by the Governor. He was also introduced to the minister of the Dutch Lutheran church of St. Thomas, and received from him a pressing invitation to visit that Island. He went accordingly, preached several times, was received with gladness, and fully expected in a short space of time to establish permanent worship in all the Danish settlements.

The ten months which had been allotted to the petition, soon passed pay, but no answer was returned. The Missionaries waited with patient solicitude for several years, till the perpetual silence of the Danish court annihilated their hopes, and compelled them either to abandon their design, or renew their application. They preferred the latter, and, in the year 1795, prepared another petition, which, through the governor of Santa Cruz, was also forwarded to Copenhagen. From the late tolerant spirit of the government, they felt a renewal of their hopes on this second address; but they were obliged to wait with patience, till the lapse of time should give them reason to expect the result, which the concurrent opinion of all assured them would ultimately be favourable.

It was not till February, 1798, that an account was transmitted from Tortola, stating the result of the petition, which had been sent to the court of Denmark. By this reply we were given to understand, that, " as private individuals, or as ministers, on a visit to the Islands, the Methodist Missionaries were at liberty to preach occasionally as they had done before, but that no grant could be given, through which they might establish societies in any of the Danish territories." This, amounting nearly to a pointed refusal, compelled the preachers to abandon a design, which, from the year 1789, had continued to flatter their most sanguine expectation. For though they were permitted to preach in houses which had been previously licensed, provided those to whom they belonged would grant them liberty, yet as. they were forbidden to build others, and to raise distinct societies, they could not but conclude that their time might be more advantageously employed, than in exercising labours, which must occasionally be subject to the controul and caprice of those who knew not God.

While the result of the former petition was pending, no doubt whatever was entertained of its success; and in the fullest persuasion of its certainty, local toleration had been obtained. Considerable congregations attended when the

Missionaries occasionally preached; and so well satisfied were they with the doctrines delivered, that many of the respectable inhabitants joined in the subsequent request which was made, and added their signatures to those of the real petitioners. The preaching of the Missionaries, as occasional visitors, seemed to be attended with peculiar power. The word appeared to distil upon their souls like dew upon the tender herb; many were deeply affected; and the tears which flowed in abundance demonstrated the sincerity of their contrition. The Missionaries who preached among the people were treated with the utmost respect, even by those from whom opposition might have been expected: while the repeated invitations which they received to return, after they had retired from among them, seemed to indicate that they were ripe for the Gospel, and that the bread which had been cast upon the waters would be found after many days.

But how pleasing soever the prospect, or promising the harvest, the negative which was put to the petition in the metropolis of Denmark blasted all their hopes, and totally forbad either the Missionaries or their friends to expect any establishment of Methodism among them. Private invitations indeed were made to the Missionaries after the law had refused its general sanction; and they might have found protection under this branch of its guaranty. In addition to this, the ministers, established on the Islands, who had been more successful in their application, were ready to offer the use of their chapels, being alike uninfluenced by the dread of introducing rivals, whose successes might lessen their honours, and by that spirit of bigotry, which like envy, "withers at another's joy, and hates that excellence it cannot reach."

Our aim, however, being to spread the Gospel, and not to aggrandize a sect, we were less solicitous to obtrude ourselves into places where the Gospel already flourished, than into regions where the inhabitants are still sitting in the shadow of death. In Tortola, Spanish Town, and the other British Virgin Islands, almost the whole work rested upon ourselves, as instruments in the hands of God; and in these Isles belonging to Denmark, the Great Head of the church had been pleased to bless the labours of our Moravian brethren. Here then we find an occasion of joy; for though these are now divided by shades less visible than those which mark the features of the human countenance, we trust they will be but one in

the great day of the Lord Jesus. In that important day the thousands that have been begotten again to a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, will swell the millions of Israel, redeemed out of every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue, from whom shall be formed that innumerable host, which no man can number.

