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"But if you are not willing to be saved now, and to experience the power of the gospel in turning you from sin, the Bible gives you no ground to expect that at last you will be saved from punishment. When you think of the possibility of your being called away as suddenly as your neighbour, without the opportunity even to cry for mercy, and when you think of the penitent thief as having found mercy under such peculiar circumstances, will you bear in mind two solid and judicious reflections, suggested by that sacred narrative? Sincere repentance is never too late; but late repentance is seldom sincere. We have in Scripture one instance of repentance and salvation in the last extremity, that none might despair; and but one, that none might presume!"

There was an old man who had a life interest in a cottage just on the edge of the farm. My grandfather had purchased the reversion of the little property, and had taken of the old man a lease for his life so every quarter he used to call and receive his rent. On those occasions my grandfather contrived to say a few striking words of a religious kind; but they were always received with sullen insensibility. One day, my grandfather came in, and said he had just heard of the death of poor old Wallis.

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Indeed," said my aunt Mary. "Well, I am not surprised to hear it. I thought when he called at Michaelmas, he seemed to have one foot in the grave.' "Yes," said my grandfather, "he had in reality; but not in his own apprehension. I remarked his cough and feebleness, and asked him if he did not find himself poorly. 'No,' he replied; he was quite hearty; as well as ever he was in his life; as likely to live fifty years longer as anybody. Fifty years!' I exclaimed. 'Why, what is your age now?' 'Only seventy-three, was his answer. And in spite of reason, and experience, and Scripture, he clung to his delusion; and it is to be feared that death has come as unexpectedly to him, as if he had been a young man. So true it is, that the oldest tree has the deepest roots, and clings closest to the ground.' At any age, we need much of the power of renewing and sanctifying grace, to make us willing to admit the full and individual conviction that we are mortal, and that we shall very soon be dead. Oh, if we felt it as we ought, how would it stimulate us to do with all our might whatso

ever our hands find to do! How would it check the presumptuous folly of talking of goods laid up for many years to come! And how would it keep alive and uppermost the concern that we may be found of Him in peace !'"

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When the old housekeeper at Sir Henry's died, my grandfather said, Well, she is safely landed. She was a truly good woman. She feared the Lord from her youth up, and he did not forsake her hoary hairs; but enabled her to triumph in his faithfulness, and show forth his praise. Ah, there is another nail in my coffin.' She was my playfellow in childhood, and I cannot expect to be long after her."

"Oh, dear sir," said the doctor, by whom the news had been communicated, and who heard these remarks, "do not cherish gloomy apprehensions. I never saw you looking better; you look younger than you did five years ago; you seem to have taken a fresh lease of your life.'

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No, sir. I have no lease. I am only a tenant at will, liable to be turned out any moment. If I look younger, it is a strange deception; for I do not feel so, and we are quite certain that I am not so, but five years older, and five years nearer the grave."

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Well, well, that is the case with all of us; but there is no need to brood over things that cannot be avoided."

"But, sir," replied my grandfather, "give me leave to say, it is one thing to brood over death with gloomy terror, as an evil that cannot be avoided; and another, to become familiar with it by meditation, till we can look at it without terror, like the apostle, who said, 'I die daily;' but death has lost its sting, for 'thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. xvi. 57.

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"Well, to be sure, it is a great matter," said the doctor; "but I suppose it falls to the lot of but few; though, I must say, I have been surprised at the tranquillity and happiness expressed by some religious people, when suffering and sinking-ay, and maintained to the last too. There was Mrs. F., and Mr. J., and Miss B. I thought I should never forget the scenes I witnessed in their dying chambers; and, indeed, I have not altogether forgotten them. But you know our profession renders us so familiar with death, that it makes no impression on us."

"The more the pity, sir: for however much we have seen of death, we shall find it a solemn thing when we come to

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NATURAL DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN MONKEYS CALLED GUenons.

die ourselves; and you know, sir, that all your skill cannot drive away death, when he comes commissioned. Indeed, gentlemen of your profession may be said to be ' in deaths oft,' from their exposure to infection, to night air, and to riding about in all weathers.'

