probably never been in possession of so much property before. Many in her situation would have felt strongly inclined to keep what she had found, but being now influenced by the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus, Jean was enabled not only to resist the temptation, but to derive the purest delight in acting according to his rule, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."

The northern extremity of the island of P— W— is bounded by a bold barrier of perpendicular rocks of various altitudes, being in some places ten, and in others thirty or forty fathoms high. This wild region becomes, during the summer season, the haunt of immense numbers of sea-fowl of various kinds. Among these, the auk species is by far the most numerous. These birds are nearly as large as a hen, but not quite so round and plump. Their colour is a mixture of black, light blue, and white; and their eggs, which are of the same colour, are considerably larger than those of the common hen. The face of the precipice at various heights is relieved by ledges of rock, protruding in some places ten inches, and in others more than a foot. Upon these ledges the auks are to be seen, when a side view can be got of any part of the precipice, presenting the appearance of a great variety of strings of light blue beads, attached to the face of the rock by way of ornament. Should a large stone be thrown over the rock, not a bird will stir until it has fallen into the water, when they instantly rise like a cloud over your head: and, should you be an attentive spectator, you will not fail to observe that an equal number of them at the same time have taken a downward direction, and with the swiftness of an arrow pierced the surface of the water. Indeed, this downward flight is so rapid, that a stranger is not likely to observe it; the only indication that such a movement has taken place being a white streak made upon the sea, where the birds have entered the water. But, should the sun be shining, and the bottom of the sea be of a light colour, you can see them distinetly winging their way below the water, apparently as swiftly, and with as much ease, as if they were aloft in the air. In the absence of the birds, the imaginary strings of light blue beads are still to be seen on the face of the precipice, with this difference, that the beads are greatly reduced in size. These are the eggs of the birds, not grouped together in threes and fours, as in the nests of other birds, but every one lying by itself upon the bare rock. When the birds return, each takes possession only of one egg. Thus we learn that the auk rears only one bird at a time; indeed, she is never seen in company with more than one young bird. The wisdom and goodness of God are strikingly displayed in the provisions he has made for this interesting bird. All the supplies of the auk must be brought from the sea, and it is so formed, as to be able with facility to traverse at all seasons the bottom of the deep, where she finds an abundance of food. These birds are, consequently, always found in excellent condition; and, during the summer months, become a very acceptable article of food to such as have courage enough to visit their aërial abodes.

Respecting the habits of this bird, islanders differ much in their

opinions. I have more than once seen a boat's crew completely divided upon this point; one party declaring that the auk was the most cruel and the most unnatural bird belonging to the sea; that they had frequently seen her upon the face of the precipice belabouring her young one until it screamed in agony, and persisting in her cruel inflictions till the little sufferer was compelled to seek refuge from its unnatural> parent, by half flying, half tumbling, the distance of twenty or thirty fathoms into the sea. The other party, at the same time, maintained that no bird could be more kind and attentive to her young one than the auk; that they had often seen that bird on the face of the precipice spreading her wings, and crouching before her young one, and coaxing and caressing in such a way as to induce it to step upon her back, when she instantly, with outspread wings, dropped herself into the air, and in a few seconds gently shoved her young charge into the watery: element, in which it was henceforth destined to shift for itself. The same party also declared that the auk had been seen carrying her young one back from the sea to the precipice. Both parties, I believe, were only stating what they had seen, and what they believed to be true. The first descent of the young bird is probably always accomplished upon the parent's back; but when the wings become capable of carrying its own weight, such assistance is unnecessary, and the parent bird is led instinctively to force its offspring to exercise those powers with which Divine Wisdom and Goodness has endowed it.

