forbids. Covetousness and earthly mindedness take possession of his heart. An honest competence satisfies him not. He will be rich, and to this favourite object, not religion only, but peace and principle, health and honour, are all sacrificed. And what further follows? He verifies the Apostolic conclusion, "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition." Against any propensity to a sin of this ruinous description, the Christian has need of temperance. Nor will his reasoning faculties alone be sufficient in this case. Many strong arguments against the folly and danger of loving and serving the world to excess may, indeed, be easily brought, and as easily silenced, too, by the dominant power of a sinful nature. The grace of God is essential to victory here. The temperance which the Christian is required to exercise, is expressly styled a fruit of the Holy Spirit. When thus aided, he resists temptation with success; for then his resistance has a special reference to God. He has respect to his authority, and shuns what He has forbidden; he is actuated by supreme love to God, and pursues a higher object; readily conforming to the Apostle's injunction, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have."

2ndly. There are the amusements of life, or recreations to refresh nature from the fatigues of more serious business. Excess here is a very general transgression. The grace of temperance is requisite, to limit such employments within the strict bounds of innocence and usefulness. That the health both of mind and body demands occasional relaxation, we deny not; nor does religion forbid it. It condemns such exercises as, under the name of amusements, fatigue and waste, rather than refresh, the powers of nature. It prohibits that expenditure of time or property, by which our well-doing in society is injured, and our own moral improvement retarded. It frowns on every gratification of improper desires; and will not allow that to be an innocent recreation which is hurtful to our neighbour, or wantonly cruel to any animal existence. The religion of the Christian is humane and benevolent, in all its aspects. It permits him his recreations; but forbids him to learn them of the world. The fashionable practice and loose morality of such a school are fatal to Christian piety. This holy religion purifies the taste; and then we find our amusements in exercises which, while they unbend, improve the mind, and in employments which gratify the sympathetic and benevolent affections. But in a world where the amusements are so many exhibitions of coarseness, frivolity, or dissipation, the Christian is in danger of being borne away by the strong current of example, into some excess. He is in danger of forgetting the real worth and importance of his days and hours to his immortal interests, and sacrificing them to this world's supremacy. Restraining grace is needful to preserve him here. The wisdom that cometh from above can alone teach him to discriminate between the mirth which ends in heaviness, and the enjoyments of an approving conscience, and shew him how to relax without folly, and to be merry without sin.' pp. 127-30. VOL. XXVII. N.S.

F

3. The Charity of the Gospel prompts the Christian to every active service, or office of kindness in his power, for the secular good of his neighbour. Acting under its influence he will not confine himself to alms-deeds. As he has opportunity, he is ready to do good, in every possible way, unto all men. It may be easy for him to bestow pecuniary relief; but he stops not there. His Charity is not of that calculating kind that takes up the cheaper and less laborious modes of benevolence. It sets him upon acts of self-denial and personal exertion. Wherever be sees he can render a desirable good, he applies himself to effect it, nor does the question of its cost delay him. In many cases his Charity permits him not to stay for solicitation. It sends him on errands of mercy;-to discover the retreats of unobtrusive, uncomplaining poverty and distress ;-to find where the hungry, the naked, and the sick are languishing;-to enter the squalid hovels of human beings suffering all the varieties of wretchedness; to look into those scenes of sadness, that would else have remained hid from the eye of Pity; to elicit and examine those tales that would not else have met a favourable ear; and to adjust to each case the kind and portion of relief which it seems to demand. This, so far as his own means extend, he does, with timely speed; and what is needful to the helpless and destitute, beyond his own resources, he labours to procure, by pleading their cause, in other quarters, sparing no exertion, till, from public institutions, or private benevolence, his object is obtained. Besides the immediate supply which the exigency requires, whether food, clothing, medicine, or household furniture, he freely affords to the objects of his charity the instruction, advice, or professional assistance, most likely to promote their subsequent and permanent welfare. In these services, he rouses to industry the indolent or dejected;-puts tools into the hands of needy workmen;-procures employment for them whom no man hath hired;-finds redress for the oppressed; and sends the children of the poor to schools and to honest trades.' pp. 239–40.

There is a note at p. 238, relating to the withholding of contributions for the relief of the poor of the church at the Lord's table;-of which we can only say, that it is an important one, and that the Author has done well to insert it.

Art. VI. 1. Specimens of Sacred and Serious Poetry, from Chaucer to the Present Day. With Biographical Notices and Critical Remarks. By John Johnstone. 18mo. pp. 560. Price 5s. 6d. Edinburgh. 1827.

2. Sacred Specimens selected from the Early English Poets, with prefatory Verses. By the Rev. John Mitford. 12mo. pp. xcvi. 238. Price 8s. 6d. London. 1827.

WE know not whether we may take to ourselves any credit

as having evoked or elicited either of these volumes; but so it is, that, in this all-productive age, no sooner is a desidera

tum suggested or a want expressed, than half a dozen competitors start up to supply the deficiency. The observation we threw out, in noticing some selections of sacred poetry, was to this effect; that a selection of our finest devotional poetry, beginning with the early poets, and comprising the productions of neglected authors, would really be valuable. The volumes before us, though not in all respects answering to our ideas or wishes, are distinguished by the meritorious attention which has been paid by their respective Editors to the works of our elder bards.

