SONNET. The heavens, or sky, are invariably represented by a strip of blue curving downwards at 85 Fig. 7. the inner side of each extremity (Fig. 7), and occasionally having upon it a row of five-pointed stars. Water, seas, and rivers, are always represented by a series of zig-zag lines of a darker blue or green than the ground. Mountains are represented of a yellow colour, with red spots upon it. In concluding this epitome of what we may term the grammar of Egyptian art, we will merely add, that particular subjects are uniformly to be found represented in certain situations in all the temples, and will now proceed to describe some of the historical painted sculptures upon the walls. J. B. SONNET. "Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"-Job, xiv. 10. THE brightest noon pales and is quench'd in night, And lordly man is buried out of sight. W. T. H. DEVOTIONAL WRITERS. RESPECTING this mortal life, this passing world, and all things appertaining to them, it may be remarked they have one character in common-they are unfinished. Everything is in commencement-nothing is complete. Such a state of things gives rise to endless wishes. And if these wishes are reasonable, they are properly transformed into prayers. God alone can grant a complete fulfilment ; otherwise, the wanting can never be numbered nor the deficient supplied. Two things strike us as highly desirable- a work on Providence, and a work on Devotional Writers. A survey of what God is doing without us, and a view of what God is doing within us, especially in those minds which are the leaders of others in the way of life. Perhaps there is no way which more readily convinces us of the wide chasms which exist upon any given subject, than the attempt to write a treatise upon it. This would be the case with any one who attempted to write a history of Providence. He would find at once how very scanty were the materials, apart from those contained in the inspired writings. The history of Providence may be divided into that of public and private providences. The first is more open to view. The second would be the still more difficult task; those secret touches of the Divine Power, which regulate the lives of individuals and the fortunes of families, either altogether escaping from the inattentive view, or being soon effaced from our oblivious and earthly memories. To use the beautiful expression of Wordsworth, "They are of the sky, And from our earthly memory fade away." THE HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE. 87 But the very evanescence of Providential interferences, so intermixed as they are with the ordinary occurrences of life, should only make us more watchful to catch, as it were, the sound of the departing wings of the unseen angels, who have been ministering to our inmost wants, or warding off invisible dangers from our heads. The kindness of a friend is manifested, not only by the greatness, but by the minuteness of his benefits; and there is a sort of feminine delicacy which accompanies maternal affection, as distinguished from paternal love. But no feminine minuteness of care can equal the watchful and superintendent kindness of our heavenly Father, who, while He loads us with the greatest benefits, with untiring solicitude supplies us also with the least. As the infinitely great, as well as the infinitely little, escape from the range of the human understanding; so our thoughts cannot reach many of the more minute providences which surround us; and even when we reach them in thought, we cannot express them in words. Like the higher powers of nature, which, though full of potency and the spring and moving principle of all that we perceive, yet are beyond the range of the senses; so those manifestations of silent but efficacious Divine interposition must be sedulously waited for and instantly noted down, lest they escape either the observation or the memory. How many remarkable providences relating to a former generation might have been noted down and transmitted to futurity, if the hearer, with pen in hand, had been ready to consign them immediately to paper! But now the objects of those wonderful preservations are removed from the earth. No trace remains of those Divine manifestations of mercy; no pillar is set up to perpetuate their remembrance here below. Like prayers offered up and answered long generations ago, there is a perpetual memorial of them in heaven, but no trace of them on the earth which we inhabit. In addition to a work upon Providence, there might also be a treatise upon Devotional Writers; thus uniting the view of God's operations without us, with a treatise on the operations of His Spirit within us; and thus connecting His providential preservations, with the illustrations of His teaching, and the consolations of the great Advocate and Comforter. Though Seripture be the sole fountain of all that deserves the name of religion, yet the religion even of true believers is more derived from religious writings than directly from the Scriptures themselves. If we ask what most characterises the Scriptures? It is thought. As the Bible is the Book of books, so its contents are the Thought of thoughts, demanding, provoking, supplying thought without end. Such we might well suppose to be its character, considering its Author. God is a Spirit; and thought is the action of Spirit and the purest produce of mind. But thought is a high exercise; painful to our low and earthly faculties, and readily dispensed with where not absolutely necessary. And hence men favour classes who think for them, both with respect to their temporal and spiritual affairs. And hence religious writings are more read than the Scriptures themselves, because here the effort has been surmounted by others; the thoughts are already expanded and the feelings educed which the meditations upon passages of Scripture were suited to inspire. It is true, the feelings which are merely the reflexion of the feelings of others, are not so valuable as the original impressions, and nothing can compensate for the painful but salutary effort of evolving truth for ourselves. Still, the union of thinking for ourselves and profiting by the thoughts of others, will jointly produce the most profitable results; and they who meditate most upon the Bible will most value and best appropriate the meditations of others. 66 89 If it were asked, who has most contributed to the devotional thoughts and feelings of Britain? We think the answer would generally be Leighton. Yet with many, if not most, Doddridge has had the initiative. Most inquirers begin with the "Rise and Progress," before they nourish their minds with the Commentary upon St. Peter. And the first teaching will be apt to retain an enduring influence upon the mind. The "Rise and Progress" of Doddridge was commenced and concluded with much prayer, and those prayers have received an abundant answer. The serious inquirer there finds a seriousness congenial to the state of his own mind. But he will by no means meet there with the simplicity of the Gospel. Having used the "Rise and Progress" as a guide-book ourselves, we speak from experience when we say, that it has a great tendency to perplex the way of salvation. We hope the prospect is somewhat clearing up, but those who had occasion to inquire of many eminent divines a generation ago, "What must I do to be saved?" would have received answers somewhat different from the plainness of the Gospel. "Are you an inquirer? Then be a serious, be an earnest inquirer." Stop the stream of corruption and wait for something, it is not precisely ascertained what, possibly for some sensible manifestation of the Divine Power upon the mind, apart from the truth. Even from the same eminent individual we have received varying and veering advice-now "Cease from evil and wait," -now "Cast yourself upon the Saviour at a peradventure,”-now "Pray without ceasing." It was in vain to remark that the last advice supposes the soul already saved, the new life begun, and not only begun, but in strong and healthy exercise. The last thought of, and least recommended, seemed to be the Gospel direction, "Believe and live." Before you think of doing anything, hear what God has already done, and |