Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

a blessing. It little matters whether we escape pain, or suffer it, so it be but sanctified. Without some suffering, we should scarce remember that we are not proprietors here, but only tenants at will, liable to lose all we have at a moment's warning. Happy it were if we continually retained a lively impression of this on our minds! Then should we more earnestly seek that portion which shall never be taken from us.

In two or three days I am likely to embark, in order to meet our brethren at Leeds. Then I hope to have it under your own hand, that both you, Mrs. Blackwell, Mrs. Dewall, and Miss Freeman are alive, in the best sense.

I am, dear Sir,

Your affectionate servant,

JOHN WESLEY.

To Mr. Ebenezer Blackwell, Banker.

GRATITUDE OF THE RESCUED.

DR. PARKER, in his interesting book, "Invitations to true Happiness," gives a beautiful illustration of fervent gratitude for divine forbearance, so justly due from the hearts of all men, yet felt by comparatively so few who are permitted to live on by its exercise, year after year, in impeni

tence.

During a sea voyage, a few years since, I was conversing with the Mate of a vessel on this topic, when he concurred in the view presented, and observed, that it called to mind one of the most thrilling scenes he had ever beheld. With this he related the following story :

"I was at sea, on the broad Atlantic, as we now are. It was just such a bright moonlight night as this, and the sea was quite rough. The Captain had turned in, and I was upon watch, when suddenly there was a cry of a man overboard. To go out in a boat was exceedingly dangerous. I could hardly make up my mind to command the hands to expose themselves. I volunteered to go myself, if two more would accompany me. Two generous fellows came forward, and in a few moments the boat was lowered, and we were tossed upon a most frightful sea.

"As we rode upon the mountain-wave, we discovered the man upon a distant billow. We heard his cry, and responded, "Coming.' As we descended into the trough of the sea, we lost sight of the man, and heard nothing but the roar of the ocean. As we rose again on the next wave, we again saw him, and distinctly heard his call. We gave him another word of encouragement, and pulled with all our strength. At the top of each successive wave we saw and heard him, and our hearts were filled with encouragement. As often, in the trough of the sea, we almost abandoned the hope of success. The time seemed long, and the struggle was such as men never make but for life. We reached him just as he was ready to sink with exhaustion. When we had drawn him into the boat, he was helpless and speechless.

"Our minds now turned towards the ship. She had rounded to; but, exhausted as we were, the distance between us and the vessel was frightful. One false movement would have filled our boat, and consigned us all to a watery grave. Yet we reached the vessel, and were drawn safely upon the deck. We were all exhausted; but the rescued man could neither speak nor walk yet he had a full sense of his condition. He clasped our feet,

and began to kiss them. We disengaged ourselves from his embrace. He then crawled after us; and as we stepped back to avoid him, he followed us, looking up at one moment with smiles and tears; and then, patting our wet foot-prints with his hand, he kissed them with an eager fondness. I never witnessed such a scene in my life. I suppose, if he had been our greatest enemy, he would have been perfectly subdued by our kindness. The man was a passenger. During the whole remaining part of the voyage he showed the deepest gratitude, and when we reached the port he loaded us with presents."

:

BOUNDLESSNESS OF THE CREATION.

ABOUT the time of the invention of the telescope, another instrument was formed, which laid open a scene no less wonderful, and rewarded the inquisitive spirit of man. This was the microscope. The one led me to see a system in every star: the other leads me to see a world in every atom. The one taught me that this mighty globe, with the whole burden of its people and its countries, is but a grain of sand on the high field of immensity the other teaches me that every grain of sand may harbour within it the tribes and the families of a busy population. The one told me of the insignificance of the world I tread upon the other redeems it from all its insignificance; for it tells me that in the leaves of every forest, and in the flowers of every garden, and in the waters of every rivulet, there are worlds teeming with life, and numberless as the glories of the firmament. The one has suggested to me, that beyond and above all that is visible to man, there may be fields of creation which sweep immeasurably along, and carry the impress of the Almighty's hand to the remotest scenes of the universe: the other suggests to me, that within and beneath all that minuteness which the aided eye of man has been able to explore, there may be a region of invisibles; and that, could we draw aside the mysterious curtain which shrouds it from our senses, we might see a theatre of as many wonders as astronomy has unfolded, a universe within the compass of a point so small as to elude all the powers of the microscope; but where the wonder-working God finds room for the exercise of all his attributes, where he can raise another mechanism of worlds, and fill and animate them all with the evidence of his glory.-Chalmers.

HORE BIBLICÆ.

No. XXVI. SPARROWS.

"I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top."-Psalm cii. 7.

THE history of this bird is but little known to the world at large, and its identity is exposed to be called in question, on account of the name which it erroneously bears. The bird to which I allude is the passer solitarius ; in English, the "solitary sparrow;" and in Italian, passera solitaria. Would my readers lend a patient ear for a short time, they shall have both the history and the true name of this bird placed in a proper light.

The royal Psalmist, whilst bending down in penitential prayer before his offended Maker, exclaims, Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in "I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone upon the

tecto:

house-top." I have often wondered what bird this could be, knowing, by daily experience, that it could not actually be the house-sparrow; for the house-sparrow is not solitary in its habits. I despaired of being able to trace its character satisfactorily; and I should probably have long remained in ignorance of it, had I not visited the southern parts of Europe.

