construction, appear to have been the work of a later period than the above. The bishop represented them as having been the retreats of Christians in the earliest ages.

The following description of a subterranean village may be found

in Parson's Travels in Asia and Africa, p. 38.

At eleven we arrived on the plain, and a better road, but being excessively hot, and seeing a village with many low houses, or rather huts, we struck out of our path, and arrived there about noon; when, instead of houses, we found them to be caverns dug in the earth, and vaulted, with only the upper part appearing above ground. The people received us kindly; both men and horses descended into one of the largest of them, and immediately felt such a comfortable coolness as was extremely delightful. The cavern which we were now in was more than one hundred feet in length and near forty wide, entirely vaulted the whole way, and very lofty; it was divided into apartments on each side, in some of which were grain, in others flour, in others oil, all in very large jars, buried half-way in the earth; in other divisions were roosts for poultry, in others cows were kept, in some goats and sheep, and some served as places to sleep in; the middle part was kept clear as a passage to each room, or divi

sion,

Isaiah vii. 18, 19.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate vallies, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes."

By the expression of resting in the desolate vallies, &c. Mr. Bruce understands the Prophet to mean, that they shall cut off from the cat. tle their usual retreat to the desert, by taking possession of those places, and meeting them where ordinarily

they never come, and which, therefore, are the refuge of the cattle. The name of the insect is, in Arabic, zomb; and Providence, it would seem, from the beginning had fixed its habitation to one species of soil, being a black fat earth; extraordi narily fruitful as it was, it seems, from the first, to have given a law to the settlement of the country. It prohibited absolutely those inhabitants of the fat earth, called mazaga, domiciled in caves and mountains, from enjoying the help or labour of any beasts of carriage. It deprived them of their flesh and milk for food, and gave rise to another nation whose manners were just the reverse of the first. These were the shepherds, leading a wandering life, and preserving their immense herds of cattle, by conducting them into the sands beyond the limits of the black earth, and bringing them back again when the danger from the insect was over. For as soon as this plague appears, and their buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food, and run wildly about the plain, till they die worn out with fatigue, hunger, and thirst. Shaw's Zoology, vol. viii. p. 368. from Bruce's Travels, vol. i. p. 388. vol. v. p. 188.

In Ethiopia, above Egypt, near to the river Asa, inhabit a people called Rizophages, who, though living in plenty and constant peace with one another, yet are miserably infested, and often fallen upon by the lions that abound in those parts. For the air being scorching hot, they come out of the desert into the country of the Rizophages, both for shelter from the heat and to hunt the lesser beasts for prey: so that when the Ethiopians come out of the marshes they are torn in pieces by these creatures. And the whole nation would certainly be utterly destroyed, if Providence had not provided a remedy in this case: for about the beginning of the dog days, when there is not the least.

wind, there comes forth such a multitude of gnats, larger than those that are commonly seen, that the inhabitants are forced to fly into the marshes, and so avoid them; and the lions, partly tormented by

their biting and stinging, and partly terrified with their humming and buzzing, run far away out of the country. Diod. Sic. b. 3. c. 2. p. 94.

REMARKS ON THE LIFE OF

BRAINERD.

David Brainerd was sent, A.D. 1745, by the Scotch Society for propagating Christian Knowledge, as a Missionary to convert the Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania; he was a rigid Calvinist, and his Memoirs were published by Jonathan Edwards, President of the College there, and the great champion of Calvinism: the only doctrine, however, of that school conspicuous in this work, is the incorrigible depravity of human nature, and the atter exclusion of all hope of Salvation, except by the mere influences of grace; these opinions tincture his whole life with their sombre colouring, and added to a temperament singularly melancholic produce such an agitation of nind as may well suggest a suspicion of mania. In his private journal, where the sensations of almost every day are miButely recorded, he speaks continually of the desperate wickedness of his heart, the distressing sense of his unspeakable depravity, his exceeding vileness, sinfulness, impurity and corruption: who would guess from these confessions, that he was a man of most exemplary life and extraordinary piety? but it was unfortunately part of his religion to use the slang terms of Calvin's School, and therefore the reader is tired to death with his experiences and convictions of sin and wrestlings in prayer; the singular and sometimes amiable tenderness of his conscience is frequently exemplified; on

one occasion he bitterly regrets his pride, and selfishness, and party spirit in times past, while he attempted to promote the cause of God, and says he saw his desert of hell upon this account; a reflection which may be recommended to some of the controversial writers of his party. On another occasion he heard some men talking freely about secular affairs on a Sunday, and his remark is, "Oh I thought what a hell it would be to live with such men to eternity." His journal very much resembles Wesley's, especially in the effects he attributes to his discourses, and in belief of a special Providence, sometimes interposing in his behalf.

