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author of his day, made, it is said, not less than 6000 corrections in the 'Rambler' before it was presented to the public in its present state. If such men as these felt the need of reviewing their productions with all this care, it is evident that no writer ought to expect that he can attain the habit of correct and elegant writing without the same kind of application.

It is very important if you wish to compose well, to compose frequently. This advice is always given by writers on composition. Write a little at a time, and write frequently, and you will be delighted to find after having persevered for a time in the practice, how freely different modes of expressing your thoughts will suggest themselves to your mind. Indeed, there is no mental exercise in which the power of habit will apply with greater force than that now under consideration.

Another recommendation is, that you will endeavour to make yourselves thoroughly familiar with our best writers. In order to acquire something of the style of any admired authors, you must not only read them, but you must drink into the spirit of their sentiments. You must become so thoroughly absorbed in the subjects which they bring before you, as to feel somewhat as the authors themselves felt; you will thus become, though perhaps in a humble degree, inspired with their genius, and be prepared to pursue with enthusiasm similar trains of thought, and to embody your mental creations in the same accurate, graceful, and appropriate language. Lord Brougham, previously to the delivery of his celebrated oration on the subject of the Queen's trial, spent a considerable time in pondering over the speeches of Demosthenes, the greatest orator the world ever produced; he pondered till he drank into the spirit of Demosthenes, till he caught the fire of his genius, and then went forth, swelling with similar emotions, and pleaded the cause of injured innocence in strains of eloquence which not only electrified the assembly that heard him, but roused a deep swell of indignation which found a response in the hearts of his countrymen to the remotest parts of the empire. Thus must you imbibe the spirit of our first authors, and you will be delighted to find how such a practice will facilitate your progress in the study of compo

sition.

The advantages to be derived from acquiring an ability to express your thoughts in simple, perspicuous, forcible, and

elegant language, are of an important character, in whatever aspect they are regarded. How pleasant it is to be able to sustain a lively and intelligent correspondence with a friend! The facility for letter-writing afforded by a reduction of the postage duties has induced many of us to enlarge the sphere of our correspondence. And he who by a course of patient study has acquired the habit of writing well, has become possessed of a power which may be wielded in many ways; which will enable him to pour the balm of consolation into the mind of a friend in the hour of sorrow, to help forward another in the pursuit of wisdom, and, in fact, to throw around the life of all his connexions, additional charms. There is also a necessary tendency in the proper study of this subject to lead your minds into habits of accurate thinking—an attainment of immense importance. Neither is there any situation in which any of you can be placed, in which you will not find this acquisition available in a variety of ways, and in which it will not essentially conduce to a more effective and pleasurable discharge of the duties of your station. And, extending our view beyond the circle immediately surrounding us, it is delightful for us to realize our connection with our fellow countrymen, and with the whole family of man. The various periodical publications of the present day exhibit to our view the events which are perpetually transpiring in the political, the social, and the moral worldevents which we cannot but contemplate with deep interest. We all constitute an integral part of the human family, and have our separate departments of duty to occupy. What a privilege it is to be possessed of a power which will enable us to stand up in defence of the truth, and to combat the various errors which spread a desolating influence over the face of society—a power which will enable us to vindicate the rights of the oppressed, and to guard the sacred cause of liberty—liberty the best of earthly blessings of which it has been so beautifully and correctly said, that—

"It gives the fleeting flower of life its lustre and perfume,

And we are weeds without it ;"

and once more, a power which will qualify us to cooperate with the wise and the good, in sustaining the prosperity of those institutions which are the most precious objects of contemplation to the divine mind, and which open to man streams of happiness that will flow on through the ages of eternity.

THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST.

There is in the New Testament one example, one piece of history, that comprises in itself all of divine, lovely, and heroic scattered even over the bible—that brings to my mind the fine saying of him who wanted "no christianity but the character of Christ." Instruction in the Old Testament is gorgeous and awful; it glows in the jewelled breastplate of the high priestspeaks in thunder-and is felt in thick darkness ;-miracle, prophecy, and portent, attend it on its way "conquering and to conquer ;"-its evidences startle the senses-they are gigantic fragments, perfect only when built into the true temple of the person of Christ-glorious hieroglyphics, of which Christ is the interpretation. Embodying its predictions-developing its commands the root and the offspring-the beginning and the end-the first and the last-the true wonder of the universethe " great mystery of godliness"-the marvel even of the scriptures the unimagined and the unimaginable, is the character of Christ! In this world man will never fully comprehend that character; whilst young he will hardly be able to admire it.

