not suppose he has here found the pillar of Lot's wife, nor does it appear that even the Arabs had stated it to be such; but it is very properly pointed out that it was probably a pillar of this sort, produced by the action of water upon one of the masses of rock salt, which abound towards the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, that the ancient writers had in view, and which they supposed to be that into which Lot's wife was turned. We now see the natural process by which such pillars are formed. It seems to us that the pillar of Lot's wife must have been on the opposite side of the lake, for the fugitives were proceeding to Zoar, which lay in that direction. And it does not escape our notice, that the unhappy woman appears to have been overtaken by her death in the plain, whereas this pillar stands upon a hill from forty to sixty feet above the beach, with loftier mountains immediately behind. The pillar itself also is forty feet high which we should suppose to be considerably taller than either Lot or his wife. Yet all these circumstances would in ages of less exact observation have had no weight, and this very pillar would assuredly have been pronounced as being beyond all doubt or question, "the monument of an unbelieving soul."-Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations.

"GOD UPBRAIDETH NOT."

"My grandfather," says Mr. Orton, "once solicited a very excellent but modest minister to pray in his family when there were several others present. He desired to be excused, alleging that he had not thought of it, and there were so many other ministers present." My grandfather replied, "Sir, you are to speak to your Master, and not to them, and my Bible tells me, he is not so critical and censorious as men are."

TRUTH PRESSED HOME.

"I remember," says a keen writer, "when at Tivoli, near Rome, conversing with a monk, who with a face of much sorrow told me, that he was a great rascal, and the chiefest of sinners, worse than Judas Iscariot, and altogether vile. I said to him in reply, 'Alas! my poor friend, it is but too true.' And then the man got very angry, and would not talk with me any more !"

THE ROYAL ADELAIDE.

"How wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?"

THE inhabitants of Plymouth, all accustomed as they are to the perils of the sea, have been startled into unusual commiseration with the victims of its proud waves, by the fact of a steamer, which left its peaceful harbour in its ordinary routine, having "sunk as lead in the mighty waters."

The "Royal Adelaide" had left the shores of the sister isle, had touched, to exchange passengers and packages, at Falmouth, sojourned here for the same purpose, started again on her onward course, had braved the wind and the waves through difficult and dangerous passes, rounded the disastrous Forelands, and was almost within sight of her desired haven, but, "is not!" Her captain, her crew, her passengers-more than two hundred human beings, the valuable freight and merchandize, "the depths have covered them; they sank into the bottom as a stone:" not a man escaped to tell the tale!

All that can be gathered concerning them is, that about twenty minutes past eleven o'clock, on Saturday night, March 30th, they were seen passing the floating Light of the Tongue Sands, at the mouth of the River Thames, between Margate and Reculvers, the keepers of which, recorded that fact in their current journal. Shortly after this, two blue rockets were noticed, both by these persons and a coast guard on the Kentish shore; then all was darkness and silence, save the roar of the contending elements. The night was wild, dark, and misty; the sea ran mountains high; attempts to reach the ill-fated craft would only have ensured destruction to the humane and daring adventurers, even had she been discerned, but no eye saw her; and she was crushed, disjointed, broken up, so that when morning dawned, the iron skeleton of the engines alone betokened the completion of utter ruin.

And where were the people? Gone! All gone!—not even the lifeless remains to afford surviving relatives the melancholy satisfaction of committing them to the silent tomb, "in sure and certain hope of the glorious resurrection.”

But did no eye behold this awful scene? Surely He who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, could not have overlooked this

hour of extremity! We know that some sincere and humble Christians were on board, and from various minute circumstances, it seems evident that they had been influenced to prepare for that event which happeneth alike to all, but of whose precise time of approach, we are left in so much ignorance. The will had been duly drawn up, signed, and sealed, and all worldly affairs arranged, before this voyage was contemplated. Even the delicate young child, for whose benefit it was undertaken, when bidding farewell to the friend who placed her in her little berth, with affecting propriety adopted the language she had been early used to hear, and remarked, "It will be only ten days' absence, and then, if we are alive, we shall meet again!" Dear little girl! to her trustful apprehension, safety was of the Lord; and she could sleep as peacefully on her storm-tossed pillow, lulled by the dash of water against the side of the vessel, and the howling of the wind through the rigging, as on her quiet couch in her own country home.

And the pious parents, hand in hand, could watch the rising tempest, and hush every anxiety, with the thought of Him who says, "Hitherto shalt thou come." Tender glances at the little ones at home, may for a moment have interrupted their serenity, but the assurance, "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive," doubtless had power, even in that dread moment, to alleviate their anguish, and fix their hearts anew upon the God, whose "stormy wind" then "fulfilled his word."

