that sweet and blessed "sleep which God gives to his beloved." A murmuring and unhappy life must necessarily follow such a rejection of the mercies He has provided, and where there is no alleviation of toil obtained in spiritual pleasures, the lot of the poor is miserable indeed. E.

CONFIRMATION REMEMBRANCER.

A CARD, printed as below, has been put into the hands of some young people after being confirmed, to be kept for the purpose of reminding them, for many years to come, of their baptismal vows then taken upon themselves. The texts below are printed round the card:

"Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a COVENANT that shall not be broken."

PERPETUAL

Jer. i. 5.

CONFIRMATION REMEMBRANCER.

I, did, in the presence of God and of the congregation, renew the solemn promise and vow that was made in my name at my Baptism:

1st, That I would renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.-1 John iii. 15-17; v. 4. 2dly, That I would believe all the articles of the Christian faith-2 Tim. i. 13; Rom. x. 17.

3dly, That I would keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life. -John xiv. 15; 1 John v. 3.

"We are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."Heb. x. 39.

My grace is sufficient for thee.-2 Cor. xii. 9.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."-Heb. xii. 2.

"My yoke is easy and my burden is light."-Matt.

xi. 30.

"Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man."Deut. i. 17.

HYTHE CHURCH, KENT.

THE town of Hythe was formerly much larger than at present, and is said to have had five parish churches; but there is now only one, which is shown in the print. There was an important harbour there at that time, but it became choaked up, and from that cause the population diminished.

There is also a report that a very large number of the inhabitants were carried off by pestilence, and that the remainder had designed to abandon the place, but the king encouraged them to remain. The chancel of the church is a remarkably beautiful and lofty structure, adorned within in the richest manner; and it is a striking example of the skill and taste of the early times in which it was built.

The age is now gone by in which what is called "Gothic" buildings were despised, and whitewashed, and their beauties covered or defaced. It is now found that the ancient style of building and ornament was much better than that of modern times, and a taste has arisen among us which is capable of admiring, and desirous of preserving the old Gothic churches.

Hythe chancel has been "restored" by rubbing off the whitewash, and the ornaments have so come out by this process, that it is impossible to pass them by without delight and admiration.

But one of the most remarkable sights to be visited here is called the "Crypt," a sort of underground vault, also very beautifully built, which contains an immense number of human bones, piled up with a regular arrangement, and supposed to be the remains of many thousand men killed in some great battle before the Norman conquest. It is said to have been fought between the Danes and Britons, near the place where the bones are now interred. There are two other "Crypts" so filled in this country, one at Ripon in Yorkshire, and the other at Rothwell in Northamptonshire. In visiting them, and observing these vast piles of the remnants of miserable mortality, one cannot but be struck by many

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painful feelings. There can scarcely be a greater contrast seen in the whole world, than between the commencement of a day of battle, and its close. Nothing is more magnificent than an army in battle array; nothing more full of life, and energy, and courage, and hope, and daring. The pride of man is at its full. He never wears outwardly so brave a show. But when the dreadful day is over, when the shades of evening close upon the scene, how awfully full of suffering and humiliation is the field of battle! Thousands who were so mighty, and so ardent, and so courageous in the morning, are now insensible to every feeling; their bodies are low in the dust. The splendour of their dress, and of all their military display, is now trampled down beneath them, and soiled with their blood. The spectacle is too painful to dwell upon; but every witness who has known it will allow that the strongest mind must almost faint at beholding it.

But, if possible, the contrast is still greater when we see the remains of these mighty warriors of the earth piled up in heaps of dry bones and sculls, as we see them beneath Hythe Church or at Rothwell. At the latter place the number is not less than 40,000. These dreadful numbers were brought together by war, which must, more or less, be connected with the worst sins of our fallen nature. These vast numbers were the cause of each other's death, and, under the influence of some horrid passions, raged against each other until the moment of their summons to the eternal world. If some were fighting honourably and lawfully for their country and their homes, others were fighting with cruel malice or ambition against the liberties and lives of fellowcreatures and brethren. And now they all lie together in the vault, the enemies who killed, with the victims who were destroyed by their arms; and upon many the sculls there are, even now, the fatal marks of violence, the deep cuts and gashes of the sword, which caused their death. When war is looked at from these scenes, it wears a most repulsive form, and strangely different to that in which it is so commonly regarded by nations, when their passions are violently excited

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against each other. Yet to this it must inevitably lead; and here its LAST scene is to be beheld. Ought it not, then, to be the prayer of every Christian and every benevolent mind, that it will please God to inspire all nations with true and peaceful wisdom, and with love one to another; so that they may no more vex one another into enmity and contention; but may be content that all their hosts should die in peace and their bodies be "gathered to their fathers," rather than be mixed by slaughter in a foreign land with those of others whom they were dying to destroy, and seeking to meet in another world, with their blood upon their consciences, and their wrongs crying out for vengeance everlasting. When considering these things we should surely learn to make it a part of our daily prayers, that God will hasten the time when his blessed word assures us that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

(Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.)

HISTORY OF A MISSION TO THE HEATHEN FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT, TAKEN FROM THE NARRATIVE OF THE BARRIPUR MISSION.

By the Rev. C. E. Driberg, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.

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Barripur Mission, May, 1845. BARRIPUR, the head-quarters of this Mission, is situated sixteen miles south of Calcutta. A few years ago, it was civil station, a collector, a salt agent, a magistrate, and a medical man, were among the residents; but, a few years before I came, it was abandoned as a station, and has again assumed its quiet, village-like aspect. This circumstance, together with those of distance from town, and the absence of the scandalizing examples of dissolute and abandoned Christian men, are a great advantage for carrying on our Missionary operations. I consider this station eminently favourable for a sphere of Missionary labour, being far enough from town for quiet and retirement, and yet not so far as to deprive us of the benefit of constant counsel and advice; an excellent carriage road now renders the intercourse easy, and speedy enough.