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

be presented with the biography of individuals. He will see a great mind encountering a variety of circumstances, struggling with adversity, or withstanding the more dangerous insinuations of prosperity. In every scene he will be able to pierce his very bosom; and in life or in death, the recesses of his heart are alike laid open. Every sphere of human life is accessible; and the Prince, the Lawgiver, and the Shepherd, present themselves in their turn. Sometimes he will be surrounded by domestic scenes; and will sit down in the bosom of a family. He will witness their divisions and their reconciliations, their failings, and their excellencies, their joys and their sufferings-in a word, he will become one of them. Sometimes the concerns of a nation will burst upon his imagination. He will be made acquainted with the sources of dominion, the windings of power, and the hidden springs of national decay. Thus also the STATESMAN will be interested. He may learn many a lesson of wisdom, and draw many a wholesome truth, from these pages. The best and wisest legislators have made the code of laws relating both to government and morality, contained in this volume, the standard by which their own constitution has been framed: nor have they deviated from this model without manifest disadvantage; except indeed when the unavoidable changes of customs and of manners, and the dissimilarity of countries and of climes, have required alterations. To the PHILOSOPHER the secret springs of the

human heart will be laid open. An acquaintance with men and things, beyond the sphere of human investigation, is displayed here. The movements of the mind, the influence of the passions, every rude and every tender emotion, is uncovered before him and submitted to his penetration. THOSE THAT ADMIRE THE MARVELLOUS may also have their taste gratified, and that not at the expense of truth. Unparalleled wonders are narrated. They bear no marks of fiction: but they carry irresistible features of veracity. They are related with simplicity; and are confirmed abundantly by internal, and by external evidences. We are producing in their order some of the singular events which abound here. There are both miracles and prophecies: and, to impress the heart the more, the reader is himself interested in them. But what are the emotions with which the different characters, whom we have enumerated, will consult this volume, to the feelings with which THE CHRISTIAN will read it? Their taste is gratified; but his wants are supplied. Their imagination is fired, and their judgment is informed; but his heart is warmed, and his mind is relieved. To them the throne of God may be a seat of terror; to him it is a throne of grace. A mind at ease seeks entertainment; a wounded spirit pants for repose. The one may consult this volume from curiosity, or, at best, for instruction; the other will read it for his life-his present peace, and his future happiness, alike depend upon what he finds here. It is with

the feelings, the views, and the advantage of this last character, that we earnestly desire you should examine the Scriptures.

CLOSE OF LIFE.

THE closing scenes of every man's life are awful and impressive. When we stand by the side of a dying bed, lessons which are feebly conceived, and wholly disregarded at another time, are taught to perfection, and force their way to the heart in defiance of human levity. Here we see the man resigning the several perfections which once elated him with pride, and laying down his boasted excellencies. Here the strong man is deprived of his strength, and the rich man is stripped of his riches. This is the end of all flesh. The attainments of the scholar, and the wisdom of the wise, cease with the breath departing from the nostrils. The career of glory terminates in the vale of mortality: its lustre is extinguished in the shadow of death: and the hero yields to a stronger arm than his own. Here the dreams of a youthful imagination are broken, and the delusive enchantments of life vanish. Here the great and the gay discover how worthless, and how inconsiderable is the sum total of earthly good: and a true estimate of the present transitory existence is given. "It is better to go into the house of mourning, than to go into the house of feasting:" because the one

strengthens the deceptions of time, and the other dissolves them. Let your hearts be serious this night: for that most interesting and useful of all scenes is painted before you in solemn coloursthe close of a great and useful life.

There is a mournful gratification in the melancholy duty of following our departed friends to their last earthly retreat-the grave. It is in obedience to the voice of nature issuing from their very sepulchres, to which also our own hearts are responsive, that we go and see where they have laid them. Fashion has suppressed these strong emotions, and countermanded at once the impulse of nature, the voice of religion, and the custom of thousands of successive generations. When Abraham was to be laid in the grave, the office devolved upon his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Rispah is found watching the bodies of her slaughtered children by day and by night, till her interposition ceased only because it became useless through the resistless and consuming hand of time. The sisters of Lazarus were not afraid of the grave of their brother. The mother of Jesus had as fine and as acute feelings as the high-born and the high-bred females, who from excess of affectation (for it is not sensibility) abandon their dwelling the moment death enters it: yet she was found at the foot of the cross, and did not shrink from the scene of trial, while there remained a single maternal duty to fulfil. The family of Jacob are also seen collected around his couch, listening to his words,