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"Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief

Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks heneath

That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,

Nightly I visit:"

Or that warmer one

"Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men! thy

name

Shall be the copious matter of my song Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise

Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin:"

we may indulge a hope, that the bard would not, intentionally, infuse into his song a spirit which was inconsistent with such high and holy professions. Indeed, a mind which was capable of conceiving, or which could be employed about such ideas as Milton has expressed of the majesty of God, the grace of Messiah, the charms of goodness, the splendour of heaven, and the gloom of hell, may be permitted, without a censure, to exercise its mighty powers on these subjects. It is difficult for a person of reflection to read some strokes, or indeed some protracted representations, in this book, without being throughout arrested in his feelings, by every thing that is solemn, not only in the subject, but in the manner of representing it. Let him, for instance, descend into the abyss where satan and his crew lie sweltering in fire; let him bear them "Converse with everlasting groans, Unrespited, unpitied, unrepriev'd, Ages of hopeless end," and he will feel that the poet has made it a place where being itself is a curse, and where it infinitely concerns him not to be doomed to take up his residence, Or let him attend to a few representations of the following kind; and if his mind is not impressed with a salutary

dread of sin and its

consequences,

it is no solemnity of representation which can impress it. In the fourth book, Gabriel addresses Satan, thus:

“So judge thou, still presumptuous! till the wrath,

Which thou incur'st by flying, meet thy flight

Seven fold, and scourge that wisdom back to hell,

Which taught thee yet no better, that
no pain

Can equal anger infinite provok'd."
In the same book, Satan says to him-
self-

"Me miserable! which way shall I flee,
Which way I flee is hell; myself am hell,
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threat'ning to devour me opens
wide;

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."

ever, cannot be well presented by An illustration of this kind, however, cannot be well presented by a few examples. The book must be read throughout to form a proper opinion of it in this respect. favour of Paradise Lost, as a re3. It is again to be noticed in ligious poem, that it is not without its interesting development of evangelical truth and correct prinble to objections on this ground. ciples. Poetry, in general, is liaNot only is there a woeful omission of what is good, but there is a repletion of what is bad. Most be presumed in other languages, poems in our language, and it may abound with erroneous sentiments

and false principles. There is, perhaps, no other species of writing so faulty in this respect. Paradise Lost forms, to a considerable degree, an exception to the present remark. The sentiments are, for the most part, doctrinally correct, and exhibit the aspect of scriptural representation. The poet cannot be accused of entertaining materiallyunsound views of the tenets of revealed religion. In general, the profound doctrines of predestination, free grace, and moral agency; as also the momentous point relating to the incarnation of Christ, and the work of redemption by him, are represented in the manner of the Bible, as nearly perhaps as the nature of poetry will admit. This circumstance, so far as it extends, is no small praise; and were there no

principle to counteract it in other respects, would cause the poem to rank as high among the repositories of evangelical truth as among the sources of intellectual gratifica. tion.

With regard to the practical effects of truth and error, or the qualities of moral action among intelligent beings, the poet is entitled to much praise in their delineation. The internal workings, and the outward aspect, of holiness and sin, both in superior natures, and in man, are represented mostly as they are known, or as they must be conceived to be. The dignity, beauty, and excellence of the one, and the meanness, deformity, and vileness of the other, are painted in the colours of truth and nature. In his description, they are reflected as from a mirror upon the mind of the reader. We may ascertain, by looking into our hearts, how faithfully he depicts, for instance, the operations of sin from its incipiency to the full-grown overt act. In recounting the counsels and projects of the evil spirits, and in detailing the successive steps of the temptation and fall of man, we may find exquisite specimens of his art. With what graphical correctness, particularly, has he described that mental process, which must be supposed to have taken place in Eve, immediately previous to her first act of disobedience! Her attention is first excited by the beautiful appearance and insinuating address of the serpent, in consequence of which she suspends her rural labours. She is then affected with surprise at his possession of the powers of speech. Her surprise naturally degenerates into curiosity, and she is induced to inquire into the cause. The cause being disclosed, her curiosity is yet further aroused; and she wishes to know where the fruit, possessing such wonderful properties as the serpent ascribes to it, may be found. Prompted by such a principle, she consents to follow the tempter, and is

