it, yet the injury was very inconsiderable, and perhaps would have been totally avoided, had a greater quantity been made use of. Mr. Robertson thinks that it will be better first to sow the wheat separately, the salt to be sowed and harrowed in afterwards, for he found that the wheat did not spring up so well, in consequence of its being sown in immediate contact with the salt. "Crushed rock salt will answer as well as marine salt, and the quantity should be varied from 20 to 30 bushels per English acre. It would be extremely desirable that the result of any experiments tried should be com- | municated to the public, that the question may, if possible, be put to rest. "JOHN SINCLAIR." Edinburgh, 12th October, 1819. 1208 this sense; and to make known the ideas of the querist more fully, there should have been a comma inserted after the word perfect, thus not allowing the action of the verb made, to pass on to the object knowledge. Sprigg considers the affirmative idea as neither scriptural nor philosophical; but as he has not advanced any proofs of the correctness of his ideas, from either of these sources, I should have considered it totally useless to make any remarks of a controversial description, had I not regarded the subject as one fraught with instruction and interest. I proceed to remark, that, “there are many, who, having lost their godly friends, have rather been disposed to wish that their friends might know what was taking place among their connections on earth, that they might carry on a sort of mental converse with them:" a very ANSWER TO A QUERY ON THE KNOW- natural wish, surely! Such a one LEDGE OF DEPARTED SPIRITS. IN reference to the subject discussed in the following article, we have received several papers, the writers of which take the same side of the question with the author of this which is inserted. One of these, written by Biblicus, avowedly controverts the reasonings and conclusions of Sprigg. The others refer to the original question. But as the substance of what they have respectively advanced is comprised in the selection we have made, they will perceive the reasons why their communications are not given to the public. EDITOR. Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed? When Samuel rose from the dead to announce to Saul the result of his battle with the Philistines, the prophet's denunciation was a proof that he was acquainted with the present circumstances of the king, and that he also knew what would happen to him, for," to-morrow," saith Samuel, shalt thou and thy sons be with me," 1 Samuel, xxviii 19.-When Moses and Elias appeared on the mount at the transfiguration of our Lord, we are informed, that they "spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem," Luke ix. 31. Hence we may infer, that they knew the time, place, and circumstances, connected with that great event; and we may moreover conjecture, that in their conversation they would particularly remark the great ends to be an MR. EDITOR. SIR, I have to beg your indulgence, while I make a few remarks in reply to an essay (col. 988) on the state of separate spirits, by "Sprigg." In referring to the query, (col. 863) which gave rise to the above article, I find it extremely ambiguous: judging from the punctuation, it appears to be allowed by the querist, that the souls of the dead have some acquaintance with the events which occur in this world; but the object of the inquiry is, whether their knowledge is of conside-swered by this sacrifice; and if so, rable extent, and to render it more explicit, it should have been expressed," Have the spirits of the dead formed any perfect knowledge of what transpires in this world?" But your correspondent has not understood it in we may reasonably suppose that they would attentively regard the state of the earth, ulterior to the introduction of the christian dispensation, that they might ascertain, whether those purposes were accomplished, for which Christ" gave himself a ransom." Jesus told the Sadducees, relative to separate spirits, "They neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven," Mark xii. 25. "Neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God," Luke xx. 36. Angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation," Heb. i. 14. The spirits of the just are as angels, in their enjoyments and engagements: ergo, they are ministering spirits also. And how much," says Mr. Wesley, "will it add to the happiness of those who are already discharged from the body, that they are permitted to minister unto those they have left behind! An indisputable proof of this we have in the 22d chapter of Revelation, When the Apostle fell down to worship the glorious spirit, whom he seems to have mistaken for Christ, he told him plainly, I am of thy fellow-servants the prophets;" not God, not an angel, but a human spirit. Angels are messengers from earth to heaven, as is the case of Elias, 2 Kings ii. 11, and from heaven to earth, as