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THE WATERS DIVIDED.

AN eminent meteorologist, Mr. Daniell, having proved the necessary existence of the turbid state of the aqueous atmosphere, previous to the creation of the firmament, makes the following acute and judicious remarks:

These complicated and beautiful contrivances, by which the waters are collected "above the firmament," and are at the same time "divided from the waters which are below the firmament," are inferior to none of those adaptations of Infinite. Wisdom, which are perpetually striking the inquiring mind, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Had it not been for this nice adjustment of conflicting elements, the clouds and concrete vapours of the sky would have reached from the surface of the earth to the remotest heavens; and the vivifying rays of the sun would never have been able to penetrate through the dense mists of perpetual precipi

tation.

Nor can I here refrain from pointing out a confirmation, which incidentally arises, of the Mosaic account of the creation of that atmosphere whose wonders we have been endeavouring to unravel. The question has been asked, How is it that light is said to have been created on the first day, and day and night to have succeeded each other, when the sun has been described as not having been produced till the fourth day? The sceptic presumptuously replies, This is a palpable contradiction, and the history which propounds it must be false. But Moses records that God created on the first day, the earth covered with water, and did not till its second revolution upon its axis, call the firmament into existence. Now, one result of the previous inquiry has been, that a sphere unequally heated and covered with water, must be enveloped in an atmosphere of steam, which would necessarily be turbid in its whole depth with precipitating moisture. The exposure of such a sphere to the orb of day would produce illumination upon it; that dispersed and equal light, which now penetrates in a cloudy day, and which indeed is "good:" but the glorious source of light could not have been visible from its surface. On the second day, the permanently elastic firmament was produced; and we have seen that the natural consequences of this mixture of gaseous matter with

vapour must have been, that the waters would begin to collect above the firmament, and divide themselves from the waters which were below the firmament. The clouds would thus be confined to definite planes of precipitation, and exposed to the influence of the winds, and still invisible sun. The gathering together of the waters on the third day, and the appearance of dry land, would present a greater heating surface, and a less surface of evaporation, and the atmosphere during this revolution would let fall its excess of condensed moisture; and upon the fourth day it would appear probable, even to our short-sighted philosophy, that the sun would be enabled to dissipate the still-remaining mists, and burst forth with splendour upon the vegetable surface. So far, therefore, is it from being impossible that light should have appeared upon the earth before the appearance of the sun, that the present imperfect state of our knowledge will enable us to affirm, that, if the recorded order of creation be correct, the events must have exhibited themselves in the succession which is described. The argument, therefore, recoils with double force in favour of the inspiration of an account of natural phenomena, which, in all probability, no human mind, in the state of knowledge at the time it was delivered, could have suggested; but which is found to be consistent with facts that a more advanced state of science and experience have brought to light. If, however, it were reasonable to expect that the ways of God should, in all cases, be justified to the knowledge, or rather the ignorance, of man, the boldest philosopher might well pause, before he applied the imperfect test of a progressive philosophy to the determination of the momentous questions involved in these considerations.

DECAY.

THE crazy habitation of the body will decay. You may repair the broken tiles and damaged roof; you may rub up the dim window-lights, and oil the rusty hinges of the doors; you may patch up and plaster over the shattered walls, and paint the outside of the tenement, till the passer-by wonders at its fresh appearance; but, for all this, the old house must come down at last. G.

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IN Syria, the vintage begins about the middle of September, and continues for about two months. It is earlier in Palestine, where the, grapes are sometimes ripe even in June or July; this arises probably from a triple pruning, in which case there is also a third vintage. The first is in August, the second in September, and the third in October.

shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine," Micah vi. 15.

