are all subject to his control. He will not permit them to do his people any real injury. They shall live while Christ has work for them to do; they shall suffer no more than he pleases to permit; all that they do suffer shall moreover but brighten their eternal crown; and death itself shall but bring them to his immediate and blissful presence. Over death he has himself triumphed, and this last enemy he enables them also to vanquish. Often they expire with the conqueror's song "O death where is thy sting! O grave where is thy victory! Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Farther-Christ as king restrains and bounds the malice of Satan, and all the infernal powers. But for this restraint they would speedily destroy his subjects; for his subjects are, in themselves, weak, and their enemies are strong. The adversary of souls had power and subtilty sufficient to destroy sinless man in paradise. But man then stood in his own strength. Now every Christian, even the weakest, is under the protection of the Lord Jesus; and therefore, with all his imperfections, he is safe. Christ will keep him. The adversary cannot go beyond his chainHe may tempt but he cannot compel. He may threaten but he cannot injure. He may terrify, but he cannot destroy. He is a conquered enemy, and every saint shall triumph over him.

But it is pleasing to think of the conquests which the king of Zion is yet to make, by the influence of his spirit and grace, in our guilty world. The empire of Satan, since the fall of man, has been extensive indeed, and so it continues still. But the period is advancing-perhaps it is not far distant-when Satan is to be bound, and to deceive the nations no more for a thousand years. Then shall the king of Zion "extend his peaceful and heavenly reign

born!

Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!

born,

Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes! See a long race thy spacious courts adorn; See future sons, and daughters yet unIn crowding ranks on every side arise, Demanding life, impatient for the skies! See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,

And heap'd with products of Sabean springs!

For thee Idume's spicy forests blow, And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,

And break upon thee in a flood of day! No more the rising sun shall gild the Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn;

morn,

But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself

shall shine

Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,

Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt

away;

But fix'd his word, his saving power remains;

Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own MES. SIAH reigns!"

My dear children-How dreadful to have this king of Zion for Make him your your enemy! friend by submitting to the sceptre of his grace. Then shall you not only behold, but be partakers of his glory. Amen.

MASON'S SELECT REMAINS.

Mason's Select Remains, written in the seventeenth century, are highly commended by Doctor Watts. We propose to give occasionally, a few extracts from them. With

some quaintness, they contain much good sense and fervent piety. They are in fact proverbs, or maxims, in which are often concentered, in a few words, subjects for lengthened and profitable meditation.

Though few there be that care to be virtuous, yet fewer there are that would not be counted so. Nothing but what is God's dishonour, should be our shame. We must not walk by example, but by rule.

They that drive away time, spur a free horse.

As often as a man lays out for God, he lays up for himself.

We have nothing that we can properly call our own, but what we have reason to be ashamed of.

We are never well informed of the truth, till we are conformed to the truth.

A conceit of knowledge is the greatest enemy to knowledge, and the greatest argument of ignorance. They that presume most in prosperity, are soonest subject to despair in adversity.

It is as great a mercy to be preserved in health, as to be delivered from sickness.

As they, who for every slight infirmity take physic to repair their health, do rather impair it; so they, who for every trifle are eager to vindicate their character, do rather weaken it.

Be lively, but not light; solid, but not sad.

Keep the body under, but the spirit up.

Keep such company as God keeps.

To render good for evil, is Godlike; to render good for good, is man-like; to render evil for evil, is beast-like; to render evil for good, is devil-like.

Carry yourself submissively towards your superiors, friendly towards your equals, condescendingly towards your inferiors; generously towards your enemies, and lovingly towards all.

From the Christian Observer.

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

No worldly pomp, or Eastern pride,
The Saviour chose to grace his birth;
Nor stooped with monarchs to divide
The mimic pageantry of earth!
But he preferred a heavenly gem,
Which far and wide its radiance shed;
It was the Star of Bethlehem,
That crown'd the infant Saviour's head.
And while the bless'd Redeemer lay,

By mortal sages unadored,

That spark Divine illumined the way,
To those who prophesied the Lord.
Bright gem of glory, sign of grace!
Appear to guide my wandering feet;
And lead me in the heavenly race,
To find the Saviour's mercy-seat.
And though the Saviour now appears
On earth no more, nor star is given,
Let faith direct my future years,
That I may find my Lord in heaven.

TRAVELS IN EUROPE FOR HEALTH IN

1820. BY AN AMERICAN CLERGYMAN, OF THE SYNOD OF PHILADEL

PHIA.

(Continued from Vol. IV. p. 358.)