soon brought to the forbidden tree. Here the instinctive suggestions of her innocence made her at first positively averse to eating the fruit. But she had partially committed herself, and her curiosity being awake to the highest degree, she was prepared to give ear to the farther insinuations of the tempter. His flattering description of the virtues of the fruit, and the sight of it, create desire. She hesitates through fear;but resolving at length to eat, she reasons herself into the belief, that she may disobey her Maker with impunity, and then finishes the dreadful deed. Nothing can be conceived more natural than such a process of mind in Eve; and it is drawn with such felicity as evinces its source to have been the poet's knowledge of the Bible and of the human heart. From such delineations of moral conduct, what profitable lessons do we not receive on the great concerns of duty and salvation! How emphatically are we cautioned to avoid the causes which lead to temptation and to sin!

The feelings of the unholy, upon the supposition that they could be received into heaven, were never better expressed than in the following lines spoken by Mammon.

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Universal reproach, far worse to bear, Than violence: for this was all thy care To stand approv'd in sight of God, though worlds

Judg'd thee perverse."

Paradise Lost contains too many admirable representations of the qualities of moral action to be all here noticed. The few that have been presented may serve as specimens of the rest.

4. The religious character of Paradise Lost is further recommended by the consideration, that the poem forms a noble commentary on the Bible, viewed as a storehouse of elevated ideas. Above all other poems, it may be considered as representing the grand and sublime of Christianity, not indeed without expressing at times some of its more soft and beautiful features. It may serve to prove, with what advantage the Bible may be employed in matters of taste and fine writing. This, however, is rather a collateral circumstance, than a direct consideration evincing the value of the poem in a moral point of view. In the hands of an inferior genius, the Bible would not CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 244.

have been thus recommended. But in regard to a mind on which the sacred volume could operate in its full force, it would appear as contributing not only to the means of genius. In Paradise Lost, poetry holiness, but to the inspirations of and eloquence are under eternal obligations to the Scriptures. To one of the greatest productions of any age, they have given birth; and some of the first beauties of the poem are drawn from their stores. The natural sublimity of Milton's diligent perusal of the Bible; and genius was much improved by his his manner, style, turn of thought, allusions, and figures bear an agreeble analogy to those of the Sacred Volume, and, to a considerable extent, are suggested by its contents. Compared with another valuable poem, in the light now considered, Paradise Lost is a kind of reflection of the historical and didactic majesty of the religion of the Bible; while the Task of Cowper is an image of its practical and experimental excellence. In the one, this religion appears in its overpowering grandeur and doctrinal solemnity; in the other, in its enchanting beauty and every-day use. In Paradise Lost, you find it, as Plato says of music, an imitation of the most beautiful nature possible, and arrayed in the attributes of an unbending divinity: in the Task, you find it in a form of the most beautiful nature actual, and shining with the tempered brightness of the example of Him who was embodied perfection. Milton associates religion with all the loftiness of the understanding; Cowper with all the sensibilities of the heart. Where these respective qualities are occasionally interchanged, they serve. only to heighten, by contrast, the value of the peculiar aud prevailing characteristics of each.

Examples, confirming the truth of the above remarks in regard to Paradise Lost, cannot be adequate. ly given, unless by rehearsing a considerable part of the book: but 2 F

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To the Editor of the Christian Observer, I HAVE thought that it might be useful to select a few of the most prominent features in Chemistry, which are proofs of the existence and providence of the Deity, and which have been omitted to be mentioned, or are only slightly touched upon, by Dr. Paley and other writers on Natural Theology. The facts I have selected are purposely taken from popular sources, and, though familiar to persons of science, may be perused with pleasure and improvement, by your younger readers especially, for whose benefit I chiefly wish their insertion in your pages.

I shall begin with describing some regulations in regard to air and water, which are attended with beneficial consequences. The air which we breathe is composed of two gasses, oxygen and nitrogen, and contains likewise a portion of carbonic acid gas, which is a union of carbon and oxygen. These gasses occur exactly in the right proportion for the support of animal life. If the parts of oxygen and nitrogen were reversed, the air taken in by respiration would be more stimulant, the circulation would become accelerated, and all the secretions would be increased: the vessels being thus stimulated to

inordinate action, their tone would be destroyed by over excitement ; and if the supply from the stomach were not equal to the consumption, the body must rapidly waste away. In other proportions, these very ingredients form one of the most corrosive of acids, a very small quantity of which taken internally would cause certain death.

