mountains." The Septuagint is very easy Greek, quite as much so as the Greek Testament; and a little practice of this kind will help you in your knowledge of the language, and make you a good critic. I perceive your English style is very unpolished, and I think this a matter of great moment. I should recommend you to read, and imitate as nearly as you can, the serious papers in the eighth volume of the Spectator, particularly those on the Ubiquity of the Deity. Accustom yourself to write down your thoughts, and to polish the style some time after composition, when you have forgotten the expression. Aim at conciseness, neatness, and clearness; never make use of fine or vulgar words. Avoid every epithet which does not add greatly to the idea, for every addition of this kind, if it do not strengthen, weakens the sentiment; and be cautious never to express by two words, what you can do as well by one: a multiplicity of words only hides the sense, just as a superabundance of clothes does the shape. Thus much for studies.

EXTRACT FROM MISS HANNAH MOORE'S MORAL SKETCHES.

Judgment is to the faculties of the mind, what charity is to the virtues of the heart: as without charity the latter are of little worth, so without judgment, talents are of little comparative use.

Judgment, with the aid of God's spirit, and the instructions of his word, is the balance in which qualities are weighed; by which the proportions of our duties, and the harmony of our virtues, are preserved; for it keeps not only the talents in just subordination, but the principles in due equipoise.

When exercised in subservience to the Divine rule, the faculty becomes a virtue, and a virtue of a higher order. It restrains irregularity, it subdues vanity, it corrects impetuosity, it checks enthusiasm, and it checks it without diminishing zeal.

ANECDOTE.

The following original anecdote of the late Rev. John Wesley, we borrow from the Religious Intelligencer.

"The first time," says Mr. Robert Miller, "I had the pleasure of being in company with the Rev. John Wesley was in the year 1683," (we presume it should be 1783) "I asked him what must be done to keep Methodism alive when he was dead;" to which he immediately. answered; "The Methodists must take heed to their DOCTRINE, their EXPERIENCE, their PRACTICE, and their DISCIPline. If they attend to their doctrine only, they will make the people Antinomians; if to the experimental part of religion only, they will make them Enthusiasts; if to the practical part only, they will make Pharisees; and if they do not attend to their discipline, they will be like persons who bestow much pains in cultivating their garden, and put no fence around it to save it from the wild boars of the forest."

Religious and Missionary Intelligence.

For the Methodist Magazine.

Short Sketches of Revivals of Religion among the Methodists in the Western Country.

No. 4.

(Continued from page 35.)

A CONCISE VIEW OF ITINERANT PREACHING.

1. It is an express command of our Lord, that his ministers should "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Till the denomination of christians, a branch of the Protestant Episcopalian Church, called Methodists, both the Wesleyan and Whitefield order had given rise to itinerant preaching, the pure and practical truths of the gospel were obscured in a great degree by a formal observance of ceremonies, or papal superstitions: since that period, the gracious truths of the gospel of peace were never so spread since the days of the apostles.

2. There is something very interesting in the life of an itinerant preacher; and since we have, in our preceding numbers, sketched some of the good effects resulting from the travelling plan, we may be excused, if we claim some indulgence in this number, in making a few remarks on this subject, as we may hereafter trace its progress in the western states.

3. The discovery of magnetism has given rise to the navigation of all the open seas: the wings of the wind bear the ships to the very ends of the earth. The spark of light, first struck by the praying students of Oxford, seems to have caught into a holy blaze, and is now extending from sea to sea, and we trust soon will extend" from the river even to the ends of the earth;" whilst the very ships appear now ready to carry the glad tidings from the more blessed world. The successful operation of the travelling plan, has, indeed, roused the other denominations of christians, hitherto stationary and fixed in their places, to the laudable ambition of attempting, in some degree, to keep pace with the successors of those flaming heralds of salvation, by the institution of their missionary societies, which, with that of the itinerant, have now extended almost to every part of the globe the blessed gospel of the Son of God. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth SALVATION; that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth!""The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."

4. To have in the first instance commenced a plan, such as that of the itinerant order now existing, in such direct opposition to the religious establishments throughout Christendom, must have undoubtedly required, like the first rise of christianity, to encounter the impending difficulties and prejudices of mankind, supernatural aid: and like to the first establishment of christianity, the itinerant plan was carried into full and complete operation, in the general, by men of humble birth, and but moderate expectations: except a Paul or an Apollos appeared to be reared up by Divine Providence to investigate truth, and by their learning and eloquence to remove impediments and difficulties lying in the way, and hindering the regu lar progression of so noble and excellent a system, instituted for the universal spread of the gospel and happily for the church, such characters have been reared up, when circumstan ces have called for such attainments, to enforce or defend the doctrines of God's holy word. The days of miracles, such miracles as were wrought by the apostles, are indeed past. But, for us to argue that men are not now influenced by the same blessed Spirit, in being called, qualified, and spiritually enlightened to call sinners to repentance, would appear to ar gue an inconsistency with the holy scriptures, as well as the being of a holy God: God is the same, the plan of salvation the same, and human nature is the same, that it was 1820 years ago. And, it may be very justly and properly contended, that the reason why there is not now such immediate displays of di vine grace, and in a more powerful, or extraordinary manner, is, because we do not live as much devoted to God, and willing to receive those blessings, which He, in His goodness, is ready and willing to bestow upon us, as the christians did in the primitive days of christianity.