London, Aug. 23, 1820. My dear Friend,-You will no doubt be surprised, to find me so

soon decamped from the French metropolis. I confess, a delay of only ten days, in a city which furnishes objects of curiosity, more than sufficient to occupy as many months, can hardly be justified under any ordinary circumstances. But I am in truth in a hurry to be at home, and all Paris put together

could not present a spectacle, to me half as gratifying, as the smoke of my own chimney. If spared, I must cross the Atlantick before the storms of winter; and therefore I have been in haste to get into England, which is the country, I conceive, above all other countries, interesting for an American to visit. It is the centre of the arts, of learning, and above all, of the Protestant religion.

The leading impression on my mind, brought away from the hasty survey I have taken of Paris, is, its enormous voluptuousness. It is another Sodom. A night ramble through its eating houses and crowded places of amusement, must fill the mind with the idea of a city wholely given to idolatry!-The idolatry of worshipping the goddess of pleasure. It is fair however, to ascribe to the surrounding nations, a full share of the vice and abominations, with which Paris is polluted. The idle and profligate rich of all Europe, flock to Paris, as a common centre of amusement; and so vast a concourse of such strangers, in the keen pursuit of pleasure, is more than sufficient to inundate any city with debauchery and I am inclined to think, that the English come in for a full share of this censure. They are richer than any other people of Europe, and of course, have the means of profligacy more within their reach. I have no hesitation to say, that profaneness of language prevails among the young English travellers, quite beyond any thing I have observed in the educated of any other country. The frequency of one expression, G-damn me' to the outrage of grammar and common sense, as well as of piety, in ordinary conversation, and without the smallest item of provocation, has made me look with amazement and disgust, on men whose appearance and information would otherwise seem to entitle them to pass for gentlemen. Owing to this, the usual appellation of an Englishman, among the waitVOL. V. Ch. Adv.

-

ers in hotels at Paris, and elsewhere in France, is 'Monsieur G--damn me.' This fact I had heard before being in Paris, and heard it ascribed to the hatred which the French bear to the English. But any person who has had opportunity of hearing the disgusting frequency of the expression in their conversation, will be at no loss to account for the degrading nickname. And where profaneness is abundant, we are sure no power of conscience exists, to deter from the worst abominations. Let then accounts be fairly balanced; and while condemnation is passed upon the enormous debauchery of Paris, let those of other nations, who greatly minister to its production, have their proper share of censure.

On the morning of the 17th, I set off in the Diligence, having taken passage for London, which is only a journey of three days from Paris. Passing from the French to the English capital, is but a small affairless serious than a journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Three Englishmen occupied the top of the coach, and a West-Indian, from the island of Jamaica, with myself, had the inside. As usual in French staging, we rode all night; and as very frequently occurred to me, I had heavy complaint to make of the climate, on account of the cold, the wind, and the dust. Not that I suffered much personally, being protected by closing up the carriage. But our English companions on the top, when daylight returned, exhibited a blenched and be-dusted appearance, that was not a little deplorable. One of them was an uncommonly fat, jolly man, who turned it all into jest. Next to grace, it appears to me, that good humour, is the best qualification a man can possess, for geting comfortably through this world. It is as Solomon says, He that is of a merry heart, has a continual feast." But the man who has grace and good humour too, with a competency of

B

that "prudence, which is profitable to direct;"he is the favourite child of Heaven. My Jamaica inmate of the coach, was an intelligent, sociable man. Our sociality, no doubt, was not a little promoted, by the circumstance of his being a warm republican. He was a strong advocate for the West India islands becoming connected with the United States. Agreeably to his representation, great discontent prevails in them, towards the government of Great Britain.

The country through which we passed, as far as my blunted curiosity prompted to observation, appeared pleasant, generally level, yet I would say, not on the whole, under very high cultivation. The road was certainly very fine-In many places for a long distance, planted with trees on each side. This is an improvement very desirable, which does honour to the publick taste. Beside the beauty, which is very great, the shade, in hot weather, is a large addition to comfort. The evening of the second day brought us to Calais, which is not a large place, but discovers equal, if not superior neatness and cleanness, to any place I have seen in France. The next morning proved very stormy, and we were detained some hours, before we could embark in the sloop that was to convey us across the British channel, about twenty miles, to Dover. We had proceeded but a small distance, when the violence of the wind, rent our main sheet from the top to the bottom. This put it out of our power to proceed, and, the tide being out, we could not reland at Calais until it rose. The consequence was, that we had to beat about under a tremendous gale and on a raging sea, for about five hours, until the flood tide allowed us to reach the wharf from which we had set out. There was a number of passengers on board, and the scene that ensued from deadly sea-sickness and the terror of shipwreck, can be con

