominion of the passions. Many moments favourable to devotion are bestowed upon them, which the tumult of business and the pursuits of commerce deny to men. The very nature of their peculiar trials humbles and subdues the heart. It belongs to masculine courage to be bold and enterprising; it becomes the female mind to be diffident, though decided. The education, opportunities, and more profound science given to men, enable them to study the original language, and compare the authorities of scripture with superiour advantage; it therefore becomes them to be as beacons set on a hill,' for the defence of truth. But the female should follow after,' not seeking to lead, but anxious to pursue; not emulating to argue, but solicitous to adorn the doctrine of God, her Saviour, in all things. In the language of an elegant writer, she may seek for pearls in the shells which a prouder foot would crush.' As some medicinal plants conceal their healing virtues in the lowly valleys, enwrapt in unobtrusive green,—so feminine tenderness contentedly resigns the voice of praise, and the glitter of profession, in the seclusion of the chamber, or the solitude of the sepulchre, soothing what it cannot defend, and embalming what it cannot rescue. Blessed women! well might the sacred historians record the deed; and, ah! how richly did the angels encourage, and the Saviour reward, their persevering tender

ness!"

D:

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

GENERAL CONVENTION, 1823.

NORTH CAROlina.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 104.)

THE baptisms, since 1820. have been about 430; and the number of communicants, as at present stated, are 480; but this is far from being the exact number, as a great part of the congregations not hav ing the benefit of regular ministerial attendance, their true state cannot be reported.

It is evident to those who have observed the condition of the Church in this state, that a greater zeal for the gospel, and a higher standard of moral principles and conduct, have been produced among its adherents. A greater knowledge has been acquired of the distinguishing principles of our Church, and an increasing attention has been paid to its forms and ceremonies.

The hope of increased prosperity depends on the prospect of greater stability in those congregations which have been already formed; but which, as yet, walk with the feebleness and hesitation of childhood; on the formation of new congregations, where Churchmen are resident; and, lastly, on the effects to be produced on ground not yet occupied, in places where Christians of no denomination have as yet laboured, we may almost say, have as yet existed.

It is believed, that, generally speaking, the canons and regulations of the Church are as regularly attended to in this, as in any other part of our Church.

A munificent bequest of from fourteen to fifteen thousand dollars has been recently made by the late Mrs. Blount, of Tarborough, for the purpose of erecting a church in the city of Raleigh.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Since the last general convention, the number of clergy in this diocese has increased. In 1820 there were twenty-seven; there are at present thirty-five, the bishop, 28 presbyters, and six deacons. Some of the parishes have been endeavouring to create permanent funds. In one of the parishes, the planters had taxed themselves, in addition to their annual contribution, two per cent. on the proceeds of their crops; and thus have created an accumulating fund, which will soon equal the amount, when its interest will be applicable to the support of their rector. In another parish, several individuals have given each $1500 to create a fund for the same purpose. The fund for the support of the Episcopate, which was commenced in 1818, is gradually accumulating. It amounts at present to about $8000. At the suggestion of the bishop, a committee has been appointed to inquire into the state of the property belonging to the Church, in parishes where there exist no vestries, and to adopt measures for securing the same to the uses of the diocese.