"Well, I have had many hairbreadth escapes in all these ways; but I am none the worse for them now; that is one comfort."

"That is a great mercy, sir. But you know, the pitcher may go often to the well, and be broken at last:' indeed, sooner or later, it certainly will. Excuse my making so free, sir; but as you have seen the death-bed of carelessness and insensibility, and the death-bed of remorse and anguish, as well as the death-bed of humble and heartfelt piety, you have no doubt entertained the wishLet me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,' Numb. xxiii. 10. Then do, sir, let me entreat you, even from the busiest day of your life, seize a few moments seriously to inquire 'What is it that can make a death-bed safe and easy; and do I possess it?'"

Two or three years after this conversation, the doctor was thrown from his horse, and dragged a considerable distance. He lived several days after, but never spoke, and was altogether insensible. I have often thought of him, and wondered whether my grandfather's words made any impression on him. And I have often prayed for myself, that death, however sudden, might not find me unprepared; that, however awful in the apprehension, it might be safe in the result; and that surviving friends might not have reason to sorrow for me, as those that have no hope. C.

NATURAL DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN

MONKEYS CALLED GUENONS.

THE genus cercopithecus, or the guenons, (for we borrow the French term, as our own language does not furnish us with one,) is distinguished from other genera, which border upon it, by the presence of cheek-pouches and a tail at the same time. But their peculiarities of form are not more striking than those of temper and disposition. They evince a saucy and not unfrequently a mischievous love of playfulness. The grinning chatter of vexation and the plaining growl of anger and offence are heard more commonly among the members of

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this group than among any other within the range of ordinary observation. Nor are these matters too inconsiderable to merit our attention; for the Creator has so made all his wonderful works, that amidst an ever changing variety thẻ plumb-line of proportion and exactness may be traced. To the experienced and nicely judging ear, the angry, the joyous, or the plaintive cries of an animal will seem to have been settled and appointed by One who made nothing in vain. When you enter the woods upon the islands of the Indian or Malayan Archipelago, one or more of this group come forward to salute you, in a way that does not appear like a hearty welcome. Fancy will tell you that they are demanding the reason why you have presumed to force your way into their domains. And the manner in which they leap from branch to branch, or from tree to tree, in order that they may face the intruder, seems to strengthen this impression very much. When they are petted aboard ship, and are won by kindness to exercise an affectionate regard for their benefactors, the same irritable and pertinacious disposition remains, to be displayed towards any one who may, by the most trifling insult, have incurred their displeasure.

One of the common grey-coloured species was among the inmates of the Himmaleh, during her voyage in the Indian Archipelago, and was distinguished by his attachment to the captain, and his prejudice against every one else on board, except the cook and the chief mate. He had become blind by amaurosis, or a loss of sensatión in the nerve that leads from the eye to the brain. The eye, as in man, had not altered its appearance; so that the blindness would not have been suspected by any one but an oculist, or one accustomed to watch the appearance of that organ with minute attention. In this disease, the pupil remains invariably of the same size; the remoteness or the proximity of an object, the most feeble or the most intense light, makes no change in the dimensions of that little dark spot within the eye. It is worth observing, by the way, how this malady was connected with another, which has its seat in the brain or centre of the nervous system, the epilepsy. He was frequently overtaken with "fits," which are the sad displays of this fearful disease. In one of these he fell overboard and was drowned. It is probable, that the sudden immersion in cold water

recovered him from his paroxysm, and he awakened to a consciousness of his unhappy condition. At sea, a man subject to this complaint is sometimes plied with cold water, which soon restores him to his faculties. Buckets of sea-water are, from a considerable height, emptied in rapid succession upon the sufferer, till the remedy succeeds.

