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which for centuries have been dormant :-all these are matters daily before us.

Now let the young not only use, but value and improve the means of knowledge, which are now within their power, and especially so in reference to the diffusion of "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ :" let every subject which the young study, have this bearing. When they read the pleasing records of missions, let their hearts bound with joy, at the thought and prospect of the recovery of the word of GOD! let their study of geography be greatly mingled with a grateful recollection of mission stations, and "the ambassadors of peace," who have carried the gospel to the heathen; and then let them daily bless God, that their days and years are spending at a period when the knowledge of Christ is widely spreading-" the evening when it shall be light."

Pimlico.

R. H. S

THE PITT DIAMOND.

MR. THOMAS PITT, Governor of Madras, who died in 1727, purchased in India the celebrated Pitt Diamond. He was the son of a trader, and a native of the West of England. The price he gave was 48,000 pagodas, for which the Regent of France paid £135,000. It cost £5,000. cutting, and the chips and filings were valued at £7,000. It weighed 136 carats, or 1 oz. 2 dwts. 18 grains. A commission of French jewellers valued it at 12 millions of livres, (about £500,000). It is one inch and one-sixth long, and three-quarters of an inch thick, and was placed among the crown jewels of France. The slander uttered against Governor Pitt, in consequence of his good fortune, induced him to vindicate himself from the charge of having obtained this jewel surreptitiously, by publishing the details of the transaction, which fully cleared his character from anything like unfair dealing.

Robert, the elder son of Mr. Thomas Pitt, succeeded his father in the possession of Boconnoc, an estate near Fowey in Cornwall. He had three sons, of whom the eldest was the first Lord Camelford, whose son fell in a duel, and the youngest, the great Earl of Chatham, father of William Pitt, for many years Prime Minister of England. The house and grounds of Boconnoc became subsequently the property of the late Lord Grenville.

There is a pearl described in the sacred Scriptures, a jewel of immense value, which is by many disesteemed and neglected. It has the power not only of enriching the possessor, but of rendering him completely happy; preserving him from danger; comforting him in trouble; and filling him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Under the conviction of its excellency, many have renounced all the advantages of high birth, all the proud distinctions of literature, all the attractions of pleasure and gaiety, that they might possess it. One, especially, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, a pharisee of the pharisees, no sooner beheld it, than he counted all things else but loss-of no value when compared with this jewel. Let the reader remember that it is essential to his happiness, yea more, to his everlasting salvation. Go then, lose not a moment; for in possessing this precious stone, you will possess durable riches in righteousness. Christ is the matchless pearl, the invaluable jewel: His blood procured the pardon, and His righteousness, the justification and glorification of all that believe. Happy the youth who early consecrates

Penryn.

His days to God, who seeks the precious pearl,
The costly stone, of price and worth immense !
He, when the joys of earth shall fade away,

And pleasure's voice is mute, and honour's wreath
Has withered, shall possess, in God, of joy

A fulness, and of riches countless stores,
Which no rude hand shall e'er despoil, nor time
Diminish; while eternity's full weight

Of glory, shall impart enduring bliss,

The smiles of God, the ecstasies of Heaven.

R. C.

CORNELIUS, THE NEGRO.

A NEGRO, named Cornelius, lived on an estate in the island of St. Croix, West Indies. Forty years before his death, he became concerned for the salvation of his soul, though he did not wholly forsake his heathenish customs. He once went to an entertainment, where he was found by his teacher, who gently chid him for being seen in such company, at which he was much offended, and said, "What is that to the white man? and, what do I care for him?" He resolved not to go again to the missionaries; but

his heart was not at rest, he altered his mind and went, and after a time, gave evidence that he was a true convert.

Cornelius was a clever negro, and could speak four languages, and was much prized as a slave. But he longed to be free; first he worked hard to save enough money to buy the freedom of his wife; he then by dint of labour, purchased his own and that of his six children. Not satisfied with procuring the liberty of their bodies, he was more concerned to deliver their souls from the slavery of sin; for this he laboured and prayed, and God so blessed him, that he became the instrument of the conversion of every one of his family.

