Habit renders all things easy, not excepting the most atrocious crimes. Men have often done that without reluctance or remorse, which, at one period of their lives, they would have shuddered to contemplate. Many have committed forgery, who, at one time, could have been persuaded by no arguments, nor induced by any motives, to wrong an individual of a farthing; and the murderer, whose hands are stained with blood, would, probably, a few years or months before, have trembled at the idea of destroying an animal. When the heart of man is bound by the grace of God, and tied in the golden bands of religion, and watched by angels, and tended by ministers, those nurse-keepers of the soul, it is not easy for a man to wander, and the evil of his heart is like the fierceness of lions' whelps. But when he has once broken the hedge, and got into the strength of youth, and the licentiousness of ungoverned age, it is wonderful to observe what a great inundation of mischief, in a very short time, will overflow all the banks of reason and religion.-J. A. James.

PROPHETIC VIEW OF AMERICA.

THE following are the stanzas of the celebrated Dr. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland, containing what now appears like a prophetic view of the rising greatness of America. They were written over a hundred years ago. In 1724, the author published a plan for converting the American savages to Christianity, by the establishment of a college in the Bermuda Islands. The project was favourably received; considerable sums were raised for it; Dr. Berkeley visited the country, and spent a large part of his fortune and about seven years in efforts to establish his college, which miscarried through the neglect of Parliament to afford the aid that had been promised. Dr. Berkeley died at Oxford, England, in 1753:

The muse, disgusted at an age and clime
Barren of every glorious theme,

In distant climes now waits a better time,
Producing subjects worthy fame.

In happy climes,—where, from the genial sun.
And virgin earth, such scenes ensue,-
The force of art by nature seems outdone,
And fancied beauties by the true :-

In happy climes, the seat of innocence,
Where Nature guides and Virtue rules-
Where men shall not impose for truth or sense,
The pedantry of courts and schools-

There shall be sung another golden age,
The rise of empire and of arts,
The good and great inspiring epic page,
The wisest heads and noblest hearts.

Not such as Europe heeds in her decay;
Such as she had when fresh and young,
When heavenly flame did animate her clay,
By future poets shall be sung.

Westward the star of empire takes its way,
The first four acts already past-
A fifth shall close the drama with the day;-
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

THE

PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

APRIL, 1852.

Miscellaneous Articles.

USES OF STORMY SABBATHS.

It was a fine day in autumn,-one that would well answer to Herbert's discription,

"Sweet day! so cool, so calm, so bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky."

"The

The village pastor was in his pulpit, and the people in goodly numbers were in their pews. The solemn invocation was uttered. The psalms of praise were sung. The portions of Scripture from the Old and the New Testaments were read, with very brief comments. long prayer" was made, while the more aged people stood reverently with closed eyes, and some of the young people lazily reclined. At the usual time the preacher rose and announced his text:

"Fire and hail; snow and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word." The words immediately secured the attention of the audience. Some thought, "a strange text!" others, a "striking contrast with the day!" and all, "what will he make out of that?" The preacher gave a brief analysis of the Psalm, the 148th, wherein all nature, animate and inanimate, is invoked to praise God. The emotions of delight, of awe, or of sublimity produced by the different aspects of nature, were alluded to, and illustrated by reference both to the sacred writers and to the poets. The sublime apostrophe of Coleridge was quoted, ending, "Earth with her thousand voices calls on God,"

and a sweet passage from Montgomery, beginning,

"If in the field I meet a smiling flower
Methinks it whispers, "God created me!"

And here the preacher took occasion to say that, while there might
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be an ardent love for the beautiful in nature where there was no love for the beauties of holiness, taste is by no means inconsistent with religion, and some people's religion would be decidedly improved if it had a little more of the amiable about it. The Bible is full of beauty, and we have no sympathy with that one-sided religion which would discard from all life the cultivation of taste, or the enjoyment of the beautiful in nature or art.

But, continued the preacher, this world is not made up altogether of things sublime or beautiful. It is a mingled world of darkness and light, of order and confusion, of beauty and of ugliness. There is not only the innocent lamb and the gentle dove, but there is also the fierce tiger and the venemous serpent. There are glittering gems, and radiant pearls, and fragrant flowers; but there are also poisonous plants, and stinging insects, and noxious reptiles. Every day is not bright and calm. Every night is not adorned with stars and moon. Every breeze is not laden with odors. There are days gloomy and sad, nights of storm and terror, and vapors laden with disease.

But as this earth is the dwelling-place of sinful men, is not all this becoming? ought it not to be expected? It is not befitting sinful creatures that they should dwell in a world of unmingled softness and beauty, a paradise of enjoyment. Nor, on the other hand, would it seem suitable that a race of creatures, to whom God offers reconciliation and eternal life, should dwell in a world of unmitigated darkness and sorrow. We have, therefore, lights and shadows, joy mingled with sorrow, beauty by the side of deformity, images of heaven's joys and shadows of hell's horrors. Thus God made the world, either in anticipation of man's sin, or upon man's becoming sinful the world was revolutionized so as to be a fit dwelling-place for such a race. is adapted to man, constituted as he is of soul and body; to man as mortal, to man as a sinner.

It

In all we see demonstrated this principle, that matter is subordinate to spirit. Man was not made for the world, but the world was made for man.

Here a person of rather shrewd mind, a little tainted with scepticism, and half disposed to be a socialist, began to question, "If this world was meant for the dwelling-place of an immortal creature, as the preacher declares, and if the soul is of so much more value than the body, why is it that so large a proportion of time must be devoted to the wants of the body?" On this point the preacher happened to suggest a few hints. That labour, although inflicted as a curse for sin, is really a blessing, as many penalties are. Bodily labour does not necessarily exclude thought for the soul. Not a few of the toiling millions have precious treasures laid up in heaven. "To the poor the gospel is preached." Moreover, men's vices are fearfully costly. Were all nations and all men peaceful, temperate and frugal, a day's work might be reduced to three hours. If men rightly cared for their souls, they would find their bodily toils alleviated and their labours blessed. That word of Jesus is true, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."