dence that even a child has a conviction of their truth, and triumphs that the Savior of mankind is God, and that being God he can save to the uttermost. A relation to God is claimed and firmly depended upon; he will be favorable because he promises to be so; the belief thereof restores peace to the mind; disarms death of its terrors; and receives with unsuspecting confidence future happiness. The soul is attuned to love, which destroys any rancour or ill will, and makes the interest of all its own interest, even your contempt of the Savior-O unbeliever, and your abuse of a name dearer than heaven itself, is viewed with pity, and the prayer escapes that you, that all, even if possible the most despicable of creatures might be forgiven. Is this chris. tianity? Does christianity restore men to God, to Heaven, to one another? Yes, such indeed is the christianity which you des. pise. In this child christianity appears in its native simplicity, and in all its power. Become Christians, I beseech you, and you shall become happy. A guilty mind has tormented you; Christ proclaims pardon; a depraved nature has been your disgrace; he renews them who come to him in the spirit of their minds; malice rankling at the heart preys upon the peace of the world; he eradicates that root of bitterness. Death is terrible; he has disarmed death of his sting; an awful eternity distracts anticipation; he brings life and immortality to light. All this and more than this, or than what even tongue can tell he did for an infant, who speaks to you in honor of Christ, and breathes a spirit which is the glory of our nature and happiness itself. Surely what is hid from the wise and prudent has been revealed unto babes. "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen.--- Yea, and things which are not to bring to nought things which are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.” The parents of such a child have sustained an irreparable loss, but their loss is the child's gain. Their tears we cannot forbid, they are demanded by departed worth. Christ wept, and Christians may weep. There is a time to weep: It is good to be in the house of mourning. By the sadness of the counte. nance the heart is made better. Godly sorrow worketh repent. ance not to be repented of. Lamentation and bitter weeping on sad occasions, are nature giv. ing vent to feelings, which suppressed, would destroy the mortal frame. Rachel may weep for her children; but let her not refuse comfort. God seeks our good, not our ruin by affliction when he wounds he also heals; he speaks comfortably to the afflicted. "Faint not when thou art rebuked. Be not ignorant concening them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Your Alethea, your Charlotte, are alive and happy in a better world, you shall go to them, their removal weakens your attachment to mortality, but in the same proportion strengthens it to, immortality. It is an honor which cannot be too highly estimated, that your family have supplied inhabitants to the celestial country. Where could they be so secure, or where so happy? It was their welfare which lay near your heart, and are they not well? You could not bear to see them in pain, and are they not free from pain? Their death was a sword piercing your souls, but in the world which they now inhabit, death is swallowed up of life. Let the command of your God be remembered and obeyed. "Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own borders." to The companions of Charlotte must not suppose that their Charlotte is lost; no, she is gone to heaven, and she wishes you be with her, she would be unhappy to miss any of you. She says to you and to you as she said to Frances, mind your duty to God, say your prayers morning and evening on your knees, and then you will die as I do; God bless you and may we meet in heaven." AMONGST too many other in. stances of the great corruption and degeneracy of the age in which we live, the general want of sincerity in conversation is none of the least. The world is grown so full of dissimulation and compliment, that men's words are scarcely any signification of their thought. The old English plainness and sincerity, that generous integrity of nature, and honesty of dispo sition, which always argue true greatness of mind, and are usual. ly accompanied with undaunted courage and resolution, are in a great measure lost amongst us. The dialect of conversation is now so swelled with vanity and compliment, that if a man who lived an age or two ago were to return into the world again, he would really want a dictionary to help him to understand his own language, and to know the true intrinsic meaning of the phrases in fashion, and would hardly at first believe at what a low rate the highest strains and expressions of respect and esteem do commonly pass in current payment: And when he should come to understand, it would be a long time before he could bring himself, with a good countenance and a good conscience, to converse with men upon equal terms, and in their own way. In truth, it is hard to say whether it should more provoke our contempt or our pity to hear what solemn expressions of profound respect and ardent friendship will pass between men on the slightest occasions; how great honor and esteem they will profess to entertain for one whom perhaps, they scarcely ever saw before, and how entirely they are all on a sudden devoted to his service and interest-for nu reason; how infinitely and eter The giver more blessed than the receiver,aDiscourse addressed to the congregation in Franktin, by Nathaniel Emmons, D. D. Boston, Lincoln & Edmands, 1809. IT is one of the most honora. ble traits in the character of the present age, that the zeal to do good has acquired an ardor, which was never before so generally experienced, and is directed by a wise extension of views, unexampled in any former period. A new spirit of benevolence has been exhibited. New exertions have been made for the removal of human sufferings, and for the communication of happiness. A. mong the means of promoting the welfare of mankind, the distribution of religious tracts, we think, holds an important place; for all christian excellence must be founded upon the knowledge of truth, and truth to be known must be taught. There are few who think for themselves, and whose characters are not shaped according to the instructions, which they receive. It is a hap. py circumstance therefore, that so many important truths are, at the present day, condensed into small publications, which are ex. tensively circulated. The Sermon, before us brings its aid to the general cause of benevolence; being founded up. on the words of the Lord Jesus, It is more blessed to