66 eventful history hinges upon them. Under our reverend and somewhat celebrated Doctor's care and tu tion, in the town alluded to, we spent several very happy years together; at the termination of which, he was removed to Richmond and I to Cheshire. This separation, and considerable distance between us, together with engagements peculiar to each, appeared to isolate and silence hearts for a season, which, nevertheless, were still beating as warmly, and were as firmly united in friendship as the hearts of David and Jonathan. We corresponded but seldom, indeed, yet never ceased to think of each other with pleasure. And at length, his simply scholastic studies being finished with Dr. Tate, Lynforth became a Cantab of St. John's College; where, to abbreviate as much as possible, both for the sake of your patience and my own convenience, having graduated in 1820, or come out," as the phrase is, about the middle of the Junior Ops. he came down (direct from the University,) to me at my curacy in F, in order that we might enjoy together once more the pleasure of a regular tete-a-tete-a confab about "olden time," and so forth. Our locality, for you must know that, in the lapse of halfa-dozen years or more, I had far outstripped my bosom-friend in one or two important particulars—that is, I had not only secured a snug curacy and a kind Rector, but I had “found a wife," which Solomon says, and I beg leave to confirm his testimony as a matter of experience,) is "finding a good thing;" I therefore say, our locality was at least six miles distant from the nearest coach town, and the Johnian B. A. found some difficulty in reaching us However, a post chaise and a couple of good horses do wonders, and they surmounted this difficulty. Our welcome visitor arrived (as I have said,) and if only I could divest myself of apprehensions that the detail of our fire-side chat, rambles, and incidents during his stay might be uninteresting to my readers, however reviving and agreeable to myself, I could dwell upon them even at this distance of time with exquisite delight. As it is, I can only assure you that I don't envy the human being who would not have been pleased to witness and participate in the joys and happiness of our meeting. For myself, I can say of it cordially—· "Nec me meminisse pigebit "Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos reget artus." But I must now proceed to a very rapid sketch of his history subsequent to this event Lynforth was "intended for the Church;" and it happened, during his sojourn with us, that a curacy (with a title for Holy Orders), was offered to him by a gentleman in Lancashire. He, therefore, left us rather abruptly after all, and went off in order to have a personal interview with the Vicar, to make proper arrangements for ordination, and entering upon the scene of his future labours. But, as the proverb runs, "Man proposes, and God disposes." It turned out, upon my friend's arrival at the Vicarage, that the worthy clergyman had been "reckoning without his host," calculating upon the comforts of a Curate without consulting his Diocesan: and, upon writing to his Lordship, the then Bishop of the Diocese would not allow him to have such a helpmeet at all, thus putting an extinguisher upon the whole scheme, and sending a withering blight upon the fair prospect in a moment. This will soon appear to have been a melancholy crisis and turning point with my friend for then, to adopt Shakspeare's idea, the flood in the tide of his affairs was (necessarily) omitted, and the predicted consequence followed: all the remaining voyage of his life hitherto has been bound in shallows and in miseries. The hero of our tale now set out to his native village, and to take possession of his own green fields. But, alas! he was doomed to discover, even there, some of the shallows and miseries!". For, (to turn back a few leaves of my friend's history, and to a page which I should have been glad to blot out for ever), I must here observe that, during his minority, his guardians had been sinning against St. Paul's rebuke to the Corinthian Church, "there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" They brought an action against a wealthy neighbour and Lord of the Manor for, what they conceived to be, an injury done to their Ward's estate. This lawsuit, about game, right of common, slate quarries, and so forth, had been metamorphosing acres of land into "nuts for the lawyers" for some time; the case was still pending when Lynforth returned home from Cambridge, and was not finally settled (I believe), for some years afterwards. I shall not, however, enter into the merits or particulars of the " untoward event," but only say, that after a very long, vexations, and (I need hardly say) expensive Chancery suit, the guardians, (as individuals from the "Sister Country" would