I shall only mention one thing more, and one for which his name will be had in everlasting remembrance,-one for which many of the poor negroes will praise God to all eternity; namely, for the Introduction of the glorious Gospel into the colony. This had been his desire for more than 23 years. He wrote several times to his friends in Holland on the subject; and, when he left North America, 13 years ago, he wished to have brought a suitable person with him; but could not obtain one. He also had written two or three letters to England, which were lost, about two years before the Missionary Society was applied to. From these disappointments, he was ready to think it was not the will of Heaven he should have one. Long (he says in a letter) did I endeavour to procure a person qualified for the task in Holland, in North America, and in England; however, doubts and fears rendered me lukewarm; but, at last, a merciful God has remembered his promises, and has graciously sent a blessing to the colony. We rejoice to see a church already erected in the hearts of the people, which the gates of Hell shall never prevail against. The Builder is the Almighty. On the 6th of February, 1808, his long and earnest desire was fulfilled, by the arrival of a Missionary at his house, from the Society in London; whom he received with the greatest cordiality, and to whom, till the day of his death, he manifested the most sincere friendship and paternal affection. Numbers of people came from the neighbouring estates; for whose accommodation he devoted one of his buildings, and prepared seats for them, according to their station in life. After which, when it became necessary, he erected a suitable building at his own expense, excepting £100, which the Society contributed towards it. It is called Bethel Chapel, and will contain 600 people. On the 11th of September, 1808, it was opened; and he had the happiness to see it crowded with people of various colours. The building, besides a small house, cost him about £1000.

He soon discovered a Missionary spirit; and became very anxious to have the gospel preached in other parts of the colony, and in the neighbouring colony of Berbice; but his bad state of health hindered him from being so active as he wished. It was his desire and intention to have travelled with me, in different parts of the colony; but sickness always prevented. He also freely offered ground in town to build a chapel upon, if permission could have been obtained; but au express prohibition was sent from men in power. He likewise had a school under his direction for several months, which had been kept in one of his buildings in town, by a person who failed. M. Post hired teachers to carry it on, that the children might have an opportunity to receive religious instruction; and when some of the children were taken away, lest Mr. Post

should teach them his religion, it cost him for a considerable time £ 16 per month more than the income. He applied to the Directors of the Missionary Society for a proper person to conduct it; and they sent Mr. Davies, one of their Missionaries, from their seminary at Gosport. He arrived in the colony in January, 1809; and was cordially received by Mr. Post. His passage and other expenses were also liberally paid. The school is now in a flourishing state. Upwards of 40 children are daily instructed in useful learning; and in those principles of Christianity which, under the divine blessing, will make them useful members both of civil and religious society. Mr. Davies also preaches three times a week in the school-room to upwards of 300 people.

The preaching of the gospel met with the greatest opposition the first year; but Mr. Post persevered, undaunted, following his Master through good and through evil report.' He was looked upon by many as a fool and a madman: he. became the subject of their laughter; and was charged with introducing into the colony anarchy, disorder, and discontent among the enslaved negroes; and was forbidden, by authority, to hold any riotous meeting of slaves on his estate.' Many said he was going to make Demarara a second St. Domingo. Indeed, numbers dated the ruin of the colony from the day that the Missionary arrived; but none of these things moved him.' He was determined to persevere in the path of duty, and to leave the event with God. He studied, night and day, what method was best to be taken; and did all in his power to remove the prejudices of the people. He wrote letters to some, conversed with others, and endeavoured to receive all the information he could concerning the success of the gospel among the negroes in the colony of Surinam* and the West India Islands. Indeed, it appeared to be his continual study, and the chief business of his life, to promote the glory of God, and the salvation of the negroes.-How anxious he was for the attainment of these noble objects, will appear from his letters, written in 1808 and the beginning of 1809; from which I shall give a few extracts.

The most pleasing information concerning the preaching of the Moravians, was received from Surinam. The Missionaries appear to receive every encouragement from the most respectable inhabitants. Governor Ross also spake in the highest terms of those in St. Croix, and looked upon them as great blessings to the colony. Bryan Edwards likewise says, It is greatly to the honour of the inhabitants of Antigua, to encourage pious Missionaries in preaching to the negroes.

(To be concluded in our next.)

THE VALUE OF TIME:

A RHAPSODY FROM LAVATER *.

MOTHER of Nature, invaluable TIME! what multitudes of ideas are pressing upon my mind! and it is thou who hast engendered them.

Worthy art thou of adoration, O first great Spirit! Thou didst call forth Time into existence, when thy creative behest had thundered through the womb of chaotic night; when Nature, fraught with worlds and heavens, emerged from the illumined deep, then was it that Time, by thee, was linked to Eternity!

When thy transforming decree shall thunder a second time through the universe, and, carried on the refulgent wings of Lightning, electrify all the revolving spheres; when, from dissipated stars and extinguished suns, eternal worlds shall rise, then shall be the end of Time!

O Time, awful Mother of Nature, thou art placed in the centre of eternity! Who hath given to thee the balance? — and why dost thou so scrupulously weigh the actions of man before the eye of his Creator? Why dost thou so scrutinize his thoughts?