As Wesley intimates that he was once miraculously protected from a shower of rain, when he was preaching in the open air, so Brainerd seems to have imagined, that three deer were brought by the hand of God to be shot by his Indians, that they might not be dispersed in quest of food, and lose the benefit of his instructions. The superstitious tendency of his mind cannot well be doubted, when speaking of some Indian conjurors, he says," he sat at the distance of about 30 feet from them, undiscovered, with his Bible in his hand, resolving if possible, to spoil their sport, and prevent their receiving any answers from the infernal world." p. 349. The influ ence of an invisible and supernatural power was indeed so familiar to his thoughts, and the persuasion of it so continually predominant in his mind, that in every incident he was apt to discover some mysterious

agency, just as a coward in the dark apprehends danger in every object. The influence of the Holy Spirit, slowly as it developes its character to less sanguine eyes, was repeatedly visible to his optics, in the instantaneous effects it produced upon the nerves of his auditors: it must be confessed, however, it is the more necessary to look for some supernatural cause of the tears, and sobs, and groans, which are plentifully sprinkled up and down his journal, since no natural cause can well be assigned; there was no room for any pathetic appeals to the heart, or impassioned bursts of eloquence in his preaching; there could be no working upon the passions or excitement of the feelings; for every sentence he uttered, every doctrine he propounded, was to be translated into the Indian tongue, by a man who scarcely understood the subject, and whose errors could not be corrected. The facts may be true, at least in part; for the narrator was unquestionably a conscientious man; but the explanation is probably to be found in that direction of Horace, Si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi, to see any one in great distress of mind, is sufficient to draw tears from the tenderhearted; at all events it is plain that he deceived himself, and though the observations of a good man's mind are not fit subjects for ridicule, yet it is impossible not to smile at the seriousness, with which he transfers his own deep convictions and mournings, to infants not more than six or seven years old. "I stood amazed," says he, p. 332. " at the influence which seized the audience almost universally, and could compare it to nothing more aptly, than the irresistible force of a mighty torrent or swelling deluge, that with its insupportable weight and pressure, bears down and sweeps before it, whatever is in its way. Almost all persons, of all ages, were bowed down with concern together, and scarcely one was able to withstaud

the shock of this surprising opera tion. Old men and women, who had been drunken wretches for many years, and some little children not more than six or seven years of age, appeared in distress about their souls, as well as persons of middle age; and it was apparent that these children, some of them at least, were not merely frighted with seeing the general concern, but were made sensible of their danger, the badness of their hearts, and their misery without Christ." In one instance, he seems himself a good deal surprised, and unable to account for the emotions of his converts, excited as they were without any adequate or rational cause; but the influence of the Spirit is a salvo for every thing; Deus ecce Deus. p. 335. "While I was conversing, near night, with two or three of the awakened persons, a divine influence seemed to attend what was spoken to them, in a powerful manner; they cried out in anguish of soul, although I spake not a word of terror; but on the contrary, set before them the fulness, and all-sufficiency of Christ's merits, and his willingness to save all that come to him: their cry was soon heard by others, who, though scattered before, immediately ga. thered round; I then proceeded in the same strain of Gospel invitation, till they were all melted into tears and cries, except two or three, and seemed in the greatest distress to secure an interest in the great Redeemer." His was the persuasion, common to that sect, that without a total change of heart operated spontaneously by the immediate power of God, without any reference to human agency, or the will of the recipient, no one can be a true Christian; and also, that sensible notices of that change are impressed upon the feelings of each convert: but Mr. Brainerd's eagerness carried him a step farther, and being at a loss how to reason upon a subject, from which reason was excluded, he assumed, as nine out of ten in

that party usually do, that conversion might be inferred, when certain symptoms were remarked, and certain phrases used, describing those inward intimations, and expressive of spiritual renovation; such as "concern for the soul;" "distress under convictions;" "inward trials;" "exercises in faith;" "sweet relish of religion;""longing after Christ;" with a suitable proportion of Ohs. As this is a phraseology soon learnt, it is an easy substitute for piety, and as it has no association with the understanding, the worthy missionary was easily imposed upon, and was not at all surprised to find the grace of God operating its wonders in infants, fools, and drivellers, for enthusiasm blinds the eyes of common sense, and leads it into the most palpable contradictions; of this we have an eminent proof in his remarks upon the work of grace among the Indians: he speaks with great satisfaction of one woman, who "though she was become so childish through old age, that I could do nothing in way of questioning with her, nor scarce make her understand what I asked her, yet when I let her alone to go on with her own story, she could give a very distinct and particular relation of the various exercises of soul she had experienced in the preceding six months, so deep were the impressions left upon her mind, by the influence she had been under; I have great reason to hope, she is born again in her old age, now up. wards of fourscore." P. 416.

