For what is honor? What is sovereignty,
Whereto men's hearts so restlessly aspire?
Whom have they crowned with felicity?

When did they ever satisfy desire?

The ear of man with hearing is not fill'd;
To see new lights still coveteth the eye:
The craving stomach, though it may be still'd,
Yet craves again without a new supply.

All earthly things man's cravings answer not,
Whose little heart would all the world contain,
(If all the world should fall to one man's lot,)
And notwithstanding empty still remain.
The eastern conqueror was said to weep,
When he the Indian ocean did view,
To see his conquest bounded by the deep,
And no more worlds remaining to subdue.
Who would that man in his enjoyment bless,
Or envy him, or covet his estate,
Whose gettings do augment his greediness,
And make his wishes more intemperate.

Such is the wonted and the common guise

Of those on earth that bear the greatest sway; If with a few the case be otherwise,

They seek a kingdom that abides for aye.

Moreover they, of all the sons of men,

That rule, and are in highest places set, Are most inclin'd to scorn their brethren;

And God himself-(without great grace) forget.

For as the sun doth blind the gazer's eyes,

That for a time they nought discern aright,

So honor doth befool and blind the wise,

And their own lustre 'reaves them of their sight.

Great are their dangers, manifold their cares,

Through which whilst, others sleep, they scarcely nap, And yet are oft surprised unawares,

And fall unwillingly into envy's trap.

The mean mechanic finds his kindly rest,

All void of fear sleepeth the country clown:
When greatest princes often are distress'd
And cannot sleep upon their beds of down.

Could strength or valor man immortalize,
Could wealth or honor keep them from decay,
There were some cause the same to idolize,
And give the lie to that which I do say.

But neither can such things themselves endure,
Without the hazard of a change, one hour,
Nor such as trust in them can they secure,
From dismal days, or death's prevailing power.

If beauty could the beautiful defend

From death's dominion, then fair Absalom
Had not been brought to such a shameful end :
But fair and foul unto the grave must come.

If wealth or sceptres could immortal make,
Then wealthy Croesus, wherefore art thou dead?
If warlike force, which makes the world to quake,
Then why is Julius Cæsar perished?

Where are the Scipios' thunderbolts of war?
Renowned Pompey, Cæsar's enemy?
Stout Hannibal, Rome's terror known so far?
Great Alexander, what has become of thee?

If gifts and bribes death's fervor might but win,
If power, if force, or threat'ning's might it fray,
All these, and more had still surviving been:
But all are gone, for death will have no nay.

Such is the world with all her Pomp and glory;
Such are the men whom worldly eyes admire,
Cut down by time, and now becomes a story,
That we might after better things aspire.

Go boast thyself of what thy heart enjoys
Vain man! triumph in all thy worldly bliss:
Thy best enjoyments are but trash and toys,
Delight thyself in that which worthless is.

Omnia prætereunt præter amare Deum."

Mr. Wigglesworth died 10 June, 1705, aged 74. Dr. Cotton Mather preached his funeral sermon, which was printed, and wrote for him the following epitaph:

"The excellent Wigglesworth remembered by some good tokens."

"His pen did once meat from the eater fetch;
And now he's gone beyond the eater's reach.
His body once so thin, was next to none;
From hence, he's to unbodied spirits flown.
Once his rare skill did all diseases heal;
And he does nothing now uneasy feel.
He to his paradise is joyful come,

And waits with joy to see his Day of Doom."

He preached the election sermon in 1686. His publications were the Day of Doom, or a poetical description of the great and last judgment, with a short discourse about eternity, 5th edit. 1701; Meat out of the Eater, or a meditation concerning the necessity, end, and usefulness of afflictions unto God's children, 5th edit. 1718. The Day of Doom went through six editions in this country, and was republished in London. "It comprises a version after the manner of some of the psalms in Sternhold and Hopkins, of al the Scripture texts relative to the final judgment of man, and contains two hundred and twenty-four stanzas of eight lines each."

Mr. Wigglesworth married Sybil Sparhawk, daughter of Nathaniel Sparhawk of Cambridge, whose wife was daughter of Rev. Samuel Newman of Rehoboth. His children were Abigail, born 20 March, 1681; Mary, born 21 Sept., 1682; Martha, born 21 Dec., 1683; Esther, born 16 April, 1685; Dorothy, born 22 Feb., 1687; Samuel, born 4 Feb.,. 1689, graduated at Harvard college, 1707, and was the first minister of Hamilton, Mass., where he died 3 Sept., 1768, in his 80th year, and Edward, born about 1692, graduated at Harvard college 1710, was the first professor of divinity at Harvard, and died 16 Jan., 1765, aged 73. The wife of Mr. Wigglesworth died in August, 1708.-Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., i. 160. Holmes, Annals, i. 493. Kettell, Specimens of Amer. Poetry, i. 35, 36. Wright, Thanksgiving Sermon, 1 Dec., 1831. Pike, Journal in Coll. N. H. Hist. Soc., iii. 55. Middx. Co. Records. Sparhawk Genealogy in MS.

