accomplishment of his dream, it appears next to a miracle that he retained his reason in the most perfect state; but this was to be explained to him at a future period. Some time after, he came out of Haslar hospital, capable of walking by means of two wooden legs and two crutches; but his spirits were sorely dejected, from fearing that, as his sins had brought upon him the judgments of God in the loss of his limbs, they would bring it upon him in the loss of his reason, and the loss of his soul.

Having heard of Orange Street Chapel, Portsea, he came on the first Sabbath evening after his leaving the hospital. The text that evening was Mark v. 15, "And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind." The minister represented this demoniac as a fit emblem of sinners in general; but especially of those who live without rule and order, drunkards, blasphemers, and injurious to themselves and others; but his sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed, and in his right mind, as an engaging representation of the sinner converted to God by the gospel, made sensible of the evil of sin, the value of his soul, and the necessity of salvation through a crucified Redeemer; enjoying peace of mind, having fellowship with Christ and his people, submitting to the author ity of the scriptures, and receive ing instructions from Christ the Friend of sinners. Covey listened with attention and surprise; wondered how the minister should know him among so ma

ny hundred people; or who could have told him his charac ter and state of mind. His astonishment was still more increased when he found him describe, as he thought, the whole of his life, and even his secret sins. He could not account for it, why a minister should make a sermon all about him, a poor wooden legged sailor. His sins being brought afresh to his mind, filled him with horrors tenfold more gloomy than before. Despair for some minutes took a firm hold on his spirits; and he thought he was now going out of his mind, should die and be lost; till the minister declared Jesus Christ was as willing to save the vilest of sinners, as he was to relieve this poor creature possessed of the devil; and that a man was restored to his right mind when he believed in him, He now began to understand the true interpretation of his dream. He thought he had been out of his mind all his life, and that to love and serve Jesus Christ would be a restoration to his right senses again. He was now almost overwhelmed with pleas ure. While hearing of the astonishing love of Jesus Christ to sinners, hope took the place of despair, and joy of grief and horror! Those eyes which had never shed a tear when he lost his legs, nor when the shattered parts of his limbs were amputated, now wept in copious streams, flowing from strong sensations of mingled joy and sorrow!

Some weeks after this, he called and related to me the whole of his history and experience. He was surprised to find that I had never received any informas

time the which so Some

tion about him at the sermon was preached, exactly met his case. thing more than twelve months after this time, he was received a member of our church, having given satisfactory evidences of being a genuine and consistent Christian. A few weeks since, hearing he was ill, I went to visit him. When I entered his room, he said, "Come in, thou man of God! I have been longing to see you, and to tell you the happy state of my mind. I believe I shall soon die; but death now has no terrors in it. The sting of death is sin, but, thanks be to God, he has given me the victory through Jesus Christ. I am going to heaven! O! what has Jesus done for me, one of the vilest sinners of the human race!" A little before he died, when he thought himself within a few hours of dissolution, he said, "I have often thought it was a hard thing to die, but now I find it a very easy thing to die. The presence of Christ makes it easy. The joy I feel from a sense of the love of God to sinners, from the thought of being with the Saviour, of being free from a sinful heart, and of enjoying the presence of God forever, is more than I can express! O how different my thoughts of God, and of myself, and of another world, from what they were when I lost my precious limbs on board the Venerable! It was a precious loss to me! If I had not lost my legs I should perhaps have lost my soul !" With elevated and clasped hands, and with eyes glistening with earnestness, through the tears which flowed down his face, he said, "O, my dear min

ister, I pray you, when I am dead, to preach a funeral sermon for a poor sailor; and tell others, especially sailors, who are as ignorant and as wicked as I was, that poor, blaspheming Covey found mercy with God, through faith, in the blood of Christ! Tell them, that since I have found mercy, none that seek it need to despair. You know better than I do what to say to them! But, O! be in earnest with them; and may the Lord grant that my wicked neighbours and fellow sailors may find mercy as well as Covey!" He said much more; but the last words he uttered were "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

[Ev. Mag.

ANECDOTE OF JUSTICE HALE.

WHEN Lord Chief Justice Hale had finished a work on atheism, he sent it by an unknown hand to Bishop Wilkins, to desire his judgment of it; but he that brought it, would give no other account of the author, but that he was not a clergyman. The Bishop, and his worthy friend Dr. Tillotson, read it with much pleasure, but could not imagine, who could be the author; and how a man that was master of so much reason, and so great a variety of knowledge, should be so unknown to them, that they could not find him out by those characters, which are so uncommon. At last Dr. Tillotson guessed it must be the Lord Chief Baron; to which the other presently agreed, wondering he had been so long in finding it out. they went immediately to him, and the Bishop thanking him for

So

Under the article Afghans, we have some curious information with respect to this tribe of Mahometans. They dwell in the northern parts of India, and be came more noted in the beginning of the last century, than they had been before, as they then invaded and conquered a great part of Persia, and were finally driven back by the arms of Kuli Khan. They claim to be descended from the Israelites, and Sir William Jones thinks their claim well founded.

"In the 2d volume of the Asiatic Researches we have some curious particulars relating to the Afghans they call themselves the posterity of MELIC TALUT, or king Saul. In a war, they say, which raged between the children of Israel and the Amalekites, the latter being victorious, plundered the Jews and obtained possession of the ark of the covenant.

