A literal translation of a declaration, written in a corrupted Arabic, from the town of Yaúd, in the interior of Africa. "In the name of God, the Merciful saw nor and the Munificent. "This declaration is issued from the town called Yaúd, in the country of Kossa. -We (the writer) do witness the following case, (statement.) We never heard of the sea (river) called Koodd; but we sat to hear (understood) the voice (report) of some persons, saying, We saw a ship, equal to her we never saw before; and the King of Yaúd had sent plenty of every kind of food, with cows and sheep; There were two men, one woman, two male slaves, and two maids in the ship; The two white men were derived from the race (sect) of Nassrí; (Christ or Christianity.) The King of Yaúd asked them to come out to him, (to land ;) and they refused coming out, (landing,) and they went to the King of the country of Bassa, who is greater than the King of Yaúd; And while they were sitting in the ship, and gaining a position (rounding) over the Cape of Koodd, and were in society with the people of the King of Bassa, the ship reached (struck) ahead of Mountain, which took (destroyed) her away, and the men and women of Bassa altogether, with every kind of arms, (goods;) And the ship could find no way to avoid the mountain; And the man who reas in the ship killed his wife, and threw all his property into the sea, (river,) and then they threw themselves also from fear: Afterwards they took one out of the water, till the news reached the town of Kanji, the country of the King of Wawi, and the King of Wawi heard of it, he buried him in his earth, (grave,) and the other we have not seen; perhaps he is in the bottom of the water. And God knows best. Authentic from the mouth of Sherif Abrahim. -Finis." MR JACKSON'S TRANSLATION. "In the name of God, the Merciful and Clement. "This narrative proceeds from the ter ritory in Housa called Eeauree. We observed an extraordinary event or circumstance, but we neither saw nor heard of the river which is called Kude, and as we were sitting we heard the voice of children, and we saw a vessel the like to which in size we never saw before; and we saw the King of Eeauree send cattle and sheep, and a variety of vegetables in great abundance: and there were two men and one woman, and two slaves, and they tied or fastened them in the vessel. "There were also in the vessel two white men of the race called Christians, (N'sarrah;) and the Sultan of Eeauree called a loud to them to come out of the vessel, but they would not. sa, 66 They proceeded to the country of Buof Eeauree, and as they were sitting in the which is greater than that of the Sultan vessel they hung or were stopped by the Cape or Head Land of Kude. "And the people of the Sultan of Busa called to them, and poured their arms into the vessel, and the vessel reached the headland or cliff, and became attached or fixed to the head of the mountain, and could not pass it. Then the men and women of Busa collected themselves hostilely together, with arms of all descriptions, when the vessel being unable to clear or pass the Cape, the man in the vessel killed his wife, and threw the whole of her property into the river; they then threw themselves into the river, fear seizing them; (the news of this occurrence was then conveyed to the Sultan Wawee,) until it reached by water the terri tory of Kanjee, in the country of the Sultan Wawee, and we buried it (a male body) in its earth, and one of them we saw not at all in the water, and God knows the truth of this report. From the mouth of the Shereef Ibrahim.-The end." We must, before we conclude, indulge our readers with an Ashantee song. It is not inelegant, and, as Mr Bowdich remarks, has a considerable resemblance to one of the odes of Horace," Donec gratus eram tibi,” &c. 1st Voman. My husband likes me too much, He is good to me; So I must listen to my lover. 1st Man. My wife does not please me, I tire of her now; So I will please myself with another 2d Woman. My lover tempts me too much, But my husband always does me good, And I must be true to him. 2d Man. Girl, you pass my wife hand some, But I cannot call you wife; This book is written in a very singular style. Mr Bowdich seems to have been originally a scholar, and given to fine writing, for he often quotes the classics, and his descriptions of scenery, in particular, are cast in a highly poetical mould; but, by living so long abroad, he has in some measure forgotten his own language, and is ever mingling with his finest flights words that have no meaning as he uses them, or, more grotesquely still, the senseless jabber of negros and negro-drivers. "He talks incessantly of palavers, dashes, &c. which interrupt in the most ridiculous way the splendour of his narrative. Mr Bowdich, too, seems to have formed quite as high a notion of his own talents for a negotiator as his readers will give him credit for; and he rather crows over poor Mr James in a tone of too much self-importance. However, he is a very entertaining and intelligent traveller, and, "take him for all in all," we "like his palaver much." In giving a view of the literature of the age, we must not pass over the pulpit, and we should tarry longer within that sacred ground than, perhaps, our readers would be inclined to continue with us, were we to consult only our own inclinations. In a miscellaneous journal, however, it is scarcely possible to introduce the voice of the preacher with much effect. It is like quoting the Bible in a mixed company, when the wellmeaning monitor is only stared at for his pains, and has the mortification to discover, that he has rather injured than befriended the cause of religion. We shall, yet, every now and then, make the attempt, and, without venturing on many words of our