idle notions of the savage state, Mr. W. is no friend to excessive civilization, or to a highly sophisticated state of society. The sermon on the character of Ruth is thus introduced : • It is an error common to men of all ages, and all countries, to consider the existing manners of their own particular nation as the standard of propriety; and to regard those of other times and other people, when they differ from their own, either with contempt or disgust. Many causes co-operate to produce this effect; the prejudices of education, the force of habit, the familiarity produced by custom, and the flattery of self-love, which always attributes exclusive excellence to the opinions entertained, and the manners adopted, by ourselves. This observation applies to people who have arrived at a high state of civilization, as well as to those who are not yet emerged from barbarism: and hence it happens, that among the refined com munities of the present day, (and ours may be included in the number,) the practices and sentiments of the earlier and more simple ages of the world, are more apt to excite ridicule than respect, to be regarded as objects of avoidance rather than of imitation. It would be an easy matter to shew that such an estimate is very incorrect; and that if truth and nature be the foundations of propriety, the manners of those who have lived in less cultivated periods and countries than our own, may boast a superiority in this respect over ourselves, that ought to mortify, if it did not convince us. I do not mean however to compare ancient and modern manners on the present occasion, but merely to apply my remarks to those representations of them which are recorded in the Bible; in order to vindicate them from the charges too often levelled against them, of barbarism and indelicacy. In fact, could we but divest ourselves of prejudice, and contemplate these pictures of primitive life through the steady medium of reason, we should, perhaps, not only find much to admire in them, but discover cause to regret that we have deviated so widely as we have done, from that enviable simplicity, by which they are characterized; we should be content to allow that the progress of refinement involves in it too often the diminution of happiness; and that high improvements in arts and science, by introducing a false standard of taste, and a spurious delicacy of sentiment, are apt to distort rather than perfect the judgment, and to disqualify men from appreciating fairly the claims which the manners and customs of early ages have of being founded in propriety and truth. Affectation is the very opposite to beauty; and as this deformity necessarily grows out of extreme refinement, we have every reason to suspect that the opinion formed by modern times with respect to the barbarism and indelicacy of the manners described in the Bible histories, is attributable to a perversion of sentiment, rather than to the dictates of right reason; that the defects are not in them, but in ourselves. Of these ancient manners the Book of Ruth exhibits a most pleasing picture; and we may truly assert, that he who can attentively read its descriptions, and not feel their conformity to the upsophist, unsophisticated suggestions of nature, though he may boast a nominal refinement, ought, notwithstanding, to be considered as entirely deficient in pure sentiment and unperverted taste.' The conclusion of this discourse, on the proper qualities of the female character, with a special reference to the important relation of marriage, contains a lecture for the ladies which we recommend to their serious perusal. They may read it first in our pages, and afterward in the volumes before us. The prominent features in the character of Ruth were modesty, tenderness, and piety; virtues, which, as she exemplified them most fully in her widowhood, we may conclude equally adorned her in the marriage state; and as such may fairly be recommended, under the sanction of her example, to those of her sex who have entered into this sacred connection. A few previous observations, however, applying to females in general, may perhaps be introduced with propriety and utility. The goodness of GoD in the constitution of the natural world is equally conspicuous and admirable. Though its various parts are almost infinite in number, and endlessly diversified in their operations, yet are they all adapted to each other with such exquisite skill, as to form together a perfect and harmonious whole. The same benevolent provision for order and happiness is visible in the rational creation. When God had formed the external world, and furnished it with the lower orders of life, he created man after his own image, and made him lord of the wide and goodly inheritance. Still, however, his purpose was not completed. He knew that it was not good for man to be alone; he had implanted sympathies and affections in his bosom, which demanded the society of a reasonable creature like himself, with whom he might reciprocate kindness, and enjoy the tender intercourse of sentiment and love. He therefore made him an help meet for him; a being exactly adapted to his wants and wishes; whose delicacy of form precluded the idea of contest or rivalship in the dominion with which man was invested; and whose tenderness of nature was every way calculated to mingle with the sterner features of his character, to attract his love, engage his protection, and thus ensure the same harmony and beauty in the moral creation, as were visible in the material one. Man, it is true, in the words of the incomparable Milton, "Understood, in the prime end "Of nature, Her the inferior, in the mind "His image, who made both, and less expressing "O'er other creatures:" But he was still sensible of an influence that she exerted over him, more powerful than any which greater strength of form or superiority of understanding, could have produced; in the attractive delicacy of her mind, in the tenderness of her heart, in the modesty of her deportment, and the sanctity of her manners. When man transgressed, indeed, indeed, a sad falling off took place in both their characters; but though their respective excellencies were obscured and diminished by the fatal event, yet the qualities proper to each sex continued to be the same; the peculiar attributes of woman were as distinct as before, and the duties by which she was to recommend herself to her Maker, and the attractions by which she was to engage the esteem, respect, and attachment of man, remained unaltered. The gentle virtues were still her proper characteristics: her modesty was to allure, and her tenderness to confirm, the love of the sterner and the rougher sex; whilst piety, embodied in her fair form, and recommended by her captivating example, was to present itself with irresistible fascination to the notice of man, and be urged upon his understanding through the medium of his heart. Such originally were, and such eternally will be, the appropriate qualities of woman; and she who neglects, despises, or throws them aside; who assumes opposite dispositions, and deviates into other paths; will mar the end of her creation, and, while she displeases her Maker, will repel, disgust, and alienate the love of man. Away then with those idle systems, which would confound the duties of the sexes; that would take woman from her proper sphere, and lift her into situations for which she was not intended. Her department in social life is