spontaneous nature; the frozen native of the polar regions, whose intellectual eye is shaded with moral darkness; the rude barbarians of the North, in common with the civilized inhabitants of Europe, address this great Being in some recognized form of adoration. The blood of the victim has often been shed to conciliate the favour of the Deity; the fruit of the body has even been given for the sin of the soul. It is true, that those practices which disgraced the conduct of more barbarous nations, are now unknown in civilized countries; and on the important subject of addressing God, we have information of the most accurate kind from the revelation of God himself. A way is laid open by which we are invited to approach the Divine Throne; to pour forth the overflowings of a grateful heart for mercies received; to adore that goodness which is conspicuously displayed in all the works of creation; to express our thanks for that astonishing forbearance which characterises all the transactions of God with sinful man, and to entreat that we may continue to live in peace and holiness, under the shadow of his wings.

Is it not, then, a consoling thought, to reflect that there is a Being who can thus assist us in every exigence, and whose ear is always open to the prayer of the humble suppliant? It is impossible to deceive this Omniscient Being by an outward appearance of sanctity, or by a counterfeited zeal in our devotions: all the motives which can influence the human heart are perfectly known to him. It follows, therefore, that in addressing God in prayer, due regard must be paid to the temper of mind in which this devotional exercise is performed. The heart must be humbled with a deep sense of the insufficiency of unassisted human nature to resist temptation, to attain to virtue, or, indeed, even to answer, in almost the smallest respect, the high des

tiny to which it was formed.. with unthinking precipitation we begin to supplicate the forgiveness of our sins, God will disregard our prayers; but he who is fully sensible of the error of his conduct, and filled with sorrow at the recollection of those reiterated offences by which he has defied the power and despised the mercy of God, will ever find a ready acceptance with his Maker. We are, indeed, entreated in the most endearing manner to seek, with the promise that we shall find; and to knock, with the promise that it shall be opened unto us. This invitation cannot be neglected by the truly pious man, who will view this gracious invitation as proceeding from too High a Power, and attended with too great advantages, to be treated with neglect. The Scriptures, therefore, having exhorted him to prayer, he will retire to his closet, and with all the feelings of lively gratitude express the wants and wishes of his soul to a merciful and reconciled God.

The majesty of the Supreme Being, which has been employed as an argument against prayer, will be considered by the true Christian in a very different point of view. It will be his delight and solace to reflect, that God, whom no feeling of disappointment can disturb, nor any possibility of change afflict; God, who possesses within himself ample sources of enjoyment, concerns himself with man. So that, although myriads of angels and spirits of just men made perfect, celebrate his praises in unceasing hymns of grateful adoration, the humble incense of the lonely wor shipper no less rises as a memorial before his throne. This consideration should support us in every reverse of life: in sorrow, it should dry up our tears; in disease, it should make us resigned to the will of the Supreme Disposer of all. events; in severe pain, it should render us calm and acquiescent; in adversity, it should prevent de

an army, and chooses a frontier garrison to be wise in. Anger is a perfect alienation of the mind from prayer, and therefore is contrary to that attention which presents our prayers in a right line to God. For so have I seen a lark rising from his bed of grass, and soaring upwards, singing as he rises, and hoping to get to heaven, and climb above the clouds: but the poor bird was beaten back with the loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion made irregular and inconstant, descending more at every breath of the tempest than it could recover by the libration and weighing of its wings--till the little creature was forced to sit down and pant, and stay till the storm was over; and then it made a prosperous flight, and did rise and sing, as if it had learned music and motion of an angel as he passed sometimes through the air about his ministries below. So is the prayer of a good man; when his affairs have required business, and his business was matter of discipline, and his discipline was to pass upon a sinning person, or had a design of charity; his duty met with the infirmities of a man, and anger was its instrument, and the instrument became stronger than the prime agent, and raised a tempest and over-ruled the man; and then his prayer was broken, and his thoughts were troubled, and his words went up towards a cloud, and his thoughts pulled them back again and made them without intention; and the good man sighs for his infirmity, but must be content to lose that prayer, and he must recover it when his anger is removed and his spirit is becalmed, made even as the brow of Jesus, and smooth like the heart of God; and then it ascends to Heaven upon the wings of the Holy Dove, and dwells with God, till it returns, like the useful bee, loaden with a blessing and the dew of Heaven"."

T. D. Taylor's Sermon on the Return of Prayer. I cannot help remarking, that

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. In reply to your correspondent VERAX, on the Efficacy of Moral Suasion, in your last Number; I admit that our Lord, in the passage quoted (Matt. xi. 21), speaks of moral or objective means; and asserts positively, that, had the same been offered to the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, they would have "repented in sackcloth and ashes"

that is, according to able commentators (see Poole on the passage) a national fast would have been immediately proclaimed and generally solemnized. Now, it surely will not be contended that the observance of a publie fast necessarily implies a saving repentance. Were all who obeyed the injunctions of our rulers, by fasting annually during the late war, true penitents and real believers? Yet the whole kingdom might be said to mourn on those occasions for its sins. But the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida bad not even done this: therefore the Jews will be condemned in the Judgment by the men of Nineveh; "for they" (collectively) "repented at the preaching of Jonas." (Luke xi. 32.) But it would surely be presumptuous to maintain, that all, or any, of these repented unto salvation, merely by the efficacy of moral suasion and the use of objective means, as opposed to the saving influences of the Holy Spirit.