his master's voice to climb up the legs of the writer; but he no sooner discovered the mistake, than he bit the deluder for this act of hypocrisy. It is an old opinion, that animals derive the chief source of their happiness from the indulgence of their appetites. "Ventri obedientia," says the historian Sallust, to the same effect. But this observation does not apply to all animals; for the Creator has allotted to many within the reach of our observation a portion of what is very analogous to the pleasures of the mind. The interval that comes between the supply of their daily wants is not in many instances left vacant. They observe what is new, they try experiments, they feel and exchange their sentiments with each other, and thus show what. a stock of happiness they have, apart from those things which we are apt to suppose constitute their chief means of enjoyment. The beneficent Former of all things has taken care to endue them with faculties for the promotion of their happiness, which sometimes in their operation are the cause of pain; but this pain is only the salt which renders joy more racy, more tasteful. The writer of these observations has often had his eye upon the realities of nature, and cannot but infer from what he has seen, that it is a law in the discipline of the natural world that pain shall be the handmaid of pleasure. For the particular genus or kind of animals now under consideration, the sphere of enjoyment seems to be enlarged, just in proportion to their liability to painful sensations. The angry and pettish feeling that accompanies their uneasiness, so characteristic of the kind, doubtless gives a keener edge to pleasure or success when obtained. It becomes us not to indulge in anger; but if sorrow be the helpmate of happiness among the creatures below us, is it strange that men should be told that they will meet with trials in life

Before the monkey in question had the misfortune to lose his eyesight, he amused the whole crew by the variety of his tricks, and the cunning sagacity of his tact. A cask containing a quantity of rain water happened one day to be within the reach of his string. The image of himself in the natural mirror of its surface diverted his attention for a while. He gazed with complacency upon the different attitudes into which he could throw the reflection of himself, till it occurred to him, that the best way of giving effect to the picture before him, was to spring towards it, especially as he had ascertained that the line which confined him, was just long enough to allow him to approach very near to the surface of the water, without touching it. He accordingly took the longest run his tether would allow him, just like one of ourselves when preparing to leap over a ditch, and sprang into the cask, regardless of the jerk given him by the line around his body. After he had indulged himself a few seconds with the image of his body when in the full exercise of its powers, he returned to make another essay. While lost in the delight of this newly discovered amusement, he heeded not the proceedings of a wily spectator, who approached unobserved, and "cast off" or loosened the knot at the end of his tether, so that in his next attempt at an athletic display he fell into the water. This occasioned him the greatest mortification, and he expressed his disappointment and wrath in the most bitter tones of complaint and displeasure, as if fully-that we are not likely to get to heaven conscious that his misfortune was the subject of the loud mirth he heard around him, and that it had been occasioned by the contrivance of some faithless friend. On one occasion, the cook gave a hot potatoe to a bystander to hand it to the monkey, who grasped it so firmly as to burn himself. The affront he resented by flying at the cook who had roasted the potatoe, and not at the man who had handed it to him. After his blindness, he was once enticed by an imitation of

without them. Wisdom is said to delight in the habitable parts of the world, and therefore may be consulted wherever any living thing is to be found. The Bible is the mirror of Christian law, as all know who know any thing to a good purpose; yet many a sound and valuable hint for our instruction may be drawn from the book of nature, whenever we turn over its pages with patience, and the spirit of the wise man who will increase learning. G. T. L.

376 SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATION-SPANISH COLONISTS-RELIGION-USEFULNESS.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATION.

THE POTSHERD.

"And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal," Job ii. 8.

THE probe used by the Chinese was made of earthenware, or rather of fine porcelain. The choice of this material for purposes so nice and important, was founded in a reference to the evenness of its surface, and its exemption from a liability to rust. Now, as a potsherd does not seem to be a very appropriate instrument for treating sores so painful as those with which Job was afflicted, may we not suppose that he used a pin or lancet of earthenware in attempting to get ease for the torment of his boils? Such a potsherd" might have had a keen and smooth edge, and would remain perfectly free from rust or any other impurity.