ENGLISH BIBLE IN 1535 AND IN 1835.

MARK the English Bible in 1535-in an imperfect translation, in a ponderous form, of a costly price, with but few who were capable of reading and appreciating it, and with fewer still to spread it far and wide. Mark the English Bible of 1835-in a translation, which, with all its alleged remaining defects, stands unrivalled, or at least unsurpassed, in the world-in every form of beauty -adapted alike to the eyes of age and youth-of every price, suited to rich and poor-the most costly price of the Society being cheapness itself, compared with its pecuniary value in older times. See multitudes ready to give it a welcome admission to their houses; and the period fast approaching when the benevolent wish of our late beloved monarch, George the Third, shall be realized, 'that every child in his dominions should be able to read the Bible.' See multitudes ready not only to welcome it to their own abodes, but to obtain an entrance for it into the dwellings of others; a well-compacted Society, expressly and singly formed to promote its circulation-untired, and, it is humbly

trusted, untiring in its labors; a variety of ingenious devices formed for aiding its circulation; obstacles removed: a contrast this, proclaiming aloud the gracious goodness of God. Mark again: the English Bible of 1535 standing alone, one edition, of at most a few thousand copies; the English Bible of 1835, surrounded by the Irish and the Welsh, the Gaelic and the Manks, for domestic circulation-and in such request, that in one day in the last month a variety of editions were ordered, to the extent of 365,000 copies; while the aggregate issue, during thirty-one years, has been several millions, in the British dominions, and in the British languages.-Rep. B. & F. Bib. Soc.

CIRCULATION OF LONDON NEWSPAPERS.

A RETURN has been made, by order of the House of Commons, of the Stamps issued for all the London newspapers in the four successive half years which ended on the 30th of June last. The digest of this return, here given, will enable our readers, who may be acquainted with the political and religious bearings of these papers, to form some estimate of the comparative prevalence of different opinions and parties in the country.

John Bull

Weekly Despatch

1734

1875

3125

2884

2884

2692

2692

Sunday

4788

5488 4692

4926

4926

35,192

35,192

47,820

28,486 25,755 33,615 Twelve other papers issued jointly 53,275 52,464 48,719 47,820 Our readers will see these last three lines with indignation and shame.

In the cases where more than one paper is mentioned, the stamps being purchased by the same person without specifying the number for each paper, we have divided the whole number issued to him by the number of the papers issued by him, giving the average number of each, which is the nearest approximation to the fact which the returns enable us to form.-Lond. Miss. Reg.

VOL. VIII.

44

MISCELLANEOUS.

ENGLISH PUBLICATIONS.

THROUGH the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Matheson, of Durham, England, we have received a number of valuable pamphlets, some of which we now proceed briefly to

notice.

1. British and Foreign Bible Society's Thirty-first Report.

We have quoted an interesting passage from this report on page 344. The number of reprints of previous versions of the Bible, which this Society has effected, is 44; retranslations, 5; languages and dialects in which the Scriptures were never printed before the establishment of the Society, 75; new translations commenced or completed, 34; total, 158. The number of auxiliaries in Great Britain, is 269; branches, 347; associations, 1,541; total, 2,157, of which 1,190 are conducted by ladies; in the colonies and other dependencies, 40 auxiliaries, 48 branches, 74 associations, total 152; connected with the Hibernian Bible Society, 71 auxiliaries, 331 branches, 203 associations, total 605. Grand total, 378 auxiliaries, 726 branches, 1,818 associations, total 2,822. Receipts, £107,926 16s. 9d.

2. Rev. Dr. Matheson's Sermon at Glasgow.

This sermon was preached in Nile street chapel, Glasgow, April 9, 1835, at the 23rd annual meeting of the Congregational Union of Scotland. Its object is to show that the voluntary exercise of Christian principle, is the only method by which Great Britain and Ireland can be evangelized. The text is Isa. lxi. 4. "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." Dr. M. considers the proposition under three heads; 1. The compulsory plan has failed wherever it has been tried, and under every modification. 2. The voluntary plan has succeeded wherever it has been fairly brought into operation; and therefore 3. It is only by the full and immediate operation of the voluntary principle among all denominations, that the waste places of Great Britain can be repaired. It is an able and interesting sermon, abounding in matters of fact, derived from the author's extensive acquaintance with England, Scotland, and the United States.

