that affection which none but a mother can feel; so daring an act, performed in the midst of smoke, in the presence of a dreaded and dangerous enemy! I followed, however, and brought both to the ground at one shot, so keen is the desire of possession!"

The good man did it sadly-yet still he did it. As he seems penitent, we will not now read him a lesson on "man's inhumanity" to birds. He wished to draw and describe the bird for the benefit of science; and thus his love of knowledge rose higher than his love of charity. The poor birds became martyrs to science. It is a question of animal ethics, into which we cannot now enter; yet we know at once how the matter strikes us, when we conceive the idea of beings above us coming down to inquire into the human constitution and economy, and putting us to death in order to enable them to "draw and describe" us for the advantage of the higher science.

We must do the above naturalist the justice of giving his own view of the fatal shot, and the effect which the result produced upon his mind. "I deposited the two birds under a log, whence I intended to remove them on my return, for the purpose of drawing and describing them. I then proceeded on my excursion to a lake a few miles distant. On coming back, what was my mortification when I found that some quadruped had devoured both! My punishment was merited."

We conclude with some lines from Cowper, which are full of poetry, good reasoning, and sound sense, and which may safely be commended to the earnest consideration of all:

"I would not enter on my list of friends

Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility-the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarned,

Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.

The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight,

And charged, perhaps, with venom, that intrudes,

A visitor unwelcome, into scenes

Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove,

The chamber, or refectory, may die:

A necessary act incurs no blame.

Not so when, held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offence, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field:
There they are privileged; and he that hunts
Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong,
Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm,
Who, when she formed, designed them an abode.

The sum is this: If man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all-the meanest things that are-
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,

As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in his sovereign wisdom made them all.
Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
To love it too."

A NOBLE POSITION.

CHRISTIAN reader! are you conscious of the high and lofty position you occupy in the world? "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill." To be seen from the north, the south, the east and the west-looked at and surveyed in every direction by the telescope of the human eye. Like Jesus, as he ascended into Heaven, you are gazed upon by those among whom you walk.

If you have experienced the power and efficacy of the redemption of Christ in your hearts, in delivering you from the power of sin, in giving you a conscience void of offence-and the atonement of Christ, which he made upon the Cross, has placed you in a right relation to God, you are not ignorant of the fact that you have become a mirror, in which Christ may be discerned in a holy walk and conversation.

The Christian knows, says John, that he has passed from death unto life, because he loves the brethren. You testify in your whole life, that the religion of Jesus is a living reality. The outward life manifests the degree and quality of the inward, so that you and others need not be deceived in reference to the hopethat is within you--the eminenee upon which you stand. Yes, your feet have been taken from the miry clay of sin and dissipation and placed upon the "Rock of Ages," high and lifted up, above all principalities and powers, where you stand, gazed upon by a sinful and an adulterous generation, as they measure their way through sin to depths of misery and wo. You are a beacon. light to draw their attention, and guide them and point them to that "light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The rays of light which proceed from that Light are to penetrate and permeate through a holy walk and conversation, into this. darkness of sin and misery, and cause it to vanish and disappear, like the mist and cloud of the morning, into the light of truth,. that they who are surrounded and involved may bask themselves in the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, that they, in turn, may become lights in the world-cities set on a hill. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, and lights up the darkness that covers: the face of the earth, and bids man walk without stumbling; so every Christian reflects the Gospel Light of the Son of Righteousness, exercises an influence in suppressing the evil desires of the heart in others, causing iniquity to hide its face as with shame, and bidding others to walk in the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

In the sermon of our Saviour on the mount, he wished to teach his disciples that the furtherance of his kingdom in the world depended, to a great extent, upon their example. An invaluable discourse that-worthy of the closest study. As they walked, so would his cause be honored and received, or brought into disrepute. If that light, which they professed to radiate, should be obscured and prevented from shining forth by an evil and ungodly example, they, instead of exerting a salutary influence upon the valleys of iniquity, and proving a revivification of the dry bones of sin; a savor of life unto life would prove a savor of death unto death! As they were the followers of Christ, who claimed to be divine, and had power to forgive sins, this claim would be established or overthrown by their conduct in the minds of those around them, though not in the reality of the claim itself. He was not dependent upon his creatures for the confirmation of the reality of the claim, but only for its power and effect in its production of good fruit. Thus it is in all cases. The followers of a person, for instance an infidel, are expected to be the exponents of the principles of that person, and to carry them out in their actions; yet they do not establish the claim of infidelity, but only the withering and licentious effects which it produces in the lives of its subjects. The fruit of a tree only confirms whether the tree brings forth good fruit or bad fruit. Thus with every Christian: he testifies to the nature of the truth. Like John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, every Christian becomes "a witness to bear witness of the Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Not without meaning, then, did Christ utter the words, "Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.' Many in the days of our Saviour, whilst he was performing his acts of love, in healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, and rebuking the Pharasees and Sadducees for their inconsistencies, believed on him, because his character was spotless, his life and conduct in harmony with what he claimed to be, and what was predicted concerning him, "he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.'

