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HAPPY SURPRISE OF DEATH.

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THE REV. MR. HALL, of Arnsby, MR. EVANS, of Foxton, and MR. CHRISTIAN, of Sheepshead, three eminently pious ministers of the Gospel, attended a ministers' meeting at Mr. Woodman's, Sutton, Leicestershire. The day was solemn, and the discourses delivered were very interesting and appropriate. In the evening, these ministers spent their time together in the most agreeable conversation. Amongst other subjects, one of them proposed for discussion that passage in the ninth chapter of Job, If the Scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent." Deep seriousness pervaded the conversation, while each his gave thoughts on the text. When it came to Mr. Christian's turn, he dwelt upon the subject with an unusual degree of feeling. He considered it as referring to the sudden death of the righteous; and was expatiating very largely on the desirableness of such an event, and the happy surprise with which it would be attended, when, amidst a flood of rapturous tears, he took his flight from the world while the words were yet faltering on his tongue!

'Which is the happiest death to die?
"Oh!" said one, "if I might choose,
Long at the gate of bliss I'd lie,
And feast my spirit ere I fly

With bright celestial views.

Mine were a lingering death without pains
A death which all might love to see,

And mark how bright and sweet would be
The victory I should gain.

"Fain would I catch a hymn of love
From the angel-harps that ring above,
And sing it as my parting breath
Quivered and expired in death;
So that those on earth may hear
The harp-notes of another sphere,
And mark, when nature faints and dies,
What springs of heavenly ligh arise."

"No," said another, "no, not I;
Sudden as thought is the death I'd die.
I would suddenly throw my shackles by,
Nor bear a single pang at parting,
Nor see the tear of sorrow starting,
Nor hear the quivering lips that bless me,
Nor feel the hands of love that press me,

Nor the frame with mortal terror shaking,

Nor the heart where love's soft bands are breaking-
So would I die!

All bliss, without a pang to cloud it!
All joy, without a pain to shroud it!
Not slain, but caught up, as it were,
To meet my Saviour in the air!
So would I die !

Oh! how bright

Were the realms of light, Bursting at once upon the sight! Even so

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THE USE OF TIME.

WE have many recorded instances of individuals their spare moments to intellectual pursuits, and successfu coming the most formidable difficulties when poverty, or drudgery, seemed combined to crush their aspiring soul

THOMAS SIMPSON, a weaver in very humble circu prosecuted the study of mathematics during his leisure t such diligence and perseverance, that he was enabled to the world some treatises on this most important scio ultimately to obtain the mathematical chair in one of our

WILLIAM HUTTON, a stocking weaver, experiencing ma ships and privations in his youthful days, rose to be a re bookseller; and, by assiduously employing amidst his ties what time he could steal from his daily duties, himself capable of writing several historical works, ind history of Birmingham, which has maintained a high re JAMES FERGUSON first acquired the elementary pri natural philosophy while attending his father's sheep, a wards while in the service of a farmer and miller. T man was also enabled to acquire by himself the art of pai which he obtained for many years a comfortable subsist sides making such advancement in philosophical studies a him to publish several works as the results of his investi

DANIEL DEFOE, a well-known writer, whose name i to most as the author of Robinson Crusoe, was apprent hosier, and afterwards commenced in that trade hin before he had finished his apprenticeship he had acquired knowledge to give the public a political tract.

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The chief use of time, however, is to prepare for Who can doubt this, that duly reflects upon the first this Number?

THE SHIPWRECK OF THE SOUL.
I've seen the dark ship proudly braving,
With high sails set, and streamers waving,
The tempest roar and battle pride.
I've seen those floating streamers shrinking-
The high sail rent-the proud ship sinking
Beneath the ocean tide;

And heard the seaman farewell sighing,
His body on the dark sea lying,

His death-prayer to the wind!

But sadder sight the eye can know

Than proud bark lost, and seaman's woe,

Or battle fire, or tempest cloud,

Or prey-bird's shriek, and ocean's shroudThe shipwreck of the SOUL.

THE SEA-BOY'S GRAVE.

In the churchyard of Innisbower, there is a simple tom the following inscription:

Time Flies!

