peril, and your eternal all in jeopardy. This-admits of no apology or palliation. It is equally weak and wicked: as intellectually mean, as it is morally base. You, yourself, despise this heartlessness, and denounce such heedlessness, when they trifle with temporal interests, or with human sorrows. You could not think well of any man, whatever were his rank in science or society, who could treat his lowest friend, as you have treated your God and Savior. I refer now, not to your sins. nor to your short-comings; but to the sheer trifling with salvation which you have indulged. Your soul might need neither mercy not grace, from the way you have treated it; or mercy and grace migh never have cost the Savior a tear nor a groan, from the way you have treated them.

This will not do! Ye must be born again. All the character o God and heaven must change for the worse, if you could be safe fo eternity, without a change to the better. pp. 141-147.

such

Together with the general excellence of thought in this chapter as in others, there is some want of precision in individual expres sions. Take the following: "The word of God, when duly weighed and prayed over, is blessed by the spirit of God, to the renovation of the soul. No man ever imitated David, in hiding the word of God in his heart, and in praying for a new heart, with out finding, in his own experience, the truth of the promise, new heart will I give you.'" p. 138. This, strictly interpreted, i true: for, duly to weigh and pray over the word of God; to imi tate David, in hiding the word of God in the heart; and praying for a new heart itself, involves an incipient experience of the very change in question. But it is not true, in our view, as the autho seems to mean, that there is a sure connection between any attention to the word of God, and such prayers for a new heart, a may be predicated of a person in unregeneracy, and his experi ence of a saving change. "Every one that doeth evil, (and cer tainly every one who refuses a cordial submission to the gospel doeth evil,) hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest hi deeds should be reproved." No such person duly weighs the word of God, or, after the example of David, hides it in his heart. Nor does any such person pray in sincerity for a new heart. He does not desire the change. He is averse to it. To represent his prayers for it as effectual, whatever may be his alarm, is delu sive and dangerous. It is to draw those false coverings over his sin, which must be torn off, and encourage those false hopes which must be forsaken; to substitute other conditions of peace, for those which God has announced :-" Repent and believe the gospel: Repent and be converted." What then! Shall the sinner wait until he has a new heart, before he applies himself to the word of God and to prayer? He must not wait a moment in the neglect of either of these duties; for the new heart itself involves an aban

donment of this waiting; coming to the light, that his deeds may be reproved, and coming to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy. This it is his immediate duty and privilege to do; and not at all the less, because, when done, it is also a result of the grace of God. In the two remaining chapters, one on religious mystery, and the other on the divine holiness, there is the same glowing sentiment; but in the former, less originality, and in the latter, less clear and consecutive thought, than in some that we have sketched. The argument in favor of the trinity of the Godhead, from the interposition of Providence, in having transmitted the doctrine down in the church from the beginning, as compared with the direct testimony of the scriptures, has perhaps less importance than the author attributes to it; and is certainly less obvious to persons who are not particularly conversant with the history of the church, as is the case with those in general for whom the book was designed. The a priori argument, that God must be holy because he is blessed, on which he mainly insists, is also less satisfactory, than the direct and glorious exhibitions which he has actually made of his holiness, in the law and the gospel, and in his corresponding dispensations of providence and grace.

On the whole, we cordially commend the book to the attention of our readers, and particularly the young. It is an auspicious token concerning the age, that books of this character are so greatly multiplied and so extensively read. It more especially demands our gratitude, that so many of the young are preparing themselves, by the study of the scriptures, to refer what they read to that unerring standard. To the bible itself we commend them. That is truth,-pure truth,-the truth of God;-able also to make them wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Art. IX.-MEMOIRS OF BARON CUVIER.

Memoirs of Baron Cuvier. By MRS. R. LEE, formerly MRS. T. ED. BOWDICH. New-York: J. & J. Harper. 1833.

For the last twenty-five years, no name has carried such weight in zoology, and comparative anatomy, as that of CUVIER. Ďuring this period, the appeal has been constantly made to him, in all the great questions relating to these studies: and the works he has composed, (not all yet published,) leave no room to doubt, that his posthumous fare will be not less brilliant than that which he enjoyed during his life-time. With a contrast as singular as felicitous, when compared with his compatriot naturalists, his labors have been marked by the deepest respect for revelation; nor have they tended in an unimportant manner, to elucidate the contested points relating to the origin of man, and the animal kingdom in general,

and their subsequent destruction by a general deluge. He is al known to have filled, with eminent usefulness, the office of vice-p sident of the French Bible Society; and, as director of public instru tion, to have contributed much to the prosperity of the Protesta churches. These circumstances mark him out to us, as no unwort subject of a brief biographical sketch; in the preparation of which, shall draw mostly from the little work by Mrs. Lee, at the head this article. This lady, the widow of Bowdich, the celebrated tr veler in Africa, herself a good naturalist, resided for many years the family of Baron Cuvier, where she possessed ample oppo tunities to collect materials for the melancholy task which length devolved upon her. Habits of close correspondence wit the family, and notes supplied by several eminent associate of the deceased, constitute the remaining qualifications of Mr Lee for this responsible undertaking; in which she has succeede in a manner that cannot fail to afford both instruction and er tertainment to every intelligent reader.