The Turks venerate ideots, as acting under the immediate inspiration of the Deity, and we deride their foolish superstition: I am loth to compare the missionary to the Turk; but surely we may use the language of St. Paul, and say, that he was like the Athenians, Sida

pos, when he could distinguish the Holy Spirit, exercising his vital energies in a childish old woman, incapable of answering her instruc tor's questions, and scarcely under

standing what he meant. A moderate Calvinist is as rare an animal as a black swan: intensity of feeling is with them a constitutional ailment; they are usually characterised by extreme excitability of the affections, and therefore it is the less wonderful, that they lay so much stress upon symptoms of religion, and emotions of the heart; but the precipitancy of judgment into which this temperament leads them is a serious evil, which is most strikingly exemplified in their opinions concerning human nature and grace: doubtless there are different measures of holiness belonging to different orders of beings in the universe; different gradations of natural obedience to the great Creator of all, varying from absolute goodness in the best, down to irreclaimable perverseness in the worst: in this scale Calvinists place regenerated men too high, and the unregenerate they depress too low; the first they exalt into angels, the second they equalise with devils; overlooking the actual condition of human nature, they take for granted they shall find it literally delineated in certain texts of Scripture, and then identifying their hypothesis with the Word of God, they are satisfied that it is infallible, and consider it a part of their religion to resist all proof drawn from an induction of particulars, which militates against their dogmas. Accordingly, they will not agree to the conclusion, which sacred and profane records most obviously point out, that man is only "very far gone from original righteousness:" nothing less will content them, but that he must be a loathsome mass of corruption, and that the best good he can possibly do deserves hell and eternal damnation; revolting as this doctrine is, and repugnant to all our notions of virtue, it is much more so when taken in connection with the test, by which regeneration is to be tried; let not the hapless Arminian flatter himself, that he can be saved

by the best exertions to do his duty, if they proceed from motives, which he, poor man, has been accustomed to consider as good, the fear of God, the hope of Glory, nay even the satisfaction of gratitude will be unavailing to his salvation: these motives have no spark of goodness in them; his obedience is mere selfishness; (Vide Scott on Assurance.) Genuine holiness is more noble, and spiritual, and abstracted: unless "the love of Christ constrains" him to act on higher motives, his election is not sure; he must in the fullest latitude of the phrase, “ put off the old man," divest himself of his human nature, renounce all personal feelings, and wrap himself up in the will of God; and as God is supposed to work solely for his own glorification, so no one can be restored to his likeness, whose views, wishes, and desires centre not in that one point, of exalting his honour and magnifying his glory. A remarkable instance, how far this delusion may be carried, occurs in Brainerd's account of "Divine grace displayed among the Indians:" a woman, who had never before obtained any settled comfort, experienced a saving change; she now appeared in a heavenly frame of mind, composed, and delighted with the Divine will: her experience she expresses thus

"I tried, and tried to save myself, till at last my strength was all gone, and I could not stir any further; then at last I was forced to let Jesus Christ alone, to send me to hell if he pleased; then I thought my heart would be glad, although Christ should send me to hell. I did not care where he put me; I should love him for all that." The "truth," observes the Missionary, "evidently was, her will was SO swallowed up in the Divine will, that she could not frame any hell in her imagination, that would be dreadful or undesirable, provided it was but the will of God to send her to it." P. 373.

It is almost incredible, that this

woman could have understood hell to mean a place of eternal punishment and torment. Another Indian, who had been a conjuror, being under a deep conviction of sin, was "brought to the utmost agony of soul," but by and bye, he became perfectly sedate, and enjoyed great calmness, and composure of mind ; not, however, because he was comforted by the promises of mercy in the Gospel, but, because he was satisfied, "it was quite right that he should go to hell," and that he

expected to be damned for the greatness of his sins." In this case the Missionary himself seems almost to have suspected the delusion; for he adds-" yet it was plain he had a secret hope of mercy, though imperceptible to himself, which kept him not only from despair, but from any pressing distress; so that instead of being sad and dejected, his countenance appeared pleasant and agreeable."— P. 410.

The Calvinistic principle, however, of a perfection abstracted from self, by conformity to the will of God, was most explicitly avowed by himself in his last illness: "he spoke of it as an ignoble, mean kind of willingness to die, to be willing to go to heaven, only to get honour, and advancement there." "My heaven," said he, " is to please God and glorify him, to be wholly devoted to his glory; that is my religion, and always was, ever since I suppose I had any true religion; and all those that are of that religion shall meet me in heaven. I do not go to heaven to be advanced, but to give honour to God." P.

241.

It is undoubtedly the duty of every Christian, to aim at the highest possible perfection in his own individual conduct; but it is a dan gerous ambition in a public teacher, to meddle with the foundations of duty, to distil the word of God in the alembic of his own fervid imagi nation, and refine the terms of sal