This noble-minded negro also put forth all his energies to help the teachers. Even before he was free, after working all the day, he would spend the whole night in visiting his coloured brethren to do them good. On his death-bed, he called his children and grand-children, and addressed them, charging them not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but to give soul and body to the Redeemer, so that he might say at last, Here, Lord, is thy poor unworthy Cornelius, and the children whom thou hast given him. He gently fell asleep in Jesus, at the age of eighty-four years.-Missionary Book for the Young.

Penryn.

SWARTZ, THE APOSTLE OF THE EAST.

R. C.

THE REV. CHRISTIAN FREDERIC SWARTZ, called "the Apostle of the East," was a native of Germany, and went out as a Missionary, in 1750, to the East Indies. He had, at first, many difficulties, but by patient labour and prayer, they were mostly overcome. Many of the heathen were brought to love the Saviour, and in some cases whole families were converted. He gave much attention to children, and by his kindness won the good opinion of the natives. In a time of famine he bought rice, and with this saved numbers from perishing, who were lying about in the open roads. A whole tribe, noted for their robberies, were brought by him to leave off their practices, and attend to the culture of their lands, so that the part of the country in which they lived became safe to the traveller. So much was he esteemed, that an Indian Prince appointed him to be guardian to his son, the heir to the throne. On his death-bed he was visited by the reigning Prince, who was much

affected by the words of the dying missionary. The prince was also present at his funeral, shed tears over the corpse, covered it with eloth of gold, and shortly afterwards erected a marble monument to his memory. Swartz laboured in India forty-eight years, and many were converted by his means to the faith of the Gospel. One of his converts said of him, "Father Swartz was full of love to Christ; he used to preach of the love of the Redeemer till he wept, and then his hearers soon became Christians."-Missionary Book for the Young. Penryn.

R. C.

SIN.

COWPER has well described the spirit of a christian in representing sin to be the only thing he hates. If we could but get rid of this principle, earth would become heaven. It must be indeed horrible if He whose name is love, can forego his very nature with reference to it, and characterize it as that abominable thing which He hates.

INFUSORIA.

THE term infusoria has been given to some of those minute forms of animal life, which are only to be seen by the aid of very powerful microscopes. Though so exceedingly small that forty-one millions occupy no more room than a cubic inch, they are for the most part endowed with a complicated organization, or in other words, possess all the organs necessary to a proper performance of the functions usually associated with animal life: and what is even still more astonishing, are themselves tormented with parasitical animalculæ! Well may we exclaim in contemplating the manifold works of God in creation-“How small a portion is known of Him!"

GRASS CLOTHI.

THE linen called China grass cloth is fabricated of the fleshy part of the leaf of the aloe, which grows wild in China in great abundance.

A GOOD INVESTMENT.

LABOUR is the best capital in the world: it pays larger interest

than any other description of stock. The usurer is in ecstasies if he can make cent per cent of his property; but industry well applied, can make much more. "The raw ore from which the pretty filagree ornaments, known as Berlin ware, are made, costs only one shilling and sixpence the hundred weight: but wrought into ear-rings, the value becomes two thousand seven hundred and thirty four pounds, two shillings and sixpence; and made into shirt buttons, about three thousand pounds. It would not be easy to point out any other metal on which art can increase the value of the raw material forty thousand fold!”—Year Book of Facts.

SAGACITY OF THE ELEPHANT.

"WHILE breakfast was getting ready, I amused myself with looking at a baggage-elephant and a few camels, which some servants returning with a general's tent, taken from the Deccan, were in the act of loading. The intelligent obedience of the elephant is well known; but to look upon this huge and powerful monster kneeling down at the mere bidding of the human voice, and when he has risen again, to see him protrude his trunk for the foot of his mahout or attendant, to help him into his seat; or bending the joint of his hind leg, make a step for him to climb up behind, and then, if any loose cloths or cords fall off, with a dog-like docility, pick them up with his proboscis, and put them up again, will delight and surprise, long after it ceases to be novel. When loaded, this creature broke off a large branch from the lofty tree, near which he stood, and quietly fanned and fly-flapped himself with all the non-chalance imaginable, till the camels were ready.-Sketches of India.

IMAGINATION.

It is by the imagination that we are so frequently deceived, and by its delusion, that we are so often induced to expect happiness from conduct which reason condemns.-Cogan.

GOOD COUNSEL.

LET thy will be thy friend, thy mind thy companion, and thy tongue, thy servant.-Grimstone.

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