derangement, so fleeting is the obscuration, but which may make an indelible impression on the life and fortunes of the individual. J. G. was a married man, fondly attached to his wife and family, if we can trust the expression of his feelings in these pages; he had arrived at the mature age of 54 without committing any moral delinquency incompatible with his position as schoolmaster in a Scottish provincial town: his intellect—if wayward was keen and vigorous, while his physical development was delicate, nay, even dwarfish.

These

are not apparently the elements of an individual capable of perpetrating the offence for which he was condemned to seven years' transportation; yet his own confession leaves no doubt of his guilt, which consisted in behaving lewdly in school to one of his most advanced pupils. A crime of this nature, committed by a man in his position, is of course a grave one, and admits-socially speaking-of no compromise; but if we examine it charitably, by giving their full weight to extenuating circumstances, perhaps he may appear to us more unfortunate than morally depraved. He ascribes his conduct to partial intoxication, momentary forgetfulness, and frolic, while he strongly and feelingly repels the imputation of any vicious design. Whether we believe these statements or not, if we take into consideration that the unfortunate man has already undergone three and a half years' imprisonment in our jails, and is now completing his sentence in Tasmania, we shall probably agree that his sufferings have fully expiated his guilt, so far as our sentiments of human justice enable us to judge.]

ESSAY ON SIN.

WHAT an evil and bitter thing sin is! how fearful are its consequences! how deadly are its effects! It is an overwhelming torrent, rushing forward with such fearful impetuosity, such irresistible force, that no human means can retard or repel it. Wherever it penetrates, it carries destruction and desolation. Where is the place that has not felt the ruinous effects of its poison? Go to the remotest parts of the earth, and there the traces of this destructive evil are too plainly, too awfully distinguishable. It is not necessary, however, to go so far for evidences of its bitter consequences; they are too easily to be seen in every individual of the human family.

Let us only take a view of our own lives, and they will present one continued and progressive course of sin; only let us look at our present condition, who, through the heedlessness of youth and the forgetfulness of the commandments of God, have broken the laws of our country, and are now being carried away from all those who are near and dear to us,—it may be, to live out the prime of our life in a distant land.

Oh! what shame and disgrace—what trouble and sorrow-what wretchedness and misery have we brought on ourselves, by indulging in vain and sensual gratifications! Fathers torn away from the affectionate caresses of their tender offspring; husbands from the embraces of loving wives, and children from the protection of doting parents, too faithfully demonstrate the evils resulting from sin. Probably we have all had indulgent parents, who have struggled hard to bring us up creditably, if not religiously; but we became tired of the humble and

temperate life in our father's house, and determined to be our own masters. Then we became associated with wicked companions, and commenced our criminal career— wasted our substance in riotous living, and chose the companionship of fools-preferred the wild mirth, immoral song, lascivious dance, and the society of the lewd, to that of our nearest and best of friends. These habits lost us the confidence of our employers; and being thus thrown idle, without the means of gratifying our burning desires, we were driven to crime. Now, covered with shame, we are suffering the penalty, while our parents' heads are bowed down with sorrow. Oh! what years of grief have we brought upon ourselves by our past misconduct! how often have we, during the time of our imprisonment, bewailed our hard condition! Oh! how often have the tears streamed down the cheeks of fond mothers, loving wives, on reading the heart-breaking letters of exiled sons or husbands!

This is but a faint picture of the misery we have brought upon ourselves, yet it is very lamentable; thank God! it is not irremediable. We cannot obliterate the past, but we can look back upon it with regret, and draw such profit and instruction from it as may stimulate us to exert ourselves with diligence and propriety for the time to come. We have all, through a kind and judicious Government, been granted opportunities of improving our minds, and, what is of infinitely greater importance, ensuring the salvation of our immortal souls. We have been placed under the teaching of faithful ministers, who have arduously laboured to show us the folly of sin, and the importance of awaking to a life of righeousness.

Have we taken advantage of these opportunities? if not, we are in a sad state. Although so near deliverance

from human bondage, if we are still the slaves of Satan, and alienated from God, this misery which we have endured is but a faint type of that which awaits us. Even now it is not too late, if we resolve, through the grace of God, to regulate our lives by the principles of religion; but we must not delay, lest our hearts become hardened, and lest He should give us over to our sinful minds, and "swear in His wrath that we shall not enter into His rest."

I would advise you, my friends, as one who has been in the same condition with yourselves, not to allow the present time to pass away unimproved. Be assured, if we improve the time and talents God has given us-devote them to the good of ourselves and others, and to the glory of Him-happiness will attend our steps here, and everlasting happiness in the world to come. We shall be enabled to exclaim with the Psalmist, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted: for before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word."

J. A.

[The initials J. A., attached to the above piece, will be found frequently repeated in the following pages; they belong to a delicately formed young man, who was by trade a bonnet-maker, but, by practice, a thief or pickpocket. He had been sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing from the person, and had suffered two and a half years' imprisonment previously to his embarkation. Earning a precarious and scanty livelihood, reared amid scenes of misery and vice, without friends or education to guide his young steps, we cannot feel surprised that his associations and necessities dragged him into a course of crime. If his moral nature had been formed so innately

vigorous as to have resisted the forces arrayed against him, his virtue could only have appeared an immaculate emanation of the Deity, that no filth could tarnish. It was otherwise, however. Upon whom, then, is the responsibility of his guilt to be thrown? not surely upon this unhappy child of circumstances. Are the needy and wretched parents responsible for not performing a duty which was perhaps beyond their power? or has society, by criminal neglect, nourished a serpent that avenges the wrongs it has endured? Alas! for the sake of poor humanity, these questions are difficult ones, and may require years for their solution and adjustment, during which the stream of misery and vice rolls on.

What most men consider serious evil-being convicted of a crime, and sentenced to transportation-was to this man probably the happiest event of his life. In jail the means of instruction were presented to him, and he successfully availed himself of them; in separate confinement he had leisure to commune with his own thoughts, which the necessities of his lot never before permitted him; in the ministrations of his religious instructors, he acquired that knowledge of the Christian faith, that humble and fervent piety, which breathes through every effort of his pen. His behaviour on board was perfectly in accordance with the faith he professed, being quiet and unobtrusive, unless urged by a generous anxiety to occupy a more prominent position in instructing his more ignorant fellow-prisoners.]