C.

in the whole compass of prose or poetry

fully introduced, or more artfully sustained, than that of the lark impeded in its flight to heaven by surrounding difficulties. It most aptly represents what every Christian must have freown case. quently perceived and lamented in his The selection of circumstances-the "poor bird" rising from its bed of grass, singing, hoping, ascending-then beaten back, drooping, panting-forced to stay till the

I never met with a simile more beauti

storm is over-and then again making a prosperous flight, again singing as it rises-forms altogether a graphic description which Shakspeare himself has never surpassed: and, indeed, Bishop J. Taylor has always appeared to me the Shakspeare of English divines,

To the Editor of the Christian Observer, MR. ÉDITOR-It is now six weeks since I first thought of writing to you; but, what with the bustle of the canvass, and what with the turmoil of our election, I have not been able to collect my thoughts. But all is now over, and we are quiet again. Sir, I am a plain man, who dearly love our church, and our king, and our constitution; and who at the same time dislike all bad jobs at home, and all unjust doings abroad; and hope to see the time when there will be neither slave nor idolater all the world over. I am very far from approving Mr. Brougham's politics, and I told him how much I wished, for his own sake and that of the country, that he were more moderate. I like, however, the spirit with which he has opposed the Slave Trade, and ferreted out the abuses of Charity-money, and laboured to convey the blessings of education to the Poor. I gave my vote, after much hesitation, for him and for Lord Lowther. I tell you all this, that every body may know why I so acted; for many of my friends have been plaguing me about it.

But I am wandering from my subject: my head is so full of this election, which has caused such a buzz in our mountains and valleys, that I forgot it had nothing to do with my letter to you. You must know, then, that I am the father of ten children, whom I endeavour to bring up to fear God and honour the king. By the help of a good school which is near me, I am contriving to give my boys a better education than their father, I am sorry to say, can boast of. My eldest boy, now going nineteen, has taken so wonderfully to his book, and has shewn so much

pleasure and been so useful in teaching a Sunday-school of our village children, that I consented some time back, though not very able to afford it, to send him to the University of Cambridge, hoping to see him become a faithful Minister of the Church of England. It is no more than the truth to say of him, that he is a very promising lad, and very dutiful and affection ate to his parents; and he has grown up, I hope, with a hatred of all wicked courses. The Curate of our parish, a very learned man, tells me that the boy knows more already than many a Fellow of a college; and that if he goes on as he has begun, he will be sure to be what he calls a Wrangler. He explained to me that this had nothing to do with such wrangling as has disturbed our county of late: if it had, I should have thought twice before I sent him to Cambridge. My purpose of sending him there has, however, been shaken by another cause. About two months ago some reports reached me of strange doings that are said to prevail there. If these reports should prove true, I would not for the world send him to such a place, But I cannot believe they are true, because I cannot believe that a place where young men are prepared for Clergymen should not be under strict rules; or that the head men of the university should not know such things, if they are true; and if they know them, should not instantly put a stop to them. Still, the risk for my poor boy is so fearful, that I dare not send him till I have had better proof than my own judgment that the reports which have reached me are not true. My neighbour the Curate, who knows my doubts and perplexities, has advised me to apply. to you. He says you must kuow

all that is going on in the world, and especially at our places of learning. Let me, therefore, entreat you to inform me whether what I have heard is true, and whether the evils of a college life are quite as great as they have been stated to me to be.

First, then, I wish to know whether it is true that many of the young men who go to college are hot lodged within the college walls, but are scattered up and down the town in lodging-houses, out of the reach of the observation or controul of their superiors. This is what is said; and my informer added, that the head men of the colleges cared so little about the young men committed to their charge, that, though they have plenty of ground whereon to build more rooms, and may have plenty of money to build them with, they put off doing it, because they are unwilling to lessen the size of their garden grounds, or to be plagued with the noise and dirt of masons and carpenters. This, however, is what I cannot bring myself to believe. I look upon it as such a slander as brings into doubt the correctness of other parts of the story.

Secondly. Can it be true, as is reported, that there are many young men belonging to the university who drink wine to intoxication; and that this practice has been long known to their superiors, with out their taking proper means to check it; and that students have actually been seen at times reeling about the streets drunk, without having been punished; and that the gates of the colleges will open at all hours of the night for young men returning from their carousals? All this has been stated to me as a fact; but I trust it is altogether exaggerated.

Thirdly. I have been informed that other vices are common among the young men at Cambridge; and that vile seducers are permitted openly to infest the streets of the town, aud to lodge in its vicinity,

The very idea makes me shudder. I well know how ready human nature is to seek vicious indulgences. But that is the worst reason in the world for allowing the temptations to such indulgences to present themselves at every corner, or for not removing to a distance, at the least out of sight, the means of gratification. I hope to hear that this, above all other things, is a slander on the university. If it be not, I fear I must disappoint the expectations of my poor boy. I could not answer to God for placing him in such a situation.

But this is not all. I have heard that even the inside of the colleges themselves is not free from temptations of this kind; and that, at least in some of them, the women who wait on the young men (bedmakers, I think they call them), are frequently not older, or not much older, than the young men themselves. Can this be indeed so? I will not believe it, at least with out farther proof.

I have been also told, that cardplaying and gaming are practised among some of the young men; and that during the races at Newmarket, last year, there were not less than two hundred of them on the race-ground on one day, whipping, and spurring, and dashing, and betting, in the style of firstrate jockeys. This, I think, must be the accusation of some enemy to the university.

But the worst report of all re mains to be mentioned. I have heard that some of these bad doings were lately attacked in a pamphlet; and that they were not denied, but rather defended, or at least palliated, and even joked about and laughed at, in other pamphlets, by persons whom our Curate called Fellows of colleges. It was even stated that the pamphlets of these Fellows were not disapproved by the great part of the other Fellows and of the head men of the university. This is too bad to be believed. They are only