meeting in the cathedral of the metropolis, 6000 poor children, neatly clothed in the uniform of their respective schools, are seen arranged in rising circles, and heard sounding forth together the praise of God. Struck with what they saw and heard (and I suppose the like never was seen or heard), two noblemen of the kingdom of Portugal, and consequently of the Romish persuasion, were overheard to exclaim, at one of these solemnities-" This is life in"deed-We never lived before !"-"Out of the "mouth of babes and sucklings was praise thus per"fected!"

Children clothed and instructed in other parts of the kingdom, cannot meet in this world; but all, if they make a proper use of what they learn, will meet in the next, to give thanks to God, and acknowledge the kindness of their benefactors. A more powerful consideration cannot be urged (and therefore no other needeth to be urged) to encourage all parties concerned in these charities, to perform their respective duties those who have ability, to give liberally; those who teach, to do it with fidelity; those who learn, with diligence.

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DISCOURSE XXX.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE SEA.

PSALM, XCV. 5.

The sea is his, and he made it.

WHEN man was first formed, creation was his book, and God his preceptor. The elements were so many letters, by means of which, when rightly understood and put together, the wisdom, power, and goodness of the great Creator became legible to

him.

The proficiency made by Adam under his heavenly Teacher, appears from the circumstance of his imposing upon the creatures, when they were brought to him for that purpose, names expressive of their natures: a task which he could never have performed, unless, by the assistance of his divine Guide, he had first been introduced to an intimate acquaintance with those natures.

Happy the times when all knowledge thus lay in one volume; when the pursuit of wisdom was attended by pleasure, and followed by devotion! For who doth not find delight in contemplating the works of the Lord? Who, when he hath duly con

templated the works, can forbear to praise the Workmaster?

The great and learned champion of the Roman church, who spent the best part of his life in sifting the disputes between the catholics and protestants, composed, towards the close of his days, a small treatise upon the ascent of the soul to God by meditation on the creatures, which, from thenceforth, he made his constant companion, and was wont to say, it was more satisfaction to him to have been the author of that, than of all his large volumes of controversy.

The raptures with which the penmen of the holy Scriptures expatiate upon the perfections of God, as displayed in the creation, are well known. And could we bring our minds habitually into the same train of thinking, every walk we take would begin with admiration, and end with praise. We should always, upon such occasions, think what the Psalmist has so finely expressed, after a survey of the heavens above and the earth beneath-" O Lord, how "manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made "them all the earth is full of thy riches!" And who, that looks around him from the delightful place where we now area, can forbear to add, "So is "this great and wide sea also!" For of this truth let us never be unmindful, that wonderful as the sea is in itself, and beneficial as it is to the sons of men, all its wonders and all its benefits reflect glory and honour on him who formed and poured it abroad

a This Discourse was composed at Brighthelmstone.

Let us remember, that "The sea is his, and he "made it."

Such an object, continually before our eyes, invites and demands our attention; and religion calls upon us to search out the riches of divine power and goodness contained in it.

When we place ourselves upon the shore, and from thence behold that immense body of waters, stretching away on all sides, far as the eye can reach; and when we consider how large a portion of the globe is covered in like manner; what a noble idea are we hereby enabled to form of the immensity of that Being, who, in the emphatical language of Scripture, is said not only to "weigh the mountain "in a balance," but to "take up the sea in the hol"low of his hand!" in whose sight the hills are but as dust, the ocean is no more than a drop. The immeasurable breadth of the sea may remind us of God's boundless mercy; its unfathomable depth holds forth an image of his unsearchable judgements.

When we see a mass of water rising up by a gradual ascent, till the sky seems, as it were, to descend and close upon it, a thought immediately strikes us -What is it which prevents these waters from breaking in upon, and overflowing the land, as they appear in heaps so much above it? Let us adore that unseen power, which, by a perpetual decree, keeps them in their proper place, nor suffers them to intrude themselves into one which is not theirs. It is God's will that it should be so: when he gives the word, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no far"ther," plain sand proves a sufficient barrier. The

obedient waves bow themselves, and retire. They continue this day according to thine ordinance, O Lord, "for all things serve thee," but rebellious man, whom nothing can restrain from passing the bounds set him by thy commandments!

Hear attentively the noise of the sea-How grand and awful the sound! even as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh! St. John, in the Revelation, to give us some notion of the praises of God as uttered by men and angels, or the choirs of heaven and earth united before the throne, has chosen this similitude, joining two others with it; the creation does not afford a fourth-" I heard, as "it were, the voice of much people in heaven, and "the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty

thunderings, saying Hallelujah!" And is not this what the waves always say,-" Praise the Lord"praise him with your voices, as we constantly do with ours, while we thus intelligibly proclaim aloud the might of his power, and the glory of his majesty!

Pleasing is the variety of prospects which the sea, at different times, affords us, For, one while, like the conscience of a good man, calm and unruffled, it reflects a bright and beautiful image of the light which shineth upon it from above; at another, like the heart of the wicked, it is dark and cloudy, stormy and tempestuous, agitated from the very bottom, and its "restless waters cast up mire and dirt." Reflect, for a moment, on these two pictures of virtue and vice, and then doubt, if you can, to which of the originals your choice ought to be directed,