My arrival in Rome let me at once into the secret. The bird to which the repentant King of Israel compared himself in the seven penitential Psalms, is a real thrush in size, in shape, in habits, and in song; with this difference from the rest of the tribe, that it is remarkable throughout all the East for sitting solitary on the habitations of man.

The first time I ever saw this lonely, plaintive songster was when the dawn was just appearing; and the bird passed over my head, in its transit from the roof of the palace Odescalchi to the belfry of the church of the twelve Apostles, singing as it flew. I thought it had been the Italian blackbird, with notes somewhat different from those of our own; for its song was partly that of the blackbird, and partly that of the stormcock; but not so loud as the last, nor so varied as the first. I found out my mistake in due time; and, on seeing that the bird was the true solitary thrush, I paid particular attention to its habits.

It is indeed a solitary bird; for it never associates with any other, and only with its own mate in breeding-time; and even then it is often seen quite alone upon the house-top, where it warbles in sweet and plaintive strains, and continues its song as it moves in easy flight from roof to roof. The traveller who is fond of ornithology may often see this bird on the remains of the Temple of Peace, and occasionally in the Villa Borghese; but much more frequently on the stupendous ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, where it breeds in holes of the walls; and always on the Colosseum, where it likewise makes its nest; and, in fine, at one time or other of the day, on the tops of most of the churches, monasteries, and convents, within and without the walls of the Eternal City.

It lays five eggs, of a very pale blue. They much resemble those of our starling. The bird itself is blue, with black wings and tail; the blue of the body becoming lighter when placed in different attitudes.

Whilst I lodged in the Palazzo di Gregorio, this solitary songster had its nest in the roof of the celebrated Propaganda, across the street dei due Macelli, and only a few yards from my window. I longed to get at it; but knowing that the Romans would not understand my scaling the walls of the Propaganda, in order to propagate the history of the solitary thrush; and seeing, at the same time, that the hole at which the bird entered was very difficult of access, I deemed it most prudent to keep clear of the Propaganda, and to try to procure the nest from some other quarter.

The many promises which Roman sportsmen had given me of a nest and eggs of the solitary thrush having entirely failed, and I myself not being able to go in quest of them, on account of an attack of dysentery, which bore heavy on me, I despaired of obtaining the object of my wishes; and I should have left Italy without either nest or eggs, had not the Rev. Mr. Cowie, Vice-President of the Scotch College in Rome, exerted himself, as he had already often done, in the cause of natural history. This learned and worthy gentleman sent expressly for a nest to the vineyard of his college. It was found in the roof of the house, and had four eggs in it. The lad who took it had succeeded in capturing the female bird. Having examined the poor captive as minutely as though I had been a customhouse officer, I turned it loose into the world again; and, as it flew away,

I hoped it would have better luck for the time to come. I sent the nest and eggs to England by a different route from that which I myself pursued. Had I taken them with me, they would have gone to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea; for, in the night of the 16th of June, 1841, my sisters-in-law, Miss Edmonstone and Miss Helen Edmonstone, my little boy, my servants, and myself, were wrecked off the island of Elba. We had only fifteen minutes to save our lives before the vessel foundered; and we lost everything except the clothes on our backs.

The solitary thrush is seen in all the countries of the East, up to Syria and Egypt, and probably much farther on. This bird is solitary to the fullest extent of the word. It being an assiduous frequenter of the habitations of man, I cannot have a doubt but that it was the same bird which King David saw on the house-top before him, and to which he listened as it poured forth its sweet and plaintive song. Moved by its melody, and comparing its lonely habits with his own, he exclaimed, in the fulness of an afflicted heart, Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto: “I have watched, and am become as a thrush, all alone upon the house-top.”Waterton's Essays on Natural History.

SELECT LIST OF BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED,
CHIEFLY RELIGIOUS,

WITH CHARACTERISTIC NOTICES.

[The insertion of any article in this List is not to be considered as pledging us to the approbation of its contents, unless it be accompanied by some express notice of our favourable opinion. Nor is the omission of any such notice to be regarded as indicating a contrary opinion; as our limits, and other reasons, impose on us the necessity of selection and brevity.]

The Philosophy of a Future State. By Thomas Dick, LL.D., Author of the "Christian Philosopher," &c., &c. A New Edition. 12mo., pp. 303. Collins. This is one of the cheap series of valuable works issued, with great spirit, by Mr. Collins, and, without at all detracting from the sterling character of the others, may be said to be one of the best of them. It has been before the public a sufficient time for a correct judgment to be formed of it, and the editions through which it has passed bear ample testimony to the approval which it has received. With Cicero, Dr. Dick examines the general feelings of mankind on the question of a future state of existence; but, unlike Cicero, he possesses, and rightly employs, a divine communication which enables him, not only to explain these feelings, but to do that which one of the most thoughtful men the world ever knew could not do, go beyond the line of uncertain conjecture, and speak confidently where he could only hope and doubt. While resting on divine revelation, Dr. Dick, with the

