faith in Jesus." That of which Dr. Johnson spoke thus, earnestly, and often, must doubtless have appeared to him as of the utmost importance; and we have to lament-if indeed any dispensation of Providence may be lawfully lamented,-that Johnson had not lived to check the Pelagianism and Pharisaism of his age by proclaiming "often," and with all the weight of his authority, that "faith in the sacrifice of Jesus is necessary;" beyond all good works whatever, for the salvation of mankind. It will, of course, be readily allowed, that the constitutional melancholy of this great man might have had much influence in causing this religious depression; but whatever may have been the proximate cause, the affliction itself may still be viewed as performing the office of parental correction to reclaim his relapses, and teach him the hatefulness and folly of sin. But without speculating upon either the final or the efficient cause, the medium through which that cause operated, was evidently an indistinctness in his views respecting the nature of the Redeemer's atonement; an indistinctness common to Dr. Johnson, with no small class of moralists and learned men. He believed generally in the sacrifice of Christ, but he knew little of its fulness and freeness, and he was unable to appropriate it to his own case. He was, perhaps, little in the habit of contemplating the Son of God as "a great High Priest, who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and who is graciously interceding on our behalf. The character of the Almighty as a reconciled Father and Friend, with whom he was to have daily "communion and fellowship," was less prominent in his thoughts than those attributes which render him "a consuming fire." He feared and respected religion rather than loved it, and by building his structure for many years on a self-righteous foundation, he rendered the whole fabric liable to be overthrown by the first attack of an accusing conscience. In reply to any general inference to be derived from these remarks, it may be urged, that Dr. Johnson's was a peculiar and exempt case; and that his painful feeling of sin, and his consequent dissatisfaction with his own righteousness, were rather the effect of his natural malady than of any peculiarly correct ideas upon religion. But even admitting this to have been the fact, the inference is still nearly the same, for who can assert that either his understanding or his character has been superior to Dr. Johnson's, and that therefore he may be justly sustained in death by a support which this eminent man-from whatever cause found unavailing. If the greatest moralist of his age and nation was obliged, at length, to seek repose in the same free mercy which pardoned the thief upon the cross, who that knows his own heart will henceforth venture to glory in himself? The conscience may, indeed, be seared; we may not feel as Johnson VOL. IV. 38 felt; we may be ignorant both of God and ourselves; and thus, for want of knowing or believing our spiritual danger, may leave the world with a false tranquillity, and enter the presence of our Creator" with a lie in our right hand." All this, however, is our misfortune, and ought not to be our boast; for, if our minds were as religiously enlightened, and our hearts as correctly impressed as Dr. Johnson's, we could obtain hope only where he obtained it, by "faith in the sacrifice of Jesus." See the Essay on True and False Repose in Death, Scripture Illustrated. From the London Methodist Magazine. ** Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh thou shalt rest: in earing time, and in harvest thou shalt rest." Exod. xxxiv. 21. It is probable that many readers may consider earing time in this passage, as referring to the time when the corn begins to appear in the ear. in the ear. Lest any readers of their Bible should be misled by such an interpretation, they may be informed, that earing is an old English word for ploughing. This will help us to understand 1 Sam. viii. 12, "He will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest. See also Gen. xlv. 6, Deut. xxi. 4, Isa. xxx. 24. Wickliff, in his New-Testament, (Luke xvii. 7,) has, " But who of you hath a servant eringe?" where the Vulgate, from which he made his translation, has arantem, ploughing. What we now call arable land, Greenway, in his translation of Tacitus, De Mor. Germ. terms earable land, from the Latin arabilis. Not many years ago, there was published a pamphlet, entitled, "A sketch of an Act of Parliament to permit, under certain regulations, in wet and casual harvests, the appropriation of two Sundays in a year for the purpose of carrying and securing corn; with the reasons, oral and religious, upon which this proposed act is grounded, addressed to the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled." On this pamphet a reviewer observed, that to this scheme there seems to be no other objection than that it is too confined, and does not allow Sundays enough for the kind of harvest in question! The reader need not be informed, that such an Act of Parliament was not passed, to make "void the law of God" and it is to be hoped, that the Lords and Commons will never listen to any such sketches as the above. Let the husbandman always "remember to keep holy the sabbath-day;" and whatever wea ther the "God of harvest" may please to send, let him trust the fruits of the earth to his care, who will honour them that honour him. The law of heaven is, "on the seventh day thou shalt rest," even "in ploughing time, and in harvest thou shalt rest." Dr. Adam Clarke, on the above passage, remarks, "This commandment is worthy of especial note: many break the Sabbath on the pretence of absolute necessity, because, if in harvest time the weather happens to be what is called bad, and the Sabbath day be fair and fine, they judge it perfectly lawful to employ that day in endeavouring to save the fruits of the field, and think that the goodness of the day, beyond the preceding, is an indication from Providence that it should be thus employed. But is not the command above, pointed directly against this? I have known this law often broken on this pretence, and have