of his Elder Brother, joining in the chorus of the struggling church-"Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy to the only Wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen, and Amen!"

It was thus, in the retirement of his little study, that the poor parson of other days sought communion with the Great Father of Lights, and felt that a richer presence than that of the "glad gildy stremes" of sunshine stealing through the leafy trellis, glorified his happy chamber, filling all things with the perfection of its beauty, and furnishing him for those more active labors of love which entered into his daily service, as a workman who had little need to be ashamed. For your parish priest was no recluse. Like his zealous prototype, he rested not in expounding the golden lore of apostolic times; he was a-field and activefirst following, and then teaching; fulfilling, but in no presumptuous spirit, the arduous duties of his high calling; and treading in the steps so well marked out for him by the "poore persone' of one of our earliest poets:

"There was a good man of deserved renown,
Though the poor parson of a country town;
Rich in good works, and holy thought was he,
And studious as a learned clerk should be;
His Master's gospel he would truly preach,
And all his little flock devoutly teach;

Benign he was,
and diligent as well,
And patient when adversity befell.
His tithes, a willing people gladly brought,
Nor fierce disputes, nor vain excuses sought,
And he to all who needed help would lend,
Cheerfully as became the poor man's friend.
Wide was his cure, and houses far asunder,
But little cared he for the rain or thunder,
When sickness, or distress, or mischief came,
His heart befriended rich and poor the same.
Oft on his way-worn feet with staff in hand
-A bright example to his loving band-
He first the gospel, by his conduct, wrought,
And then by precept, all its doctrines taught:

For thus he argued—and with reason too-
If the gold rust, what will the iron do?
Or if the priest be bad on whom they trust,
How shall his weaker followers be just?
And can a filthy shepherd hope to keep

From taint, or foul disease, his cleaner sheep?"

But the pastoral visits of this quiet country curate had no tendency to dissipate the mind, and unfit it for the duties of the closet. He was no light thinker. Look at the quaint, firm, decided characters with which he has inscribed the page before us-chiselled out upon the paper, as if every letter had been proved and tested, and passed through the alembic of a wellschooled mind. Sometimes, but not often, does he argue according to the logic of the schools, and then he has no words to waste, as when he makes this pointed and sententious comment en Matthew xxii. 32.

“Our Sav: intended here to prove ye Resurrection; and his argum't runs thus

Those of w'm God after yeir Death is ye God and Father, shall rise again.

"But God is ye God of Abraham, &c., after yeir Death. "Therefore they shall rise again.

“The major is true, because as sons of God they were to be sons of ye Resurrection. To be joint heirs with Xt. (Rom. viii.17,) and inherit all things (Rev. xxi. 7.) in ye kingdom yt was prepared for ym. (Heb. xi. 16.)”

His chiefest excellence is this, that he is content usually to open Scripture by Scripture; thus, by the simplest process, eliciting the purest truth. Is he not here, short, seasonable, and weighty?

"Several reasons there are against St. Peter's supremacy. 1. Ye silence of all ye Evangelists in ye matter, or rather their assertion to the contrary, (John xx. 23.-Mark x. 43.Luke xxii. 26.) 2. Paul was not inferior to ye very chiefest Apostle, (2 Cor. xi. 5,) then Peter was not his superiour. 3. Peter walked not uprightly according to ye truth of ye gospell, (Gal. ii. 14,) therefore was not infallible, much less ye P. of R. (pope of Rome.) 4. He yt is sent is not superiour to those yt send him; Peter was sent as a messenger by ye other Apostles.

(Acts viii. 14.) 5. He yt is accus'd to others, and pleads his cause before them is not their superiour: Peter did so. (Acts ii. 1, 2, &c.) 6. If Peter had had this authority he w'd undoubtedly have exercised it, but he did not, neither when present w'th ye rest, nor in his epistles, where his style is not commanding as from a superiour, but only exhorting, as an equal."

He has gone home, and his works follow him! But the same truth which was his guide in life, and his solace in death, is our heir-loom, and the heir-loom of our children. And it is truth which may be touched, and tasted, and handled: it will bear the most rigid scrutiny, and repay the closest and most unwearied research. We have something to deal with in the gospel, that will serve us in every stead, and furnish us for every emergency. Let us love it, then, and live it, looking back upon our sainted predecessors, who have witnessed a good confession, and daily and hourly praying for grace to follow them as they also were followers of Christ.

CHINESE BOATS.