Weep not for me, my parents dear,
E am not dead, but sleeping here;
My glass is run, my grave you see,
Be sure, prepare to follow me,

This marks to the passing stranger the sea-boy's grave.

THE MAELSTROM.

THE most famous of all whirlpools, as well as the rible, is that of the Maelstrom, on the coast of Norwa the islands of Mosker, or Moskoe, and Warne. At there is a deep channel, where the tides run with gre from north to south for six hours; and when they than ordinarily strong, or when their course is imped winds, a whirlpool is created. At high and low when light winds are blowing, ships pass through without much danger; but when a gale comes on far out to sea, away from the dreaded spot. The who frequent these waters, and who have occasi

from one island to the other, sometimes cross it in their light boats, waiting for the calmest moment, and selecting the most favourable spot to do so; but they are well skilled in the signs of the weather and the tides, and never venture when there is the appearance of danger.

When the Maelstrom is lashed up to its greatest fury, the aspect it presents, and the sounds it causes, are truly terrific. Its roar, which is said to be louder than that of the cataract of Niagara, is heard, through all the noise of the tempest, at the distance of leagues, and the rocky shores by which it is bounded seem to thrill and tremble with the violence of its reverberations. Far from it, and long before the threatening crests of its waves are seen, a strong current rushing towards it draws objects, apparently a long distance beyond its influence, toward the centre of the vortex-and once in the stream, destruction is inevitable. Nothing that courage can prompt, or skill can execute, will avail to avert the threatened danger: onward, spite of helm or sail, goes the luckless ship, once within the

tions of timber being jagged and notched, as though some gigantic saw had been at work upon them. It not unfrequently happens, that animals perish in the Maelstrom. Bears, sometimes, attempting to swim from one island to the other, are caught by the eddy, and carried away in spite of all their struggles, When fairly immersed in the circle, they appear to lose all power of resistance, and submit to their fate with loud roars of terror, which are plainly heard upon the neighbouring coasts. It is even said that the leviathan of the deep, the gigantic whale, is occasionally caught, and shares the inability of all living creatures to contend against the insatiate foe. In vain it plies its flippers, and lashes its tail, and casts its vast form out of the water in mad bounds for life. The invisible power which rules the waves surely hurries it on to the centre, draws it down, dashes it against the rocks, and, a few hours afterwards, casts it maimed and dead upon the shore. [Wonderful Things.

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THE MAELSTROM.

scope of its force, to certain destruction. Borne swiftly on, the waters buoy it up till, where the whirling waves thunder the loudest, the vortex is reached; and then, amid the foam whirling round in spiral lines with fearful rapidity, it rushes madly round in circles growing each moment narrower, and is at last sucked down to where the jagged rocks of the rugged bottom lie nearly two hundred and fifty feet below the boiling surface. The remains of whatever shares this fate are cast up by the next tide, rent and torn into fragments; the larger por

Can anything be more terrific, more to be avoided, than the Maelstrom? Yes! What does Mr. Gough say, in our second article? What say the lines that almost immediately precede this account?

LABOURS AND PROSPECTS OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN INDIA.

IN the report of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1853, it is intimated, that full one half of the sixty-two millions who

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inhabit Bengal have no Christian teachers among them, and that the remaining half are most inadequately supplied with religious instruction-that the past labours of the Society in that province have been followed by very cheering results (many Christian churches having been formed, and some fifteen hundred Hindus having been gathered into the fold of Christ, exclusive of those who have left the Church militant on earth for that triumphant in heaven)—that the prospects of future and enlarged success are highly encouraging, the political and social condition of the people being eminently favourable to Missionary effort.-that even the once haughty Brahmin now condescends to investigate the claims of Christianity, and is constrained to confess that 'Hinduism is sick unto death.'

It is very gratifying to learn, from the same report, that the Society have formed the noble intention of endeavouring to send forth at least twenty additional Missionaries, at a probable annual cost of £5000, in order to place on an efficient footing the Society's stations now occupied, and in some degree to seize the present openings for the extension of Christ's kingdom.' May these endeavours be crowned with the most abundant success!

