we are to put out our eyes, or throw away our limbs, as we please. If a man had eyes, and hands, and feet, that he could give to those that wanted them; if he should either lock them up in a chest, or please himself with some needless or ridiculous use of them, instead of giving them to his brethren that were blind and lame, should we not justly reckon him an inhuman wretch? If he should rather chuse to amuse himself with furnishing his house with those things, than to entitle himself to an eternal reward, by giving them to those that wanted eyes and hands, might we not justly reckon him mad?

"Now money has very much the nature of eyes and feet, if we either lock it up in chests, or waste it in needness and ridiculous expences upon ourselves, whilst the poor and distressed want it for their necessary uses. If we consume it in the ridiculous ornaments of apparel, whilst others are starving in nakedness, we are not far from the cruelty of him that chuses rather to adorn his house with the hands and eyes, than to give them to those that want them. If we chuse to indulge ourselves in such expensive enjoyments as have no real use in them, such as satisfy no real want, rather than by disposing of our money well, we are guilty of his madness, that rather chuses to lock up eyes and hands, than to make himself for ever blessed, by giving them to those that want them.

"For after we have satisfied our own sober and reasonable wants, all the rest of our money is but like spare eyes or hands: it is something that we cannot keep to ourselves without being

foolish in the use of it; something that can only be used well by giving it to those that want it."

RIDICULE.

"IF the talent of ridicule," says Mr. Addison, "were employed to laugh men out of vice and folly, it might be of some use in the world; but, instead of this, we find it is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking every thing that is serious and solemn, decent and praise-worthy, in human life."

If ever a vein of ridicule be necessary, I think it is here, where just argument can have no effect.

Some Jesuits once, in company with Mons. Boileau, asserted according to the principles of that society, that attrition was only necessary, and that we were not obliged to love God. It was to no purpose to unravel their fallacies. They shewed themselves inviolably attached to their error; when Mr. Boileau, starting up, cried, "Oh! how prettily will it sound in the day of judgment, when our Lord shall say to his elect, Come you, ye well beloved of my Father; for you never loved me in your life, but always forbad that I should be beloved, and constantly opposed those heretics who were for obliging Christians to love me; and you, on the contrary, Go to the Devil, and his angels; you, the accursed of my Father; for you have loved me with your whole heart, and have solicited and

urged every body else to love me." This raillery struck the opponents dumb, and bore down that opposition which the most cogent arguments could not quell.

"If a handsome opportunity presents itself," says one, "it may not be amiss to deal with an opinionative fellow, as Bishop Bramhall did, with the popish missionary. When his antagonist would obstinately maintain whatever he had rashly advanced, the bishop drove the disputant up into so narrow a corner, that he was forced to affirm that eating was drinking, and drinking was eating, in a material or bodily sense. This assertion was so big with palpable absurdities, that he needed no greater trophy if he could get under the Jesuit's hand what he declared with his tongue; which being desired, was by the other, in his heat and shame, to seem to retreat, as readily granted. But upon cooler thoughts," says my author, "finding, perhaps, after the contest was over, that he could not quench his thirst with a piece of bread, he reflected so sadly on the dishonour he had suffered, that, not being able to digest it, in ten days' time he died." As it respects the use of ridicule in the pulpit, great caution is necessary. "It is true,' as Dr. Campbell observes, "that an air of ridicule in disproving or dissuading, by rendering opinions or practices contemptible, hath occasionally been attempted, with approbation, by preachers of great name. I can only say, that, when this airy manner is employed, it requires to be managed with the greatest care and delicacy, that it may not degenerate into a strain but

ill adapted to so serious an occupation. For the reverence of the place, the gravity of the function, the solemnity of worship, the severity of the precepts, and the importance of the motives of religion; above all, the awful presence of God, with a sense of which, the mind, when occupied in religious exercises, ought eminently to be impressed; and these seem utterly incompatible with the levity of ridicule. They render jesting impertinence, and laughter madness. Therefore any thing in preaching which might provoke this emotion would justly be deemed an unpardonable offence against both piety and de

corum."

THE RIGHTEOUS REVERED.

HOWEVER the carnal heart may rise in enmity against those who are truly religious, yet their amiable temper, great prudence, and just deportment, strike the mind of others with such peculiar force, as to extort from them both confessions and respect not a little extraordinary. The Earl of Rochester acknowledged, that even in the midst of his wild paroxysms, he had a secret veneration for a good man.

The venerable and famous missionary Swartz had acquired such a character among the heathen, that, when among a barbarous and lawless banditti, he was suffered to pass with his catechumen through contending parties of them unsuspected and unmolested. They said, "Let him alone-let him pass—he is a man of God !"

This apostle of our own day has saved the inhabitants of a fort from perishing by famine, when the neighbouring heathen have refused to supply it with provision on any other assurance than that of his word. Even that tyrant Hyder Ally, while he refused to negotiate in a certain treaty with others, said, "Send me Swartz; send me the Christian Missionary," said this Mahometan; “I will treat with him, for him only can I trust.”

Another fact, relative to this great man, is worth mentioning. When the late Rajah of Tanjore was dying, and desired to commit his adopted son, the present rajah, to this missionary, and with him, of course, the care of his dominions, the Christian, after the example of his Master, was not to be dazzled by the kingdoms of this world, nor the glory of them. He persuaded the dying prince to place the government of his son and of his affairs in other hands. But a greater honour was reserved for him, which he could not refuse; namely, that at his death the present rajah shed a flood of tears over his body, mourned deeply while attending his funeral, and has written to England for a monument, which he intends to erect in Tanjore to the memory of his virtues.

These anecdotes shew us, better than a thousand arguments, the importance of character, and the propriety of the apostle's exhortation, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without."

Mr. Erskine (father of the famous brothers Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine) was on his passage across the Firth of Forth, between Leith