the same manner I would ask, shall not they who morally and intellectually eat the abominations of Ovid and the Pantheon, be partakers of, and digest the spirits of devils, of which these books are full, into their own souls? mo

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Many readers will probably be offended by the display of the analogies used above; but I follow the example, set in Holy Scripture, which explains spiritual things by means of their parallels in nature. In truth, it will be found at last, that there is no other mode of illustration, so quick, so clear, and so impressive.

The greatest misfortune which befel me at school, was the loss of all the sense of religion, imperfect as it was, which I gained at home. My guardian, indeed, was very strict and regular in the observance of religious rites, and obliged me to read the Bible, and attend the church, as well as family prayers, very regularly. But the benefit derivable from these two important points

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"Son of Man, open thy mouth, and eat that I give "thee. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent "unto me; and lo, a roll of a book was therein; so I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll." Ezekiel, i and ii.--Again: "And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and eat it up; and it was in my mouth sweet "as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was "bitter."-Rev. x.

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of Christian discipline, was much counteracted by the severity of my uncle. His mouth was so continually the vehicle of abuse, and his eyes of flaming anger, that when he preached the divine doctrines of meekness, humility, and charity, they came much distorted and disguised through such a medium; so that I attended more to the odious manner, than to the amiable matter. Certainly, their good effect on me must have been much weakened and counteracted, by his exciting at the same time the. opposite emotions of disgust and aversion towards himself.

But when I was at school, which was ten months out of twelve, the impiety, lewdness, and blasphemy, which were almost universal there, soon produced the same things from my heart, and quickly drove all religious thoughts from my mind.

Upon the whole, I was speculatively an admirer of all the virtues except bumility, or consciousness of unworthiness. It was impossible at that time for one who thought very! Lighly indeed of his own merits and dignity, to be at the same time humble. No, I despised humility with all my heart; for my proposed models, the Greeks and Romans, had not, to my knowledge, placed it among the Virtues, or in the Pantheon.

Having thus given the best account of my

self that I am able to do with a regard to my reader's patience, I shall dwell no longer on my school-days; but only observe, that the romantic sentiments of my heart, watered as it were by my irrational and polluted imagination, produced amphibious opinions and actions, incongruous and ill matched images of virtue and vice, ancient and modern, which puzzled all those around me, and did also long time confound all the investigations of my not half-enlightened reason and understanding.

Most assuredly also, I should have continued to wander for ever by the insufficient light of this opaque satellite, human reason in accumulated error. I should not have ceased (as Milton represents the Adversary, in his voyage through Chaos) to fall down for ever and ever, into the never-ending depths of the infinite abyss (for such are the depths of the divine wisdom and judgments, to the point of human reason), had not the light of the Sun of Righteousness and Revelation arisen on me with healing in his wings when I least expected it! Blessed for ever be His Holy Name. Amen.

PART THE SECOND.

"Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? Why " is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him, "and yelled, and they made his land waste; his cities * are burned without inhabitant!"

"Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou "hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee "by the way? Thy own wickedness shall correct "thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know "therefore and see that it is an evil thing, and bitter, "that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and "that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord of Hosts." Jeremiah, ii.

I was taken from school at about the age of sixteen by my guardian, who intended, if possible, to get me appointed a writer to Bengal. He had received the promise of this appointment for one of his sons, who preferred to remain in England; and he hoped that this promise would be devolved on me; but in this hope he was disappointed.

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To effect his kind purpose, he used to solicit his friends continually; and on these occasions he generally took me with him, sorely against my inclination. My whole spirit panted for

glory, my head and heart were full of the heroes and sages of Greece and imperial Rome. I longed only to gather laurels in the field of Mars, and despised my notion of a writer, whose object I concluded must be filthy lucre. For this reason I was highly pleased at his bad success; and what filled him with mortification, was to me a subject of joy and triumph.

These fruitless attendances were however often intermitted, during a period of near three years which elapsed between my leaving school and going out as a cadet to India. This important interval of time was murdered by me in field sports, in visitings, and all kinds of idleness; but chiefly in the delicious idleness of castle-building in the air.

Yet in the midst of all this folly and vanity," I received a visit from a glorious and unexpected guest; for living in a very regular family, strict in religious profession, and being constantly obliged to attend public worship at church, and family devotions at home, the grace of God expanded my heart by degrees to receive delight in religious sentiments.

But my youthful glow of religion was then, I believe, all from the heart and imagination." My head or judgment had little or no share in it. It was an ignorant, unreflecting, but grateful faith. Nevertheless, it had the good effect," for the time, to purify my heart and conduct,