THE numerous variety of boats that literally crowd the waters of China, may be divided into two classes,-those that have eyes, and those without them. To the former class, belong the military and trading junks that navigate the "great sea;" they are nearly in the shape of a new moon, and as clumsy a craft as could well be contrived, having sterns at least thirty feet above the water, and bows, the third of that height. These vessels have always a great eye painted on each side of the bows, an usage which had its origin, probably, in a superstition similar to that which led the ancient Egyptians to decorate their vessels in the same manner. If a Chinese be questioned as to its cause, his reply is," Have eye, can see; can see, can saavez (savez, French): no have eye, no can see, no can see, no savez.”

BE SLOW TO SPEAK.

He that cannot refrain from much speaking, is like a city without walls; and less pains in the world a man cannot take than to hold his tongue.-Ralegh.

LETTERS FROM BELGIUM AND THE RHINE.-No. I. BRUGES, August 3rd, 1842.

MY DEAR H.-When we parted with you at Wood's Hotel on Monday evening, it was with the anticipation of embarking early the next morning for Belgium. At half-past five we were on our way to the London Bridge Wharf, and before six were on board the 66 Menai," one of the vessels of the General Steam Navigation Company, bound for Ostend.

At the last-mentioned hour the bell on the wharf announced the time of our departure, the last passenger was seen rushing down the steps to the water-side; the most adventurous of the itinerant newsvenders lingered in the hope of selling another paper, or "steam-boat companion;" old travellers arranged their cloaks in the most comfortable seats, and young ones found enough to occupy them in watching the preparations for departure. In a few minutes the ropes which had held us to the wharf fell loose into the water, and were hauled to shore; the paddles slowly turned like the fins of some leviathan; the good ship answered to her helm, and we made our way into one of the narrow channels formed by the tiers of vessels at anchor, which crowd the port of London. We soon lost sight of the bridge, and the people who, even at that early hour, stayed to witness our departure, and gliding through the forest of masts bearing the flags of all nations, arrived at last in the open stream.

The day proved fine, and our companions agreeable. With some of them we enjoyed very interesting conversation, especially with three ladies, the nieces of a dignitary of the Irish church, whose frankness, simplicity of manners, and warm-hearted energy, lent additional commendation to their unaffected seriousness, and interest in the concerns of religion.

At three o'clock we were rolling in the German Ocean. Although the day was fine the motion of the vessel was unfavorable to the continuance of our agreeable intercourse, and with the exception of a few good sailors among the passengers, the inevitable consequences of a heavy ground swell consigned us all to a melancholy and unpleasant silence.

By eight o'clock we were in sight of the harbour of Ostend, and at half-past were permitted once more to stand on terra

firma. It was too late to clear our luggage at the custom-house that night. We therefore proceeded at once to our hotel on "the Bason" just opposite the terminus of the "Chemin de Fer."

Ostend contains about twelve or thirteen thousand inhabitants, of whom about four hundred are resident English. The houses are lofty with high ceilings to the rooms, and windows extending the whole height of the room. The streets are not well paved, and although there are some good shops, there is no great appearance of much traffic. The town is defended from the sea by an artificial embankment, and from foreign invasion by a strong fortification. It possesses admirable facilities for bathing on a long sandy beach, and is in this respect the Brighton of the Netherlands, but without its splendid pier, its handsome buildings, or its shingly shore.

In our early walk before breakfast we soon discovered that we were in a Roman Catholic country. Priests in black cassocks and huge three-cornered hats were in every street. The bells of the churches were tolling for matins, and the people in considerable numbers were assembled at their devotions. We stopped opposite the church of St. Peter, to contemplate a representation of purgatory. It has the appearance of a large den, and might well accommodate a wild beast at the zoological gardens. The front, guarded by a strong iron railing, reveals flames carved in wood and painted red and yellow, in the midst of which are men and women apparently imploring deliverance. Here and there a cherub flying down, rescues some unhappy being, for whom a sufficient number of prayers have been offered.

The

One can easily imagine the influence such a representation must have upon the minds of a people taught from their infancy to regard the priests as their infallible instructors. To a large class, this wooden drama of purgatorial misery represents not so much the evil of sin, as the power of the church. The church possesses the keys of that otherwise impassable grating. aves and paternosters of her priests send forth the winged cherubim upon their work of merciful deliverance; and thus, while an utterly unscriptural representation is given of the immediate consequences of death, the mind of the sinner is alike diverted from the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, and that one