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time. I am an ancient forest; in me are trees of all kinds. Some stand fair in their beauty and proportion; others are gnarled, and of a rough strength. You walk through me in a light dusky but solemn, and, ever and anon, you break from thickest gloom, and the clear heaven shines openly above you. You tread on herbs of healing, and plants of rarest beauty; and as you look around, your eye is ever catching some flower now conspicuous, but hitherto unseen. am like a cavern-dark, but full of gems. I send forth the sound of many waters that flow from unseen depths, pure and refreshing. Your eye may not penetrate. The vastness awes you. You tremble, but rejoice. I am as the wonderful but changing firmament, which sometimes is a sky of storm, wherein are clouds dark as night or of a lurid brightness, shadowing the soul with awe; and sometimes an open sapphire vault, a blue heaven, pure and deep as the thoughts of God, in which refreshing airs wander like spirits, even the spirits his messengers; but the great sun dwells there, giving life when visible, and sustaining it when unseen. And even as the natural sun bends worlds around it in harmonious movement, whilst it creates and conserves life and fertility in their different parts, and brings forth an infinitely varied beauty; so the great Sun of Truth-God manifest in humanity, gives movement and harmony to the whole system of truths; life, force, and productiveness to each, even the least several portion, and, by its illuminating beam, enables us to view all in a completeness impressive and majestic.

M. Bible, I will worship thee.

B. See thou do it not. I am a servant, as thou. I am but of thy brethren the prophets. Worship Him who is the Light of lights.

M. Art thou not at the least a king?

B. I am a king, though I be but a servant. 'I am understanding; I have strength.' And he that hath most strength by fullest understanding of my wisdom, shall be a prince in that great company of souls that wait for, and shall welcome and inaugurate, the reign of Him who cometh to rule and to be loved as the true and only everlasting King.

M. Bible, what shall I do?

B. Flatter me not; follow me. Say not, 'This is the temple of God: see what stones and buildings are here,' when thou dost not worship, but defilest my sanctity with thy foolish, thy earthy, thy selfish mind. Count me as a friend whose greeting is generous, and whose heart is large; but know that I will rebuke thee sharply for all that is false and mean. Come thou in naked sincerity, and bathe in my cleansing rivers. Come thou whenever it is morning with thee; when the earliest beam of hope and of thought strikes. Come, drink of the flowing brook of my counsel, and as thou drinkest, lift up the head, pray, and give thanks.

M. Bible, I will be a trumpet to sound thy praise. With what certain and simple sound may I proclaim thee?

B. Proclaim me the firmament in which He shines who is the light of the world. Only a sun can be a lamp to suffice a world: only God a Saviour to suffice mankind. Believest thou in Christ the Saviour?

M. Alas! Bible, I believe in sorrow.

B. But believest thou in sin? There be more that wear crape for their sorrows, than sackcloth for their sins. If thou servest the Evil World, at the last Evil shall say to thee of thy sorrows, What are these to me? see thou to these fool, to complain-too late, too late!' But if thou servest the True One -the Saviour, he shall say to thee of thy sorrows, 'What are these to thee? I bear them; I change them. By mine own sorrows and victory have I resolved them into joys.' Sin without a Saviour is the black cloud of a storm advancing; but sin to him that believeth in Christ is the black cloud of a storm retiring.

M. Bible, I believe; still help thou mine unbelief. This Saviour shall be my Saviour for ever and ever. He will be my guide even unto death. 1 rejoice, and yet 1 fear.

B. The lightning glared on thee as thou didst journey a dangerous path. 1t showed thee an abyss at thy foot. But hadst thou not seen, thou couldst not have been saved. The abyss, not the sight of it, was thy peril. The sight of the evil was the occasion of thy terror, but the condition of thy deliverance. And if thou sawest an abyss below, thou sawest also the countenance and hand of a friend above thee. But the sudden light passed, and it fell dark again— and so thou again fearedst. And often thou wilt see thy Saviour by the transitory flash of a bright summer-lightning, rather than by the steady shining of a bright summer day. But call, in the dark, on a Saviour whom thou seest not, and he will answer thee; he will come to thee, and hold thee by the hand while shadows remain; and soon the morning shall dawn, and he be with thee thy counsellor, master, and companion.

M. Bible, thou comfortest me. 1 will sing.

B. Sing, but fight too. Let the song of faith spirit thee for the fight of faith. Art thou assured of a Saviour's strength and presence? sing thankfully. But be thou also strong to overcome as he overcame. Praise God by the harmony and power of thy life, as well as by the melody of thy thanksgiving. If thou goest to God at last as one that hath fought the fight, hath kept the faith, and hath overcome-thou mayst also depart, as thou art told the old lark doth. He collects his strength for one last flight and one last song, strikes upwards to the 'serenest heights' of heaven, and breathing his soul out in praise, in the midst of his melody he droops his wing, and falls dead upon the green earth he has so often charmed and cheered.

