they had not heard of should be told them, and that what they had not previously known should be devoutly considered by them. For the sake of brevity, I shall, at present, only glance at the words of Zephaniah. God says by him, "I will turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent." This pure language, or, according to the Hebrew, clear hp, is opposed to that confused one introduced as the punishment of the builders of Babel; and God here says that the time should come when he would no longer confine his truth to the Hebrew language, which was to the Gentiles confused, because unintelligible; but speak to them all in their own tongues, and thus make his saving truth universally understood. Thus he would correct the confusion of tongues, and cause his Spirit to show the mind and the glory of Christ in every variety of human speech. Where the Spirit of God dwells in the heart, there is no confusion or dissonance. Bernard has justly remarked, "As he who is ignorant of Greek cannot understand one who speaks in that language, and the same may be said of one ignorant of Latin, or any other language, when he hears it spoken; so is the language of love barbarous to him who does not love. It is to him unmeaning as It is to him unmeaning as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.' But the Gentiles also have received the Spirit, in order that they may love and understand its proper language; and having learned that language, they can answer in it, and in all the exercises of love and genuine piety." I cannot stop to notice particularly the preludes of this great gift, in the necessity laid upon Moses and Aaron, and the rest of the Hebrews, to learn and speak the language of Egypt, and on Daniel and Ezra, and other Jews, to learn and speak that of Chaldea, which caused the name of God to be known, through them, to multitudes of the Gentiles. The insertion of sentences and paragraphs of Chaldee in the writings of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezra, went to show that God would not always have his revelations confined to one language, and was a prelude to his one day making them known in all. It may be asked, why God chose rather to have the Gospel preached in all languages than to reduce the whole again to one? We have seen that, when there was but one language in the world, the devil prompted men to abuse that advantage; and he would no doubt be ready to do the same again under like circumstances. It is a greater display of the power of God to convert an evil into a good, than to remove the evil altogether. Thus he has acted in reference to the confusion of tongues : he has made that also to advance his own glory. His Spirit was not sent to found and promote a secular, but a divine, kingdom; and the nations are not to be united by a mere form of words, but by the constraining love of Christ. (To be concluded in our next.) ON THE EDUCATION OF MINISTERS. To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. THE following observations upon a subject, highly important in itself, and more than ordinarily interesting at the present time to many of your readers, will not be deemed unseasonable. Such sentiments need not the high authority and character of their venerated and lamented author to recommend them. They are taken from an Address in behalf of the Baptist Academical Institution at Stepney, written above twenty years ago by the late Rev. Robert Hall. Ar this period no apology can be necessary for attempting to assist young men, designed for the ministry, in the acquisition of such branches of knowledge as may qualify them more completely for the successful discharge of that sacred function; since whatever prejudices unfavourable to learning may have formerly prevailed in serious minds, they appear to have subsided, and Christians in general admit the propriety of enlisting literature in the service of religion. From the recent multiplication of theological seminaries among Protestant Dissenters, such an inference may be fairly deduced. While we assert the absolute sufficiency of the Scriptures for every saving purpose, it is impossible to deny the usefulness of the knowledge derived from books, in unfolding many of its obscurities, explaining many of its allusions, and producing more fully to the view the inestimable treasure it contains. The primary truths of Revelation, it is acknowledged, offer themselves at first view in the sacred volume; but there are latent riches and gems of inestimable value, which can be brought to light only by a deeper and more laborious research. There are numberless exquisite harmonies and retired beauties in the scheme of Revelation, which are rarely discovered without the union of great industry with cultivated talent. A collection of writings, composed on various occasions, and at remote intervals of time, including detached portions of history the most ancient, and of poetry awfully sublime, but often obscure, a book, containing continual allusions to manners unknown in this part of the world, and to institutions which have long ceased to exist, must demand all the aid that ingenuity and learning can bring towards its elucidation. The light of Revelation, it should be remembered, is not opposite to the light of reason: the former presupposes the latter. They are both emanations from the same source; and the discoveries of the Bible, however supernatural, are addressed to the understanding, the only me dium of information, whether hu man or divine. Revealed religion is not a cloud which overshadows reason; it is a superior illumination designed to perfect its exercise, and supply its deficiencies. Since truth is always consistent with itself, it can never suffer from the most enlarged exertion of the intellectual powers, provided those powers be regulated by a spirit of dutiful submission to the oracles of God. The evidences of Christianity challenge the most rigid examination: the more accurate and extensive the inquiry, the more convincing will they appear. Unexpected coincidences between inspired history and the