in the case of Gideon, Judges vi. 12; of Manoah's wife, Judges xiii. 3; of the Virgin Mary, Luke i. 26; and of the birth of Jesus Christ, when a hierarchy of the heavenly host united, and sang, "Glory to God in the highest," &c. Luke ii. 19-23; and we may reasonably suppose, that it is through their communications, that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, Luke xv. 7. This repentant sinner may have connections in heaven; and will not they join in the celestial joy? "Can the grave those ties dissever, With the very heart-strings twin'd?" 66 "To proceed one step farther," says Dr. Watts, some part of the happiness of heaven is described in scripture by crowns and thrones: why may not we suppose that such souls, whose sublimer graces have qualified them for this dignity, may rule the nations even in a literal sense? The scripture gives a hint of such employments in the angelic world. Do we not read of Gabriel and Michael, and their management of the affairs of Persia, and Judea, and Greece, in the book of Daniel? Now if angels No. 35.-VOL. III. 1210 are thus dignified, may not human spirits unbodied have the same office? Our Saviour, when he rewards the faithful servant that had gained ten pounds, bids him take authority over ten cities, Luke xix. 17. And Jesus told his disciples, that they should sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," Matthew xix. 28. Another argument in favour of this idea, may be gathered from the appearance of apparitions, whether it be by some peculiar garb of etherial subtlety, or any other way, that they appear, we know that "millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth," and that they sometimes become visible to the eye of mortals; thus, when the Syrians encompassed the city of Dothan, to take Elisha: "And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city with horses and chariots; and his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire, round about Elisha," 2 Kings vi. 14, 15, 16. To popular stories of ghosts and goblins," (says a late publication,*) "we give no credit; but we certainly do hear on some occasions, such positive assertions, made by most sensible and respectable persons, that we can scarcely deny the fact, that the spirits of departed friends do sometimes appear.' But to proceed. S. remarks, "But we little think how new, how strange, how absorbing, must the things of the eternal state be, to those entering upon them." Allowing this to be correct, it it quite irrelevant to the present subject; the query does not regard the commencement of that eternal state, but the continuation of it. True it is, they are new beyond our conception, and that as yet we are strangers to the glory that shall be revealed; "for eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," 1 Cor. ii. 9. But in what sense are they absorbing? surely they do not absorb their love, for God is love; and the nearer they approach to God, the more they assimilate to him. The love of our neighbour is a necessary consequence of the love of God, and therefore this cannot be absorbed by the things of their eternal state. And is this love shewn by considering what great happiness their friends will be sharers of, should they chance to arrive in heaven, and in taking no share in guarding them from evils, offering no alleviation to their distresses, and in administering no supply to their necessities? The things of the eternal world do not absorb the memory of those resident in it, for in heaven they sing, "To him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," &c. Rev. i. 5. plainly proving that they remembered the process they underwent for the purgation of their iniquity. Those good principles which we possessed on earth remain unabsorbed by the things of the eternal state. Among these we may class gratitude to benefactors. "Make to yourselves friends," (saith Christ,) "of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations," Luke xvi. 9.; that is, distribute your goods to the poor, that when you die, the sharers of your beneficence, who have passed into the skies, may receive you with open arms, into that state of eternal bliss. 1212 represents the spirit as a pilgrim and Sprigg inquires, whether a person thus situated, can be attracted by the trifling scenes on earth? Certainly not: But what does your correspondent mean by trifling scenes? He explains himself in the next sentence, by saying, “Can the soul, present with the Lord, ever look off from him, to converse with those below?" That is to say, Christian converse is a trifle! "No," says Sprigg, (answering his own question, and then, as if S. inquires, in the next place, "Is thinking that a little too confident, as it possible that the heaven-bound he had only commenced with considepilgrim, who has been conducted by ration, continues,) "it is best to supthe Shepherd of the flock, through pose that spirits departed have no the valley that lies between-who ap- concern about the trifles passing here. proaches the gate of heaven, and real- True, but are all terrestrial occurizes the end of his faith-can be at- rences trifling? Is the salvation of so tracted by the trifling scenes on many millions of souls of no imporearth?"