At

Considering this as the God of the Jews, they threw it into the fire, which did not injure it; and having ineffectually endeavoured by other methods to destroy it, they placed it in their temple, and all the idols bowed to it. length they fastened it upon a cow, which they turned loose in the wilderness. They are said to have applied to Samuel, after their defeat by the Amalekites, for a king; and at this time the angel Gabriel descended and delivered a wand, with instruc, tion, that the person whose stature corresponded with the wand, should be king of Israel. Melic Talut was then a herdsman of inferior condition; and having lost a cow, applied to Samuel for assistance to pay the owner. Samuel, perceiving his lofty stature, asked his name. He answered Talut. Upon which, having measured him with the wand, he said to the children of Israel, "God has raised Talut to be your king." How shall we know, said they, that he shall be our king? Samuel replied, they should know that God had constituted Talut their king by his restoring the ark of the covenant. He accordingly restored it, and they acknowledged him their sovereign. After Talut ob

tained the kingdom he seized part of the territories of Jalut, or Goliath, who assembled a large army, but was killed by David. Talut afterwards died a martyr in the war against the infidels; and God constituted David king of the Jews. Melic Talut, they say, had two sons, one called Berkia, and were beloved by him. The son of Berkia was called Afghan, the son of Irinia was named Usbec. The latter was eminent for his learning; and the former for his corporeal strength, which struck terror into demons and

the other Irmia, who served David

genii. Afghan made frequent excursions to the mountains; where his progeny, after his death, established themselves, lived in a state of independence, built forts, and exterminated the infidels. The late Henry Vansissart, Esq. informs us that a very particular account of the Afghans has been written by the late Hafiz Rahmat Khan, a chief of the Rohillas, from which the curious reader may derive much information. They are Musselmans, partly of the Sonnite and partly of the Shiite persuasion. They boast much of the antiquity of their origin, and the reputation of their tribe; but other Musselmans reject their claim, and consider them of modern and even base extraction. From history, however, we learn that they have distinguished themselves by their courage both singly and unitedly, as principals and auxiliaries. They have conquered for their own princes and for foreigners, and have always been regarded as the chief strength in the army, in which they have served. As they have been applauded for their virtues, they have also been reproached for vices; having sometimes been guilty of treachery, and even acted the base part of assassins. They consist of four classes, viz. pure Afghans, whose fathers and mothers were Afghans; those whose fathers were Afghans, but their mothers are of another nation; such as had Afghan mothers, and fathers of another nation; and the children of women, whose mothers were Afghans and fathers or husbands of a different nation.

The above account is extracted from the Persian abridgment of a book called The Secrets of the Afghans, written in the Pushto language, a spe

cimen of which is added. The work was communicated by Henry Vansissart, Esq. to the late Sir William Jones, who was then President of the Asiatic Society. Although their claim to a descent from Saul seems to

resemble some of the fictions bor

rowed by Mahomet from the latter Jewish Rabbins, Sir William Jones has no doubt that the Afghans are descendants of Israel. "We learn," says he, "from Esdras, that the ten tribes, after a wandering journey, came to a country called Arsaxeth; where, we may suppose, they settled. Now the Afghans are said by the best Persian historians to be descended

from the Jews; they have among

themselves traditions of such a de

scent; and it is even asserted, that their families are distinguished by the names of Jewish tribes; although, since their conversion to the Islam, they studiously conceal their origin. The Pushto language, of which I have seen a dictionary, has a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic; and a considerable district under their dominion, is called Hazareh, or Haza ret, which might easily have been changed into the word used by Esdras. I strongly recommend an inquiry into the literature and history of the Afghans."

To AFRICA, an interesting article in the English edition, very considerable, and useful additions have been made from the travels of Mr. Browne, and the journal of Mr. Horneman, two intelligent and enterprising travellers; the former had resided nearly three years in the kingdom of Dar-fur, in the eastern part of this vast peninsula; and the latter, as an agent of the African Association, left Cairo for Fezzan, in September, 1798, and pursued a road hitherto very little known. These extracts furnish the latest and most authentic, as well as the most ample details of the manners, customs, trade, manufactures, laws, and religion of the

inhabitants, and the population, geography, natural productions, &c. of those hitherto unexplored regions. These additions are very judiciously selected, neither perplexing the reader with a barren and naked list of names and places, nor wearying him with the indiscriminate insertion of voluminous travels.

We cannot take our leave of this first number without again expressing our satisfaction at the manner of its execution. The type is neat, the ink and paper good, and fewer errors of the press remain than could have been expected. It is proper to mention, that very many typographical errors in the English

edition have been corrected in this. There is, however, still room for caution. In ADOPTION, principals is printed for princifiles; in ADULTERY, & uxore for ab uxore; in EROPHOBIA, rapping for wrapping.

VOL. I. PART II.

In ALBANS, St. a township in Verinont, we observe the number of inhabitants is given from the census taken 17 years ago. The American editors have, or ought to have, constantly before them the last census. The reader naturally expects the latest authentic information with respect to this country; and it is worse than nothing to give a statement, which every person, not elsewhere informed, will think correct, when in reality it is founded on facts, as they existed many years ago, and not at all on the present facts.