never been able to discover a single instance, where the persons who acted thus, succeeded one whit better than their more conscientious neighbours, who availed themselves of no such favourable circumstances, being determined to keep God's law, even to the prejudice of their secular interests: but no man ever yet ultimately suffered loss by a conscientious attachment to his duty to God. He who is willing and obedient, shall eat the good of the land; and God will ever distinguish those in his providence, who respect his commandments." On the words, "Even in earing-time and in harvest thou shalt rest," Mr. Benson has observed in his Commentary, "All worldly business must give way to that holy rest: harvest-work will prosper the better for the religious observation of the sabbath-day in harvest time. Hereby we must shew that we prefer our communion with God, before either the business or the joy of harvest." The Attributes of God Displayed. From the London Methodist Magazine. REMARKS ON THE SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. Where ends this mighty building? Where begin YOUNG. THE more we examine the several apartments of our great abode, the more we shall be charmed with the wisdom, and fear fully impressed with the existence of Him who ordereth the nicest economy to combine with the most boundless profusion, and have ample reason to say with the royal Psalmist, "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all those that have pleasure in them." In many instances, we are charmed with the works of art, and the skill of man. But art is dim-sighted in her plans, and defective even in her most elaborate essays, when compared with nature, or rather nature's sublime Author. He is, indeed, a designer and a workman that needs not be ashamed. His eye strikes out ten thousand elegant models, and his touch executes all with inimitable perfection. Yonder the hills, like a grand amphitheatre, arise pompous and magnifi. tent; some clad with mantling vines, some crowned with towering cedars, some ragged and mis-shapen rocks, whose lofty summits aspire beyond the eye of man, or yawn with terrific subterraneous dens. At a great distance the mountains lift their frozen brows, or penetrate the clouds with their tremendous peaks. The vineyard swells into a profusion of clusters; some tinged with the deepest purple; and delicately clouded" with the most beautiful azure. The vine requires a strong reflection of the sun-beams, and a very large proportion of warmth. How commodiously do the hills and mountains minister to this purpose! May we not call these vast declivities the gardenwalls of nature? which far more effectually than the most costly glasses, or most artful green-houses, concentre the solar heat, and complete the maturity of the grape. "Thy parent hand, thy forming skill, Or shuns, or meets, the wandering thought, Escapes, or strikes the searching eye, By THEE was to perfection brought !" Miscellaneous. For the Methodist Magazine. FARTHER OBSERVATIONS ON CONSISTENCY OF CHARACTER. How boundless the wisdom and goodness of God! How vast His counsels! His deep designs, treasured up in His immeasurable Mind, mock the feeble efforts of human reason to fathom, and leave the most soaring genius to deplore the scantiness of his intellectual powers. Struck with a view of the awfulness of His character, the mind of man trembles while he ap proaches into His presence, and shrinks under a sense of the vast disproportion between himself and the Being he adores! But notwithstanding "He draweth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth a cloud upon it," He hath condescended to make Himself known to man, in His works and ways, and more especially in the volume of revelation. Feeble as is the glim mering taper of reason, yet, when looking through these medi ums, and especially when assisted by that "Spirit which giveth understanding to man" some traits of His august character are seen. We see through a glass darkly. As when the moon shines through the boughs of a thick forest, and discloses to the 1raveller the dangers he ought to avoid, so does the Almighty Himself manifest to wandering mortals, enveloped as they are in the wilderness of this world, through His wonderous works; but the light of revelation breaks in upon us like the Sun in its brightness, and disperses every gloomy doubt from the labouring mind. Guided by this infallible light, we behold man dropping from the hands of his Maker, possessed of all those natural and moral qualities essential to the perfection of his nature, and which fitted him to fill the station he was designed to occupy with dignity, and to discharge its duties with fidelity and success. How is he now? A crude mass of inconsistencies. But is there any remedy? There is. And Christianity proclaims this remedy. We have a right, therefore, to expect from all its sons an exhibition of tempers and conduct that shall evince the sovereign efficacy of this remedy. That disorder introduced into the moral world, in consequence of the departure of its members from original rectitude, is removed by the radical operation of Christianity upon the human soul; by which man is restored to a capacity, and possessed of an inclination to fulfil the duties of the station assigned him by his Creator. It is true, we do not expect to see in a youth of fifteen, all that consistency of conduct, which we do in a man of two score and ten. The rules of propriety seem to indicate a certain line of conduct, and a certain exterior deportment peculiar to the age and capacity of the several members of human society. That vivacity of spirit and sprightliness of imagination which mark the age of youth, and those little abberations from strict propriety which want of experience and attentive observation might betray them into, may find an apology in those causes whence they originate; but which, were they exhibited in men of riper years and maturer judgments, would deserve a severe reprimand. In those whose judgments are matured by age and experience, we expect to see that gravity of deportment, that steadiness of conduct, that deadness to worldly honours and pleasures, and that |