from the circumstances and persons by whom he is surrounded, and therefore he is more likely to be animated and solemn, as occasion shall serve; and, if there be discoverable in his discourses any extravagances, they will be easily pardoned, when we reflect upon the power which he possesses over the judgment and passions of his auditors. But the minister who has a written discourse is deprived of all these advantages. He confines himself to the mere reading of his sermon, and cannot, therefore, so powerfully command the feelings of a congregation. The difference between a sermon which is read, and one delivered extempore, inay in some measure be estimated, by comparing the effects produced by the debates in the French Chamber of Deputies, and in our House of Commons. In the former, the speeches are read from a tribune; they are consequently cold, formal, dull, and spiritless; but, in the latter, they are delivered extempore; they are therefore more full of fire and energy-more eloquent, and calculated to produce an instantaneous effect, and to carry conviction to the mind. We do not therefore see why this practice of reading sermons should not be abandoned. We are persuaded that it would be attended with the most beneficial effects to the interests of the Church.

"Dr. Wilson maintains a respectable character amongst the authors of the day. His publications are numerous, but chiefly confined to theology. In addition to a great variety of single sermons and tracts, which were some time since collected into two volumes, he has published Evidences of Christianity,' in two volumes, being lectures on those subjects preached at St. Mary's, Islington; and a narrative of a Tour on the Continent, under the title of Letters to an Absent Brother:' this work has passed through several editions, and will be read with pleasure by the Christian."

cutta.

We cannot close this short account without expressing our gratification that such a man as Dr. Wilson should have been selected to fill the Bishopric of CalWe know that he did not court the honour, but that he long declined it. When, however, he learnt the difficulty of finding a suitable man to occupy the post, he accepted it with all its inconveniences. Earnestly do we pray that his life and usefulness may be long continued, and that his son and successor at Islington may be found to walk in his steps.

ECCLESIASTICAL BIOGRAPHY.

CENTURY THE SECOND.

23. IGNATIUS, bishop of the Christian church at Antioch, was martyred, A. D. 109. He is said to have been acquainted with some of the apostles of Christ, especially Peter and Paul. It is believed that he was ordained to the pastoral office at Antioch, about A. D. 67, by the Apostle John, whose instructions he had previously enjoyed. In that populous and licentious city, Ignatius continued more than forty years, a zealous defender of the great doctrines of the Gospel; to the belief of which, many are reported to have been brought by his ministry from the darkness of pagan idolatry and impurity. About A. D. 107, Trajan, the Roman emperor, visited that celebrated city, to carry on his military preparations against the Parthians and Armenians. Having entered the city with great pomp, he made immediate and strict inquiry concerning the Christians, who were reported as numerous.

Ignatius appears to have been rather ambitious of the crown of martyrdom, and therefore presented himself before the emperor, who, proud of his own attainments in learning and philosophy, treated with contempt the venerable bishop, and his doctrine of one God, and of salva

vation by Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, who had been ignominiously crucified. After having endured much cruelty in prison, from the malice of his keepers, Ignatius was sentenced by Trajan to be carried in chains to Rome, and there thrown to the wild beasts in the publie theatre. On hearing his doom, Ignatius heartily rejoiced, and said, I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast condescended thus perfectly to honour me with thy love, and hast thought me worthy with thy Apostle Paul to be bound with iron chains." With that he cheerfully embraced his chains, and having fervently prayed for his church, commending it with tears to the Divine care and providence, he yielded himself to his keepers, who were appointed to transport him to the place of his execution.

Being consigned to a guard of ten soldiers, he took leave of his beloved Antioch, and marched sixteen miles to Seleucia, where they embarked for Cyprus, and landing at Smyrna, he is said to have been visited by the celebrated Polycarp, and by many Christian ministers and elders, deputed from several Asiatic congregations. During his stay at Smyrna he wrote four of the seven letters ascribed to Ignatius, to individuals and churches, exhorting them to constancy in their faith, and requesting their prayers. In his letter to the Roman believers, he expresses his contempt of death with all its terrors. "Let the fire," says he, "and the cross, and the assaults of wild beasts, the breaking of bones, the cutting of limbs, battering the whole body to pieces, yea, and all the torments which the devil can invent come upon me, so I may but attain to be with Jesus Christ."