George Leopold Christian Frederic Dagobert Cuvier, was bor August 23, 1769, at Montbéliard, a town then belonging to th duchy of Würtemberg, but since included within the French de partment of Doubs. His father, after a military service o forty-five years, in which he acquitted himself so creditably as t be made chevalier of the order of military merit, retired from the army with a small pension; and at the age of fifty-five, married young lady, said to have been remarkable for her intelligence and amiableness. George was their second child; his parents, previous to his birth, having lost the eldest,-an affliction which affected the mother to such a degree, as to have secured to the infant George the utmost care, and which was rendered the more necessary, inasmuch as his constitution was so feeble, as to give but a doubtful promise of his reaching manhood. Nor was the care of this excellent mother confined to the health of her son. She taught him to read fluently at the early age of four years; and daily took him herself to an elementary school, where he was taught Latin, in which language, though uninstructed herself, she perseveringly promoted his progress, by obliging him to repeat to her all his lessons. To vary his employments, as also to guide his hand and eye, she gave him lessons in drawing; and to keep alive, as well as to improve to some useful end, his boyish curiosity, she carefully supplied him with the best works on history. As he advanced in drawing, his improvement was intrusted to one of his relatives, an architect in his native town. At the age of ten, he had passed through all the exercises of what is called the first school, not omitting the religious lessons appropriate to those classes, in which his mother appears to have taken a deep interest; so that he repeated, with the utmost facility, the catechism, the psalms of David, and the sonnets of Drélincourt.

What more admirable discipline could a son receive from his mother, to fit him for ultimate success as a student! Instead of resigning his mind to those trifles which are deemed appropriate to childhood, she diligently furnished him with excitement in books; and in place of leaving him to idleness, she accustomed him to salutary toil. Nor is it to be doubted, if the truth were known, concerning many other instances of early application, that they have also resulted from parental supervision and encouragement. It is ardently to be wished, that extraordinary mental development might more generally be looked for, as the concomitant of perseverance in early instruction; and if it were possible, supplant the delusive idea, that where genius exists, it will control, or rise superior to, untoward circumstances :-an idea which, while it has ever operated as a salvo to the supineness of parents and teachers, has doomed to mediocrity, or wholly extinguished, powers that, under the forming hand of a Madam Cuvier, would have instructed and adorned mankind. This false and too prevalent impression with respect to native genius which leads to a neglect of early education, appears to us to find its true counterpart in certain views of religion; such as the belief that moral renovation demands no activity from the unrenewed mind, and that an indolent passiveness is at least as favorable a posture as any other, for becoming the inheritor of eternal life.

Cuvier now entered the gymnasium, where, during four years, be acquired an excellent knowledge of Greek and Latin, and was constantly the first scholar in history, geography, and mathematics. At this period of his education, he industriously stored his mind with chronology; and to accomplish this more effectually, he constructed lists and tables, the assistance of which proved so important, that, it is said, he found no difficulty in retaining these acquisitions perfectly during his whole life. To this exercise, also, it is doubtless proper to refer, in part, his subsequent success in classification; on which he placed a high value, as the true foundation of advancement in science.

The perusal of the Historia Animalium of GESNER, (the Pliny of Germany,) a work which he found in the library of the gymnasium, and which was illustrated by colored figures, first turned his attention to natural history. This new direction of his mind was effectually confirmed by the more splendid work of BUFFON, in which, added to the beauty of the engravings, a most attractive style of description contributed to rivet his attention. To the latter work he obtained access at the house of a relative, where he was accustomed to visit; and so deep was the interest which it created, that he set himself to copy the plates it contained, coloring his drawings, according to the descriptions, with paint, or with patches of colored silk.

In studying the writings of naturalists and scientific travelers, became charmed with the zeal of the lovers of nature, especial as displayed in their associations; and this led him to attempt the age of fourteen, the formation of an academy, of which was appointed the president. Its meetings were held weekly; which occasions, works of natural philosophy, natural history, travels, were read, their merits discussed by the members, and, conclusion, a judgment pronounced upon them by the preside Here, also, we are to look for the elements of that skillful charact to which he early attained, as a director in the affairs of numero learned societies. By this exercise of his youthful talents in pu lic speaking, he gradually acquired confidence; and on the ang versary fête of the sovereign of Montbéliard, Duke Charles Würtemberg, he delivered a poem, in a staid and even manly ton to the astonishment of all who heard him.

These promising traits in young Cuvier, induced his parents covet for him, most earnestly, the advantages of a public educa tion. But their means being inadequate, as the only alternativ for the accomplishment of their wishes, they decided upon sendin him to the free school at Tübingen, an institution intended solely for the benefit of students destined for the church. Owing, however to a pique which the chief of the gymnasium had against him, fo some childish tricks, his future destiny was changed, and the fon hopes of his parents, for the time, completely frustrated. Fo when the pupils presented their theses for places, that of Cuvier was thrown into the third rank, though unquestionably entitled to the first; a piece of injustice, which operated, as was intended by his teacher, to prevent his admission into the school at Tübingen. This disappointment, however, was soon counter-balanced by more encouraging prospects from another quarter; for the merits of Cuvier reaching the ears of Duke Charles, when on a visit to Montbéliard, he sent for him, and after some conversation with him, and an examination of his drawings, he decided upon taking him under his special favor, and sending him to the university of Stuttgard, free of expense, there to enter his own academy, called the Caroline academy.

On the 4th of May, 1784, Cuvier entered the academy, at the age of fourteen. After one year's application to philosophy, he selected for his future profession, the department styled in Germany, Administration, and which may be defined as consisting of the practical and elementary points of law, finance, police, agriculture and technology;-a course to which he resorted, because it was likely to afford him many opportunities for pursuing natural history, especially for gathering plants and visiting collections. During the prosecution of his studies here, his success was marked by the reception of several prizes, and the order of Chevalrie,-an