The gasses have been divided by some writers into the respirable and non-respirable; or those which support, and those which extinguish combustion; and it is remarkable, that if we attempt to breathe any of the latter, they stimulate the muscles of the epiglottis in such a manner as to keep it perfectly close, and prevent, in opposition to our utmost exertions, the smallest quantity of gas from entering into the windpipe or lungs. Oxygen gas is absorbed by the blood through the lungs; but, as if with an express view to preserve the caloric that is necessary for the animal temperature, carbonic acid gas and nitrogen gas, which are thrown off by the act of respiration, have been endued with less capacity for caloric than any other gaseous substances: the first of them has even less capacity for it than many liquids, and the second less than ice itself. The interval between every inspiration, by a most providential adjustment, allows time for the nitrogen, which is lighter than the atmospheric air, to ascend, and for the carbonic acid gas, which is heavier, to descend, by which means a space is left for a fresh current of uncontaminated air.

Atmospheric air has the property of preserving its equilibrium at all times; and its elasticity is such that, however it may be consumed by respiration or combustion, its place is immediately supplied by a new portion, and it is found to be of a homogeneous nature at whatever altitude, or in whatever climate it may be examined. Amongst its several uses, it is well known to refract the sun's rays when below

the horizon, which is the cause of twilight; and it has been ascertained by aeronauts, that birds cannot fly beyond a certain height, which shews that its density near the surface of the earth is exactly what was requisite for the residence of the feathered race. The principle of fluidity, which is owing to caloric, (or the matter of heat, as dislinguished from the effect,) being interposed between the particles of a fluid, would dissipate all fluids into the air, were it not for the pressure of the atmosphere, and the mutual attraction that subsists between these particles; and were it not for the same pressure, the elastic fluids contained in the finer vessels of animals and vegetables, would burst them, and life become extinct.

To evaporation we are indebted for many important services. The temperature of the human body is much greater than that of the surrounding air; and were it not for the excess of heat being carried off by perspiration, we should be exhausted under any great fatigue: but cold-blooded animals, whose temperature is regulated by the medium in which they live, never perspire. The ocean supplies many millions of gallons of water by evaporation, which is conveyed by the winds to every part of the Continent; and the Mediterranean alone is said to lose more by this cause, than it receives from the Nile, the Tiber, the Rhone, the Po, and all other rivers that fall into it.

Water is composed of two gasses, hydrogen and oxygen; and had not these ingredients been so proportioned as to neutralize each other, it would have been converted into a highly corrosive poison. Hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, are the food of plants, which have the power of decomposing air and water, The vegetative organs seize the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere ; and while they appropriate the carbon to themselves, the oxygen is thrown off, in order to renovate the

air by its union with the nitrogen rejected by animal respiration. They also absorb hydrogen from water, and disengage the oxygen, which is attended with the beneficial effect just mentioned. The whole of the oxygen, however, is not given out by vegetables, but part is retained, which, together with carbon and hydrogen, forms sugar, oil, wax, gum, &c. The upper side of the leaf is the organ of respiration: hence some plants, which close the upper surfaces of their leaves during the night, give out oxygen only in the day. In addition to the usefulness of vegetables for the renovation of the atmosphere, many insects assist in the accomplishment of the same purpose, and convert to their own sup. port such substances as, by the exhalation of their putrid miasmata, would in time destroy the whole animal ceation. So wonderfully is the balance kept up, that the air of the most crowded cities has been found to contain as much oxygen gas as that of other places.

In general, bodies contract, and become of greater specific gravity, in cooling: but water affords a remarkable exception; for it actually becomes increased in bulk, and its specific gravity continues to lessen, as it cools. Ice is lighter than water, partly owing to air-bubbles produced in it while freezing; but it has been supposed, that the increase of bulk is owing to a different arrangement of its particles, ice being a crystallization composed of filaments, which are found to be uniformly joined at a particular angle, and by this disposition occupy a greater volume than if they were parallel. Were water subjected to the usual law of nature, it would have sunk as it froze, and the beds of rivers would have been congealed; but by swimming upon the surface, the ice preserves a vast body of caloric in the subjacent fluid from the effects of the cold. It is equally worthy of notice, that the upper stratum of

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