tant than to others. The SCHOLAR will find in it some of the most sublime specimens of eastern composition. The ANTIQUARIAN will prize precious fragments, snatched from the destroying hand of time, rescued from barbarous pillage, surviving the ruins of empires, and transmitted to the present age, while a thousand other works of later date have been consigned to oblivion. The POET will meet here bold and striking images, vivid and impressive figures of speech, lofty and magnificent descriptions, which he may look for in vain among the first of the Greek and Roman classics. Here the SPECULATIST may discern the most curious and sublime truths brought down to the standard of the plainest understanding; a system elevated beyond the utmost stretch of human comprehension, finding its way to the human heart: mysterious and unsearchable points rendered familiar and intelligible: a wide and inviting field opened for the exertion of every mental faculty. The MAN OF TASTE AND OF FEELING, will be gratified by the exhibition which is made of manly eloquence, of exquisite sensibility, of unaffected sentiment, of true refinement. The LOVER OF HISTORY Will discover authentic records of the most remote and the most interesting events, written with a noble simplicity, and possessing the utmost perspicuity. Departed generations are recalled and return, with their manners and customs. The lives and characters of the great and the good are drawn with fidelity and with impartiality. Sometimes he will

the spirit appears before the judgment-seat, to answer for it. Far be it from me, to limit the Divine mercy or to say, after the act, if a few lingering hours, or even moments, are granted, what contrition may be wrought in the soul, or what compassion may be exercised by the Deity. But in the sudden departure, even this slender hope is cut off: for he has said that the state in which a man actually dies, is unalterable: "the unjust must be unjust still; and the filthy, filthy still ;" and if the man die in the act of rebellion, is it possible that he should be treated-upon any other principle than that of a rebel?

SINS OF THE TONGUE.

The most degrading and offensive vice of the tongue is profanity. It is absolutely without apology, and it is inseparable from infamy. The highest rank cannot palliate, the lowest cannot excuse it. It prevails, alas! among all ranks, and to a degree among both sexes. I am not now speaking of that contempt and defiance which the tongue of the infidel sometimes pours forth against the Fountain of his being, and the prescriptions of his word; but of that most horrible habit of swearing, or taking the name of God in vain, which affords neither pleasure nor profit, while it violates whatever is sacred, and tramples under foot a positive command-"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold

him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." That the higher classes in society should indulge in this degrading vice is most astonishing. The great line of distinction between them and the lower classes, is propriety of language: this marks, more strongly than any other circumstance, superiority of education, culture of mind, and select associations. This distinction they voluntarily abandon, and descend to the vulgar dialect, and dreadful oaths of the uninstructed and the low, for no possible gratification. And even the softer sex, who would shrink from the broad and profane oath, are nevertheless habitually guilty, especially among the higher ranks, and but too universally, of using the name of their Maker with levity, upon every frivolous occasion. "Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord ?" Are we to suppose that he has given a commandment without sanctions? or that he will pass over the breach of it? He has said, "for swearing shall the land mourn"-and will he not effect his declaration? "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall not pass away." How frequently has he cut off the profane in the midst of their sin! and what other dreadful instances of wrath do we wait for, before our boys and our females, our rulers, and our popula

'tion, will learn to lay aside this shocking, this disgusting, this impious practice, and listen to the warning voice, "Swear not at all?"

Impurity of speech, emphatically called in the word of God" corrupt communication," and "fil

the conclusion of mental aberration, frequently upon very slender evidence. This reluctance to believe that the act could be done, except under the influence of a disordered judgment, speaks loudly the general conviction of mankind as to the guilt of self-murder. That will admit of no satisfactory defence which the common sense, and the common feeling of mankind regard with abhorrence; and which their compassion for the offender, condemns but the more strongly. Although nature is depraved, there are certain great principles remain not wholly obliterated-the traces of original rectitude-and which are recognized in all ages, and among all nations: and when these are restored by divine influence, the man becomes a christian. This is called "the renewing of the mind." But in their common state, they revolt from self-murder, as an act equally condemned by reason, conscience, and religion. The last is the infallible guide; and serves as a light to the operations of the former.

The origin of suicide may be, therefore, traced almost uniformly to infidelity—either of the heart, or of the judgment—or of both. It is because men either persuade themselves that "that there is no God"-and this conclusion is so great an absurdity, that even the fool dares only to whisper it "in his heart"— or they suppose that he takes no cognizance of human events; that he is too great to be interested in what is passing among men; that he has abandoned the world which he made

to chance; and that, even if his general providence be admitted, he leaves unregarded the interests of the individual, who may, therefore, slide away unnoticed from the aggregate of society-or they conclude that there is no future state, and that the worst that can happen befals them here; from which calamity they may deliver themselves by self-destruction-or they judge of him, rather by their wishes and exigencies, than by the revelation of his character which he has made in his word; and hope that he will not visit for these things, and that the extremity will excuse the offence or they boldly set his justice, his power, his laws, and his authority, at defiance; and as they were not parties to their own being in its grant, they are not bound to wait its close, or they will not obey his mandate to that effect:-to one of these causes, all of which spring from infidelity, must the crime of suicide be traced, whenever it does not originate in insanity. The only exception that can be imagined is, a sudden frenzy, induced by uncontrollable circumstances overpowering reason but this, if it unseat the reason only for a time, is insanity: if it be a burst of passion, to which the reason yields without being dispossessed of her throne, whatever be the provocation, the result is criminal: because the passions ought to have been so habitually guarded, as in no case, so long as the understanding remains, to gain the supposed ascendancy. I have said, that the several causes already assigned, with the ex