FAITH'S ESTIMATE OF LIFE. What is your life? - James iv. 14. SAY, venerable Sire, whose hoary head, White as the almond's bloom, bespeaks thee near that dreary mansion of the dead! The grave, How many are thy days, and what the joys of each revolving year?' And thus the aged patriarch reply'd :- Ye blooming youths who sport in Folly's train, 'Tis true, your health still blooms, your morning's bright; And hence you think not of th' approaching night: But seize the pleasures of the passing hour, Nor know the righteous Judge is at the door,' Turn ye at my reproof; so shall ye know Sons of Ambition, who of empire boast, Poor sordid slaves of Earth, whose anxious sight, Thrice happy man, whose heart and hopes arise Center'd on Christ and joys beyond the skies! } Thine, though a toying and a thorny way, Kept by the pow'r of Jesus, strong to save CHRISTIAN FORGIVENESS. I WILL be even with my bitterest foe,' Revenge exclaims, and then returns the blow. I'll be superior," should the Christian say; "And kind forgiveness readily display." On seeing the Print of Samuel at Proyer, after a Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. WHEN I survey this holy child, With beaded knee and count'nance mild, With eyes and hands uplift in pray'r, But ah! I have a foe within,- O for thy Holy Spirit, Lord! 8 PHILEMON, J.J. Then in the blissful realms of light, With saints redeem'd I'll join, To give the glory due to grace, And be for ever thine! H. W. The wicked shall not live out half their days.- Psalm lv. 23. "TIS Mirth and Wine that feast the son!,' Cries Hellus; fill the jocund bowl, ⚫ These pleasures still be mine!' He spake; and in the wily snare Revell'd a while devoid of care, Of reason, and of grace: Decency, maid of modest mien, And Prudence fly the horrid scene, Where Wisdom finds no place! Now Riot opes her brazen lungs, Aud rants with Folly's clashing tongues, While Vice sits lowring by. When lo! they wrangle: words for blows Are soon exchang'd, and friends for foes: The victims bleed and die! Ah! Hellus, had thy nobler mind Disdain'd these joys of haser kind, And soar'd to those above! Long hadst thou liv'd to bless thy friends, Possessing peace which never ends; Given from the God of Love! The precious prize away! G. AULD, Printer, Greville Street, London. E. R. EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE. SEPTEMBER, 1810. BRIEF MEMOIR OF JONATHAN EDWARDS, D. D. DR. JONATHAN EDWARDS, President of Union College, in Schenectady, was the second son of President Edwards, of New Jersey, and was born at Northampton, May 26, 1745. In his childhood he was a boy of great promise; but his early life was attended with very discouraging circumstances. He was afflicted with an inflammatory weakness in his eyes, which prevented his learning to read until a later period than is common. This complaint resisted many and longcontinued medical applications. At length, by the repeated shaving of his head for long continuance, the inflammation in some degree abated, so that he was able to apply, in a moderate degree, to the rudiments of learning, and to revive in his anxious parents a hope that he would not be entirely lost, even to the literary world. It was during his childhood also, that the unhappy contest at Northampton was at its height, between his father and the church there, which terminated in a final separation; whereby the assiduous attention of his affectionate parents was necessarily much diverted from him. When Mr. Edwards and his family removed from Northampton to Stockbridge, his son Jonathan was but six years old. There was no school in the settlement but one, which was common to the Indians and the white children; and there were so few of the latter, either in the school or the town, that he was in danger of forgetting entirely the English tongue. However, whilst here, he learned the language of the Mohekancew, or Stockbridge Indians, so perfectly, that the natives frequently observed he spoke exactly like an Indian. This language he retained in a good degree through life; and some interesting remarks upon it were communi XVIII. |