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in eternity as intimately connected with | our spiritual state in this world, what an importance attaches to every hour, and thought, and action! Let us not dare to live an ungodly life in this world, persuading ourselves it will be all the same a hundred years hence as though we had lived a godly one. In trifling with life, we are trifling with eternity; in playing with sin, we are losing heaven. Let us not deceive ourselves, nor countenance the use of sceptical expressions; for it will not be all one a hundred years hence.

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Man, guilty man, who needs so much mercy from his Creator, is inclined to show little to his brother: he is quickly offended and slowly propitiated; and "Revenge is sweet," and "I will have my revenge," are wicked sayings, which he is ever ready to act upon. Though he prays for forgiveness upon the express condition of forgiving others; "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," Matt. vi. 12; yet it is a difficult attainment to forgive, and still more difficult to forget injuries. The Bible, however, teaches us to struggle against these bad feelings instead of cherishing them. "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil," Eph. iv. 26, 27. "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you," Matt. v. 44. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head,' Rom. xii. 20. "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses," Matt. vi. 14, 15. If we must have our revenge, let us have it in a good sense by returning good for evil: let us conquer by love and kindness, and we shall probably not only lose an enemy, but make a friend. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour," Rom. xiii. 10. Charity "endureth all things:

"Take care of number one. This saying, worthy of a selfish world, is for the most part thoroughly acted upon by worldly men. With such, self is the beginning and ending of their anxiety. Instead of asking themselves how much they can give, how much good influence | they can exert, how much they can contribute to the happiness of others, how much they can honour God, or what they can do to advance his cause, their anxiety is, how much they can hoard or spend on themselves, how they can be distinguished, what they can do to increase their possessions, and a thousand other such selfish thoughts. Instead of feeling that they are made for all, they act as though they imagined all were made for them. Self is the centre and circumference of all their thoughts. But He who taught as never man taught denounced selfishness, and in golden sayings which should for ever have banished all our worldly ones, has sweetly invited us to cherish feelings" is not easily provoked," 1 Cor. xiii. of love, and to perform deeds of benefi- 5, 7. Avenge not yourselves, but rather cence. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour give place unto wrath for it is written, as thyself," Matt. xix. 19. "A new com- Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith mandment I give unto you, That ye love the Lord," Rom. xii. 19.—S. W. P. one another; as I have loved you, that

ye
also love one another," John xiii. 34.
"If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself," Matt. xvi. 24. Let us
adopt the sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and discountenance the unchristian say-
ings of the world. Let us endeavour to
deny ourselves, strive in some degree to
forget number one, and with enlarged
hearts consider the wants of our neigh-
bour, the interest of our brother, and the
welfare of the whole family of man. Let
us consider the prosperity of all our best
prosperity, and learn to sympathize with
our neighbour in his prosperity or adver-
sity as truly as if it were our own.

"I will have my revenge." Man, in his natural state, is described in Scripture as "implacable, unmerciful,” Rom. i. 31, a statement corroborated by experience.

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THE MIDDLE PATH.

To keep the true middle way between too much activity, and too much retirement, is one of the main duties of a Christian.-Bengel.

DEATH A PHYSICIAN.

DEATH is the best physician to the godly; it cures them, not of one disease only, but of all, and of all at once; not for once only, but for ever; yea, it cures them of death itself.

A GOOD RESOLUTION.

I AM determined to say nothing but what I think calculated to break a whole heart, or heal a broken one.-Rev. John Newton.

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ICEBERGS.

The Polar Regions.

WATER expands by heat, and, to a certain point, contracts by cold. The coldest portions of the fluid are, therefore, so long as the cold remains within this limit, in the lower parts. If the contraction by cold continued until the water became ice, the lower parts of the liquid would be first frozen, and when congealed, scarcely any heat applied at the surface could melt the mass, for the warm fluid could not descend through the colder parts. To show that this is the case, count Rumford made water boil at the top of a vessel, while the ice at the bottom was not thawed.

