sorrow or remorse, on account of sin, amounts to the scriptural idea of repentance; to constitute this, there must be reformation of the conduct. And in proof of this statement, he quotes amongst many others, one passage, which will perhaps, appear to most, to be perfectly conclusive upon the point. Godly sorrow worketh repentance." It cannot be doubted that a change of conduct resulting from a change of mind is referred to here, and the apostle, let it be observed, calls it slavo. Unquestionably the Doctor leans to the opinion, that repentance in the usage of the sacred writers chiefly intends reformation of the conduct, not however, to the total exclusion of that change of aind from which it results. Far less are we warranted to conclude from any thing he has written, that a change of heart is not, in his opinion, essential to salvation, even though it were ever so plain that he does not consider sorrow or remorse on account of sin, the meaning of the word lavo. In the commencement of his dissertation upon these very words, he says, that the term to which such frequent reference has been made "marks a change of mind that is durable and productive of consequences."-From the whole, it appears tolerably manifest that the Doctor meant by Reformation to denote an internal as well as an ex ternal change; and if the term be understood, in this way, it can scarcely be disputed that it does express the full mean ing and spirit of the original.

IOTA.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CHRISTIAN HERALD.

GENTLEMEN,

I should like to see occasional illustrations of obscure passages of scripture in the Christian Herald. Every thing which throws light on the word of God is important, and to some classes of your readers, Biblical Criticism must be very interesting; and though few comparatively are qualified to make original criticisms themselves, we may yet, occasionally meet with valuable remarks on scripture in scarce and expensive books, which deserve to be more generally known than they can ever be, if confined to these works. Looking over Bishop Horsley's Translation of Hosea (a work of great merit and in the hands of but few of your readers I suppose), I was much pleased with his version of a very obscure passage, and with the ingenious note upon it. I have taken the liberty to transcribe them for the Herald, and should they be acceptable, I may afterwards transmit some things of the same kind which occur in the course of reading. Hosea, ii. 21, 22.

: And it shall be in that day, I will perform my part, saith JEHOVAH. I will perform iny part upon the Heavens; and they shall perform their part upon the Earth; and the Earth shall perform her part upon the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall perform their part for the JEZRAEL the seed of God.”

It

Note." The primary and most proper meaning of the verb anne (translated in our version hear) I take to be, to react; when B re-acts upon A, in consequence of a prior action of A upon B. But more largely it predicates reciprocal, correspondent, or cor-relate action. Thus, it signifies the proper action of one thing upon another, according to established physical sympathies in the material world; or, among intelligent beings, according to the rule of moral order. has always reference to a system of agency; and may be applied to any individual agent, in a system of agents, whose action regularly excites, or is excited by the actions of the rest. Thus, it may be applied to the act of the first mover, which sets all the rest a-going, as well as to the subordinate agents as in vocal music, it is applicable to the singing of the first voice, as well as to the inferior performers, who follow him. And in this passage it is applied, first to the action of God himself upon the powers of nature; then, to the subordinate action of the parts of nature upon one another; and last of all, to the subservience of the elements and their physi cal productions, to the benefit of man; and ultimately, by the direction of God's over-ruling providence, to the exclusive benefit of the godly. In short, it expresses generally one agent performing its proper part upon another. And to this general notion all the particular senses of the word are reducible." PHILO-BIBLOS.

MISCELLANEOUS.

ANECDOTE OF THE LATE REV. MR. HERVEY,

This good man was not less distinguished for his private, than for his public exertions in the cause of religion. The following little anecdote is highly characteristic, and holds up an example for christians, and especially for ministers to imitate. Mr. Hervey's constitution, which never was strong, during the concluding years of his life, was in a very shattered state. It was then his constant practice to take a daily airing on horseback, when the weather would permit. In the subordinate care of his health, he did not forget his business

