the craft of ignorance. We search for the young and springy shoots, that bore, in their growth, so great a promise of thriving, and much fruitfulness; and we stumble over the withered objects of stunted decrepitude. We seek for the fresh and burning ardour, that in boyhood threw a bright and healthy glow upon the every, even the most barren, pursuit in which we engaged, and that regarded difficulty as merely a stimulus and a triumph to its strong and nervous energies, and disdain its recognition in the sordid hoardings of the miser, or the querulous and impotent vapourings of the gasconade. With fear and trembling, we trace out the dark and turbid current of the affections, hoping yet to find, pure and untainted, their welling-head, deeming that the pollution of their waves may have been imbibed from the corrupted channel, in which for so long a period they had held their course; but, alas! the spring is foul! Oh! when we thus take a review of our present tendencies, habits, feelings, pursuits, and principles, and compare them with the promise of our youth, how do we long for a return to its innocent and unpalling enjoyments! How do we yearn after its unruffled tranquillity-its unprompted cheerfulness! How do we sigh for its robust and generous sensibilities! How do we burn for its unsullied purity-its unstained honourits unbroken integrity! How do we ask for the old paths! How are we brought with bitter tears, and burning shame, and dejected forms, and in humble prostration of soul, to observe the lapse of time!

Having made these observations suggested to me, by the occasion of the services of this day, let us endeavour, further to improve it, by considering the information of my text, that "a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment;" and consider in what manner we may most profitably improve the every passing hour, viewed as carrying us forward to the bar of final retribution. (To be Continued.)

The Lot of Humanity.

WITH Soothing murmurs soft and low,
And gentle current rippling slow,

The stream through sunny vales may flow,

Or flowery meadows, glide;

Or it may rush with foaming course,
Through mountain-pass its torrent hoarse,
Or wildly dash, with headlong force,
O'er rocks its rapid tide:

Though not a break its smoothness curl,
Though through steep glens its eddies whirl,
Or o'er wild rocks its waters hurl,

At length 'twill reach the sea:
And blended with the mighty deep,
Its gentle wave no more may sleep,
Or still its rapid current keep,

Forever whelm'd 'twill be.

Thus we in pleasure's path may tread,
And peace her halcyon wings may spread,
And joy's bright beam be o'er us shed,
And scarce a care annoy;
Or we may bend 'neath want's keen blast,
While hopeless griefs our days o'ercast,
And woe's dark tempests thickening fast,
Our every hope destroy:
But though in joy our hours be spent,
Though scarce a ray of sunshine lent,
We oft to misery's blast have bent,

At length we yield our breath!

The happy, wretched, gay, and grave,
All-all-are whelm'd in one dark wave,
No earthly mandate aught can save

From thy dread gulf, O Death!

[THE following Correspondence has been forwarded to us for insertion. We gladly give it a place in our pages. The first letter is another proof of the progress of inquiry; the spirit of the second one excites compassion, whilst it must call forth additional desires to promote the knowledge of that pure and undefiled religion, which looks with benevolent eye on all virtuous men, whatever be their opinions.EDIT.]

To the Members of East Gorbals and Hutchesontown Sabbath Evening School Society.

MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,

From my former attendance on your Schools and Monthly Meetings, I cannot doubt my late absence may have

excited some surprise. Highly approving, as I do, the object of your united exertions-the instruction of the young—I feel it but an act of justice to you as well as to myself, to assign the reasons of my withdrawal from my former labours.

Believing that no subject is of so great importance to a human being as religion, my thoughts have long been anxiously engaged upon the various subjects connected with it. Brought up in the belief of the Assembly's Catechism, I felt no hesitation in complying with the requisition of your Society, and signing, when I became a Member, my assent to the doctrines contained in it. Always wishful to improve my mind, and fond of tracing the hand and benevolence of God in his works, I was led on from step to step, till at length I could not reconcile the idea of the condemnation of the heathen, for want of knowledge which they never had in their power to acquire, with the fatherly character of the God of Nature. I thought long and seriously on this subject; I read the Bible with anxiety and with carefulness, till I was convinced from its general teachings, that the Apostle's declaration expressed the truth, that "God is no respecter of persons, but that in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him."

Having thus satisfied my mind as to the incorrectness of the common notions on this doctrine, I was naturally led to examine whether the other opinions I had been taught to believe, were not equally unfounded in Nature and Scripture. Many a distressing day have I passed, before I could bend my prejudices to what I saw the Bible taught me. I struggled against the evidence which met me almost on every page, as long as I could; but it was of no use, I could not resist the instructions of the Word of God, though they did oblige me to give up many of the doctrines in which I had been educated; and when once convinced that the popular doctrines were unscriptural as well as irrational, I could not conceal my convictions I could not submit to dishonest shame, and fear man rather than God.