most undisputed remains of antiquity will present themselves, and striking analogies be perceived between the course of providence and the supreme economy of grace. The gradual developement of the plan of Revelation, together with the dependence of its several parts on each other, and the perfect consistency of the whole, will employ and reward the deepest investigation. In proof of the assistance religion may derive from learning, rightly directed, we appeal to the writings of an Usher, a Newton, and a Bryant, to the ancient apologists of Christianity, who by means of it unmasked the deformities of Polytheism; to the Reformers, whom it taught to remove the sacred volume from the dust and obscurity of cloisters, and exhibit it in the dialects of Europe; and to the victorious impugners of infidelity in modern times. Such are the spoils which sanctified learning has won from superstition and impiety, the common enemies of God and man. Nor must we forget to notice, among the most precious fruits of cultivated reason, that consciousness of its own deficiencies, and sense of its own weakness, which prompts it to bow to the authority of Revelation, and depose its honours at the cross; since its incapacity to solve the most important questions, and to satisfy the most distressing doubts, will be felt with the truest conviction, and attested with the best grace, by such as have made the largest essay of its powers. An unconverted ministry we look upon as the greatest calamity that can befal the church; nor would we be supposed to insinuate, by the preceding observations, that education can ever be a proper substitute for native talent, much less for real piety all we mean to assert is, that the union of both will much enlarge the capacity of doing good. Without descending to particulars, we must be allowed to remark, for example, that the art of arranging ideas in their proper order, and of investigating the nature of the different sorts of evidence, as well as an acquaintance with the fundamental rules of composition and rhetoric, are of essential service to a public speaker. The existing state of society sup. plies additional reasons for extending the advantages of academical education. If former periods have given birth to more renowned scholars, none ever produced so many men of reading and reflection as the present; never was there a time when books were so multiplied, knowledge so diffused, and when, consequently, the exercise of cultivated talents in all departments was in such demand. When the general level of mental improvement is so much raised, it becomes necessary for the teachers of religion to possess their full share of these advantages, if they would secure from neglect the exercise of a function, the most important to the interests of mankind. If, in the days of inspiration, there were schools of the Prophets, and miraculous infusions of wisdom did not supersede human means of instruction, much less are they to be neglected in the present times, when no such communications are expected. To this we must add, that perverted literature is one of the most powerful weapons in the hands of the enemies of divine truth, who leave no effort untried to recommend their cause by the lustre of superior acquisitions, and to form in the public mind the dangerous association between irreligion and talents, weakness and piety. In insisting so strongly on the advantages of a regular education, we mean no disrespect to those excellent persons who have exercised their ministry, much to the benefit of the church, without those advantages; many of whom are men of vigorous minds, who have surmounted great obstacles in the pursuit of knowledge; and others, by their piety and good sense, well fitted for the stations which they occupy. We trust that such Ministers will always be highly esteemed in our churches: there are situa tions, it is probable, which they are better qualified to fill than persons of a higher education. the improvement of the higher classes, however, it will scarcely be denied, men of the latter character are best suited; and as their salvation is not in itself less important than that of the lower orders, so their superior weight in society attaches to their character and conduct peculiar consideration. It is also manifest from the examples of a Brainerd, an Elliot, and a Schwartz, that where piety in a candidate for the ministry is once secured, a course of academical studies is no impediment to the growth and developement of qualities the mos Το conducive to success, deep hu shaken perseverance, and patient mility, eminent spirituality, un self-denial. DESECRATION OF THE SABBATH IN PARIS. * gay To those who have recently passed from the comparatively quiet and almost deserted streets of the city of London, as seen on a Sabbath morning, where almost every shop is closed, and all commercial intercourse decently suspended,-where little else is heard but the "sound of the church-going bell," and little else seen but the neat and orderly attendants upon public worship, or the interesting ranks of the Sundayschool, going to, or returning from, the house of prayer,—it must be a strange transition, on the same sacred day, to witness the thronged streets, the open shops, the equipages, the noisy carts and waggons, the multitudes at their business, the multitudes at their pleasures, the crowded gardens, the feasting restaurants, the open theatres, the cafés full of loungers and news-readers, all eager for politics, -the public ways all clogged up with every kind of vehicle, and week-day obstruction,-water carrying, windows cleaning, wood sawing, buildings going on, bargains transacting, the cries of fish-women, glass-men, venders of fruit, flowers, and every thing which is so offensively presented to the eye and to the ear, on the LORD'S SABBATH, in the dissolute city of Paris! It cannot indeed be said, literally, that the Sabbath is forgotten here. It is remembered with awful precision. For, being a kind of market-day of pleasure, every one whose object is gain calculates upon a larger harvest