I

ceived, only by those who have experienced something similar. suffered enough to impress the recollection while I live, and to make me deeply thankful for getting once more on shore, which we were permitted to do, towards evening. Sweet indeed is deliverance from distress and danger. It may be safely asserted, that exquisite enjoyment is only known, in the hour of rescue from hard suffering and imminent peril. A good fire, and a comfortable meal in the hotel, after a five hours' endurance of such privations and dangers, was a happiness worth enjoying; but verily, I should wish to be excused from purchasing it a second time, at the same cost. It made me think, of what the ransomed sinner shall enjoy, on finding himself in glory, safe from the perils of perdition, which at times, in the tempest-tossed ocean of this sinful life, he had scarce hoped to reach.

In the evening, the violence of the weather having abated, we again embarked, and arrived at Dover about midnight. I had found a place where I could lie among the baggage, and was fast asleep, when the vessel reached the harbour. On being suddenly waked up, I was much surprised to find myself in the hands of two men, who were feeling over every part of my body. Inquiring what they meant, I was told, they were searching for smuggled goods. The light silks of France, on which enormous duties are levied, by the English government, are sometimes concealed about the bodies of smugglers: to detect which, the agents of the customhouse, are authorized to make on passengers, the rude investigation of which I was the subject. They were soon satisfied, however, that my lank person was enveloped by nothing contraband. Had it been daylight, I presume I should have escaped without suspicion. My trunk was carried, without my leave, to the custom-house; where

it underwent a close inspection in the morning. A fellow-passenger conducted me to a tavern, where I found a good bed, and a comfortable nap, until daylight. The idea of being in England, was sufficient excitement to rouse me at an early hour; and as the stage did not set off, until about nine o'clock, I had opportunity to gratify my curiosity, by a ramble over the town.

Dover is a small, but neat town, romantically situated in a low valley, at the water's edge; and surrounded on all sides from the sea, by high hills. Pursuing a road which led to the hill at the end of the town, I was conducted to an excavation into the hill. Entering a short distance, I found the excavation to assume an upright direction, and a flight of stairs, winding round and round, carried me by an ascent of about two hundred steps, into a fortification on the hill top; bristling with cannon, that pointed in all directions. Here I enjoyed a prospect of no ordinary beauty and grandeur. The neat town, spread out on the little valley, far below on the right.-A vast range of undulating country behind, with the wide watery expanse of the English channel in front. The atmosphere was uncommonly serene. Not a trace of yesterday's tempest was to be seen but the smooth level of the water was like the face of a looking-glass. Here I ought to have adored that almighty Being, who "made the sea, and the dry land;" whose works are so manifold, and whose merciful providence had protected me in all my wanderings, and brought me to that romantic spot. Here I did take a last adieu of the French continent, the distant hills of which, were dimly visible in the blue horizon. It was an adieu of joy, mingled with no regrets at parting. A dreary sojourn of five months, I have had in a land of outlandish people, and strange language. Certainly, I have no reason to be dissatisfied with many persons

and many things in France: and great reason I have to be thankful, for having passed through almost the length and breadth of the land, without meeting with any injury, and in some degree successful, in the one object of my travel, a restoration of health. But alone, a stranger, knowing not enough of the language to enjoy the society of the people, and more than all, subject to the frequent depressions, incident to ill health and a debilitated nervous system, you will not wonder if I felt, on getting out of the country, like a captive released and permitted to return to the land of his home. I did look on its distant hills with joy and thankfulness, that I was no longer there, and no more to return thither. I did feel a high excitement, that I was in old England, among a people of kindred manners, of kindred language, and above all of kindred religion; where I might expect to enjoy the services of the sanctuary, as I had been accustomed to do in the land of my fathers. Yet, I did feel great regret, not at leaving France, but at the situation in which I left it. It is a great country, inhabited by a vast population of lively, industrious, and in one sense, sober people; who are destined one day, when emancipated from ignorance, infidelity, and the gross superstitions of Popery-when brought under the full influence of Bible morality, and Bible liberty, to rise high in the history of ages to come. At present, its situation is that of deep depression, and without a hastening in the ameliorating progress of things, (for which we have indeed some reason to hope,) must remain so, for a long time to come. It would seem to me, that according to the slow progress of truth, and of liberty, civil and religious, in times past, a century, and perhaps more, must elapse, before the people of France, reach the position which the United States now occupy; and will have to make the