own, it will be very gratifying to us, if the slight glimpses which we may occasionally have it in our power to give into the writings of learned and pious divines, both of our own and of former times, should be the means of exciting our readers to look farther for themselves. The present age is not, on the whole, adverse to religion, but it has no great notion of the sobriety of religion, and we should not be surprised if the sermons before us were less noticed than they deserve to be, from the peculiarity of the times in which they appear. What we consider as their leading ex Sermons preached in St John's Chapel, Edinburgh. By Daniel Sandford, D. D. one of the Bishops of the Scotch Episcopal Church, &c. &c. Edinburgh, 1819. cellence, is perhaps the very circumstance, which may possibly prevent them from acquiring their just share of reputation. They seem to us a very admirable specimen of simple pastoral homilies, and they recall to us more perfectly the carlier age of the English Reformed Church, than any thing which we have seen for a long time. They contain wholesome doctrine, conveyed in very plain and perspicuous language, and in a spirit quite the reverse of any thing polemical or controversial; and they invariably connect practical conclusions with Gospel tenets. There is not, perhaps, much skill exhibited in the structure of these discourses, nor any remarkable felicity in the manner of expression, yet in these very defects, if they are defects, they come nearer the primitive model upon which they have insensibly been formed. They are the compositions, in short, of one well instructed in Christian doctrine, and fully impressed with its infinite importance, yet enforcing it with a most exemplary meekness; and, in their entire want of artifice, or any attempt at eloquence, except what is naturally inspired by the subject itself, they have about them a species of Apostolical purity, which is now but rarely to be met with. The few examples which we can give, and which we shall take without much selection, will, we think, both explain and justify this opinion. The following passage, in a sermon on the text, "For we walk by faith, not by sight," contains a striking practical view of the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel. "The mercy and love towards us' of Almighty God, who is not a hard master, reaping where He hath not sowed, and gathering where he hath not strawed,' have ordained, that the matters of revelation shall be calculated to produce this practical impression upon the humble spirit which submits itself to the teaching of His word, and the heart which is open to its instructions. Even the most mysterious doctrines of the Gospel partake of this character. That sublime fact, into the belief of which we are baptized, the ineffable unity of three Divine persons in the One Godhead, high as it is beyond the present comprehension of our bounded reason, is rendered most interesting to the restored creatures, who are thus taught in gratitude to worship the concentrated benignity of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier of man. That faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;' that God spared not His own Son; but made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin (&.c. an offering for sin) for us; that the just suffered for the unjust,' is a mystery unfathomable by our understandings, yet assured to us by the truth of Holy Writ, and, therefore, the object of faith; but how, my brethren, doth it speak to the heart; how is it formed to penetrate the spirit with the liveliest sense of God's unutterable goodness; that Heaven was bowed down to the earth, that the Word was made flesh,' to undergo a life on this earth of suffering, and a death of ignominy and torture for man, made out of the dust of the ground; how doth it console the penitent sinner, trembling beneath the burden of his transgressions, and bind him in affectionate and grateful captivity to the law of the gracious Being, who, at the very moment of the first offence, thought on us that we should not perish! The Holy Spirit, whose blessed influence is promised to our prayers, to strengthen our infirmities, in whose assured help we are taught, by Divine truth, to believe, acts imperceptibly; the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.' The operation is mys. terious, but sincere faith in the revelation will encourage the believer to use, with humble confidence, the appointed means of grace, and to labour that the mercy and aid he seeks shall be thankfully improved to the end for which Eternal Goodness bestows them. Thus it is, that every communication of that Scripture which is given by inspiration of God, is profitable for instruction in righteousness, that we may be thoroughly furnished to all good works." pp. 247-251, In a sermon on self-examination are the following very edifying and useful obscrvations: "It is impossible, in the space allowed for such a discourse as this, to describe, in detail, all the subjects which this inquiry embraces; but some of the most prominent tokens that we are living under the influence and guidance of the Spirit may be mentioned. Perhaps we may derive no little assurance on this point, by asking our own hearts whether we be willing and earnest to engage in the inquiry. It is one of the most dangerous artifices of Satan to whisper that there is no call for this self-examination. It would mainly serve his malicious purpose to inspire us with an indolent unwillingness to disturb our own peace He is continually practising his fast temptation. Ye shall not surely die is a crafty suggestion, which has deceived and ruined many more than the mother of mankind. If he can fix this suggestion in the mind, and cheat us into the slumber of