of all our actions. How difficult to be true to our engagements solemnly entered into. What need to be perpetually praying, wrestling, and striving with the Lord, to influence our hearts by his grace, from thence are the issues of life! all actions rise there-O! cry to have the heart merit of his dear Son, lest the Lord should say of you, as he did of his people of old: Israel would none of me; so I gave them up to their own heart's lusts, and they walked in their own counsels, which brings present misery; for, be assured, that the wrath of God will soon burn in your guilty conscience, if not al-kept. I feel so much hardness of ready seared. O! that the Father of all mercies would pluck you as a brand out of the burning, and enable you to look again toward his holy temple. I commit you to his tender mercy, and am, with great concern, Yours, most affectionately. To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine, SIR, THE following is a copy of a letter written nearly half a century ago, by the late Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, to one of his young friends. He is still living, and has, for a considerable time past, served the church of Christ at S-, in the office of deacon. If you think the publication of it would be acceptable to your readers, you are at liberty to make what use of it you think proper. I am, Sir, yours, &c. K-. Staughton. ORIGINAL LETTER FROM THE LATE Rev. Robert Robinson, of Cambridge. DEAR SIR, Feb. 3, 1768. heart, so much ingratitude, black ingratitude to God, that I can feelingly say, I abhor myself. Ah, vile creature! full of enmity, infidelity, carnality, brutal lusts, devilish passions, without the image of God, filled with the temper of the devil. How long shall my filthy heart, like the troubled sea, cast up mire and dirt? "Is this thy kindness to thy friend?" Thus, methinks, something whispers in me, Is it grace? Sure it is a captivated, oppressed subject of heaven, remonstrating for God, in a heart, all up in arms against him. I would wish to feel my total depravity; but not to argue it into a reason of despair. Do not let us, who see our wound, go to King Jareb for help: no; drove out of our nest, let us fly to God in Christ, as a bird to her mountain: methinks I see his eyes drop love. O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! his heart bleeds compassion; come, my soul, creep to the cross; that, if any thing, will dissolve thee. Hark! he pleads! the Master calls for thee! Come, and I will in no wise cast thee out. Here, my dear T- rises all my hope. I feel a misery in me enough to damn worlds; I see the Saviour lifted up in the gospel, in the midst of a poisoned, swelled, groaning, dying camp; the trumpet sounds, Look, and live! I take him at his word, and feel the virtue, whosoever looks, lives: you know whose is the glory-His, who gave poor sinners eyes to see. Thus let us live, thus let us die: this is I CATCH a leisure moment to thank you for your friendly letter; glad should I be to contribute any thing to your spiritual welfare. You have, indeed, as you say, in joining a church, "given body and soul to be the Lord's." What an attempt! A reasonable service, founded on the most rational principles. What more reasonable, than for a creature who lives upon God's bounty, to live to his glory? What more reason-religion, pure and undefiled, before able, than for a Christian, redeemed by the merit of Christ, conquered by the power of his gracious word, that sword of the spirit, to live by faith on the Son of God? A life of faith is a life of dependence on another; his wisdom revealed in scripture to guide, his power to support, his merit to plead, his love for the principle, and his glory for the end God and the Father. I must not scribble longer, lest I be tedious. Blessed be God, he is still awakening some among us-His be the glory eternally. Let me hear from you, when suitable: pray for a poor wretch who does not pray half enough for himself, and believe him to be, Yours, most affectionately, ROBINSON. Juvenile Department. CALENDAR FOR MARCH, 1816. is worn, by the Irish, upon the anniversary of this saint. When he preached the gospel to the Pagan Irish, he is said to have illustrated the doctrine of the Trinity by showing them a trefoil, or threeleaved grass, with one stalk. The shamrock is a bundle of this I. The Name is derived from Mars, the god of war. Among the Romans, March was the first month; and marriages made in this month, were accounted unhappy. II. Fasts and festivals. Mar. 1. St. David. He was a native of Wales, and the great ornament and pattern of his age; continued in the see of St. David's many years, and, having founded several monasteries, and being the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, he died about the year 544, at a very advanced age. The leek, worn on this day by Welshmen, is said to be in memory of a great victory, obtained by them over the Saxons; they, during the battle, having leeks in their hats, to distinguish themselves, by order of St. David. Mar. 12. St. Gregory, surnamed the Great, was born about the year 540. He was conse- The planet Venus rises about crated Pope about the year 590, five in the morning, and dimiand died in 604. Before his ad-nishes in splendour as she apvancement to the see, Gregory proaches the brighter beams of projected the conversion of the the sun. She passes very near English nation; and, although his the planet Saturn on the 15th. offer to this effect was at first re- Jupiter is now coming under fused, he accomplished his wishes our observation in the evening. after he assumed the papal chair. He rises, on the 1st, at 48 miMar. 