After a long and tedious journey, Ignatius reached Rome, where he was visited by many of the Christians of that city, enjoying their sympathies and prayers. He was kept until one of their public festivals, when he was led forth in the presence of a vast crowd of people, in the amphitheatre, who f:asted their eyes with the sight of the venerable martyr devoured by the wild beasts. Two of the Roman deacons are said to have collected the bones of Ignatius, and to have sent them to Antioch, where they were carefully interred.

Seven Epistles of Ignatius have been preserved; but in some particulars they are believed to have been corrupted, to serve the purposes of the popish prelacy.

IDOLATRY OF THE ANCIENTS.

MR. TOOKE, in his entertaining school-book, the "Pantheon, representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods," has given a popular exhibition of ancient idolatry. It seems, however, to have been written in the true spirit of a mere classical scholar, admiring the ingenuity of the human mind in producing such a numerous diversity, rather than with the mind of a Protestant Christian, conscious of man's accountability to his Maker, jealous for the holy honours of the ever-blessed God, and aware of the danger of rational souls sunk in such criminality.

We cannot particularize the diversified divinities mentioned in the Pantheon; nor can we enumerate the different classes under which Mr. Tooke has ranked them. Our design is not to present the Pagan Mythology to our readers as an innocent thing-as systems of ingenious speculation to be admired: but to notice some of the foul, the cruel, the wicked characteristics of ancient idolatry.

Abominations of this kind corrupted and ruined the mighty nations known under the denominations of Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Pho. nicians, Persians, Grecians, and Romans, with their de pendencies.

Canaan, "a land flowing with milk and honey," the loveliest portion of the habitable earth, was polluted with the horrid rites of idolatry, and vomited forth its guilty inhabitants. Yet their descendants preserved and practised the bloody ceremonies of Moloch, Baal-peor, Rimmon, Ashtaroth, and others.

Egypt, in the genuine spirit of idolatry, sought by cruel bondage to destroy the holy seed of Israel, in testifying against the shocking rites of Adonis, Isis, Osiris, Tammuz, and others.

The l'hilistines worshipped Baalim, Baal-berith, BaalThe peor, Baal-zebub, Baal-zephon, Dagon, &c. Babylonians paid divine honours to Baal, Bel, Nebo, Nisroch, Adrammelech, Merodach, &c.; but we cannot even give the principal names of these "devils:" Milton will assist us in his Paradise Lost.

"First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears,
Though for the noise of drum and timbrels loud

Their children's cries unheard, that pass'd through fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipp'd in Rabba and her watery plain,

In Argob and in Basan, to the stream

Of utn.ost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right against the ten ple of God
On that opprobrious hill, and make his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnon, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call'd, the type of hell.
Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moab's sens,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild

Of southmost Abarim; in Hedebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Silma, clad with vines,
And Elealé, to th' Asphaltic pool.
Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarg'd
Ev'n to that hill of scandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide-lust hard by hate-
Till good Josiah drove them thence to hell.

With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood
Of old Euphrates, to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baalim and Ashtaroth; those male,
These feminine.-

-in troop

Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns;
To which bright image nightly by the moon
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs;
In Sion also not unsung, where stood
Her temple on th' offensive mountain, buik
By that uxorious king, whose heart, though large,
Beguil'd by fair idolâtresses, fell

To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

In amorous ditties all a summer's day;
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood
Of Thamimuz yearly wounded.-

Next came one
Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive ark
Maim'd the brute image, head and hand lopt off
In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,
Where he fell flat, and sham'd his worshippers :
Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man
And downward fish: yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
Of Palestine, in Gath, and Ascalon,
And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier-bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful seat
Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks
Of Abana and Pharpar, lucid streams.

After these appear'd
A crew, who under names of old renown,
Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train,
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek

Their wand'ring gods disguis'd in brutish forms
Rather than human..

Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself:-

when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine-
Witness the streets of Sodom."

We cannot defile our pages with details of the abominations practised in the ceremonies of idolatrous worship. Who can conceive the horrible enormities at Diana's temple, with a thousand women devoted to uncleanness? The portrait drawn by the pen of inspiration in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, can be fully illustrated only by referring to their vile and outrageous practices.

Human victims in sacrifice were commonly offered in the idolatrous worship of the ancients; and as our forefathers in Britain are believed to have derived their dreadful custom of immolating men in their idolatry from the Carthaginians, or Phoenicians, trading to the coast of the Mediterranean, we will give a short account of the former of these people from Rollin's Ancient History.