The Missionaries and Native Evangelists, it further appears, have been especially delighted by the willingness with which multitudes of the native population now hearken to the oral proclamation of Gospel truth; listening attentively to evangelical addresses, whether delivered in the streets of Calcutta, its suburban villages, its bazaars, or at its road-sides,' or in places and tracts of country distant from the metropolis; and they are greatly inspirited by perceiving that everywhere a change is apparent in the tone and temper of the people, with respect to the Gospel of Christ.'

The engraving, kindly lent by the Directors of the Society, represents a bazaar in Monghir, in which their agents 'stopped at a shop where a number of young men were gambling.' The Missionaries thus describe the result-The gamblers were at first unwilling to leave their game, but afterward laid it aside, and after some discussion they gave us seats, and with much apparent pleasure sat down to hear our preaching.' The brethren add, This was not the only time during our visit that we had the pleasure of turning a gambling party into a congregation to hear the word of God.' (See engraving, page 84.)

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THE EARNEST ENTREATY.

(See engraving, page 85.)

We have seen the happy subject of a gracious change proceeding from strength to strength growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our present paper leads us to call the attention of our readers to the first engraving of the series (page 53.) There they will see the man whose career we have traced, in the hands of a companion who tried to detain him in the gin-palace, and laughed at the entreaties and misery of the poor man's wife and family. Now of this companion we have seen nothing since that time. When our friend was enabled, by God's grace, to give up his evil habits, he of course forsook his former companions. For what fellowship hath light with darkness?' And his late friends would be just as averse to his company, now that his life condemned their evil practices, as he would be to theirs.

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In our present engraving, however, we again see the companion of our friend's former evil days. Possibly he had heard of the growing prosperity of his old acquaintance; or possibly-and the black band round his hat seems to render it not unlikely-he had been in trouble, and thought that, after all, he was going on in the wrong way. Troubles often suggest wholesome thoughts of this kind. They are indeed sent for that purpose-for our profit.' At all events, here he is. He has found our friend out, and has perhaps confessed that he is no better than he was. The confession was hardly needful, for his appearance proclaims it. He is earnestly entreated to turn from his evil ways-to accept God's gracious promise of a free pardon through Jesus Christ for all that is past, and strength, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, for his leading a new life in time to come. Doubtless he is directed to many such passages of Scripture as these-' Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.' 'Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And our friend would be able to speak from his own

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As to our friend, he has seen the truth of the promise, 'They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.' The family have removed into a better house, and have many more comforts about them. Especially we may notice an increase in the number of books. Over the fireplace is a miniature of the wife, and in the centre a large picture of our Saviour's charge to Peter -Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs.' Then there is a map of the world, perhaps a Missionary one, and an air of comfort is diffused over the whole room. We should not overlook the little boy, who so winningly goes up to the poor visitor and takes his arm. He is evidently well taught in the law of kindness, so that the appearance of the man does not repulse him. Doubtless it might be said of our friend, as was said by the Lord of Abraham, He will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.'

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Our next engraving will be the sixth and last of the seriesThe Closing Scene.'

I'LL HAVE ONE.

I HEARD recently a very interesting illustration of the manner in which the Bible commends itself to the various classes of society. A colporteur in France was wending his way among the villages of an agricultural district, endeavouring to sell his Bibles. He came to a place where he saw a remnant of the feudal system. A farmer, of some standing, was sitting in his hall at dinner, and at the same table were his servants. The parties were all of a sceptical turn. When the colporteur presented himself at the entrance of the hall, they asked him what he had got to sell. He replied, that he came to sell a book. 'What book?' it was asked. 'La parole de Dieu,' the Word of God,' said the man. At first they laughed at him; but after dinner was concluded, they thought they would have some sport, and one of them said to him, 'Take out your book and read, that we may see what it is like.' So he began-'Servants, obey your masters.' The master, sitting at the top of the table, at once exclaimed, 'I'll have one.' He then read, Masters, render unto your servants that which is just and equal';' and all down the table the cry was sent forth, I'll have one, I'll have one.' This is a specimen of the manner in which the Bible commends itself to all manner of persons.-Dr. M'Neile.