M. Bible, I bless thee, and I bless thy glory and thy beauty.

B. Which is the greater, the golden candlestick or the lights it bears? My books are the many-branched golden candlestick-my 'word of life' is the yet more golden light thereon, the light which goeth not out at all. Blessest thou my beauty? Yea, and it shall be blessed. But rather bless my truth, which beauty serves as a robe, a diadem, a pavilion. Bless the light of my lights, and the glory of my beauties. Bless your Lord and your God.-Christian Spectator.

THE CHRISTIAN'S TREASURE.

The Christian possesses a treasure very glorious in its nature. And what is this treasure? It is not riches, not honour, not fame, not worldly joys, not the earth itself, with all its precious gems. No! 1t is something more sublimely grand-more heart-thrilling-more gloriously unfading and eternal. Riches are good, but they take to themselves wings and fly away.' Honour and fame make a man prosper only to his grave, and the joys of time are like flakes of foam on the surface of a river, ravaging by their milky face and beauteous wild flutter the spectator's eye, but in a moment passing away. The flowers of summer open their young bosoms in the hour of morn, and they always, by their varied hues, rouse the sympathies of the human mind; we gaze on them, and as we handle them, we smell a fragrance which makes our spirits leap away in imaginative flight over the hoary years of earth, to the morning of the world when the roses of Paradise scented the new created air, and charmed the unpolluted souls of God's first human children. But flowers bloom only to die! We look at them, and decay steals over their infantile bosoms-being too delicate for earth they drop their heads and weep, and with the exit of yonder sun, they bid us adieu for ever-feeling ashamed of the sinful world, and man, as he presents himself, a melancholy wreck in the empire of the Holy Jehovah. And so do all things fade? Time gnaws the vitals of all matter. The proud cities which reared their heads to heaven, Nineveh, Babylon, ancient Rome, and highhonoured Jerusalem of old, and Ephesus, the eye of Asia-yes; these world

famed cities, with all their glorious edifices, are now no more-they have been demolished by the ruthless hand of time-noisy flights of crows and partridges seem to insult in silence their ruins.

Transitory is stamped on the fairest work below, even man's noble frame, and together with him that ivy so full of soul which twines around his arm and around his heart. Yes, O man, the partner of thy days, who, by her angelic smile, lightens up with the sunshine of heaven thy dark hour, and casts joy and tranquility across the troubled ocean of thy being, is fading too-going with thee the way of all the earth.' Solemn thought wherever we go, we see death. If we go into the room of the philosopher, the hall of learning, and to the seat of royalty, and from thence to yonder churchyard, where lie the remains of the great, the wise, and good, we shall indeed find cause for uttering the language of one of old-'As for man his days are as grass; and like a flower of the field, so he flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof, shall know it no more.' Our fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?'

But leap, O ancient rocks! and hoary ocean leap! and thou spirit-world sing for joy! There is something that never suffers by rolling years, or hail storms, or bleaching winds, or gnawing time, defacing death, or narrow tomb! Something, O man, for thee! 1t is the Christian's treasure. It remains the same yesterday and to-day, and when millions more of the months and years of time have travelled with yonder bright luminary-this gem of God-this blood polished pearl-will shine even amid the wrecks of the time-the conflagrations of hell, 'fair as the sun,' enamelled with the undying beauty of God.

Wouldst thou know this treasure? Wouldst thou possess it in the home of thy soul? It is nothing less or else (O! wondrous truth! unparalelled love!) in high heaven, wide earth, and boundless universe, but Christ Jesus the Lord. The believer bas received Christ Jesus the Lord.-Col. ii. 6, 7.

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JULY REVIEWS.

THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE has some articles of considerable interest. Twenty-five years ago,' takes the last volume of Alison's History of Europe for its text, and notices especially the condition of Ireland at that period. The writer seems, like Alison, to believe in the depopulation theory, and is thankful for the great emigration, but seems to forget that the landlords might have provided more than enough of labour for all the peasentry if they had only given themselves heartily to the work. A new theory of representative reform is broached at the close. It is to enfranchise the £5. rentpayers; but keep them separate from the existing voters, and give them a dozen representatives for themselves, divided into as many districts. A new plan is also proposed for the representation of general intellect and worth. To leave it optional for any £10 voter to withdraw his name from the local register and enter it upon the imperial one. Thus, the writer, expects first-class men of all kinds, might be induced to enter the Commons without being bound to class interests.

Among some papers of interest, the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, contains a paper by Dr. Dauberry, on the influence of vegetable organisms in the production of Epidemic disease, proving scientifically the importance of the utmost cleanliness, in order prevent the spread of cholera and other diseases of the same class. After all the experience we have had, the people of this country still need to awake to the necessity of removing from their dwellings every kind of decomposing organic matter, all bodies capable of absorbing animal effluvia, such as rags, clothes, dust, &c.,-everything, in short, of an azatized nature, which can serve as a midus for infection,

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THE EDINBURGH REVIEW commences with a paper on 'the genius of Dryden, giving a rapid but telling sketch of his life, his times, and his writings, passing judgment on him as a writer of satire, of odes, and of the drama, and also as a religionist. The concluding paragraph is symptomatic of a higher moral tone than we have often found in similar reviews :