Those who are accustomed to do business in the deep waters, conjecture, from the appearance of the scattered fragments of the wreck which have been picked up by passing vessels, as well as by the detached and widely dispersed garments, a child's frock, an infant's cap, a lady's mantle, &c. that this destruction must have been emphatically sudden.

So rough a voyage as the weather must have occasioned, in all probability had produced its usual effects upon the landsmen, and sea-sickness must have laid low the greater number of the passengers. The hour, too,-in the dead of the night, presumes that the weary sufferers were finding some mitigation of their woes in the slumber of exhaustion, while the alleged fact that only two rockets were sent up, and no more, although they were anxiously watched for by the distant coast

guard, and the wakeful light keepers, augurs that there was neither time nor opportunity to repeat the signal of distress. The whole framework of the stern has been found, torn away entire, so that a vast body of water must have rushed into the ladies' cabin, and speedily penetrated every part of the vessel, sinking her ere the frightened inmates could have collected their stunned faculties, sufficiently even to devise the possibility of escape, had the sudden annihilation of the lights, and the suffocating volume of sandy brine permitted them once to rise to the surface! Numbers were, doubtless, hurried into eternity without a moment's thought. Straight from the activities of managing the sails, the helm, or the engines,-from the listlessness of overpowering sea-sickness, or the unconscious repose of childhood and infancy, their souls were that night required of them! How the heart pants to regard all as emancipated spirits, rejoicing in the fulness of joy at God's right hand! What an alleviation of this dire calamity, to believe, all were prepared to meet their God! The wind sighs its mournful dirge o'er the drowned mariner, and the April sunlight dances merrily on the crested billows, as if they gloried in the havoc they had made!

Revelation lights up the tomb of a believer in Jesus, with the bright beams of immortality,-whether that tomb be the rock-hewn cave, the marble mausoleum, or the desolate sandheap; and mourners are comforted, that he whom they love is not there; he is risen, his nobler part is already with the Saviour in Paradise.

But Revelation also casts a lurid glare from the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and asks, "Who among you can dwell with everlasting burnings ?" In the ear of the angel that encampeth round about them that fear the Lord, how fearfully must have contrasted the impenitent sinner's shriek of despair with the gentle sigh of the dying saint! One shrinks from imagining the mental agony of those, who, thoughtless till then, were roused from their apathy by death, in so apalling and hasty a form! More harrowing still, must have been the sudden uprooting of the props of infidelity; the astounding manifestation, that in spite of the fool's heartfelt desire to the contrary, "there is a God who ruleth in the hea

vens, and laughs at the wicked when their fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction as a whirlwind."

Beloved young readers, neglect not the voice of Jehovah's providence! If you have ever gone down to the borders of the grave-once stood upon the threshold of eternity, you cannot surely forget the solemnity of the prospect, the tremendous consequences of the last important hour; the absolute certainty that sometime or other, you must pass that bourne, whence no traveller returneth. If you have felt your cheek pale, and your heart faint at the bare announcement of life in danger, then "how wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?"-how hearken to the intelligence, "This year thou shalt die ?"

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We have often contemplated our first parent in Eden, and pictured to ourselves the strange dismay with which he must have awaited the penalty of transgression, living on from year year of his lengthened existence, under the conviction that he was yet spared for a season; and is it not so with every individual of the present day? Walk into any cemetery, and note the inscriptions on the tombs. You will find that death has laid low all ages; the infant of days, the blooming youth, humanity in its prime, as well as its decrepitude; all ranks, from the homeless pupil of Ragged Schools, to the monarch on the throne-there is no escape.

Preparation for the last hour
Samuel was "called of the

Are you ready for your turn? does not ensure its swift arrival. Lord" when a child, but he lived to be a very old man. Joseph, David, and Daniel were all pious youths, but adorned a long life with consistent conduct. "The young man named Saul,” after his conversion, became "such an one as Paul the aged." Timothy, who "from a child had known the way of salvation," is not supposed to have been cut off till he had well fulfilled his part among the generation of men. The peace of mind attending the possession of true religion, is more likely to prolong human life than to shorten it, for to the Christian,

"Death's cold flood

But wafts him to yon radiant shore,"

and introduces him to the shining ones, who conduct him through the pearly gates, into regions, "which when I had seen," says our incomparable dreamer, "I wished myself among them." My young friend, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and