Nor is the auk less attentive to the training of its young one after it is able to move in the waters. Being several years ago in one of our fishing sloops, and hearing a strange kind of noise, I called to the man at the helm to tell me the cause. "Oh, nothing at all," replied he, "it is only a young auk that has lost its mother." I stepped on deck. There was not a breath of wind; and the vast expanse of waters with which our little bark was surrounded being tinged by the rays of the setting sun, reminded me of the "sea of glass mingled with fire." And there was the creature with outstretched neck, and screaming at the top of its voice, now rapidly darting in this direction, and now in that. "Where can the mother be?" inquired I. "At the bottom," replied the skipper. "She is down seeking food for it." He was mistaken; it was not meal time, but the hour of training. His words were hardly uttered, when up bolted the mother. But instead of permitting it to approach her, she continued for some time to swim rapidly around it, and frequently to dart down among the water, apparently for the purpose of inducing it to follow her example. At last, as if moved with pity, she drew near to it in a coaxing manner, and uttering sounds evidently expressive of tenderness; and having allowed the little creature to mount upon her back, and to take hold of the feathers of her neck, she dived with her load into the deep, where she continued for a considerable time; and no sooner did she reappear, than the young one, leaping from its parent's back, darted away from her, and, half swimming, half flying, along the surface of the water, it flapped its wings and gambolled, as if the submarine voyage had thrown it into an ecstacy of delight.

It was the discovery of such habits in the king of birds, that caused Moses to exclaim, "He led him about; he instructed him; he kept

him as the apple of his eye. over her young, spreadeth them on her wings; so the

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth Lord alone did lead him."-Deut. xxxii. 10. (To be continued.)

NATIONAL SINS.

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COMMUNITIES, as well as individuals, may have their characteristic and besetting sins. A nation may be " proud," like Moab-or "treacherous" like Judalı—or given to "backsliding," like Israel. The persons composing it may be "liars," like the Cretans-or oppressors," like the Egyptians or drunkards," like the Ephraimites-or "soothsayers," like the Philistines. Their land, like Chaldea, may be "a land of graven images"-its" princes rebellious"-and its " people mad upon their idols." A city may be licentious, like Sodom-or" bloody," like Jerusalem—or "wholly given to idolatry," like Athens. A family, like that of Eli, may be a community of sensualists. Churches even may be distinguished by their characteristic sins-by formality, like that of Sardis-or instability, like that of Ephesus- —or lukewarmness, like that of Laodicea -or impurity of communion, like those of Pergamos and Thyatira. The house of God itself may become a den of thieves,-and even the world, as a body, may be seen "wondering after" some prevailing form of iniquity. Communities, too, like individuals, may be subjected to temporal punishment for their sins." For these they may be "spoiled"-or "broken in pieces”—or "thrashed." For these, they may be “plucked up" or "sifted-or "devoured. On families, God may pour out his "fury." From churches he may remove the candlestick." cities, he may make the "memorial to perish." Upon nations he may "stretch out the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness"-rendering them" a desolation, and an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse." "In the city, and in the field,”—in "their basket," and in "their store," in "the fruit of their body," and in "the fruit of their land ;"-in "the increase of their kine," and in "the flocks of their sheep," he may "send upon them cursing, vexation, and rebuke.” "With madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart ;”- -" with terror, and with consumption, and with the burning ague ;"—" with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew," God may smite them, until he make of them “ a perpetual end." Nations, for the sins of nations,-churches, for those of churches, cities, for those of cities,-families, for those of families; may, in their collective capacity, have "executed upon them the judgments written in his word." It being so then, that a community, as such, may be so generally characterised by some one prevailing species of iniquity, that it may be truly said of it, that it is the sin of that community; and God being accustomed to visit on such; temporal calamities for their sin, we can have little doubt as to whether we are warranted to say, of such communities as may have brought upon themselves his judgments, that, in their collective capacity, they are guilty. Does it follow from this, however, that in every instance in which the

collective body is thus guilty, that each of the individuals composing it is guilty? Assuredly not; for,

I. No mere natural relationship between one man, and another, or between an individual, and a community, can of itself imply a participation in their guilt. It may be a father, or a mother; a sister, or a brother; a son, or daughter, who has committed the iniquity-the relationship may be such as to imply a community, both of property and persons—one in virtue of which we inherit the name and likeness, nay, even the natural depravity of another, and yet we may have no share in his actual guilt. It was in virtue of covenant representation that we sinned, and fell in our first parents' first transgression. We are not involved in the guilt of their succeeding acts. Neither are we held guilty of the sins of those from whom we are immediately descended. "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son.' And so is it with every other relationship of a merely natural kind-however close its bonds-however intimate its fellowship-however tender its endearments; it does not, and it cannot imply any community of actions. Nor can the fact of our belonging to a civil community, of itself, imply a participation in its sins. We may have been born and reared in it, and in consequence we may have become sharers of its civil privileges, as well as possessors of its soil,—to the members of it, we may stand in the relation of fellow countrymen, and towards them we may cherish the feelings of brethren

