Then the last glance!-that spoke to thee
When scarce the dying lip could move,
And that one word, Didascalé,

Which told his reverence and his love!
And in the last, the parting hour,
When death exerts his dreaded power,
Called back the fleeting moments past-
Your mutual studies, mutual care
And, though that minute was the last,
Shewed that nor time nor pain should wear
A single cruel trophy won

From such a mind as his oppressed;
But that as sets the tropic sun,
In more than rising glory dressed;
So the warm feelings of his soul
Would beam with unremitted flame,
Till life's faint current ceased to roll,
Till life's last crimson drop should flow,
In health and sickness, weal and wo,
Remaining still the same.

Memory will sometimes cast a shade
Of sadness o'er the brightest day;
And gloom is sometimes gloomier made,
When from the past there comes no ray
To pierce the deep obscure, and throw
A tint of lustre over wo:

And yet her darker scenes possess,
Sometimes, a passing loveliness.
Thus oft doth evening's yellow light
Gleam thro' the clouds, more mildly bright
Than when the glorious day declining,
Through pure unsullied azure shining,
Diffuses radiance o'er the skies,
And in its own effulgence dies :-
And so when years had brought relief,
Or stolen the sharpest sting of grief,
Remembrance, Melville, then to thee
Was melancholy's luxury.

As through the parting cloud we view
A little spot of heavenly blue,
And almost dream that we can see
The splendours of eternity-
How, amid azure fields of light,
The choral song may ever rise,

While with unearthly splendours bright,
Soar the fair children of the skies:-
So when we think of those we love,
Who since have left their earthly home,
We see them crowned with joy above,

And trace them, as their spirits roam,
Now free as light, from star to star,
Amid unfathomed space afar.
And while the fine illusion stays,
A beam of passing brilliance plays,
Pierces the clouds that roll below,
And spreads around a brighter glow;
Till smiles the king, in terror drest,
An angel in a darker vest;

And gleaming on his ebon gate,
And on his shade-encircled throne,
Where all the ministers of fate
The monarch of destruction own,
Gilds the clouds that round him rise;
While faint and dim the happier skies
Of life and peace are viewed between,

Just glimmering through the darker scene.'

We are quite indisposed to offer any strictures on the manner in which the Editor has discharged his very delicate and arduous task. Criticism,' he hopes, will spare the feelings of a disconsolate father who has nothing left of a family he ar⚫dently loved, but the fond remembrance of warm attachments ⚫ and Christian virtues, which, amidst many sighs and tears, he has honestly, however inadequately, attempted to display.' The public are, we think, much indebted to Mr. Durant, for this affecting and instructive memorial; and it is not from criticism that he has any thing to fear. In a second edition, however, some slight alterations will suggest themselves to his own mind, with a view to the permanent interest of the work with general readers. Some of the familiar letters contain passages which it might be better to suppress. We like the writer none the worse for them, and admire him not at all the less for not being a letter-writer; but we should have hesitated to place these simple, boyish effusions in a permanent record. There are some other parts of the work which a severe revision will perhaps lead Mr. Durant to abridge or to exclude; and if by means of these trifling excisions, he can introduce a larger portion of his Son's more finished compositions, the volumes will acquire additional value and interest.

Art. VI. Lectures on some important Branches of Practical Religion. By Thomas Raffles, A.M. 12mo. pp. 329. Price 7s. Liverpool.

1820.

MR. RAFFLES is well known as a popular preacher, and as a writer whose productions have been well received by the public. Gifted with a ready and somewhat exuberant imagi

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; flippancy 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.

G

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 lim, 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 subjeċtion 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, 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 all classes, and its admonitions may be universally beneficial. ages and

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.

WE are happy to find Dr. Carey proceeding in his system of

facilitating the labours of classical acquisition His plans