17. St. Patrick, the tu-nutes past ten; and, about the telar saint of Ireland, was born end of the month, as early as nine. in Wales, in the year 371. He The planet Mars appears on was sent, by pope Celestine I. the western side of the meridian about the beginning of the year during the evening, and sets a 432, to preach the gospel in Ire-little after midnight. He travels land. He died at the good old nearly in the course of the midage of 123, and was buried at summer sun. Down, in Ulster. The shamrock grass. III. Astronomical Occurrences. The sun enters Aries on the 20th, at nine minutes past five in the afternoon, when the spring quarter begins. The moon enters her first quarter on the 7th; full, 13th; last quarter, 20th; and new moon, 28th. The best time for observing the irregularities of the moon's surface, is at the quarters, as the shadows, projected from the lunar mountains, appear the longest, when the enlightened edge is turned towards the sun. But as the moon, at her last quarter, does not generally rise till about midnight, it is better to se cure an opportunity of viewing her through a telescope at the first quarter, when she may be seen at any time in the evening. IV. Naturalist's Diary. The general character of March is well described in the following lines: "In mantle of Proteus clad, With aspect ferocious and wild; Now pleasant, now sullen and sad, Now froward, now placid and mild." Our gardens begin now to assume a cheerful appearance.Crocuses ornament the borders; the mezereon is in all its beauty; the little flowers, "with silver crest and golden eye," the daisies, The melody of birds now gra- are scattered over dry pastures ; dually swells upon the ear. The and the leaves of honey-suckles are throstle, second only to the nigh- nearly expanded. The buds of tingale in song, charms us with the cherry-tree, the peach, the the sweetness and variety of its nectarine, the apricot, and the lays. The linnet and the gold- almond, are fully opened in this finch, and the golden-crested month. Myriads of worms may wren, join the general concert. be seen unwinding their coiled Rooks build and repair their nests. forms, and tossing their sportive The farmer shoots rooks, and tails about in wantonness and rehangs them up in terrorem, velry. Whole series of creatures, though these birds cover his whose torpid state rendered them fresh-ploughed land, not in undistinguishable from the mud search of grain, but of the va- they lay among, begin to expand rious grubs and worms which are their little limbs, and creep, or injurious to his future crop. The swim, or emerge above the surhedge-hog, another proscribed face. Towards the close of the animal, feeds on beetles, cock-month, bees venture out of their chafers, and other insects, which hives. are extremely injurious; and the mole, that consumes worms and grubs, is, probably, more useful than injurious to man.-Those birds, which have passed the winter in England, now take their departure for more northerly re-well, (veronica agrestis ;) the ivygions. The fieldfares travel to Russia, Sweden, and Norway, and even as far as Siberia. They do not arrive in France till December, when they assemble in large flocks of two or three thou-and, in the course of the month, sand. The red-wing takes his if no unusual cold weather preleave, and the woodcock wings vent, there will be an addition of its aërial voyage to the countries the following plants and trees: bordering on the Baltic. Some The sloe-tree, (prunus spinoother birds, as the crane and the sa;) the butterbur, (tussilago stork, formerly natives of this petasites;) the hazel-nut-tree, (coisland, have quitted it entirely.-rylus avellana;) the white popFrogs, enlivened by the warmth lar, (populus alba;) the black of spring, rise from the bottoms poplar, (populus nigra ;) the asof ponds and ditches, where they pen-tree, (populus tremula;) and have lain torpid during the win- the common ash-tree, (fraxinus ter. The smelt begins to ascend excelsior. rivers to spawn, when they are taken in great abundance. At the beginning of this month, the following wild flowers begin to blow:-The sweet violet, (viola odorata ;) the common pilewort, or less celandine, (ranunculus ficaria;) the procumbent speed leaved speedwell, (veronica hederifolia;) the white archangel, or white dead-nettle, (lamium album.) About the second week, the common daffodil is in flower: Among the preceding British plants, the less celandine may be distinguished by its glossy yellow hue. March 14, 1757. Admiral Byng was shot at Portsmouth. March 19, 1811. The ci-devant Queen Eliza March 24, 1603. at La Haye, in Touraine. VII. Reflections.