3. The Bishop of Chester's Charge.

This charge of bishop J. B. Sumner, was delivered to the clergy of his diocese, at the triennial visitation in 1832. The appendix contains a number of striking facts. The bishop states that the mass of the adult manufacturing population in Lancashire, is, in point of fact, without religious instruction of any kind. "Since the year 1820, provision has been made in churches in England for 587,000 persons, viz. 260,000 by his Majesty's commissioners under the parliamentary grant, and 227,000 by the Incorporated Society. But the increase of population during the same period, (from 1820 to 1832,) has exceeded 1,800,000 persons." Bishop Sumner is the well known author of a “Treatise on the Records of the Creation, and on the Moral Attributes of the Creator,” and of other works.

4. Forty-eighth Report of the Society for the Support of Sunday Schools.

Grants were made by the Society, during the year, to 434 schools, containing 35,370 scholars. Since its organization, it has distributed about 190,000 Bibles and Testaments, and 1,100,000 other publications.

5. Mr. Wilson's Historical Inquiry.

This pamphlet of 256 pp. octavo, is devoted to an historical inquiry concerning the principles, opinions, and usages of the English Presbyterians; chiefly from the restoration of Charles II. to the death of Queen Anne, by Joshua Wilson, Esq., of Highbury, near London. The general statement which the author undertakes to substantiate, is “ that the Presbyterians, from the Revolution to the death of Queen Anne, took precautionary measures to secure the continued orthodoxy of their churches and ministers, and to restrain, by the exercise of discipline and government, the introduction of erroneous and heretical doctrine." The principal facts adduced, are 1. They used the Assembly's Shorter Catechism in the religious instruction of their children. 2. They required a confession of faith from parents, previously to admitting their children to baptism, and from adults previously to their being received among the number of communicants at the Lord's supper, and asserted the right of their churches to excommunicate heretical members. 3. The ministers invariably required a formal profession of faith from candidates for the ministerial office, previously to their being admitted into it by ordination; and their congregation not only claimed, but in several cases actually exercised, the right of dismissing their ministers, for embracing heterodox and erroneous opinions on what were deemed fundamental points of doctrine.

6. Report of the London Missionary Society, 1835.

Since the year 1817, the printing-press has been in operation in the South Sea Islands, and among a people heretofore destitute of a written language, and 105,400 copies of portions of the Scripture and Christian books have been put into circulation. The press at Batavia turns off a million of pages annually. A steam-press will soon be established as near China as possible, to print books principally in the Chinese language. In India, the means of spreading the gospel are multiplying on every side. In Madagascar, 129,800 copies of portions of the Bible have been put in circulation. In South Africa, thirty-four missionaries and ten native assistants are laboring. In the West Indies, twenty laborers.

7. Sixteenth Report of the Home Missionary Society.

Sixty-five agents or missionaries are employed in preaching the gospel. Each of them, on an average, preaches in seven or eight villages. Chapels have been erected, churches formed, Sunday schools established, &c.

8. Proceedings of the .Annual Meeting of the Friends.

This is an account of the yearly meeting of the Friends in London, from the 20th to the 30th of May, 1835. It contains some very interesting statements. The subject of a Quaker's Missionary Society was introduced, by the reading of a minute from the Bristol and Somersetshire Friends, expressing a deep concern for the spiritual condition of the heathen world. The minute was ably supported by many Friends. It was ultimately decided that, in consequence of the present want of unity in the Society, on a point of doctrine, the time was not yet come to form a specific society in aid of missionary exertions; but its members generally were encouraged to render efficient aid to those missionary societies already in existence. It seems that a Mr. Daniel Wheeler went out to the South Seas as a Quaker missionary, in the Henry Freeling, a vessel purchased by the Society, and fitted up exclusively for this purpose. At Hobart's Town, New South Wales, Mr. Wheeler fell in with two other Quaker missionaries, Mr. James Backhouse and Mr. George W. Wheeler, all of whom sailed from Sidney for the Society Islands. The Meeting voted to memorialize the governments of England, France, and Spain, in reference to putting an effectual stop to the slave trade. A minute was adopted on the subject of temperance, in which it was enjoined on all