The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-29 00:00:00

ones " of the divine family of whom we are speaking, that
man can enter into life ; that this humble faith works a
change in the whole tenor of the life and habits, so that
the believer is one who walks in a new world, encompassed
by new objects, and seeing by new and gifted organs; t .at
to the contemplation of such a one, all the boasted glories
of this world of a few seasons are a withered and melan-
choly pomp, for to his vision—whether in prosperity or
affliction, in business or retirement, in crowds or in soli-
tude—there is ever present a glory before which the loftiest
mockery of greatness the earth ever offered is pale and
colourless--even that glory which the dying martyr saw
when he exclaimed, " Behold, I see the heavens opened, and
the Son of Man standing en the right hand of God !"
(Acts vii. 56.)
I cannot now pause to reason the matter more minutely.
Do you believe—in spite of all the sneers of a Satan-
prompted world—that this is indeed the better course, to
join yourselves in humility of faith to the little family of
the children of God ? Why delay, then, an hour to resolve
upon the change which is to change an eternity? Have
you so little experience of the seductions of the world,
that you think their weakness admits of delay? Or rather
do'.you not know from old experience, that the terrible
probabilities are, that many here, now moved, it may be,
by the terrors of the warning, will not have passed from
this church, and entered once more upon the world, for
tone hour, when old habits will resume their course, old
companions their power, this admonition vanish Ls a dream
—or rather let me say, the severed dream of life will
reunite again, the slumber recommence, and sink as deep
as if it had never been broken? And must it indeed be
so? Must eternal spirits be lost in the midst of all the
richest graces of God—his word—his sacraments—his
services—the prayers of his faithful people ? No—l will
dare to hope for better results. I have told you of the
character of the God who is to judge you and me,—how
that He is revealed in the Gospel as one who waits for
ru, who beseeches you, who wills not that the " little ones
slianld perish ; " I have told you of the humble holiness
iieh must form the character of a child of his family; I
have implored of you to remember the awful necessity of
this mighty change, and the still greater awfulness of the
'short uncertain period allowed to effect it; and I will hope
that all this is not in vain. It may be that another
time may some when we shall rejoice over even
t!iis morning's humble labour! Yes, it may be—and such
hopes are among the few earthly consolations of the Chris-
tiau minister's course—that in that holier world where the
_redeemed of Christ are hereafter to meet—where friend.
ships more durable than this world's are united, and " the
communion of saints" is complete—some one of those
that are now before me may recur to this very occasion as
one upon which for the first t.me the heart was, under the
Spirit of the living God, touched for higher things, and
from which it retained the impression until, after prayer
slit anxiety, faith had at length effectively laid hold upon
the incarnate God of Calvary, heaven became a known and
felt reality, and the Christian's triumph was secured for
eternity, Would to God it might be so ; deeply should I
r piee at the message whichbrought me here this morning
to invite my fellow-sinners to that God who will not have
ese trusting believer disappointed of his hope of immortal
blessedness.
There is one class of readers to whom we
specially recommend this volume. We allude
to composers of sermons. Those who minister
in the pulpit will find these discourses must
fruitful in suggestion.
This gifted author's " Lectures on Ancient
Philosophy " have reached us at the same
time, but we have placed it aside for a special
.examination. In the meanwhile, we must
heartily praise these discourses, and at a
future time we shall have more to say upon
their remarkable author.

Syria, and the Syrians; or, Turkey in the Depen-
dencies. By Gregory 111. Wortabet. London :
Madden.
WE fear that the art of bookmaking has, with other
vices. been imported from civilised Europe into
primitive Lebanon. Mr. Wortabet is a native of
Beyrout, and in these volumes professes to give us
his impressions of travel through Syria. If he had
confined himself simply to that point, and avoided
all irrelevant matter, his two volumes, it is true, would
would barely have made one, but it would have been
a far more original book than those before us. These
volumes, we are told, were not written for amusement
—apiece of rather gratuitous information—but for in-
struction ; yet, beyond being useful as a species of
Murray's handbook, giving the correct number of
piastres to be paid for each and every service while
en route, Mr. Wortabet's work does not present many
new instructive features. As the first effort of an
educated native Syrian, it should perhaps be regarded
favorably; but when next Mn Wortabet writes a
book, we hope he will take a little more time and
care in correcting his proofs, and bear in mind Syd-
-,ney Smith's rule for young authors—viz., to "strike
out every other word," and "particularly every fine
Ts sage entire."
The tour undertaken by Mr. Wortabet is supposed
to have extend d from Beyrout to Baalbec and
Damascus and back. and then again from Beyrout to
Acre, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Jaffa. The value of
such a writer as Mr. Wortabet lies in his acquaintance
, pith the peculiar customs of the people from his