The Carthaginians retained the barbarous custom of offering human sacrifices to their gods till the ruin of their city: an action which ought to have been called a sacrilege rather than a sacrifice. It was suspended only for some years; from the fear they were under of drawing upon themselves the indignation and anger of Darius I, king of Persia, who forbad them the offering up of human sacrifices, and eating the flesh of dogs. But they soon resumed their horrid practice; since, in the reign of Xerxes, the successor to Darius, Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse, having gained a considerable victory over the Carthaginians in Sicily, made the fol lowing condition, among other articles of peace he granted them, viz. that no more human sucrifices should be offered to Saturn. And doubtless the practice of the Carthaginians on this very occasion made Gelon use this precaution. For during the whole engagement, which lasted from morning till night, Hamilcar, the son of Hanno their general, was perpetually offering up to the gods sacrifices of living men, who were thrown on a flaming pile; and seeing his troops routed and put to flight, he himself rushed into the pile, in order that he might not survive his own disgrace; and to extinguish, says St. Ambrose, speaking of this action, with his own blood this sacrilegious fire, when he found that it had not proved of service to him.

"In times of pestilence, they used to sacrifice a great number of children to their gods, unmoved with pity for a tender age, which excites compassion in the most cruel enemies; thus finding a remedy for their evils in guilt itself, and endeavouring to appease the gods by the most shocking kind of barbarity.

"Diodorus relates an instance of this cruelty which strikes the reader with horror. At the time that Agathocles was just going to besiege Carthage, its inhabitants, seeing the extremity to which they were reduced, imputed all their misfortunes to the just anger of Saturn; because, that instead of offering up children nobly born, who were usually sacrificed to him, he had been fraudulently put off with the children of slaves and foreigners. To atone for this crime, Two HUNDRED CHILDREN of the best families in Carthage were sacrificed to Saturn; besides which, upwards of THREE HUNDRED CITIZENS, from a sense of their guilt of this pretended crime, voluntarily sacrificed themselves. Diodorus adds, that Saturn had a brazen statue, the hands of which were turned downwards; so that when a child was laid on them, it dropt immediately into an hollow, where was a fiery furnace."

"TO THE GLORY OF GOD!-This is the impress that a sincere and humble Christian sets on all his actions." -Leighton.

EVIL OF DRUNKENNESS. AMONG the numerous sins which corrupt mankind, and disorder our world, there is none more pernicious than drunkenness. It is the door to almost every other. It is an evil pervading more or less all classes of society, and throughout our country. It is a crime, committed not so much under the visionary idea of happiness, as it is the gratification of a sensual lust.

The savage in the desert seeks a beverage simply to satisfy the natural desire-thirst: while the inhabitant of a civilized land indulges to a beastly excess. Whether or not the various beverages, to which the populace have easy access, are necessary and beneficial, on certain occasions, and to a limited extent, is a point foreign to our subject. We readily allow that there are strong beverages, which, if taken moderately, contribute to the vigour of the constitution. The grand evil arises from giving way to an unrestrained passion for strong liquor; which is the cause of innumerable disorders of the mind and body, and frequently produces the most overwhelming consequences. That there are few sins more hateful in the sight of God than drunkenness, or more degrading in the eyes of man, is a sentiment which we presume few will doubt. Consider the effects which drunkenness produces on the constitution.

Health is the greatest temporal blessing which man can possibly enjoy; but to impair it by gratifying an evil desire must be highly criminal. We often perceive the lamentable effects of drunkenness in those whose countenances once bloomed with health and vigour, but now they indicate langour and disease:- whose constitutions were once strong and robust, but now languishing under this destructive vice. And it is not strange to suppose that drunkenness is the harbinger of disease, and the cause of desolating mortality among

men.

Consider the effects of this vice on the estate or circumstances.

Wherever we find this habit cherished by an individual, we behold poverty encircling his abode. Alas! we have too many instances to prove this fact, that it is the fruitful cause of poverty, want, and misery. Can we be surprised at so much distress in the land, when we cast our eyes at the "Liquor Shops" on the last evening of the week, and view the thousands eager for the stupifying draught? In this manner, then, are the earnings of our working population squandered, by which many thousands of their families are reduced to suffer the want of common necessaries.

Consider the effects of this habit on the character. Sobriety is a virtue which adorns a man; but if he is wanting in this, his character is immediately defaced. We cannot trust our property with that man who disorders his senses by this lust, which in numerous instances has led men to violate the sacred rules of honesty. In a state of inebriation, a man is sunk beneath the dignity of civilized society; and therefore deservedly loses that respectability which is attached to persons of soberness and integrity.