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If we regard this "scraping with a potsherd" as a surgical operation resorted to in compliance with opinions and practice then in vogue, the short narrative of this painful incident, though apt to make us shudder in the recital, becomes interesting, and yields us a scientific hint, where we were least prepared to meet with any thing of the sort. Chinese works, which discuss the treatment proper for cutaneous disorders, often prescribe the opening of sores with a needle as the principal part of the surgeon's business. If, then, our view of the matter be correct, the ideas of medical practitioners in the west coincided with the rules of their fellows in the east. Pain suggested the expedient in the first instance, and experience warranted its adoption as a general principle. And amidst the vast assortment of drugs which the kingdoms of animal and vegetable nature, with all their auxiliaries from mineral substances, afford us, this practice must still bear a distinguished part in our attempts to assuage pain and drive out disease. Job sat down in the ashes in mourning for his children, but he sought relief from pain by a method which reason and example still continue to patronise.

neatest order, her fame along the coast was very great. And at all these small places she was thronged with visitors, men, women, and children, who came from many miles distant to see the ship, and who always expressed themselves delighted with, what they considered, the beauty of the cabin and its furniture, the whiteness of the deck, and the attention to cleanliness in every part. The commodante of La Barranca and his three

pretty daughters, from eighteen to twentyfour years old, happened to be on board them to sit down with us. one day at our dinner hour, and I invited Their awkward mode of handling the table utensils, was evidence that, although they were people of the first respectability, they were accustomed to live in very primitive tomed to the refinements of such superstyle, being evidently entirely unaccusfluous articles as plates, knives, and forks. did: the father and one of the daughters They endeavoured, however, to do as we succeeded tolerably well, but the other knife and fork for each to be needless; two girls seemed to consider a plate and them; and one of them taking the knife they therefore placed a plate between and the other the fork, one endeavourmeat with the fork. But this mode of ed to cut, while the other held the proceeding did not succeed; the beef was too hard, or the knife was too dull, or there was a want of adroitness; and they of their next neighbour, which they did were finally compelled to accept the aid with great complacency, being all the time in high glee at this novel mode of taking their food.—Cleveland.

RELIGION.

RELIGION enables the mind to resign with calmness, and to suffer without complaining; yet, at the same time, leaves it to the exercise of faith and humility, by cheering it rather with future hopes, than blunting the edge of present feeling. -Carter.

SPANISH COLONISTS.

As the Beaver was doubtless the first foreign ship that ever had a royal license for trading coastwise, as she was a remarkably fine ship, with beautiful accommodations, and was always kept in the

USEFULNESS.

WHOEVER sincerely endeavours to do all the good he can, will probably do much more than he imagines, or will ever know till the day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest.-Miss Bowdler.

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An anecdote related of admiral Blake shows the vigour of the protector's government, and the uncompromising spirit in which that power was exerted. The English fleet being at Malaga, some seamen derided a procession of the consecrated wafer, on which the priest instigated the mob to attack and ill-treat them. A scuffle ensued, from which the sailors escaped with some injury. Blake demanded reparation, and that the priest who had caused the tumult should be given up to him. The governor alleged that he had no authority over one of the apostolical succession. The English admiral's reply was, that unless the priest were given up he would cannonade the town. This sufficed. The priest was sent on board Blake's vessel, and began with a humble apology. The admiral at once told him he did not mean to countenance any ill-conduct in his men, nor would he permit them to insult the religious observances of any country; but that, on the other hand, he would not allow them to be assaulted and ill-treated by a mob, because they did not recognise the idolatrous worship of Rome;-that he would have punished them for any indecorous conduct, had a complaint been

properly made to him; but now, as the priest had taken upon himself to inflict punishment, he should take no further notice of the affair, than by cautioning the priest and all concerned to avoid insulting any English Protestants. This was sufficient to stop all public acts of persecution or violence: but the inquisition did not hesitate to continue its cruel proceedings upon any secreted in its dungeons.

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The usurper found that he could only retain his power by severe measures. October, the publication of newspapers, which had become general during the recent agitated period, was forbidden without the approval of the secretary of state; orders against the publication of unlicensed books and pamphlets were promulgated: but this measure had been pursued under the preceding monarchs, and was persevered in subsequently. A still more arbitrary course was the dividing England into twelve districts, each being placed under the government of a major-general, who was intrusted with great and unconstitutional powers, and from whom the only appeal was to the protector. Whitelock, who has been named as an opposer of Cromwell's ambition, was silenced by employment as an ambassador to Sweden, with a large remuneration. In 1657, he argued in support

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