modesty of a Christian, as a philosopher, employs the reasonings of analogy for the possible illustration of a subject mysterious in its very glory, and mysterious even because of its glory. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be;" but, whatever be the particular application, the general truth seems obvious, that God, and his wonderful works, shall occupy the elevated powers of the redeemed in their condition of eternal blessedness. Dr. Dick writes not like a modern philosopher, who, indebted to revelation for all he knows on the subject, speaks as though that revelation merely disclosed the fact, that there is life after death. He distinctly refers to the inseverable moral association between the present and the future, and enforces the great truth, that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." By the study of such works, men's thoughts may be directed to the future, and they may thus be aided in the allimportant task of causing the seen to operate in subjection to the unseen, and things temporal to be employed in subordinate reference to things eternal. In

seeking to promote the circulation of Dr. Dick's volume, therefore, we feel that we are likewise promoting the best and highest interests of our readers.

The Will-Forgers: or, The Church of Rome. By the Rev. C. B. Tayler, M.A. Small 18mo., pp. 97. Religious Tract Society.-Chiefly narrative and conversational. The trial and conviction of some will-forgers suggests the leading idea of what, in one sense, may be only a tale, but, in another, a tale the principal facts of which have latterly only too often occurred. The sin of Papists and Puseyites in giving us, as Christ's testament, that which, taken as a system, is false, is briefly, but ably pointed out. Peace to the awakened conscience is shown to be only attainable through the means of Christ's true testament,-the Bible, studied devoutly, and with much prayer.

Sermons, by the late Rev. Nathaniel Morren, A.M., Minister of the First Charge, Brechin. To which is prefixed, a Memoir of the Author. 12mo., pp. xxxvi, 287. Blackwood.-Mr. Morren was a learned and devoted Minister of the Church of Scotland, who died in the spring of 1847, in the very maturity of life, being only forty-nine years of age. The Memoir is brief, but instructive and affecting; the Sermons (fourteen in number) show the value of sanctified learning and thought. They are truly evangelical, full of Christ; and prove the Preacher to have been one who deeply studied the word of God, for the purpose of bringing its solemn truths to bear on the accomplishment of the design of their revelation, the glory of the Saviour in the promotion of his great work among men. In looking over them for critical notice, we could not avoid feeling that they were spiritually profitable.

Lectures on the Bible to the Young: for their Instruction and Excitement. By John Eadie, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature to the United Presbyterian Church, and Minister of the United Presbyterian Congregation, Cambridge-Street, Glasgow. 18mo., pp. v, 152. Oliphants, Edinburgh; Hamiltons, London.-In thus addressing himself particularly to the young, Dr. Eadie does not in the least degree descend from his position as Minister and Professor. There is no work more important than that of instructing and exciting in the pursuit of heavenly, saving truth, those who, though they are now the rising generation, shall soon be the active movers of society. After an introduction which, though plain, is calculated to take hold of the youthful heart, the Lecturer VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES.

devotes one lecture to each of the following themes:" Read, Understand, Believe, Remember, Practise, Circulate, the Bible." The Christian mother, especially, will find it one of her most useful family books.

Guide to the Saviour. For the Young. Small 18mo., pp. xi, 96. Religious Tract Society. It is a pleasing feature of the present age, that its literature includes so much that is adapted to the true well-being of the young; so many books that children may read, and that "Mamma," also, may read to the "older ones" in the nursery. This is one of them. Its title tells the importance of the subject, while the execution will not contradict the promise thus, by implication, given.

[ocr errors]

The Story of Grace. By the Rev. Horatio Bonar, Author of the Night of Weeping," &c. 18mo., pp. xii, 203. Nisbets. Under this title, the volume contains a brief but clear development of redeeming mercy, in its dealings with man. The Story of Grace first began to be told in the sin-blighted Eden, and was completely made known on Calvary. Perhaps we might not ourselves have used all the expressions employed by Mr. Bonar; but substantially, the Story of Grace is told clearly, correctly, and impressively.

Spiritual Progress; or, Advancement in Personal Religion, illustrated and enforced. By the Rev. John Fraser, Minister at Gordon. 18mo., pp. v, 247. G. Lowe, Edinburgh.-A small, but really a very useful, work. The nature of Spiritual Progress, its importance, the means of promoting it, the true and the false tests which may be applied for ascertaining it, are clearly "illustrated," and earnestly "enforced." The pious reader will be thankful for such a word in season of both exhortation and direction.

The Claim of the Gospel on the Young. By the Rev. J. Parker, D.D., of Philadelphia. 18mo., pp. 134. Religious Tract Society. An excellent view of youthful obligation in reference to the Gospel.

A Brief Memoir of Miss Sarah Saunders; with Nine Letters, addressed to her during her last Illness. By John Foster. 24mo., pp. 151. Religious Tract Society. Miss Saunders was a young female of remarkable powers of intelligence, as will be inferred from the fact, that she was able to converse and correspond with Mr. Foster, and to relish, as well as to profit by, such letters as he addressed to her. Happily, intellect was sanctified by piety, and she died in the Lord," of consump

3 G

« AnteriorContinuar »