intimated by nature in the delicacy of her form, and defined by Gon in his revealed word; and for her to attempt to counteract these mauifest designations, is to rebel against both, to disorder and unhinge the natural as well as moral harmony of the world. It was this just and reasonable view of the nature and duties of the different sexes, that suggested to our immortal poet that beautiful personal and mental picture of the human race, in their primeval state, which he has given us in the following lines. "In their looks divine "The image of their glorious Maker shone, But, if the qualities which I have enumerated be generally requisite in the character of the female, they are more especially so, when she enters into the holy connection of wedlock. My brothers and sisters! it is of immense importance to the happiness of the rational world, that the appropriate duties of the husband and the wife be rigidly and conscientiously fulfilled; for, as their performance ensures the purest and most solid bliss that this world of sorrow can afford, "the only happiness of Paradise that has survived the fall;" so their neglect introduces into the cup of life a bitter poisonous drop, of the most deadly taste, and lasting influence. Indisputable is the truth, that each is bound to co-operate with the other, in drawing tight that bond of union which has connected them together for life; that they are mutually obliged to increase, by every means in their power, power, the stock of conjugal felicity. But as domestic life is more especially the proper province of the wife; as she is constituted by nature, and commanded by GoD, to exercise those gentler virtues which have a peculiar reference to home, and a direct tendency to render it the scene of happiness and peace; so her obligation to manifest in her conduct the feminine graces of modesty, tenderness, and piety, presses upon her with peculiar force. • Entirely and exclusively the precious possession of her husband, her thoughts must not wander abroad for other conquests, or foreign admiration. Ill does it become her who has solemnly pledged herself to one, to seek, by the arts of coquetry or levity, to attract or captivate the many; to court the public gaze, to be the theme of general conversation, or the object of particular remark. The sacrifice of a matron's modesty may indeed purchase the admiration of the coxcomb, or the flattery of the villain; but transient will be her triumph, and worthless her reward, if for this she have given up the favour of her Maker, and the esteem and affection of her husband. Equally incumbent is it upon her to cherish in her bosom, and to exercise in her behaviour, the grace of tenderness; a sweet solicitude to soothe the cares, and tranquillize the perturbations, of the companion of her bosom; and to perform those thousand endearing of fices to her infant offspring, which maternal love alone can properly fulfil. Oh! who can speak the value of this female quality in domestic life? It is the precious cement of its happiness; the support of all its charities: whose absence no external circumstance can recompence or supply. Fashion, splendour, and pleasure, may load the married fair one with all they can bestow; but their accumulated gifts will leave a gloomy vacuity in her heart, if her chief solace, refuge, and delight be not in the tranquil joys and tender offices of home. Finally, my sisters, the quality of piety must crown and Consummate the character of the exemplary wife. It is essential indeed in every human being, but in the domestic circle (if we measure its necessity by its influence) it is more especially incumbent upon her, whose presence is most frequent and conspicuous there. Who can tell the power of a wife's religious example, in converting an unbelieving, reclaiming a profligate, or fixing an inconstant husband? It seems hardly possible to imagine, that vice should not surrender itself to virtue, when clothed in the attractive form of female loveliness, and seconded by modesty, tenderness, and affection; but should its brutal insensibility be still deaf to the voice of the charmer; she has yet a cause upon her hands of unspeakable importance, which imperiously demands the exercise of female piety the cause of her children. Nature and custom have entrusted to her the charge of their early education; and if the principles of religion be not instilled into their tender minds by her care, and confirmed by her example, they will grow up without GoD in the world; they will pass through life without the blessing of Providence; and when they are translated from it, will have to attribute their everlasting ruin (O horrid thought!) to their mother. There is a religion of the HOME, my fair friends, as well as a public worship of GOD; a religion over which the wife must preside; whose altar she must serve; whose sacri 14 fices fices she must superintend; and as the most fatal consequences will follow her omission of it, so the sorest retribution will punish its neglect.' By these specimens, let the reader judge of Mr. Warner's style of preaching. The decision cannot fail to be in his favor. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For NOVEMBER, 1811. EDUCATION. 1810. Art. 13. A familiar Introduction to the Arts and Sciences, for the Use of Schools and Young Persons: containing a general Explication of the fundamental Principles and Facts of the Sciences, divided into Lessons, with Questions subjoined to each, for the Examination of Pupils. By the Rev. J. Joyce. 12mo. PP. 332. 6s. Boards. Longman and Co. The author of this work is advantageously known for his judicious method of providing instruction for young persons. He has exhibited the same turn of mind in the present performance, and we doubt not that he will, in like manner, obtain the public favour. The plan is very comprehensive, especially when compared with the size of the volume since in the compass of between and 400 3 small pages, have the principles of 30 different arts and sciences, beginning with grammar, logic, and rhetoric, proceeding to the different departments of historical knowlege, then going through the various branches of mathematics and natural philosophy, and ending with natural history. we The method adopted is to lay down the principles of the different sciences in a series of short propositions, which are to be committed to memory, and are divided into lessons of appropriate length. To each lesson is affixed a string of questions, referring to the different propositions, so as to facilitate the labour both of the instructor and the pupil. In order to afford our readers an opportunity of judging of Mr. Joyce's merit on subjects of different descriptions, we select a specimen from the section on logic, and another from that on che mistry: 1. When two ideas are compared together, they either concur, as snow and whiteness: or they coincide, as God and Creator: or they do not concur, as vice and usefulness; or they do not coincide, as man and brute. 2. When the concurrence or coincidence of ideas, or the want of it, is perceived by the intervention of a third idea, this is called judgment. 3. The sources of judgment are consciousness, sense, intuition, and testimony. 4. Consciousness is the mind's perception of its own existence, faculties, and operations. 5. The senses teach us the existence, properties, and external objects: and the foundations of natural knowledge. 9 powers of 6. Intuition |