-" Beware of the ides of March." This admonition, it is said, Cæsar received in a letter; but, neglecting it, and putting the warning letter into his pocket, he lost his life. The assassins suddenly fell upon him, and he sunk down, in the senate-house, covered with three-and-twenty wounds! The IDES of March (the 15th) were everesteemed unlucky, after the assassination of Cæsar. green; Let the young sinner listen to the warning trumpet of the gospel ministry. V. Remarkable Events.-March 7, | The friendly caution sent to Cæ1797. Twenty-shilling notes sar was not repeated. Perhaps, issued by the Bank of Eng land. March 13, 1781. The planet, Georgium Sidus, discovered. March 17, 1677. Valenciennes taken by storm from the Spaniards, by the French. Louis XIV. was with the army, and the celebrated Vauban directed the operations of the siege. March 28, 1802. The planet, Pallas, discovered. VI. Births and Deaths of Illustrious Individuals. - March 2, 1791. Died, at London, the Rev. John Wesley. March 8, 1702. King William III. expired at Kensington palace. the reader's conscience will remind him, that he has been warned already, many times, in vain! How awfully does the oracle speak: " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. xxix. 1. PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS. No. III. MOTION. A CLOSE attention to the general importance of motion, is calculated to display the perfec-them. The ever-varying tem tions of our glorious Creator. On the first morning of creation, it was called into exercise; and, from that period to the present, it has, by his all-directing hand, produced the various terrestrial changes that successive mortals have witnessed; yea, and the far more numerous changes that have escaped their observation. The numberless compositions and decompositions of nature, the multiplied productions of art, and the endless vicissitudes of life, all evince the importance of this well-regulated principle. perature of bodies, must, therefore, cause perpetual agitation in their constituent parts. Many are of opinion, that an entire change takes place in the human body in the course of years, so that not one particle, that originally composed it, remains; the primitive particles having worn off, or been ejected. Of this we are certain, that the time will soon come, when our souls, having left our frail bodies, shall be committed to the grave, become the prey of worms, return to dust, and be incorpoob-rated with the earth. It is no inconsiderable evidence of Divine wisdom and goodness, that the very refuse of matter is usefully employed. That which is offensive to us is thrown away, and assists to form productions that beautify the field and enrich the garden; but for which arrangement, this refuse would collect in overwhelming masses of corruption. The kind of motion most vious, is, when an entire body is transferred from one place to another. The grandest of which, of an inanimate kind; is, perhaps, the motion of a ship on the ocean. Animal motion is still more wonderful, especially in man, that, by mere volition, he can move at pleasure. The varied modes and velocities of their motions, also deserve regard. What though our bodies will soon decay, and the particles that compose them be variously employed, "why should it be thought raise the dead?" We need indulge no anxiety about the use it may please our heavenly Father to make of our bodies after death, seeing every atom is under his control, and, of the sound of the last trumpet, when the dead shall be raised, he can summon every particle, on the wings of the winds, and, in the twinkling of an eye, to its proper place, and cause this mortal to put on immortality. But that which is, perhaps, still more important and common, though often unobserved, is the motion of the parts of bodies among themselves. Nor is it ne-a thing incredible that God should cessary to refer to any particular class of substances, for examples of this kind of motion, as it appears common to all bodies, in a greater or less degree. In vegetation and animal life, this kind of motion is evident, from the progressive enlargement of the various plants and animals, although the precise motion of the several particles that compose them may be imperceptible. In lifeless substances, heat and cold are found to be constant agents, contracting or expanding them; which alterations cannot take place, but by the action of the distinct particles that constitute Whatever may have been the speculations of the learned, there can be no hesitation, in the mind of the Christian, in ascribing the origin of motion to the Almighty; |