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do with. It is this: God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.' What does this mean?"

A short pause intervened, and the old African replied as follows-"Master, if I have been rightly informed, it has not been more than a day or two since you began to read the Bible, and, if I remember rightly, that passage is away yonder in Romans. Long before you get to that—at the very beginning of the gospel, it is said, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Now, have you done with that? The truth is, you read entirely too fast. You must begin again, and take things as God has been pleased to place them. When you have done all you are told to do in Matthew, come and we'll talk about Romans."-United States' Paper.

THE NAUTILUS.

"Learn of the little Nautilus to sail."

A shell fish, of which Bonani observes, that it is very well named from the Greek vaurios, which signifies both a ship and a sailor; for the shells of all the nautili carry the appearance of a ship with a very high poop. It is furnished with something analagous to oars and a sail. Some imagine, that men first learned the art of navigation from this animal.

"By looking unto Jesus, the Christian rises," says the Rev. S. Stevenson, "like the Nautilus, from his dark and native depths, to the pure atmosphere and warm sunshine of an upper world; spreads forth his tiny sails of faith, and hope, and love, and is gently wafted over the waters of life, by the balmy gales of grace. Onward he glides, beautiful in movement, and joyful in his new existence, so long as the heavy waters of this world are excluded; that moment he imbibes them, he sinks. Be not conformed, then, dear Christians, to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."

"READ AND YOU WILL KNOW."

R. C..

I HAVE been lately reading again the Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Sir William Jones, by Lord Teignmouth; and I am increasingly impressed with the immense obligations many

have been and are under to pious mothers for their earliest, their best instructions. Will you insert the following brief extract for your young, and I know, from the sample in my own house, often delighted readers.

"In the plan adopted by Mrs. Jones, for the instruction of her son, afterwards Sir William, she proposed to lead his mind insensibly to knowledge and exertion, by exciting his curiosity, and directing it to useful objects. To his incessant importunities for information on casual topics of conversation, which she watchfully stimulated, she constantly replied, "Read and you will know,” a maxim, to the observance of which, he always acknowledged himself indebted for his future attainments. By this method his desire to learn became as eager as her wish to teach." And in our days, what ample stores of knowledge are prepared, and prepared in every form, for the guidance of the young. These are as the price put into the hand to obtain wisdom. May our dear young people have hearts to value and improve by these means. Pimlico:

R. H. SHEPHERD.

HEATHEN IGNORANCE IN ENGLAND.

A LAD of twelve years of age, found guilty of stealing two ducks, at the late Salisbury assizes, was questioned by the judge, before he passed sentence, as to what he had learnt. He replied, "Nothing;" and to other questions, stated that he had never been at any school, nor in any church or chapel !

He was then asked if he ever said his prayers? He answered that he did; and that he had done so the previous night. "Well," said the judge, "and to whom do you pray?" "I don't know," replied the boy.

"You pray to some one, don't you?" said the judge. "Not that I know on," was the lamentable answer.

AN IDLE HEART.

"IF the intellect require to be provided with perpetual objects, what must it be with the affections? Depend upon it the most fatal idleness is that of the heart; and the man who feels weary of life, may be sure that he does not love his fellow-creatures as he Ought."

USE OF WRITING.

"USE the pen; there is no magic in it, but it prevents the mind from staggering about."

TO ALL OUR READERS.

It will afford our friends and readers much gratification to learn, that at the last meeting of the Committee for conducting this Magazine, the sum of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS was presented to the under-mentioned Societies:

Church Missionary Society.....
London Missionary Society.
Moravian Missionary Society.
Baptist Missionary Society
Religious Tract Society.....

20

20

2220

£100

The previous grants from this Committee to Missionary and Educational Societies, without reference to denominational distinctions, amount to Three Thousand seven hundred and ninety pounds. It ought, therefore, we think, to be borne in mind by all christians, directly or indirectly connected with any of these institutions, that they owe us their best endeavors to promote the sale of the Youths' Magazine. We are not asking much, when we state that an accession of purchasers would extend our means of usefulness; and we sincerely hope our friends will take the hint, and by their kind support and recommendation of the work, enable its conductors successfully to compete with the very numerous publications now poured forth by the press.

