whom they had not seen for many years; nor will they ever be able to obtain intelligence respecting their fate.

Here, is a person put into prison, who lived in affluence and respectability all his days. He never, till now, was in a room from which he could not, or durst not, depart. His family at home resolve to visit him, but are denied admission; even a letter dare not pass between him and his dearest friends. True, his own folly brought him to this misery; but still he has the feelings of a man.

There, is a merchant lamenting the loss of a valuable ship and cargo. Here, one rejoices at the safe arrival of his vessel, and hopes for abundant profit from the sale of his goods. Here is one hurled from the pinnacle of opulence, into the valley of poverty. Here is a court-favourite thrown into disgrace; and another is raised to his place. In that palace lies the man who made the world to tremble, unable to move himself upon his bed, ready to experience death, which he often inflicted without remorse upon others! Thousands are preparing to congratulate his successor the moment his breath. is gone. He receives no wholesome admonition respecting that eternity to which he is about to enter. To him it is a leap in the dark. His numberless avocations during health, left him no leisure to look into the word of truth for instruction about his soul's salvation: he waited for a more convenient scason; while foolishly doing so, the heavenly decree that he should die went forth from the Lord. He sickened, he trembled, he groaned, he died.

In that house to which I now look, lives a family overwhelmed with poverty; they have not a morsel to eat : being strangers in the town, they have no friends to apply to for assistance. Having seen better days, their situation is more distressing. A few doors from them I see a family living in the utmost profusion; their dishes at table are so numerous, they can hardly taste half of them, and yet they are not thankful! they say,This fowl is too old; that one is not well cooked; this pudding is bad; and that trifle is intolerable.' The patience of Job could not bear with the constant ingratitude of such creatures; yet God has patience to bear with such persons for many years; but if his goodness does not lead them to repentance, his wrath will begin to burn.

Now the angel who provided the telescope and trumpet, made bis appearance. He asked me how many people were at this moment, within my view, in the agonies of death? After turning my glass to twenty or thirty cities, I said I supposed there might be twenty thousand in all the kingdoms which were visible. "Ah," said he, "there are more ran an hundred thousand who will not live twenty-four hours! There are also many thousands of these people who are running about in per fect health, who will be dead before the week expires!"

He remarked, that God was every minute creating hundredsof souls and bodies for their habitation, and summoning about the same number to appear at his judgment-bar. Had you powers capable of distinguishing spirits, you would perceive a constant flight of souls leaving the world; some for the mansions of the blessed,-others bound for the abodes of the wretched!

The angel, after taking from me the telescope and trumpet, advised me to dwell as a pilgrim and stranger in that miserable world till my time for departing should come; daily to bewail the direful effects which siu has produced; to forsake every evil way myself, and warn others to do the same; assuring them, from God's word, that believers in Jesus have the promise of the life that now is, and the life that is to come.— "Go in peace," said he, " and may the God of love and peace be with you."

On this I awoke, and behold it was a dream. But, surely, there has not been a day since the world was generally peopled, but similar scenes have taken place. Such contemplations have certainly a practical tendency; if they have not this effect, we are mere speculators. Kingsland,

HEMAN.

ADAM'S PEAK.

In a former Number we gave our readers a general account of the Island of Ceylon, to which some Missionaries are on their way; we now add the following curious tradition among the Cingalese (as the inhabitants are called) which seems to confirm the truth of Scripture-History, as the antiquities of the east generally do: —

"THERE is," says Mr. Percival, in his account of this island," a mountain in Ceylon called Hammalleel, or Adam's Peak: it is one of the highest in the island; and lies at the distance of about fifty miles to the north-east of Columbo, the capital city. It is from the summit of this mountain, as tradition reports, that Adam took his last view of Paradise, before he quitted it, never to return. The spot on which his foot stood at the moment, is still supposed to be found in an impression on the summit of the mountain, resembling the print of a man's foot; but more than double the ordinary size. After taking this farewell view, the father of mankind is said to have gone over to the continent of India, which was at that time joined to the island; but no sooner had he passed what is called Adam's Bridge, than the sea closed behind him, and cut off all hopes of return. This tradition, from whatever source it was originally derived, seems to be interwoven with their earliest notions of religion; and it is difficult to con

ceive that it could be engrafted on them, without forming an original part. I have frequently had the curiosity to enquire of black men of different casts concerning the tradition of Adam. All of them, with every appearance of belief, assured me that it was really true; and in support of it, produced a variety of testimonies, old sayings, and prophecies, which have for ages been current among them. The origin of these traditions I do not pretend to trace; but their connection with Scriptural-History is very evident: and they afford a new instance how universally the opinions, with respect to the origin of man, coincide with the history of that event, as recorded in the Bible."