How careful was Paul, as he stood upon the hill of Zion, and saw the multitudes beneath observing him through the perverted glasses of their telescopes, that he might not obscure the light, which had penetrated into his soul, from reflecting upon those who were in darkness. He watched over his conduct with a holy jealousy that Christ might not be crucified afresh, and sacrificed his own comforts, that the rays of the Sun of Righteousness might kindle a sacred flame of love in the hearts of those of his brethren, who had weak consciences, and exclaimed, "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat as long as the world standeth,

lest I make my brother to offend. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." Paul did not thus resolve, because meat or wine were evil in themselves considered, but on account of the weak consciences of some, to whom he had respect, and the example for evil set before those who had weak consciences. He knew and felt, because he appreciated the noble position and the high eminence upon which the gospel had placed him, that the exercise of his liberty would be the greatest slavery to those of his weak brethren.

Are you conscious, Christian reader, and do you appreciate the noble position and high eminence upon which the gospel has placed you? Then let your light shine upon the world, which is gazing upon you, that it may warm the hardness of the human heart and soften it, that the Holy Ghost may leave the impress of the Son of God upon it, to grow, by the showers of divine grace, "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Oh, reader! say not you are conscious of the noble position and of the high eminence upon which you are placed, unless you are willing to "abstain from all appearance of evil” for the sake of those who have weak consciences. Let not the drunkard say, Your liberty proved to him slavery.

J. H.

"MY MEDITATION OF HIM SHALL BE SWEET."

'T Is Sweet to think at eventide

Of earthly friends we love,

But sweeter far than aught beside,

To meet our Friend above:

To tell him all our woes and joys,
The hopes and fears we feel,

And far from wordly strife and noise,
A glimpse of heaven to steal.

What joy, what rapture fills the heart
Attuned to heavenly lays;
And what delight does God impart
To those who muse his praise.

How faint and feeble mortal tongue,
T' express his boundless grace;
The loudest strain e'er angel sung
The theme can ne'er embrace.

It swells the meditative heart
With ecstasy untold.
O, holy Saviour ne'er depart,
Nor let my love grow cold.

Beneath the shadow of thy wing
My loving heart would hide,"
And of thy mercy loudly sing
At morn and eventide.

MUSIC AND THE HEART.

AMONG the precious gifts which it has pleased God to bestow upon his creature man, and even to leave him in possession of, after he had forfeited, by disobedience, all claim to his favor, I consider music as one of the most important and valuable, both as to its nature, its effects, its use, and its eternal duration. To those whose ignorance, conceit, want of feeling or prejudice makes them disposed to contradict me, I have as little to say, as I should have to say to a man who would assert the uselessness of hearing because he was born deaf.

I am thankful that all my children have musical souls. They have not only what is generally termed a taste for music, but they feel something of the secret and mysterious power which it possesses. over the heart, and the rapturous delight which it conveys to the intellectual part of man, and which language cannot describe. least, all of them have souls, qualified to feel and understand these influences, if at all attended to, and which nothing but total neglect can blunt or suppress. Some well-meaning people admit the power of music to be extraordinary, but on that very account dread it, and, seeing the bad use made of it by the evil spirit of the world, exclude music from those gifts of God which ought to be stirred up within us, and received and improved with humble gratitude to the all-wise and bountiful Giver. That they are mistaken, I need not tell you, who know that, whatever may be the abuse of this noble and heavenly science among a crooked, perverse, and ungodly generation, in which it only shares the fate of every other good gift, its effect upon the mind and heart may, under the guidance of God and his Spirit, be truly profitable in advancing our best interests.

It is not my intention to discuss here the nature of the science, but as I wished to express my thankfulness to Him, from whom I have received so many tokens of undeserved favor, by recording some facts, which will show what means He was graciously pleased to employ to draw me to himself, I address this letter to my dear daughter Agnes, in whom I have perceived a more than ordinary susceptibility in feeling and enjoying the exquisite pleasure conveyed by musical combinations, hoping, that as music was one of those means alluded to, whereby her father was made attentive to his spiritual concerns, the same may be the case with her, as with every one of his children, who are blessed with the possession of the same talent.

I will proceed to relate to you as my recollection will allow, in what way the gift of a musical soul proved to me a spiritual benefit. From my earliest infancy, every kind of musical sound immediately attracted my attention. In sickness and pain, it would stop