SUNSHINE AT MIDNIGHT.

THERE is nothing that strikes a stranger more forcibly, if he visits Sweden at the season of the year when the days are longest, than the absence of night. Dr. Baird had no conception of it before his arrival. He arrived at Stockholm from Gottenburg, four hundred miles distant, in the morning, and in the afternoon went to see some friends. He had not taken note of time, and returned about midnight-it was as light as it is here half an hour before sundown. You could see distinctly. But all was quiet in the streets-it seemed as if the inhabitants had. gone away, or were dead. No signs of life-stores closed. The sun in June, at Stockholm, goes down a little before ten o'clock. There is a great illumination all night, as the sun passes round the earth toward the north pole; and the refraction of its rays is such, that you can see to read at midnight. Dr. Baird read a letter in the forest near Stockholm at midnight, without artificial light. There is a mountain at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, where, on the 21st of June, the sun does not go down at all. Travellers go up there to see it. A steamboat goes up from Stockholm, for the purpose of carrying those who are curious to witness the phenomenon. It only occurs one night. The sun goes down to the horizon, you can still see the whole face of it, and in five minutes it begins to rise. At the North Cape, latitude 72°, it does not go down for several weeks. Now (June 23) it would be, at midnight, about twenty-five degrees above the horizon. The way the people there know it is midnight, is by seeing the sun begin to rise.

The changes in those high latitudes, from summer to winter, are so great, that we can have no conception of them at all. In

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the winter time, the sun disappears, and is not seen for six weeks. Then it shows its face. Afterward it remains for ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes, and then descends; and, finally, it does not set at all, but makes almost a circle round the heavens.

or not.

Dr. Baird had been asked how they managed in regard to hired persons, and what they consider a day. He could not say, but supposed they worked by the hour, and twelve hours would be considered a day's work. Birds and animals take their accustomed rest at their usual hours, whether the sun goes down The hens take to the trees about seven in the afternoon, and stay there till the sun is well up in the morning; and the people get into the habit of late rising, too. The first morning Dr. Baird awoke in Stockholm, he was astonished to see the sun shining into his room. He looked at his watch, and found it only three o'clock. The next time he awoke it was five o'clock, but there was nobody in the streets. The Swedes in the cities are not very industrious, owing, probably, to the climate. The sun is up so long, that the atmosphere becomes very hot, though not so hot as our summer weather. The shopkeepers of Stockholm, in the middle of the day, used to shut up their shops, and take their rest; but the government allowed the Jews to come in, and the Swedes were obliged to change.

[Notes of Dr. Baird's Lectures on Europe.

There is a moral darkness that-not for a few weeks, but always-enshrouds the greater portion of our earth. But a day is coming, known to the Lord, when 'at evening time it shall be light.' May it soon arrive!

'Great Sun of Righteousness, arise!

Fill the whole earth with heavenly light!
Thy Gospel makes the simple wise,

Thy laws are pure, thy judgments right.'

THE flakes of smooth bark peeled off the pinaster, and subdivided into thin lamina, were used by the ancients for writing on. They also formed a papyrus from the bark of the mulberry-tree, whence the Latin word liber signified both the bark of a tree and a book; and the term folium was, on the same account, applied to both.

THE USE OF NATURAL HISTORY. THE study of natural history, if rightly conducted, leads to deeper impressions of the wisdom and goodness of God. It is possible to study the works of creation without any reference to the great Creator. How sinful, however, to shut out God from his own world, and to deny him the praise proclaimed by his own works! Not so our first parents in their primeval innocence. Their adoring song, according to the bard of Paradise, was

These are thy glorious works, Parent of good!
Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous, then !—
Unspeakable--who sitt'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.

A well-known writer speaks of the person who is a stranger to vernal delight amidst the beauty and freshness of spring, as guilty of sullenness against nature. Can he altogether clear himself of ingratitude, however unintentional, towards God, who derives no pleasure from beholding the wonderful works of his hand? If the rose, according to the Persian poet, fills with love the heart of his bulbul, the nightingale, can man be blamelessly dead to its beauty, and regardless of its fragrance, though that beauty and fragrance were intended to yield him delight, and to speak to his heart of the loving-kindness of the Lord?