To the custom of treading grapes and olives, reference is frequently made by the inspired writers. Thus the glorious conqueror, who appeared in vision to Isaiah, said, "I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in Joyous, indeed, was the season when mine anger, and trample them in my the grapes were plucked off, and carried fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled to the wine press, which was built in the upon my garments, and I will stain all vineyard, whose site was carefully chosen my raiment," Isaiah lxiii. 3. As the in fields of a loose, crumbling soil, on a clothes of the treaders were sprinkled rich plain, a sloping hill rising with a with the juice of the grapes, so were the gentle ascent, or, where the acclivity was garments of the Redeemer with the very steep, in terraces turned as much as blood of his enemies, who were as easily possible from the setting sun. The wine and completely crushed by his almighty presses were either built of stone, or power, as are the full ripe clusters of the hewn out of a large rock. The grapes vine, beneath the feet of men. were thrown into the upper part, to be same figure is employed in the book of trodden by men, and the juice flowed out Revelation, xiv. 18-20, to express the into receptacles beneath, as appears from fearful destruction which awaits the adverthe engraving. The treading of the wine, saries of God and of man. Happy, unpress was laborious, but it was perform-speakably happy are they, in every age, ed with singing, and sometimes accom- who are numbered among the friends of panied with musical instruments. Christ!

Oil of olives was expressed in the same way, before the invention of mills. The existence of this practice in Palestine is evident, from the language of Moses: "Let Asher dip his foot in oil;" and from the threatening, "Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou

IGNORANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The

WITH regard to the origin of man, and the different species of animals, all that the wisest of the wise could say on the subject was, that the animate creation

came out of a great cave in the north country, where their footsteps, said they, are still to be seen in the hardened rock. Once I heard a man of influence telling his story on the subject; I, of course, could not say that I believed the wondrous tale, but very mildly hinted, that he might be misinformed; on which he became indignant, and swore by his forefathers and his king, that he had visited the spot, and paid a tax to see the wonder, and that consequently his testimony was indubitable. I very soon cooled his rage by telling him, that as I should likely one day visit those regions, I should certainly think myself very fortunate, if I could get him as a guide to that wonderful source of animated nature. Smiling, he said, "Ha, and I shall show you the footsteps of the very first man.' This is the sum total of the knowledge which the Bechuanas possessed of the past, prior to the period when they were visited by your missionaries.

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they think when they hear you talking about dead men living again ?" To this allow me to add another of the many facts that I might give, which will illustrate their universal ignorance and darkness on a subject to which most nations give credence. I visited a chief some hundred miles beyond our missionary station at Lattakoo. This chief was illustrious for war and conquest, and had become the terror of the interior. The visit at the time was considered a hazardous one; but the veteran chief received me with great respect, and treated me with much kindness. In one of my interviews with this man of war and blood, while seated amidst fifty or sixty of his nobles and counsellors, including rain-makers, and others of the same order, in the course of my remarks the ear of the monarch caught the startling sound of a resurrection. "What!" he exclaimed with astonishment, "what are these words about the dead? the dead arise!" "Yes," was my reply; "all the dead Let us now look at their measure of shall arise." "Will my father arise ?" knowledge with regard to futurity. It "Yes," I answered; your father will is generally believed, that all the nations arise." "Will all the slain in battle of the globe have some indistinct notions arise ?" "Yes." "And will all that respecting a future state. Not so with have been killed and devoured by lions, the Bechuana tribes inhabiting the in- tigers, hyenas, and crocodiles, again reterior of Southern Africa; for among vive?" "Yes; and come to judgment." them there did not exist one single idea "And will those whose bodies have been on the subject of immortality. That left to waste and wither on the desert man possessed a never-dying soul, and plains, and scattered to the winds, again that man should rise again, and live for arise ?” he asked, with a kind of triumph, ever, was to the Bechuanas preposterous as if he had fairly fixed me. Yes,' I in the extreme; and I assure you, that replied; "not one shall be left behind." had the missionaries not shown, by the Turning to his people, to whom he spoke tenor of their lives, that they were men with a stentorian voice, "Hark! ye as sincere as they were cautious in what-wise men, whoever is wise among you, ever they said or did, they would have been viewed as madmen, worthy only of being cast into a chasm, and covered up with stones; the ordinary punishment of the madman!

