any other. If the Father cannot be trusted, what better is the Son? Be assured then, that you have a God interested to save you, as truly now, as when you supposed that he who died on Calvary was the Everlasting One. His love, who gave a Saviour, is surely sufficient for our salvation, our brethren themselves being judges. Now, some may say, you cast off Christ, you hope to be saved without him, you do not want a Saviour any longer. Heed them not. You will have an answer in your heart. Let the Son of God be received there as he is offered in the Gospel, as he is described by John whom he loved so tenderly, as he himself has sought your affection in those precious words,-" Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Then will you be at no loss to know how much you need such a Saviour, nor how dear he must ever be to those who have "6 come unto God by him." He died that he might bring us unto God. And never yet did sinful man essay to return to his Creator, but he felt that he must have some one, better, and wiser, and stronger than himself or any fellow sinner, to guide his erring feet, cheer his desponding heart, support his trembling reason, sooth his upbraiding conscience, dispel the fears which guilt creates, and, parting asunder the clouds before the Throne, shew him the Father, and kneel with him at the mercy seat. We give not up our Advocate, though we may not adore him as our God. He is not dearer to those whose belief may raise him to a loftier height. "Christ in you the hope of glory," says an apostle. What does he mean? Just what he meant when he said, "My little children, of whom I travail until Christ be formed in you." The image of Jesus impressed on the soul. His heavenly character become ours. The Christian virtues witnessing to our fidelity to him. These, it is, which inspire the hope of glory. When we have the same mind that was in Christ, he may indeed be said to be in us; and no longer than that spirit is our spirit can we have one hope of glory, which will not make ashamed or be confounded when God shall take us from the world. AN ESSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERING THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION. Addressed particularly to men of Education. By John Foster, author of Essays on Decision of Character, &c. S. H. Parker, and Crocker & Brewster. Boston, 1827. pp. 172. INFIRMITY of purpose, an unsettled state of opinion and feeling, and all the forms in which aversion to religion appears, have in this book a salutary corrective. The author takes his place beside you, as one who wishes to share your confidence, but has no design to act the part of a mere adviser. He comes to converse with you on terms of perfect equality, about a subject in which he and you are alike concerned. He is no master, but seeks to be acknowledged as a friend. He knows you are not what you ought to be, and tells you so, but in a way that shows you he is thinking only of your welfare, not of his own imagined superiority. Enlightened, liberal, wise, but solemn, uncompromising and urgent, he reasons closely, pleads heartily, and fixes in the mind a conviction that all he demands is right, and makes you own that it were most happy for you never to have rejected such counsel, if you have had it before, and most unpardonable, if it be now addressed for the first time to you, should you not be faithful in the application. We have never met with a book in which serious admonition was conveyed in language so perfectly suitable, and more free from what is called rant. You detect here no extravagant statements, no disposition to show hatred to sin by abusing the sinner, no complaining without cause, no tedious prosing about common-place things. Religion is represented only as it must always appear to us when conscience is true, and christianity is our guide. It is shown to be man's highest and most indispensable concern ;—and is it not? Duty to God is raised above each mortal interest, and enforced as what must be attended to, without any more delay or remissness;ought it not to be? Man's bliss or wo are here assumed to be the product of his own dispositions, desires, and conduct;-are they not? Eternal interests are exhibited in sure dependance on confirmed character; -and dare he whose guilt has here been his ruin, hope that hereafter it may prove less an obstacle to his happi ness? The Essay on Decision of Character, has been very generally admired. This work is marked by the same qualities of style and thought. Deeply imbued with a pious spirit, it is clear from all phraseology, which an unfortunate association may have rendered revolting. He who cannot read this appeal without being offended, must not blame the writer's taste, but his own heart. The excellence of this book consists in its adaptation to the case of such as, from any cause, have not yet "yielded themselves unto God," nor have formed their plans of living upon christian principles, recognised by a deep conviction, and unreservedly applied to the heart, conversation, and pursuits, in every particular. Could we but persuade them, seriously to read that which this eloquent and pious writer has furnished for them, from the stores of a thorough knowledge of human nature, the world, and the Sacred Word, and which he has impressed with the seal of a charity so pure, and gentle, and forgiving, we shall have done them an unspeakable favor. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS SOUVENIR. 1828. Boston. N. S. Simpkins & Co. It is a happy device to mark the first day of a new year by something intellectual, by gifts which address the taste, the imagination, and the heart, instead of such as are attractive to the senses only, or minister to the "pride of life." We cannot but rejoice in the importation of these mental luxuries, and are not sorry that our own writers and artists have so finely imitated the sumptuous works from abroad. But it needed only a glance at some of these last, to be convinced that beneath so much beauty and taste, lurked some things "not good for food," and others which might even cause disease to the mind which was captivated by their charming show. We esteem it therefore very fortunate that such volumes as the one before us, and the Juvenile Souvenir, are thus early thrown in among the rest, and doubt not that they will exert a salutary influence, at the moment of conferring a pleasure not inferior to that we could derive from any similar sources. The pieces are selected with great care, are as various as could be wished, and are presented in a neat and beautiful form. We hope these unobtrusive moral remembrancers will not fail to be as widely distributed as those which now shine so temptingly on every |