The audacity of spirit that believes all things possible to strength of will, must be worn down by frequent contests with moral obstacles, and frequent failures of success; that confidence in the powers of others which exists long after we have ceased to confide in our own, must have yielded to that hesitation which is the growth of experience;—we must have studied our species in history, in daily life, and in our own hearts; sorrow, too, must have dimmed the brightness of our hopes, disappointment have checked our anticipations, humility have in some measure superseded pride, and submission have dethroned rebellion;-the affections must in some degree have been detached from the world, and incline at least towards things heavenly; the understanding must have acquired a leading love of truth, the imagination of simplicity, and the whole soul of what is essentially divine-before we shall be able to wonder aright at the only perfect character the universe ever saw.

We never expect in man a perfect union of opposite powers and pursuits; but the first thing that strikes us in the character

of Christ is the harmony of its contradictions. We do not from a sage expect martial heroism, nor from an imaginative man great love of business; sensibility and self-command are not qualities that naturally go hand in hand; the virtues which are illustrated in suffering are oftener found alone than in conjunction with those indicative of great mental energy, and productive of active and daring exertion. We expect, and we find, individual excellences in every style of character-excellences which we are accustomed to regard as discriminate signs of a peculiar cast of mind; but we never expect to find a character uniting all these signs, and the slightest approximation to such an union strikes us with admiration. The perfect balance of all the intellectual and moral powers was only witnessed in Jesus of Nazareth, and the result was perfection. No virtue outgrew its fellow; no duty trenched on its opposite; there was a constant parallelism between principles and their application. Every moral claim was satisfied as it arose; every hour brought some new duty, and the same hour saw its fulfilment. Such a system presented at one and the same time an aspect both simple and complicated. To bear reproof and to administer it; to submit and to command; to speak as one having authority, yet be very gracious; to seek the multitude, yet shun popularity-and respect the station of the great, yet rebuke their crimes; to unite ascetic habits with social feelings; to view the darkest exhibitions of human prejudice and human sin with indignation and yet with patience; to be wronged and possess all power, yet so far from seeking revenge, to feel no resentment; to pass with equal fidelity and grace through publicity and retirement, ministering to thousands and turning aside for one; to know the world in all its baseness, yet retain fervent charity for its sorrows; unceasingly to baffle fraud, yet never to deviate from truth:-such were the contrarieties

required by the DIVINE HUMANITY. Essential knowledge, yet never swerving from simplicity; essential power, yet never moved to vengeance; essential love, yet never swayed by feeling;-such was Christ.-Miss Jewsbury.

NATURE TESTIFYING AGAINST THE SINNER.

"I see a man brought to the judgment-seat of Christ: the accusation against him is, that he lived a long life in neglect and forgetfulness of God, enjoying many blessings, but never giving a thought to the source whence they came. Who are witnesses against him? Lo, the sun declares, every day I wakened him by my glorious shinings, flooding the heavens with evidences of a God: but be rose without a prayer from his couch; and he made no use of the light but to prosecute his plans of pleasure or gain. The moon and the stars assert that "nightly to the listening earth" they repeated the story of their origin; but that, though they spangled the curtain which was drawn round his bed, he lay down as he rose, with no word of supplication; and that often were the shadows of night used only to conceal his guiltiness from man. Hills and vallies have

a voice forests and fountains have a voice: every feature of the variegated landscape testifies that it bore the impress of a God, but always failed to awaken any reverence for his name. There is not a herb, there is not a flower which will be silent. The corn is asserting that its ripe ears were gathered without thankfulness: the spring is murmuring that its waters were drawn without gratitude: the vine is testifying that its rich juices were distilled to produce a false joy. The precious metals of the earth are all stamped with accusation, for they were sought with a guilty avidity; the winds of heaven breathe a stern charge, for they were never laden with praises; the waves of the great deep toss themselves into witnesses, for they were traversed by ships that luxuries might be gathered, but not that christianity might be diffused. Take heed, man of the world, how thou dost thus arm all nature against thyself. Be warned by the voice which the inanimate creation is already uttering, and make peace with thine adversary "whilst thou art in the way with him." Thine adversary! and who is this? Not the sun, not the moon, not the troop of stars, not the forests, not the mountains: these are but witnesses on the side of thine adversary. The adversary himself-oh they are words which almost choke the utterance !—the adversary himself is the everlasting God. Yet he wishes to be your friend: he offers to be

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