Suppose, then, the same law that is thus apparent, had prevailed in our lakes and seas, each of them would have had a bed of ice, increasing with the continuance of the cold, till the whole was frozen. On their surface there could only be such pools of water as could be produced by the thawing of the summer sun, and these would be congealed again on the return of frost. And so the process would advance, till all the water of these DECEMBER, 1842.

reservoirs became ice. Such a change would be fearful indeed; how, then, can the evils of it be averted?

God who enacted the law, to which reference has just been made, has modified it for our existence and welfare. As cold increases, water contracts; but after a certain diminution of temperature, though there is a further increase of cold, so far from contracting, it actually expands, till it reaches the point at which it becomes ice. The greatest density of water is at forty degrees; and when at or near this point, it will lie at the bottom with cooler water, or with ice floating above. The cooling process may go on at the surface, but water colder than forty degrees cannot descend to displace water that is warmer. At the bottom of deep water, ice, therefore, can never be formed. The coldest water, in approaching the freezing point, rises to the surface; there ice is formed, and there it will remain till the air and the sun restore it to its fluid state. Every winter we have some proof of this in the ice that floats for a time on our ponds, lakes, and rivers.

2 M

What, then, must be the evidence afforded in the polar regions, on which the eye of the poet was fixed when he said:

The muse

Then sweeps the howling margin of the main ;
Where, undissolving, from the first of time,
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky;
And icy mountains, high on mountains piled,
Seen to the shivering sailors from afar,
Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds.
Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the surge,
Alps frown on Alps; or, rushing hideous down,
As if old Chaos was again return'd,
Wide rend the deep, and shake the solid pole.
Ocean itself no longer can resist

The blinding fury; but, in all its rage
Of tempest taken by the boundless frost,
Is many a fathom to the bottom chain'd.

Icebergs are islands of frozen water, considerably elevated, generally perpendicular on one side, and sloping gradually down on the other. They are sometimes two hundred feet in height. Floating ice has about one-seventh of its thickness above water; but icebergs are sometimes aground, and therefore show a greater proportion of their height. They are formed either by the pressure of large masses of ice upon each other by winds and currents; or are detached by their own weight, or the action of waves, from the vast glaciers which abound in Greenland and Spitzbergen. It is to be observed, that sea water requires a lower temperature, by three degrees and a half of Fahrenheit, to freeze, than is necessary for common water. Man often employs rafts for his safety and convenience, but here the Arctic bear sometimes takes his stand; and, doubtless, to his surprise, is left to the wide ocean, as the iceberg melts beneath him. The masses of ice which have been frozen together, gradually separate as summer advances, and clear spaces of water are left, but these begin again to be frozen over as early as the end of September. When, then, we look on ice in the water of our own land, or on representations of it on the mighty deep, let us remember that here a law operates, without which the whole economy of the material world would be disarranged. Thus as we trace the operation of natural causes, we find that knowledge of God's works, even in the inanimate world, affords new sources of gratitude; nor can we sufficiently adore his wisdom and love who has so amply provided for the existence and comfort of feeling and thinking beings.*

MY AUNT PRISCILLA.-No. XI.

VISITING ACQUAINTANCE.

She

THE recollection of mere casual or occasional visitors, leads me to refer to my aunt's visiting arrangements. While her family was young, she conscientiously devoted her mornings to them, and therefore neither received nor paid morning visits. She deemed regularity in the nursery a matter of too great importance to be perilled for the sake of mere form. Then, as often as health and circumstances permitted, she accompanied her children in their walks or rides. justly thought that the presence of a parent tended to promote the general advantages of air and exercise, and also to cultivate in the children habits of observation and inquiry—a means of improvement too much overlooked. Nor was my aunt at all disposed either to pay or receive visits that would interfere with the regularity of domestic devotion, or the quietness of domestic enjoyment. My uncle and aunt considered it right so to arrange the hours of family worship, as that every individual of the family might be present. This plan necessarily involved early hours, which, on this account, among many others, were adopted in the family. Indeed, the practice of society in general was very different from what it is at the present day. No doubt each system has its advantages, as well as its disadvantages; but it may be fairly questioned, whether the present late hours of visiting and taking meals are as favourable to the cultivation of family religion, as when a tea visit was supposed to occupy only the space between five o'clock and eight; at which hour the sober matron considered herself called upon by duty to return and bless her household; and, by courtesy, to leave her friend at liberty to discharge similar claims. It is true, that what may be termed associated family worship was not as common then as at the present day; but then, individual families were much more regular, and, perhaps, more generally profited by its observance. The heads of five or six families may meet together, and spend a social evening in pious and profitable intercourse, and close it in united supplication for their several households; but ordinarily, only the children and servants of one family can actually join in the service; while, perhaps, those of the other