In this view the whole of the Christian world, who endeavour to lead souls to God through the atoning efficacy of Christ, are no more than so many distinct branches of one common family, which will hereafter unite together to crown the triumphs of the great Messiah. In that happy period, party distinctions shall be extinguished by the brighter beams of the Sun of Righte ousness, as vapours vanish before the solar rays. Or perhaps we may observe with more accuracy, that infinite love, in those rapturous moments which we thus contemplate, bursting, in an instant, upon our ravished senses. and intellectual powers with inconceiveable glory, shall so far overwhelm and fill the soul, that every thing that can generate discord, must be expelled by a necessary exclusion.

But of the constitution of that future world our knowledge is both contracted and imperfect. And the reason is obvious; it is because we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. In our present condition we have a sufficiency of knowledge to satisfy us, that these things which lie beyond the grave are actual realities; "but shadows, clouds, and darkness," draw their curtains so closely round those secrets which eager inquiry attempts to penetrate, that we are compelled to acquiesce in this momentous truth, that the perfection of our knowledge is reserved for another world. When therefore the light of eternity shall dispel this twilight which associates with time, and unfold those faculties, which are already existing in an embryo state, an enlargement of our comprehension may enable us to grasp at once a larger empire than the soul of Newton was able to explore. Then, without doubt, those intricacies which now perplex us, when, in the kingdom of nature, of providence, and grace, we attempt to trace the incomprehensible economy of heaven, and upon which our brightest reasons are little better than hazardous conjectures, will lose their mazes, and order, harmony, and beauty shine forth on every

On the extent of our capacities we are not at present competent to decide; they are sufficiently expanded, however, to discover and declare their own incompetency. They even stretch already through distances which astonish; and when they pause, it is not because they are incapable of any further expansion, but because the materials, upon which they scem destined to operate, cannot be attained. Eternity will supply these defects, either by removing the impediments which lay an embargo on our researches, by placing us beyond their influence, or by directing the mind how to elude their force. In either case we shall be introduced to such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and which, in our present state, cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive, but which God hath prepared for those who love him.

Knowledge, however, unsanctified by grace, will only tend to enlarge our views of misery, and confirm the unhappy in that anguish, which results from remediless despair. It is only when knowledge leads to duty, is connected with love, and discovers the necessity of placing dependence on the divine compassions through Jesus Christ, that it may be denominated a pearl of great price. In this view its value is inestimable. It is one of those roots from whence imperishable flowers shall spring;-flowers, which may begin to bud on this side the grave, but which shall flourish with more genuine beauty through eternity. Here, it will lead us to the fountain which is open for sin and uncleanness, and there, to fountains of living waters. By applying to the former we shall be prepared for the latter, and through the efficacy of both shall have all tears for ever wiped from our eyes. May God grant us the qualifications which are necessary to prepare us for inheriting the reward!

Discovery, invasion by Ponce de Leon in 1509.-Dispositions and conduct of the natives.-Neglect the use of poisoned arrows.-Submit to their invaders, but soon raise an insurrection.-Anecdote of Broyo, a Cacique.Reduced once more to servitude, and finally exterminated.

Unsuccessfully invaded by Sir Francis Drake.-Taken and plundered by the Earl of Cumberland, but abandoned through disease.-Remains unimproved to the present hour.-Reflections on its condition. Situation, soil, adaptation for trade.-Observations on the poison of the Lianes, and on that of the Mancheneel.-Natural productions.-State of religion.

THE extensive Island of Porto Rica is more easily distinguishable upon the map, than known, either in the political or commercial world; and the reason of the latter is, because it has almost uniformly belonged to Spain. Its history can furnish but little variety; it has uniformly been the habitation of indolence, and on that account has been exempted from most of those vicissitudes, which furnish death with victims, the warrior with spoils, and the historian with materials.

It was discovered by Columbus in one of his early voyages in the year 1493; but, like many other Islands, was passed by for the present without further notice. Hispaniola, at that period, so far engrossed the attention of the Spaniards, that every thing but gold was treated with indifference and comparative neglect. The space of sixteen years, from the period in which Porto Rica was discovered, had, however, so far exhausted the ore, and exterminated the natives of Hispaniola, as to afford the invaders of that devoted Island, leisure to turn their thoughts to this, which had been neglected. To this,