A native of respectability, and of quick and superior understanding, who had a very high esteem for me, after hearing me frequently endeavouring to impress the doctrine of immortality on the minds of his villagers, among whom I was sojourning, turning to me, and with great seriousness, said, "Friend, I fear greatly that the people will think you are mad, if you continue to teach that there is another world, and that the dead shall arise; the thing was never heard of before, and you must know that the thing is impossible. The people consider that you are wise and good, but what will

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the wisest of past generations, did ever your ears hear such strange and unheardof news?" And addressing himself to one, whose countenance and attire showed that he had seen many years, and was something more than common, "Have you ever heard such strange news as these ?" "No," was the sage's answer: "I had supposed that I possessed all the knowledge of the country, for I have heard the tales of many generations. I am in the place of the ancients, but my knowledge is confounded with the words of his mouth; verily, he must have lived long before the period when we were born." The chief then turning, and ad. dressing himself to me, "Father," he said, laying his hand on my breast, "I love you much. Your visit and your presence have made my heart white as

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milk. The words of your mouth are sweet like the honey; but the words of a resurrection are too great to be heard. I do not wish to hear about the dead rising again! The dead cannot arise! The dead shall not arise!" "Why," I inquired, can so great a man refuse knowledge, and turn away from wisdom? Tell me, my friend, why I must not add to words, and speak of a resurrection!" Raising his arm, which had been strong in battle, and quivering his hand as if grasping a spear, he replied, "I have slain my thousands, and shall they arise?" Never before did the light of Divine revelation dawn upon his savage mind, and, of course, his conscience had never accused him, no not for one of the thousands of deeds of rapine and murder which had marked his course through a long career. Men and brethren, is not this truly walking in darkness, and dwelling in the land of the shadow of death?

Probably, by this time, there may be some present, who are ready to say that the natives in the interior of Southern Africa are nations of socialists. Yes, indeed they are; for if ignorance of the adorable Jehovah, and of man's redemption, and of endless bliss and endless woe, constitute the leading features of socialism, they are truly socialists of the first order! The socialists of this country are only sinking into those múrky and doleful regions where such nations have already sunk; and if the modern disciples of that self-degrading, self-destroying system, would only send over a deputation, they might pick up some hints to enable them to accelerate their downward progress. Ah! they would receive an abundance of awful warnings sufficient to deter the boldest blasphemer among them from taking another step towards that dreadful vortex of infidelity. No language can depict their real state and character like the words of inspiration, Rom. iii. 10-18.-Rev. Robert Moffat.

"IT SERVES HIM RIGHT." My cousin Frank once met with a severe accident, which confined him for several weeks to the bed or the sofa. It happened, as we were returning from a spot on the outskirts of the estate, where Frank had been designing the plan of a cottage for one of the labourers, to be built on a slip of land given him by my uncle. George Collins and his wife had been long in my uncle's service, and

were very much esteemed in the family. Hence my uncle was quite willing for Frank to carry out his good-natured proposal of drawing a plan, and marking out the ground. Frank was a universal favourite; for he loved to do any body a good turn. Even his recreations had some useful or benevolent object. He sought and found his pleasures in promoting the happiness and comfort of others. It was one of the great advantages of my childhood and youth to be admitted as a sharer in his schemes and pursuits. The evening before we were going to Wood's-end, on the abovementioned business, Arthur invited Frank to accompany him for a day's shooting with some friends of his, who lived a few miles from my uncle's. Frank declined the invitation; partly on account of his prior engagement, and partly, I believe, because he knew my uncle had not a very exalted opinion of some of the party with whom Arthur was going. This somewhat offended Arthur. He ridiculed Frank for making such a fuss, as he called it, about keeping an engagement with a poor man. For his part, he thought that Frank degraded himself by having any thing to do with such people at any time; and at all events, if he chose to exercise his benevolence, and play the amateur architect, he might surely take his own time; the man could as well wait upon him another day. Frank replied, that the man had obtained a holiday on purpose to meet him, and might not be able to get another day. Besides, he wanted to set about his building directly, to get it covered in before winter. He would not, on any account, disappoint him: indeed, he considered an engagement voluntarily entered into, to confer a kindness on an inferior in rank and station, yet more binding than an engagement to meet a company of equals for one's own gratification. Sentiments like these, Arthur could not at all enter into. He went off in a huff, wishing Frank much joy of his plebeian acquaintance, and charging him, by all means, to be punctual in keeping his appointments. Why Arthur should speak with so much contempt of an intelligent, respectable, and exemplary cottager, I could not well understand; especially as he never seemed to think himself degraded by talking familiarly with captain Tankerville's groom, who was by no means the most respectable of his order.