From "Heat," published by the Religious four or five (or, at least, some individual

Tract Society.

members) are left to draw the fearful'

conclusion, (and even young children are apt at drawing inferences,) that family worship is a matter which may be dispensed with.

went on

Whether or not any pious heads of families may be disposed to question the propriety of their conduct in this respect, it is, to me, a pleasing recollection, that nothing but illness or distance was suffered to prevent my uncle and aunt from regularly assembling their family for the worship of God; and when my uncle was unavoidably absent, my aunt always considered the duty as peculiarly devolving on herself. Her own visits were always made to bend to this sacred engagement; and the order of the family as usual, whatever visitors might be in the house. But the latter circumstance, except in the case of friends staying in the house, did not often occur; for after the engagements of the day were over, my uncle generally preferred to spend the evening quietly, in the society of his own family only. All this was rather unfashionable then, as it would be now; but the happiness of my worthy relatives did not depend on the approbation of the world. They were not cynics, but they could do without it; and respect, like a shadow, while it flies those who pursue it by time-serving attempts to please everybody, follows those who tread the straightforward course of duty, daring to do what is right, without being greatly concerned as to what other people think about the matter.

Decision tends much to clear off undesirable acquaintances, and to secure profitable intercourse with such as are retained.

Among those whom vicinity, or connexion of some kind or other, gave a sort of claim to enter the circle of visiting acquaintances, were Mrs. G. and her two daughters. They were insipid, every-day sort of people. Their own range of topics comprehended little more than the state of the weather; the court dresses on the late birthday; the occurrences and rumours of the neighbourhood; the price of silks, velvets, and lace; and the great difficulty of obtaining good servants. When these ladies were announced, the countenance of my aunt assumed a momentary expression of perplexity, almost amounting to dismay, which, however, soon gave place to one of more composed thoughtfulness. On these occasions, I could fancy I read the musings that occupied her mind. She felt that it de

volved on herself to rescue the half-hour interview, or the evening visit, from being entirely wasted, and to turn the unwelcome sacrifice to some profitable account. And, indeed, it required her utmost ingenuity to do this; to slip in, between the tattle of frivolity, a parenthesis of sense, and without disgusting her visitors by what they would have considered grave and prosing reflections, now and then to drop a pertinent remark, calculated to arrest the attention of the triflers, and give a profitable turn to the conversation. Her efforts, I have reason to hope, were not wholly without effect. She certainly succeeded in awakening, in the younger Miss G., a taste for reading and a desire for improvement, which operated favourably on the whole of her character; for though she never attained those degrees of completeness and excellence which might have been hoped for had her earlier years been devoted to nobler pursuits, yet she became a much more respectable and useful person than might, at one time, have been expected; and she always gratefully acknowledged my aunt Priscilla as her "guide, philosopher, and friend."

Poor Mrs. G. had scarcely begun to lay aside the gaieties of youth, or ceased to believe the flattering assurances of her maid, that dress and ornaments became her quite as well as ever, and that she appeared much more like the sister of her daughters than like their mother, when she was visited by a lingering and wasting illness, which necessarily secluded her from society, and deprived her of the ability to pursue her former insipid round. Under these circumstances, she had no resources within; and her daughters had never been trained to habits that would dispose them to prefer the seclusion of a sick chamber to the attractions of the gay world. Even the obsequious lady's-maid became weary of exerting skill which no one admired, and of hanging on decorations which the withering hands and pallid countenance seemed to turn to mockery. Thus the poor lady was left in solitude to realize the same result to the experiment, which, since the days of Solomon, thousands of thousands have spent their lives in trying: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity and vexation of spirit," Eccl. i. 2, 14. It was now that my good aunt felt an attraction, unknown before, to the society of this unhappy woman. The desire to do her good had always been present; but now, desire was stimulated