Consider the effects of it on the family.

We might suppose that it would be an argument suf. ficiently weighty to prevail with a drunkard to turn from his evil habit-viewing the sorrows in which he has involved his children, suffering at times the smarts of poverty, and hearing the cutting reproaches made against their worthless parent. They cannot rejoice at the hour of his return from business; nor greet him on hearing the cheerful sound of his voice: they tremble at the thought of his entering their wretched abode ! All this is still more embittered by the reflection, that if he forsake not his evil ways, he will fall a victim to

his lust, and they must become orphans, cast on a frowning world, without a father's protection. Thus they, who might have lived happily and contentedly on the sufficient earnings of their parent, must wander the children of sorrow and the suppliants of charity!

Consider the influence of drunkenness on the intellectual faculties.

When we reflect upon the goodness of God in lighting up the soul with such noble capacities, and so greatly exalting man over the other animals, it must be ignorance indeed for men to suppose, that, destroying these high powers, and lowering themselves beneath the beasts which perish, they commit a little sin. For a man to be deprived of reason by the afflictive visitation of Providence, is a calamity most appalling. For a person to possess reason and to apply it to a bad or unprofitable purpose, is greatly to be deplored. But for a man to deprive himself of the use of reason, though but for a time, by excessive drinking, abuses the blessings of Heaven, violates all the rules of decency and moral order, and degrades the man below the brute. This habit weakens the judgment, impoverishes the understanding, and, in a word, destroys those noble capacities of man, which so particularly display the infinite wisdom and benevolence of God.

Consider the effects of this habit on the morals.

From a drunkard we expect nothing truly virtuous, or worthy of imitation. His looks become unsightly, his manners disgusting, his language coarse, and his temper irritable. He has rendered himself unfit to fulfil with propriety any of the functions of civilized life, either public or private; so that it may be said of him, he is neither a virtuous husband, an upright tradesman, or a true patriot; but a miserable blot in society. All these considerations show, in some degree, why this habit is so criminal, and its consequences so fatal. But, strong as these considerations are, there is another that outweighs them all—the future and eternal prospects of the drunkard!

Surely no one who lives in the indulgence of any sin, and especially of that sin which is depriving him of his very existence, can reasonably expect to enjoy the felicity of that world where sin- where any thing that defileth—can never enter; but where "Every shape, and every face Look heavenly and divine."

Then what happiness is there for the drunkard in this world-in that hour when the pangs of dissolution commence or when he passes the boundaries of time? How important is it that Christian sympathy should be more awakened to stem this torrent of iniquity, which we perceive hurrying our poorer population to destruction, and to lead men to consider the sinfulness of this worse than beastly habit!

Drunkenness is an evil more injurious to a land than "the pestilence that walketh in darkness." Drunkenness is most pernicious to our well-being as a nation, sapping the very foundations of society. Never can any people be prosperous and happy, while this debasing habit prevails it is equally opposed to the nature of man-to morals-and to pure religion.

May our gracious God pour forth his Holy Spirit, to lead men to seek the salvation of Christ in the Gospel, teaching them, that "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they may live soberly, righteously, and godlily in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people." Titus ii, 12, 14.

Inspiration has strikingly pourtrayed drunkenness and its deadly fruits-"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babblings? who hath

wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Prov. xxiii, 29-32.

SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHY,
CAIN AND ABEL.

The Persecution and Murder of Abel.

"The earliest death a son of Adam died

Was murder! and that murder fratricide!"

MONTGOMERY'S WORLD BEFORE THE FLOOD. MANKIND have been in all ages divided into two distinct classes; and in the Scriptures they are distinguished by appropriate appellations. These two descriptions of persons are spoken of as righteous and wicked,-believers and unbelievers,-saints and sinners, -the children of God and the children of the devil. This difference and distinction we observe in the family of Adam, and even in the two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain regarded with envy the preference given by God to his brother, yet sought not to be a partaker of the same divine grace. Instead of admiring his holy life he cherished a deadly hatred against it, and on account of it persecuted him with implacable bitterness. He could not bear the continual reproof which he received from Abel's godly conversation; and this was the ground of that enmity, the issue of which was so terrible,"because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." John iii, 12.

Here we observe the commencement and the real cause of persecution; and we need not wonder, as the same cause remains, that the same spirit appears at this time, which has been discovered in every other age from the days of Cain. Do our young friends consider this difference, the origin and criminal nature of it, and seek to be made the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ?