self-satisfaction, and persuade us that we are safe enough already, half his work is done. He will retire abashed and disconcerted, if he find us determined not to rest in a general careless acquiescence in our spiritual state, but to search out our ways,' and apply the only rule which will not deceive us, to decide upon their charac. ter. It was while men slept that the ene. my sowed tares among the good seed. Our Lord commands all Christians to watch; and as the temptation to speak peace to the soul, when there is no peace, proceeds from the adversary, who desires to take advantage of our weakness, and tə lull us to the sleep of death, so, on the other hand, the desire to shake off this false security may be considered as a token that the work of renewal is going on in the heart, and will proceed, by the Divine blessing, to the happiest result, if we da not, by our own folly or perverseness, disappoint the merciful intentions of God's Holy Spirit. Again, let us suppose that the exami nation is undertaken with a deep sense of its importance, and an active will to per form it. We may ask, in the next place, is it conducted with perfect sincerity? Is there no reserve, no hidden chamber of the heart, which we forbear to explore? Do we hear a secret voice within, counselling us to rest in a general acknowledgment of unworthiness, and to forbear that detailed and close inspection and scrutiny which are indispensable to the real and profitable knowledge of ourselves? or do we, remembering that we are in the presence of Him from whom no secrets are hid, implore Him to assist us to banish the suggestions of self-love, and by a fair, unreserved com parison of our sentiments and conduct with work? From the answers which the heart the law, to let conscience do her perfect pronounces to these questions we may draw no unsafe conclusion to tell us, whe ther we are proceeding under the proter tion of the Spirit of truth, or whether, in the very moment of such a religious exercise, we are blindly yielding to the stratac gems and deceit of the father of lies."! In pursuing the same subject he says, How do you reverence God's holy word? Is it the companion of your res tired hours? Is it your chief delight to meditate on the Holy Scriptures? Or de you read them only as a duty which inst be performed, and gladly close the volume of eternal truth, to betake yourselves to sore more engaging and animating pur suit? Do you love the holy day which E. ་ C I God has set apart for his own service, and for our highest edification and improvement, and the duties in which it calls you to engage? Or do you esteem it a weariness or a toil? do its lingering hours hang heavy on your hands? Do you think that you have done your duty on that day, by appearing once only in the house of God; or do you rejoice in every opportunity to tread its sacred courts ? And how is the remainder of that sacred time employed? Believe me, you may form no mistaken judgment of your religious character, from the degree of your affection to the appropriate employments of the Lord's day, and from the manner in which you pass it. am far from recommending you to make the Christian festival a day of morose and puritanical strictness; but allow me to say, that he who has not, unless prevented by some lawful impediment, presented himself at both the usual services of the church, has not done his duty; nor he who allows the remaining leisure of that day to be spent in indolence, in idle visit. ing and conversation, in careless neglect of his duties in the closet. Let these be performed conscientiously, and heartily as unto the Lord,' and then let the portion of his time which he can command be past in acts of charity and mercy, or in the rational and improving converse of pious and cheerful friends. Ask your own hearts, whether such is the history of your Sab. baths. Extend your inquisition to the other particulars comprised under this first and greatest commandment. If your hearts condemn you not, happy indeed you are, for then may you have confidence towards God.' Then will the Spirit bear witness with your spirit,' that the work of the Holy Ghost renewing you to His image is proceeding, and by a proof which cannot deceive, that you have the tokens of the Spirit of Christ."" There are some subjects canvassed in this volume which have given rise to much controversy, and have of consequence produced much ill-blood and rancour in the Christian world. He would be a singular being, however, in whom any such feelings should be engendered by the mild and paternal tone in which these subjects are treated here. If any one, for instance, should fall tooth and nail upon the sermon in which the subject of Regeneration is discussed, we should almost be inclined to consider the occurrence of such bitterness as a confutation of the sermon, (Bishop Sandford very temperately holds the opinion, which is maintained by the highest authorities in the English church, that the word Regeneration TOL. JV. means simply the operation of the Holy Spirit in baptism,) and, as a proof that the person who could be so perversely disposed was still among the unregenerate. Nor do we conceive that there is a single Presbyterian in Scotland who will have any feeling but one of sympathy and respect for the candid firmness with which this sincere and conscientious Bishop thus defends the peculiar constitution of his own church. "Without uncharitable censure of those who differ from us in their notions of church government, and of the qualifications necessary to the right administration of the Holy Sacraments, we faithfully and conscientiously abide by that form of ecclesiastical polity, which we verily believe to have been established by the first inspired rulers of the Christian church. Without any vain and