THE CHARACTER OF MR. LAVATER. *

Ir was the lot of Mr. Lavater, as it is generally of eminent men, to be exalted above measure by some persons, and unjustly censured by others; but no candid and impartial man who knew Mr. Lavater personally, who has read his writings, and observed his conduct, will deny that he was, though a singular, yet both a great and a good man. His intellectual powers were by no means of the common cast; his powers of comprehension were unusually quick; he possessed an eminent gift of observation, an excellent memory, — a rich, lively, and perhaps too luxuriant an imagination; which, however, as he advanced in years became more chaste, and was more wisely directed and restrained by sound reason and judg ment. His knowledge was also very extensive, though it consisted not so much in classical learning (in some parts of which he acknowledged himself rather deficient) as in the knowledge of himself, of mankind in general, of God, and of divine things. As to his moral and religious character, he was a Christian in the fullest sense of the word: he believed in the Bible, and in the God of the Bible, with the most implicit, child-like, and unshaken confidence. No modern philosophy, no derision of his enemies, no defection of his learned friends, neither the frowns of men, nor their deceitful flattery, could ever induce him to renounce his faith in the unerring word. It was, indeed, to him" eternal life to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent," Christ was more precious to him than words can express; for him he felt the deepest veneration, as well as the most tender affection and boundless gratitude. Often, whilst speaking of

As we were unwilling to protract the Life of Mr. Lavater, however interesting, to an undue length, it was thought best to reserve his Character for a distinct article. A short account of his writings will appear. hereafter.

him in public, or in a private circle of friends, his heart glowed and his lips overflowed: he knew not how to find terms sufficiently strong, energetic, and impressive to extol his person, doctrine, and character; his spotless life, his dying love, his admirable condescension, his all-sufficient grace, his boundless mercy and compassion, his never-failing ability and willingness to save. Him to serve, him to glorify, him to recommend by a thousand ways and means, him to imitate,- in him to trust, even in the darkest moments,- for him to win souls, was the grand object of his ambition! To preach and catechise, to visit the sick, to relieve the poor, to comfort the afflicted, to gladden the heart of the widow, to provide for orphans, to establish and support benevolent institutions, to exert himself in doing good, was the very delight of his soul. His Christian principles made him a most affectionate husband, a wise father, a kind master, a faithful and sympathizing friend, a conscientious pastor, a loyal subject. Naturally timid, Religion made him the boldest confessor of the truth; volatile in disposition, Religion made him steady and consistent. He was of an irritable temper; but he kept it under, from a principle of the fear of God:- he was prone to vanity; and the many marks of distinguished honour he received from a crowd of admirers, and even from the great and mighty, had a tendency to increase these inordinate emotions of self-love; but he constantly combated this dangerous enemy, and blessed God for every humbling dispensation of his providence.

There was a period in his life in which, as he acknowledges, he had nearly been carried to the very brink of Fanaticism by ambition, warmth of imagination, and a heart of extreme sensibility; but the gracious hand of Providence drew him back, and preserved him. Lavater was a man much habituated to private prayer; and having experienced, from the carliest period of his life, many remarkable answers to his petitions, his faith grew very strong, and his confidence in prayer was remarkably great.

I could add many more remarks on his character; but lest I should exceed the limits to which I must confine this paper, I will conclude with a few striking passages, translated from the Preface of the second volume of his Life, which may throw additional light upon his character:-"One ought," says his son-in-law in this Preface "to have seen Lavater in the moments of his energy and of his sufferings, in a circle of friends who received every word from his lips with rapture, or in a company of designing listeners;-one ought to have seen bim discussing the most important topics with the greatest philosophers of the age, or engaged in familiar talk with children, or persons of a child-like simplicity of disposition, order to form an adequate idea of his superior power of inte

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resting every class of men, and of his easy self-possession, which he displayed on all occasions; and to comprehend in how genuine and noble a sense of the word he could" be all things to all men ;" and how Christianity alone made him so truly amiable in society, whilst his natural temper, notwithstanding his strong tincture of benevolence, would not have secured him from becoming oppressive to others by the decided superiority of his intellects. His penetration entered deep into the human heart; his eye scrutinized sharply, but with such amiable mildness as banished all fear and restraint from the circle in which he was;-only the perverse, in head or heart, felt uneasy in his presence. Lichtenberg's Testimony is remarkable on this head; and the circumstance has struck many others, that Lavater could never be hated as a man, but only in connection with his Christianity, by those, namely, who hated the latter; and yet this was the very thing which made him that amiable man whom they could not avoid loving; whilst, on the other hand, the modern fashionable Christianity, or to speak more accurately, no. Christianity adds nothing amiable to any character."

To form a just idea of Lavater's generous disposition, which breathed nothing but benevolence, was ever inclined to forgive, and always disposed him to make the situation of others his own, it would have been necessary to hear how Lavater himself was used to speak in familiar and confidential conversation; in which he laid aside all reserve, and, as he expressed himself, could think aloud respecting his ill-judging adversaries. Who so able as he, with a single word, to touch the heart of the man exasperated against his neighbour, and to bring the situation of the offending person so home to his feelings, as to render it impossible for him to retain any angry sentiment? Who could speak, or refrain from speaking, with such noble effect as he? When his friends, such as Zimmerman, boiling with indignation against his calumniators, impatiently urged him to be silent no longer, they were answered with a placid smile, or an impressive entreaty, to await the event. Thus he always maintained his firmness of character, whoever assailed it, whether friend or enemy. When he had taken a resolution, who more inflexible than be? His delineation of Goethe's character was descriptive of his own:Who exposed himself with such generous confidence to the one party? who steeled himself with such an impenetrable mail against the other? Listening with the simplicity of the child, enquiring with the penetration of the philosopher; with manly promptitude of decision, with heroic energy of execution; so that whilst he became all things to all, he still retained his own consistency.

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This firmness and this pliability, this conscious dignity and