BUTTER IN THE EAST.

THE ancient way of making butter in Arabia and Palestine, was, probably, nearly the same as is still practised by the Bedoween Arabs and Moors, in Barbary, and which is thus described by Dr. Shaw:-"Their method of making butter, is by putting the milk or cream into a goat's skin turned inside out, which they sus pend from one side of the tent to the other, and then pressing to and fro in one uniform direction, they quickly occasion the separation of the unctuous and wheyey parts." "So," observes Mr.

Stewart, in his Journey to Mequinez, "the butter of the Moors, in the empire of Morocco, which is bad, is made of all the milk as it comes from the cow, by putting it into a skin, and shaking it, till the butter separates from it.”

Judea is ofton extolled as a land flowing with milk and honey. And the surprise of the mere English reader at finding butter-milk mentioned in scripture, as a dainty beverage, will, perhaps cease, when he is informed by Mr. Stewart, above quoted, that the modern Moors are so fond of butter-milk, which is their chief desert, that when they would speak of the extraordinary sweetness or agreeableness of any thing, they compare it to that. See Gen. xviii. 8. 2 Samuel xvii. 29. Judges iv. 19. v. 25.

R.C.

CONSTITUENTS OF THE HUMAN FRAME.

THE human body is composed of the same substances as those which constitute large and essential parts of the mineral kingdom; nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen; potash, soda, phosphorus, sulphur, lime, and iron. DR. SMITH.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED.

THE POOR AND WISE MAN.

Eccles. ix. 15. "Now there was found in it (the city,) a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city."

WHEN Alexander the Great was about to destroy the city Lampracus, his old master, Anaximenes came out to meet him. Alexander suspecting his design, declared that he would not do any thing he might ask of him. "Then," said Anaximenes, "I desire you will destroy this city." This instance of prompt sagacity saved the city.

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME."

Eccles. x. 20. "Curse not the king, no not in thy thought, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice; and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."

By some strange and unthought of way, treason though ever so secret, may be divulged and punished. With the Persians, were certain officers, called the king's ears, and the emperor's eyes, by means of whom the king was believed to be a god, since by the eyes and ears of others, he knew what was every where transacted.

BREAD CAST ON THE WATERS.

Eccles. xi. 1. "Cast thy bread upon the waters."

THE meaning is, "Cast thy grain upon moist ground;" or, according to others, "Cast thy seed upon the earth before the rainy season;" the ground in hot climates being then like dust, it might be considered as thrown away. But the prudent man knows, that in time of drought, the clouds are filling, and that as soon as they are full, they must pour down rain upon the earth; therefore he sows his seed in expectation of a crop, which he is not to see immediately, but only "after many days."

WRITING ON THE HAND.

Isaiah xlix. 16. "Behold I have engraven thee on the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

THIS is spoken of Jerusalem, in allusion to the eastern custom of tracing out on their hands not the names, but the sketches of certain eminent cities or places, and then rubbing them with the powder of the hennah, and thereby making the marks perpetual. The Septuagint version is, "Behold I have painted thy walls upon my hands."

THE EARTHQUAKE.

A GREAT deal of excitement and alarm prevailed during the past month, in London and its immediate neighbourhood, especially amongst the ill-informed and superstitious, respecting an earthquake which it was announced would take place on the 17th, and destroy the whole of London and its suburbs.

Wicked and unjustifiable as such predictions are, they are certainly no worse than the raillery and fool-hardihood with which they are met in not a few instances. Infidelity, the greatest coward in any real danger, has impudently challenged the assertion, as if it were impossible that such a thing could happen; and worldly wisdom and false philosophy have brought forth all their resources to shew that even the age and character of the stiff clayey soil, on which London and its neighbourhood are situate, are such as to preclude the occurrence of an earthquake!

Whilst, therefore, we are far from believing that it is in the

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