irritating disputations about names and titles, we are content to follow the pattern which we think is evidently propounded in the word of God. This is the claim which we acknowledge, and the example we profess to imitate. We believe that the three orders of our clergy. are derived from the model of the church in the New Testament; and we know, and all who are acquainted with the history of Christianity from the first ages, know as well as we do, that for the first fifteen centuries of the Christian æra, there was no regular church in any part of the world that was not so constituted. We thus consider our form of ecclesiastical government such as may be proved by most certain warrant of Holy Scripture,' and confirmed by the invariable practice of all antiquity. While we abstain, as our Christian profession requires from us, from judging those who do not agree with us on this important subject; while we endeavour to live in the bond of peace' with other communities of our Christian bre thren, who is he that will blame us for holding fast the practices which we contemplate as deriving a sacred authority from the Apostles of our blessed Lord and Master ?" MELINE. REMARKS ON MRS BRUNTON'S EM- trespassed upon these great social and religious sanctions, that there is a secret power thwarting their attempts at happiness, and that, whatever may be their worldly prosperity, or even their great and amiable qualities," the stars in their courses are fighting against them." To make this lesson the more impressive, she has invested her guilty pair with many of those dispositions which are most agreeable and respectable in society, the woman, weak, indeed, and without any force of character, but, perhaps, the more engaging from her feminine timidity and softness,-the man, of a lofty mind and unbending honour, according to the principles of the world. They are inarried after their crime, and the outset of the tale gives us, at once, an insight into the character of the parties, and the sources of misery that were opening for them. We know few pieces of fictitious writing more beautiful and affecting than this little fraginent. Yet the volume which contains it has a hold upon our feelings of a much stronger kind than ever belonged to the mere interest of a tale; and, amidst the real sorrow which it awakens in us, we can scarcely attend to any imaginary woes. The cloud which not many months ago fell so heavily over our city, once more presses upon us, when we open the last unfinished pages of one whom we so highly honoured and admired, dropping, as it were, from her dying hand; and when we read that heartrending memoir which precedes them, traced with all the suppressed emotion of the deepest and most genuine sorrow, by the widowed hand, which, with a love so devoted, was long linked to hers. It is not easy, in such circumstances, to listen to the moral lessons of any fiction, however interesting, yet we are glad to take refuge in the occupation, and to withdraw ourselves, for a time, from more oppressive feelings. We hope that it will soon be a more pleasing employment, however melancholy, to contemplate the instructive biography of Mrs Brunton herself: At present, we must speak only of this little work, in which, with all her characteristic anxiety to employ her uncommon powers, for the good of her species, she has bequeathed, even in its imperfect form, a most valuable legacy to society. It could not but be painful to this high-minded woman, and most sincere Christian, to oberve, that some fatal infringements had, of late years, been made upon the purity of ancient manners; that the severe but salutary laws which had been raised as a fence around the sanctity of domestic virtue, had, in some respects, given way; and that a greater laxity of sentiment was gradually creeping in under the aspect of an improved liberality and charity. Her clear-sighted spirit saw at once through the delusion; but, in endeavouring to dispel it, she saw likewise that much delicacy, as well as decision, was requisite. It is in this spirit that she began this admirable tale, in which she has endeavoured to prove to those who have "The dews were sparkling in the summer sun, the birds sang in full chorus, the antic sports of animals testified activity and joy, and gladness seemed the nature of every living thing, when the loveliest bride that ever England saw was preparing for her nuptial hour. Affluence awaited her, and to her rank belonged all the advanta ges of respectability, without the fetters of state. That hour was to see her united to the gallant Sir Sidney de Clifford,—a soldier high in fame,-agentleman who, in person, led by few,-a lover, who adored her with manners, and accomplishments, was rivalall the energies of a powerful mind. He was the husband of her choice-whom she had loved above all that heaven and earth contain-above Him whom they cannot contain. "If youth, beauty, affluence, satisfied ambition, and successful love, can give happiness, Emineline was happy. Yet the sigh which swelled her bosom was not the meline was the softest of her sex, the offsigh of rapture; nor was it, though Emspring of maiden fears. It was wrung from her by bitter recollection; for Emmeline had, before, been a bride. Attendance and respect, cheerful preparations and congratulating friends, had beguiled the apprehensions of innocence. The bonds into which she had entered had been hallowed by a parent's blessing-a blessing given, The bridal ornaments, alas! in vain. which now a menial was arranging, a proud and joyful hand-but this way Emmeline dared not look. I will forget the past, forget it; and from this hour I will atone thought she. This day, at least, I will for my error-for my guilt, if I must call it so. Every duty will I now punctually |