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is seldom felt; while, contrary to what is commonly practised, it will appear to the former the very language of nature, and present to the latter the lively image of the preacher's soul. Were a taste for this kind. of elocution to take place, it is difficult to say how much the preaching art would gain by it. Pronunciation would be studied, an ear would be formed, the voice would be modulated, every feature of the face, every motion of the hands, every posture of the body, would be brought under right management. A graceful, and correct, and animated expression in all these would be ambitiously sought after; mutual criticisms and friendly hints would be universally acknowledged; light and direction would be borrowed from every quarter, and from every age. The best models of antiquity would in a particular manner be admired, surveyed, and imitated. The sing-song voice, and the see-saw gestures, if I may be allowed to use those expressions, would, of course, be exploded; and, in time, nothing would be admitted, at least approved, among performers, but what was decent, manly, and truly excellent in the kind. Even the people themselves would contract, insensibly, a growing relish for such a manner; and those preachers would at last be in chief repute with all, who followed nature, overlooked themselves, appeared totally absorbed in the subject, and spoke with real propriety and pathos, from the immediate impulse of truth and virtue.

REV. JAMES FORDYCE.

II. THE OCEAN · - ITS GRANDEUR AND SUBLIMITY.

THE most impressive exhibitions of power, known to

to our globe, belong to the ocean.

The volcano, with its ascending cloud of flame, and falling torrents of liquid fire, and the earthquake, whose footstep is on the ruin of cities, are circumscribed in the desolating range of their visitation. But the ocean, when roused in its chainless strength, shakes a thousand shores with storm and thunder.

Navies of oak and iron are tossed in mockery from its crest, and whole armameuts, manned by the strength and courage of millions, perish among its bubbles.

The tempest on land is impeded by forests, and broken by mountains; but on the plain of the deep it rushes unresisted; and when its strength is at last spent, ten thousand giant waves, which it has called up, still roll its terrors onward.

The avalanche, shaken from its glittering steep, if it rolls to the bosom of the earth, melts away and is lost in vapor; but, if it plunge into the embrace of the ocean, this mountain mass of ice and hail is borne about for ages, in tumult and terror- the drifting monument of the ocean's dead.

The mountain lake, and the meadow stream, are inhabited only by the timid prey of the angler; but the ocean is the home of the leviathan, his ways are in the mighty deep. The glittering pebble, and the rainbowtinted shell, which the retiring tide has left upon the shore as scarcely worthy of its care, and the watery gem, which the pearl-diver reaches at the risk of his life, –

are all that man can filch from the treasures of the sea. The groves of coral which wave o'er its pavements, and the halls of amber which glow in its depths, are beyond his approach, save when he goes down amid the silent magnificence to seek his burial monument!

The island, the continent, the capitols of kings, are worn by time, washed away by the wave, consumed by the flame, or sunk by the earthquake. But the ocean still remains, and still rolls on, in the greatness of its unabated strength; and over the majesty of its form, and the marvels of its might, time and disaster have no power.

Even the vast clouds of vapor, which rise up from its bosom, roll away, to encircle the globe; and on distant mountains and deserts pour out their watery treasures, which gather themselves again, in streams and torrents, and return with exulting bounds to their parent ocean. These are the messengers which proclaim in every land the exhaustless resources of the sea. But it is reserved for "those who go down to the sea in ships, to see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep."

Man, also, has made the ocean the theatre of his power. The ship in which he rides that element, is one of the highest triumphs of his skill. At first, this floating fabric was only a frail bark, slowly urged by the laboring oar. The sail at length arose, and spread its wings to the wind. Still, when the lofty promontory had sunk from sight, and the orbs.above him were lost in clouds, he had no power to direct his course. But the secret of the magnet is at length revealed to him; and now, his needle settles to the polar star, with a fixedness which love has stolen as the emblem of its constancy.

Now, however, he can dispense with sail, and car, and flowing wave. He constructs his engine, of flame and vapor, and o'er the vast solitude of the sea, as o'er the solid earth, goes thundering on his track.

On the ocean, too, thrones have been lost and won. On the fate of Actium was suspended the empire of the world. In the Gulf of Salamis the pride of Persia found a grave, and the crescent set for ever in the waters of Navarino. While at Trafalgar and the Nile, nations held their breath, as each gun, from its adamantine lips, spread a death-shade around the ships, like the hurricane eclipse of the sun.

REV. WALTER COLTON.

III. SINCERITY.

TRUTH and sincerity have all the advantages of appearance, and many more. If the show of anything be good, I am sure the reality is better; for why does any man dissemble, or seem to be that which he is not, - but because he thinks it good to have the qualities he pretends to? Now, the best way for a man to seem to be anything, is to be in reality what he would seem to be:: besides, - it is often as troublesome to support the tence of a good quality, as to have it; and, if a man have it not, it is most likely he will be discovered to want it ;; and then all his labor to seem to have it is lost. There is something unnatural in painting, which a skilful eyewill easily discern from native beauty and complexion.

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Therefore, if any man think it convenient to seem

good, let him be so indeed; and then his goodness will appear to every one's satisfaction. Particularly, as to the affairs of this world, integrity hath many advantages over all the artificial modes of dissimulation and deceit. It is much the plainer and easier—much the safer, and more secure way of dealing in the world; it has less of trouble and difficulty, of entanglement and perplexity, of danger and hazard in it. The arts of deceit and cunning continually grow weaker, and less serviceable to those that practise them; whereas integrity gains strength by use; and the more and longer any mau practiseth it, the greater service it does him, by confirming his reputation, and encouraging those with whom he hath to do, to repose the greatest confidence in him; which is an unspeakable advantage in business and the affairs of life.

But insincerity is very troublesome to manage. A hypocrite hath so many things to attend to, as make his life a very perplexed and intricate thing. A liar hath need of a good memory, lest he contradict at one time what he said at another; but truth is always consistent, and needs nothing to help it out; it is always near at hand, and sits upon our lips; whereas a lie is troublesome, and needs a great many more to make it good. In a word, whatsoever convenience may be thought to be in falsehood or dissimulation, it is soon over; but the inconvenience of it is perpetual; because it brings a man under an everlasting jealousy and suspicion; so that he is not believed when he speaks the truth; nor trusted when, perhaps, he means honestly. When a man hath once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, nothing then will serve his turn; neither truth nor falsehood.

Indeed, if a man were only to deal in the world for a

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