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have for the happiness of your parents, by the reverance you have for God's word, and by the hopes of heaven, let me entreat you, to honour and obey your

parents in all things."

Yours most affectionately,

FILIUS.

[For the Monitor.]

THE DUTY OF OUR COUNTRY.

To those who believe that, under the apparent dis order and confusion, of which our earth is the scene, the outlines of a system regular in its opperations and undeviating in its purpose may be traced, it is pleasing to inquire into the connexion which unites any great event which takes place in the world, with that consummation which the Creator has in view, and to which all things are converging. Being taught as we are by the word of God, that every revolution which agitates the earth, is but the revolution of a wheel in that machinery into which angels have desired to look, we regard with intensity of interest every moral and political change which takes place, when we can see it condu cive to that object, the redemption of man, for which so much has been done.

The attention of christians is frequently directed to the present state of the world considered in this point of view. That reviving spirit which has gone forth through the church, awakening and animating and encouraging, has produced effects, which have caused our age to be designated as that of benevolence, and which tell us, in a language not to be misunderstood, that he who six thousand years ago promised redemption to our race has not forgotton his word; and in looking forward to that great struggle which is to ensue, between the kingdoms of the Creator, and of the destroyer of man, we may with propriety inquire what part our country is to perform. Let us look at the manner in which she has been brought into the field, the situation she occupies, and we can tell what will be her duty in the combat.

The Creator, from the beginning seems to have divided the earth, and while he gave up the eastern hemisphere to all the miseries, and crimes, and convulsions, which sin must introduce, he separated the loveliest part of his work from the abode of man, as if to preserve it, unsullied by his corruption, and unshaken by his violence. This land where his proudest forests wave, where the foundations of his largest mountains are established, and where his most majestic rivers are flowing, has not been disturbed by the tumult of human passions. Here no Saviour has been crucified, no offers of mercy have been rejected, no bible has been ridiculed, the name of God bas not been blasphemed; for man has not been admitted to make this land the field of his violence and his crimes. It is true the solitary Indian has by some unknown means found his way into the bosom of these forests, but he has only sought their shelter, and has not left the traces of his destruction behind him. From the things which are made he has, in some degree at least, learned the invisible things of God, and he has adored the Great Spirit as the author of his being. In those very places where we now delight to sing praises to God and the Lamb, the Indian may have chanted his war-song, imploring the protection of his God, strong and mighty in battle. These sons of the forest have been few, and have scarcely interupted the solitude which has reigned here. This vast continent God has reserved as it were a temple for himself, where Niagara's song of praise, and cloud of incense has unceasingly arisen, and where all has been, like him who dwelt in it, calm and tranquil;-yet boundless and sublime.

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When the fulness of time was come, a knowledge of this existence was communicated to the old world, almost in a miraculous manner; and after having frowned on many attempts to possess it, we see God exciting, by a remarkable train of events, a few of his faithful followers to seek out a home of safety, and to establish a church in these wilds. As if to show us that his hand was in the work, they were made to pass through dangers and difficulties from which it would seem that

nothing but Omnipotence could shield them. He who can bring the counsels of the wicked to nought, at whose commands diseases come and go; and whom the winds and the sea obey, he brought them to the shores of New England in safety.

We need not allude to all the circumstances through which this weak and tottering colony proceeded, till it became firmly established; how it rose under the hand of oppression; how its relations were gradually extended until the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence bounded its interests; and how its contest for its rights, with a most powerful nation, ended in triumph and freedom. It is sufficient to say, that all this has been done, and America has now become a powerful empire, whose flag waves on every sea, and whose influence is felt in every part of the earth.

Now may we not hope that he who has, in so remarkable a manner, provided us with a home of freedom and happiness, has designed that we shall be the instruments of sending back, to the old world we have left, the tidings of a more glorious emancipation than that for which America is known! That while other nations have been celebrated for their arts, their literature, or their arms, our country may mark out a new and more exalted path to national honor and influence! How cheerfully would we allow to other nations, the glory they have acquired, would we yield to Greece, all the praises which her poets and her orators have obtained for her by the pen and the song; would we give to Rome the renown which she claims for having sent forth her legions to conquer and her decrees to bind the world; let France enjoy the distinction which Napoleon has obtained for her; and England riot in all the pride of her splendid rank, if our country can be known as the instrument of enlightening, and liberating, and christianizing the world. And while, as good patriots, we earnestly wish that the full tide of prosperity which has thus far blessed us, should continue to roll in; as good christians, let us as earnestly desire, that all this wealth and power should be consecrated to him who gave it. Let her literature send forth a light through

the world awakening the sons and daughters of barbarism to an existence of which they now can scarcely dream. Let her political influence be exercised in sending peace as her ambassador through the earth, and in calling up to life and liberty nations who now groan, being burdened; and let her wealth be cast upon the waters, to assist the Missionary to carry the light of life and immortality to the Ethiopian and the Hindoo, to free them from the chains of a slavery, more dangerous and lasting than political oppression.

PHALA.

[For the Monitor.]

EVENING.

'Tis evening that I love, the sober hour
Of twilight, when nature wears an aspect
Solemn. 'Tis then, I love to think on days
Gone by; and send abroad reflective thought
To visit the loved scenes of my childhood.
How often, when "day has been softening away
Into twilight, and twilight, hushed and breathless,
Stealing into darkness;" have I beheld

The glittering fires of heaven as they looked down
Upon the vallies and groves and mountains,
In dimness stretching around me, and thought
Of other times-when other cheeks than mine
Did glow in the same crimson light; and where
Other eyes, now distant far, gazed with mine
On the same lovely landscape; and other
Ears did listen to the same choral hymn
That rose to the Creator, from all the
Darkening forests round. And then has my heart
Grown calm as the stillness of a summer's
Evening-when night falls gently down,
And nature sinks into the soul and leaves
Her own bright image there.

P. L. S.

NATURAL HISTORY, AN EXTRACT.

Eider, Edder, or St. Cuthbert's Duck, Great Black and White Duck, of Edwards. Prov. Duntra, Duntur Goose, or Colk. Base of the bill laterally prolonged into two flattened plates, bill and legs greenish-ash. Length, from twenty-two to twenty-four inches; size about double that of the common duck, and weight six or seven pounds.

This species inhabits the high and icy latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, and feeds chiefly on testaceous animals and fish. They are very abundant during summer, in all the islands situated in the Greenland sea, and are also met with, solitary, or in pairs, near the ice, at great distances from land. When near the coasts, they fly in large flocks, and generally arrange themselves in a regular form. Their appearance in great numbers is an indication of the proximity of land. They are capable of protracted flights in the day-time, but generally return to their stations at night. They are rarely, if ever, seen in the south of England, but they breed in the north of Scotland, on Papa Westra, one of the Orkneys, on the Hebrides, the Feru Isles, on the coast of Northumberland, &c. in June and July. Two or three pair occasionally breed on Inchcolm, in the Frith of Fort; but the jackdaws frequently destroy the young. On the lonely islet of Suliskerry and its Stack, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, about forty miles westward from Hoyhead in the Orkneys, this species has maintained its residence at least since the days of Buchanan, who gives a lively and elegant, rather than an accurate description of its appearance and habits. The nest is made on the ground, composed of marine plants, and lined with down, of exquisite fineness, which the female plucks from her own body. The eggs are usually four, of a pale olive green, and rather larger than those of a common duck. About Iceland, the eider ducks generally build their nests on small islands not far from the shore, and sometimes even near the dwell

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