Want of interest in the works of creation is no proof of superior piety, nor is a deep interest in them a symptom of deficiency of pious feelings. The venerable Carey, who spent a life of devotedness in India in the service of his Master, had great delight, in his few moments of leisure from more important matters, in prosecuting the study of botany, in which he had made great proficiency. When some of his worthy associates, who had no taste for these pursuits, expressed their wonder at his zeal, and intimated that his great delight in flowers was beneath a person

of his talents and piety, 'Shall I,' said he, think it beneath me to admire what my God did not think it beneath him to create. and beautify, and cherish?' Ray, in his 'Wisdom of God in Creation,' says, Think not that anything God has vouchsafed to create is unworthy thy cognizancc-to be slighted by thee. It is pride and arrogance, or ignorance and folly, in thee so to think. There is a greater depth of art and skill in the structure of the meanest insect than thou art able to fathom or comprehend. 'How much of God,' says a talented writer, may be seen in the structure of a single leaf, which, though so fragile as to tremble in every wind, yet holds connexions and living communications with the earth, the air, the clouds, and the distant sun, and, through these sympathies with the universe, is itself a revelation of an Omnipotent mind.'

The above is taken from that interesting and useful publication, The Christian Treasury.

THE LESSER WEEVER.

THIS little fish belongs to the Perch family. Its scientific name is Trachinus draco (or T. vipera). Our engraving will sufficiently explain its general appearance. It is, says Yarrell, 'about five inches in length; active and subtle in its habits, burying itself in the loose soil at the bottom of the water, the head only being exposed. It thus waits for its prey-aquatic insects or minute crustaceous animals which the ascending position of its mouth enables it to seize with certainty. If trod upon, or only touched, while thus on the watch, it strikes with force either upwards or sideways.' (See engraving, page 88.)

The chief feature in this fish is its spinous dorsal fin, plainly shown in the engraving. The spines of this inflict very painful and serious wounds, whence the names applied to the fish draco, vipera (serpent, viper). We have twice seen the weever; once at Deal, when a couple of men were using a sweep-net along the shingly beach, in search of the atherine, or sand smelt. On hauling the net they found a weever, and would scarcely allow us to examine it, so anxious were they for its destruction, which was not thought sufficiently complete until the poor fish was actually pounded to a paste. One of the men told us he had known a wound from this fish to lay a fisherman up for four months! The second time we saw it was on Yarmouth sands, when one was enclosed in a ground net. Here, too, the men were equally anxious to destroy the fish, and to prevent any over-curious and inexperienced stranger from touching it.

Notwithstanding this, the little weever is 'good for food.' The greater weever (T. major) is of different habits, preferring deep water, where it lives constantly near the bottom. Both species survive a considerable time out of water.

Although we do not know the use of this dangerous little fish, we may be quite sure that it has its part to perform equally with larger and more harmless creatures. For the great Creator made nothing in vain, nor anything which was not very good.'

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THE VICTORIA REGIA.

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THIS very extraordinary plant, this vegetable wonder,' as it has been not unaptly termed, is allied to the water-lily, and grows in British Guiana. It was discovered by Sir R. H. Schomburgh in 1837, on the banks of the Berbice. În the same year he sent over drawings of it from New Amsterdam to the Botanical Society in London, accompanied by the following communication.

It was on the 1st of January, this year, while contending with the difficulties nature opposed in different forms to our progress up the river Berbice, in British Guiana, that we arrived at a point where the river expanded and formed a currentless basin : some object on the southern extremity of this basin attracted my attention-it was impossible to form any idea of what it could be, and, animating the crew to increase the rate of paddling, shortly afterwards we were opposite the object which had raised my curiosity-a regetable wonder! All calamities were forgotten. I felt as a botanist, and felt myself rewarded. A gigantic leaf, from five to six feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with a broad rim of a light green above, and a vivid crimson below, resting upon the water quite in character with the wonderful leaf was the luxuriant flower, consisting of many hundred petals, passing in alternate tints from pure white to rose and pink. The smooth water was covered with them: I rowed from one to another, and

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