Speak, much-injured friend, and let thy voice teach me wisdom! Why? an! why dost thou frown on me with that deadly sternness? Why dost thou view me with the terrors of judgment in thy looks? Tears, such as á son would weep over the grave of a kind parent, start from mine eyes, while I recollect how often I have abused thec.

Mother of Nature, when, on the day of thy final dissolution, Eternity shall burst forth from thy womb, wilt thou rise up in judgment against me? Let me embrace thee once more! but, ah! thou art continually flying my embraces!

How I tremble at the idea, That every thought I conceive, every word I utter, every syllable I write, is conveyed by the rapid hand of Time to the throne of the righteous Judge!

Friend of my heart, imprint a kiss upon every fleeting moment! Each waits to be embraced, each would thankfully receive any thing that, on the day of revelation, may be laid before the Searcher of hearts, to meet the smiles of his approbation in eternal glory.

Time is valuable; and valuable are all the hours and minutes of which it is composed; because their reward is of eternal duration,-their punishment never ending, though they thenselves are fleeter than the arrows of death. They are invaluable; for thousands of worlds could not indemnify me for the

* See the Life of this extraordinary man (who was a Calvinist minister · in Switzerland) in our Magazine for January, 1805.

loss of one moment of grace, - a moment that may save a sinner from the abyss of hell, and raise him to the heaven of heavens. Precious, beyond comparison, is the smallest portion of time; because there is nothing more evanescent; and every moment calls to me, in accents awful as the quickening blasts of the trump of final judgment, Render me my due, and I will ensure thee in return an eternity of bliss.'

I raise mine eyes, and lo! millions of moments, thousands of days and hours, are smiling and frowning on me, poising the balance of death and judgment!

I tremble, for they are crowding upon me in awful array, while I am reviewing the fleeting multitudes. Since writing these lines, hundreds- have passed by in rapid succession. I pursue them with anxious looks, to see if they shake my thoughts from wings of darkness into the repository of wrath, or if the merciful Father of man beckons them to deposit their portentous freight in the treasury of salvation!Ah! whilst I am revolving this thought, hundreds of precious moments are demanding their due, demanding their estimated value! Ah, do not frown on me, ye vanished moments! let me recognize you as friends at the throne of the righteous Judge!

Wise is he that knows the real value of things. To slight what is most precions is a great unhappiness: it is madness. Men are prone to waste the most valuable gift of their Maker, because they presume to have it in abundance; but a wise man has too little of it, and is grieved at the less of its smallest portion.

Lo! I do not hear the rapid step of Time until he has passed by, indignantly shaking his wings over my head, whilst the threatening sickle of Death is ready to cut me down! Ah! I hear the witnesses of Death, the murdered hours, testify against me before the throne of the righteous Judge! Unhappy me! the profaned hours of sinful pursuits, a countless host, which Jeliovah hath noted down, are imprecating endless torments on me in the repository of wrath! My heart would break with despair, and my soul be overwhelmed by the pangs of remorse, had not the compassionate Saviour of sinners now inspired me with the desire to devote every moment to Him, to the welfare of my neighbour, and the salvation of my soul. Oh! that I might indefatigably labour to realize it! But who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Let us encourage one another to obey the warning voice of Time, and not suffer it to pass by unheeded. Behold, it attends our progress through life, presenting the balance of God, that we may lay upon it actions worthy or the dignity of our soul, and of immortal record!

Like a delightful dream, which vanishes so soon as we awake, and whose departure is regretted with tears, does life appear in its last hour;-but, ah! those tears of bitter regret then teach us too late, that the vanities of life are evanescent dreams.

Let us gather roses for our death-bed, and learn to smile on death as the night-watch smiles on the relieving dawn of the rosy morning!-To serve God is the greatest of blessings: let us jointly seize it;-let us love one another as brothers, live, and not dream!

Not to obey the illusive temptations of the Prince of Darkness may be, to the carnal mind, impracticable;but, O! how blissful is it, under the influence of celestial Wisdom, and under the shadow of her protecting wings, to labour to promote the virtue and happiness of mankind!

To be virtuous without being sensible of it, not to think of our own good actions till our course is finished, - and to walk to the grave in humble simplicity of heart, trusting nothing to our own merits, this, my friend, is Virtue.

FOR THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 1811.

TO-DAY, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilder ness, lest I swear in my wrath that ye shall not enter into my rest. Hebrews.

This night, thy soul shall be required of thee. Luke.
TO-MORROW, thou and thy sons shall be with me.

The departed Spirit of Samuel to Saul. - 1 Sam. xxviii. 19. TO-DAY. I am called New Year's Day; so I hope that the creatures of a day will turn over a new leaf with me; for all the last year they were tantalizing me with fair promises, which were always foully broken, and thus put me to many hundred deaths*: but what is this I hear again! TO-MORROW we will set about looking over our affairs, espe cially those of the soul; for indeed they seriously require inspection, and it is very proper, on the commencement of a new era of time, to think of the period when Time shall be no longer, but vast eternity commence: yet New Year's Day we must spend with our friends. TO-DAY then, I suppose, is not your friend. always been treated as an enemy, whom it

Indeed, I have was necessary to

contrive every artifice to get rid of, by what is called killing

Time; but should be called killing Souls.

Now, I see al