say,) "gained a great loss" for their Ward: judgment was given against him; and, the whole costs being paid, he was left minus about one half of his original property! And then-as if fated to verify the proverb that "Misfortunes never come alone," he was so ill-advised or infatuated as to embark a large portion of his remaining posessions in a commercial speculation, and other hazardous enterprises, of which he knew nothing; and was the mere capitalist (if not the tool) of some of our "sink or swim" gentlemen. All this, as was most likely, ended, in a few years, in mere "shallows and miseries;" the bubble burst, and he was left with but a very trifling wreck of his "ways and means,' considerably under a hundred a year. And yet with even this, the Man himself could have retired to a cottage and smiled upon adversity, with as much philosophy as Diogenes in his Tub. He was an entire stranger to pride and ambition; and was never cursed with the plague of expensive habits and self-indulgence. (To be concluded in our next.) SOCIAL PRAYER. Welcome thy gracious promise, Lord, Welcome the word that rears a throne 'Midst every faithful band; Fain would our hearts its sweetness own, While at thy feet we stand. And welcome, O! thou heav'nly dove, Who kindlest holy fire In souls that speak of Jesu's love, And breathe the warm desire! Welcome thy presence here revealed, Our spring of joy and peace- W. P. H. LINES WRITTEN AT SEA. Thou dreary sea! whose wide expanse A dead'ning influence o'er the weary soul. They still the pulse of care and strife, The distant shores are as some faded dream. Not always thus, O treacherous Deep! In stern repose thy strength shall sleep; Thy chains asunder thou wilt burst, And soon with greedy rage, for hapless victims thirst. How glorious is the sense sublime Awakened in that awful time, When, howling o'er thy gloomy waste, The midnight gale careers with furious haste! Then, then, thou wakest in thy wrath, Along the wild wind's foaming path; While the brave ship rides proudly o'er The heavy, booming waves, that lash her sides, and roar. Thou haughty sea! thy fearful might Can not my steadfast heart affright; My swelling bosom knows no room for fear, Amid the thrilling scene, proclaiming "God is here!" Was there not One beneath whose eye Of meekness blent with majesty, Thine angry billows straightway sank afraid, And of that look serene a faithful mirror made? Such power thy raging shall controul, Thy restless waves shall cease to roll; And the fierce wind shall moaning flee away, Like some fell, baffled beast, that scents the 'scaped prey, C. L. HEMANS. We have much pleasure in presenting to our readers the above lines, they are written by one of the sons of the highly-gifted and amiable Felicia Hemans, and have been kindly sent to us by her sister. HYMN FOR EASTER. Jesus is conqu'ror now ;- The Lord of life hath fled! Here for awhile his sorrows trace, Scarce had a few short hours Proved his vast work complete, Ere high above created powers He took his glorious seat. There shall his love prevail, Till--known from shore to shore-All earth the great atonement hail, And wonder and adore. W. P. H. A Dialogue between a Minister and his Parishioner. DIALOGUE II. Parishioner. Oh! Sir, I am glad to meet with you again. I have thought deeply upon the subjects of our last conversation; and I am perfectly convinced, both from reason and observation, that the soul is immortal, and that there will be a future state of rewards and punish ments. Minister. You would scarcely ever have doubted either, my friend, but for the perverse and wicked interference of your infidel neighbours: for these points are connected with what is called "Natural Religion," and are therefore supposed to be discoverable by the light of reason— a light, however, so sadly obscured by our evil passions, that we ought to feel the utmost gratitude on finding them illustrated in Scripture with such a superior degree of brightness. P. Yet, alas! Sir, I am far from being relieved from all my difficulties on the head of Religion. Many still press heavily upon my mind. M. I do not wonder at it. I suppose you allude to those peculiarly Christian doctrines, which unfold the grand Dispensation carried on by the Son and the Spirit of God, in order to redeem mankind from their state of guilt and ruin. These are, indeed, purely the objects of Revelation, and could never have been discovered by the mere exercise of our natural faculties. P. They do, certainly, seem to me to be wrapped up in mystery. M. Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness! But so far as these doctrines are propounded to our faith and practice, I think I can convince you that they are not more unaccountable than many occurrences, which arise in the course of God's natural government of the world. Pray, therefore, proceed to state your objections to me as fully and freely as before. P. I own then that, with respect to the general system of Christianity, I remark an inconsistency in its tenets and an obscurity in its language, which makes it appear to some persons to be foolishness ↑ It is also, as might have been easily foreseen, the occasion of much enthusiasin and superstition; and it is, frequently made to serve the purposes of tyranny and wickedness. Again; its evidence might have been rendered clearer, and more satisfactory; and the knowledge of it might have been communicated more early, and diffused more universally. Such views as these are extremely trying to one's belief. M. But, upon the supposition of a Revelation, is it not likely beforehand, that we should, to a considerable extent, be incompetent judges of it, and that it would contain many things seemingly liable to great objections? We cannot be sufficiently acquainted with the secrets of the Divine Government to decide on grounds of reason, previously to such Revelation, what degree of new knowledge it would please God to vouchsafe to mankind; whether the evidence of this new knowledge would be certain, or highly probable, or doubtful; whether it would be unfolded at once, or gradually; whether all men would receive it, with equal clearness and conviction, at the same period, or successively; or even, whether it should have been committed to writing, or left to be handed down (and, consequently, corrupted) by + 1 Cor. i. 8. 1 Tim. iii. 16. I verbal traditions. For we are in no sort judges beforehand by what laws or rules, in what degree, or by what means, it might be expected that God would have conveyed to us similar information upon natural subjects. If men will be regardless of these things, and pretend to judge of the Scripture by preconceived expectations, the analogy of Nature shews beforehand not only the high credibility that they may, but also the great probability that they will, imagine they have strong objections against it, however really unexceptionable : for so, prior to experience, they would think they had against the circumstances and degrees and whole manner of that instruction, which is afforded by the ordinary course of Nature. Were the instruction, which God affords to brute creation by instincts and mere propensions, and to mankind by these in conjunction with reason, matter only of probable proof, and not of certain observation; it would in many cases be rejected as incredible, simply from the seeming disproportions, limitations, and circumstances of it. For instance : would it not have been thought highly improbable that men should have been so much more capable of discovering, even to certainty, the general laws of matter, and the precise magnitudes and motions of the heavenly bodies, than the occasions and causes of distempers, and many other things in which human life seems so much more nearly concerned than in astronomy? And again; that brutes without reason should act, in many respects, with a sagacity and foresight vastly greater than what we have in these respects, would (as a subject of anticipation) have been thought impossible. Yet it is certain, that they do act with such superior foresight, from daily observation. Hence it is highly credible beforehand that, upon supposition God should afford to some men additional instruction by Revelation, it would be in degrees and after manners which we should be apt to fancy not a little objectionable. P. True, Sir; but surely a Revelation so very imperfect-one, for instance, not put into writing, and thus guarded against a principal source of corruption-would never have auswered its purpose. M. What purpose do you mean? It would not have answered all the purposes which it has now answered, and in the same degree; but it would have answered others, or the same in different degrees: and which of these was the purpose of God, and best fell in with his general government, we could not at all have pre-determined. This shows that, however objections against the evidences of Christianity deserve to be seriously considered, objections against Christianity itsel are in a great measure frivolous. The only questions here are, whether Christianity be a real Revelation, not whether it be attended with every cir cumstance which we should have looked for; and whether Scripture be what it claims to be, not whether it be a book of such sort and so promulgated, as weak men are apt to fancy a book containing a divine Revelation should be. And therefore, neither obscurity, nor seeming inaccuracy of style, nor various readings, nor early disputes about the authors of particular parts, nor any other things of the same kind (even though they had been much more considerable in degree than they really are could overthrow its authority-unless the Prophets, the |