by hope that, withdrawn from the fascina- | of travel; and he was observant, comtions of the world, and deserted and dis- municative, and veracious. The converappointed by gay and frivolous acquaint-sation was chiefly kept up between the ances, the ear might be open to admit the dictates of sober truth; and that the heart, after all its vain, unmeaning flutterings, might, at length, settle on the true centre, and find rest.

My aunt was indefatigable in her attentions, and her visits were received with grateful welcome, as the sweetest solace experienced in that gloomy chamber. The Bible, too, and some religious treatises of the simplest kind, were admitted to a place on the table of one who had heretofore lived in total disregard of the soul and its interests; and Mrs. G. or her younger daughter sometimes read portions selected for them by my aunt; but both observed that the very same passages seemed comparatively unintelligible and unimpressive when read by themselves, to what they were when read to them by their better-informed visitor. There was, certainly, a considerable degree of thoughtfulness and feeling excited; and Mrs. G. in sickness and the near prospect of death, was a very different woman from Mrs. G. in health and prosperity. Still, the occasional absence of the pious visitor, which sometimes unavoidably occurred, or the influence of visitors of an opposite cast, painfully disclosed a sad tendency to relapse into apathy and frivolity. Taking into consideration the disadvantages arising from native character and previous circumstances, charity ventured to hope favourably; but that truly desirable decidedness was never attained, which would warrant the unhesitating conclusion that the object of solicitude had indeed passed from death unto life." I often think of Mrs. G., and even while cherishing the best hope that the case admitted, it grieves me to think how many Mrs. G.'s there are in the world, trifling away their time from day to day in idle visits and unprofitable conversation; and who, until they come to the chamber of sickness and the bed of death, seem entirely to have forgtten that they have souls which will never die, and that time is given them to prepare for eternity.

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Mr. T., a gentleman of talent, science, and literature, was on very friendly terms with my uncle. He sometimes spent an evening with him en famille. These occasions were replete with interest and instruction to all the circle. In addition to his other acquirements, Mr. T. was a man

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gentlemen; my aunt now and then interposing a question, which tended to elicit valuable information for the younger part of the company, or to revive animation if it began to flag. Well do I remember how often Mr. T.'s lively descriptions of foreign scenery, architecture, curiosities, or his anecdotes of celebrated persons, have sent me to search books of geography, topography, or history, with a zest unknown before; or, by linking in interesting associations, have riveted in my mind information already acquired from books. Mr. T. was a student and a lover of the sacred volume, and had a happy way of rendering science and knowledge in general subservient to scriptural truth-either as conducing to confirm, elucidate, or illustrate it. It is a pleasure to me now to associate with certain passages of Scripture some of his descriptions of eastern manners and customs; and though I may have since met with most of the same observations in books, I can never forget having heard Mr. T. relate what he had actually seen and experienced in exact conformity with what the Bible describes. It cannot be doubted that Mr. T. was every way capable of being a very entertaining and instructive companion; and most heads of families about to form a social party, would naturally conclude, as did my uncle and aunt, that they were conferring a general benefit by inviting Mr. T. to become one of the guests. And yet the result did not justify this reasonable expectation. Interesting as he was in a very small circle, when he joined a larger and less strictly select company, he seemed to forget that he ought to use his knowledge and his talents to instruct and enlighten others. He seemed to lay aside his just superiority, and (not by a dignified and benevolent condescension, but by a degrading conformity to the least-informed and most frivolous part of the company) he threw all the weight of his character into the wrong scale. He reminded one of a silly school boy, who defines the term "recreation,' as liberty to depart from everything profitable. He baffled every effort to engage him in rational conversation; and though his powers were such as to draw the attention of the company to whatever he said, it consisted only of trifling jests, anecdotes, and repartees, which, though they might be amusing

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