—A pilgrim is one who travels, tance? Is all the economy of proviusually, journeys of devotion; the dence, into parts of which angels have adjective, heaven-bound, intimates desired to look, is it all non-essential? the place of its destination, and in- Jesus says, that a sparrow shall not forms the reader that this journey is fall to the ground, without the obserstill in continuation. Were I not vation of the Father of the universe; rather inclined to believe that latterly yea, the very hairs of our head are the ideas of Charon, Styx, and Cer- numbered. If such circumstances as berus, had been abandoned, I should these are not beneath the notice of be inclined to consider this sentence that Being, who is the great, the holy, as having reference to the valley and the high; occurrences between where the Canes abide, and where which there is such an amazing diffeNox and Erebus hold their doleful rence, and events of such great imabodes. In the first part of it, Spriggportance, will not be deemed trifling, 1213 Observations on South Shetland. nor overlooked, by the blessed in heaven. 1214 Christ is "God over all," it is utterly impossible that it can be a truth of Sprigg observes further: "The soul subordinate magnitude. The simple reaping the sad reward of its unrigh- statement of it is enough to show that teousness, may desire to look out of it must rank as a first principle; an its burning lake towards the carth article of prime importance,-a founagain, but its intense pain will not | dation-stone in the temple of truth: grant it permission." Incorrect again; a star of the very first magnitude in for the rich man in the gospel regard- the hemisphere of Christian doctrine. ed his five brethren, and recognized For my own part, I believe it to be even the beggar in Abraham's bosom. But more than this: a kind of central sun, why should such a soul desire to look around which the whole system of out of its burning? Can this afford it Christianity, in all its glory, and in all any pleasure? Can such souls regard its harmony, revolves. On this prinwith satisfaction a life of iniquity? ciple we cease to wonder at the seeming And is it a gratifying reflection to ob- contrarieties. If, then, this be a key serve many in a state of salvation, which fits all the wards of this seemwhose opportunities were not more ingly intricate lock, turning amongst extensive than their own? to consider, them with hardly a touch of interrupthat had they accepted the offers made │tion, catching its bolts, and laying them of mercy, by God, they would open to us, in the easiest and comhave enjoyed the felicity of eternal | pletest manner, the treasure of division? Alas! this must increase vine truth; if this be a principle, their torment, this must cause addi- which, in fact, does produce harmony tional weeping and wailing. To sum and consistency in the word of God, up the whole-Is it best to suppose while the rejection of it, on the conthat the cold hand of death will dis- trary, gives rise to difficulties without solve the tenderest ties of nature? Is number: is not this, ofitself, a strong presumptive evidence that the principle is correct, and well founded?" it best to suppose that the epicurean worm, when he feeds on the inanimate corpse, will also devour the recollection of the dearest friends? Is it (With a Sketch.) SINCE the discovery of these distant and desolate islands, many accounts have been published respecting them. But from what source soever the information has been derived, they all concur in describing them as barren, uninhabited, and in every respect dreary. most reasonable to imagine that the OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTH SHETLAND. attachments connected with the names of father, mother, brother, sister, &c. will all be forgotten? If they be, how can they ever again be united? The eternal separation of the affections is an idea at which the heart revolts. Bad as human nature is, there are few, very few, who do not feel the bonds of consanguinity. If your correspondent's soul is of such a description as to feel no regret at the idea of death being an end of all earthly ties, he must indeed be an anomaly. I leave this subject with your readers, and begging your forbearance with my prolixity, I remain, your's, truly, Truro, Nov. 23, 1821. RICHARD. It was our good fortune to be possessed of all the leading facts which related to them long before their existence was announced to the public; but at the particular desire of our correspondent, who was in the first vessel that ever touched on these inhospitable shores, we omitted giving it publicity until several weeks had elapsed; and it was not until some reports had