more fortunate fellow-creatures.

appearance is repulsive to the

Their very pride and

self-conceit of human nature; which not only withhold from them the kindly feelings bestowed on more pleasing objects, but are prone to attribute to them a deformity of mind analogous to their defects in outward shape.

To endeavour to counteract this prejudice is the business, and will be the desire, of the generous, the liberal, and the kind; to confirm, or extend it, by axioms which render these unfortunates hateful, or by representations which make them despicable, is at once cowardly and inhuman; and that writer of imaginative composition, who has obtained a wide controul over public opinion, will ill deserve the influence he enjoys, if he give extension or popularity to notions, which are not more ill founded and unjust in themselves, than injurious to the peace, interest, and well-being of those to whom they are applied.

Biographical Illustrations.

CHARLES THE SECOND.

Though it cannot be doubted that, in the divine appointments, every dispensation is intended to work out a salutary and benevolent end; and that even suffering and sorrow, so far from being the harsh inflictions of an arbitrary tyrant, are the results of united wisdom and love, adapted to edify and benefit the objects of such visitations; to reclaim the vicious, to subdue the arrogant, and to teach

"Heedless, rambling impulse how to think;"

yet it must be recollected, that these means of moral and spiritual improvement have nothing coercive in their nature; that they do not necessarily awaken the soul, purify the

.

affections, or reform the life; but, like all other opportunities of grace, may be slighted by carelessness, or resisted by obduracy, and thus utterly fail of their proposed effect." They are moral medicines, admirably adapted to the moral constitution of man, to his rational nature, and responsible condition; and designed to influence his will, by allaying his passions, and softening his heart: but, like the medicinal preparations applied to his physical frame, they must be regarded by the recipient as the means of relief and recovery, and taken in patient conformity to the intention and directions with which they are administered, or no benefit can result from their exhibition.

We

That these calls to reflection and improvement are too frequently slighted, common observation sufficiently convinces us. every day see instances of human perverseness counteracting the designs of Divine Goodness, in this respect; and the personal misfortunes. of the individual, instead of amending his moral state, only hardening his feelings, and darkening his general character. His un

checked pride, his habits of vice, his devotion to objects of sense, have so completely preoccupied his heart, that there is no admission for that softening influence which adversity is calculated to infuse into it. He regards all such visitations as acts of injustice, instead of manifestations of chastening love; they excite his anger, and not his reflection; he becomes either hardened, or reckless; "goes on still in his wickedness;" and the melancholy conclusion is, that "the last state of that man is worse than the first."

The world has rarely seen a more striking example of the truth of these remarks, than in Charles the Second. When only fifteen years of age, he was compelled, by the distractions and dangers of his country, to depart from his father's court, and become an unwelcome visitor, and a neglected dependent, at a foreign one. Three years afterwards, his father was cut off by a violent and terrible death, which shook all christendom with horror. His own defeats and flights, at Dunbar and Worcester, succeeded this visitation; and years of exile followed, in which

he was doomed to experience the bitterness of reiterated disappointment, the insults of avowed enemies, and the still more painful slights and mockeries of nominal friends. Such striking moral lessons as these, it might naturally be expected, would have given a considerate cast to the character of Charles; and, combined with the unexpected event of his restoration to power and independence, have made reflection and sobriety, if not religion and gratitude, the marked features of his matured mind, and the great principles of his future conduct. But there was no part of Charles's moral constitution accessible to feelings, either good or great; no genial spot in his heart, to receive and foster the solemn and gentle impressions which adversity is calculated to produce. Warnings and mercies were alike thrown away upon him. Confirmed habits of vice succeeded to the errors of youth; and, when exhausted passions ceased to stimulate him, he still sought refuge from convictions which might have awakened, corrected, and improved him, in a cold system of unenjoyed crime.