When true religion reigns not in the heart, enmity to God and man will prevail. Thus it was in the present case. Cain, jealous of the preference which God manifested to his brother, gave full licence to the spirit of persecution which he cherished, the natural fruit of his malevolent mind. Uninfluenced by the fear of his benevolent Creator, whom he hypocritically professed to worship, and regardless of the powerful ties of fraternal affection, he determined on the destruction of him whom he looked upon as his rival; and, hurried by Satan, he soon einbrued his hands in the blood of his innocent brother! Infidelity produced impiety,-impiety generated envy,-envy proceeded to hatred,— hatred inflamed revenge, and revenge terminated in the most atrocious murder! Such is the progress of sin when cherished in the heart.

We are unable precisely to ascertain in what manner the Divine regard for Abel's offering was manifested, unless we refer to those of Abraham and Elijah: but it must have been by some visible token from God;— the fire descending from the skies, to consume the sacrifice; while the devout serenity of Abel's countenance, arising from the love of God shed abroad in his heart, was accompanied with the voice of thanksgiving, adoration, and praise. Cain beheld his brother's sacrifice flaming at a distance, and the sacred cloud ascending to the skies, while his own offering remained as it was at first laid on the pile, a sad and monitory proof of its rejection, on account of the iniquity and unbelief of the offerer." And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." Gen. iv, 5.

The natural jealousy of Cain was powerfully excited, lest his younger brother should be regarded as a greater

favourite of Heaven than himself. He might suppose, that by right as the first-born, he must necessarily be entitled to a precedence in the Divine mercy, and now his depraved heart swelled with rage, and his gloomy countenance became darkened with malevolent sullen

ness.

"Abundant in goodness and truth," the LORD God called Cain before him; and in terms the most gentle and persuasive, condescended to reason with him. "And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt not thou also be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." Gen. iv, 6, 7.

Many learned men understand this language as an inviting intimation of mercy. "If thou doest not well, sin," that is the sin offering, "lies at thy door and thou mayest take the benefit of it." The same word signifies both sin and a sacrifice for sin. As if God said, "Though thou hast not done well, yet do not yield to despair: the remedy is at hand, the propitiation is near: lay hold upon it, and the iniquity of thy life shall be forgiven thee.” Well may it be said of Jehovah, "He delighteth in mercy." Mic. vii, 18. Himself has confirmed it, and he solemnly swears, "As I live, saith the LORD God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Ezek. xxxiii, 11. “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Pet. iii, 9. God abandons no siuner, until in unbelief he casts off his allegiance to his Maker, and hardens his heart against repeated admonitions.

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It seems probable, that Abel was not out of sight when the LORD called Cain before him; he therefore added, "And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." Ver. 7. The meaning of this part of the address to Cain appears to be, "Behold thy brother! he loves thee: he anxiously wishes thy present happiness, thy everlasting welfare. He honours thee as his elder brother, to whom he looks up for friendship and counsel, and to whose direction he submits as far as it is reasonable for one brother to be governed by another in that respect thou shalt rule over him." But spiritual blessings are those peculiar favours, which the righteous and eternal Sovereign bestows, not according to our works: he grants them "as it seems good in his sight."

The haughty spirit of Cain was wounded by a rebuke, though given in goodness and wisdom infinite, and by the Almighty Creator himself! Wretched man! his wickedness and folly led him to be angry, even with his Maker! Regardless of the solemn admonition, and the merciful intimations of the LORD God, Cain cherished in his bosom the seeds of a deadly malignity. His pious brother is still the object of his settled hatred. ` But for what cause? Has he been more favoured by his indulgent parents than Cain? Or has he assumed the privileges of the first-born? No, neither of these. He hates him for his piety: " because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous."

Those who delight in iniquity, hate the pious servants of God, because their dispositions and their habits are condemned by the holiness of the godly. Abel appears the mild, the candid, the unsuspecting, devout worshipper of God; Cain the malicious, the treacherous servant and agent of Satan.

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Righteous Abel," as our blessed Saviour emphatically styles him, conscious of his own integrity, would not indulge unkind suspicions concerning the dark de signs of Cain. He freely enters into discourse with his brother, who in the midst of conversation rises up against him, and gluts his vindictive spirit. Deaf to the earnest entreaties, and hardened against the affecting tears of Abel,-regardless of the poignant grief

with which he was about to pierce the hearts of his venerable parents, and forgetting the omnipresence of God Almighty, "Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him." Ver. 8.