found their way into the world, that our embargo was taken off. This circumstance enabled the conductor of a weekly journal to announce the existence of these distant lands to the public, just before the day of publication with us arrived. Of this inciIF it be indeed a truth, that Jesus dent he has readily availed himself; MR. EDITOR. SIR,-If the following extract from Wardlaw meet your approbation, its insertion in the Imperial Magazine will oblige, your's respectfully, Penzance, Nov. 5, 1821. P. V. 1215 Observations on South Shetland. and in a recent number, has claimed the exclusive honour of having furnished the first public notice of this discovery. The map which accompanies the following observations, was sent us by Mr. Richard Sherratt, who commanded one of the vessels which sailed to South Shetland, on the seal fishery, in the autumn of 1820, which vessel was unfortunately wrecked on that dangerous coast. His observations are therefore founded on an actual survey of this stormy range of sterile rocks, and so far as his examination could extend, the account may be considered as authentic. "The first intimation you have of being near South Shetland, is meeting with a great quantity of whales, of the black kind, and what are called the fin-back; you may thence conclude you are about 150 miles from land. Standing on to the southward, you will meet with innumerable penguins, so many that you would almost conclude the sea was animated. Continuing to stand to the south, and at about 20 leagues from land, you will meet with the seal, in shoals of hundreds together, and, as you approximate to the land, the seals and penguins are more numerous, but the whales more scarce. The first sight you have of the land, is at a distance of about 15 leagues, and its appearance is similar to a white cloud, ranging along the horizon from N.E. to S.W. Still standing on, you gain the land, until some parts touch the clouds, the whole being covered with eternal snow, save here and there a hill in the form of a cone or sugarloaf, which is of a very dark colour, and these dark spots are generally on the tops of mountains. Three of these are very remarkable; one over Esther Harbour, one over the Bay of Destruction, and one over Potter's Cove. "Potter's Cove has on the east side of it, three remarkable hills, somewhat resembling three joints of the fingers when the hand is closed. These are called the Three Brothers, and they furnish an excellent mark for the Cove. (Vide the Chart). However, still approaching nearer the land, you will meet with detached rocks at from 3 to 5 leagues off; and the land wears now a most desolate and solitary appearance, nearly the whole of its front being immense precipices, covered 1216 with frozen snow; and to add to its desolation, you will hear every now and then a dreadful crash from the fall of the rocks and frozen snow, like distant thunder. "Being near to these detached rocks, of which the north side of this archipelago has a great quantity, it is necessary to keep a very good look out, and to ascertain as soon as possible what part of the land you are off, so that you may come to anchor in one of the different bays or harbours. Esther Harbour is known by Round Island lying off it. The entrance of Parry's Straits is known by Table Land to the eastward, and Table Island to the westward; both of these Tables are of similar appearance, and you may see them both at the same time. Esther Harbour and Clothier Harbour are the two best anchorages on the north side, but Potter's Cove is the best harbour in the whole group that is at present known. I think there is safe anchorage in the inlets to the eastward and westward of Potter's Cove, but I had not an opportunity of going into them. Ships may bear down either in Esther Harbour or Potter's Cove with safety. The different anchorages to the westward are very poor, but it is the best place for seals; in fact the seal appears to make for the most dangerous places, either for the approach of ships or boats. There are few or none that come on shore on the south side of the land, but great quantities of sea elephants come on shore on the different points of land on the south side. "This archipelago has every appearance of a volcanic eruption, and the higher you get upon the land, the more this conclusion is confirmed. The cones, of which I made mention, appear to have a large trench or ditch round them, from which I would infer that they may heave out lava at times, or it is probable that they may have been heaved up with the whole of the land, not many years since, by some great convulsion in nature. In fact, I think it strengthens this assertion, when I can aver, that not only the frozen snow, but the rocks themselves, are continually falling and tumbling away, and in such quantities, that you would conclude the whole of it must be levelled in 40 or 50 years. "There are, on the top of some very high land which I have visited, three |