during the hours of this sacred day; and hence, all the shops are set out with the greatest possible glare of attractiveness, to catch the attention of the passer-by. And if the * I fear that the strictest interpretation of these remarks must, even in our favoured land, be confined to the city, where, perhaps, the wholesale businesses are principally conducted. H. eye should be turned away, the ear is assailed with the most vociferous cries from the venders of the different wares which are now so ostentatiously obtruded, that even the footways are greatly impeded! Not unfrequently, in trades not so much called for on this day, we see repairs or alterations going on in the shops, or in the streets before the door; and the carpenters are at work, to prevent the loss of a day to the calculating owner! This is the day for all particular spectacles; and, melancholy to state, reviews on the Boulevards, races on the Champ de Mars, and exhibitions at the theatres, are the order of this day. Certain of the most attractive sights are only to be viewed on this day. The interior of the Palais Royal can only be seen then. Then only (except on some fête-days) the celebrated fountains and waterworks at Versailles and St. Cloud play, attracting thousands who may have some compunction about Sabbath-breaking in ordinary. This is the day on which intended sales are 66 on view," or the night on which extraordinary routes (soirées) are given: every thing extra in the way of pleasure is reserved for Sunday! Soon after my arrival here I was shocked to see, when passing on to worship, all the military array of Paris drawn out, both the Garde Nationale, and the troops of the Line, in honour of Leopold the King of the Belgians; who, of course, was present, with his Queen, and the King and Queen of the French, with their whole retinues and, apparently, almost all the population of Paris to applaud them! May Heaven ever preserve our own be loved land from scenes like these! Our place of worship being situated nearly two miles from our dwelling, and the walk being along the principal thoroughfare of Paris, the Rue St. Honoré, I am compelled to be a frequent witness to the most heart-sickening scenes of Sabbath desecration. One of the first offensive sights generally is, a large group of persons eagerly gathering round the corners or places where the playbills, &c., are posted up, who often amount to about thirty. Here the eager gazers are selecting their place and subject of amusement for the Sunday evening. Not long since, we were shocked to see, in the largest characters, announced for performance, from the pen of M. de Chateaubriand, a peer of France, "MOSES AT SINAI!" I am told this gross profanation was resisted by the authorities; and I have not seen it since. Passing on, other crowds are encountered surrounding the windows of a print or caricature shop. Here the most malignant satires on royalty are seen, with the most indecent insults on all modesty. Every thing, in fact, to minister to the worst passions of our nature is unblushingly exhibited at these windows! Profanations of an indescribable kind shock, one should think, every eye: but it is not so. These are regular lounges! Lately was exhibited, as if the wickedness of invention was at an end, a caricature of West's picture of the Lord's supper! Above was a copy of the original engraving; below, a horrible travestie of it. A female figure of Liberty, surrounded with a glory, occupied the place of our Lord! Around the table, instead of the twelve Apostles, were twelve public characters, well known, and significantly represented as contending for bags of money, &c., &c., spread over the table! Farther onward, exactly opposite the church of St. Roch, where multitudes resort to mass, a ridiculous exhibition of wax-work diverts the attention by the noise of an organ, and the cries of a man fantastically dressed, to attract observation. Then come all the inconceivable foolery and wickedness of the Palais Royal, the centre of all frivolity and vice. A ball announced on the one hand, a concert, on the other; and, to fill up the interval till evening, the entrance to one of these places is occupied by a Lilliputian exhibition of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway! The streets in this neighbourhood, during some parts of the year, are literally choked up with stalls; shoe-cleaners, lemonade venders, &c., each with stentorian lungs striving for the noisy pre-eminence. At length we gain our comparatively quiet place, and find a few prepared to join in the proper sanctification of the Lord's day. These, however, cannot, by any ingenuity, escape all this terrible annoyance on their return. Which ever way their path may turn, the same scene must be encountered; for this may be considered as a fair specimen of Paris as a whole, varying only as the amusements and occupations are of a grosser or more refined description. I thought, for some time, that there was some improvement in the growing number of shops shut up on the Sabbath: longer acquaintance has informed me, however, that different hours of the day or evening affect this view. Some shops are not open very early. Their owners may not have risen, or they may be gone to mass. Some, in the more fashionable places, are not very glaring till mid-day. The "déjeuner à la fourchette "* is not over. In the evening many are quite closed; for the apprentices and shopmen are probably dressing for the theatre, the concert, or the dance! One thing I have observed, which is, perhaps, more melancholy than all the rest, as a specimen of the more retired or domestic portraiture of this holy day. Near the window of every shop, and in full view of the street, there is a place surrounded by glass sashes, for the accommodation of the master or mistress, where the books, &c., are kept. In the morning as we pass we see the master, with the most assiduous care, counting over his gains, or regulating his accounts. In the evening, as we return home, we often see, at a certain shop, which, "A kind of second breakfast. |