Mr. Johnstone prefaces his very elegant little volume with remarking that

There never were so many readers of compilations and extracts as now: and yet, but for certain accidental lights streaming in upon the pages of the ordinary caterers for the general taste, it would scarcely be guessed that poetry or the art of printing was above a half century old, in a country which has for ages possessed the richest and the most copious and varied literature in the world. There is no better nor surer means of elevating the taste and bracing the minds of a people beginning to be enervated by a feeble and diffuse literature, than to multiply cheap editions of the best parts of the works of those who were the true and manly fathers of the national mind. Nor, in this point of view, can a greater blessing be conferred on a people, than by clearing away the rubbish from those golden mines which they have long unconsciously possessed, and which they must prize the moment they are thrown open.'

The present volume, comprehending Specimens of Sacred and Serious Poetry, is intended to be the first of a Series; but the Editor's plan does not seem to be quite matured, and he will find it somewhat difficult to adhere to the arrangement he proposes. Amatory and Patriotic Poetry, we venture to submit, cannot class otherwise than as Lyrical.' Of the present selection we may say in general, that it contains much that is little known from our elder poets, and more that cannot be repeated too often from many of our modern ones. Among the latter, the works of Grahame are laid under large contributions. The whole of the Sabbath is given, followed by his Sabbath Walks and some of the best executed of his Biblical Pictures and Miscellaneous Poems. There is also prefixed, a very interesting memoir of that excellent man, the

• Bard of sinless life and holiest song.'

To these succeeds" The Grave" by Blair, one of the most popular performances, and deservedly so, in the language. With the exception of the Night Thoughts, no poetical work of a religious description has, perhaps, gone through a greater number of editions. Most of these, however, are very incorrect, and

Mr. Johnstone deserves well of his readers for having presented to them a correct edition of this admirable poem. Having paid this homage to the Muse of Scotland, by giving entire these popular productions of her two leading sacred poets, Mr. Johnstone addresses himself to the task of selecting materials for the remainder of his volume from the works of the British Poets at large, from Chaucer down to the present day. With regard to either the principle or the character of his selection, we deem it unnecessary to enter into minute criticism. He has evidently bestowed a praiseworthy diligence on the compilation, and there is every appearance of a wish to be impartial. Among the early poets from whose works specimens are given, will be found the names of Lord Vaux, Southwell, Sylvester, the Fletchers, Drayton, Donne, Jonson, Wotton, Quarles, Herbert, Sandys, King, Davis, Drummond, Crashaw, Walton, Herrick, and Vaughan. As a sample of this portion of the work, we give the following lines by Ben Jonson, which are remarkable for the spirit of deep and self-abasing devotion by which they are characterized.

TO HEAVEN.

'Good and Great God! can I not think of thee,
But it must straight my melancholy be?

Is it interpreted in me disease,

That, laden with my sins, I seek for ease?
O be thou witness, that the reins dost know,
And hearts of all, if I be sad for show;
And judge me after, if I dare pretend

To ought but grace, or aim at other end.

As thou art all, so be thou all to me,

First, midst, and last, converted One and Three,
My faith, my hope, my love; and in this state,
My judge, my witness, and my advocate.
Where have I been this while exil'd from thee?
And whither rapt, now thou but stoop'st to me?
Dwell, dwell here still: O, being ev'ry where,
How can I doubt to find thee ever here!
I know my state, both full of shame and scorn,
Conceiv'd in sin, and unto labour born,
Standing with fear, and must with horror fall;
And destin'd unto judgement after all.

I feel my griefs too, and there scarce is ground
Upon my flesh to inflict another wound.
Yet dare I not complain, or wish for death
With holy Paul, lest it be thought the breath
Of discontent; or that these prayers be,

For weariness of life, not love of thee.' p. 247.

We are afraid, however, that these specimens of our early

poetry will not prove the most attractive portion of the volume. The extreme quaintness and false taste of many of the poems, will prevent them from pleasing that class for whom the selection appears to be adapted; and we should have thought that larger selections from our greater poets would have been preferable to a somewhat incongruous variety. The biographical notices will be found a pleasing and acceptable feature in the volume. The last division of the selection, consisting of Specimens from Living Authors, is, as might be anticipated, the least satisfactory. Several of the pieces inserted are of inferior merit, having little or no claim to distinction; while many of the most exquisite poems of contemporary writers are passed over. Among deceased poets, the Author of "Essays in Rhyme" ought not to have been forgotten. The omission of Charles Wesley's name is an unpardonable oversight; nor ought some others to have been neglected. Still, the volume altogether contains so much to commend and so little to find fault with, is so well intended and neatly executed, and is withal so cheap, considering the quantity of matter it comprises, that we cordially recommend it as a very pleasing Christmas present. We must make room for the following striking sonnet by Mr. Moir.

THE COVENANTERS.

'Let us not mock the olden time: behold!
Grey mossy stones, in each sequester'd dell,
Mark where the champions of the Covenant fell,
For rights of faith unconquerably bold!

Let us not mock them; at his evening hearth,
While burn all hearts, the upright peasant tells,
For martyr'd saints what wondrous miracles

Were wrought, when blood-hounds track'd them through the
earth.

Let us not mock them: they, perhaps, might err

In word or practice; but deny them not

Unwavering constancy, which dared prefer
Imprisonment and death to mental thrall.
Yea, from their cruel and unmurmuring lot,
Wisdom may glean a lesson for us all.'

p. 510.

Mr. Mitford's volume is of a very different description, less popular in its character, but claiming from us, in some respects, a more minute notice. It consists entirely of selections from Our Early Poets, many of them of the highest interest. That ⚫ it might have been more complete and correct,' the Editor says, he is fully aware.

Yet some indulgence may be extended to the execution of the work, when it is considered how scarce and difficult of access are many of the productions, and even the entire works of some of the