the affectionate partialities of those who are members of one family; but still the circumstance cannot imply that we are sharers in their guilt. Lot belonged to Sodom at a time when its sin was such, as to provoke Jehovah to destroy it; but, nevertheless, he is designated

the righteous Lot." The crucifixion of Messiah was unquestionably a national sin of the Jewish people; and yet there was one man at least who "consented not to the counsel and deed of them" who crucified him. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord;" and it is said of him that he was a just man and perfect in his generation, and walked with God" at a time when "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and when the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, and that continually." Even of churches, the membership cannot of itself imply a share in their guilt; since "in Sardis there were a few who had not defiled their garments," and who in consequence were to walk in white "with their Redeemer, for they were worthy."

II. Participation in the calamities consequent on the sins of others, whether in those consequent on the sin of an individual, or that of a community, can necessarily imply a participation in their guilt. All suffering being the natural and appointed "wages" of transgression; death having entered the world by sin, wherever calamity is seen overtaking an individual, we may warrantably conclude that that individual is a sinner. It by no means follows, however, that in every instance in which we see a divine judgment coming as the immediate consequence of some one particular iniquity, we are warranted to infer, that every sufferer has been a sinner in that particular case. The wife and children of the profligate often experience terrible calami

ties as the fruit of his licentious and intemperate behaviour; but would it be just to infer from this, that they must be partakers of his crimes? The righteous portion of a nation oftentimes participate largely in the judgments sent from Heaven, in consequence of the transgressions of its rulers, or those of the majority of its people; but would it be reasonable to maintain, that on this account they are necessarily sharers in the guilt? Sinners, undoubtedly, as all members of all churches on earth in one sense are, and incapable as without exception they are, of answering God for one of a thousand of their transgressions; it is not surely true, that in no instance in which Jehovah has visited a church for some particular sin, there has been one individual found guiltless of that sin. It was a terrible disaster that befell the army of Joshua before Ai; when, in consequence of Achan's covetousness, they fled before the men of Ai, and thirty-six individuals lost their lives in the retreat. Still more fearful was the judgment that came on Israel from the Lord, when, in consequence of David numbering the people, seventy thousand men died by pestilence in three days; but to account for the fate of the sufferers on those occasions, can it be necessary to believe, that every individual of the former number was a participant in Achan's covetousness, and every one of the latter, in the vanity of David? It was an awful imprecation which was uttered by the Jewish multitude in regard to Christ, when they said, "his blood be on us and on our children;" and strikingly has it been answered on the posterity of that infatuated, and unbelieving people; but it was as inheriting the spirit and walking in the steps of their fathers, that the children made their sins their own.

III. No mere occasional connexion between the conduct of one man and the sin of another, or that of a community, can necessarily imply a participation in their guilt. There is a law, in virtue of which the minds of no two persons can come in contact, without leaving an impression on one another-a law so influential that every deed we do, every word we utter, every thought and feeling even, which gives expression to our countenance, is telling, or may be telling, on the character and destiny of others. It being so, then, there can be little doubt as to whether one man may be the occasion of another man's sin. It does not follow from this, however, that, in every instance in which he may be the occasion, he must be the guilty occasion of it. Actions in themselves not only lawful, but obligatory, are capable of misconstruction. Language in itself not only unexceptionable, but unavoidable, is liable to be misinterpreted. Behaviour the most holy and unblameable before God, may nevertheless be so perverted as to become an encitement to evil, rather than to good. "The grace of our God may be turned to lasciviousness." "The commandment which was ordained to life, may be found unto death." Apostles even, when making manifest the savour of Christ's name, were sometimes to others "the savour of death unto death." When Simon the sorcerer 66 saw that, through laying on of the hands of the apostles" Peter and John," the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money." When the people at Lystra saw that Paul and Barnabas had healed the man impotent in his feet, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, the gods are come down