My present belief, is that which the Saviour himself declared to be the truth: "The Lord our God is One Lord.". I joyfully acknowledge with my honoured Master, in solemn prayer to his Father, "This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." I embrace with grati tude the consoling doctrine, that "The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." I look forward to a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. I am assured, that we must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ, to receive according to the things done in the body, whether they have been good, or whether they have been evil; and that then cometh the end, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; then shall the Son himself be subject to him that did put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Though these are my present opinions, because I believe they are those which the Bible teaches, I would be far from supposing that they alone are all the truth. I am as willing now still farther

to inquire as ever. I am ready to listen to any evidence which may be brought forward in support of the doctrines I have conscientiously felt called upon to abandon. It is not from reading controversial books that I have been led to give up my former faith; the Bible has been my teacher, and by its teachings I must abide.

Though I therefore most respectfully withdraw as a Member of your Society, if you still insist on Subscription to the Assembly's Confession of Faith, yet I would willingly bear my part in the labours of the Schools, if acknowledgement of belief in the Bible were sufficient; and I would earnestly call upon all of you, not to condemn my opinions without examining them fairly for yourselves. Let me pray you to study more and more the Word of God; in it you will find the character of Deity sketched, and his love in sending his Son, set forth in lively characters, calculated to awaken within us every feeling of gratitude and love: interpret its teachings not by the Confession but by itself. And that the Father of Lights may lead you into the perception and practice of the truth as it is in Jesus, and that the Schools under your care may flourish and do much good, is the ardent prayer of, MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,

February, 1828.

To Mr. J. M.

Yours sincerely,

J. M.

DEAR SIR,

THE Sabbath School Society, deeply convinced that the chief doctrines which you have renounced, stand intimately connected with the salvation of the soul, and are the all in all of Divine Revelation-and feelingly alive to the everlasting welfare of the young committed to their care-with feelings of deep sympathy, last night accepted of your resignation of your membership.

It is my earnest prayer, that that Divine Redeemer, that Ransomer of the slaves of sin, who is "the Child born and the Son given,” and at the same time, “the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the True God, and Eternal Life," may open your eyes, as he did those of Bartimeus of old, that you may experience the preciousness of his "blood which cleanses from all sin."

Deeply commiserating your case, and feeling a lively interest in your everlasting welfare, and praying that you may yet "be brought to sit at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in your right mind,"

I remain, DEAR SIR,

Your unworthy well-wisher,

Friday, February, 8, 1828.

J. G.

"Remarks on the Character of Napoleon Bonaparte, occasioned by the publication of Scott's Life of Napoleon.” (Continued from page 209.)

"As another means employed by Bonaparte for giving strength and honour to his government, we may name the grandeur of his public works, which he began in his consulate, and continued after his accession to the imperial dignity. These dazzled France, and still impress travellers with admiration. Could we separate these from his history, and did no other indication of his character survive, we should undoubtedly honour him with the title of a beneficent sovereign; but connected as they are, they do little or nothing to change our conceptions of him as an all-grasping, unprincipled usurper. Paris was the chief object of these labours; and surely we cannot wonder, that he who aimed at universal dominion, should strive to improve and adorn the metropolis of his empire. It is the practice of despots to be lavish of expense on the royal residence and the seat of government. Travellers in France, as in other countries of the continent, are struck and pained by the contrast between the magnificent capital and the mud-walled village, and uninteresting province. Bonaparte had a special motive for decorating Paris, for Paris is France,' as has often been observed; and in conciliating the vanity of the great city, he secured the obedience of the whole country. The boasted internal improvements of Napoleon, scarcely deserve to be named, if we compare their influence with the operation of his public measures. The conscription, which drew from agriculture its most effective labourers, and his continental system, which sealed up every port and annihilated the commerce of his empire, drained and exhausted France to a degree, for which his artificial stimulants of industry, and his splendid projects afforded no compensation. Perhaps the most admired of all his public works, is the road over the Simplon, to which all travellers concur in giving the epithet, stupendous. But it ought not to amaze us, that he, who was aspiring at unlimited dominion, should establish communications between the different provinces of his empire. It ought not to amaze us, that he who had scaled the glaciers of St. Bernard, should covet some easier passage for pouring his troops into Italy; nor is it very wonderful, that a sovereign, who commanded the revenues of Europe, and who lived in an age when civil engineering had been advanced to a perfection before unknown, should accomplish a bolder enterprise than his predecessors. We would add, that Napoleon must divide with Fabbroní the glory of the road over the Simplon; for the genius which contrived and constructed, is more properly its author, than the will which commanded it.

"There is, however, one great work which gives Bonaparte a fair claim on the gratitude of posterity, and entitles him to an honourable renown. We refer to the new code of laws, which was given to France under his auspices. His participation in this work, has indeed been unwarrantably and ridiculously magnified. Because he attended the meetings of the commissioners to whom it was assigned, and made some useful and sagacious suggestions, he has been praised, as if he had struck out, by the miraculous force of his genius, a new code of laws. The truth is, that he employed for this work, as he should have done, the most eminent civilians of the empire; and it is also true that these learned men have little claim to originality; for, as our author observes, the code has few peculiarities making a difference betwixt its principles and those of the Roman law.' In other words, they preferred wisdom to novelty. Still Bonaparte deserves great praise for his interest in the work, for the impulse he gave to those to whom it was committed, and for the time and thought, which, amidst the cares of a vast empire, he