'It is painful to turn from a contemplation of that blaze of intellectual glory which yet surrounds the shrine of Dryden, to the moral results of many of those writings which perpetuate his memory. It may be said, perhaps, that blame should rest less with Dryden than with his age. But it should have been the destiny of such a man to have risen above, and to have purified that age. If ever private genius can exalt the standard of public virtue if ever individual elevation can form a condition of social progress-the varied talents of Dryden were pre-eminently calculated to have raised the tone and character of his party. Among the writings, on the contrary, which exercised the greatest influence on the age of their composition, were probably those in which Dryden most directly transgressed our doctrines of morality. It would have been a mission worthy of the intellect of that poet, that he, who was one of the greatest pillars of the literature of England, should also have been one of the greatest regenerators of her society.'

1n the second article 'Indian substitutes for Russian produce,' we are shown how to get fibres from our own territories, better in quality, and cheaper than Russian hemp and flax, and how a new manufacture may be introduced to our country, both of political and commercial importance. The third paper is on the Tauric Chersonese, and gives an original account of the past fortunes of that peninsula, to which, at present, the eyes of the world is turned, to see whether eastern barbarism, or western civilisation, has to gain the ascendancy in the rule of Europe. The land of silence' contains an eloquent and touching description of the condition of deaf-mutes, and of the efforts made for their instruction. Then follow interesting and instructive biographies of two Indian statesmen,-Mr. Henry St. George Tucker, late governor-general of India, and Lord Metcalfe, late accountant-general of Bengal, both of them affording examples worthy to be copied by those before whom a career of public life is likely to open. We have next an article on the Maynooth Commission, which blows hot and cold by turns, and seems designed to give offence to nobody. Then follows a long and elaborate essay on Modern Fortifications,' in which the mistakes of the siege of Sebastopol are duly criticised, and in which it is advocated, according to Fergusson's doctrine, 'that on certain conditions,' the defence of a place can always be superior to the attack. Article ninth is a pleasant, readable one on Sydney Smith, claiming for him a high niche in the temple of literature. And the number closes with a paper on the Sebastopol Committee and Vienna Conferences,' to a great extent exculpatory of the Government.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW brings before us in its first article, the life, the character, the writings, and the influence of the late Archdeacon Hare. Its second is a short one on the Circulation of the Blood.' Its third on 'Sardinia and Rome' gives us hopeful glimpses of intelligence, free institutions, and a liberal policy growing up among the sub-Alpine people which bid fair to make them potent agents in helping to free Europe from the yoke of civil and ecclesiastical bondage. Its fourth takes us away back for centuries to the 'first material guarantee of that eventful conquest which has brought us into the family of historical nations,' the foundation of the Roman Colony at Colchester, and is suggestive. of questions to the professed archaeologist. Its fifth, on Sydney Smith, is of similar tone and nearly equal talent with The Edinburgh. The sixth is a withering exposure of the pretended infallibility of the Romish Church, in pronouncing on the 8th Dec., 1854, for the immaculate conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The curious and wonder-loving will find next an entertaining and amusing article on Advertisements in Newspapers, from their beginnining in the seventeenth

century up to the present time.

Article eighth is devoted to the supply of paper; and an excellent number closes with a thoughtful article on the Objects of the War.

THE WISE MAN.

The wise man governs himself by the reason of his case, and because what he does is best best, in a moral and prudent, not in a sinister sense.

He proposes just ends, and employs the fairest and most probable means and methods to attain them.

Though you cannot always penetrate his design, or his reasons for it, yet you shall ever see his actions of a piece, and his performance like a workman; they will bear the touch of wisdom and honour as often as they are tried.

He scorns to serve himself by indirect means, or to be an interloper in government; since just enterprizes never want any unjust ways to succeed them. To do evil that good may come of it, is for bunglers in politics as well as in morals?

Like those surgeons who will cut off an arm they cannot cure, to hide their ignorance and save their credit.

The wise man is cautious but not cunning: judicious but not crafty; making virtue the measure of using his excellent understanding in the conduct of his life.

The wise man is equal, ready, but not officious; has in every thing an eye to a sure-footing: he offends nobody, nor is easily offended; and is always willing to compound for wrongs, if not to forgive them.

He is never captious. nor critical; hates banter and jests; he may be pleasant, but not light; he never deals but in substantial ware, and leaves the rest for the toy-pates, (or shops) of the world; which are so far from being his business that they are not so much as his diversion.

He is always for some solid good, civil, or moral; as to make his country more virtuous, preserve her peace and liberty, employ her poor, improve land, advance trade, suppress vice, encourage industry, and all mechanical knowledge; and that they should be the care of the government, and the blessing and praise of the people.

To conclude, he is just and fears God, hates covetousness, and eschews evil, and loves his neighbour as himself.

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ERRATUM. We are sorry to find that an extract from Balder, that had not been read, got by mistake into last week's number; and our readers will oblige us by correcting it with the pen on page 45,

Line 4 for lifo read fire.

Line 15 for cut read eat.

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