give, than to receive. Beneficence is here forcibly recommended, by showing, that there is more real pleas ure, and more virtue in giving, than in receiving; and that God promises to reward the giver and not the receiver. In the opinion of the author our happiness al ways bears a proportion to our virtue, unless by some inciden tal cause the natural tendency of virtue be obstructed; and the virtue of giving is superior to the virtue of receiving, because it expresses a greater degree of be nevolence. "There is a higher and purer happiness in rejoicing in the good of others, than in rejoicing in our own good. The receiver rejoices in his own hap piness, and let his joy rise ever so high, it still terminates in himself. But the giver has a nobler pleasure, which arises from a nobler source. Instead of rẻ. joieing in his own good, he re joices in the good of others." "There is no deduction from the pleasure of giving; but there is a deduction from the pleasure of receiving. The receiver is laid under obligation to the giver; but the giver is laid under no obligation to the receiver." "There is more self denial in giving than in receiving. He that gives, diminishes his interest, but he that receives, increases his property." In these and other remarks, found in the sermon before us, there is much ingenuity and nov. elty; but it admits of a question, whether, in application to all cases, they are perfectly correct. Admitting the theory of disinterested benevolence, which has a great deal to support it, may not the good man, who receives, par. take of the joy of the giver, and not rejoice solely in his own happiness? May he not be glad that he is laid under an obliga. tion? And is it not possible, that in resisting his pride he may manifest as much self denial as the giver, who has to resist his covetousness? It is very obvious that circumstances may and do occur, in which less virtue is evinced in giving, than in receiv. ing. The position of Dr. E. then can be universally true only in eases, where the act of the bene. factor is not sullied by improper motives, and does not proceed from blind habit; and if the same supposition of perfect purity of motive, be applied to the receiver, why should it be thought, that his joy in receiving necessarily and always terminates in himself? In the very pertinent improvement of this discourse wealth is represented as a great favor, be cause it gives the power of doing good; it is declared to be the duty of men of every description to be industrious in gaining the world, that they may abound in deeds of charity; and Christians are taught that beneficence, a constant course of beneficence, is the test of sincerity. Some of the channels pointed out, through which the offerings of the benevolent may and should flow to the poor, the ignorant, and the sinful, are the various kinds of hu. mane societies, the missionary societies, the tract societies, the Bible societies, and the theological societies. This sermon is written in the neat and perspicuous manner, for which Dr. E. is distinguished. It is eminently the product of intelligence rather than of pas. sion. But if it be deficient in what the French call unction; this deficiency is compensated by the insertion at the close of the pamphlet, of two interesting and animated extracts from missionary sermons, preached by the Rev. Dr. GRIFFIN, and the Rev. Mr. WORCester. On the whole, no person, we think, can rise from a fair perusal of this discourse, without a deep conviction on his mind of the excellency, and importance of the leading truth and the correspondent duty, which it is intended to illustrate and impress. It is creditable to the talents and to the heart of the respected author; it displays the character, and breathes the spirit of chris. tianity; and we cheerfully recommend it, as worthy of an attentive perusal and an extensive distribution. REMARKS ON REVIEW. To the Editors of the Panoplist. Gentlemen, In the number of your magazine for October I ob. served a review of the American Biographical and Historical Dictionary, upon which with your indulgence I would make a few remarks. Without adverting to less important parts of your review, I wish only to point out two or three instances, in which I think you have written under a mistake, or a misconception of my meaning, and thus in some important particulars to remove a censure, which in my opinion was entirely undeserved. This, I trust, can be done without for. getting, that you have exposed faults, and in the exercise of your critical office might have detected errors of greater magnitude in the work, which you have reviewed, and without any insensibility to the general commendation, which you have bestowed upon it. 66 You observe, that the mention of four of Samuel Adams' associates in signing the declaration of independence will by some be thought invidious; by others perhaps partial." The four persons, who are thus distinguish ed, are Franklin, John Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson. The eminence of Franklin as a philos. opher, and the services, which he rendered to his country during the revolution, will perhaps justify the distinction with regard to him. John Adams was the principal speaker in favor of independence. In opposition to Dickinson he brought forth the stores of his political knowledge, and the en. ergy of his eloquence. Hancock is known wherever the declaration of independence is read, for he signed it as president of congress. As to Jefferson, it was he, who drew up that instru. ment. In mentioning these names it is believed, that no par. tiality was felt, and no invidious distinction was made, for these men were the most conspicuous, If another name should have been added, it is that of Richard Henry Lee, for he made the motion for independence. Yet if this name had been added, it would not have diminished the appear. ance of partiality in the view of those, whose jealousy was awake upon the subject. You are pleased to say, that 66 savor too in which some observations under the ar ticle, Samuel Adams, much of the political partizan." You refer without doubt to what is related of his conduct in respect to the British treaty, made by Mr. Jay. In following Mr. Thacher, his biographer, my whole design was to justify Mr. Adams for the manner, he opposed the treaty; not to determine whether his opposition to it was well founded, or wheth er it originated in prepossession and prejudice. On this subject no opinion was expressed, and none was intended to be express. ed. It might with as much jus tice be concluded from what is said in reference to this precise affair, under the article Washing. ton, that the words of the Biographical Dictionary "savor too |