This dreadful crime was marked with peculiar aggra vations. Cain was the elder brother; and therefore should have been the protector of Abel. He had received no provocation. He had been admonished by the voice of God himself; and Abel, as he knew, feared God, and was accustomed to pray for the Divine blessing to rest upon him. Yet, under the appearance of friendship, he seeks a conversation with him- he takes him aside into a solitary place, and there deliberately and maliciously executes his diabolical purpose of

assassination!

The murder of Abel, in martyrdom for the truth of God, afforded a terrible exemplification of the treatment which true religion was to expect from infidels and false professors to the end of the world. And such has ever been the disposition of ungodly men. "Cain may be considered as the father, the patron, and the archetype of proud infidels, Pharisees, formal worshippers and bloody persecutors, of every age and nation, from the beginning to the end of the world."-Scott.

This same spirit inflamed the wicked hearts of the unbelieving Jews, who persecuted virtue itself, in the person of our blessed Redeemer. "They filled up the measure of their iniquity," when they betrayed and "crucified the Lord of glory."

Behold the wretched Cain, standing speechless over the bleeding body of the brother whom he had murdered! The guilt of innocent blood penetrates and terrifies his depraved soul! while the disembodied spirit of the pious martyr is carried by ministering angels into the kingdom of glory, to enjoy unspeakable felicity in the presence of God his Saviour!

(To be continued.)

PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE FROM

SHIPWRECK.

THE following narrative is an instance of the great and imminent dangers to which whale fishers are exposed, and is a most striking example of Divine providence.

A North American, Captain Smith, sailed in the year 1820, in a three-masted ship, the Albatross, for the South Sea, in pursuit of the spermaceti whale. When nearly under the line, west of Washington's Island, they perceived a whale of an extraordinary size. The boats were all immediately lowered, and to make the capture more sure, they were manned with the whole crew: the cook's mate alone remained at the helm, and the ship lay to. The monster as it peaceably floated on the surface of the water was eagerly_followed and harpooned. On feeling the stroke of the weapon, it lashed its powerful tail with fury, and the boat nearest it was obliged to dart with all speed out of the way to avoid instant destruction. The whale then turned its vengeance on the ship, swam several times round her with prodigious noise, and then struck her so violently on the bows, that the cook's mate could compare the effect of the blow only to the shock of an earthquake.

The fish disappeared, but the tremendous leak the ship had sprung, sank her in five minutes with all that she contained. Her solitary guardian was with difficulty saved. The crew were now left in four open boats, several weeks' voyage from the nearest land, and with no provision but the little biscuit they happened to have with them. After a long discussion on the best course to be pursued, they separated. Two of the boats steered for the Washington or Marquesas

INDIAN ILLUSTRATION OF 1 KINGS XVIII, 46. "And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel."

MR. STATHAM, in his "Indian Recollections," recently published, mentions a circumstance remarkably illustrative of the conduct of Elijah on the occasion referred to. He says, "On the dismissal from office of the Jemadar of a Thannah (gaol), in a village a few miles distant from the place where I resided, a very respectable native waited upon me, and solicited my recommendation to the magistrate of the district, as a fit person to fill the vacant situation. Knowing him to be greatly superior in many respects to the generality of the natives, I promised that when I had an interview with the magistrate, which would be in a few days, I would speak a word in his behalf. In the mean while, having occasion to pass through the village, I was much surprised at beholding him, the moment he recognized me, tighten his cummerbund (or gird up his loins), and proceed to run before my palanqueen. I said nothing until we had cleared the village, thinking that he would return; but as he still continued to run before me, I called to the bearers to stop the palanqueen, and entreated him to go back. This he positively refused to do, saying, nothing should prevent his paying this mark of respect, at the same time overwhelming me with the most extravagant compliments; and in this manner he preceded me the whole distance of four miles, until we arrived at the gates of my compound, when, with a profound salaam, he took leave and returned.

"In this manner I consider that Elijah, although he detested the crimes of Ahab, was desirous of paying him all that respect which his exalted station as king of Israel demanded; thus affording a practical comment on the apostolic precept, Honour the King.' By this means the prophet showed his deep humility, in not assuming to himself any glory because of the mighty works which God had performed by him; and at the same time evinced his entire dependence on the protecting hand of God, by thus accompanying the king to the very place where his greatest enemies, Jezebel and her prophets, dwelt."