Arthur started at break of day; and I believe was scarcely thought of again until he made his appearance in the evening. I have often noticed of Arthur Longley, and other people of his stamp, that though, while present, they make a great bustle, and seem to draw general attention, in absence they are soon forgotten. Nobody seems to think of them as being wanted to complete the pleasure of a cheerful happy circle; still less does any one sigh for their presence and assistance to help them out of any trouble that may occur. It was very different with Frank. When absent, he was sure to be missed. He was so notionable, and active, and good humoured, that his presence was always welcome, and his absence considered a drawback on the enjoyment of the pleasantest party. Scarcely a day passed without its being said by his friends, in their little perplexities and troubles, "Let us ask Frank;" or, "If Frank were here, he would help us." Frank was not one who sought applause; but by rendering himself amiable and serviceable, as a natural consequence he was beloved. Even the servants of the family seemed to look upon it as a pleasure to do any thing for Frank; but a hardship to do any thing for Arthur. I hope these opposite examples, set before my eyes in early childhood, were not altogether in vain.

But I was going to tell about our visit to the acre at Wood's-end, where George Collins was to erect his cottage, and in returning from which Frank met with his accident. We started soon after breakfast, furnished with camp stools, drawing implements, and a huge basket of sandwiches and tarts, which we then thought quite superfluous, but which the kind-hearted and forecasting Mrs. Rogers insisted on our taking, and which, after the lapse of four or five hours, proved very acceptable. We were busy and happy till the dusk of evening came on, and then Mrs. Collins entreated us to allow her husband and son to see us home; at least to see us safe through the wood, where, according to tradition, robberies had been committed; though nothing of the kind had occurred for the last twenty years. To make the good woman easy, we accepted the proffered service, and set forward, preceded by the boy with a stable lantern, and followed by the father with our baggage. I do suspect that the stories we had been hearing had some effect on our imagina

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tions and our nerves. We were not without emotions of terror in passing through the wood; and, in truth, danger awaited us, though not the kind of danger we had been led to apprehend. Poor Frank stumbled over the roots of a tree which protruded above the level of the path, and threw himself forward down a hollow place with such violence, as completely stunned him. Real troubles effectually dispel imaginary terrors; and despite the dread of robbers, from which I was not before altogether free, I ran through the wood alone, nor once stopped till I reached my uncle's house, to call assistance for my suffering cousin. A carriage was immediately sent to convey him home, and a man on horseback to the town to fetch a surgeon. During the short interval that elapsed between my leaving the wood and returning, Frank had recovered from his swoon, and been carried by George Collins and his son to the roadside. They assisted in placing him in the carriage, and then, with countenances expressive of deep concern and sorrow, took their leave. An hour afterwards they were at the hall gates, watching for the departure of the surgeon; for they could not go to bed in peace without knowing what the doctor said of the good young gentleman, who had met this accident in consequence of his kind exertions to serve them. My heart warmed at this mark of grateful solicitude in the poor family, and I was glad to impart to them a share of the satisfaction and joy with which I had heard the opinion of the surgeon, that although my cousin had sustained a very severe sprain, and a violent contusion, there was every reason to hope no permanent ill consequences would ensue; but that, with proper attention, he would soon be restored to ease and activity. Just after this, Arthur returned from his day's pleasure, and hearing what had happened, instead of sympathizing in the general concern of the family, illnaturedly exclaimed, "Well, it serves him just right; if he had been with me grouse shooting, it would not have happened." At that moment, Mrs. Rogers came, and asked me whether I had taken care of Mr. Frank's valuable diamond shirt pin, for it was not to be found among his clothes. I had seen nothing of the pin; but knowing that Frank prized it very highly, not only on account of its intrinsic worth, which was considerable, but as a family relic, given

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