5. To those acquainted with the primitive Methodist preachers, there appears evidently to be something very peculiar in their character. To see men of their description going forth from obscurity into an employment, the most important under the sun, yet loaded with reproaches, and stigmatized by mankind of almost all descriptions, as evil doers, deceivers, and other bad names-to move out too into such an employment under the fullest persuasion of the infirmities and weaknesses incident to them as men-to feel their own inability-to see no help around them-to have no sympathizing friend to commune with-no source of enjoyment or satisfaction from the world, in which they live and breathe-not frequently having the prospect of food and raiment-cut off from the cheering sources of consolation which sweetly flows to the soul, from having a home, and the enjoyment of domestic happiness-destined to travel up and down through a world, whose finger of scorn and con

tempt is hourly pointed at them-to behold its frowns, frequently like lowering clouds, ready to break into torrents of persecu tion: and in fine, not unfrequently to see the rabble with dirt and stones, staves and bludgeons, brick-bats and fire-arms, with 6a huzza, from the motley mixed multitude, making an assault up. 2 on an humble, inoffensive individual, preaching the plain and simple truths of the gospel; gives us much the same view of primitive Methodism, as those salutations which christianity received in its rise and progress. If thousands of these people were not burnt, or otherwise destroyed, no thanks to poor human nature for it. The cause was God's, and the " hell could not prevail against it."

gates of 6. Add to this the difficulties arising from another source, necessarily accompanying him in his itinerating life at this early period of Methodism. The itinerant became a wanderer on the earth: he had no settled place of abode at this period it was only those that led a life of celibacy could travel extensively his company and his accommodations must be taken as they come the rules for self-government were rigid, and rigidly enforced: his life must be in conformity thereto; but little rest and much labour: he must preach on all occasions, day or night he must not only travel through heat and cold, frost and snow, but exchange his lodgings so frequently as to be exposed to danger from disease from this particular circumstance. But at this time, such scenes only go to establish us in the firmest belief of the purity of his intentions. Instead of honour from the world, he obtained reproach-instead of applause, scandalous reports. He obtained poverty in place of wealth; danger, sorrows, trials, sufferings, hunger, thirst, and nakedness, in place of the blessings of life. Surely then, such characters as these must look to some source, other than this world, for a reward; for if they seek it here, they are indeed but poorly compensated.

7. Admit then, that a prospect of happiness, and a reward for toils and sufferings hereafter be firmly fixed, and on a solid foundation admit it with all its glorious reality, and we may then discover from whence that source of consolation arises, which bears up the mind far above the calamitous scenes of life: assured of this source of bliss, the christian minister in his peregrinations, finds a communication opened betwixt God and his own soul: amidst, therefore, these perilous scenes of life, his mind is fixed and stayed on God: his hope is in heaven, and his possessions laid up in the mansions of bliss. He looks down upon the vanities of life; he discovers that things of time quickly pass away, and he like "an arrow shot through the air," is hurried to the upper world. The light afflictions of life are readily ascertained to be but for a moment; his mind VOL. IV.

29

therefore runs after those things which are eternal: the things of God-to be like him-to be happy. To be like him in communicating good, and rejoicing in the felicity of those that receive good at his hand, with reciprocal dispositions of soul. Why then need he regard the variegated scenes and affairs of life? Whilst he is thus passing from place to place, if to-day he be exalted to dignity and power, to-morrow he may be humiliated as a beggar: if to-day he abounds in the fulness and in the fatness of the land, to-morrow he may be denied the rights of hospitality if to-day he may be made to rejoice as a happy recipient of good from the hand of a faithful Redeemer and Preserver, to-morrow he may be made to weep and mourn: if to-day the Sun of righteousness reflecting beams of light upon his soul, scatters all away, to-morrow he may be made to pass under dark and gloomy clouds: if to-day he be surrounded by his christian and most beloved of friends, to-morrow he may be beset by persecutors, and thus detached from earth, amidst reproaches and labours, he experiences from day to day a sweet antepast of heaven.

8. It is the hope of the enjoyment of the blessings of another world, that thus actuates the soul of the pious and devoted itinerant minister. If, however, itinerancy has its difficulties as we have suggested, it has its consolations also. Detached in a great degree from the cares of life; the soul expands, the mind is stimulated to action, and the passing scenes and events of life cheer the spirits. The itinerant gathers much from actual experience, both of men and things in general; the surrounding country opens a field for contemplation his know!edge thus treasured up is practical, it is gathered from every day's experience, as well as from books. Hence it appears that PRACTICAL, and not SCIENTIFIC men, were chosen by our Lord to preach the gospel, and men of the same cast to spread the gospel in the latter day glory of the church. To such the great book of life and the great book of nature are opened wide to their view, and how could they fail to teach what they know, and that which they feel from day to day. If the preaching of the gospel had been confided to the book-worms of the earth, that raise such a hue and cry about a regular ministry, it must have been dearly bought indeed, and then offered to poor sinners only on partial terms; shut up in cities, it would not even been heard in market places nor in the corners of the streets, and very seldom in the synagogues under both the Jewish and christian economy, when religion fell into such hands exclusively, we know well what the true state of things was. The Roman Catholic, and many of the protestant churches, deviated from the simplicity of the gospel. It was the itinerant plan that revived it, and that supported by the local pillars, many of whom taught in the itinerant school, bears up the spiritual building at