sof doing good. When he met with any particular young per sons in these excursions, he used to engage them in religious conversation, and in a manner peculiarly prepossessing urged them to attend to the one thing needful. When he perceived a disposition to attend to religion, he encouraged it, by the gift of bibles and other religious books. The divine blessing in repeated instances rested on his exertions, and casual interviews were the means of making more than one seriously thoughtful, permanently religious. One of the seals of Mr. Hervey's labours of this kind is still alive; when a young man in the neighbourhood of Weston, Mr. Hervey used often in the course of his rides to visit him. He was accustomed to dismount from his horse, hang the bridle on his arm, and in the most familiar and affectionate manner recommend to him a serious attention to the concerns of his soul. The young man was afterwards clerk to Mr. Hervey's successor, he is now a member of the Baptist Church at Northampton, and he acknowledges with pleasure that the recollection of Mr. Hervey's conversations had been highly beneficial to his spiritual interests. He has in his possession a bible which he received from Mr. Hervey. It is incalculable what benefit might be the result of ministers following the example of Mr. Hervey in this particular.

RELIGIOUS MEETINGS OF CHILDREN.

"I have seen," says PresidentEdwards, " many happy effects of children's Religious Meetings, and God has seemed remarkably to own them in their Meetings, and really descended from heaven to be among them. I have known several pro. bable instances of children being converted at such meetings I should, therefore, think, if children appear to be really moved to it, by a religious disposition, they ought by no means to be discouraged or discountenanced." For several years, a Meeting of seven or eight beys was held in the house of the Rev. John Brown, Haddington; they employed themselves in prayer, and praise, and spiritual conference. Several of these through life, and at their death gave evidence of saving conversion. The Meeting was commonly on Saturday evening; the good man would have left his studies for half an hour, gone into the youthful society, conversed familiarly with them, and after giving them serious advice, recommended them to God in fervent prayer while the dear young ones were kneeling around. The same practice was used by the pious and judicious Willison of Dundee.

JUVENILE DEPARTMENT.

THE WISDOM OF GOD.

་ཡ་་་་་་

The design of the following re

marks is to excite the attention of young people, especially, to a subject which I am sure will yield them a high degree of pleasure and entertainment, and at the same time afford them useful instruction.

EVERY one is ready to confess that God is infinite in wisdom; but, perhaps, some of my young readers are not aware how many proofs of his wisdom may be perceived in every object around us-proofs so clear-so beautiful -so striking, that when I mention some of them, it will excite surprise in my readers' minds, that they never attended to them before. Where shall we begin then? or How shall we begin? I think, we must be convinced that wisdom is displayed in the formation of whatever could not be altered but for the worse. We shall, therefore, pursue this method, in our present attempt to instruct you; we shall inquire what would be the consequence if the works of God, some of which, we are going to speak of, were otherwise than they are.

Let us begin with the Sun. Suppose the Sun were removed to a much greater distance from us than he is, what would be the consequence? Every one is sensible this would be for the worse; continual and intense cold, and frost, would render existence wretched, if not impossible; and would it not be equally distressing if the Sun were much nearer us or much larger than he is? The Sun" knoweth his proper

hour to rise;" but what would have become of us if his rising

were as uncertain as the state of the weather, and were only occasional like the storms or the rain!

Consider next the Moon. Many of my young readers know that the tides are caused by the action of the moon on the ocean; now if the moon were of ten times greater magnitude, would not the tides rise so high as to overflow the land, drown whole cities and carry destruction before them; and if the moon much smaller we should have scarcely any tides at all, and her light would be so feeble, as to be of little benefit to us in the ab sence of the Sun.

were

Did my young reader ever discover any marks of wisdom in the clouds I think, I hear some if there were no clouds at all, for one saying, "it would be better they only deprive us of sunshine.” This observation was made by one who had not reflected much

upon the subject, for it is manifest, that if there were no clouds, there would be no rain, and if there were no rain, there would be no crops, no fruit, no corn, for every thing would be burnt up by the scorching rays of the Sun. Who has not admired the beautiful clouds which deck the sky in a fine summer evening, and been charmed with their varied and glowing colours? But

was the mind struck at the same time with the wisdom which formed them, which gives them their fine texture, and balances them with such exquisite skill? Did the charmed Spectator of their

REVIEW.

The Evidence and Authority of proofs of christianity; but his the Christian Revelation.-By opinions, though stated with the Rev. THOMAS CHALMERS, Minister of Kilmany, 12mo.299. DR. Lardner has made a very large collection of the historical